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AUGUST 17



Contents
Events
Births
Deaths
Holidays and observances
Liturgical feasts
External links

Events



1717 - George Boone, the grandfather of pioneer and American folk hero Daniel Boone sails to America from Bradninch, England

1807 - Robert Fulton's first American steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.

1862 - Indian Wars: The Lakota (Sioux) Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as vicious Lakota attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.

1863 - American Civil War: In Charleston, South Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard Confederate-held Fort Sumter.

1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville - Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.

1883 - The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, ''Quisqueyanos valientes''.

1907 - Pike Place Market, the longest continuously-running public farmers market in the US, opened in Seattle.

1914 - World War I: Battle of Stalluponen - The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.

1915 - Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia.

1918 - Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.

1933 - New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig played his 1,308th consecutive game, breaking Everett Scott's record. He would continue the streak until 1939.

1942 - U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).

1943 - World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission.

★ 1943 - World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrive in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.

★ 1943 - World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.

1945 - Indonesian Declaration of Independence.

1953 - Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.

1959 - Quake Lake: Quake Lake was formed by a 7.5 rated earthquake in Montana.

1960 - Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.

1962 - East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming the first victim of the wall.

1963 - A ferry linking remote islands off the coast of Okinawa sinks, killing 112.

1969 - Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing $1.5 billion in damage.

1970 - Venera Program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).

1978 - ''Double Eagle II'' becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.

1979 - Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156

1980 - Azaria Chamberlain disappears, likely taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the most publicised trial in Australian history.

1982 - The first Compact Discs (CD's) were released to the public in Germany.

1988 - Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.

1991 - Wade Frankum starts his killing spree in Strathfield, Australia, an event that was later dubbed the Strathfield Massacre.

1998 - Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On the same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about his relationship.

1999 - A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.

2002 - Soham murders: The bodies of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman are found 13 days after their disappearance at the perimeter fence of RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.

2004 - MD5 collision found by Chinese researchers.

★ 2004 - The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.

2005 - The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement plan, starts.

2007 - The level of Arctic ice hits its lowest ever recorded mark.

2007 - High School Musical 2, a Disney Channel Original Movie, makes history as the most watched telecast ever reaching over 17 million viewers in one night.

Births



1473 - Richard, Duke of York (d. 1483?)

1562 - Hans Leo Hassler (baptized), German composer (d. 1612)

1578 - Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)

1601 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)

1629 - King John III of Poland (d. 1696)

1768 - Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800)

1786 - Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and soldier (d. 1836)

1794 - Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849)

1828 - Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)

1844 - Menelek II of Ethiopia (d. 1913)

1863 - Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and naturalist (d. 1924)

1866 - Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)

★ 1866 - Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)

1873 - John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)

1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (d. 1974)

1887 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born Black rights activist (d. 1940)

★ 1887 - Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)

1888 - Monty Woolley, American actor (d. 1963)

1890 - Harry Hopkins, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1946)

★ 1890 - Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920)

1893 - Mae West, American actress (d. 1980)

1896 - Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)

1904 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)

1904 - Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)

1909 - Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985)

1911 - Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (d. 1995)

1913 - W. Mark Felt, American Watergate informant

★ 1913 - Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970)

★ 1913 - Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989)

1914 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (d. 1988)

1919 - Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)

1920 - Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress

1926 - Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician

★ 1926 - George Melly, British jazz & blues singer (d. 2007)

★ 1926 - Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1992)

1929 - Francis Gary Powers, American U-2 pilot and POW that was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 (d. 1977)

1930 - Glenn Corbett, American actor (d. 1993)

★ 1930 - Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)

1932 - V. S. Naipaul, West Indian writer, Nobel Laureate

1933 - Eugene F. Kranz, American space exploration executive

★ 1933 - Mark Dinning, American singer (d. 1986)

1935 - Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor

1938 - Abu Bakar Bashir, Indonesian Muslim cleric

1939 - Luther Allison, American musician

★ 1939 - Anthony Valentine, British actor

1940 - Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian film director (d. 2006)

1941 - Jean Pierre Lefebvre, French Canadian film director

★ 1941 - Boog Powell, American baseball player

1943 - Robert De Niro, American actor

★ 1943 - Dave "Snaker" Ray, American musician (d. 2002)

1944 - Lawrence Joseph Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, Billionaire

1946 - Martha Coolidge, American film director

1947 - Gary Talley, American guitarist (Box Tops)

1948 - Rod MacDonald, American musician

1949 - Sib Hashian, American drummer (Boston)

1951 - Robert Joy, Canadian actor

★ 1951 - Alan Minter, British boxer

1952 - Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver

★ 1952 - Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player

1953 - Judith Regan, American book publisher

★ 1953 - Kevin Rowland, English musician (Dexys Midnight Runners)

1954 - Eric Johnson, American guitarist

1955 - Richard Hilton, American heir

1956 - Gail Berman, American film executive

★ 1956 - Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist

1957 - Robin Cousins, British figure skater

1958 - Belinda Carlisle, American singer

★ 1958 - Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player

1959 - David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)

★ 1959 - Jonathan Franzen, American author

1960 - Sean Penn, American actor and director

★ 1960 - Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer

1962 - Gilby Clarke, American musician Guns N' Roses

1963 - S. Shankar, Indian film director.

1964 - Colin James, Canadian musician

1966 - Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder

★ 1966 - Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player

1968 - Ed McCaffrey, American football player

★ 1968 - Helen McCrory, English actress

1969 - Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer

1970 - Jim Courier, American tennis player

★ 1970 - Rupert Degas, English actor and voice artist

★ 1970 - Oyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer

1971 - Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican baseball player

★ 1971 - Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress

1972 - Ken Ryker, American pornographic actor

1974 - Tony Hajjar, Lebanese drummer (At the Drive-In, Sparta)

1975 - Giuliana DePandi, Italian-born American television personality

1976 - Scott Halberstadt, American actor

1977 - Thierry Henry, French footballer

★ 1977 - Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer

★ 1977 - William Gallas, French footballer

1978 - Vibeke Stene, Norwegian singer (Tristania)

1979 - Antwaan Randle El, American football player

★ 1979 - Marcus Patric, British actor

1980 - Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer

★ 1980 - Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer

★ 1980 - Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer

1982 - Melissa Anderson, American professional wrestler

★ 1982 - Phil Jagielka, English footballer

1983 - Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player

1984 - Dee Brown, American basketball player

1986 - Rudy Gay, American basketball player

★ 1986 - Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player

1988 - Erika Toda, Japanese actress

1990 - Rachel Hurd-Wood, British actress

★ 1990 - Colin Bates, American actor

1996 - Ella Cruz, Filipina actress

Deaths



1153 - Eustace IV of Boulogne, son of Stephen of England (b. 1130)

1304 - Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)

1510 - Edmund Dudley, English statesman (b. 1462)

1657 - Robert Blake, British admiral (b. 1599)

1673 - Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)

1676 - Hans Jakob Christoph von Grimmelshausen, German novelist (b. 1621)

1720 - Anne Lefèvre, French scholar (b. 1654)

1723 - Joseph Bingham, English scholar (b. 1668)

1768 (N. S.) - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b. 1703)

1785 - Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of the Colony and the state of Connecticut (b. 1710)

1786 - King Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712)

1834 - Husein Gradaščević, Bosnian rebel leader (b. 1802)

1850 - Don José de San Martín, Argentine general (b. 1778)

1875 - Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist (b. 1827)

1880 - Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (b. 1810)

1896 - Bridget Driscoll, world's first automobile fatality

1901 - Edmond Audran, French composer (b. 1842)

1918 - Moisei Uritsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1873)

1920 - Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891)

1925 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer of Romanian origin (b. 1848)

1940 - Billy Fiske, American aviator and Olympic athlete (b. 1911)

1954 - Billy Murray, American recording artist (b. 1877)

1962 - Peter Fechter trying to cross the Berlin Wall (b. 1944)

1969 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)

1970 - Rattana Pestonji, Thai filmmaker (b. 1908)

1971 - Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)

1973 - Jean Barraqué, French composer (b. 1928)

★ 1973 - Paul Williams, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1939)

★ 1973 - Conrad Aiken, American author (b. 1889)

1979 - Vivian Vance, American actress (b. 1909)

1983 - Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896)

1987 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi deputy (b. 1894)

1988 - Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 6th President of Pakistan (b. 1924)

★ 1988 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1914)

★ 1988 - Victoria Shaw, Australian-born American actress (b. 1935)

1990 - Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)

1992 - Al Parker, American adult film actor (b. 1952)

1993 - Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician (b. 1920)

1994 - Jack Sharkey, American boxer (b. 1902)

1995 - Howard Koch, American screenwriter (b. 1902)

★ 1995 - Ted Whitten, Australian rules footballer (b. 1933)

2004 - Thea Astley, Australian writer (b. 1925)

★ 2004 - Gérard Souzay, French baritone (b. 1918)

2005 - John Bahcall, American astrophysicist (b. 1934)

2007 - Bill Deedes, British journalist and politician (b. 1913)

★ 2007 - Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)

Holidays and observances



Independence Day – observance in Indonesia.

Rastafari movement - celebration of the birth of Marcus Garvey, considered a prophet.

Día del Libertador - observed in Argentina, on the day when José de San Martín died.

Slovenia: Slovenians in Prekmurje Incorporated into the Mother Nation Day
Liturgical feasts


Saint Elias of Calabria

Saint Hyacinth of Poland

Saint Hiero (Jeron), martyr [Utrecht]

★ Octave of saint Lawrence [common]

Saint Liberatus, abbot, and companions, martyrs

Saint Mamas, martyr [Metz, France]

★ Victory of French king Philip IV the Fair at Mons-en-Pévèle [Paris]

Saint Clare of the Cross

External links



BBC: On This Day



On This Day in Canada
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