Historical Events on October 17

Events 1 - 200 of 207

• 415 Jewish autonomy in Palestine ended by the Romans and Raban Gamliel forced from office
• 532 Boniface II ends his reign as Catholic Pope

• 733 Battle at Tours (Poitiers): Charles Martel's Frankish and Burgundian forces beat those of al-Andalus under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi halting Islamic influence (date disputed)

• 1387 Swells convent Windesheim initiated
• 1404 Cosma de' Migliorati elected Pope Innocentius VII
• 1448 Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi were defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
• 1456 The University of Greifswald is established, making it the second oldest university in northern continental Europe (also for a period the oldest in Sweden, and Prussia)
• 1483 Tomas de Torquemada appointed inquisitor-general of Spain
• 1556 Ex-emperor Karel departs Netherland for Spain

• 1662 Charles II of Great Britain sells Dunkirk to France for 2.5 million livres (320,000 English pounds)
• 1691 New royal charter for Massachusetts, now including Maine, Plymouth
• 1720 Pierre de Marivaux' "Arlequin Poli Par l'Amour" premieres in Paris
• 1740 Ivan VI becomes Tsar of Russia


• 1777 British General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga during the American Revolutionary War
• 1787 Boston blacks, petition legislature for equal school facilities
• 1797 Peace of Campo Formio: Austrian Dutch possessions & France
• 1800 Dutch colony Curacao transfererd to Great Britain
• 1806 Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I of Haiti is assassinated
• 1808 Political rights of Jews suspended in Duchy of Warsaw
• 1814 A Beer Flood occurs in London killing nine.

• 1829 Delaware River & Chesapeake Bay Canal formally opens
• 1829 1st supposed attack on abandoned German teenager Kaspar Hauser

• 1850 Knickerbocker Engine Co Number 5 organized
• 1854 French and British forces bombard Sevastopol for the first time during the Crimean War
• 1855 Bessemer steelmaking process patented
• 1860 1st British Open Men's Golf, Prestwick GC: Willie Park Sr. wins inaugural event by 2 strokes from fellow Scot Tom Morris Sr
• 1862 Battle of Leetown & Thoroughfare Gap, VA
• 1868 Constitution of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg comes into effect
• 1871 Great Britain annexes Griqualand, South Africa

• 1877 Henry Morton Stanley reaches Boma during trip cross Africa

• 1885 Baseball sets all players salaries at $1,000-$2,000 for 1885 season

• 1894 Ohio national guard kills 3 lynchers while rescuing a black man
• 1896 Anton Tsjechovs "Chayka" premieres in St Petersburg
• 1899 Sutro railroad sold to Robert F Morrow for $215,000
• 1900 Bernhard von Bülow becomes German Chancellor

• 1912 Bulgaria, Greece & Serbia declares war on Turkey
• 1916 Dutch women demonstrate for female suffrage
• 1917 1st British bombing of Germany
• 1918 De Kooy airport in Netherlands opens
• 1918 Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic
• 1919 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) is created as a subsidiary of General Electric
• 1920 Chicago Bears (as Decatur Staleys) play 1st NFL game, win 7-0
• 1921 Belgium's public library law goes into force
• 1922 Scottish worker begins hunger march from Glasgow on London
• 1923 Catholic University of Nijmegen Neth opens
• 1927 Ban Johnson, in failing health, retires as AL President

• 1934 "The Aldrich Family" premieres on radio
• 1935 Pacific Association of AAU votes not to participate in Berlin Olympics

• 1940 German occupiers issue identity cards
• 1941 USS Kearney becomes the 1st US destroyer torpedoed in World War II, while the country is still neutral
• 1943 Liberators sink U-540 & U-631

• 1951 Egyptian army fires on British troops
• 1954 Philadelphia Eagle Adrian Burk passes for 7 touchdowns vs Wash (49-21)
• 1955 Lee Merriwether joins Today Show panel
• 1956 England's 1st large scale nuclear power station opens
• 1956 Pakistan defeat Australia by nine wickets at 1st attempt

• 1957 "Copper & Brass" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 36 performances

• 1957 Dike Marken-Dutch mainland closed

• 1957 II Tsjoendrigar becomes premier of Pakistan
• 1959 "Billy Barnes Revue" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 87 performances
• 1959 Queen Elizabeth II is fined $140 for withdrawing her race horse
• 1959 Stinchcomb Memorial in Cleveland Metroparks' dedicated
• 1960 "Tenderloin" opens at 46th St Theater NYC for 216 performances
• 1960 US & Britain sign accord for nuclear submarine bases
• 1961 22nd congress of CPSU opens in Moscow
• 1961 Battle of Paris-police kill 210 Algerians
• 1961 NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 33,100 m

• 1962 Yanks beat Giants for 20th world championship
• 1963 "Jennie" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 82 performances
• 1963 The Beatles record "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at EMI Studios in London
• 1964 In the first ever Olympic women's pentathlon Irina Press of the Soviet Union sets a world record 5,246 points to win the gold medal at the Tokyo Games

• 1964 Australian athlete Betty Cuthbert takes her 4th career Olympic gold medal as she wins the women's 400m at the Tokyo Games in Olympic record 52.0


• 1964 US swimmers go 1-2-3 in the women's 400m individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics; Donna de Varona wins gold in Olympic record 5:18.7 ahead of team mates Sharon Finneran and Martha Randall
• 1965 "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever" opens in NYC for 280 performances
• 1965 WBMG TV channel 42 in Birmingham, AL (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1967 "Hair" premieres on Broadway

• 1967 Memorial service for Brian Epstein at New London Synagogue
• 1967 Pete Knight in X-15 reaches 85 km
• 1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

• 1968 Soviet athlete Viktor Saneev sets world record 17.39m to win the triple jump at the Mexico City Olympics; world record improved 5 times by 3 different athletes during competition
• 1968 US men's 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Zac Zorn, Stephen Rerych, Ken Walsh & Mark Spitz swim world record 3:31.7 to outclass the Soviet Union & Australia and win the gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics
• 1968 Björn Ferm of Sweden beats Hungary's András Balczó by just 11 points to take the gold medal in the modern pentathlon at the Mexico City Olympics
• 1969 NY Nets move from Comack to Island Garden, Hempstead NY
• 1969 Plastic Ono Band's "Cold Turkey" is released in UK
• 1969 Soyuz 7 returns to Earth

• 1971 Cleveland Metroparks' Rocky River Nature Center opens
• 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 3 in 68th World Series
• 1971 It is estimated today that approximately 16,000 households were withholding rent and rates for council houses as part of the campaign of civil disobedience against internment organised by the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Northern Ireland
• 1972 1st time Islanders shut-out-5-0 vs Penguins
• 1972 Bob Randall's "6 Rooms Riv Vu," premieres in NYC
• 1972 Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-ling," is #1
• 1972 The Ulster Defence Association open fire on the British Army in several areas of Belfast
• 1973 OPEC oil ministers use oil as an economic weapon in the Arab-Israeli War, mandating a cut in exports and recommending an embargo against unfriendly states
• 1974 "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" closes at Playhouse NYC after 1065 per
• 1974 NBA New Orleans Jazz begin a 28 game road losing streak
• 1974 Washington Capitals 1st NHL home victory, beating Chicago 4-3
• 1974 Oakland A's beat LA Dodgers, 4 games to 1 in 71st World Series makes A's only team other than Yanks to win 3 straight series
• 1975 1st Space Shuttle main engine test at National Space Tech Labs, Miss
• 1975 UN passes resolution saying "Zionism is a form of racism"


• 1976 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
• 1976 Coldest World Series game Yankees vs Cincinnati, 39 degrees F (until 1997)
• 1977 Canada begins regular live TV coverage of Parliament
• 1977 West German commandos storm hijacked Lufthansa in Mogadishu, Somalia freeing all 86 hostages & killing 3 of 4 hijackers
• 1978 NY Islanders start a streak of 23 undefeated games at home (15-0-8)
• 1978 NY Yankees beat Dodgers, 4 games to 2 in 75th World Series

• 1978 USSR performs underground nuclear test
• 1978 Yanks win 22nd World Championship capping their great comeback year
• 1979 "Beatlemania" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 920 performances
• 1979 D Bautista of Mexico completes 20,000 m walk in record 1:20:06.8

• 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 games to 3 in 76th World Series
• 1979 US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating Department of Education
• 1980 1st-class debut of Mike Whitney, NSW v Qld (2-52 & 1-39)
• 1981 Brazilian Nelson Piquet driving for Brabham finishes 5th in the season ending Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas to clinch his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Carlos Reutemann
• 1982 1st live orchestra on a US commercial network since 1954 (National Symphony)
• 1982 Robin Yount is 1st to have 2 4-hit games in a World Series
• 1982 Sam Shepard's "True West" premieres in NYC
• 1982 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1983 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Gérard Debreu
• 1983 STS-9 vehicle moves to Vandenberg AFB due to SRB nozzle problem

• 1984 Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Bruce Merrifield
• 1985 French author Claude Simon wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
• 1985 Lou Piniella named NY Yankee manager
• 1986 US Senate approved immigration bill prohibiting hiring of illegal aliens & offered amnesty to illegals who entered prior to 1982

• 1987 "Late Nite Comic" closes at Ritz Theater NYC after 4 performances
• 1987 1st indoor World Series game (Minnesota Metrodome)

• 1988 31 reported dead as Ugandan jetliner crashes in fog near Rome
• 1988 Dallas Green replaces Lou Pinella as manager of NY Yankees
• 1988 Lyndon LaRouche pleads innocent to fraud, conspiracy indictment
• 1988 Phillip Morris announces $11 Billion tender offer for Kraft
• 1988 Rockin Robin beats "Sensational" Sherri Martel for WWF woman's title
• 1988 Traveling Wilbury's 1st release "Handle With Care"
• 1988 Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 is released
• 1989 Earthquake in San Francisco (6.9) cancels 3rd game of World Series, kills 67
• 1990 "Jackie Mason - Brand New" opens at Neil Simon NYC for 216 performances
• 1990 "Les Miserables" opens at Imperial Theatre, NY & His Majesty's Theatre, Perth

• 1991 Angel Cordero is 3rd jockey to win 7,000 horse races
• 1991 News anchor Bree Walker Lampley files an FCC complaint that LA radio KFI-AM personally attacked her by discuss her having a disformed baby

• 1991 MLB National League Championship: Atlanta Braves beat Pittsburgh Pirates, 4 games to 3
• 1991 Blue Man Group's 1st performance in New York City
• 1992 1st World Series with non-US team, Toronto loses 3-1 to Braves

• 1995 Keith Moore sentenced to 6 years for robbing Sting of $9,000,000
• 1995 MLB American League Championship: Cleveland Indians beat Seattle Mariners, 4 games to 2
• 1996 "Taking Sides" opens at Atkinson Theater NYC
• 1996 MLB National League Championship: Atlanta Braves beat St. Louis Cardinals, 4 games to 3
• 1998 At Jesse, in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, a petroleum pipeline explodes killing about 1200 villagers, some of whom are scavenging gasoline.
• 2000 Train crash at Hatfield, north of London, leading to collapse of Railtrack
• 2000 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Seattle Mariners, 4 games to 2
• 2003 Pinnacle fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) to become World's tallest high-rise
• 2003 Eunuchs in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh float the political party Jiti Jitayi Politics.

• 2006 The United States population reaches 300 million

• 2008 Iran's attempt to create the world's largest sandwich (1,500 metres) fails when crowds eat it before it can be measured
• 2012 Exoplanet Alpha Centauri Bb discovered orbiting Alpha Centauri announced (later thought to be a false finding)

• 2012 Tens of thousands protest against austerity measures in Greece
• 2013 59 people are killed in a wave of attacks on Shia Muslims in Iraq

• 2016 Chinese spacecraft Shenzhou-11 launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China
• 2017 Islamic State headquarters Raqqa declared under full control of US-led alliance by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) spokesman Talal Sello after 4 months of fighting
• 2017 Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declares city of Marawi "liberated" from militants
• 2017 American short-story writer George Saunders wins the Man Booker Prize for his first novel "Lincoln in the Bardo"

• 2018 India's junior foreign minister MJ Akbar is highest official to resign in #MeToo case after sexual harassment accusations by numerous women
• 2018 Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch puppeteer Caroll Spinney leaves "Sesame Street" after 50 years
• 2018 Canada legalizes the sale of recreational cannabis, the second country after Uruguay
• 2018 Australian state of Queensland decriminalizes abortion

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