December 17

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 497 BC &ndash; The first Saturnalia festival is first celebrated in Ancient Rome.
* 546 &ndash; Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under King Totila plunder Rome, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
* 942 &ndash; William I of Normandy is assassinated.
* 1538 &ndash; Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII of England.
* 1577 &ndash; Francis Drake sails from Plymouth on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Ocean coasts of the Americas.
* 1583 &ndash; Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
* 1586 &ndash; Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan becomes Emperor.
* 1600 &ndash; Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
* 1637 &ndash; In Japan, the Shimabara Rebellion led by Amakusa Shigeharu against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu begins.
* 1718 &ndash; Great Britain declares war on Spain.
* 1777 &ndash; American Revolutionary War: France formally recognizes the United States as an independent country.
* 1790 &ndash; The Aztec calendar stone Piedra del Sol is discovered during building work in Mexico City.
* 1819 &ndash; Simon Bolivar declares the independence of Gran Colombia (present–day Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador) in Angostura, now Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela.
* 1830 &ndash; Simon Bolivar dies at the age of 47.
* 1835 &ndash; Great Fire of New York City: Fire levels Lower Manhattan.
* 1837 &ndash; A fire rips through the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, killing 30 guards.
* 1862 &ndash; Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order Number 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.
* 1865 &ndash; First performance of Franz Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony.
* 1892 &ndash; The first issue of Vogue magazine is published.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1903 &ndash; The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier–than–air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
* 1907 &ndash; Ugyen Wangchuck becomes the first King of Bhutan.
* 1909 &ndash; Albert I of Belgium becomes King.
* 1918 &ndash; Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
* 1919 &ndash; Uruguay becomes a signatory of the Buenos Aires Convention.
* 1922 &ndash; The last British troops leave the Irish Free State.
* 1926 &ndash; Antanas Smetona becomes President of Lithuania.
* 1938 &ndash; Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.
* 1939 &ndash; World War II: Battle of River Plate – The German Navy sinks its own ship *Admiral Graf Spee* outside Montevideo.
* 1941 &ndash; World War II: Japanese forces land in northern Borneo.
* 1960 &ndash; 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 &ndash; 1960 Munich Convair 340 crash: 20 people on board the aircraft and 32 on the ground are killed.
* 1961 &ndash; The world's biggest circus tragedy occurs in Niteroi, Brazil when the circus is set on fire by angry workers, killing 323 people.
* 1967 &ndash; Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt goes missing on a diving trip off the state of Victoria. He is declared dead two days later.
* 1970 &ndash; The current flag of Oman comes into use.
* 1973 &ndash; 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
* 1981 &ndash; Senegal and Gambia form the Senegambia Confederation.
* 1983 &ndash; An IRA bomb at a Harrods Department store in London kills 6 people.
* 1989 &ndash; Fernando Collor de Mello is elected President of Brazil.
* 1989 &ndash; The first full–length episode of The Simpsons airs.
* 1997 &ndash; Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie releases in theaters by Warner Bros.

### From 2001 
* 2003 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Out of health and cultural reasons, Bhutan bans the sale of tobacco.
* 2005 &ndash; King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan decides to abdicate the throne.
* 2010 &ndash; 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 &ndash; 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 &ndash; A typhoon hits the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, killing at least 400 people.
* 2011 &ndash; North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il dies. His son, Kim Jong-un, takes over from him.
* 2014 &ndash; 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 &ndash; Sebastian Pinera is elected President of Chile for a second time.
* 2019 &ndash; Fallon Sherrock becomes the first woman to win a match in a World Darts Championship.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
* 1267 &ndash; Emperor Go-Uda, emperor of Japan (d. 1324)
* 1554 &ndash; Ernest of Bavaria (d. 1612)
* 1619 &ndash; Prince Rupert, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (d. 1682)
* 1632 &ndash; Anthony Wood, English antiqurian (d. 1695)
* 1638 &ndash; Anna Sophia II, Abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 1683)
* 1685 &ndash; Thomas Tickell, English writer (d. 1740)
* 1706 &ndash; Émilie du Châtelet, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1749)
* 1734 &ndash; Maria I of Portugal (d. 1816)
* 1749 &ndash; Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (d. 1801)
* 1758 &ndash; Nathaniel Macon, American politician (d. 1837)
* 1778 &ndash; Humphrey Davy, English chemist (d. 1829)
* 1789 &ndash; Clement Comer Clay, 8th Governor of Alabama (d. 1866)
* 1796 &ndash; Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian novelist (d. 1865)
* 1797 &ndash; Joseph Henry, American physicist (d. 1878)
* 1799 &ndash; Titian Peale, American artist (d. 1885)
* 1807 &ndash; John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet and abolitionist (d. 1892)
* 1824 &ndash; John Kerr, Scottish physicist (d. 1907)
* 1830 &ndash; Jules de Goncourt, French publisher (d. 1870)
* 1835 &ndash; Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, Swiss–American scientist (d. 1910)
* 1842 &ndash; Sophus Lie, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1899)
* 1853 &ndash; Herbert Beerbohm Tree, English actor (d. 1917)
* 1866 &ndash; Kazys Grinius, 3rd President of Lithuania (d. 1950)
* 1866 &ndash; Mario García Menocal, 3rd President of Cuba (d. 1941)
* 1872 &ndash; Mistinguett, French actress and singer (d. 1956)
* 1873 &ndash; Ford Madox Ford, English writer (d. 1939)
* 1874 &ndash; William Lyon Mackenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1950)
* 1884 &ndash; Alison Uttley, English writer (d. 1976)
* 1887 &ndash; Hermine Reuss of Greiz, wife of Wilhelm II of Germany (d. 1947)
* 1889 &ndash; Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish–Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 1950)
* 1892 &ndash; Sam Barry, American basketball coach (d. 1950)
* 1893 &ndash; Erwin Piscator, German movie director (d. 1966)
* 1894 &ndash; Willem Schermerhorn, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
* 1894 &ndash; Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d. 1979)
* 1898 &ndash; Loren Murchison, American athlete (d. 1979)
* 1900 &ndash; Mary Cartwright, English mathematician (d. 1998)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1901 &ndash; Lee Strasberg, Austrian–born actor and director (d. 1982)
* 1903 &ndash; Erskine Caldwell, American writer (d. 1987)
* 1903 &ndash; Ray Noble, English musician {d. 1978}
* 1905 &ndash; Simo Häyhä, Finnish soldier (d. 2002)
* 1905 &ndash; Mohammad Hidayatullah, 11th Chief Justice of India (d. 1992)
* 1905 &ndash; Jan Valtin, German writer (d. 1951)
* 1908 &ndash; Willard Frank Libby, American physicist and chemist (d. 1980)
* 1913 &ndash; Burt Baskin, American businessman (d. 1967)
* 1915 &ndash; André Claveau, French singer (d. 2003)
* 1915 &ndash; Robert A. Dahl, American political theorist (d. 2014)
* 1916 &ndash; Penelope Fitzgerald, English writer (d. 2000)
* 1919 &ndash; Tomas Spidlik, Czech cardinal (d. 2010)
* 1920 &ndash; Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist (d. 2004)
* 1922 &ndash; Mario Rigamonti, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
* 1926 &ndash; Stephen Lewis, English actor (d. 2015)
* 1926 &ndash; Patrice Wymore, American actress (d. 2014)
* 1928 &ndash; Marilyn Beck, American columnist (d. 2014)
* 1928 &ndash; George Lindsey, American actor (d. 2012)
* 1929 &ndash; William Safire, American columnist (d. 2009)
* 1929 &ndash; Jacqueline Hill, British actress (d. 1993)
* 1930 &ndash; Bob Guccione, American magazine publisher (d. 2010)
* 1930 &ndash; Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor
* 1931 &ndash; Dave Madden, Canadian–American actor (d. 2014)
* 1934 &ndash; Ray Wilson, English footballer (d. 2018)
* 1935 &ndash; Cal Ripken, Sr., American baseball player, coach and manager (d. 1999)
* 1936 &ndash; Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires)
* 1936 &ndash; Tommy Steele, English singer and actor
* 1936 &ndash; Klaus Kinkel, German politician (d. 2019)
* 1937 &ndash; John Kennedy Toole, American author (d. 1969)
* 1937 &ndash; Art Neville, American singer and keyboardist (d. 2019)
* 1937 &ndash; Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d. 2005)
* 1938 &ndash; Gilles Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
* 1938 &ndash; Peter Snell, New Zealand athlete (d. 2019)
* 1939 &ndash; Eddie Kendricks, American musician (d. 1992)
* 1941 &ndash; Gene Clark, American musician (d. 1991)
* 1941 &ndash; Dave Dee, English singer (d. 2009)
* 1942 &ndash; Paul Butterfield, American musician (d. 1987)
* 1942 &ndash; Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian leader
* 1943 &ndash; Christopher Cazenove, English actor (d. 2010)
* 1943 &ndash; Ron Geesin, Scottish musician
* 1943 &ndash; Lauren Hutton, American model and actress
* 1944 &ndash; Jack L. Chalker, American novelist
* 1944 &ndash; Lorne Michaels, Canadian television producer
* 1944 &ndash; Bernard Hill, English actor
* 1945 &ndash; Jacqueline Wilson, English writer
* 1945 &ndash; Elvin Hayes, American basketball player
* 1945 &ndash; Ernie Hudson, American actor
* 1946 &ndash; Eugene Levy, Canadian actor
* 1947 &ndash; Wes Studi, American actor
* 1947 &ndash; Robert Dornhelm, Romanian–Austrian film and television director
* 1948 &ndash; Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
* 1949 &ndash; Paul Rodgers, British singer (Free)

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Ken Hitchcock, Canadian ice hockey coach
* 1953 &ndash; Bill Pullman, American actor
* 1953 &ndash; Sally Menke, American movie producer (d. 2010)
* 1955 &ndash; Brad Davis, American basketball player
* 1956 &ndash; Peter John Farrelly, American screenwriter and director
* 1958 &ndash; Mike Mills, American musician in band R.E.M.
* 1959 &ndash; Gregg Araki, American filmmaker
* 1959 &ndash; Albert King, American basketball player
* 1960 &ndash; Moreno Argentin, Italian cyclist
* 1961 &ndash; Sara Dallin, English singer (Bananarama)
* 1962 &ndash; Ari Folman, Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer
* 1963 &ndash; Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Icelandic writer
* 1966 &ndash; Kristiina Ojuland, Estonian politician
* 1966 &ndash; Valery Liukin, Soviet gymnast
* 1967 &ndash; Gigi D'Agostino, Italian musician and DJ
* 1968 &ndash; Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
* 1969 &ndash; Chris Mason, English darts player
* 1970 &ndash; Sean Patrick Thomas, American actor
* 1971 &ndash; Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player
* 1973 &ndash; Paula Radcliffe, English runner
* 1973 &ndash; Codrin Tapu, Romanian psychologist
* 1974 &ndash; Sarah Paulson, American actress
* 1974 &ndash; Giovanni Ribisi, American actor
* 1974 &ndash; Marissa Ribisi, American actress and screenwriter
* 1975 &ndash; Nick Dinsmore, American professional wrestler
* 1975 &ndash; Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian–born actress and model

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Patrick Müller, Swiss footballer
* 1976 &ndash; Takeo Spikes, American football player
* 1976 &ndash; Andrew Simpson, English sailor (d. 2013)
* 1977 &ndash; Liédson, Portuguese footballer
* 1977 &ndash; Arnaud Clément, French tennis player
* 1977 &ndash; Oxana Fedorova, Russian model, actress and singer
* 1978 &ndash; Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer and politician
* 1978 &ndash; Riteish Deshmukh, Indian actor
* 1979 &ndash; Charlotte Edwards, English cricketer
* 1979 &ndash; William Green, American football player
* 1980 &ndash; Eli Pariser, American internet activist and computer programmer
* 1981 &ndash; Tim Wiese, German footballer
* 1982 &ndash; Dynamo, English magician
* 1982 &ndash; Boubacar Sanogo, Ivory Coast footballer
* 1982 &ndash; Craig Kielburger, Canadian author and activist
* 1983 &ndash; Sébastien Ogier, French rally driver
* 1983 &ndash; Chidi Odiah, Nigerian footballer
* 1984 &ndash; Shannon Woodward, American actress
* 1985 &ndash; Ryuichi Ogata, Japanese singer and actor
* 1986 &ndash; Emma Bell, American actress
* 1987 &ndash; Chelsea Manning, American soldier, leaked information on WikiLeaks
* 1988 &ndash; David Rudisha, Kenyan athlete
* 1989 &ndash; André Ayew, Ghanaian footballer
* 1989 &ndash; Taylor York, American musician (Paramore)
* 1991 &ndash; Tom Walker, Scottish singer
* 1993 &ndash; Patricia Ku Flores, Peruvian tennis player
* 1993 &ndash; Buddy Hield, Bahamian basketball player
* 1994 &ndash; Nat Wolff, American actor, singer and musician
* 1998 &ndash; Martin Odegaard, Norwegian footballer
* 2007 &ndash; James, Viscount Severn, British royal and youngest grandchild of Elizabeth II

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
* 942 &ndash; William I of Normandy
* 1187 &ndash; Pope Gregory VIII
* 1195 &ndash; Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (b. 1150)
* 1273 &ndash; Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, Persian poet and mystic (b. 1207)
* 1663 &ndash; Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (b. 1583)
* 1721 &ndash; Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b. 1640)
* 1830 &ndash; Simón Bolívar, Latin American politician and activist (b. 1783)
* 1833 &ndash; Kaspar Hauser, German foundling (b. 1812)
* 1847 &ndash; Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (b. 1791)
* 1857 &ndash; Hiram Runnels, Governor of Mississippi (b. 1796)
* 1860 &ndash; Desirée Clary, French–born Queen Consort of Sweden (b. 1777)
* 1881 &ndash; Isaac Israel Hayes, American physician and polar explorer (b. 1832)
* 1881 &ndash; Lewis H. Morgan, American anthropologist (b. 1818)
* 1897 &ndash; Alphonse Daudet, French writer (b. 1840)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1901 &ndash; Josep Manyanet i Vives, Catalan priest (b. 1833)
* 1907 &ndash; William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish–born physicist (b. 1824)
* 1909 &ndash; King Léopold II of Belgium (b. 1835)
* 1917 &ndash; Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician (b. 1836)
* 1927 &ndash; Rajendra Lahiri, Indian activist (b. 1892)
* 1929 &ndash; Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, 10th President of Portugal (b. 1863)
* 1933 &ndash; Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (b. 1876)
* 1934 &ndash; William L. Harding, 20th Governor of Iowa (b. 1877)
* 1935 &ndash; Juan Vicente Gómez, President of Venezuela (b. 1857)
* 1940 &ndash; Alicia Boole Stott, Irish–English mathematician (b. 1860)
* 1957 &ndash; Dorothy L. Sayers, English writer (b. 1893)
* 1962 &ndash; Thomas Mitchell, American actor (b. 1892)
* 1964 &ndash; Victor Franz Hess, Austrian–born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
* 1967 &ndash; Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
* 1969 &ndash; Artur da Costa e Silva, President of Brazil (b. 1899)
* 1973 &ndash; Charles Greeley Abbott, American astrophysicist (b. 1872)
* 1973 &ndash; Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, Italian cardinal (b. 1883)
* 1978 &ndash; Josef Frings, German cardinal (b. 1887)
* 1982 &ndash; Homer S. Ferguson, American politician (b. 1889)
* 1987 &ndash; Irving Allen, American producer (b. 1916)
* 1987 &ndash; Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (b. 1903)
* 1992 &ndash; Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909)
* 1998 &ndash; Claudia Benton, Peruvian child psychologist (b. 1959)
* 1999 &ndash; Grover Washington Jr., American musician (b. 1943)

### From 2001 
* 2003 &ndash; Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)
* 2003 &ndash; Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)
* 2009 &ndash; Jennifer Jones, American actress (b. 1919)
* 2010 &ndash; Captain Beefheart, American musician (b. 1941)
* 2011 &ndash; Cesaria Evora, Cape Verdean singer (b. 1941)
* 2011 &ndash; Kim Jong-il, North Korean leader (b. 1941)
* 2012 &ndash; Dina Manfredini, Italian–born American supercentenarian (b. 1897)
* 2012 &ndash; Daniel Inouye, United States Senator from Hawaii (b. 1924)
* 2013 &ndash; Janet Rowley, American cancer researcher (b. 1925)
* 2014 &ndash; Dieter Grau, German–American rocket scientist (b. 1913)
* 2014 &ndash; Richard C. Hottelet, American broadcast journalist (b. 1917)
* 2014 &ndash; Oleh Lysheha, Ukrainian poet (b. 1949)
* 2015 &ndash; Buckshot Hoffner, American politician (b. 1924)
* 2016 &ndash; Henry Heimlich, American physician (b. 1920)
* 2016 &ndash; Benjamin A. Gilman, American politician (b. 1922)
* 2017 &ndash; Johnny Fox, American sword swallower (b. 1953)
* 2017 &ndash; Bob Glidden, American drag racer (b. 1944)
* 2017 &ndash; Kevin Mahogany, American jazz singer (b. 1958)
* 2017 &ndash; Edward Rowny, American army officer (b. 1917)
* 2017 &ndash; Terry Cavanagh, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
* 2018 &ndash; Jon Bluming, Dutch martial artist and actor (b. 1933)
* 2018 &ndash; Penny Marshall, American actress (b. 1943)
* 2018 &ndash; Amélie Mummendey, German social psychologist (b. 1944)
* 2018 &ndash; Rona Ramon, Israeli educator and activist (b. 1964)
* 2018 &ndash; Francis Roache, American police officer and politician (b. 1936)
* 2019 &ndash; Karin Balzer, German hurdler (b. 1938)
* 2019 &ndash; Hayden Fry, American football player (b. 1929)
* 2019 &ndash; Bronco Horvath, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1930)
* 2019 &ndash; Shriram Lagoo, Indian actor (b. 1927)

## Observances 
* National Day of Bhutan