On this day in History - Dec. 17

• 0283 - St Gaius becomes Pope.
• 0384 - St Siricius becomes Pope.
• 0546 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome bribing the Byzantine garrison.
• 0920 - Romanos I is crowned co-emperor of the underage Emperor Constantine VII.
• 0942 - Assassination of William I of Normandy.
• 1187 - Pope Gregory VIII [Alberto de Morra] dies. Italian Pope
• 1195 - Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut dies (b. 1150)
• 1239 - Kujo Yoritsugu was born (d. 1256). Japanese shogun.
• 1267 - Emperor Go-Uda of Japan was born (d. 1324).
• 1273 - Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi dies (b. 1207). Persian poet and mystic.
• 1398 - Sultan Mehmud's armies in Delhi defeated by Timur.
• 1471 - Isabel of Portugal dies (b. 1397). Duchess of Burgundy.
• 1493 - Philippus A Paracelsus was born (d. 1754). Swiss alquimist and physician
• 1531 - Pope Clement VII established a parallel to the Inquisition in Lisbon, Portugal.
• 1538 - Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII of England
• 1577 - Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for British Queen Elizabeth I.
• 1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.
• 1600 - Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
• 1619 - Prince Rupert of the Rhine was born (d. 1682). Royalist commander in the English Civil War
• 1632 - Anthony Wood was born (d. 1695). English antiquarian
• 1637 - The Shimabara Rebellion breaks out in Japan.
• 1663 - Dona Ana de Souza, Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (Angola) dies (b. 1583).
• 1685 - Thomas Tickell was born (d. 1740). English writer.
• 1706 - Émilie du Châtelet was born (d. 1749). French mathematician and physicist.
• 1718 - England declares war on Spain.
• 1721 - Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough dies (b. 1640). English statesman.
• 1734 - Maria I of Portugal was born (d. 1816). Portuguese queen.
• 1749 - Domenico Cimarosa was born (d. 1801). Italian composer.
• 1763 - Frederick Christian, Elector of Saxony dies (b. 1722)
• 1770 - Johann Friedrich Schubert was born. Composer.
• 1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven is baptized (d. 1827). German Composer.
• 1777 - France recognized American independence.
• 1778 - Humphry Davy was born (d. 1829). English chemist.
• 1787 - Jan Evangelista Purkyne was born (d. 1869). Czech anatomist.
• 1796 - Thomas Chandler Haliburton was born (d. 1865). Canadian novelist.
• 1797 - Joseph Henry was born. American scientist, inventor, pioneer of electromagnetism.
• 1799 - Titian Peale was born (d. 1885). American artist.
• 1807 - France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
• 1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier was born [d. 1892]. American Poet and abolicionist. Whittier was a pioneer in regional literature as well as a crusader for many humanitarian causes.
• 1812 - Kaspar Hauser dies (b. 1812). German foundling.
• 1819 - Simón Bolívar declares the independence of the Republic of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
• 1830 - Simon Bolivar died in Santa Marta [b. 1783]; General and Venezuelan statesman, first President of Colombia.
• 1830 - Jules de Goncourt was born (d. 1870). French publisher.
• 1833 - Kaspar Hauser dies (b. 1812). German foundling.
• 1834 - The Dublin and Kingstown Railway opened in Ireland, the first public railway on the island of Ireland.
• 1835 - Alexander Emanuel Agassiz was born (d. 1910). American scientist; son of Louis Agassiz.
• 1843 - A Christmas Carol a fictional short story by Charles Dickens is published.
• 1847 - Émile Faguet was born (d. 1916). French writer and critic.
• 1847 - Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria dies (b. 1791). Second wife of Napoleon.
• 1853 - Herbert Beerbohm Tree was born (d. 1917). English actor
• 1853 - Emile Roux was born (d. 1933). French physician.
• 1859 - Paul César Helleu was born (d. 1927). French artist.
• 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
• 1872 - Mistinguett was born (d. 1956). French actress and singer.
• 1873 - Ford Madox Ford was born (d. 1939). English writer.
• 1874 - William Lyon Mackenzie King was born (d. 1950). Tenth Prime Minister of Canada
• 1876 - Júlio Afrânio Peixoto was born (to some sources 14 Dec). Brazilian writer (A esfinge)
• 1883 - Raimu was born (d. 1946). French actor.
• 1887 - Josef Lada was born (d. 1957). Czech painter.
• 1887 - Hermine Reuss was born (d. 1947). Empress of Germany and Duchess of Bohemia.
• 1887 - Harry Reid was born (d. 1932). Famous engineer and photographer.
• 1888 - King Alexander I of Yugoslavia was born (d. 1934)
• 1892 - Sam Barry was born (d. 1950). American basketball coach.
• 1893 - Erwin Piscator was born (d. 1966). German film director.
• 1894 - Arthur Fiedler was born (d. 1979). American conductor.
• 1897 - Alphonse Daudet dies. French writer.
• 1900 - Katina Paxinou was born (d. 1973). Greek actress.
• 1900 - Mary Cartwright was born (d. 1998). English mathematician.
• 1901 - Lee Strasberg was born (d. 1982). Austrian-born actor and director.
• 1903 - Erskine Caldwell was born (d. 1987). American author.
• 1903 - Ray Noble was born (d. 1978). English musician.
• 1903 - Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first flight in a heavier-than-air plane at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
• 1904 - Paul Cadmus was born (d. 1999). American artist.
• 1905 - Érico Veríssimo was born. Brazilian writer.
• 1905 - Simo Häyhä was born (d. 2002). Finnish sniper.
• 1906 - Fernando Lopes Graça was born in Tomar. Portuguese composer and musicologist.
• 1907 - Independence of Bhutan
• 1907 - William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin dies (b. 1824). Irish-born physicist.
• 1908 - Willard Frank Libby was born (d. 1980). American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1909 - King Leopold II of Belgium dies (b. 1835)
• 1910 - Sy Oliver was born (d. 1988). American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer and bandleader.
• 1915 - André Claveau was born (d. 2003). French singer.
• 1916 - Penelope Fitzgerald was born (d. 2000). English writer.
• 1917 - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson dies (b. 1836). English physician.
• 1917 - Frank Gotch dies (b. 1878). Wrestler.
• 1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1920 - Kenneth E. Iverson was born. Canadian computer scientist
• 1922 - Alan Voorhees was born (d. 2005). American engineer and urban planner.
• 1923 - Jaroslav Pelikan was born (d. 2006). American historian
• 1925 - Manuel Teixeira Gomes abandona definitivamente Portugal.Depois de ser eleito presidente, o seu mandato foi marcado por grande instabilidade política e social, conduzindo à sua resignação em 11 de Dezembro de 1925. Em 17 de Dezembro, embarca no paquete grego "Zeus". Nunca mais regressará a Portugal.
• 1925 - Russia & Turkey sign non-aggresion pact.
• 1926 - Ray Jablonski was born (d. 1985). Baseball player.
• 1927 - Richard Long was born (d. 1974). American actor.
• 1929 - Manuel Gomes da Costa dies. President of Portuguese Republic in 1926.
• 1929 - Jacqueline Hill was born (d. 1993). British actress
• 1929 - William Safire was born. American columnist
• 1930 - Bob Mathias was born. American athlete
• 1930 - Armin Mueller-Stahl was born. German actor
• 1930 - Bob Guccione was born. Publisher of Penthouse magazine.
• 1931 - Dave Madden was born. Canadian-born American actor.
• 1933 - Thubten Gyatso dies (b. 1876). 13th Dalai Lama.
• 1934 - Ray Wilson was born. English football player.
• 1935 - First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane.
• 1935 - George Lindsey wads born. American actor.
• 1935 - Cal Ripken, Sr. was born (d. 1999). American baseball coach.
• 1936 - Tommy Steele was born. English singer and actor.
• 1937 - Calvin Waller was born (d. 1996). US Army general.
• 1937 - Kerry Packer was born (d. 2005). Australian businessman.
• 1937 - John Kennedy Toole was born (d. 1969). American novelist.
• 1937 - Jaime Lerner was born. Brazilian architect and urbanist.
• 1938 - Peter Snell was born. New Zealand athlet.
• 1938 - Carlo Little was born (d. 2005). UK influential rock and roll drummer.
• 1939 - the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee "Graf Spee" was scuttled by its crew, ending the World War II Battle of the River Plate off Uruguay.
• 1939 - Eddie Kendricks was born (d. 1992). American singer (The Temptations)
• 1940 - Kåre Valebrokk was born. Norwegian journalist.
• 1940 - Alicia Boole Stott dies (b. 1860). Irish mathematician.
• 1941 - World War II: Beginning of the Siege of Sebastopol.
• 1941 - World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
• 1941 - Dutch & Australian troops lands on Portuguese-Timor.
• 1941 - Gene Clark was born (d. 1991). American musician.
• 1942 - Paul Butterfield was born (d. 1987). American musician.
• 1943 - Mary Brunner was born. American former "Manson Family" member
• 1943 - Ron Geesin was born. Scottish musician
• 1943 - Lauren Hutton was born. American model and actress
• 1944 - The U.S. Army announced the end of its policy of holding Japanese-Americans in internment camps, allowing "evacuees" to return home.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge - Malmedy massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
• 1944 - Ference Bene was born. Hungarian football player. Record twelve goals (Olympic Gold-1964).
• 1944 - Jack L. Chalker was born. American novelist.
• 1944 - Bernard Hill was born. British actor.
• 1945 - Honduras becomes member of United Nations.
• 1945 - Chris Matthews was born. American journalist.
• 1945 - Elvin Hayes was born. American basketball player.
• 1945 - Ernie Hudson was born. American actor.
• 1945 - Jacqueline Wilson was born. British author.
• 1946 - Eugene Levy was born. Canadian actor.
• 1947 - Wes Studi was born. American actor
• 1949 - Paul Rodgers was born. British singer (Free).
• 1949 - Sotiris Kaiafas was born. Cypriot footballer
• 1950 - Laurence F. Johnson was born. American futurist and educator
• 1951 - Ken Hitchcock was born. Canadian hockey coach
• 1951 - Tatyana Kazankina was born in Petrovsk, USSR. Middle distance runner (Olympic Gold-1976).
• 1953 - Dmitri Shostakovitch' 10th Symphony, premieres in Leningrad.
• 1953 - Bill Pullman was born. American actor
• 1953 - Samuel Hadida was born in Casablanca. Film distributor.
• 1953 - Barry Livingston was born. American actor.
• 1955 - Brad Davis was born. American basketball player.
• 1956 - Peter Farrelly was born. American film director.
• 1957 - the United States successfully test-fired the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.
• 1957 - "Partido Acción Nacional" is created in Mexico.
• 1957 - Earl Hudson was born. American drummer (Bad Brains).
• 1957 - Dorothy L. Sayers dies (b. 1893). English writer.
• 1958 - Mike Mills was born. American bassist (R.E.M.)
• 1960 - Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Ethiopia after being ousted by his son.
• 1960 - Moreno Argentin was born. Italian cyclist.
• 1960 - Sara Dallin was born. English singer (Bananarama).
• 1961 - India seizes Goa, Damão and Diu from Portugal.
• 1961 - A fire at a circus in Niteroi, Brazil kills 323 people.
• 1962 - Rocco Mediate was born. American golfer
• 1962 - Paul Dobson was born. English football player
• 1962 - Richard Jewell was born (d. 2007). Central figure in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing
• 1962 - Thomas Mitchell dies (b. 1892). American actor.
• 1963 - Tsjoi Doo Sun forms government in South Korea.
• 1964 - Ginger was born. English singer and guitarist (The Wildhearts)
• 1964 - Frank Musil was born. Czech ice hockey player.
• 1964 - Michele Tafoya was born. American sportcaster.
• 1964 - Victor Franz Hess was born (d. 1883). Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1965 - Craig Berube was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1966 - Hans Visser was born. Dutch football player (MVV, FC Utrecht)
• 1966 - Kristiina Ojuland was born. Estonian politician.
• 1966 - Tracy Byrd was born. Country musician
• 1966 - Valeri Liukin was born. Former Soviet Union Gymnast
• 1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria and was presumed drowned.
• 1967 - Gigi D'Agostino was born. Italian DJ and musician.
• 1967 - Chris Mason was born. English darts player
• 1967 - Vincent Damphousse was born. Canadian ice hockey player
• 1967 - Harold Holt dies (b. 1908). Australian Prime Minister.
• 1967 - Jack Perrin dies (b. 1896). American actor.
• 1968 - Andrey Golovatiuk was born. Russian politician.
• 1968 - Paul Tracy was born. Canadian race car driver.
• 1969 - The SALT I talks begin.
• 1969 - Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of "A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and misidentification of various conventional objects."
• 1969 - Chuck Lidell was born. American martial artist.
• 1969 - General Costa e Silva dies in Rio de Janeiro (b. 1902). President of Brazil.
• 1969 - Signature d'un traité d'amitié de 20 ans entre l'Algérie et la Tunisie.
• 1970 - My Lai trial begins.
• 1970 - Coastal cities events Mass riots in the coastal cities of Poland ended in massacre of shipyard workers in Gdynia .
• 1970 - Joshua Seth was born. American voice actor and hypnotist
• 1971 - Antoine Rigaudeau was born. French basketball player
• 1971 - Alan Khan was born. South African Radio DJ and breakfast TV host on am2day
• 1971 - Cease fire between India & Pakistan in Kashmir .
• 1972 - Ivan Pedroso was born. Cuban long jumper (Olympics-4th-92) .
• 1972 - John Abraham was born. Indian actor and model
• 1972 - Laurie Holden was born. American actress
• 1973 - 32 are killed in an attempt at the Rome Fiumicino Airport.
• 1973 - The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.
• 1973 - Paula Radcliffe was born. British distance runner in athletics .
• 1973 - Konstadinos Gatsioudis was born. Greek javelin thrower.
• 1974 - Duff Goldman was born. American chef.
• 1974 - Giovanni Ribisi was born. American actor.
• 1975 - Lynette Fromme was sentenced in federal court in Sacramento, California, to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Ford.
• 1975 - Nick Dinsmore (Eugene) was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1975 - Milla Jovovich was born. Ukrainian-born actress.
• 1975 - Sarah Paulson was born. American actress.
• 1975 - Bree Sharp was born. American singer/songwriter.
• 1976 - Zsanett Égerházi was born. Hungarian-born porn actress and nude model
• 1976 - Patrick Müller was born. Swiss football player.
• 1976 - Takeo Spikes was born. NFL Pro Bowl linebacker.
• 1976 - Éric Bédard was born. Quebec speed skater.
• 1977 - Arnaud Clement was born. French tennis player.
• 1978 - The Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe.
• 1978 - OPEC raises oil prices 18% .
• 1978 - Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda.
• 1978 - Manny Pacquiao was born. Filipino boxer
• 1978 - Chase Utley was born. Baseball player
• 1978 - Alex Cintrón was born. Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1978 - Neil Sanderson was born. Drummer for rock band "Three Days Grace"
• 1978 - Riteish Deshmukh was born. Indian actor
• 1978 - Chase Utley was born. American baseball player
• 1978 - Don Ellis dies (b. 1934). American jazz trumpeter, composer and big band leader.
• 1979 - in a case that aggravated racial tensions, Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, was fatally beaten after a police chase in Miami. (Four white police officers were later acquitted of charges stemming from McDuffie’s death.)
• 1979 - Jaimee Foxworth was born. American actress
• 1979 - Ryan Key was born. American musician and songwriter (Yellowcard)
• 1979 - Matt Murley was born. American ice hockey player
• 1980 - Eli Pariser was born. American political activist (MoveOn.org)
• 1980 - Ryan Hunter-Reay was born. American race car driver
• 1981 - Members of the Red Brigades kidnapped Brigadier General James L. Dozier , the highest-ranking U.S. Army official in southern Europe, from his home in Verona, Italy. (Dozier was rescued 42 days later).
• 1981 - Founding of the Senegambia Confederation.
• 1982 - Tootsie opens in theaters, starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack, George Gaynes, and Geena Davis.
• 1982 - Josh Barfield was born. Venezuelan baseball player
• 1982 - Craig Kielburger was born. Canadian labour activist
• 1982 - Stephane Lasme was born. Gabonese basketball player
• 1982 - Homer S. Ferguson dies (b. 1889). United States Senator.
• 1983 - The IRA bomb Harrods Department Store in London, killing seven people and injuring dozens.
• 1983 - A fire at a night club in Madrid kills 82.
• 1984 - Andrew Davies was born. English footballer.
• 1985 - Ryuichi Ogata was born. Member of Japanese boy band w-inds.
• 1986 - Eugene Hasenfus, the American convicted by Nicaragua for his part in running guns to the Contras, was pardoned, then released.
• 1986 - Vanessa Zima was born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. American actress.
• 1986 - US Congress forms "Irangate" committee.
• 1987 - Mega Man makes his debut on the NES in the video game Mega Man.
• 1987 - Irving Allen dies (b.1916). American producer.
• 1987 - Linda Wong dies (b. 1951). Pornographic actress.
• 1987 - Marguerite Yourcenar dies (b. 1903). Belgian novelist (Memoirs of Hadrien). First woman to be electedd for The French Academy (Académie française)
• 1988 - 77th Davis Cup: Germany beats Sweden in Gothenburg (4-1)
• 1989 - The first half-hour length episode of The Simpsons debuts with their Christmas special, "Simpsons Roasting Over an Open Fire".
• 1989 - Brazil holds its first direct free election in 29 years. Fernando Collor de Mello is elected President.
• 1989 - Full scale street manifestations and riots in Timisoara ignite the Romanian Revolution
• 1989 - 78th Davis Cup: Germany beats Sweden in Stuttgart (3-2)
• 1992 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed by U.S (President Bush)., Canada, (Prime Minister Brian Mulroney) and Mexico (President Carlos Salinas) in separate ceremonies.
• 1992 - Dana Andrews dies (b. 1909). American actor.
• 1993 - American troops are pulled out of Somalia following a series of gun battles with Somali troops under the command of General Mohammed Farah Aidid.
• 1993 -Tennis star Boris Becker (26) weds Barbara Feltus (27)
• 1994 - North Korea shot down a U.S. Army helicopter which had strayed north of the demilitarized zone — the co-pilot, Chief Warrant Officer David Hilemon, was killed; the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Hall, was captured and held for nearly two weeks.
• 1994 - Six shots were fired at the White House by an unidentified gunman.
• 1994 - Lisbon 94 — European Capital of Culture ends.
• 1994 - Nat Wolff was born. American singer, actor and songwriter
• 1996 - Inauguration de la Bibliothèque François-Miterrand par Jacques Chirac
• 1996 -Guerrilheiros do Movimento Revolucionário Tupac Amaru invadem a residência do embaixador japonês em Lima, Peru, e fazem 500 reféns.
• 1996 - A Assembléia Geral das Nações Unidas elege Kofi Annan, do país africano de Gana, como seu novo secretário-geral.
• 1996 - Stanko Todorov, PM of Bulgaria (1971-81), dies
• 1997 - A chartered Yakovlev-42 from Ukraine crashes into the mountains near Katerini, Greece killing 70
• 1998 - Claudia Benton (b. 1959) is murdered in her West University, Texas home by Angel Maturino Resendiz. Peruvian child psychologist.
• 1999 - The United Nations General Assembly passes resolution 54/134 designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.
• 1999 - Grover Washington, Jr. dies (b. 1943). American musician.
• 1999 - Rex Allen dies (b. 1920). American actor, singer and songwriter.
• 2002 - Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and prrresidential elections within two years.
• 2002 - Giovanni Intra dies (b. in New Zealand in 1968). Co-founder in 1998 (with artist Steve Hanson) of China Art Objects Galleries in Los Angeles.
• 2002 - James Hazeldine dies (b. 1947). British actor, well known for his role on series London's Burning.
• 2002 - Evandro Lins e Silva dies (b. 1912). Brazilian jurist, journalist, writer and politician.
• 2003 - First supersonic flight by Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne piloted by Brian Binnie.
• 2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the third and final Lord of the Rings movie to open in theaters.
• 2003 - The British government announced the first reported case of a person dying from the human form of mad cow disease after a blood transfusion from an infected donor.
• 2003 - Ed Devereaux dies (b. 1925). Australian actor.
• 2003 - Otto Graham dies (b. 1921). American football player.
• 2004 - Dietrich Schwanitz dies (b. 23 Apr 1940). German writer and essayst.
• 2004 - Tom Wesselmann dies (b. 1931). American collage artist.
• 2005 - Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong
• 2005 - Jack Anderson dies (b. 1922). American journalist.
• 2005 - Marc Favreau dies (b. 1929). French-Canadian humourist and actor (Sol)
• 2006 - Internacional, Brazilian club, wins the World Champinship of clubs in football (soccer) beating FC Barcelona, in Yokohama, Japan.
• 2006 - Larry Sherry dies (b. 1935). American baseball player.
• Roman festivals - Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn, began.
• R.C. Saints - O Sapientia ; Saint Lazarus
• Greek Orthodox Church-Saint Barbaras day – Feast of Daniel the Prophet
• Bhutan - National Day (1907)
• USA - Wright Brothers Day (by Presidential Proclamation)
• International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers