History of Today 17 July: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 17 July. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 17 July. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 17 July 2026, 01:01 AM

Important Events on 17 July in History

17 Jul 2015: At least 120 people are killed and 130 injured by a suicide bombing in Diyala Governorate, Iraq. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a Boeing 777, crashes near the border of Ukraine and Russia after being shot down. All 298 people on board are killed. Read more
17 Jul 2014: A French regional train on the Pau-Bayonne line crashes into a high-speed train near the town of Denguin, resulting in at least 25 injuries. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Eric Garner is killed by police officer Daniel Pantaleo in New York City, after the latter put him in a prohibited chokehold while arresting him. Read more
17 Jul 2007: TAM Airlines Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, crashes into a warehouse after landing too fast and missing the end of the São Paulo–Congonhas Airport runway, killing 199 people. Read more
17 Jul 2006: The 7.7 Mw Pangandaran tsunami earthquake severely affects the Indonesian island of Java, killing 668 people, and leaving more than 9,000 injured. Read more
17 Jul 2000: During approach to Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport, Alliance Air Flight 7412 suddenly crashes into a residential neighborhood in Patna, India, killing 60 people. Read more
17 Jul 1998: The 7.0 Mw Papua New Guinea earthquake triggers a tsunami that destroys ten villages in Papua New Guinea, killing up to 2,700 people, and leaving several thousand injured. Read more
17 Jul 1998: A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing the permanent international court in The Hague, to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Read more
17 Jul 1997: After takeoff from Husein Sastranegara International Airport, Sempati Air Flight 304 crashes into a residential neighborhood in Bandung, killing 28 people. Read more
17 Jul 1996: TWA Flight 800: Off the coast of Long Island, New York, a Paris-bound TWA Boeing 747 explodes, killing all 230 on board. Read more
17 Jul 1994: Brazil win their fourth World Cup title, defeating Italy 3–2 on penalties. Read more
17 Jul 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. Read more
17 Jul 1976: East Timor is annexed and becomes the 27th province of Indonesia. Read more
17 Jul 1976: The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the games because of New Zealand's participation. Contrary to rulings by other international sports organizations, the IOC had declined to exclude New Zealand because of their participation in South African sporting events during apartheid. Read more
17 Jul 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. Read more
17 Jul 1973: King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, while having surgery in Italy, is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan. Read more
17 Jul 1968: 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. Read more
17 Jul 1962: Nuclear weapons testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada National Security Site. Read more
17 Jul 1954: First Indochina War: Viet Minh troops successfully ambush the armoured French column 'G.M. 42' in the Battle of Chu Dreh Pass in the Central Highlands. It is the last battle of the war. Read more
17 Jul 1953: The largest number of United States midshipman casualties in a single event results from an aircraft crash in Florida, killing 44. Read more
17 Jul 1945: World War II: The main three leaders of the Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, hold the Potsdam Conference in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany. Read more
17 Jul 1944: Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320. Read more
17 Jul 1938: Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the "wrong way" to Ireland and becomes known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan. Read more
17 Jul 1936: Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the civil war. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Altona Bloody Sunday: A riot between the Nazi Party paramilitary forces, the SS and SA, and the German Communist Party ensues. Read more
17 Jul 1919: The form of government in the Republic of Finland is officially confirmed. For this reason, July 17 is known as the Day of Democracy (Kansanvallan päivä) in Finland. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are executed by Bolshevik Chekists at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Read more
17 Jul 1918: The RMS Carpathia is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; five lives are lost. Read more
17 Jul 1899: NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital. Read more
17 Jul 1867: Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the first dental school in the U.S. that is affiliated with a university. Read more
17 Jul 1850: Vega becomes the first star (other than the Sun) to be photographed. Read more
17 Jul 1821: The Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory of Florida to the United States. Read more

Famous Births on 17 July

17 Jul 2005: Connor Bedard, Canadian ice hockey player Connor Bedard is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a centre and alternate captain for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Considered one of the top ice hockey prospects of his generation, he was selected first overall by the Blackhawks in the 2023 NHL entry draft and made his NHL debut that year. Bedard would go on to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year in 2024. Read more
17 Jul 2002: Jordan Lawlar, American baseball player Jordan Jeffrey-Joseph Lawlar is an American professional baseball shortstop and outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB). Read more
17 Jul 1998: Rosana Serrano, Cuban rower Rosana Serrano is a Cuban rower. Read more
17 Jul 1997: OG Anunoby, British basketball player Ogugua "OG" Anunoby Jr. is a British professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers and was selected by the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft. With Toronto, Anunoby won an NBA championship in 2019, though he was injured and did not play in the finals. During the 2022–23 season, he led the league in steals while earning his first NBA All-Defensive Team selection. Read more
17 Jul 1996: Wonwoo, South Korean rapper and singer Jeon Won-woo, known mononymously as Wonwoo (원우), is a South Korean rapper and singer. Managed by Pledis Entertainment, he is a member of the South Korean boy band Seventeen, its hip hop team, and its second subunit, JxW. Read more
17 Jul 1996: Grace Caroline Currey, American actress Grace Caroline Currey is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for playing Mary Bromfield in the DC Extended Universe films Shazam! (2019) and its sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). She starred in The Conjuring Universe film Annabelle: Creation (2017) and the survival thriller film Fall (2022). Read more
17 Jul 1994: Kali Uchis, American singer-songwriter Karly Marina Loaiza, known professionally as Kali Uchis, is an American and Colombian singer-songwriter. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, an American Music Award, two Billboard Music Awards, and five nominations for a Latin Grammy Award. Read more
17 Jul 1992: Billie Lourd, American actress Billie Catherine Lourd is an American actress, best known for starring as Chanel #3 in the Fox horror comedy series Scream Queens (2015–2016) and for her roles in the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story (2017–present). She also appears as Lieutenant Connix in the Star Wars sequel trilogy (2015–2019). Lourd is the only child of actress Carrie Fisher. Read more
17 Jul 1992: Tatu Sinisalo, Finnish actor Tatu Johannes Sinisalo is a Finnish actor. He is known for his first film role as the singer Toni Wirtanen in the 2016 film Born in Heinola. He also played the young Kari Tapio in the 2019 biographical film King of Hearts. Read more
17 Jul 1992: Nick Bjugstad, American ice hockey player Nicholas Jay Bjugstad is an American professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Florida Panthers in the first round of the 2010 NHL entry draft. Read more
17 Jul 1991: Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player Oliver Oscar Emanuel Ekman-Larsson is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Known by his initials "OEL", Ekman-Larsson was selected sixth overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2009 NHL entry draft. Previously seen as one of the NHL's top offensive defencemen, Ekman-Larsson led the Coyotes in scoring in both the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons. After 11 seasons with Arizona, Ekman-Larsson was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in 2021, where he spent two seasons before signing with the Florida Panthers. In his only season with the Panthers, Ekman-Larsson won the Stanley Cup in 2024. Read more
17 Jul 1987: Darius Boyd, Australian rugby league player Darius Boyd is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a fullback for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL) and has played for Australia at international level and State of Origin for Queensland. Boyd captained the Brisbane Broncos from 2017 to 2019. Read more
17 Jul 1987: Jeremih, American singer, songwriter, and record producer Jeremy Phillip Felton, known professionally as Jeremih, is an American R&B singer. He embarked on a musical career after meeting record producer Mick Schultz in 2008, and signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings the following year. Read more
17 Jul 1986: DeAngelo Smith, American football player DeAngelo Lamar Smith is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL) for the Detroit Lions. He played college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL draft. Read more
17 Jul 1985: Loui Eriksson, Swedish ice hockey player Loui William Eriksson is a Swedish former professional ice hockey forward. Read more
17 Jul 1985: Neil McGregor, Scottish footballer Neil McGregor is a Scottish former football defender who has previously played in the Scottish Premier League for Dundee. Read more
17 Jul 1985: Tom Cullen, Welsh actor and director Thomas Cullen is a Welsh actor and director. He had roles in the independent film Weekend (2011), as Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham in the television series Downton Abbey, and as Sir Landry in the historical drama series Knightfall. He also played Thomas Seymour in Becoming Elizabeth. Read more
17 Jul 1983: Adam Lind, American baseball player Adam Alan Lind is an American former professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals. Lind has also appeared in left field. In 2009, Lind won the Silver Slugger Award and the Edgar Martínez Award. Read more
17 Jul 1982: Omari Banks, Anguillan cricketer Omari Ahmed Clement Banks is an Anguillan musician and former cricketer, who appeared in 10 Test matches for the West Indies, as well as domestic matches for the Leeward Islands. In 2011, Banks began to pursue his musical career professionally and has been less involved in playing regional cricket, and officially retired from cricket on 31 January 2012. Read more
17 Jul 1982: Stefania Spampinato, Italian actress Stefania Spampinato is an Italian actress. She is best known for starring in the ABC's series Grey's Anatomy and its spinoff Station 19 as Carina DeLuca. Read more
17 Jul 1981: Hely Ollarves, Venezuelan runner Hely Domingo Ollarves Arias is a male track and field athlete from Venezuela. He competed in the men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where he was eliminated in the first round alongside José Carabalí, Juan Morillo, and José Peña. Read more
17 Jul 1980: Javier Camuñas, Spanish footballer Javier Camuñas Gallego is a Spanish former professional footballer. A versatile midfielder, he could also operate as a second striker. Read more
17 Jul 1980: Brett Goldstein, British actor, comedian and writer Brett Goldstein is an English actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. Known for his role as Roy Kent in the Apple TV+ sports comedy-drama series Ted Lasso (2020–present), he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for each of the first two seasons. He is also the co-creator of the comedy-drama series Shrinking (2023–present). Read more
17 Jul 1980: Ryan Miller, American ice hockey player Ryan Dean Miller is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played as a goaltender for 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, and Anaheim Ducks. Miller was drafted 138th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1999 NHL entry draft. In 2010, he won the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender. Miller was the winningest American-born goaltender in NHL history from February 2019 until March 2024, when he was passed by Jonathan Quick. In January 2023, Miller was inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall Of Fame, and his #30 was retired. In April 2025, Miller was also inducted into the Rochester Americans Hall of Fame. Read more
17 Jul 1979: Mike Vogel, American actor Michael James Vogel is an American actor. Vogel began acting in 2001 and has appeared in several films and series, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Grind, Poseidon, Blue Valentine, The Help, Bates Motel, Cloverfield, Under the Dome and The Case for Christ. He starred as the lead in the NBC military drama series The Brave for the 2017–18 season. Read more
17 Jul 1978: Ricardo Arona, Brazilian mixed martial artist Ricardo Arona is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist, submission grappler and 4th degree Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) black belt practitioner. Read more
17 Jul 1978: Jason Jennings, American baseball player Jason Ryan Jennings is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball with the Colorado Rockies (2001-2006), Houston Astros (2007) and Texas Rangers (2008-2009). Jennings won the 2002 National League Rookie of the Year Award. Read more
17 Jul 1978: Justine Triet, French film director and screenwriter Justine Triet is a French film director, screenwriter, and editor. She has received several awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, a Palme d'Or, three César Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Read more
17 Jul 1977: Andrew Downton, Australian cricketer Andrew Graham Downton is an Australian cricketer, who played for the Tasmanian Tigers. He plays club cricket for South Hobart/Sandy Bay Cricket Club. Read more
17 Jul 1977: Leif Hoste, Belgian cyclist Leif Hoste is a retired Belgian professional road racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI Professional Continental Team team Accent.jobs–Willems Veranda's. Born in Kortrijk, Hoste's career highlights included winning two stages and the overall title at the 2006 Three Days of De Panne, the 2001, 2006 and 2007 Belgian national time trial championships, and a second-place finish at the 2004, 2006 and 2007 one-day classic Tour of Flanders. Read more
17 Jul 1977: Marc Savard, Canadian ice hockey player Marc Savard is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre, former assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames, and St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL), and former head coach of the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey League. He was drafted by the New York Rangers with the 91st overall in the 1995 NHL entry draft. During his NHL career, Savard played for the Rangers, Calgary Flames, Atlanta Thrashers, and Boston Bruins. He was an assistant coach for the St. Louis Blues during the 2019–20 season. Read more
17 Jul 1976: Luke Bryan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television personality. Bryan is a five-time "Entertainer of the Year", being awarded by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Country Music Association. In 2019, Bryan's 2013 album Crash My Party received the first Album of the Decade award from the Academy of Country Music. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with over 75 million records sold. Since 2018, Bryan has been a judge on the singing competition television show American Idol. Read more
17 Jul 1976: Gino D'Acampo, Italian chef and author Gennaro Sheffield "Gino" D'Acampo is an Italian celebrity chef, television personality and writer based in the United Kingdom. He first came to widespread public attention as the winner of the ninth series of the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in 2009, and has since been a regular chef on ITV's This Morning and the presenter of several food and travel series, including There's No Taste Like Home and Gino's Italian Escape. Read more
17 Jul 1976: Dagmara Domińczyk, Polish-American actress Dagmara Domińczyk is a Polish actress. She has appeared in the films Rock Star (2001), The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), Kinsey (2004), Trust the Man (2005), Lonely Hearts (2006), Running with Scissors (2006), Higher Ground (2011), The Letter (2012), The Immigrant (2013), Big Stone Gap (2014), A Woman, a Part (2016), The Assistant (2019), The Lost Daughter (2021), Bottoms (2023), and Priscilla (2023). Domińczyk also had a main role in the HBO comedy-drama television series Succession (2018–2023). Read more
17 Jul 1976: Marcos Senna, Brazilian-Spanish footballer Marcos Antônio Senna da Silva, known as Marcos Senna, is a former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He was known for his passing range and long-range shooting and was also a penalty specialist. Read more
17 Jul 1976: Anders Svensson, Swedish footballer and sportscaster Anders Gunnar Svensson is a Swedish former professional footballer. He was a central midfielder, known for his passing, free kicks, and set piece-taking abilities, who usually operated in a playmaking role. He was capped 148 times for the Sweden national team, many times as a captain, before he retired from international football in 2013. He is the most capped male player for Sweden, beating Thomas Ravelli's previous record of 143 caps. Read more
17 Jul 1976: Brian K. Vaughan, American comic book and television writer Brian K. Vaughan is an American writer and producer. He is best known for the comic book series Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways, Pride of Baghdad, Saga, and Paper Girls. Read more
17 Jul 1976: Eric Winter, American actor Eric Barrett Winter is an American actor. He has appeared in the television roles as Sergeant Tim Bradford on the ABC show The Rookie (2018–present), Rex Brady on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, FBI Special Agent Craig O'Laughlin on the CBS drama series The Mentalist (2010–2012), Dash Gardiner on the Lifetime fantasy-drama series Witches of East End (2013–2014), and The Good Doctor (2017–2018). His film appearances include Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008), The Ugly Truth (2009), and Sundays at Tiffany's (2010). Read more
17 Jul 1975: Andre Adams, New Zealand cricketer Andre Ryan Adams is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer of Caribbean descent. He played international cricket for New Zealand and is noted for playing in New Zealand's first T20I against Australia in 2005 where he was awarded cap number 1. Read more
17 Jul 1975: Elena Anaya, Spanish actress Elena Anaya Gutiérrez is a Spanish actress. She garnered public recognition in Spain for her performance in Sex and Lucia (2001), which also earned her a nomination to the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actress. She starred in The Skin I Live In (2011), for which she won the Goya Award for Best Actress. She is also known for her roles as one of Dracula's brides in Van Helsing (2004), the Spanish tourist in Room in Rome (2010) and Doctor Poison in Wonder Woman (2017). Read more
17 Jul 1975: Darude, Finnish DJ and producer Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen, better known by his stage name Darude, is a Finnish DJ and record producer from Eura, Satakunta. His music is characterised by its progressive/uplifting style. He started making music in 1995 and released the platinum-selling hit single "Sandstorm" in late 1999. His debut studio album, Before the Storm, was released on 18 September 2000, and sold 800,000 copies worldwide, earning Darude three Finnish Grammy Awards. It peaked at number one on Finland's Official List and number 6 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the United States. Darude's second studio album, Rush, reached number 11 on the Billboard dance chart in 2003 and number 4 on weekly album chart in Finland. Read more
17 Jul 1975: Loretta Harrop, Australian triathlete Loretta "Loz" Harrop is an Australian triathlete. Read more
17 Jul 1975: Konnie Huq, English television presenter Konnie Huq is a British television and radio presenter, screenwriter and children's author. She became the longest-serving female presenter of the British children's television programme Blue Peter, presenting it from 1997 to 2008. She has been a presenter and guest of shows including the 2010 series of The Xtra Factor on ITV2. Read more
17 Jul 1975: Terence Tao, Australian-American mathematician Terence Chi-Shen Tao is an Australian and American mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006 for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis, and additive number theory. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he holds the James and Carol Collins Chair in the College of Letters and Sciences. Among his contributions to mathematics is the Green–Tao theorem on prime numbers, which he proved in 2004 in collaboration with Ben Green. Read more
17 Jul 1975: Carey Hart, American freestyle motorcycle racer Carey Jason Phillip Hart is an American off-road truck racer, former professional freestyle motocross competitor, and former motorcycle racer. He was the first motorcyclist to attempt a backflip on a 250cc motorcycle during a competition, and founded Hart & Huntington Tattoo Co. Read more
17 Jul 1974: Claudio López, Argentine footballer Claudio Javier López is an Argentine former professional footballer, who played as a forward. Nicknamed Piojo (louse), he is best known for his spells with Valencia in Spain and Lazio in Italy. López also had a notable impact in the Argentina national team, participating in two World Cups. Read more
17 Jul 1973: Eric Moulds, American football player Eric Shannon Moulds is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Mississippi State University and was selected by the Buffalo Bills 24th overall in the 1996 NFL draft. In 2009, Moulds was one of three receivers named to the Buffalo Bills 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. Read more
17 Jul 1972: Elizabeth Cook, American country music singer-songwriter Elizabeth Cook is an American country singer from Florida. She has made over 400 appearances on the Grand Ole Opry since her debut on March 17, 2000, despite not being a member. Cook, "the daughter of a hillbilly singer married to a moonshiner who played his upright bass while in a prison band", was "virtually unknown to the pop masses" before she made a debut appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in June 2012. The New York Times called her "a sharp and surprising country singer" and an "idiosyncratic traditionalist". Read more
17 Jul 1972: Donny Marshall, American basketball player and sportscaster Donny Marshall is an American former professional basketball player who played five seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Cleveland Cavaliers and New Jersey Nets. He is currently a college basketball television analyst for Fox Sports 1, NBC Sports, Westwood One National Radio and CBSSN. Read more
17 Jul 1972: Jaap Stam, Dutch footballer and manager Jakob "Jaap" Stam is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. As a player, he played as a centre-back and is regarded as one of the best defenders of all time. He was part of the Manchester United team that won the Treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in 1999. Read more
17 Jul 1972: Eric Williams, American basketball player Eric C. Williams is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1995 to 2007. He played for seven teams during his career, including two stints with the Boston Celtics. Read more
17 Jul 1971: Calbert Cheaney, American basketball player and coach Calbert Nathaniel Cheaney is an American basketball coach and former player who served as Director of player development for the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball of the Big Ten. He starred as a player for the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball from 1989 to 1993 under coach Bob Knight. Cheaney ended his career as a three-time All-American and remains the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer with 2,613 career points. He led Indiana to a 105–27 record and the NCAA Tournament all four years, including a Final Four appearance in 1992. Read more
17 Jul 1971: Cory Doctorow, Canadian author and activist Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalizing copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of its licences for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics. Read more
17 Jul 1971: Nico Mattan, Belgian cyclist Nico Mattan is a Belgian former road racing cyclist. His greatest achievement in cycling was winning the Gent–Wevelgem classic in 2005. Read more
17 Jul 1969: Jason Clarke, Australian actor Jason Clarke is an Australian actor. He has appeared in many TV series, and is known for playing Tommy Caffee on the television series Brotherhood. He has also appeared in many films, often as an antagonist. His film roles include Death Race (2008), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Lawless (2012), White House Down (2013), Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Terminator Genisys (2015), Everest (2015), All I See Is You (2016), Mudbound (2017), The Man with the Iron Heart (2017), Chappaquiddick (2017), First Man (2018), Pet Sematary (2019), The Devil All the Time (2020), and Oppenheimer (2023). In 2022, he starred in the HBO sports drama series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty as former Los Angeles Lakers player turned coach Jerry West. Read more
17 Jul 1969: Scott Johnson, American cartoonist Scott Blaine Johnson is an American cartoonist, illustrator, game designer, and podcaster. He lives in South Jordan, Utah, with his wife and three children. In 2008, Johnson launched Frog Pants Studios, LLC, an illustration and audio production company. Read more
17 Jul 1969: Jaan Kirsipuu, Estonian cyclist Jaan Kirsipuu is an Estonian former road bicycle racer, who currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team Voltas–Tartu 2024 by CCN. Read more
17 Jul 1966: Sten Tolgfors, Swedish lawyer and politician, 30th Swedish Minister of Defence Sten Sture Tolgfors is a Swedish former politician, public affairs executive and government official who is serving as Governor of Västra Götaland County since 1 September 2022, having been appointed to the position on 9 June 2022. Read more
17 Jul 1965: Alex Winter, British-American actor Alexander Ross Winter is a British-American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, he is best known for playing Bill S. Preston, Esq., in the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and its sequels Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) and Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020). He is also known for his role as Vladimir in the 2026 Broadway revival of Waiting for Godot, and for playing Marko in the 1987 vampire film The Lost Boys. Read more
17 Jul 1964: Heather Langenkamp, American actress and producer Heather Elizabeth Langenkamp is an American actress and businesswoman. Langenkamp is best known for her breakthrough role as the resourceful heroine Nancy Thompson in the A Nightmare on Elm Street films, a role that led to her being a prominent figure in the horror genre. Langenkamp also portrayed Marie Lubbock on the ABC sitcom Just the Ten of Us (1988-1990). Read more
17 Jul 1963: Regina Belle, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Regina Belle is an American singer-songwriter who started her career in the mid-1980s. Known for her singles "Baby Come to Me" (1989) and "Make It Like It Was" (1990), Belle is most notable for three hit duets, all with Peabo Bryson: "Without You", the love theme from the comedy film Leonard Part 6, recorded in 1987; "A Whole New World", the main theme of the Disney's animated feature film Aladdin recorded in 1992, with which Belle and Bryson won a Grammy Award; and "I Just Can't Imagine".
The theme song "Far Longer than Forever" from the animated movie The Swan Princess, performed with Jeffrey Osborne, was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1995 for Best Original Song. Read more
17 Jul 1963: Letsie III of Lesotho Letsie III is King of Lesotho. He succeeded his father, Bereng Seeiso Moshoeshoe II, who was forced into exile in 1990. His father was briefly restored in 1995 but died in a car crash in early 1996, so Letsie succeeded him again for a second reign. As a constitutional monarch, most of King Letsie's duties as monarch of Lesotho are ceremonial. In 2000, he declared HIV/AIDS in Lesotho to be a natural disaster, prompting immediate national and international response to the epidemic. Read more
17 Jul 1963: Matti Nykänen, Finnish ski jumper and singer (died 2019) Matti Ensio Nykänen was a Finnish ski jumper who competed from 1981 to 1991. Known as "The Flying Finn", he is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time, having won five Winter Olympic medals, nine World Championship medals, and 22 Finnish Championship medals. Most notably, he won three gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics, becoming, along with Yvonne van Gennip of the Netherlands, the most medaled athlete that winter. Read more
17 Jul 1961: António Costa, Portuguese politician, 119th Prime Minister of Portugal António Luís Santos da Costa is a Portuguese lawyer and politician who has served as president of the European Council since 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Portugal from 2015 to 2024 and secretary-general of the Socialist Party from 2014 to 2024. Read more
17 Jul 1961: Jeremy Hardy, English comedian and actor (died 2019) Jeremy James Hardy was an English comedian. Born and raised in Hampshire, Hardy studied at the University of Southampton and began his stand-up career in the 1980s, going on to win the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1988. He is best known for his appearances on radio panel shows such as the News Quiz and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Read more
17 Jul 1960: Kim Barnett, English cricketer and coach Kim John Barnett is an English former cricketer. Barnett was a batsman who played internationally for England between 1988 and 1989. Read more
17 Jul 1960: Mark Burnett, English-American screenwriter and producer James Mark Burnett is a British-American television producer, best known for creating The Apprentice, and producing Survivor, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, Shark Tank, and The Voice. He has produced more than 4000 hours worth of television programming, which have appeared on over 15 major television networks and aired in over 70 countries. Read more
17 Jul 1960: Nancy Giles, American journalist and actress Nancy Giles is an American actress and commentator, perhaps best known for her appearances in the series China Beach and on CBS News Sunday Morning. Read more
17 Jul 1960: Robin Shou, Hong Kong martial artist and actor Shou Wan-por, known professionally as Robin Shou, is a Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist and stuntman. He is known for roles such as Liu Kang in the Mortal Kombat film series, Gobei in Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), Gen in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009), and 14K in the Death Race films (2008-2013). Shou was also a Hong Kong action star in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had appeared in about 40 movies during his Hong Kong career, before he entered Hollywood in 1994. Prior to his acting career, Shou won several championships as a martial artist. Read more
17 Jul 1960: Dawn Upshaw, American soprano Dawn Upshaw is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contemporary. Many composers, including Henri Dutilleux, Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Bruce, John Adams, and Kaija Saariaho, have written for her. In 2007, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. In 2006, she founded the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, serving as artistic director until 2019. She currently serves as head of the Vocal Arts Program at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Read more
17 Jul 1960: Jan Wouters, Dutch footballer and manager Jan Jacobus Wouters is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. He played as a defensive midfielder and was Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1990. Read more
17 Jul 1959: Pola Uddin, Baroness Uddin, Bangladeshi-English politician Manzila Pola Uddin, Baroness Uddin is a British life peer-member of the House of Lords and community activist. In 2009 she was included on The Guardian's Muslim Women Power List for Britain. Read more
17 Jul 1958: Wong Kar-wai, Chinese director, producer, and screenwriter Wong Kar-wai is a Hong Kong filmmaker. His films are characterised by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography with bold, saturated colours. An auteur of Hong Kong cinema, Wong frequently appears at international film festivals. Read more
17 Jul 1958: Suzanne Moore, English journalist Suzanne Lynn Moore is an English journalist. Read more
17 Jul 1958: Thérèse Rein, Australian businesswoman, founded Ingeus Thérèse Virginia Rein is an Australian entrepreneur who is the founder of Ingeus, an international employment and business psychology services company. Read more
17 Jul 1958: Susan Silver, American music manager Susan Jean Silver is an American music manager and businesswoman, best known for managing Seattle rock bands such as Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees. Silver also owns the company Susan Silver Management, and co-owns the club The Crocodile in Seattle. Silver was named "the most powerful figure in local rock management" by The Seattle Times in 1991. In 2025, Variety called Silver "one of the most important female managers in music history". Read more
17 Jul 1957: Bruce Crump, American drummer and songwriter (died 2015) Bruce Hull Crump, Jr. was an American drummer. He is best known as a member of the rock band Molly Hatchet from 1976 to 1982 and from 1984 to 1991. He also played as a member of the Canadian band Streetheart in the early 1980s, appearing on their Live After Dark recording, and joined several of his former Molly Hatchet bandmates in the band Gator Country in the mid-2000s. At the time of his death, Crump was a member of the bands SMILEK, White Rhino and China Sky. Read more
17 Jul 1957: Wendy Freedman, Canadian-American cosmologist and astronomer Wendy Laurel Freedman is a Canadian-American astronomer, best known for her measurement of the Hubble constant, and as director of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and Las Campanas, Chile. She is now the John & Marion Sullivan University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Her principal research interests are in observational cosmology, focusing on measuring both the current and past expansion rates of the universe, and on understanding if there is missing physics in the standard cosmological model. Read more
17 Jul 1956: Julie Bishop, Australian lawyer and politician, 38th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Isabel Bishop is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018. She was the member of parliament (MP) for Curtin from 1998 to 2019. She Served as the chancellor of the Australian National University from January 2020 to her early resignation in May 2026. Read more
17 Jul 1956: Bryan Trottier, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach Bryan John Trottier is a Canadian and American former professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. Read more
17 Jul 1955: Sylvie Léonard, Canadian actress and screenwriter Sylvie Léonard is a French-Canadian actress. She has acted in theater, film and television for over 40 years. Her most notable roles include Mimi Jarry in Rue des Pignons, Annick Jacquemin in Terre Humaine, Julie Galarneau in L'Héritage, Sylvie in Un gars, une fille and most recently Madeleine in Lâcher prise. Read more
17 Jul 1955: Paul Stamets, American mycologist and author Paul Edward Stamets is an American mycologist and entrepreneur who sells various mushroom products through his company. He is an author and an advocate of medicinal fungi and mycoremediation. Read more
17 Jul 1954: Angela Merkel, German chemist and politician, Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. Angela Dorothea Merkel is a German stateswoman and retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office and the only former East German. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 2000 to 2018. Read more
17 Jul 1954: Edward Natapei, Vanuatuan politician, 6th Prime Minister of Vanuatu (died 2015) Edward Nipake Natapei Tuta Fanua`araki was a Vanuatuan politician. He was the prime minister of Vanuatu on two occasions, and was previously the minister of Foreign Affairs briefly in 1991, the acting president of Vanuatu from 2 March 1999 to 24 March 1999 and the deputy prime minister. He was the president of the Vanua'aku Pati, a socialist, Anglophone political party. Read more
17 Jul 1954: J. Michael Straczynski, American author, screenwriter, and producer Joseph Michael Straczynski is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is known as the creator of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998) and its spinoff Crusade (1999), as well as the series Jeremiah (2002–2004) and Sense8 (2015–2018). He is the executor of the estate of Harlan Ellison. Read more
17 Jul 1952: David Hasselhoff, American actor, singer, and producer David Michael Hasselhoff, nicknamed "The Hoff", is an American actor, singer, and television personality. Hasselhoff first gained recognition on the soap opera The Young and the Restless (1975–1982), playing the role of Dr. Snapper Foster. His career continued with his leading role as Michael Knight on the crime drama series Knight Rider (1982–1986) and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the drama series Baywatch (1989–2000). He also produced Baywatch from the 1990s until 2001 when the series ended with Baywatch Hawaii. Read more
17 Jul 1952: Nicolette Larson, American singer-songwriter (died 1997) Nicolette Larson was an American singer. She is best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's "Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and No. 8 on the pop singles chart. It was followed by four more adult contemporary hits, two of which were also minor pop hits. Read more
17 Jul 1952: Thé Lau, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2015) Matheus J. "Thé" Lau was a Dutch musician and writer. Besides his solo career, he was the lead singer of the Dutch band The Scene. He was born in Bergen, North Holland. Read more
17 Jul 1952: Robert R. McCammon, American author Robert Rick McCammon is an American novelist from Birmingham, Alabama. One of the influential names in the late 1970s–early 1990s American horror literature boom, by 1991 McCammon had three New York Times bestsellers and around 5 million books in print. Since 2002, he's written ten books in a historical mystery series featuring an 18th-century magistrate's clerk, Matthew Corbett, as he unravels mysteries in colonial America. Read more
17 Jul 1951: Lucie Arnaz, American actress and singer Lucie Désirée Arnaz Luckinbill is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and the older sister of actor and musician Desi Arnaz, Jr. Read more
17 Jul 1951: Mark Bowden, American journalist and author Mark Bowden is an American journalist and writer. He is a former national correspondent and longtime contributor to The Atlantic. Bowden is best known for his book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (1999) about the 1993 U.S. military raid in Mogadishu, which was later adapted into a motion picture of the same name that received two Academy Awards. Read more
17 Jul 1951: Andrew Robathan, English soldier and politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces Andrew Robert George Robathan, Baron Robathan, is a British Conservative Party politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Leicestershire in Leicestershire as well as a government minister. Read more
17 Jul 1950: Sadhan Chandra Majumder, Bangladeshi politician Sadhan Chandra Majumder is a Bangladeshi politician served as the Minister of Food during 2019–2024 and a former member of Jatiya Sangsad representing the Naogaon-1 constituency during 2009–2024. Read more
17 Jul 1950: Tengku Sulaiman Shah, Malaysian corporate figure Tengku Sulaiman Shah is a Malaysian corporate figure and member of the Selangor royal family. He is the second son of the 8th Sultan, Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Al-Haj and the brother of the 9th and current Sultan, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Al-Haj. Currently, he is second-in-line to throne of Selangor after his nephew, Tengku Amir Shah. Read more
17 Jul 1950: Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2011) Phoebe Snow was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals on Paul Simon’s "Gone at Last". She was described by The New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves". Snow also sang numerous commercial jingles for many American products during the 1980s and 1990s, including General Foods International Coffees, Salon Selectives, and Stouffer's. Snow experienced success in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s with five top 100 albums in that country. In 1995, she recorded a gospel album with Sisters of Glory. Read more
17 Jul 1949: Geezer Butler, English bass player and songwriter Terence Michael Joseph "Geezer" Butler is an English musician, best known as the bassist and primary lyricist of the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath. He has also recorded and performed with Heaven & Hell, GZR, Ozzy Osbourne, and Deadland Ritual. Read more
17 Jul 1949: Charley Steiner, American journalist and sportscaster Charles Harris Steiner is an American sportscaster and broadcast journalist. He is currently the radio play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, paired with Rick Monday. Read more
17 Jul 1948: Ron Asheton, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2009) Ronald Franklin Asheton was an American musician, best known as the guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter for the rock band the Stooges. He formed the band along with Iggy Pop and his brother, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexander in 1967. The band is regarded as the seminal proto-punk band and a major influence on the punk rock genre with the albums The Stooges (1969), Fun House (1970) and Raw Power (1973). Following break-ups in 1971 and 1974, the Stooges reformed in 2003 and Asheton remained with the band until his death from a heart attack on January 6, 2009. Asheton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 as a member of the Stooges, and ranked as number 29 and 60 on Rolling Stone's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2010 and 2015 respectively. Read more
17 Jul 1948: Luc Bondy, Swiss director and producer (died 2015) Luc Bondy was a Swiss theatre and film director. Read more
17 Jul 1947: Joyce Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St John's, English educator and politician Joyce Anne Anelay, Baroness Anelay of St Johns,, is a British politician who has sat in the House of Lords since 1996 as a life peer. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as a Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from August 2014 to June 2017, when she was appointed a Minister of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union in the Second May ministry, after the 2017 reshuffle. She stood down from the role in October 2017 citing health reasons. Read more
17 Jul 1947: Robert Begerau, German footballer and manager Robert Begerau is a former German footballer. Read more
17 Jul 1947: Queen Camilla, Queen Consort of King Charles III of the United Kingdom Camilla is Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. Read more
17 Jul 1947: Wolfgang Flür, German musician (Kraftwerk) Wolfgang Flür is a German musician, best known for playing percussion in the electronic group Kraftwerk from 1973 to 1987. Flür claims that he invented the electric drums the group used throughout the 1970s. However, patent records dispute this, citing Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter as the creators. Read more
17 Jul 1947: Mick Tucker, English rock drummer (Sweet) (died 2002) Michael Thomas Tucker was an English musician, best known as the drummer of the glam rock and hard rock band Sweet. Read more
17 Jul 1946: Chris Crutcher, American novelist and short story writer Chris Crutcher is an American novelist and a family therapist. He received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2000 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens. Read more
17 Jul 1946: Ted Sampley, American POW/MIA activist (died 2009) Theodore Lane Sampley was an American Vietnam War veteran and activist. He primarily advocated for those servicemen still considered missing in action or prisoners of war (POW-MIA) as of the end of hostilities in 1975. A staunch political conservative, he also ran for local political office several times. He is credited with the research that identified Air Force Lt. Michael Blassie as the Vietnam fatality buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and for his role in organizing the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle event in Washington. In Kinston, North Carolina, where he lived for much of his adult life, he was known for his local civic activism, most notably his effort to build a replica of the Confederate ironclad CSS Neuse, the only full-size replica of a Confederate ironclad, in the city's downtown. Read more
17 Jul 1945: Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia Alexander, Crown Prince of Serbia and Yugoslavia, is the head of the House of Karađorđević, the former royal house of the defunct Kingdom of Yugoslavia and its predecessor the Kingdom of Serbia. Alexander is the only child of King Peter II and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. He held the position of crown prince in the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia for the first four-and-a-half months of his life, until the declaration of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia later in November 1945, when the monarchy was abolished. In public he claims the crowned royal title of "Alexander II Karadjordjevic" as a pretender to the throne. Read more
17 Jul 1945: John Patten, Baron Patten, English politician, Secretary of State for Education John Haggitt Charles Patten, Baron Patten, is a British politician. He was formerly Conservative Member of Parliament for Oxford and subsequently for Oxford West and Abingdon. Read more
17 Jul 1944: Mark Burgess, New Zealand cricketer and footballer Mark Gordon Burgess is a former cricketer who played Test cricket for New Zealand from 1968 to 1980, captaining the team from 1978 to 1980. A right-handed batsman, who bowled right-arm off-breaks, Burgess played in New Zealand's first One Day International (ODI) in 1973. Read more
17 Jul 1944: Catherine Schell, Hungarian-English actress Catherine Schell is a Hungarian-born British actress who came to prominence in British film and television productions from the 1960s. Her notable roles include the Bond girl Nancy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Lady Claudine Litton in The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), Countess Scarlioni in the Doctor Who serial City of Death (1979), and a regular role as Maya in Year Two of the television series Space: 1999 (1976–1977). Read more
17 Jul 1944: Carlos Alberto Torres, Brazilian footballer and manager (died 2016) Carlos Alberto "Capita" Torres, also known as "O Capitão do Tri", was a Brazilian football player and manager who played as an attacking right-sided full-back or wing-back. A technically gifted defender with good ball skills and defensive capabilities, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time. He also stood out for his leadership, and was an excellent penalty taker. Nicknamed O Capitão, he captained the Brazil national team to victory in the 1970 World Cup, scoring the fourth goal in the final, considered one of the greatest goals in the history of the tournament. Read more
17 Jul 1943: LaVyrle Spencer, American author and educator LaVyrle Spencer is an American best-selling author of contemporary and historical romance novels. She has successfully published a number of books, with several of them made into movies. Twelve of her books have been New York Times bestsellers, and Spencer was inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame in 1988. She retired from writing in 1997. Read more
17 Jul 1942: Gale Garnett, New Zealand–born Canadian singer Gale Zoë Garnett is a Canadian singer best known in the United States for her self-penned, Grammy-winning folk hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine". Garnett has since carved out a career as an author and actress. Read more
17 Jul 1942: Connie Hawkins, American basketball player (died 2017) Cornelius Lance "Connie" Hawkins was an American professional basketball player. A New York City playground legend, "the Hawk" was to play basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes but was unjustly implicated in a point-shaving scandal that saw him kicked out of school as a freshman and essentially blackballed from the NBA. Hawkins found refuge with the Pittsburgh Rens of the American Basketball League, where he won the 1961 league MVP before the league folded. He played four years for the famed exhibition team Harlem Globetrotters before getting to play in the American Basketball Association with the Pittsburgh Pipers in 1967. He won the first league MVP award by averaging 26.8 points and led the team to the ABA championship. Read more
17 Jul 1942: Don Kessinger, American baseball player and manager Donald Eulon Kessinger is an American former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from 1964 to 1979, most prominently as a member of the Chicago Cubs, where he was a six-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove Award winner. He ended his career playing for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago White Sox. Read more
17 Jul 1942: Zoot Money, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player George Bruno "Zoot" Money was an English vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader. A Hammond organ player, he was the leader of the Big Roll Band. Inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles, Money was drawn to rock and roll music and became involved in the music scenes of Bournemouth and Soho during the 1960s. He took his stage name "Zoot" from Zoot Sims after seeing him perform in concert. Read more
17 Jul 1941: Daryle Lamonica, American football player (died 2022) Daryle Pasquale Lamonica was an American professional football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. Nicknamed "The Mad Bomber" due to almost always throwing long passes, he spent the majority of his career with the Oakland Raiders. Read more
17 Jul 1941: Bob Taylor, English cricketer Robert William Taylor MBE is an English former cricketer who played as wicket-keeper for Derbyshire between 1961 and 1984 and for England between 1971 and 1984. He made 57 Test, and 639 first-class cricket appearances in total, taking 1,473 catches. The 2,069 victims across his entire career is the most of any wicket-keeper in first-class history. He is considered one of the world's most accomplished wicket-keepers. He made his first-class debut for Minor Counties against South Africa in 1960, having made his Staffordshire debut in 1958. He became Derbyshire's first choice wicket-keeper when George Dawkes sustained a career-ending injury. His final First Class appearance was at the Scarborough Festival in 1988. He remained first choice until his retirement except for a short period in 1964 when Laurie Johnson was tried as a batsman-wicketkeeper. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 1979 Cricket World Cup. Read more
17 Jul 1941: Achim Warmbold, German race car driver and manager Achim Warmbold is a German former rally driver. He won the West German Rally Championship in 1971 and 1980, and scored two outright victories during the inaugural World Rally Championship season in 1973 at the Rally of Poland and Austrian Alpine Rally events. Read more
17 Jul 1940: Tim Brooke-Taylor, English actor and screenwriter (died 2020) Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor was an English actor and comedian. He was best known as a member of The Goodies. Read more
17 Jul 1940: Verne Lundquist, American sportscaster Merton Laverne Lundquist Jr. is an American former sportscaster known for his long career with CBS Sports. Read more
17 Jul 1939: Andrée Champagne, Canadian actress and politician (died 2020) Andrée Champagne was a Canadian actress, pianist and politician. Read more
17 Jul 1939: Spencer Davis, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2020) Spencer Davis was a Welsh musician. He founded the Spencer Davis Group, a band that had several hits in the 1960s including "Keep On Running", "Somebody Help Me", "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm a Man", all sung by Steve Winwood. Davis subsequently enjoyed success as an A&R executive with Island Records. Read more
17 Jul 1938: Hermann Huppen, Belgian author and illustrator (died 2026) Hermann Huppen, better known by the pen-name Hermann, was a Belgian comic book creator. He is most famous for his post-apocalyptic comic Jeremiah which was made into a television series. Read more
17 Jul 1935: Diahann Carroll, American actress and singer (died 2019) Diahann Carroll was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. Carroll was the recipient of numerous nominations and awards for her stage and screen performances, including a Tony Award in 1962, Golden Globe Award in 1968, an Academy Award nomination in 1974, and five Emmy Award nominations between 1963 and 2008. Read more
17 Jul 1935: Peter Schickele, American composer and educator (died 2024) Johann Peter Schickele was an American composer, musical educator and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, which he presented as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also hosted a long-running weekly radio program called Schickele Mix. Read more
17 Jul 1935: Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor and producer (died 2024) Donald McNichol Sutherland was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards as well as a BAFTA Award nomination. Considered one of the best actors never nominated for an Academy Award, he received an Academy Honorary Award in 2017. Read more
17 Jul 1934: Lucio Tan, Chinese-Filipino billionaire businessman and educator Lucio Chua Tan Sr. is a Filipino billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He presides over the Filipino conglomerate company LT Group, Inc., a company with extensive business interests in sports, banking, airline, liquor, tobacco, real estate, beverages, and education. As of March 2026, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$3.5 billion, making him the third-richest person in the Philippines. Read more
17 Jul 1933: Keiko Awaji, Japanese actress (died 2014) Keiko Awaji was a Japanese stage and film actress. Read more
17 Jul 1933: Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Maltese politician, 9th Prime Minister of Malta (died 2022) Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, was a Maltese politician who served as Prime Minister of Malta from December 1984 to May 1987. Read more
17 Jul 1933: Mimi Hines, Canadian singer and comedian (died 2024) Mimi Hines was a Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and her work on Broadway. She succeeded Barbra Streisand in the original production of Funny Girl. Read more
17 Jul 1933: Tony Pithey, Zimbabwean-South African cricketer (died 2006) Anthony John Pithey was a Rhodesian cricketer who played in seventeen Test matches for South Africa between 1957 and 1965. He also made 65 appearances for Rhodesia, captaining them 34 times. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Niccolò Castiglioni, Italian composer (died 1996) Niccolò Castiglioni was an Italian composer, pianist, and writer on music. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Red Kerr, American basketball player and coach (died 2009) John Graham Kerr, also known as Red Kerr, was an American basketball player, coach, executive and broadcaster who devoted six decades to the sport at all levels. In 2009, he was honored with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to basketball. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Wojciech Kilar, Polish pianist and composer (died 2013) Wojciech Kilar was a Polish classical and film music composer. One of his greatest successes came with his score to Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992, which received the ASCAP Award and the nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Music. In 2003, he won the César Award for Best Film Music written for The Pianist, for which he also received a BAFTA nomination. In 2012, he became the recipient of Poland's highest distinction, the Order of the White Eagle. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Karla Kuskin, American author and illustrator (died 2009) Karla Kuskin was a prolific American author, poet, illustrator, and reviewer of children's literature. Kuskin was known for her poetic, alliterative style. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Slick Leonard, American basketball player and coach (died 2021) William Robert "Slick" Leonard was an American professional basketball player, coach and color commentator. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers, where he was a two-time All-American and a member of their national championship squad in 1953. After playing professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Leonard coached the Indiana Pacers to three American Basketball Association (ABA) championships. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2014. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Ian Moir, Australian rugby league player (died 1990) Ian James Moir (1932–1990) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer, a champion wing three-quarter who played in the 1950s and 1960s for South Sydney and Western Suburbs. He made eight Test appearances for the Australian national representative side and represented in four World Cup matches in two World Cups and in 14 Kangaroo tour matches. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Quino, Spanish-Argentinian cartoonist (died 2020) Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón, better known by his pen name Quino, was an Argentine cartoonist. His comic strip Mafalda is popular in many parts of the Americas and Europe and has been praised for its use of social satire as a commentary on real-life issues. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Hal Riney, American businessman, founded Publicis & Hal Riney (died 2008) Hal Patrick Riney was an American advertising executive. Read more
17 Jul 1929: Arthur Frommer, American travel writer (died 2024) Arthur Bernard Frommer was an American travel writer known for founding the Frommer's brand of travel guides. Read more
17 Jul 1929: Sergei K. Godunov, Russian mathematician and academic (died 2023) Sergei Konstantinovich Godunov was a Soviet and Russian professor at the Sobolev Institute of Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk, Russia. Read more
17 Jul 1928: Vince Guaraldi, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1976) Vincent Anthony Guaraldi was an American jazz pianist who composed music for animated television adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip. His compositions for this series included their signature melody "Linus and Lucy" and the holiday standard "Christmas Time Is Here". Guaraldi also performed on piano as a member of Cal Tjader's 1950s ensembles and for his own solo career. Guaraldi's 1962 composition "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" became a radio hit and won a Grammy Award in 1963 for Best Original Jazz Composition. He died of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm on February 6, 1976, at age 47, moments after concluding the first half of a nightclub performance in Menlo Park, California. Read more
17 Jul 1928: Joe Morello, American jazz drummer (Dave Brubeck Quartet – "Blue Rondo à la Turk") (died 2011) Joseph Albert Morello was an American jazz drummer best known for serving as the drummer for pianist Dave Brubeck, as part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, from 1957 to 1972, including during the quartet's "classic lineup" from 1958 to 1968, which also included alto saxophonist Paul Desmond and bassist Eugene Wright. Morello's facility for playing unusual time signatures and rhythms enabled that group to record a series of albums that explored them. The most notable of these was the first in the series, the 1959 album Time Out, which contained the hit songs "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo à la Turk". In fact, "Take Five", the album's biggest hit was specifically written by Desmond as a way to showcase Morello's ability to play in 54 time. Read more
17 Jul 1926: Édouard Carpentier, French-Canadian wrestler (died 2010) Édouard Ignacz Weiczorkiewicz, better known by his ring name Édouard Carpentier, was a French and Canadian professional wrestler, gymnast, and member of the French Resistance during World War II. Read more
17 Jul 1926: Willis Carto, American activist and theorist (died 2015) Willis Allison Carto was an American far-right political activist. He described himself as a Jeffersonian and a populist, but was primarily known for his promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. Throughout his life, Carto established and controlled a variety of right-wing organizations and periodicals, most significantly the Liberty Lobby. An intensely private person despite his influence, he remains little known and had a reputation as a "shadowy" figure even among other right-wing activists. Extremism scholar George Michael, the author of a biography of Carto, argued that despite his public obscurity, Carto was "undoubtedly the central figure in the post-World War II American far right". Read more
17 Jul 1925: Jimmy Scott, American singer and actor (died 2014) James Victor Scott, also known as Little Jimmy Scott, was an American jazz vocalist known for his high natural contralto voice and his sensitivity on ballads and love songs. Read more
17 Jul 1925: Mohammad Hasan Sharq, Afghan politician Mohammad Hasan Sharq is an Afghan former communist politician who was active in the communist government of Afghanistan. Sharq became Chairman of the Council of Ministers – the government of the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. He was selected as a compromise candidate after a loya jirga ratified a new constitution in 1987. However, the power of his office was relatively slight compared with the powers held by the presidency. Read more
17 Jul 1924: Garde Gardom, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (died 2013) Garde Basil Gardom, was a Canadian politician, lawyer, and the 26th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Read more
17 Jul 1923: Jeanne Block, American psychologist (died 1981) Jeanne Lavonne Humphrey Block was an American psychologist and expert on child development. She conducted research on sex-role socialization and theories of personality. Block was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and conducted her research with the National Institute of Mental Health and the University of California, Berkeley. She retired in 1981 after being diagnosed with cancer, and died in December of the same year. Read more
17 Jul 1923: John Cooper, English car designer, co-founded the Cooper Car Company (died 2000) John Newton Cooper was a co-founder, with his father Charles Cooper, of the Cooper Car Company. Born in Surbiton, Surrey, United Kingdom, he became an auto racing legend with his rear-engined chassis design that would eventually change the face of the sport at its highest levels, from Formula One to the Indianapolis 500. Read more
17 Jul 1921: George Barnes, American guitarist, producer, and songwriter (died 1977) George Warren Barnes was an American jazz guitarist. He was also a conductor, composer, arranger, producer, author, and educator. He was hired by the NBC Orchestra at the age of 17, making him the youngest musician on staff. At 17, he was considered to be a great player by many musicians, including Tommy Dorsey, and Jimmy McPartland. Barnes was also proficient as a recording engineer. During his career, Barnes recorded with singers Mel Tormé, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Patti Page, Dinah Washington, Lena Horne, Billy Eckstine and Johnny Mathis among many others.
He was an inspiration to, and influenced guitarists Chet Atkins, Roy Clark, Herb Ellis and Merle Travis, among many others. Read more
17 Jul 1921: Louis Lachenal, French mountaineer (died 1955) Louis Lachenal, a French climber born in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, was one of the first two mountaineers to climb a summit of more than 8,000 meters. Read more
17 Jul 1921: Mary Osborne, American guitarist (died 1992) Mary Osborne was an American jazz guitarist. She began performing at a young age and was featured on a radio program in North Dakota, where she grew up. In New York City during the 1940s, she played with jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, and Thelonious Monk. After moving to California in 1968, she and her husband founded the Osborne Guitar Company. Read more
17 Jul 1921: Toni Stone, American baseball player (died 1996) Toni Stone, born as Marcenia Lyle Stone, was an American female professional baseball player who played in predominantly male leagues. In 1953, she became the first woman to play as a regular on an American major-level professional baseball team when she joined the Indianapolis Clowns in the previously all-male Negro leagues.. A baseball player from her early childhood, she also played for the San Francisco Sea Lions, the New Orleans Creoles, and the Kansas City Monarchs before retiring from baseball in 1954. Stone was taunted at times by teammates, once being told, "Go home and fix your husband some biscuits", but she was undeterred. It was reported that during an exhibition game in 1953, she hit a single off a fastball pitch delivered by legendary player Satchel Paige, although the claim has failed verification. Read more
17 Jul 1921: František Zvarík, Slovak actor (died 2008) František Zvarík was an accomplished theater actor and movie character actor. He has appeared in about two dozen Czechoslovak and Slovak films since the 1940s. Among his accomplishments is the key supporting role of the town commander Markuš Kolkotský in The Shop on Main Street, a film which won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Read more
17 Jul 1920: Gordon Gould, American physicist and academic, invented the laser (died 2005) Richard Gordon Gould was an American physicist who is sometimes credited with the invention of the laser and the optical amplifier.. Gould is best known for his thirty-year fight with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to obtain patents for the laser and related technologies. He also fought with laser manufacturers in court battles to enforce the patents he subsequently did obtain. Read more
17 Jul 1920: Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish businessman, 7th President of the International Olympic Committee (died 2010) Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1980 to 2001. Read more
17 Jul 1919: Albert Stubbins, English footballer (died 2002) Albert Stubbins was an English footballer who played as a centre forward. Beginning his career at Newcastle United, the onset of World War II limited his playing time. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, Guatemalan soldier and politician, President of Guatemala (died 2003) Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio was a military officer and politician who served as the 35th president of Guatemala from 1970 to 1974. A member of the National Liberation Movement, his government enforced torture, disappearances, and killings against political and military adversaries, as well as common criminals. Read more
17 Jul 1917: Lou Boudreau, American baseball player and manager (died 2001) Louis Boudreau, nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "the Good Kid", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a shortstop on the Cleveland Indians, and managed four teams for 15 seasons including 10 seasons as a player-manager. He was also a radio announcer for the Chicago Cubs and in college was a dual-sport athlete in baseball and basketball, earning All-American honors in basketball for the University of Illinois. Read more
17 Jul 1917: Phyllis Diller, American actress, comedian, and voice artist (died 2012) Phyllis Ada Diller was an American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician and visual artist, noted for her eccentric stage persona, characterized by her self-deprecating humor, wild hair and clothes, and exaggerated, cackling laugh. Read more
17 Jul 1917: Kenan Evren, Turkish general and politician, 7th President of Turkey (died 2015) Ahmet Kenan Evren was a Turkish military officer who served as the 7th president of Turkey from 1982 to 1989. He assumed the post by leading the 1980 military coup. Read more
17 Jul 1917: Christiane Rochefort, French author (died 1998) Christiane Rochefort was a French feminist writer. She was born into a left-wing working class Parisian family; her father joined the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. Rochefort worked as a journalist and spent fifteen years as a press attaché to the Cannes Film Festival before publishing her first novel, Le Repos du guerrier, in 1958. Like several of her later novels, Le Repos du guerrier was a bestseller; in 1962 it was adapted into a popular film directed by Roger Vadim and starring Brigitte Bardot. Her novels are divided between social realist satires set in present-day France and utopian or dystopian fantasies. She won the Prix Médicis in 1988. Rochefort's novels also have
strong sexual elements. Read more
17 Jul 1916: Eleanor Hadley, American economist and policymaker (died 2007) Eleanor Martha Hadley was an American economist and policymaker. Because of her relatively rare research specialization in Japanese economics, during World War II Hadley was recruited first into OSS and then the State Department to support the United States' war effort while she was a doctoral candidate in economics at Radcliffe College. Hadley helped draft the United States' plans for dissolving zaibatsu business conglomerates as part of a planned effort to democratize Japan after the war, and she participated in implementing this economic deconcentration program when the postwar occupation brought her to Japan to work for SCAP as an economist. Read more
17 Jul 1915: Bijon Bhattacharya, Indian actor, singer, and screenwriter (died 1978) Bijon Bhattacharya was an Indian actor from West Bengal associated with Bengali theatre and films. He was an eminent playwright and dramatist. Read more
17 Jul 1915: Arthur Rothstein, American photographer and educator (died 1985) Arthur Rothstein was an American photographer. His career spanned five decades, and he received recognition as one of America's premier photojournalists. Read more
17 Jul 1914: Eleanor Steber, American soprano and educator (died 1990) Eleanor Steber was an American soprano and voice teacher. She was particularly celebrated for her performances in the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss. A native of West Virginia, she was educated at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where she began her performance career in the 1930s. She made her opera debut in 1936 at the Boston Opera House as Senta in Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. Read more
17 Jul 1913: Bertrand Goldberg, American architect, designed the Marina City Building (died 1997) Bertrand Goldberg was an American architect and industrial designer, best known for the Marina City complex in Chicago, Illinois, the tallest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time of completion. Read more
17 Jul 1912: Erwin Bauer, German race car driver (died 1958) Erwin Erich Bauer was a German Formula One driver who raced a privately entered Veritas in his one World Championship Grand Prix. Read more
17 Jul 1912: Art Linkletter, Canadian-American radio and television host (died 2010) Arthur Gordon Linkletter was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of House Party, which ran on CBS radio and television for 25 years, and People Are Funny, which aired on NBC radio and television for 19 years. He became a naturalized United States citizen in 1942. Read more
17 Jul 1911: Lionel Ferbos, American trumpet player (died 2014) Lionel Charles Ferbos was an American jazz trumpeter. He was from New Orleans, Louisiana. Read more
17 Jul 1911: Heinz Lehmann, German-Canadian psychiatrist and academic (died 1999) Heinz Edgar Lehmann was a German-born Canadian psychiatrist best known for his use of chlorpromazine for the treatment of schizophrenia in 1950s and "truly the father of modern psychopharmacology." Read more
17 Jul 1910: James Coyne, Canadian lawyer and banker, 2nd Governor of the Bank of Canada (died 2012) James Elliott Coyne was a Canadian economist who served as the second governor of the Bank of Canada, from 1955 to 1961, succeeding Graham Towers. During his time in office, he had a much-publicized debate with Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, a debate often referred to as the "Coyne Affair", which led to his resignation and, eventually, to greater central-bank independence in Canada. Read more
17 Jul 1910: Frank Olson, American chemist and microbiologist (died 1953) Frank Rudolph Emmanuel Olson was an American bacteriologist, biological warfare scientist, and an employee of the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (USBWL) who worked at Camp Detrick in Maryland. At a meeting in rural Maryland, he was covertly dosed with LSD by his colleague
Sidney Gottlieb and, nine days later, plunged to his death from the window of the Hotel Statler in New York. The U.S. government first described his death as a suicide, and then as misadventure, while others allege murder. The Rockefeller Commission report on the CIA in 1975 acknowledged their having conducted covert drug studies on fellow agents. Olson's death is one of the most mysterious outcomes of the CIA mind control project MKUltra. Read more
17 Jul 1905: William Gargan, American actor (died 1979) William Dennis Gargan was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Joe in They Knew What They Wanted. He acted in decades of movies including parts in Follow the Leader, Rain, Night Flight, Three Sons, Isle of Destiny and many others. The role he was best known for was that of a private detective Martin Kane in the 1949–1952 radio-television series Martin Kane, Private Eye. In television, he was also in 39 episodes of The New Adventures of Martin Kane. Read more
17 Jul 1902: Christina Stead, Australian author and academic (died 1983) Christina Stead was an Australian novelist and short-story writer acclaimed for her satirical wit and penetrating psychological characterisations. Christina Stead was a committed Marxist, although she was never a member of the Communist Party. She spent much of her life outside Australia, although she returned before her death. Read more
17 Jul 1901: Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver (died 1994) Luigi Chinetti was an Italian-born racecar driver, who emigrated to the United States during World War II. He drove in 12 consecutive 24 Hours of Le Mans races, taking three outright wins there and taking two more at the Spa 24 Hours race. Chinetti owned the North American Racing Team, which successfully ran privateer Ferraris in sports car and Formula One races. For many years he was the exclusive American importer of Ferrari automobiles to the United States. Read more
17 Jul 1901: Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet and author (died 1938) Bruno Jasieński was a Polish poet, novelist, playwright, Catastrophist, and leader of the Polish Futurist movement in the interwar period. Jasieński was also a communist activist in Poland, France and the Soviet Union, where he was executed during the Great Purge. He is acclaimed by members of the various modernist art groups as their patron. An annual literary festival Brunonalia is held in Klimontów, Poland, his birthplace, where one of the streets is also named after him. Read more
17 Jul 1901: Patrick Smith, Irish farmer and politician, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (died 1982) Patrick Smith was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1923 until 1977, a tenure of 53 years, and the longest in the state. He held a number of ministerial positions within the governments of Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass. Read more
17 Jul 1899: James Cagney, American actor and dancer (died 1986) James Francis Cagney Jr. was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances. Read more
17 Jul 1898: Berenice Abbott, American photographer (died 1991) Berenice Alice Abbott was an American photographer best known for her portraits of cultural figures of the interwar period, New York City photographs of architecture and urban design of the 1930s, and science interpretation of the 1940s to the 1960s. Read more
17 Jul 1898: Osmond Borradaile, Canadian soldier and cinematographer (died 1999) Osmond Hudson Borradaile was a Canadian cameraman, cinematographer, and veteran of World War I and World War II. Read more
17 Jul 1896: Rupert Atkinson, English RAF officer (died 1919) Captain Rupert Norman Gould Atkinson was a British World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories. Read more
17 Jul 1894: Georges Lemaître, Belgian priest, astronomer, and cosmologist (died 1966) Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître was a Belgian Catholic priest, theoretical physicist, and mathematician who made major contributions to cosmology and astrophysics. He was the first to argue that the recession of galaxies is evidence of an expanding universe and to connect the observational Hubble–Lemaître law with the solution to the Einstein field equations in the general theory of relativity for a homogenous and isotropic universe. That work led Lemaître to propose what he called the "hypothesis of the primeval atom", now regarded as the first formulation of the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe. Read more
17 Jul 1889: Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (died 1970) Erle Stanley Gardner was an American author and lawyer, best known for the Perry Mason series of legal detective stories. Gardner also wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces as well as a series of nonfiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California and other regions in Mexico. Read more
17 Jul 1888: Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Ukrainian-Israeli novelist, short story writer and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970) Shmuel Yosef Agnon was an Austro-Hungarian-born Israeli novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew literature. In Hebrew, he is known by the nom de plume Shai Agnon. In English, his works are published under the name S. Y. Agnon. Read more
17 Jul 1882: James Somerville, English admiral and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset (died 1949) Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville, was a Royal Navy admiral. He served in the First World War as fleet wireless officer for the Mediterranean Fleet where he was involved in providing naval support for the Gallipoli Campaign. He also served in the Second World War as commander of the newly formed Force H: after the French armistice with Germany, Winston Churchill gave Somerville and Force H the task of neutralizing the main element of the French battle fleet, then at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. After he had destroyed the French Battle fleet, Somerville played an important role in the pursuit and sinking of the German battleship Bismarck. Read more
17 Jul 1879: Jack Laviolette, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (died 1960) Jean-Baptiste "Jack" Laviolette was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Laviolette played nine seasons for the Montreal Canadiens hockey club and was their first captain, coach, and general manager. Read more
17 Jul 1873: Many Benner, French painter (died 1965) Emmanuel Michel Benner, known as Many Benner, was a French painter. The son of Jean Benner, Many was the nephew of his father's twin brother, also named Emmanuel Benner. All four Benners were painters. Read more
17 Jul 1871: Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and illustrator (died 1956) Lyonel Charles Adrian Feininger was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York City. In 1887 he traveled to Europe and studied art in Hamburg, Berlin and Paris. He started his career as a cartoonist in 1894 and met with much success in this area. He also worked as a commercial caricaturist for 20 years. At the age of 36, he began to work as a fine artist. His work, characterized above all by prismatically broken, overlapping forms in translucent colors, with many references to architecture and the sea, made him one of the most important artists of classical modernism. Furthermore he produced a large body of photographic works and created several piano compositions and fugues for organ. Read more
17 Jul 1870: Charles Davidson Dunbar, Scottish soldier and bagpipe player (died 1939) Charles Davidson Dunbar, DCM was the first pipe major to be commissioned as a pipe officer in Britain and the British Empire.
He emigrated from Scotland to Canada, where he came to be called "Canada's greatest military piper". Read more
17 Jul 1868: Henri Nathansen, Danish director and playwright (died 1944) Henri Nathansen was a Danish writer and stage director, today best known for the play Indenfor Murene. Read more
17 Jul 1853: Alexius Meinong, Ukrainian-Austrian philosopher and academic (died 1920) Alexius Meinong von Handschuchsheim was an Austrian philosopher, a realist known for his unique ontology and theory of objects. He also made contributions to philosophy of mind and theory of value. Read more
17 Jul 1839: Ephraim Shay, American engineer, invented the Shay locomotive (died 1916) Ephraim Shay was an American merchant, entrepreneur and self-taught railroad engineer who worked in the state of Michigan. He designed the Shay locomotive and patented the type. He licensed it for manufacture through what became known as Lima Locomotive Works in Ohio; from 1882 to 1892 some 300 locomotives of this type were sold. Read more
17 Jul 1837: Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician, 7th Secretary of State for Canada (died 1886) Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, was a Canadian lawyer and politician, who served in the federal Cabinet and also as the sixth premier of Quebec. Read more
17 Jul 1831: Xianfeng Emperor of China (died 1861) The Xianfeng Emperor, also known by his temple name Emperor Wenzong of Qing, personal name Yizhu, was the eighth emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China proper. During his reign, the Qing dynasty experienced several wars and rebellions including the Taiping Rebellion, the Nian Rebellion, and the Second Opium War. He was the last Chinese emperor to exercise sole power. Read more
17 Jul 1831: Naser al-Din Shah of Qajar Iran (died 1896) Naser al-Din Shah Qajar was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. Initially seeking to modernise Iran, his style of governance became more dictatorial over the course of his reign. His reign saw the Second Herat War (1856), the subsequent Anglo-Persian War (1857) and internal unrest, Tobacco Protest (1890-1891). Read more
17 Jul 1823: Leander Clark, American businessman, judge, and politician (died 1910) Leander Clark was an American businessman, Iowa state legislator, Union Army officer during the Civil War, and Indian agent who was the namesake for Leander Clark College. Read more

Notable Deaths on 17 July

17 Jul 2025: Felix Baumgartner, Austrian daredevil (born 1969) Felix Baumgartner was an Austrian skydiver, extreme sportsman, and BASE jumper. He was widely known for jumping to Earth from a helium balloon in the stratosphere on 14 October 2012 and landing in New Mexico, United States, as part of the Red Bull Stratos project. By doing so, he set world records for skydiving an estimated 39 km (24 mi), reaching an estimated top speed of 1,357.64 km/h (843.6 mph), or Mach 1.25. He became the first person to break the sound barrier relative to the surface without vehicular power on his descent. He broke skydiving records for exit altitude, vertical freefall distance without a drogue parachute, and vertical speed without a drogue. Although his name is still attached to the last two records, his exit altitude record was broken two years later, when on 24 October 2014, Alan Eustace jumped from 135,890 feet with a drogue. Read more
17 Jul 2025: Alan Bergman, American songwriter (born 1925) Alan Bergman and Marilyn Keith Bergman were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated television, film, and stage productions. The Bergmans enjoyed a successful career, honored with four Emmys, three Oscars, and two Grammys. They are in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Read more
17 Jul 2025: Joanna Kołaczkowska, Polish cabaret performer (born 1966) Joanna Dorota Kołaczkowska was a Polish cabaret performer, theatre actress, songwriter and radio presenter. She was widely recognized as one of the most prominent figures in Polish cabaret in the early 21st century, particularly through her long-standing involvement with the Hrabi Cabaret troupe, with which she performed from 2002 until 2025. Read more
17 Jul 2024: Cheng Pei-pei, Chinese actress (born 1946) Cheng Pei-pei was a Hong Kong-American actress who was considered cinema's first female action hero. Popularly known as "Queen of Swords" and "Queen of Martial Arts Films", Cheng starred in numerous successful wuxia and martial arts films in Hong Kong, including the Shaw Brothers-produced Come Drink with Me (1966), which launched Cheng into stardom, Golden Swallow (1968), Lady Hermit (1971), Flirting Scholar (1993), and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). For the latter, she won a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. Read more
17 Jul 2024: Mary Gibby, British botanist and professor (born 1949) Professor Mary Gibby was a British botanist, pteridologist and cytologist. She was an expert on ferns, becoming president of the British Pteridological Society and long-time editor of its journal, the Fern Gazette. Gibby particularly studied the cytology of the genera Dryopteris and Pelargonium. Read more
17 Jul 2024: Bernice Johnson Reagon, American singer, songwriter and scholar (born 1942) Bernice Johnson Reagon was an American song leader, composer, professor of American history, curator at the Smithsonian, and social activist. In the early 1960s, she was a founding member of the Freedom Singers, organized by the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the Albany Movement for civil rights in Georgia. In 1973, she founded the all-black female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, based in Washington, D.C. She was the founder/the 1st member of Sweet Honey in the Rock from 1973 to 2006. Reagon, along with other members of the SNCC Freedom Singers, realized the power of collective singing to unify the disparate groups who began to work together in the 1964 Freedom Summer protests in the South."After a song", Reagon recalled, "the differences between us were not so great. Somehow, making a song required an expression of that which was common to us all…. This music was like an instrument, like holding a tool in your hand." Read more
17 Jul 2024: Pat Williams, American basketball player (born 1940) Patrick Livingston Murphy Williams was an American sports executive, who served as senior vice president of the Orlando Magic. Williams began his career as a minor league baseball player, and later joined the front office of his team. In the late 1960s he moved into basketball, with his biggest achievements being the 1983 title of the Philadelphia 76ers and being a partner in the creation of the Orlando Magic. Read more
17 Jul 2020: John Lewis, American civil rights activist and politician (born 1940) John Robert Lewis was an American civil rights activist and statesman who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. Read more
17 Jul 2020: Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya, Russian-Australian pair skater (born 2000) Ekaterina Dmitriyevna Alexandrovskaya was a Russian-Australian pair skater. With her skating partner, Harley Windsor, she was the 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy champion, the 2017 CS Nebelhorn Trophy bronze medallist, the 2018 CS U.S. Classic bronze medallist, and a two-time Australian national champion. Read more
17 Jul 2019: Marie Sophie Hingst, German historian and blogger who falsely claimed to be descended from Holocaust survivors Marie Sophie Hingst was a German historian and blogger who falsely claimed to be descended from Holocaust survivors. Born in Wittenberg to a Protestant family, she fabricated a Jewish background and sent documentation for 22 misrepresented or non-existent relatives, who she claimed were Holocaust victims, to the official Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem. Read more
17 Jul 2015: Bill Arnsparger, American football player and coach (born 1926) William Stephen Arnsparger was an American college and professional football coach. He was born and raised in Paris, Kentucky, served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, and graduated from Miami University (Ohio) in 1950. Immediately upon graduation, Arnsparger was hired as an assistant coach with the Miami football program, beginning a long career in the profession. Read more
17 Jul 2015: Jules Bianchi, French race car driver (born 1989) Jules Lucien André Bianchi was a French racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2013 to 2014. Read more
17 Jul 2015: Owen Chadwick, English rugby player, historian, and academic (born 1916) William Owen Chadwick was a British Anglican priest, academic, rugby international, writer and prominent historian of Christianity. As a leading academic, Chadwick became Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History in 1958, serving until 1968, and from 1968 to 1983 was Regius Professor of History. Chadwick was elected master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and served from 1956 to 1983. Read more
17 Jul 2015: Van Miller, American sportscaster (born 1927) Van Miller was an American radio and television sports announcer from Dunkirk, New York, where he began his career at Dunkirk radio station WFCB calling play-by-play for high school football games. In the 1950s, he moved to Buffalo where he became the chief play-by-play announcer for the Buffalo Bills Radio Network, the official radio broadcasting arm of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League from the team's inception as an AFL team in 1960 to 1971, and again from 1977 to 2003. At the time of his retirement in 2003, Miller was the longest-tenured commentator with one team in pro football history. Read more
17 Jul 2015: John Taylor, English pianist and educator (born 1942) John Taylor was a British jazz pianist, born in Manchester, England, who occasionally performed on the organ and the synthesizer. In his obituary, The Guardian described him as "one of the great jazz pianists and composers of his generation" and at a musical level comparable to Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner and Brad Meldhau. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims: Liam Patrick Davison was an Australian novelist and reviewer. He was born in Melbourne, where, until 2007, he taught creative writing at the Chisholm Institute in Frankston. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims: Shubashini "Shuba" Jeyaratnam, also known by stage names Shuba Jay and Shuba Jaya, was a Malaysian entrepreneur, stage performer, and actress who achieved popularity through her roles in several TV shows. Of Indian Tamil descent, she was killed, together with her husband and daughter, in the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims: Joseph Marie Albert "Joep" Lange was a Dutch clinical researcher specialising in HIV therapy. He served as the president of the International AIDS Society from 2002 to 2004. He was a passenger on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down on 17 July 2014 over Ukraine. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 victims: Willem Johannes Witteveen was a Dutch legal scholar, politician, and author. He was a law professor at Tilburg University (1990–2014) and a Member of the Senate for the Labour Party. He was also the author of several books about law and politics. Witteveen was killed on 17 July 2014 when the flight he was travelling on, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, was shot down over eastern Ukraine. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Henry Hartsfield, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (born 1933) Henry Warren Hartsfield Jr. was a colonel in the United States Air Force and a NASA astronaut who logged over 480 hours in space. He was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2006. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Otto Piene, German sculptor and academic (born 1928) Otto Piene was a German-American artist specializing in kinetic and technology-based art, often working collaboratively. He lived and worked in Düsseldorf, Germany; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Groton, Massachusetts. Read more
17 Jul 2014: Elaine Stritch, American actress and singer (born 1925) Elaine Stritch was an American actress, singer, and comedian, known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films and television series. Stritch was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1995. Read more
17 Jul 2013: Henri Alleg, English-French journalist and author (born 1921) Henri Alleg, born as Harry John Salem, was a French-Algerian journalist, director of the Alger républicain newspaper, and a member of the French Communist Party. After Editions de Minuit, a French publishing house, released his memoir La Question in 1958. Alleg gained international recognition for his stance against torture, specifically within the context of the Algerian War (1954–1962). Read more
17 Jul 2013: Peter Appleyard, English-Canadian vibraphone player and composer (born 1928) Peter Appleyard, was a British–Canadian jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer. Read more
17 Jul 2013: Vincenzo Cerami, Italian screenwriter and producer (born 1940) Vincenzo Cerami was an Italian screenwriter, novelist and poet. Read more
17 Jul 2013: Don Flye, American tennis player (born 1933) Donald Guy Flye was an American tennis player. Read more
17 Jul 2013: Ian Gourlay, English general (born 1920) General Sir Basil Ian Spencer Gourlay, was a Royal Marines officer who served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 1971 to 1975. Read more
17 Jul 2013: David White, Scottish footballer and manager (born 1933) David White was a Scottish football player and manager. He played as a wing half for Clyde for his whole career, before managing Clyde, Rangers and Dundee. Read more
17 Jul 2012: Richard Evatt, English boxer (born 1973) Richard Evatt, also called 'tiger', was a British amateur and professional boxer in the super featherweight division who was unsuccessful in his only opportunity to win a world title. He hailed from Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom. Read more
17 Jul 2012: Forrest S. McCartney, American general (born 1931) Forrest Striplin McCartney was a United States Air Force lieutenant general and former director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center. Read more
17 Jul 2012: İlhan Mimaroğlu, Turkish-American composer and producer (born 1926) İlhan Kemaleddin Mimaroğlu was a Turkish American musician and electronic music composer. Read more
17 Jul 2012: William Raspberry, American journalist and academic (born 1935) William Raspberry was an American syndicated public affairs columnist. He was also the Knight Professor of the Practice of Communications and Journalism at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. An African American, he frequently wrote on racial issues. Read more
17 Jul 2012: Marsha Singh, Indian-English politician (born 1954) Marsha Singh was a British Labour Party politician, and the member of parliament (MP) for Bradford West from 1997 to 2012. Singh stood down due to ill health. Read more
17 Jul 2011: David Ngoombujarra, Australian actor (born 1967) David Ngoombujarra was an Indigenous Australian actor of the Yamatji people. Born David Bernard Starr in Meekatharra, Western Australia, his acting career spanned over two decades from the late 1980s to 2010; he won three Australian Film Institute Awards. On 17 July 2011 he was found in a park in Fremantle, and taken to Fremantle Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Read more
17 Jul 2011: Taiji Sawada, Japanese musician (born 1966) Taiji Sawada , also known mononymously as Taiji, was a Japanese musician and songwriter. He is best known as bassist of the rock band X from 1986 to 1992. The band rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s, credited as founders of the Japanese visual kei movement. After leaving X in January 1992, Taiji went on to work with many other recording acts, including Loudness and D.T.R. Read more
17 Jul 2010: Larry Keith, American actor (born 1931) Larry Keith was an American television actor. He was best known for being a cast member on the ABC soap opera All My Children and was the first American to play the role of Henry Higgins in the Broadway production of My Fair Lady. Read more
17 Jul 2009: Walter Cronkite, American journalist and actor (born 1916) Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll. Cronkite received numerous honors including two Peabody Awards, a George Polk Award, an Emmy Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Read more
17 Jul 2009: Leszek Kołakowski, Polish historian and philosopher (born 1927) Leszek Kołakowski was a Polish philosopher and historian of ideas. He is best known for his critical analysis of contemporary Marxist thought and theory, as in his three-volume history of Marxist philosophy Main Currents of Marxism (1976). In his later work, Kołakowski increasingly focused on religious questions. In his 1986 Jefferson Lecture, he asserted that "we learn history not in order to know how to behave or how to succeed, but to know who we are". Read more
17 Jul 2007: Grant Forsberg, American actor and businessman (born 1959) Grant Forsberg was an American actor, born in Holden, Massachusetts. Read more
17 Jul 2007: Júlio Redecker, Brazilian politician (born 1956) Júlio César Redecker was a Brazilian politician and a member of the opposition party, Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB). Redecker was the leader of the minority in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. Redecker died aboard TAM Airlines Flight 3054, which crashed during landing in São Paulo on July 17, 2007. He was married and had three children. Read more
17 Jul 2007: Paulo Rogério Amoretty Souza, Brazilian lawyer and businessman (born 1945) TAM Airlines Flight 3054 was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by TAM Airlines from Porto Alegre to São Paulo, Brazil. On the evening of 17 July 2007, the Airbus A320 serving the flight from Porto Alegre overran runway 35L at São Paulo's Congonhas Airport after touching down during moderate rain and crashed into a nearby TAM Express warehouse adjacent to a gas station. The aircraft exploded on impact, killing all 187 passengers and crew on board, as well as 12 people on the ground. An additional 27 people in the warehouse were injured. The accident remains the deadliest aviation disaster in Brazilian and South American history, and was the deadliest involving the Airbus A320 series until the bombing of Metrojet Flight 9268 in 2015 killing 224 people. It was the last major fatal aviation accident in Brazil until 2024, when Voepass Linhas Aéreas Flight 2283 crashed near São Paulo killing 62 people. Read more
17 Jul 2006: Sam Myers, American singer-songwriter (born 1936) Samuel Joseph Myers was an American blues musician and songwriter. He was an accompanist on dozens of recordings by blues artists over five decades. He began his career as a drummer for Elmore James but was most famous as a blues vocalist and blues harp player. For nearly two decades he was the featured vocalist for Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets. Read more
17 Jul 2006: Mickey Spillane, American crime novelist (born 1918) Frank Morrison Spillane, better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, called the "king of pulp fiction". He was best known for stories featuring his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. Read more
17 Jul 2005: Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-American actress (born 1913) Geraldine Mary Wilma Fitzgerald was an Irish American actress. She received the Daytime Emmy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. She was a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2020 she was listed at number 30 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Read more
17 Jul 2005: Edward Heath, English colonel and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1916) Sir Edward Richard George Heath was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath also served for 51 years as a Member of Parliament from 1950 to 2001. Outside politics, Heath was a yachtsman, a musician, and an author. Read more
17 Jul 2005: Joe Vialls, Australian journalist and theorist (born 1944) Joe Vialls was an Australian conspiracy theorist and internet journalist based in Perth, Western Australia. His claims that major incidents such as the Port Arthur massacre, terror attacks in Bali and Jakarta and the 2004 Asian tsunami were the work of Israeli and American secret agents gained a measure of notoriety in Australia, America and Indonesia. Read more
17 Jul 2003: David Kelly, Welsh weapons inspector (born 1944) David Christopher Kelly was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare (BW). A former head of the Defence Microbiology Division working at Porton Down, Kelly was part of a joint US-UK team that inspected civilian biotechnology facilities in Russia in the early 1990s and concluded they were running a covert and illegal BW programme. He was appointed to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in 1991 as one of its chief weapons inspectors in Iraq and led ten of the organisation's missions between May 1991 and December 1998. He also worked with UNSCOM's successor, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and led several of their missions into Iraq. During his time with UNMOVIC he was key in uncovering the anthrax production programme at the Salman Pak facility, and a BW programme run at Al Hakum. Read more
17 Jul 2003: Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichord player (born 1914) Rosalyn Tureck was an American pianist and harpsichordist who was particularly associated with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. However, she had a wide-ranging repertoire that included works by composers Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Frédéric Chopin, as well as more modern composers such as David Diamond, Luigi Dallapiccola and William Schuman. Diamond's Piano Sonata No. 1 was inspired by Tureck's playing. She was one of the great pianists of the 20th Century and she is also known as the High Priestess of Bach. Read more
17 Jul 2003: Walter Zapp, Latvian-Swiss inventor, invented the Minox (born 1905) Walter Zapp was a Baltic German inventor. His best-known creation was the Minox subminiature camera. Over the course of his life, he was granted over 60 patents. Read more
17 Jul 2002: Joseph Luns, Dutch politician and Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1911) Joseph Marie Antoine Hubert Luns was a Dutch politician, diplomat and jurist who served as the fifth secretary general of NATO from 1971 to 1984, being the longest-serving officeholder since the office was established in 1952. Prior to this, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, starting in 1956. Luns was a member of the now-defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP), later merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). Read more
17 Jul 2001: Katharine Graham, American publisher (born 1917) Katharine Meyer Graham was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. She was one of the first 20th-century female publishers of a major American newspaper and the first woman elected to the board of the Associated Press. Read more
17 Jul 1998: Lillian Hoban, American author and illustrator (born 1925) Lillian Hoban was an American illustrator and children's writer best known for picture books created with her husband Russell Hoban. According to OCLC, she has published 326 works in 1,401 publications in 11 languages. Read more
17 Jul 1996: Victims of TWA Flight 800: Michel Breistroff was a French professional ice hockey defenceman. Read more
17 Jul 1996: Victims of TWA Flight 800: Marcel Dadi was a Tunisian-born French virtuoso guitarist known for his finger-picking style which faithfully recreated the instrumental styles of American guitarists such as Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Jerry Reed. He became a friend of country star Chet Atkins. Read more
17 Jul 1996: Victims of TWA Flight 800: H. David Hogan was an American composer and musical director of CIGAP, a choir composed of openly gay men. Read more
17 Jul 1996: Victims of TWA Flight 800: Jed Johnson was an American interior designer and film director. He first came to prominence through his close association with pop artist Andy Warhol before becoming recognized for his influential design work. The New York Times hailed him as "one of the most celebrated interior designers of our time." Read more
17 Jul 1996: Chas Chandler, English bass player and producer (born 1938) Bryan James "Chas" Chandler was an English musician, record producer, manager and the original bassist in the Animals, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He also managed the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Slade. Read more
17 Jul 1995: Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (born 1911) Juan Manuel Fangio was an Argentine racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1950 to 1958. Nicknamed "el Chueco" and "el Maestro", Fangio won five Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and—at the time of his retirement—held the record for most wins (24), pole positions (29), fastest laps (23), and podium finishes (35), among others. Read more
17 Jul 1994: Jean Borotra, French tennis player (born 1898) Jean Laurent Robert Borotra was a French tennis champion. He was one of the "Four Musketeers" from his country who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Borotra was imprisoned in Itter Castle during the latter years of World War II and subsequently fought in the Battle for Castle Itter. Read more
17 Jul 1994: Paul Tiulana, Iñupiat artist and dancer (born 1921) Paul Tiulana was an Iñupiaq artist and dancer from Alaska. Originally from King Island, Tiulana was drafted in World War II and injured; his leg was broken and eventually amputated. He relocated to Nome during the 1950s and Anchorage in the 1960s, where he founded a dance group specializing in Iñupiat dancing. During the 1980s, he was made a Citizen of the Year by the Alaska Federation of Natives, given a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for his work in dance and art, and wrote a book about his life in Alaska. Read more
17 Jul 1991: John Patrick Spiegel, American psychiatrist and academic (born 1911) John Patrick Spiegel was an American psychiatrist, and expert on violence and combat stress and the 103rd President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
As president-elect of the APA in 1973, and a closeted homosexual at the time, he helped to change the definition of homosexuality in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which had previously described homosexuality as sexual deviance and that homosexuals were pathological. Read more
17 Jul 1989: Itubwa Amram, Nauruan pastor and politician (born 1922) The Reverend Alfred Itubwa Amram was a Nauruan pastor and political figure. Read more
17 Jul 1988: Bruiser Brody, American football player and wrestler (born 1946) Frank Donald Goodish was an American professional wrestler who earned his greatest fame under the ring name Bruiser Brody. He also worked as King Kong Brody, the Masked Marauder, and Red River Jack. Over the years Brody became synonymous with the hardcore wrestling brawling style that often saw one or more of the participants bleeding by the time the match was over. Read more
17 Jul 1980: Don "Red" Barry, American actor and screenwriter (born 1912) Don Barry, also known as Red Barry, was an American film and television actor. He was nicknamed "Red" after appearing as the first Red Ryder in the highly successful 1940 film Adventures of Red Ryder with Noah Beery Sr.; the character was played in later films by "Wild Bill" Elliott and Allan Lane. Barry went on to bigger-budget films following Red Ryder, but none reached his previous level of success. He played Red Doyle in the 1964 Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Simple Simon". Read more
17 Jul 1980: Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician and academic (born 1890) Boris Nikolayevich Delaunay or Delone was a Soviet and Russian mathematician, mountain climber, and the father of physicist, Nikolai Borisovich Delone. He is best known for the Delaunay triangulation. Read more
17 Jul 1975: Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian author (born 1893) Konstantine Gamsakhurdia was a Georgian writer and public figure. Educated and first published in Germany, he married Western European influences to purely Georgian thematic to produce his best works, such as The Right Hand of the Grand Master and David the Builder. Hostile to the Soviet rule, he was, nevertheless, one of the few leading Georgian writers to have survived the Stalin-era repressions, despite exile to a White Sea island and several arrests. His works are noted for their character portrayals of great psychological insight. Another major feature of Gamsakhurdia's writings is a new subtlety he infused into Georgian diction, imitating an archaic language to create a sense of classicism. Read more
17 Jul 1974: Dizzy Dean, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1910) Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean, also known as Jerome Herman Dean, was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and St. Louis Browns. Read more
17 Jul 1967: John Coltrane, American saxophonist and composer (born 1926) John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Read more
17 Jul 1961: Ty Cobb, American baseball player and manager (born 1886) Tyrus Raymond Cobb, nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American professional baseball center fielder. A native of rural Narrows, Georgia, Cobb played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent 22 years with the Detroit Tigers and served as the team's player-manager for the last six, and he finished his career with the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1936, Cobb received the most votes of any player on the inaugural ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 222 out of a possible 226 votes (98.2%); no other player received a higher percentage of votes until Tom Seaver in 1992. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked Cobb third on its list of "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players." Read more
17 Jul 1961: Emin Halid Onat, Turkish architect and academic (born 1908) Emin Halid Onat was a Turkish architect and former rector of Istanbul Technical University. Read more
17 Jul 1960: Maud Menten, Canadian physician and biochemist (born 1879) Maud Leonora Menten was a Canadian physician and chemist. As a bio-medical and medical researcher, she made significant contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry, and invented a procedure that remains in use. She is primarily known for her work with Leonor Michaelis on enzyme kinetics in 1913. The paper has been translated from its written language of German into English. Read more
17 Jul 1959: Billie Holiday, American singer (born 1915) Billie Holiday was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Holiday was known for her vocal delivery and improvisational skills. Read more
17 Jul 1959: Eugene Meyer, American businessman and publisher (born 1875) Eugene Isaac Meyer was an American banker, businessman, financier, and newspaper publisher. He was the fifth chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1930 to 1933. Meyer purchased The Washington Post in 1933, and was its publisher from 1933 to 1946, with the paper staying in his family throughout the rest of the 20th century. He was the first president of the World Bank Group from June to December 1946. Read more
17 Jul 1950: Evangeline Booth, English 4th General of The Salvation Army (born 1865) Evangeline Cory Booth OF was a British evangelist and the fourth General of The Salvation Army from 1934 to 1939. She was the first woman to hold the post. Read more
17 Jul 1950: Antonie Nedošinská, Czech actress (born 1885) Antonie Nedošinská was a Czech film actress. She appeared in 89 films between 1916 and 1947. Read more
17 Jul 1946: Florence Fuller, South African-born Australian artist (born 1867) Florence Ada Fuller was a South African-born Australian artist. Originally from Port Elizabeth, Fuller migrated as a child to Melbourne with her family. There she trained with her uncle Robert Hawker Dowling and teacher Jane Sutherland and took classes at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, becoming a professional artist in the late 1880s. In 1892 she left Australia, travelling first to South Africa, where she met and painted for Cecil Rhodes, and then on to Europe. She lived and studied there for the subsequent decade, except for a return to South Africa in 1899 to paint a portrait of Rhodes. Between 1895 and 1904 her works were exhibited at the Paris Salon and London's Royal Academy. Read more
17 Jul 1946: Draža Mihailović, Serbian and Yugoslav general (born 1893) Dragoljub "Draža" Mihailović was a Yugoslav Serb general during World War II. He was the leader of the Chetnik Detachments of the Yugoslav Army (Chetniks), a royalist and nationalist movement and guerrilla force established following the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. Read more
17 Jul 1945: Ernst Busch, German field marshal (born 1885) Ernst Bernhard Wilhelm Busch was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II who commanded the 16th Army and Army Group Centre. Read more
17 Jul 1944: William James Sidis, American mathematician and anthropologist (born 1898) William James Sidis was an American child prodigy with mathematical and linguistic skills. He was active as a mathematician, linguist, historian, and author. He wrote the book The Animate and the Inanimate, published in 1925, in which he speculated about the origin of life in the context of thermodynamics. His works were published under various pseudonyms, as he never used his real name as an author. He is regarded as potentially the smartest person who ever lived, based on IQ and other tangible measurements of intelligence. Read more
17 Jul 1942: Robina Nicol, New Zealand photographer and suffragist (born 1861) Robina Nicol was a Scottish-born New Zealand photographer and suffragist. Read more
17 Jul 1935: George William Russell, Irish poet and painter (born 1867) George William Russell, who wrote with the pseudonym Æ, was an Irish writer, editor, critic, poet, painter and Irish nationalist. He was also a writer on mysticism, and a central figure in the group of devotees of theosophy which met in Dublin for many years. Read more
17 Jul 1932: Rasmus Rasmussen, Norwegian actor, singer, and director (born 1862) Rasmus Rasmussen was a Norwegian actor, folk singer and theatre director. Read more
17 Jul 1928: Giovanni Giolitti, Italian politician, 13th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1842) Giovanni Giolitti was an Italian statesman who was the prime minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. He is the longest-serving democratically elected prime minister in Italian history, and the second-longest serving overall after Benito Mussolini. A prominent leader of the Historical Left and the Liberals, he is widely considered one of the most wealthy, powerful and important politicians in Italian history; due to his dominant position in Italian politics, Giolitti was accused by critics of being an authoritarian leader and a parliamentary dictator. Read more
17 Jul 1928: Álvaro Obregón, Mexican general and politician, 39th President of Mexico (born 1880) Álvaro Obregón Salido was a Mexican general, inventor and politician who served as the 46th President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. Obregón was re-elected to the presidency in 1928 but was assassinated before he could take office. Read more
17 Jul 1925: Lovis Corinth, German painter (born 1858) Lovis Corinth was a German artist and writer whose mature work as a painter and printmaker realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Nicholas II was Emperor of Russia from 1 November 1894 until his abdication in 1917. He was the last Russian monarch before the Russian Revolution and oversaw the Russian Empire's participation in World War I. In 1918, the Romanovs were murdered, putting an end to the Romanov dynasty. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Alexandra Feodorovna was the last empress of Russia as the consort of Nicholas II from their marriage on 26 November [O.S. 14 November] 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March [O.S. 2 March] 1917. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia was the eldest child of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II, and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia
10 June [O.S. 29 May] 1897 – 17 July 1918) was the second child of Tsar Nicholas II, the last monarch of Russia, and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. She was born at Peterhof Palace, near Saint Petersburg. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia
27 June [O.S. 14 June] 1899 – 17 July 1918) was the middle child and third daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Her murder following the Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in her canonization as a passion bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was the fourth child and youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov was the last Russian tsesarevich. He was the youngest child and only son of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. He was born with haemophilia, which his parents tried treating with the methods of peasant faith healer Grigori Rasputin. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Anna Stepanovna Demidova was a lady's maid in the service of Empress Alexandra of Russia. She stayed with the Romanov family when they were arrested, and was murdered together with Alexandra and the Romanov family on 17 July 1918. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Ivan Mikhailovich Kharitonov was the head cook at the court of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Aloise "Alexei" Yegorovich Trupp was the Latvian head footman in the household of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Read more
17 Jul 1918: Victims of the Shooting of the Romanov family: Yevgeny Sergeyevich Botkin, commonly known as Eugene Botkin, was the court physician since 1908 for Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra. He sometimes treated the Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia for haemophilia-related complications, like in Spala in 1912. Read more
17 Jul 1912: Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist, and engineer (born 1854) Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and philosopher of science. He is often described as a polymath, and in mathematics as "The Last Universalist", since he excelled in all fields of the discipline as it existed during his lifetime. He has further been called "the Gauss of modern mathematics". Due to his success in science, along with his influence in philosophy, he has also been called "the philosopher par excellence of modern science". Read more
17 Jul 1907: Hector Malot, French author and critic (born 1830) Hector-Henri Malot was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for L'Opinion Nationale. Read more
17 Jul 1900: Thomas McIlwraith, Scottish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Queensland (born 1835) Sir Thomas McIlwraith was the Premier of Queensland between 1879 and 1883, 1888, and in 1893. McIlwraith was a dominant figure of colonial politics in Queensland during the late 19th century and, in common with most politicians of his era, was an influential businessman, who combined his parliamentary career with a prosperous involvement in the pastoral industry. Read more
17 Jul 1894: Leconte de Lisle, French poet and translator (born 1818) Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle was a French poet of the Parnassian movement. He is traditionally known by his surname only, Leconte de Lisle. Read more
17 Jul 1894: Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist and biologist (born 1810) Josef Hyrtl was an Austrian anatomist. His work in German, including the publication of Lehrbuch der Anatomie des Menschen in 1846, which was considered the German equivalent of Gray's Anatomy. Read more
17 Jul 1893: Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (born 1833) Frederick Avery Johnson was an American politician and banker who served a U.S. Representative from New York from 1883 to 1887. He was a member of the Republican Party and a resident of Glens Falls, New York. Read more
17 Jul 1885: Jean-Charles Chapais, Canadian farmer and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Agriculture (born 1811) Jean-Charles Chapais, was a Canadian Conservative politician, and considered a Father of Canadian Confederation for his participation in the Quebec Conference to determine the form of Canada's government. Read more
17 Jul 1883: Tự Đức, Vietnamese emperor (born 1829) Tự Đức was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam, and the country's last pre-colonial monarch. Ruling for about 36 years from 1847 to 1883, this made him the longest reigning Nguyễn emperor. Read more
17 Jul 1881: Jim Bridger, American scout and explorer (born 1804) James Felix Bridger was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old Gabe in his later years. He was from the Bridger family of Virginia, English settlers who had arrived in North America in the early colonial period. Read more
17 Jul 1879: Maurycy Gottlieb, Ukrainian-Polish painter (born 1856) Maurycy Gottlieb (; 21 February 1856 – 17 July 1879) was a Polish-Jewish realist painter of the Romantic period. Considered one of the most talented students of Jan Matejko, Gottlieb died at the age of 23. Read more
17 Jul 1878: Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet and politician (born 1812) Aleardo Aleardi, born Gaetano Maria, was an Italian poet who belonged to the so-called Neo-romanticists. Read more
17 Jul 1871: Karl Tausig, Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer (born 1841) Karl Tausig was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger, and composer. He is widely regarded as Franz Liszt's greatest pupil and one of the greatest pianists of all time. Today, he is mostly remembered for transcriptions for piano, in particular of works by J.S. Bach, as well as his piano exercises. Read more
17 Jul 1845: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1764) Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey was a British Whig politician who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1830 to 1834. His government enacted the Reform Acts of 1832, which expanded the electorate in the United Kingdom, and the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which abolished slavery in the British Empire. Read more

Why is 17 July Important in History?

17 July is important because many political, cultural, scientific, educational and social events took place on this date. These facts are useful for students, exam aspirants and readers interested in daily history and general knowledge.

History of Today 17 July for Competitive Exams

Questions based on today in history, famous personalities, historical events and important dates are often asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, Defence and State PSC examinations.

👉 View complete History of Today archive

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 17 July in history?

On 17 July, many important historical events, famous births and notable deaths occurred across the world.

Why is History of Today important for exams?

History of Today helps students remember important dates, events and personalities for competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway and PSC.

Where can I read daily history facts?

You can read daily history facts on this History of Today section, updated regularly with important events, births and deaths.