From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
November 17 is the 321st day of the year (322nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 44 days remaining until the end of the year.
[edit] Events
- 284 – Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers.
- 473 – The future Leo II is named associate emperor by Leo I.
- 794 – Japanese Emperor Kammu changes his residence from Nara to Kyoto.
- 1183 – The Battle of Mizushima.
- 1292 – (O.S.) John Balliol becomes King of Scotland.
- 1511 – Spain and England ally against France.
- 1558 – Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England.
- 1603 – English explorer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason.
- 1659 – The Peace of the Pyrenees is signed between France and Spain.
- 1777 – Articles of Confederation are submitted to the states for ratification.
- 1796 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Arcole – French forces defeat the Austrians in Italy.
- 1800 – The United States Congress holds its first session in Washington, D.C.
- 1811 – José Miguel Carrera, Chilean founding father, is sworn in as President of the executive Junta of the government of Chile.
- 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Krasnoi.
- 1820 – Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to see Antarctica (the Palmer Peninsula is later named after him).
- 1827 – The Delta Phi fraternity, America's oldest continuous social fraternity, is founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York.
- 1831 – Ecuador and Venezuela are separated from Greater Colombia.
- 1855 – David Livingstone becomes the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now present-day Zambia-Zimbabwe.
- 1856 – American Old West: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
- 1858 – Modified Julian Day zero.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Knoxville begins – Confederate forces led by General James Longstreet place Knoxville, Tennessee under siege.
- 1869 – In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated.
- 1871 – The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York.
- 1876 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March is given its première performance in Moscow.
- 1878 – First assassination attempt against Umberto I of Italy.
- 1903 – The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits into two groups; the Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").
- 1911 – The Omega Psi Phi fraternity, the first African-American fraternity at an historically black college or university, is founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
- 1919 – King George V of the United Kingdom proclaims Armistice Day (later Remembrance Day). The idea is first suggested by Edward George Honey.
- 1922 – Former Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI goes into exile in Italy.
- 1933 – United States recognizes Soviet Union.
- 1939 – Nine Czech students are executed as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal. In addition, all Czech universities are shut down and over 1200 Czech students sent to concentration camps. Since this event, International Students' Day is celebrated in many countries, especially in the Czech Republic.
- 1947 – The U.S. Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.
- 1947 – American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th Century.
- 1953 – The remaining human inhabitants of the Blasket Islands, Kerry, Ireland are evacuated to the mainland.
- 1957 – Vickers Viscount G-AOHP of British European Airways crashes at Ballerup after the failure of three engines on approach to Copenhagen Airport. The cause is a malfunction of the anti-icing system on the aircraft.
- 1962 – President John F. Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport, serving the Washington, D.C. region.
- 1967 – Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports that he had been given on November 13, US President Lyndon B. Johnson tells the nation that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making progress."
- 1968 – Alexandros Panagoulis is condemned to death for attempting to assassinate Greek dictator George Papadopoulos.
- 1968 – British European Airways introduces the BAC One-Eleven into commercial service.
- 1969 – Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.
- 1970 – Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai massacre.
- 1970 – Luna program: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and is released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.
- 1970 – Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse.
- 1973 – Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, US President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook".
- 1973 – The Athens Polytechnic Uprising against the military regime ends in a bloodshed in the Greek capital.
- 1979 – Brisbane Suburban Railway Electrification. The first stage from Ferny Grove to Darra is commissioned.
- 1982 – Duk Koo Kim dies unexpectedly from injuries sustained during a 14-round match against Ray Mancini in Las Vegas, Nevada, prompting reforms in the sport of boxing.
- 1983 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico.
- 1989 – Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29).
- 1990 – Fugendake, part of the Mount Unzen volcanic complex, Nagasaki prefecture, Japan becomes active again and erupts.
- 1997 – In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut, known as Luxor massacre (The police then kill the assailants).
- 2000 – A catastrophic landslide in Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia, kills 7, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophes in Slovenia in the past 100 years.
- 2000 – Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru.
- 2004 – Kmart Corp. announces that it is buying Sears, Roebuck and Co. for $11 billion USD and naming the newly merged company Sears Holdings Corporation.
- 2007 – Brian May of the rock band Queen (band) was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University.
[edit] Births
- 9 – Emperor Vespasian, Roman emperor (d. 79)
- 1503 – Agnolo Bronzino, Italian painter (d. 1572)
- 1576 – Roque Gonzales, Paraguayan missionary (d. 1628)
- 1587 – Joost van den Vondel, Dutch poet (d. 1679)
- 1612 – Dorgon, Manchu prince (d. 1650)
- 1681 – Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian (d. 1776)
- 1685 – Pierre Gaultier, French-Canadian trader and explorer (d. 1749)
- 1729 – Maria Antonietta of Spain, queen of Sardinia (d. 1785)
- 1749 – Nicolas Appert, French inventor (d. 1841)
- 1753 – Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, American clergyman and botanist (d. 1815)
- 1755 – Louis XVIII of France (d. 1824)
- 1765 – Étienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald, French marshal (d. 1840)
- 1790 – August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician (d. 1868)
- 1793 – Charles Lock Eastlake, British painter (d. 1865)
- 1799 – Titian Peale, American artist (d. 1885)
- 1816 – August Wilhelm Ambros, Austrian composer (d. 1876)
- 1827 – Petko Slavejkov, Bulgarian writer (d. 1895)
- 1835 – Andrew L. Harris, governor of Ohio (d. 1915)
- 1854 – Hubert Lyautey, French general (d. 1934)
- 1857 – Joseph Babiński, Polish-French neurologist (d. 1932)
- 1866 – Voltairine de Cleyre, American anarchist (d. 1912)
- 1868 – Korbinian Brodmann, German neurologist (d. 1918)
- 1877 – Frank Calder, British-born Canadian sports executive (d. 1943)
- 1878 – Grace Abbott, American social worker (d. 1939)
- 1878 – Lise Meitner, Austrian physicist (d. 1968)
- 1887 – Bernard Montgomery, British World War II commander (d. 1976)
- 1886 – Walter Terence Stace, British philosopher (d. 1967)
- 1894 – Richard Nikolaus Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi, Austrian politician (d. 1972)
- 1895 – Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian philosopher (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Gregorio López y Fuentes, Mexican author (d. 1966)
- 1896 – Lev Vygotsky, Russian psychologist (d. 1934)
- 1897 – Frank Fay, American actor (d. 1961)
- 1899 – Douglas Shearer, Canadian film sound engineer (d. 1971)
- 1901 – Walter Hallstein, German politician (d. 1982)
- 1901 – Lee Strasberg, Austrian director (d. 1982)
- 1902 – Eugene Wigner, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
- 1904 – Isamu Noguchi, American sculptor (d. 1988)
- 1905 – Queen Astrid of the Belgians (d. 1935)
- 1905 – Mischa Auer, American actor (d. 1967)
- 1906 – Soichiro Honda, Japanese automobile pioneer (d. 1991)
- 1906 – Rollie Stiles, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1907 – Israel Regardie, Aleister Crowley's secretary (d. 1985)
- 1911 – Christian Fouchet, French diplomat (d. 1974)
- 1916 – Shelby Foote, American historian (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Camillo Felgen, Luxembourgish singer (d. 2005)
- 1921 – Albert Bertelsen, Danish painter
- 1922 – Stanley Cohen, American biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1923 – Hubertus Brandenburg, Swedish Roman Catholic Bishop (d. 2009)
- 1923 – Mike Garcia, American baseball player (d. 1986)
- 1923 – Aristides Pereira, Cape Verdian politician
- 1923 – Bert Sutcliffe, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2001)
- 1925 – Jean Faut, American baseball player
- 1925 – Rock Hudson, American actor (d. 1985)
- 1925 – Charles Mackerras, Australian-born conductor (d. 2010)
- 1927 – Robert Brown, American actor
- 1927 – Robert Drasnin, American musician and composer
- 1928 – Rance Howard, American actor
- 1928 – Arman, French/American artist (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (d. 1999)
- 1930 – Bob Mathias, American decathlete (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Orlando Peña, Cuban baseball player
- 1934 – Fenella Fielding, English actress
- 1934 – Jim Inhofe, American politician
- 1935 – Bobby Joe Conrad, American football player
- 1935 – Toni Sailer, Austrian skier (d. 2009)
- 1936 – Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet (d. 2005)
- 1937 – Peter Cook, British comedian (d. 1995)
- 1938 – Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian singer
- 1939 – Auberon Waugh, British author (d. 2001)
- 1940 – Luke Kelly, Irish folk music singer and banjo player (d. 1984)
- 1942 – Kang Kek Iew, Cambodian politician and criminal
- 1942 – Martin Scorsese, American film director
- 1943 – Lauren Hutton, American actress
- 1944 – Jim Boeheim, Hall of Fame basketball coach
- 1944 – Gene Clark, American singer and songwriter (The Byrds) (d. 1991)
- 1944 – Danny DeVito, American actor
- 1944 – Rem Koolhaas, Dutch architect
- 1944 – Lorne Michaels, Canadian producer
- 1944 – Tom Seaver, American baseball player
- 1945 – Elvin Hayes, American basketball player
- 1945 – Roland Joffé, Anglo-French film director
- 1946 – Martin Barre, English rock musician (Jethro Tull)
- 1946 – Terry E. Branstad, Governor of Iowa
- 1947 – Steven E. de Souza, American scriptwriter
- 1947 – Inky Mark, Canadian politician
- 1948 – Howard Dean, American politician
- 1948 – East Bay Ray, American musician
- 1949 – John Boehner, American politician
- 1949 – Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, Prime Minister of Vietnam
- 1950 – Tom Walkinshaw, Scottish race car driver and race team owner
- 1951 – Butch Davis, American football coach
- 1951 – Dean Paul Martin, American singer and actor (d. 1987)
- 1951 – Stephen Root, American actor
- 1952 – Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
- 1953 – Babis Tennes, Greek football manager
- 1954 – Mark Brandon Read, Australian criminal
- 1955 – Yolanda King, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. (d. 2007)
- 1955 – Dennis Maruk, Canadian hockey player
- 1956 – Graham Jones, British author and psychologist
- 1957 – Debbie Thrower, news reader
- 1958 – Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, American actress
- 1959 – Terry Fenwick, English footballer
- 1960 – Michael Hertwig, German footballer
- 1960 – Jonathan Ross, British TV presenter
- 1960 – RuPaul, American drag entertainer
- 1960 – Mandy Yachad, former South African cricketer
- 1961 – Robert Stethem, U.S. Navy Seabee diver murdered by terrorists on TWA Flight 847 (d. 1985)
- 1961 – Pat Toomey, American politician, junior senator of Pennsylvania
- 1962 – Dédé Fortin, Canadian singer (Les Colocs) (d. 2000)
- 1963 – Randy Black, Canadian drummer (Annihilator)
- 1964 – Ralph Garman, American actor and radio personality
- 1964 – Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations
- 1964 – Mitch Williams, baseball player
- 1965 – Amanda Brown, Australian musician (The Go-Betweens) and composer
- 1966 – Ben Allison, American jazz bassist and composer
- 1966 – Jeff Buckley, American musician (d. 1997)
- 1966 – Kate Ceberano, Australian singer
- 1966 – Richard Fortus, American guitarist (Guns N' Roses)
- 1966 – Daisy Fuentes, Cuban model and actress
- 1966 – Sophie Marceau, French actress
- 1968 – Amber Michaels, German pornographic actress
- 1968 – Sean Miller, American basketball coach
- 1969 – Ryotaro Okiayu, Japanese voice actor
- 1969 – Rebecca Walker, American feminist writer
- 1969 – Jean-Michel Saive, Belgian table tennis player
- 1970 – Paul Allender, British guitarist (Cradle of Filth)
- 1972 – Kimya Dawson, American singer
- 1972 – Joanne Goode, English badminton player
- 1972 – Leonard Roberts, American actor
- 1973 – Andreas "Vintersorg" Hedlund, Swedish singer (Vintersorg)
- 1973 – Eli Marrero, American baseball player
- 1973 – Bernd Schneider, German footballer
- 1973 – Alexei Urmanov, Russian figure skater
- 1974 – Leslie Bibb, American actress
- 1974 – Berto Romero, Spanish humorist
- 1975 – Roland de Marigny, South African-born Italian rugby player
- 1975 – Jerome James, American basketball player
- 1975 – Lord Infamous, Rapper
- 1976 – Brandon Call, American actor
- 1976 – Diane Neal, American actress
- 1976 – Jacqueline Aguilera, Venezuelan beauty queen
- 1977 – Ryk Neethling, South African swimmer
- 1977 – Paul Shepherd, English footballer
- 1978 – Glen Air, Former Rugby League player for London Broncos
- 1978 – Zoë Bell, New Zealand actress-stuntwoman
- 1978 – Rachel McAdams, Canadian actress
- 1978 – Reggie Wayne, American football player
- 1979 – Matthew Spring, English footballer
- 1980 – Brad Bradley, American professional wrestler
- 1980 – Isaac Hanson, American musician (Hanson)
- 1980 – Mercedes Martinez, American professional wrestler
- 1981 – Sarah Harding, English singer (Girls Aloud)
- 1982 – Katie Feenstra, American basketball player
- 1982 – Lucy Durack, Australian Singer/Performer
- 1982 – Otacílio Neto, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 – Yusuf Pathan, Indian cricketer
- 1982 – Hollie Smith, New Zealand singer
- 1983 – Yiannis Bourousis, Greek basketball player
- 1983 – Ryan Braun, American baseball player
- 1983 – Trevor Crowe, American baseball player
- 1983 – Harry Lloyd, English actor
- 1983 – Nick Markakis, American baseball player
- 1983 – Scott Moore, American baseball player
- 1983 – Christopher Paolini, American novelist
- 1983 – Ryan Bradley, American figure skater
- 1984 – Amanda Evora, American figure skater
- 1984 – Park Han-byul, South Korean actress
- 1986 – Nani, Portuguese football player
- 1986 – Fabio Concas, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Gemma Spofforth, British swimmer
- 1990 – Shanica Knowles, American actress
- 1992 – Darian Weiss, American actor
- 1994 – Raquel Castro, American actress
[edit] Deaths
- 344 – Jin Kangdi, Chinese emperor (b. 322)
- 375 – Valentinian I, Roman Emperor (b. 321)
- 594 – Gregory of Tours, bishop and historian (b. c. 530s|539)
- 641 – Emperor Jomei of Japan (b. 593)
- 680 – Hilda of Whitby (b. 614)
- 885 – Queen Liutgard of Saxony (b. c. 845)
- 1104 – Nikephoros Melissenos, Byzantine general (b. c. 1045)
- 1231 – Elisabeth of Hungary, daughter of Andrew II of Hungary (b. 1207)
- 1302 – St. Gertrude the Great (b. 1256)
- 1326 – Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel, English politician (b. 1285)
- 1494 – Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher (b. 1463)
- 1558 – Mary I of England (b. 1516)
- 1558 – Reginald Pole, Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1500)
- 1562 – Antoine de Bourbon, father of Henry IV of France (b. 1518)
- 1592 – John III of Sweden (b. 1537)
- 1600 – Kuki Yoshitaka, Japanese naval commander (b. 1542)
- 1632 – Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Bavarian field marshal (b. 1594)
- 1643 – Jean-Baptiste Budes, Comte de Guébriant, Marshal of France (b. 1602)
- 1648 – Thomas Ford, English composer
- 1665 – John Earle, English bishop
- 1668 – Joseph Alleine, English preacher (b. 1634)
- 1690 – Charles de Sainte-Maure, duc de Montausier, French soldier (b. 1610)
- 1708 – Ludolf Backhuysen, Dutch painter (b. 1631)
- 1713 – Abraham van Riebeeck, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1653)
- 1720 – Calico Jack, English pirate (b. 1682)
- 1747 – Alain-René Lesage, French writer (b. 1668)
- 1768 – Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1693)
- 1776 – James Ferguson, British astronomer (b. 1710)
- 1780 – Bernardo Bellotto, Italian painter (b. 1720)
- 1794 – Jacques François Dugommier, French general (b. 1738)
- 1796 – Catherine II of Russia, Empress of Russia (b. 1729)
- 1808 – David Zeisberger, Moravian missionary (b. 1721)
- 1818 – Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen consort of King George III (b. 1744)
- 1835 – Antoine Charles Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1758)
- 1849 – Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest and miracle-worker (b. 1794)
- 1858 – Robert Owen, British father of the cooperative movement (b. 1771)
- 1865 – James McCune Smith, African-American doctor and abolitionist (b. 1813)
- 1897 – George Hendric Houghton, American Protestant Episcopal clergyman (b. 1820)
- 1902 – Hugh Price Hughes, Methodist Social Reformer (b. 1847)
- 1905 – Adolphe of Luxembourg, (b. 1817)
- 1910 – Ralph Johnstone, pioneer pilot, 1st 'American' pilot killed in the crash of an airplane, Denver, Colorado (b. 1886)
- 1917 – Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (b. 1840)
- 1921 – Pa Chay Vue, Hmong Nationalist
- 1922 – Robert Comtesse, Swiss Federal Councillor (b. 1847)
- 1928 – Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian author, politician, & freedom fighter (b. 1865)
- 1929 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician (b. 1860)
- 1936 – Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Austrian contralto (b. 1861)
- 1937 – Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer (b. 1860)
- 1938 – Ante Trumbić, Croatian politician (b. 1864)
- 1940 – Eric Gill, British sculptor (b. 1882)
- 1940 – Raymond Pearl, American biologist (b. 1879)
- 1942 – Ben Reitman, American anarchist, physician (b. 1879)
- 1947 – Victor Serge, Russian anarchist, novelist, and historian (b. 1890)
- 1954 – Yitzhak Lamdan, Russian-born Israeli poet and columnist (b. 1899)
- 1955 – James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (b. 1894)
- 1958 – Mort Cooper, baseball player (b. 1913)
- 1959 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (b. 1887)
- 1961 – Michael Rockefeller, son of Governor Nelson Rockefeller; died on expedition to New Guinea (b. 1938)
- 1968 – Mervyn Peake, British writer (b. 1911)
- 1973 – Mirra Alfassa, "The Mother", Sri Aurobindo Ashram (b. 1878)
- 1979 – John Glascock, British bassist (Jethro Tull) (b. 1951)
- 1982 – Eduard Tubin, Estonian composer (b. 1905)
- 1982 – Leonid Borisovitch Kogan, Russian violinist (b. 1924)
- 1982 – Duk Koo Kim, Korean boxer (b. 1959)
- 1986 – Georges Besse, French automobile executive (b. 1927)
- 1987 – Paul Derringer, baseball player (b. 1906)
- 1988 – Sheilah Graham Westbrook, English-US gossip columnist (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Gus Farace, American gangster (b. 1960)
- 1989 – Mary Giatra Lemou, Greek actress (b. 1915)
- 1990 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- 1992 – Audre Lorde, Caribbean-American writer, poet, and activist (b. 1934)
- 1993 – Gérard D. Lévesque, Canadian politician (b. 1926)
- 1995 – Alan Hull, English Rock Musician (Lindisfarne) (b. 1945)
- 1998 – Esther Rolle, American actress (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Louis Néel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
- 2001 – Michael Karoli, German guitarist (b. 1948)
- 2002 – Abba Eban, Israeli diplomat (b. 1915)
- 2002 – Frank McCarthy, American artist and realist painter (b. 1924)
- 2003 – Surjit Bindrakhia, Punjabi artist (b. 1962)
- 2003 – Arthur Conley, American singer (b. 1946)
- 2003 – Don Gibson, American singer (b. 1928)
- 2004 – Mikael Ljungberg, Swedish wrestler (b. 1970)
- 2004 – Alexander Ragulin, Russian hockey player (b. 1941)
- 2005 – Marek Perepeczko, Polish actor (b. 1942)
- 2006 – Ruth Brown, American blues singer (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Bo Schembechler, American football coach (b. 1929)
- 2006 – Flo Sandon's, Italian singer (b. 1924)
- 2008 – Pete Newell, American basketball coach (b. 1915)
- 2008 – George Stephen Morrison, American admiral (b. 1919)
[edit] Holidays and observances
[edit] External links
