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 Brontë, 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 Barraqué, 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[?].

January 16 - January 18 - December 17 - February 17 - Historical anniversaries