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April 17
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April 17 is the 107th day of the year (108th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 258 days remaining until the end of the year.
Contents
Events
- 1397 – Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
- 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign a contract for him to sail to Asia to get spices.
- 1521 – Martin Luther speaks to the assembly at the Diet of Worms, refusing to recant his teachings.
- 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazano reaches New York harbor.
- 1694 – Pope Patricus I is assassinated outside St Peter's Basilica
- 1861 – American Civil War: Virginia secedes from the Union.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Plymouth begins – Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
- 1865 – Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
- 1882 – Copies of Pat Garrett's biography of Billy the Kid, An Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, arrive at the Library of Congress.
- 1895 – The Treaty of Maguan (also known as the "Treaty of Shimonoseki") between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the first Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.
- 1924 – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios is formed from a merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Company.
- 1937 – Daffy Duck first appears in Warner Bros' short Porky's Duck Hunt.
- 1941 – World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
- 1942 – POW French General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein.
- 1945 – In Strassfurt, Germany, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Boris T. Pash seizes half a ton of uranium, in an attempt to foil Soviet Union plans to build an atomic bomb.
- 1946 – Syria gains full independence from France.
- 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of CIA-financed and -trained Cuban refugees lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
- 1964 – The Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Mustang at the New York World's Fair.
- 1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.
- 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
- 1969 – Czechoslovak Communist Party chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
- 1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
- 1975 – Cambodian Civil War ends: The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
- 1982 – Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
- 1984 – Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher is killed by automatic gunfire coming from the Libyan People's Bureau in central London. She had been policing a small demonstration outside the embassy. Ten other people are wounded. The events lead to an 11-day siege of the building.
- 1991 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 for the first time ever (3,004.46).
- 2002 – Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two U.S. Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War.
- 2004 – Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero becomes Prime Minister of Spain.
Births
- 1278 – Michael IV Palaeologus, co-ruling Eastern Roman Emperor (d. 1320)
- 1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1651)
- 1586 – John Ford, English dramatist (d. 1639)
- 1598 – Giovanni Riccioli, Italian astronomer (d. 1671)
- 1622 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh poet (d. 1695)
- 1734 – Taksin, King of Siam (d. 1782)
- 1750 – Francois de Neufchateau, French statesman (d. 1828)
- 1756 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Tamil revolutionary (d. 1805)
- 1799 - Edward Williams Clay, American artist (d. 1857)
- 1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American, figure in the history of baseball (d. 1892)
- 1837 – J. P. Morgan, American financier (d. 1913)
- 1882 – Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist (d. 1951)
- 1885 – Karen Blixen, Danish writer (d. 1962)
- 1888 – Jan Vos, Dutch footballer (d. 1939)
- 1894 – Nikita Krushchev, Soviet political leader (d. 1971)
- 1897 – Thornton Wilder, American writer and playwright (d. 1975)
- 1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Ukrainian-born cellist (d. 1976)
- 1909 – Alain Poher, French politician (d. 1996)
- 1910 – Helenio Herrera, French footballer and manager (d. 1997)
- 1912 – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian actress and singer
- 1916 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 2000)
- 1917 – Bill Clements, American politician, Governor of Texas (d. 2011)
- 1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian tenor (d. 2008)
- 1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American writer
- 1929 – James Last, German musician
- 1933 – Joachim Kroll, German serial killer (d. 1991)
- 1934 – Don Kirshner, American composer (d. 2011)
- 1935 – Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek movie director and screenwriter (d. 2012)
- 1940 – Billy Fury, British singer (d. 1983)
- 1942 – Kenas Aroi, Nauruan politician
- 1951 – Horst Hrubesch, German footballer
- 1951 – Olivia Hussey, Argentine-British actress
- 1954 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian racing driver
- 1954 – Lester Square, Canadian musician
- 1957 – Nick Hornby, British writer
- 1959 – Sean Bean, British actor
- 1963 – Joel Murray, American actor
- 1964 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer, musician and actor
- 1967 – Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-born actor
- 1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1972 – Claire Sweeney, British actress and television personality
- 1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
- 1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer
- 1975 – Stefano Fiore, Italian footballer
- 1977 – Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
- 1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player
- 1980 – Lee Hyun-il, South Korean badminton player
- 1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player
- 1983 – Roberto Jimenez, Peruvian footballer
- 1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player
- 1986 – Romain Grosjean, Swiss-French racing driver
- 1996 – Dee Dee Davis, American actress
Deaths
- 326 – Alexander of Alexandria, Patriarch of Alexandria
- 1080 – King Harald III of Denmark (b. 1041)
- 1427 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (b. 1403)
- 1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
- 1742 – Arvid Horn, Swedish statesman (b. 1664)
- 1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American politician, scientist and writer (b. 1706)
- 1843 – Samuel Morey, American inventor (b. 1762)
- 1849 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentine statesman and priest (b. 1777)
- 1873 – Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, Russian painter (b. 1783)
- 1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1822)
- 1902 – Francis of Spain, King Consort of Spain (b. 1822)
- 1936 – Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1873)
- 1942 – Jean Perrin, French physicist (b. 1870)
- 1960 – Eddie Cochran, American musician (b. 1938)
- 1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher (b. 1888)
- 1976 – Henrik Dam, Danish chemist, won the 1943 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
- 1984 – Yvonne Fletcher, British police officer (b. 1958)
- 1990 – Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights activist (b. 1926)
- 1990 – Angelo Schiavio, Italian footballer (b. 1905)
- 1993 – Turgut Ozal, 8th President of Turkey (b. 1927)
- 1996 – Piet Hein, Danish scientist and poet (b. 1905)
- 1997 – Chaim Herzog, President of Israel (b. 1918)
- 1998 – Linda McCartney, American designer and photographer (b. 1941)
- 2003 – Robert Atkins, American dietician (b. 1930)
- 2003 – John Paul Getty, Jr., American-born millionnaire (b. 1932)
- 2004 – Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, Hamas leader (b. 1947)
- 2005 – Konrad Spindler, German scientist (b. 1939)
- 2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American singer and actress (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Aime Cesaire, French-Martinican poet and politician (b. 1913)
- 2008 – Danny Federici, American musician (b. 1950)
- 2011 – Bhawani Singh, Indian nobleman (b. 1931)
- 2014 - Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian novelist, won the 1972 Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1927)
Observances
- National Day of Syria
- Flag Day (American Samoa)
- Women's Day (Gabon)
- World Hemophilia Day
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