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August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. 136 days remain until the end of the year.

Events[]

  • 309/310Pope Eusebius is banished by the Emperor Maxentius to Sicily, where he dies, perhaps from a hunger strike.
  • 682Pope Leo II begins his pontificate.
  • 986Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of the Gates of Trajan: The Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron defeat the Byzantine forces at the Gate of Trajan, with Byzantine Emperor Basil II barely escaping.
  • 1186Georgenberg Pact: Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria and Leopold V, Duke of Austria sign a heritage agreement in which Ottokar gives his duchy to Leopold and to his son Frederick under the stipulation that Austria and Styria would henceforth remain undivided.
  • 1386Karl Topia, the ruler of Princedom of Albania forges an alliance with the Republic of Venice, committing to participate in all wars of the Republic and receiving coastal protection against the Ottomans in return.
  • 1424Hundred Years' War: Battle of Verneuil: An English force under John, Duke of Bedford defeats a larger French army under Jean II, Duke of Alençon, John Stewart, and Earl Archibald of Douglas.
  • 1498Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, becomes the first person in history to resign the cardinalate; later that same day, King Louis XII of France names him Duke of Valentinois.
  • 1549Battle of Sampford Courtenay: The Prayer Book Rebellion is quashed in England.
  • 1560 – The Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.
  • 1585Eighty Years' War: Siege of Antwerp: Antwerp is captured by Spanish forces under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma, who orders Protestants to leave the city and as a result over half of the 100,000 inhabitants flee to the northern provinces.
  • 1585 – A first group of colonists sent by Sir Walter Raleigh under the charge of Ralph Lane lands in the New World to create Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina.
  • 1597Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.
  • 1668 – A magnitude 8.0 earthquake causes 8,000 deaths in Anatolia, Ottoman Empire.
  • 1712Action of 17 August 1712 New Deep naval battle between Denmark and Sweden.
  • 1717Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18: The month-long Siege of Belgrade ends with Prince Eugene of Savoy's Austrian troops capturing the city from the Ottoman Empire.
  • 1723Ioan Giurgiu Patachi becomes Bishop of Făgăraș and is festively installed in his position at the St. Nicolas Cathedral in Făgăraș, after being formally confirmed earlier by Pope Clement XI.
  • 1740Pope Benedict XIV, previously known as Prospero Lambertini, succeeds Clement XII as the 247th Pope.
  • 1784 – Classical composer Luigi Boccherini receives a pay rise of 12000 reals from his employer, the Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón.
  • 1798 – The Vietnamese Catholics report a Marian apparition in Quảng Trị, an event which is called Our Lady of La Vang.
  • 1807Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
  • 1827 – Dutch King William I and Pope Leo XII sign concord.
  • 1836British parliament accepts registration of births, marriages and deaths.
  • 1862American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Dakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.
  • 1862 – American Civil War: Major General J. E. B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
  • 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.
  • 1866 – The Grand Duchy of Baden announces her withdrawal from the German Confederation and signs a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia.
  • 1883 – The first public performance of the Dominican Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
  • 1896Bridget Driscoll became the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in the United Kingdom.
  • 1914World War I: Battle of Stallupönen: The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Paul von Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
  • 1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched in Marietta, Georgia after a 13-year-old girl is murdered.
  • 1915 – A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour (217 km/h).
  • 1916 – World War I: Romania signs a secret treaty with the Entente Powers. According to the treaty, Romania agreed to join the war on the Allied side.
  • 1918Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.
  • 1942World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin.
  • 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 arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard 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.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany's V-weapon program.
  • 1945Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
  • 1945 – The novella Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published.
  • 1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between the Dominions of India and Pakistan, is revealed.
  • 1953 – First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous takes place, in Southern California.
  • 1955Hurricane Diane made landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina, and it went on to cause major floods and kill more than 184 people.[1][2]
  • 1958Pioneer 0, America's first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.
  • 1959Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.
  • 1962Peter Fechter is shot and bleeds to death while trying to cross the new Berlin Wall.
  • 1969Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 and causing $1.42 billion in damage.
  • 1970Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).
  • 1977 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
  • 1978Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.
  • 1988 – President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
  • 1991Strathfield massacre: In Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots seven people and injures six others before turning the gun on himself.
  • 1998Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky; later that same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship.
  • 1999 – The 7.6 Template:M İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 17,118–17,127 dead and 43,953–50,000 injured.
  • 2004 – The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože 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 Israeli disengagement from Gaza, starts.
  • 2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.
  • 2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic Games.
  • 2009An accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts down the hydroelectric power station, leading to widespread power failure in the local area.
  • 2015 – A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others.
  • 2017Barcelona attacks: A van is driven into pedestrians in La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100.
  • 2019A bomb explodes at a wedding in Kabul killing 63 people and leaving 182 injured.[3]

Births[]

  • 1153William IX, Count of Poitiers (d. 1156)
  • 1465Philibert I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1482)
  • 1473Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York (d. 1483)
  • 1501Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (d. 1529)
  • 1556Alexander Briant, English martyr and saint (d. 1581)
  • 1578Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
  • 1578 – Johann, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, first prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (d. 1638)
  • 1582John Matthew Rispoli, Maltese philosopher (d. 1639)
  • 1586Johann Valentin Andrea, German theologian (d. 1654)
  • 1603Lennart Torstensson, Swedish Field Marshal, Privy Councillour and Governor-General (d. 1651)
  • 1629John III Sobieski, Polish–Lithuanian king (d. 1696)
  • 1686Nicola Porpora, Italian composer and educator (d. 1768)
  • 1753Josef Dobrovský, Bohemian philologist and historian (d. 1828)
  • 1768Louis Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
  • 1786Davy Crockett, American soldier and politician (d. 1836)
  • 1786 – Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1861)
  • 1801Fredrika Bremer, Swedish writer and feminist (d. 1865)[4]
  • 1828Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist and physician (d. 1897)
  • 1840Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, English poet and activist (d. 1922)
  • 1845Henry Cadwalader Chapman, American physician and naturalist (d. 1909)
  • 1849William Kidston, Scottish-Australian politician, 17th Premier of Queensland (d. 1919)
  • 1863Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and photographer (d. 1924)
  • 1865Julia Marlowe, English-American actress (d. 1950)
  • 1866Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI, Indian 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
  • 1873John A. Sampson, American gynecologist and academic (d. 1946)
  • 1877Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (d. 1923)
  • 1878Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
  • 1880Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer and tennis player (d. 1948)
  • 1887Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
  • 1887 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican journalist and activist, founded Black Star Line (d. 1940)
  • 1888Monty Woolley, American actor, raconteur, and pundit (d. 1963)
  • 1890Stefan Bastyr, Polish soldier and pilot (d. 1920)
  • 1890 – Harry Hopkins, American politician and diplomat, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1946)
  • 1893John Brahm, German-American director and production manager (d. 1982)
  • 1893 – Mae West, American actress, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1980)
  • 1894William Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes, English businessman, founded Rootes Group (d. 1964)
  • 1896Leslie Groves, American general and engineer (d. 1970)
  • 1896 – Tõnis Kint, Estonian lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1991)
  • 1896 – Oliver Waterman Larkin, American historian and author (d. 1970)
  • 1900Vivienne de Watteville, British travel writer and adventurer (d. 1957)
  • 1900 – Pauline A. Young, American teacher, historian, aviator and activist (d. 1991)
  • 1904Mary Cain, American journalist and politician (d. 1984)
  • 1904 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian composer and musicologist (d. 1991)
  • 1909Larry Clinton, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1985)
  • 1909 – Wilf Copping, English footballer (d. 1980)
  • 1911Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player and engineer (d. 1995)
  • 1911 – Martin Sandberger, German colonel and lawyer (d. 2010)
  • 1913Mark Felt, American lawyer and agent, 2nd Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 2008)
  • 1913 – Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1989)
  • 1913 – Rudy York, American baseball player and manager (d. 1970)
  • 1914Bill Downs, American journalist (d. 1978)
  • 1914 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1988)
  • 1916Moses Majekodunmi, Nigerian physician and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1918Evelyn Ankers, British-American actress (d. 1985)
  • 1918 – Ike Quebec, American saxophonist and pianist (d. 1963)
  • 1918 – Michael John Wise, English geographer and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1919Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)
  • 1920Maureen O'Hara, Irish-American actress and singer (d. 2015)
  • 1920 – Lida Moser, American photographer and author (d. 2014)
  • 1921Geoffrey Elton, German-English historian and academic (d. 1994)
  • 1922Roy Tattersall, English cricketer (d. 2011)
  • 1923Carlos Cruz-Diez, Venezuelan artist (d. 2019)
  • 1923 – Larry Rivers, American painter and sculptor (d. 2002)
  • 1924Evan S. Connell, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 2013)
  • 1926Valerie Eliot, English businesswoman (d. 2012)
  • 1926 – Jiang Zemin, Chinese engineer and politician, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and 5th President of China
  • 1927Sam Butera, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2009)
  • 1927 – F. Ray Keyser Jr., American lawyer and politician, 72nd Governor of Vermont (d. 2015)
  • 1928T. J. Anderson, American composer, conductor, and educator
  • 1928 – Willem Duys, Dutch tennis player, sportscaster, and producer (d. 2011)
  • 1929Francis Gary Powers, American captain and pilot (d. 1977)
  • 1930Harve Bennett, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – Ted Hughes, English poet and playwright (d. 1998)
  • 1931Tony Wrigley, English historian, demographer, and academic
  • 1932V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-English novelist and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
  • 1932 – Duke Pearson, American pianist and composer (d. 1980)
  • 1932 – Jean-Jacques Sempé, French cartoonist
  • 1933Mark Dinning, American pop singer (d. 1986)
  • 1934João Donato, Brazilian pianist and composer
  • 1934 – Ron Henry, English footballer (d. 2014)
  • 1936Seamus Mallon, Irish educator and politician, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2020)
  • 1936 – Margaret Heafield Hamilton, American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner.
  • 1938Theodoros Pangalos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
  • 1939Luther Allison, American blues guitarist and singer (d. 1997)
  • 1940Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
  • 1940 – Barry Sheerman, English academic and politician
  • 1941Lothar Bisky, German businessman and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Jean Pierre Lefebvre, Canadian director and screenwriter
  • 1942Shane Porteous, Australian actor, animator, and screenwriter
  • 1943Edward Cowie, English composer, painter, and author
  • 1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor, entrepreneur, director, and producer
  • 1943 – John Humphrys, Welsh journalist and author
  • 1943 – Dave "Snaker" Ray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
  • 1944Larry Ellison, American businessman, co-founded the Oracle Corporation
  • 1944 – Jean-Bernard Pommier, French pianist and conductor
  • 1945Rachel Pollack, American author, poet, and educator
  • 1946Hugh Baiocchi, South African golfer
  • 1946 – Martha Coolidge, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1946 – Patrick Manning, Trinidadian-Tobagonian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2016)
  • 1947Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (1976-2016) (d. 2016)
  • 1947 – Gary Talley, American guitarist, singer-songwriter, and author
  • 1948Alexander Ivashkin, Russian-English cellist and conductor (d. 2014)
  • 1949Norm Coleman, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Mayor of St. Paul
  • 1949 – Sue Draheim, American fiddler and composer (d. 2013)
  • 1949 – Julian Fellowes, English actor, director, screenwriter, and politician
  • 1949 – Sib Hashian, American rock drummer (d. 2017)
  • 1951Richard Hunt, American Muppet performer (d. 1992)
  • 1952Aleksandr Maksimenkov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
  • 1952 – Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver and businessman
  • 1952 – Mario Theissen, German engineer and businessman
  • 1952 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
  • 1953Mick Malthouse, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1953 – Herta Müller, Romanian-German poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1953 – Korrie Layun Rampan, Indonesian author, poet, and critic (d. 2015)
  • 1953 – Kevin Rowland, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1954Eric Johnson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1954 – Andrés Pastrana Arango, Colombian lawyer and politician, 38th President of Colombia
  • 1955Colin Moulding, English singer-songwriter and bassist
  • 1956Gail Berman, American businessman, co-founded BermanBraun
  • 1956 – Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist
  • 1957Ken Kwapis, American director and screenwriter
  • 1957 – Laurence Overmire, American poet, author, and actor
  • 1957 – Robin Cousins, British competitive figure skater
  • 1958Belinda Carlisle, American singer-songwriter
  • 1958 – Fred Goodwin, Scottish banker and accountant
  • 1958 – Maurizio Sandro Sala, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1959Jonathan Franzen, American novelist and essayist
  • 1959 – Jacek Kazimierski, Polish footballer
  • 1959 – Eric Schlosser, American journalist and author
  • 1960Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer-songwriter
  • 1960 – Sean Penn, American actor, director, and political activist[5]
  • 1962Gilby Clarke, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1962 – Dan Dakich, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1963Jon Gruden, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1964Colin James, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1964 – Maria McKee, American singer-songwriter
  • 1964 – Dave Penney, English footballer and manager
  • 1965Steve Gorman, American drummer
  • 1965 – Dottie Pepper, American golfer
  • 1966Jüri Luik, Estonian politician and diplomat, 18th Estonian Minister of Defense
  • 1966 – Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder and stuntman
  • 1966 – Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
  • 1967Michael Preetz, German footballer and manager
  • 1968Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1968 – Ed McCaffrey, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Helen McCrory, English actress
  • 1969Christian Laettner, American basketball player and coach
  • 1969 – Donnie Wahlberg, American singer-songwriter, actor and producer
  • 1969 – Kelvin Mercer, American rapper, songwriter and producer
  • 1970Jim Courier, American tennis player and sportscaster
  • 1970 – Andrus Kivirähk, Estonian author
  • 1970 – Øyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer and coach
  • 1971Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
  • 1971 – Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
  • 1971 – Shaun Rehn, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1972Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
  • 1974Johannes Maria Staud, Austrian composer
  • 1976Eric Boulton, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1976 – Geertjan Lassche, Dutch journalist and director
  • 1976 – Serhiy Zakarlyuka, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1977Nathan Deakes, Australian race walker
  • 1977 – William Gallas, French footballer
  • 1977 – Thierry Henry, French footballer
  • 1977 – Mike Lewis, Welsh guitarist
  • 1977 – Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1979Antwaan Randle El, American football player and journalist
  • 1980Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
  • 1980 – Daniel Güiza, Spanish footballer
  • 1980 – Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
  • 1980 – Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer-songwriter
  • 1982Phil Jagielka, English footballer
  • 1982 – Cheerleader Melissa, American wrestler and manager
  • 1982 – Mark Salling, American actor and musician (d. 2018)
  • 1983Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
  • 1984Dee Brown, American basketball player
  • 1984 – Oksana Domnina, Russian ice dancer
  • 1984 – Liam Heath, British sprint canoeist[6]
  • 1984 – Garrett Wolfe, American football player
  • 1985Yū Aoi, Japanese actress and model
  • 1986Rudy Gay, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player
  • 1988Natalie Sandtorv, Norwegian singer-songwriter
  • 1988 – Jihadi John, Kuwaiti-British member of ISIS (d. 2015)
  • 1988 – Erika Toda, Japanese actress
  • 1989Rachel Corsie, Scottish footballer[7]
  • 1992Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (d. 2013)
  • 1992 – Chanel Mata'utia, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Paige, English wrestler
  • 1993Ederson Moraes, Brazilian footballer
  • 1993 – Sarah Sjöström, Swedish swimmer
  • 1994Phoebe Bridgers, American singer/songwriter
  • 1995Gracie Gold, American figure skater
  • 1995 – Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1996Jake Virtanen, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 2000Lil Pump, American rapper and songwriter

Deaths[]

  • 754Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia
  • 949Li Shouzhen, Chinese general and governor
  • 1153Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne (b. 1130)
  • 1304Emperor Go-Fukakusa of Japan (b. 1243)
  • 1324Irene of Brunswick (b. 1293)
  • 1338Nitta Yoshisada, Japanese samurai (b. 1301)
  • 1424John Stewart, Earl of Buchan (b. c. 1381)
  • 1510Edmund Dudley, English politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1462)
  • 1510 – Richard Empson, English statesman
  • 1547Katharina von Zimmern, Swiss sovereign abbess (b. 1478)
  • 1673Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1641)
  • 1676Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, German author (b. 1621)
  • 1720Anne Dacier, French scholar and translator (b. 1654)
  • 1723Joseph Bingham, English scholar and academic (b. 1668)
  • 1768Vasily Trediakovsky, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1703)
  • 1785Jonathan Trumbull, English-American merchant and politician, 16th Governor of Connecticut (b. 1710)
  • 1786Frederick the Great, Prussian king (b. 1712)
  • 1809Matthew Boulton, English businessman and engineer, co-founded Boulton and Watt (b. 1728)[8]
  • 1814John Johnson, English architect and surveyor (b. 1732)
  • 1834Husein Gradaščević, Ottoman general (b. 1802)
  • 1838Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian playwright and poet (b. 1749)
  • 1850José de San Martín, Argentinian general and politician, 1st President of Peru (b. 1778)
  • 1861Alcée Louis la Branche, American politician and diplomat, 1st United States Ambassador to Texas (b. 1806)
  • 1870Perucho Figueredo, Cuban poet and activist (b. 1818)
  • 1875Wilhelm Bleek, German linguist and anthropologist (b. 1827)
  • 1897William Jervois, English engineer and diplomat, 10th Governor of South Australia (b. 1821)
  • 1901Edmond Audran, French organist and composer (b. 1842)
  • 1903Hans Gude, Norwegian-German painter and academic (b. 1825)
  • 1908Radoje Domanović, Serbian satirist and journalist (b. 1873)
  • 1909Madan Lal Dhingra, Indian activist (b. 1883)
  • 1918Moisei Uritsky, Russian activist and politician (b. 1873)
  • 1920Ray Chapman, American baseball player (b. 1891)
  • 1924Tom Kendall, English-Australian cricketer and journalist (b. 1851)
  • 1925Ioan Slavici, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1848)
  • 1935Adam Gunn, American decathlete (b. 1872)
  • 1935 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American sociologist and author (b. 1860)
  • 1936José María of Manila, Spanish-Filipino priest and martyr (b. 1880)
  • 1940Billy Fiske, American soldier and pilot (b. 1911)[9]
  • 1945Reidar Haaland, Norwegian police officer and soldier (b. 1919)
  • 1949Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino journalist, jurist, and politician (b. 1891)
  • 1958Arthur Fox, English-American fencer (b. 1878)
  • 1966Ken Miles, English race car driver and engineer (b. 1918)
  • 1969Otto Stern, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
  • 1970Rattana Pestonji, Thai director and producer (b. 1908)
  • 1971Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (b. 1914)
  • 1971 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (b. 1880)
  • 1973Conrad Aiken, American novelist, short story writer, critic, and poet (b. 1889)
  • 1973 – Jean Barraqué, French pianist and composer (b. 1928)
  • 1973 – Paul Williams, American singer and choreographer (b. 1939)
  • 1977Delmer Daves, American screenwriter, director and producer (b. 1904)
  • 1979John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (b. 1907)
  • 1979 – Vivian Vance, American actress and singer (b. 1909)
  • 1983Ira Gershwin, American songwriter (b. 1896)
  • 1987Gary Chester, Italian drummer and educator (b. 1924)
  • 1987 – Rudolf Hess, German soldier and politician (b. 1894)
  • 1987 – Shaike Ophir, Israeli actor and screenwriter (b. 1929)
  • 1988Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani general and politician, 6th President of Pakistan (b. 1924)
  • 1988 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1914)
  • 1988 – Victoria Shaw, Australian-American actress (b. 1935)
  • 1990Pearl Bailey, American actress and singer (b. 1918)[10]
  • 1993Feng Kang, Chinese mathematician and academic (b. 1920)
  • 1994Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver and businessman (b. 1901)
  • 1994 – Jack Sharkey, American boxer and referee (b. 1902)
  • 1995Howard E. Koch, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1902)
  • 1995 – Ted Whitten, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1933)
  • 1998Władysław Komar, Polish shot putter and actor (b. 1940)
  • 1998 – Tadeusz Ślusarski, Polish pole vaulter (b. 1950)
  • 2000Jack Walker, English businessman (b. 1929)
  • 2004Thea Astley, Australian author and educator (b. 1925)
  • 2005John N. Bahcall, American astrophysicist and academic (b. 1934)
  • 2006Shamsur Rahman, Bangladeshi poet and journalist (b. 1929)
  • 2007Bill Deedes, English journalist and politician (b. 1913)
  • 2007 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (b. 1982)
  • 2008Franco Sensi, Italian businessman and politician (b. 1926)
  • 2010Francesco Cossiga, Italian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Italy (b. 1928)
  • 2012Aase Bjerkholt, Norwegian politician, Minister of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion (b. 1915)
  • 2012 – Victor Poor, American engineer, developed the Datapoint 2200 (b. 1933)
  • 2012 – Patrick Ricard, French businessman (b. 1945)
  • 2012 – John Lynch-Staunton, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1930)
  • 2013Odilia Dank, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
  • 2013 – Jack Harshman, American baseball player (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – John Hollander, American poet and critic (b. 1929)
  • 2013 – Frank Martínez, American painter (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Gus Winckel, Dutch lieutenant and pilot (b. 1912)
  • 2014Børre Knudsen, Norwegian minister and activist (b. 1937)
  • 2014 – Wolfgang Leonhard, German historian and author (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Sophie Masloff, American civil servant and politician, 56th Mayor of Pittsburgh (b. 1917)
  • 2014 – Miodrag Pavlović, Serbian poet and critic (b. 1928)
  • 2014 – Pierre Vassiliu, French singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
  • 2015Yvonne Craig, American ballet dancer and actress (b. 1937)
  • 2015 – Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, German businessman (b. 1933)
  • 2015 – László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1927)
  • 2016Arthur Hiller, Canadian actor, director, and producer (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances[]

  • Christian feast day:
    • Clare of the Cross
    • Donatus of Ripacandida
    • Hyacinth of Poland
    • Jacobo Kyushei Tomonaga
    • Jeanne Delanoue
    • Johann Gerhard (Lutheran)
    • Mammes of Caesarea (Catholic Church)
    • Samuel Johnson, Timothy Cutler, and Thomas Bradbury Chandler (Episcopal Church)
    • August 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Engineer's Day (Colombia)
  • Flag Day (Bolivia)
  • Independence Day, celebrates the independence proclamation of Indonesia from Japan in 1945.
  • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Gabon from France in 1960.
  • Marcus Garvey Day (Jamaica)
  • Prekmurje Union Day (Slovenia)
  • San Martin Day (Argentina)

References[]

  1. Gordon E. Dunn; Walter R. Davis; Paul L. Moore (December 1955). "Hurricanes of 1955" (PDF). Monthly Weather Review. United States Weather Bureau. 83 (12): 319. Bibcode:1955MWRv...83..315D. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1955)083<0315:HO>2.0.CO;2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2013-02-13.
  2. Edward N. Rappaport; Jose Fernandez-Partagas; Jack Beven (1997-04-22). "Appendix 1: Cyclones with 25+ deaths". The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492– 1996 (Report). National Hurricane Center. Retrieved 2013-02-03.
  3. "Bomb blast at wedding party in Kabul, Afghanistan kills 63 and injures 182 more". Sky News. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  4. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bremer, Fredrika" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 494–495.
  5. "Sean Penn". Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  6. "Liam Heath". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  7. "Rachel Corsie | Scotland | Scottish FA". www.scottishfa.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  8. Uglow, Jenny (2002), The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World, London: Faber & Faber, p. 495, ISBN 978-0-374-19440-6
  9. "Day by day: 17 August 1940". The Battle of Britain Memorial. Retrieved 14 August 2020. Today say the death of Pilot Officer Billy Fiske of No 601 Squadron, one of the American volunteers to fly with the RAF in the Battle. Fiske’s Hurricane had been hit by return fire from a Ju 87 over Bognor Regis the day before and had forced-landed back at Tangmere on fire. At the time the airfield was being bombed, but groundcrew carried him clear. He had appeared to be recovering in hospital before his death from burns and shock.
  10. "Pearl Bailey | American entertainer". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 June 2020.

External links[]


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