This is a list of some of the birthdays, deaths, and events that occurred on 17 July through the ages.
Some persons who share my birthday:
- 1487 – Ismail I, Shah of Persia (d. 1524)
- 1674 – Isaac Watts, English hymnwriter (d. 1748)
- 1797 – Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter (d. 1856)
- 1831 – Xianfeng, Emperor of China (d. 1861)
- 1839 – Ephraim Shay, American inventor (d. 1916)
- 1888 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1889 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (Perry Mason) (d. 1970)
- 1899 – James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Marcel Dalio, French actor (d. 1983)
- 1912 – Art Linkletter, Canadian television host
- 1917 – Phyllis Diller, American comedienne
- 1920 – Gordon Gould, inventor of the laser (d. 2005)
- 1928 – Vince Guaraldi, American musician and composer (d. 1976) [Charlie Brown music]
- 1928 – Joe Morello, American jazz drummer (The Dave Brubeck Quartet)
- 1935 – Peter Schickele, American composer, author, and radio host [P.D.Q. Bach]
- 1935 – Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
- 1944 – Catherine Schell, Hungarian born British actress [Maya in Space: 1999]
- 1947 – Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
- 1948 – Ron Asheton, American musician and composer (Iggy Pop & The Stooges)
- 1949 – Terence “Geezer” Butler, British musician and lyricist (Black Sabbath)
- 1949 – John Wetton, British musician (King Crimson)
- 1952 – Phoebe Snow, singer and songwriter
- 1954 – J. Michael Straczynski, American author [creator of Babylon 5, Crusade]
- 1956 – Bryan Trottier, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1963 – Matti Nykänen, Finnish ski jumper
- 1968 – Bitty Schram, American actress
Some famous deaths on this day:
- 924 – King Edward the Elder of England
- 1105 – Rashi, French rabbi and commentator (b. 1040)
- 1704 – Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French fur trader and explorer
- 1790 – Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher (b. 1723)
- 1793 – Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat and murderer (b. 1768)
- 1845 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1764) [after whom Earl Grey tea is named]
- 1887 – Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
- 1918 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (b. 1868) and family:
- Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna (b. 1872)
- Grand Duchess Olga (b. 1895)
- Grand Duchess Tatiana (b. 1897)
- Grand Duchess Maria (b. 1899)
- Grand Duchess Anastasia (b. 1901)
- Tsarevich Alexei (b. 1904)
- 1959 – Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
- 1967 – John Coltrane, American musician (b. 1926)
- 2001 – Katharine Graham, American publisher (b. 1917)
- 2006 – Mickey Spillane, American author (b. 1918)
Some events on this day:
- 1203 – Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault; the Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus flees from his capital into exile.
- 1815 – Napoleonic Wars: In France, Napoleon surrenders at Rochefort, Charente-Maritime to British forces.
- 1841 – The first issue of the magazine Punch is published in London. [!]
- 1856 – The Great Train Wreck of 1856, occurs in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania killing over 60 people.
- 1858 – Salving of the Lutine bell. The bell is subsequently hung in Lloyd’s of London.
- 1897 – Klondike gold rush begins when first successful prospectors arrive in Seattle, Washington.
- 1918 – By order of the Bolshevik Party and carried out by Cheka, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and retainers were murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
- 1944 – World War II: The largest convoy of the war embarks from Halifax, Nova Scotia under Royal Canadian Navy protection.
- 1944 – Napalm incendiary bombs were dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. Lô, France.
- 1955 – Disneyland televises its grand opening in Anaheim, California.
- 1964 – British speed pioneer Sir Donald Campbell sets a new land speed world record of 429mph in his car, Bluebird.
- 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.
- 1989 – First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
- 1997 – The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
[Information found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_17]