July 17 is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 167 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.
- 1203 – The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault. The Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile.
- 1402 – Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming Dynasty of China.
- 1453 – Battle of Castillon: The last battle of Hundred Years' War, the The French under Jean Bureau defeat the English under the Earl of Shrewsbury, who is killed in the battle in Gascony.
- 1586 – A meeting takes place at Lüneburg between several Protestant powers in order to discuss the formation of an 'evangelical' league of defence, called the 'Confederatio Militiae Evangelicae', against the Catholic League.
- 1717 – King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.
- 1762 – Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia.
- 1771 – Bloody Falls Massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
- 1791 – Members of the French National Guard under the command of General Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, during the French Revolution, killing as many as 50 people.
- 1794 – The sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne are executed 10 days prior to the end of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.
- 1856 – The Great Train Wreck of 1856 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, kills over 60 people.
- 1867 – Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the first dental school in the U.S. that was affiliated with a university.
- 1899 – NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.
- 1917 – King George V issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor.
- 1918 – Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are murdered by Bolshevik Chekists at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
- 1918 – The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; 5 lives are lost.
- 1932 – Altona Bloody Sunday.
- 1933 – After successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft Lituanica crashes in Europe under mysterious circumstances.
- 1936 – Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the civil war.
- 1938 – Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the "wrong way" to Ireland and becomes known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan.
- 1944 – Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320.
- 1944 – World War II: Napalm incendiary bombs are dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near Saint-Lô, France.
- 1945 – World War II: the leaders of the three Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.
- 1948 – The South Korean constitution is proclaimed.
- 1955 – Disneyland is dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California.
- 1962 – Nuclear weapons testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada National Security Site.
- 1968 – A revolution occurs in Iraq when Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
- 1973 – King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan while in Italy undergoing eye surgery.
- 1975 – Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
- 1976 – History of East Timor: East Timor is annexed, and becomes the 27th province of Indonesia.
- 1976 – The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team.
- 1979 – Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.
- 1981 – The opening of the Humber Bridge by Queen Elizabeth II in England, United Kingdom.
- 1981 – A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri killing 114 people and injuring more than 200.
- 1989 – First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
- 1996 – TWA Flight 800: Off the coast of Long Island, New York, a Paris-bound TWA Boeing 747 explodes, killing all 230 on board.
- 1998 – Papua New Guinea earthquake: A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 3,183, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless.
- 1998 – A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, Crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
- 2007 – TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas) Flight 3054 crashes upon landing during rain in São Paulo. This is Brazil's deadliest aviation accident to date with an estimated 199 deaths.
- 2009 – Jakarta double bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels killed 9 people including 4 foreigners.
Births
- 1487 – Ismail I, Iranian ruler, founder of the Safavid dynasty (d. 1524)
- 1674 – Isaac Watts, English hymnwriter and theologian (d. 1748)
- 1698 – Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician (d. 1759)
- 1744 – Elbridge Gerry, American politician, 5th Vice President of the United States (d. 1814)
- 1745 – Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Russian general (d. 1826)
- 1763 – John Jacob Astor, German-American businessman (d. 1848)
- 1774 – John Wilbur, American minister (d. 1856)
- 1797 – Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter (d. 1856)
- 1823 – Leander Clark, American businessman and politician (d. 1910)
- 1831 – Xianfeng Emperor of China (d. 1861)
- 1839 – Ephraim Shay, American inventor and engineer, invented the Shay locomotive (d. 1916)
- 1853 – Alexius Meinong, Austrian philosopher (d. 1920)
- 1868 – Henri Nathansen, Danish writer and director (d. 1944)
- 1870 – Charles Davidson Dunbar, Scottish bagpipe player (d. 1939)
- 1871 – Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and caricaturist (d. 1956)
- 1888 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1888 – Milán Füst, Hungarian writer, (d. 1967)
- 1889 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (d. 1970)
- 1898 – Berenice Abbott, American photographer (d. 1991)
- 1898 – Osmond Borradaile, Canadian cinematographer (d. 1999)
- 1898 – George Robert Vincent, American historian (d. 1985)
- 1899 – James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Marcel Dalio, French actor (d. 1983)
- 1901 – Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver (d. 1994)
- 1901 – Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (d. 1938)
- 1902 – Christina Stead, Australian novelist (d. 1983)
- 1910 – Barbara O'Neil, American actress (d. 1980)
- 1910 – Frank Olson, American biologist (d. 1953)
- 1911 – Ted Anderson, English footballer (d. 1979)
- 1912 – Erwin Bauer, German race car driver (d. 1958)
- 1912 – Art Linkletter, Canadian-American radio and television host (d. 2010)
- 1913 – Bertrand Goldberg, American architect, designed the Marina City building (d. 1997)
- 1915 – Fred Ball, American actor (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Lou Boudreau, American baseball player and manager (d. 2001)
- 1917 – Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedian
- 1917 – Red Sovine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1980)
- 1918 – Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, Guatemalan politician, President of Guatemala (d. 2003)
- 1920 – Gordon Gould, American physicist, inventor of the laser (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish sports administrator, 7th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Kenneth Wolstenholme, English sportscaster (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Louis Lachenal, French mountaineer (d. 1955)
- 1921 – František Zvarík, Slovakian actor (d. 2008)
- 1923 – John Cooper, English car designer, co-founded the Cooper Car Company (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Olive Ann Burns, American writer (d. 1990)
- 1925 – Jimmy Scott, American jazz singer
- 1926 – Édouard Carpentier, Canadian wrestler (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Charles Champlin, American critic and writer
- 1928 – Vince Guaraldi, American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer (d. 1976)
- 1929 – Sergei K. Godunov, Russian mathematician
- 1932 – Quino, Argentine cartoonist
- 1932 – Johnny Kerr, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
- 1932 – Hal Riney, American advertising executive, founded Publicis & Hal Riney (d. 2008)
- 1933 – Tony Pithey, South African cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1935 – Diahann Carroll, American actor
- 1935 – Peter Schickele, American composer
- 1935 – Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
- 1938 – Hermann Huppen, Belgian writer and illustrator
- 1939 – Andrée Champagne, Canadian actress and politician
- 1939 – Spencer Davis, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Spencer Davis Group)
- 1939 – Ali Khamenei, Iranian politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of Iran
- 1940 – Tim Brooke-Taylor, English actor
- 1941 – Daryle Lamonica, American football player
- 1941 – Bob Taylor, English cricketer
- 1941 – Achim Warmbold, German race car driver
- 1942 – Gale Garnett, New Zealand-Canadian singer, actress, and writer
- 1942 – Connie Hawkins, American basketball player
- 1942 – Don Kessinger, American baseball player
- 1942 – Peter Sissons, English journalist
- 1943 – LaVyrle Spencer, American author
- 1944 – Mark Burgess, New Zealand cricketer
- 1944 – Catherine Schell, Hungarian-English actress
- 1944 – Carlos Alberto Torres, Brazilian footballer
- 1945 – Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
- 1946 – Alun Armstrong, English actor
- 1947 – Robert Begerau, German footballer
- 1947 – Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
- 1947 – Wolfgang Flür, German musician (Kraftwerk)
- 1948 – Ron Asheton, American musician, songwriter, and actor (The Stooges, Destroy All Monsters, The New Order, and New Race) (d. 2009)
- 1948 – Luc Bondy, Swiss director
- 1949 – Geezer Butler, English musician and songwriter (Black Sabbath, GZR, and Heaven & Hell)
- 1949 – Charley Steiner, American sportscaster
- 1950 – Derek de Lint, Dutch actor
- 1950 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Sisters of Glory) (d. 2011)
- 1950 – P. J. Soles, German-American actress
- 1951 – Lucie Arnaz, American actress
- 1952 – David Hasselhoff, American actor and singer
- 1952 – Nicolette Larson, American singer (d. 1997)
- 1954 – Angela Merkel, German politician, Chancellor of Germany
- 1954 – J. Michael Straczynski, American author
- 1955 – Paul Stamets, American mycologist and author
- 1955 – Christopher Chappell, Canadian cricketer
- 1956 – Robert Romanus, American actor
- 1956 – Bryan Trottier, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1957 – Fern Britton, English television host
- 1958 – Wong Kar-wai, Chinese director
- 1960 – Kim Barnett, English cricketer
- 1960 – Mark Burnett, English-American television producer
- 1960 – Nancy Giles, American actress
- 1960 – Robin Shou, Hong Kong actor
- 1960 – Dawn Upshaw, American soprano
- 1960 – Jan Wouters, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1961 – Guru, American rapper, producer, and actor (Gang Starr) (d. 2010)
- 1961 – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian
- 1961 – Roy Pienaar, South African cricketer
- 1961 – Jonathan Potts, Canadian actor
- 1962 – Bill Sage, American actor
- 1963 – Letsie III of Lesotho
- 1963 – Regina Belle, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1963 – Matti Nykänen, Finnish ski jumper
- 1963 – John Ventimiglia, American actor
- 1965 – Craig Morgan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Santiago Segura, Spanish actor and director
- 1965 – Alex Winter, English director
- 1966 – Lou Barlow, American singer-songwriter and musician (Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, and The Folk Implosion)
- 1966 – Sten Tolgfors, Swedish politician
- 1967 – Susan Ashton, American singer
- 1968 – Beth Littleford, American comedian and actress
- 1968 – Andre Royo, American actor
- 1968 – Bitty Schram, American actress
- 1969 – F. Gary Gray, American director
- 1969 – Scott Johnson, American cartoonist
- 1970 – Mandy Smith, English model and singer
- 1971 – Calbert Cheaney, American basketball player
- 1971 – Cory Doctorow, Canadian author and activist
- 1971 – Nico Mattan, Belgian cyclist
- 1972 – Elizabeth Cook, American singer and guitarist
- 1972 – Donny Marshall, American basketball player
- 1972 – Jason Rullo, American drummer (Symphony X and Redemption)
- 1972 – Jaap Stam, Dutch footballer
- 1972 – Eric Williams, American basketball player
- 1973 – Tony Dovolani, Albanian-American dancer
- 1973 – Eric Moulds, American football player
- 1973 – Liam Kyle Sullivan, American comedian and actor
- 1974 – Laura Macdonald, Scottish saxophonist and composer
- 1974 – Andy Whitfield, Welsh actor (d. 2011)
- 1975 – Darude, Finnish DJ and producer
- 1975 – Harlette, Australian-English fashion designer
- 1975 – Andre Adams, New Zealand cricketer
- 1975 – Elena Anaya, Spanish actress
- 1975 – Cécile de France, Belgian actress
- 1975 – Paul Hinojos, American musician and composer (At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta, and Sparta)
- 1975 – Konnie Huq, English television host
- 1975 – Terence Tao, Australian-Chinese mathematician
- 1976 – Luke Bryan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Gino D'Acampo, Italian chef
- 1976 – Dagmara Dominczyk, Polish actress
- 1976 – Matt Holmes, Australian actor
- 1976 – Eric Winter, American actor
- 1977 – Leif Hoste, Belgian cyclist
- 1977 – Lehmber Hussainpuri, Indian singer
- 1977 – Marc Savard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Ricardo Arona, Brazilian mixed martial artist
- 1978 – Panda Bear, American singer-songwriter and musician (Animal Collective and Jane)
- 1978 – Mike Knox, American wrestler
- 1978 – Émilie Simon, French singer-songwriter and composer
- 1978 – Katharine Towne, American actress
- 1979 – Mike Vogel, American actor
- 1980 – Javier Camuñas, Spanish footballer
- 1980 – Ryan Miller, American ice hockey player
- 1981 – Hely Ollarves, Venezuelan runner
- 1981 – Elpida Romantzi, Greek archer
- 1982 – Omari Banks, Indian cricketer
- 1982 – Natasha Hamilton, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress (Atomic Kitten)
- 1982 – René Herms, German runner (d. 2009)
- 1983 – Jessi Cruickshank, Canadian television host
- 1983 – Ryan Guettler, Australian bicycle motocross rider
- 1983 – Sarah Jones, American actress
- 1983 – Brooke Kinsella, English actress
- 1983 – Adam Lind, American baseball player
- 1984 – Asami Kimura, Japanese singer (Country Musume)
- 1984 – Sotiris Leontiou, Greek footballer
- 1985 – Tom Fletcher, English singer-songwriter and musician (McFly)
- 1985 – Neil McGregor, Scottish footballer
- 1986 – Dana, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (The Grace)
- 1986 – Brando Eaton, American actor
- 1986 – DeAngelo Smith, American football player
- 1986 – Lacey Von Erich, American wrestler
- 1987 – Jeremih, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1987 – Darius Boyd, Australian rugby player
- 1987 – Jan Charouz, Czech race car driver
- 1988 – Summer Bishil, American actress
- 1998 – Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y Borbón, Spanish son of Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo
- 2000 – Maria Aragon, Canadian singer
Deaths
- 521 – Magnus Felix Ennodius, Latin bishop and poet (b. 474)
- 656 – Uthman ibn Affan, Islamic 3rd caliph (b. 579)
- 924 – Edward the Elder, English king (b. 877)
- 1070 – Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (b. 1030)
- 1453 – Dmitry Shemyaka, Russian prince
- 1453 – John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English military leader (b. 1387)
- 1531 – Hosokawa Takakuni, Japanese military commander (b. 1484)
- 1566 – Bartolomé de las Casas, Spanish priest (b. 1484)
- 1571 – Georg Fabricius, German poet and historian (b. 1516)
- 1588 – Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect and engineer (b. 1489)
- 1645 – Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, Scottish politician (b. 1587)
- 1704 – Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French fur trader and explorer (b. 1657)
- 1709 – Robert Bolling, English-American planter and merchant (b. 1646)
- 1790 – Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher (b. 1723)
- 1791 – Martin Dobrizhoffer, Austrian missionary (b. 1717)
- 1793 – Charlotte Corday, French murderer (b. 1768)
- 1794 – John Roebuck, English chemist (b. 1718)
- 1845 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1764)
- 1878 – Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
- 1879 – Maurycy Gottlieb, Ukrainian painter (b. 1856)
- 1881 – Jim Bridger, American mountain man and explorer (b. 1804)
- 1883 – Tu Duc, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1892)
- 1885 – Jean-Charles Chapais, Canadian politician (b. 1811)
- 1887 – Dorothea Dix, American activist (b. 1802)
- 1893 – Frederick A. Johnson, American politician (b. 1833)
- 1894 – Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist (b. 1810)
- 1894 – Leconte de Lisle, French poet (b. 1818)
- 1907 – Hector Malot, French writer (b. 1830)
- 1912 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (b. 1854)
- 1918 – Family of Nicholas II of Russia (b. 1868)
-
- 1928 – Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (b. 1842)
- 1928 – Álvaro Obregón, Mexican politician, 39th President of Mexico (b. 1880)
- 1935 – George William Russell, Irish poet and artist (b. 1867)
- 1944 – William James Sidis, American mathematician (b. 1898)
- 1945 – Ernst Busch, German field marshal (b. 1885)
- 1946 – Draža Mihailović, Yugoslav General (b. 1893)
- 1950 – Evangeline Booth, English 4th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1865)
- 1950 – Antonie Nedošinská, Czech actress (b. 1885)
- 1959 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1915)
- 1959 – Eugene Meyer, American businessman and publisher (b. 1875)
- 1961 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player (b. 1886)
- 1967 – John Coltrane, American saxophonist and composer (Miles Davis Quintet) (b. 1926)
- 1974 – Dizzy Dean, American baseball player (b. 1910)
- 1975 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer (b. 1893)
- 1980 – Don "Red" Barry, American actor (b. 1912)
- 1980 – Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
- 1987 – Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (b. 1934)
- 1988 – Bruiser Brody, professional wrestler (b. 1946)
- 1989 – Itubwa Amram, Nauruan pastor and politician (b. 1922)
- 1995 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1911)
- 1996 – Victims of TWA Flight 800
-
- 1996 – Chas Chandler, American bass player and producer (The Animals) (b. 1938)
- 2001 – Katharine Graham, American publisher (b. 1917)
- 2003 – David Kelly, Welsh scientist (b. 1944)
- 2003 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Pat Roach, English wrestler and actor (b. 1937)
- 2005 – Laurel Aitken, Jamaican singer (b. 1927)
- 2005 – Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-American actress (b. 1913)
- 2005 – Edward Heath, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
- 2005 – Gavin Lambert, English screenwriter and author (b. 1924)
- 2005 – Joe Vialls, Australian writer (b. 1944)
- 2006 – Sam Myers, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1936)
- 2006 – Mickey Spillane, American author (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Júlio Redecker, Brazilian politician (b. 1956)
- 2008 – Larry Haines, American actor (b. 1918)
- 2009 – Walter Cronkite, American journalist (b. 1916)
- 2009 – Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)
- 2011 – David Ngoombujarra, Australian actor (b. 1967)
- 2012 – Ottorino Pietro Alberti, Italian archbishop (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Mrinal Gore, Indian politician and activist (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Forrest S. McCartney, American general (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Ms. Melodie, American rapper (b. 1964)
- 2012 – İlhan Mimaroğlu, Turkish-American composer (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Morgan Paull, American actor (b. 1944)
- 2012 – William Raspberry, American journalist (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Marsha Singh, English politician (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Wahengbam Nipamacha Singh, Indian politician (b. 1930)
- 2012 – William L. Wainwright, American politician (b. 1947)
Holidays and observances
External links
Months and days of the year
|
|
January |
|
|
February |
|
|
March |
|
|
April |
|
|
May |
|
|
June |
|
|
July |
|
|
August |
|
|
September |
|
|
October |
|
|
November |
|
|
December |
|
|
Related dates |
|
|