December 17

Events
Up to 1900
497 BC - The first Saturnalia festival is first celebrated in Ancient Rome.
546 - Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under King Totila plunder Rome, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
942 - William I of Normandy is assassinated.
1538 - Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII of England.
1577 - Francis Drake sails from Plymouth on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Ocean coasts of the Americas.
1583 - Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan becomes Emperor.
1600 - Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
1637 - In Japan, the Shimabara Rebellion led by Amakusa Shigeharu against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu begins.
1718 - Great Britain declares war on Spain.
1777 - American Revolutionary War: France formally recognizes the United States as an independent country.
1790 - The Aztec calendar stone Piedra del Sol is discovered during building work in Mexico City.
1819 - Simon Bolivar declares the independence of Gran Colombia (present-day Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador) in Angostura, now Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela.
1830 - Simon Bolivar dies at the age of 47.
1835 - Great Fire of New York City: Fire levels Lower Manhattan.
1837 - A fire rips through the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, killing 30 guards.
1862 - Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order Number 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.
1865 - First performance of Franz Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony.
1892 - The first issue of Vogue magazine is published.
1901 2000
1903 - The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1907 - Ugyen Wangchuck becomes the first King of Bhutan.
1909 - Albert I of Belgium becomes King.
1918 - Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory of the Buenos Aires Convention.
1922 - The last British troops leave the Irish Free State.
1926 - Antanas Smetona becomes President of Lithuania.
1938 - Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.
1939 - World War II: Battle of River Plate - The German Navy sinks its own ship Admiral Graf Spee outside Montevideo.
1941 - World War II: Japanese forces land in northern Borneo.
1960 - Haile Selassie is re-installed as Emperor of Ethiopia, after he had previously been removed by a coup, while he was in Brazil, on December 13.
1960 - 1960 Munich Convair 340 crash: 20 people on board the aircraft and 32 on the ground are killed.
1961 - The world's biggest circus tragedy occurs in Niteroi, Brazil when the circus is set on fire by angry workers, killing 323 people.
1967 - Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt goes missing on a diving trip off the state of Victoria. He is declared dead two days later.
1970 - The current flag of Oman comes into use.
1973 - 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
1981 - Senegal and Gambia form the Senegambia Confederation.
1983 - An IRA bomb at a Harrods Department store in London kills 6 people.
1989 - Fernando Collor de Mello is elected President of Brazil.
1989 - The first full-length episode of The Simpsons airs.
1997 - Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie releases in theaters by Warner Bros.
From 2001
2003 - The Soham murder trial ends with Ian Huntley being found guilty of the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman near Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.
2004 - Out of health and cultural reasons, Bhutan bans the sale of tobacco.
2005 - King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan decides to abdicate the throne.
2010 - Arab Spring: Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire in an act of protest. He dies as a result of this on January 4, 2011. Shortly after, Tunisia's President, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali is overthrown, and this starts a series of uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East.
2010 - Murder of Joanna Yeates: Vincent Tabak murders Joanna Yeates at her home in Clifton, Bristol. More than 10 months later, he is sentenced to life imprisonment.
2011 - A typhoon hits the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, killing at least 400 people.
2011 - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il dies. His son, Kim Jong-un, takes over from him.
2014 - US President Barack Obama declares a normalization in US-Cuba relations for the first time in over 50 years, after the release of American Alan Gross, who was held in Cuba since December 2009.
2017 - Sebastian Pinera is elected President of Chile for a second time.
2019 - Fallon Sherrock becomes the first woman to win a match in a World Darts Championship.
Births
Up to 1900
1267 - Emperor Go-Uda, emperor of Japan (d. 1324)
1554 - Ernest of Bavaria (d. 1612)
1619 - Prince Rupert, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (d. 1682)
1632 - Anthony Wood, English antiqurian (d. 1695)
1638 - Anna Sophia II, Abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 1683)
1685 - Thomas Tickell, English writer (d. 1740)
1706 - Emilie du Chatelet, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1749)
1734 - Maria I of Portugal (d. 1816)
1749 - Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (d. 1801)
1758 - Nathaniel Macon, American politician (d. 1837)
1778 - Humphrey Davy, English chemist (d. 1829)
1789 - Clement Comer Clay, 8th Governor of Alabama (d. 1866)
1796 - Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian novelist (d. 1865)
1797 - Joseph Henry, American physicist (d. 1878)
1799 - Titian Peale, American artist (d. 1885)
1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet and abolitionist (d. 1892)
1824 - John Kerr, Scottish physicist (d. 1907)
1830 - Jules de Goncourt, French publisher (d. 1870)
1835 - Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, Swiss-American scientist (d. 1910)
1842 - Sophus Lie, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1899)
1853 - Herbert Beerbohm Tree, English actor (d. 1917)
1866 - Kazys Grinius, 3rd President of Lithuania (d. 1950)
1866 - Mario Garcia Menocal, 3rd President of Cuba (d. 1941)
1872 - Mistinguett, French actress and singer (d. 1956)
1873 - Ford Madox Ford, English writer (d. 1939)
1874 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1950)
1884 - Alison Uttley, English writer (d. 1976)
1887 - Hermine Reuss of Greiz, wife of Wilhelm II of Germany (d. 1947)
1889 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish-Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 1950)
1892 - Sam Barry, American basketball coach (d. 1950)
1893 - Erwin Piscator, German movie director (d. 1966)
1894 - Willem Schermerhorn, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
1894 - Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d. 1979)
1898 - Loren Murchison, American athlete (d. 1979)
1900 - Mary Cartwright, English mathematician (d. 1998)
1901 1950
1901 - Lee Strasberg, Austrian-born actor and director (d. 1982)
1903 - Erskine Caldwell, American writer (d. 1987)
1903 - Ray Noble, English musician {d. 1978}
1905 - Simo Hayha, Finnish soldier (d. 2002)
1905 - Mohammad Hidayatullah, 11th Chief Justice of India (d. 1992)
1905 - Jan Valtin, German writer (d. 1951)
1908 - Willard Frank Libby, American physicist and chemist (d. 1980)
1913 - Burt Baskin, American businessman (d. 1967)
1915 - Andre Claveau, French singer (d. 2003)
1915 - Robert A. Dahl, American political theorist (d. 2014)
1916 - Penelope Fitzgerald, English writer (d. 2000)
1919 - Tomas Spidlik, Czech cardinal (d. 2010)
1920 - Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist (d. 2004)
1922 - Mario Rigamonti, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
1926 - Stephen Lewis, English actor (d. 2015)
1926 - Patrice Wymore, American actress (d. 2014)
1928 - Marilyn Beck, American columnist (d. 2014)
1928 - George Lindsey, American actor (d. 2012)
1929 - William Safire, American columnist (d. 2009)
1929 - Jacqueline Hill, British actress (d. 1993)
1930 - Bob Guccione, American magazine publisher (d. 2010)
1930 - Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor
1931 - Dave Madden, Canadian-American actor (d. 2014)
1934 - Ray Wilson, English footballer (d. 2018)
1935 - Cal Ripken, Sr., American baseball player, coach and manager (d. 1999)
1936 - Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires)
1936 - Tommy Steele, English singer and actor
1936 - Klaus Kinkel, German politician (d. 2019)
1937 - John Kennedy Toole, American author (d. 1969)
1937 - Art Neville, American singer and keyboardist (d. 2019)
1937 - Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d. 2005)
1938 - Gilles Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
1938 - Peter Snell, New Zealand athlete (d. 2019)
1939 - Eddie Kendricks, American musician (d. 1992)
1941 - Gene Clark, American musician (d. 1991)
1941 - Dave Dee, English singer (d. 2009)
1942 - Paul Butterfield, American musician (d. 1987)
1942 - Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian leader
1943 - Christopher Cazenove, English actor (d. 2010)
1943 - Ron Geesin, Scottish musician
1943 - Lauren Hutton, American model and actress
1944 - Jack L. Chalker, American novelist
1944 - Lorne Michaels, Canadian television producer
1944 - Bernard Hill, English actor
1945 - Jacqueline Wilson, English writer
1945 - Elvin Hayes, American basketball player
1945 - Ernie Hudson, American actor
1946 - Eugene Levy, Canadian actor
1947 - Wes Studi, American actor
1947 - Robert Dornhelm, Romanian-Austrian film and television director
1948 - Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1949 - Paul Rodgers, British singer (Free)
1951 1975
1951 - Ken Hitchcock, Canadian ice hockey coach
1953 - Bill Pullman, American actor
1953 - Sally Menke, American movie producer (d. 2010)
1955 - Brad Davis, American basketball player
1956 - Peter John Farrelly, American screenwriter and director
1958 - Mike Mills, American musician in band R.E.M.
1959 - Gregg Araki, American filmmaker
1959 - Albert King, American basketball player
1960 - Moreno Argentin, Italian cyclist
1961 - Sara Dallin, English singer (Bananarama)
1962 - Ari Folman, Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer
1963 - Jon Kalman Stefansson, Icelandic writer
1966 - Kristiina Ojuland, Estonian politician
1966 - Valery Liukin, Soviet gymnast
1967 - Gigi D'Agostino, Italian musician and DJ
1968 - Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
1969 - Chris Mason, English darts player
1970 - Sean Patrick Thomas, American actor
1971 - Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player
1973 - Paula Radcliffe, English runner
1973 - Codrin Tapu, Romanian psychologist
1974 - Sarah Paulson, American actress
1974 - Giovanni Ribisi, American actor
1974 - Marissa Ribisi, American actress and screenwriter
1975 - Nick Dinsmore, American professional wrestler
1975 - Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-born actress and model
From 1976
1976 - Patrick Muller, Swiss footballer
1976 - Takeo Spikes, American football player
1976 - Andrew Simpson, English sailor (d. 2013)
1977 - Liedson, Portuguese footballer
1977 - Arnaud Clement, French tennis player
1977 - Oxana Fedorova, Russian model, actress and singer
1978 - Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer and politician
1978 - Riteish Deshmukh, Indian actor
1979 - Charlotte Edwards, English cricketer
1979 - William Green, American football player
1980 - Eli Pariser, American internet activist and computer programmer
1981 - Tim Wiese, German footballer
1982 - Dynamo, English magician
1982 - Boubacar Sanogo, Ivory Coast footballer
1982 - Craig Kielburger, Canadian author and activist
1983 - Sebastien Ogier, French rally driver
1983 - Chidi Odiah, Nigerian footballer
1984 - Shannon Woodward, American actress
1985 - Ryuichi Ogata, Japanese singer and actor
1986 - Emma Bell, American actress
1987 - Chelsea Manning, American soldier, leaked information on WikiLeaks
1988 - David Rudisha, Kenyan athlete
1989 - Andre Ayew, Ghanaian footballer
1989 - Taylor York, American musician (Paramore)
1991 - Tom Walker, Scottish singer
1993 - Patricia Ku Flores, Peruvian tennis player
1993 - Buddy Hield, Bahamian basketball player
1994 - Nat Wolff, American actor, singer and musician
1998 - Martin Odegaard, Norwegian footballer
2007 - James, Viscount Severn, British royal and youngest grandchild of Elizabeth II
Deaths
Up to 1900
942 - William I of Normandy
1187 - Pope Gregory VIII
1195 - Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (b. 1150)
1273 - Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, Persian poet and mystic (b. 1207)
1663 - Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (b. 1583)
1721 - Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b. 1640)
1830 - Simon Bolivar, Latin American politician and activist (b. 1783)
1833 - Kaspar Hauser, German foundling (b. 1812)
1847 - Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (b. 1791)
1857 - Hiram Runnels, Governor of Mississippi (b. 1796)
1860 - Desiree Clary, French-born Queen Consort of Sweden (b. 1777)
1881 - Isaac Israel Hayes, American physician and polar explorer (b. 1832)
1881 - Lewis H. Morgan, American anthropologist (b. 1818)
1897 - Alphonse Daudet, French writer (b. 1840)
1901 2000
1901 - Josep Manyanet i Vives, Catalan priest (b. 1833)
1907 - William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-born physicist (b. 1824)
1909 - King Leopold II of Belgium (b. 1835)
1917 - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician (b. 1836)
1927 - Rajendra Lahiri, Indian activist (b. 1892)
1929 - Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, 10th President of Portugal (b. 1863)
1933 - Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (b. 1876)
1934 - William L. Harding, 20th Governor of Iowa (b. 1877)
1935 - Juan Vicente Gomez, President of Venezuela (b. 1857)
1940 - Alicia Boole Stott, Irish-English mathematician (b. 1860)
1957 - Dorothy L. Sayers, English writer (b. 1893)
1962 - Thomas Mitchell, American actor (b. 1892)
1964 - Victor Franz Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
1967 - Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
1969 - Artur da Costa e Silva, President of Brazil (b. 1899)
1973 - Charles Greeley Abbott, American astrophysicist (b. 1872)
1973 - Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, Italian cardinal (b. 1883)
1978 - Josef Frings, German cardinal (b. 1887)
1982 - Homer S. Ferguson, American politician (b. 1889)
1987 - Irving Allen, American producer (b. 1916)
1987 - Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (b. 1903)
1992 - Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909)
1998 - Claudia Benton, Peruvian child psychologist (b. 1959)
1999 - Grover Washington Jr., American musician (b. 1943)
From 2001
2003 - Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)
2003 - Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)
2009 - Jennifer Jones, American actress (b. 1919)
2010 - Captain Beefheart, American musician (b. 1941)
2011 - Cesaria Evora, Cape Verdean singer (b. 1941)
2011 - Kim Jong-il, North Korean leader (b. 1941)
2012 - Dina Manfredini, Italian-born American supercentenarian (b. 1897)
2012 - Daniel Inouye, United States Senator from Hawaii (b. 1924)
2013 - Janet Rowley, American cancer researcher (b. 1925)
2014 - Dieter Grau, German-American rocket scientist (b. 1913)
2014 - Richard C. Hottelet, American broadcast journalist (b. 1917)
2014 - Oleh Lysheha, Ukrainian poet (b. 1949)
2015 - Buckshot Hoffner, American politician (b. 1924)
2016 - Henry Heimlich, American physician (b. 1920)
2016 - Benjamin A. Gilman, American politician (b. 1922)
2017 - Johnny Fox, American sword swallower (b. 1953)
2017 - Bob Glidden, American drag racer (b. 1944)
2017 - Kevin Mahogany, American jazz singer (b. 1958)
2017 - Edward Rowny, American army officer (b. 1917)
2017 - Terry Cavanagh, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
2018 - Jon Bluming, Dutch martial artist and actor (b. 1933)
2018 - Penny Marshall, American actress (b. 1943)
2018 - Amelie Mummendey, German social psychologist (b. 1944)
2018 - Rona Ramon, Israeli educator and activist (b. 1964)
2018 - Francis Roache, American police officer and politician (b. 1936)
2019 - Karin Balzer, German hurdler (b. 1938)
2019 - Hayden Fry, American football player (b. 1929)
2019 - Bronco Horvath, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1930)
2019 - Shriram Lagoo, Indian actor (b. 1927)
Observances
National Day of Bhutan
Days of the year