January 17

January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
348 days remaining (349 in leap years)

Events

   * 1562 - Huguenots were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain
   * 1773 - Captain James Cook becomes the first explorer to cross the
     Antarctic Circle
   * 1781 - Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat
     British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the Battle
     of Cowpens in South Carolina
   * 1819 - Simon Bolivar proclaims the Republic of Colombia
   * 1852 - United Kingdom recognizes independence of the Transvaal
   * 1893 - American sugar planters overthrow the government of Queen
     Liliuokalani of Hawaii
   * 1899 - United States takes possession of Wake Island
   * 1912 - Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after
     Roald Amundsen
   * 1916 - The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) is formed
   * 1917 - The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin
     Islands
   * 1945 - Soviets occupy Warsaw
   * 1945 - Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation
   * 1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in
     Soviet custody
   * 1946 - The UN Security Council holds its first session
   * 1949 - The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, airs
   * 1950 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million
     from a armored car in Boston, Massachusetts
   * 1966 - Simon and Garfunkel release their second album, Sounds of
     Silence, on Columbia Records
   * 1966 - A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 jet tanker over Spain,
     dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and
     one into the sea
   * 1973 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines
   * 1985 - British Telecom annouces they are going to abolish the famous
     red telephone boxes.
   * 1991 - Gulf War: Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel
   * 1995 - A magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred near Kobe, Japan, causing
     great property damage and killing over 5,000.
   * 1998 - Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment
   * 2002 - Eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the
     Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.

Births

   * 1463 - Friedrich III, Saxon elector (+ 1525)
   * 1706 - Benjamin Franklin American writer, inventor, publisher, and
     ambassador (+ 1790)
   * 1763 - John Jacob Astor, entrepreneur (+ 1848)
   * 1820 - Anne Bront‘, British author (+ 1849)
   * 1860 - Anton Chekhov, playwright (+ 1904)
   * 1863 - David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
   * 1867 - Carl Laemmle, film executive (+ 1939)
   * 1871 - David Earl Betty British admiral (+ 1936)
   * 1880 - Mack Sennett, director, producer (+ 1960)
   * 1899 - Al Capone, gangster, nicknamed "Scarface" (+ 1947)
   * 1899 - Nevil Shute, author (+ 1960)
   * 1922 - Betty White, actress
   * 1922 - Nicholas Katzenbach, politician
   * 1926 - Moira Shearer, actress, dancer
   * 1927 - Eartha Kitt, actress, singer
   * 1928 - Jean BarraquŽ, composer (+ 1973)
   * 1928 - Vidal Sassoon, cosmetologist
   * 1929 - Jacques Plante, ice hockey star (+ 1986)
   * 1931 - James Earl Jones, actor
   * 1931 - Douglas Wilder, first elected African American governor of a
     U.S. state
   * 1933 - Dalida, French singer (+ 1987)
   * 1933 - Shari Lewis, puppeteer (+ 1998)
   * 1937 - Troy Donahue, actor
   * 1939 - Maury Povich, talk show host
   * 1942 - Muhammad Ali, boxer
   * 1942 - Ulf Hoelscher, violinist
   * 1949 - Andy Kaufman, comedian (+ 1984)
   * 1955 - Steve Earle, musician
   * 1956 - Paul Young, English musician
   * 1962 - Jim Carrey, actor, comedian
   * 1966 - Shabba Ranks, singer
   * 1971 - Kid Rock, singer

Deaths

   * 1751 - Tomaso Albinoni, aged 69, Italian composer
   * 1799 - Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician
   * 1861 - Lola Montez, adventurer
   * 1886 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer
   * 1893 - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States
   * 1961 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of
     the Congo
   * 1964 - T.H. White, author
   * 1977 - Gary Gilmore, murderer (executed by firing squad)
   * 1991 - King Olav V of Norway
   * 1996 - Barbara Jordan, politician
   * 1997 - Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer
   * 2001 - Laurent-Desire Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of
     the Congo
   * 2002 - Camilo Jose Cela, Spanish author, winner of the Nobel Prize for
     Literature 1989

Holidays and observances

   * Ancient Latvia - Zirgu Diena observed
   * Catholicism - Feast day of St. Anthony.