October 17 - Highlight

Highlight

This Day In History

539 BC

Cyrus the Great marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile.

1604

German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus.

1771

Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Wolfgang Mozart, age 15.

1814

London Beer Flood occurs in London, killing nine.

1860

First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).

1888

Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).

1907

Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.

1919

RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.

1956

Donald Byrne and Bobby Fischer play a famous chess game called The Game of the Century. Fischer beats Byrne and wins a Brilliancy prize.

1979

Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

2003

The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 184 ft and become the world's tallest highrise.

Famous Birthdays

1253

Saint Ivo of Kermartin, T.O.S.F., (d. 1303)

1563

Jodocus Hondius, Flemish cartographer (d. 1611)

1577

Cristofano Allori, Italian painter (d. 1621)

1711

Jupiter Hammon, American writer (d. 1806)

1864

Elinor Glyn, British writer (d. 1943)

1902

Irene Ryan, American actress (d. 1973)

1912

Pope John Paul I (d. 1978)

1915

Arthur Miller, American playwright (d. 2005)

1918

Rita Hayworth, American dancer and film actress (d. 1987)

1920

Montgomery Clift, American actor (d. 1966)

1921

Priscilla Buckley, American author and editor (d. 2012)

Tom Poston, American actor and comedian (d. 2007)
George Mackay Brown, Scottish Poet (d.1996)

1938

Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil (d. 2007)
1941
Earl Thomas Conley, American country music singer-songwriter
1946
Sir Cameron Mackintosh, British stage producer
1947
Michael McKean, American actor
1948
Robert Jordan, American novelist (d. 2007)
1958
Alan Jackson, American singer and songwriter
1960
Rob Marshall, American director
1968
Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician
1974
Matthew Macfadyen, British actor
1977
Alimi Ballard, American actor
1984
Randall Munroe, American cartoonist