Almanac - January 17

Benjamin Franklin 1706-1790

Events

• 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
• 395 – Emperor Theodosius I dies at Milan, the Roman Empire is re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum under Honorius, his brother, at the age of 10.
• 1287 – King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
• 1377 – Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
• 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
• 1562 – France recognizes the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint-Germain.
• 1595 – Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
• 1608 – Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 men.
• 1648 – England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
• 1773 – Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.
• 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens – Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
• 1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
• 1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionists.
• 1852 – The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.
• 1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, a part of the Modoc War.
• 1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
• 1893 – The Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston, overthrows the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
• 1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
• 1904 – Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
• 1912 – Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
• 1913 – Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.
• 1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
• 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
• 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
• 1929 – Inayatullah Khan, king of the Emirate of Afghanistan abdicates the throne after only three days into his reign.
• 1941 – Franco-Thai War: French forces inflict a decisive victory over the Royal Thai Navy.
• 1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four battles with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
• 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
• 1945 – The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
• 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
• 1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
• 1949 – The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs.
• 1950 – The Great Brinks Robbery – 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex".
• 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
• 1966 – A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares incident.
• 1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
• 1977 – Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on capital punishment in the United States.
• 1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
• 1982 – "Cold Sunday" - in the United States temperatures fell to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.
• 1983 – The tallest department store in the world, Hudson's, flagship store in downtown Detroit closes due to high cost of operating.
• 1989 – Cleveland School massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground in Stockton, California, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher before taking his own life.
• 1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
• 1991 – Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.
• 1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
• 1994 – 1994 Northridge earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California.
• 1995 – The Great Hanshin earthquake: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hits near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,434 people.
• 1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
• 1997 – A Delta 2 carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
• 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair on his website The Drudge Report.
• 2001 – U.S. President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Meriwether Lewis' rank from Lieutenant to Captain.
• 2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
• 2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing.
• 2008 – British Airways Flight 38 crash lands just short of London Heathrow Airport in England with no fatalities. It is the first complete hull loss of a Boeing 777.
• 2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, resulting in at least 200 deaths.

Births

• 1463 – Frederick III of Saxony, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
• 1484 – George Spalatin, German reformer (d. 1545)
• 1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
• 1504 – Pope Saint Pius V (d. 1572)
• 1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (d. 1624)
• 1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright (d. 1681)
• 1612 – Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English Civil War general (d. 1671)
• 1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist (d. 1723)
• 1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian (d. 1766)
• 1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American statesman and inventor (d. 1790)
• 1712 – John Stanley, English composer (d. 1786)
• 1719 – William Vernon, American merchant (d. 1806)
• 1732 – King Stanislaw II August Poniatowski of Poland (d. 1798)
• 1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, Belgian composer (d. 1829)
• 1761 – James Hall, Scottish geologist (d. 1832)
• 1789 – August Neander, German theologian (d. 1850)
• 1814 – Mrs. Henry Wood, English novelist (d. 1887)
• 1820 – Anne Brontë, British author (d. 1849)
• 1828 – Eduard Remenyi, Hungarian violinist (d. 1898)
• 1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War general (d. 1918)
• 1831 – Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria (d. 1903)
• 1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American educationalist (d. 1906)
• 1834 – August Weismann, German biologist (d. 1914)
• 1850 – Aleksandr Taneyev, Russian composer (d. 1918)
• 1851 – A. B. Frost, American illustrator (d. 1928)
• 1853 – Alva Belmont, American socialite (d. 1933)
• 1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian composer (d. 1941)
• 1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French inventor (d. 1935)
• 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian writer (d. 1940)
• 1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish President of Ireland (d. 1949)
• 1863 – David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister (d. 1945)
• 1863 – Constantin Stanislavski, Russian theatre practitioner (d. 1938)
• 1865 – Charles Fergusson, Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
• 1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-born film executive (d. 1939)
• 1871 – David Earl Beatty British admiral (d. 1936)
• 1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian writer (d. 1940)
• 1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan dramatist (d. 1910)
• 1876 – Frank Hague, American politician (d. 1956)
• 1877 – May Gibbs, Australian children's author (d. 1969)
• 1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian film director (d. 1960)
• 1881 – Antoni Lomnicki, Polish mathematician (d. 1941)
• 1881 – Harry Price, English psychic researcher and writer (d. 1948)
• 1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
• 1883 – Sir Compton Mackenzie, Scottish novelist (d. 1972)
• 1886 – Ronald Firbank, British novelist (d. 1926)
• 1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American aviation pioneer (d. 1955)
• 1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
• 1897 – Marcel Petiot, French mass murderer (d. 1946)
• 1899 – Al Capone, American gangster (d. 1947)
• 1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, president of University of Chicago (d. 1977)
• 1899 – Nevil Shute, English author (d. 1960)
• 1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-born philosopher (d. 1973)
• 1902 – Nâzim Hikmet, Turkish poet (d. 1963)
• 1903 – Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974)
• 1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
• 1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentine footballer (d. 1966)
• 1905 – Jan Zahradnícek, Czech poet (d. 1960)
• 1907 – Henk Badings, Dutch composer (d. 1987)
• 1908 – Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager (d. 1985)
• 1911 – George Joseph Stigler, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
• 1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
• 1914 – Irving Brecher, American Screenwriter (d. 2008)
• 1914 – William Stafford, American poet and essayist (d. 1993)
• 1916 – Peter Frelinghuysen, American politician
• 1917 – Ramón Cardemil, Chilean huaso (d. 2007)
• 1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian politician, actor (d. 1987)
• 1918 – Keith Joseph, British politician (d. 1994)
• 1918 – George M. Leader, American politician and 36th Governor of Pennsylvania
• 1920 – Georges Pichard, French comics artist (d. 2003)
• 1921 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
• 1922 – Robert De Niro, Sr., American painter (d. 1993)
• 1922 – Luis Echeverría Álvarez, Mexican President of Mexico
• 1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American jurist and 65th United States Attorney General
• 1922 – Betty White, American actress
• 1923 – Carol Raye, Australian actress
• 1925 – Robert Cormier, American author, columnist and reporter (d. 2000)
• 1925 – Abdul Kardar, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1996)
• 1925 – Edgar Ray Killen, American convict, former preacher and K.K.K. member
• 1925 – Patricia Owens, Canadian actress (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and statesman
• 1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Tom Dooley, American humanitarian (d. 1961)
• 1927 – Norman Kaye, Australian actor and musician (d. 2007)
• 1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
• 1927 – E.W. Swackhamer, American television & film director (d. 1994)
• 1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
• 1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English cosmetologist
• 1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
• 1930 – Eddie LeBaron, American football player
• 1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor
• 1931 – L. Douglas Wilder, American 66th Governor of Virginia
• 1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball coach
• 1932 – Sheree North, American actress (d. 2005)
• 1933 – Dalida, French singer (d. 1987)
• 1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-born Pakistani diplomat (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) (d. 2003)
• 1933 – Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist (d. 1998)
• 1934 – Donald Cammell, Scottish film director (d. 1996)
• 1934 – Stuart Nisbet, American actor
• 1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, American politician, businesswoman and 72nd Governor of Delaware
• 1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher
• 1938 – John Bellairs, American mystery author (d. 1991)
• 1939 – Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece (d. 2008)
• 1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host
• 1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner
• 1940 – Tabaré Vázquez, President of Uruguay
• 1941 – Dame Gillian Weir, New Zealand organist
• 1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer
• 1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and businesswoman
• 1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist
• 1942 – Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1943 – Geoffrey Deuel, American actor
• 1943 – Chris Montez, American singer
• 1943 – René Préval, President of Haiti
• 1944 – Françoise Hardy, French singer
• 1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian lyricist, poet and scriptwriter
• 1946 – Michèle Deslauriers, Quebec actress
• 1948 – Jim Ladd, American freeform (radio format) Disc Jockey
• 1948 – Davíð Oddsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland
• 1948 – Anne Queffélec, French pianist
• 1949 – Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)
• 1949 – Mick Taylor, British musician (The Rolling Stones)
• 1950 – Luis López Nieves, Latin American writer
• 1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player (d. 2002)
• 1952 – Larry Fortensky, American former husband of Elizabeth Taylor
• 1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician
• 1953 – Jeff Berlin, American musician
• 1953 – Carlos Johnson, American blues musician
• 1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer and environmental activist, son of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy
• 1954 – Susan Kiefel, Australian lawyer and judge
• 1955 – Steve Earle, American musician
• 1955 – Steve Javie, American professional basketball referee
• 1956 – Paul Young, English musician
• 1957 – Keith Chegwin, English television presenter
• 1957 – Steve Harvey, American actor, comedian and radio personality
• 1957 – Ann Nocenti, American comic book writer
• 1957 – Michel Vaarten, Belgian cyclist
• 1958 – Valdas Kasparavicius, Lithuanian footballer
• 1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American musician
• 1959 – Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer and actress
• 1960 – John Crawford, American musician
• 1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-born American baseball player
• 1960 – Chatchai Plengpanich, Thai actor
• 1961 – Maia Chiburdanidze, Georgian Chess grandmaster
• 1961 – Brian Helgeland, American writer and film director
• 1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and comedian
• 1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
• 1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer and guitarist (Gamma Ray)
• 1964 – Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States
• 1964 – Andy Rourke, English bass guitarist (The Smiths)
• 1965 – Nikos Nioplias, Greek footballer
• 1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor
• 1966 – Stephin Merritt, American singer and songwriter (The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies)
• 1966 – Shabba Ranks, Jamaican singer
• 1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer, guitarist, and songwriter (Pulp, The Longpigs)
• 1967 – Song Kang-ho, South Korean actor
• 1967 – Wendy Mass, American author
• 1967 – Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (d. 2007)
• 1968 – Svetlana Masterkova, Russian athlete
• 1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch writer
• 1968 – Craig Strong, American actor & voice actor
• 1969 – Naveen Andrews, British actor
• 1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish film writer and director
• 1969 – Tijs Verwest, (DJ Tiësto) Dutch DJ
• 1970 – Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer
• 1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player
• 1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-born animator
• 1970 – James Wattana, Thai snooker player
• 1971 – Richard Burns, English rally driver (d. 2005)
• 1971 – Youki Kudoh, Japanese actress
• 1971 – Kid Rock, American singer
• 1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress
• 1971 – Paolo Vaccari, Italian rugby player
• 1971 – Ann Wolfe, female boxer
• 1972 – Benno Fürmann, German actor
• 1972 – Ken Hirai, Japanese singer and songwriter
• 1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer
• 1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball captain
• 1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1974 – Danny Bhoy, Scottish comedian
• 1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer
• 1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player
• 1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian musician
• 1975 – Tom Jenkinson, English musician (Squarepusher)
• 1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, Puerto Rican-American actor
• 1975 – Rami Yacoub, Swedish songwriter/producer
• 1977 – Kevin Fertig, American professional wrestler
• 1977 – Leigh Whannell, Australian screenwriter/actor
• 1978 – Pater Sparrow, Hungarian director/production designer
• 1979 – Oleg Lisogor, Ukrainian swimmer
• 1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian ballroom dancer
• 1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American actress
• 1980 – Gareth McLearnon, Northern Irish flautist
• 1980 – Kimberly Spicer, American model
• 1981 – Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer
• 1981 – Ray J, American R&B singer
• 1981 – Scott Mechlowicz, American actor
• 1982 – Hwanhee, South Korean singer and actor
• 1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
• 1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer
• 1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish footballer
• 1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player
• 1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian racing driver
• 1984 – Sophie Dee, Welsh pornographic actress
• 1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish music producer and vocalist
• 1985 – Pablo Barrientos, Argentine footballer
• 1985 – Kang-in, South Korean singer, dancer, actor, MC, and DJ (Super Junior)
• 1985 – Riyu Kosaka, Japanese singer (BeForU)
• 1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer (Epica)
• 1986 – Hale Appleman, American actor
• 1989 – Hollie-Jay Bowes, English actress
• 1991 – Trevor Bauer, American baseball player
• 1991 – Lee Kiseop, Korean singer/actor/model/dancer in boyband U-Kiss
• 1997 – Jack Vidgen, Australian singer who won the Australia's Got Talent in 2011.

Deaths

• 395 – Theodosius I, Roman Emperor (b. 347)
• 1229 – Albert of Buxhoeveden, German soldier
• 1369 – King Peter I of Cyprus (murdered) (b. 1328)
• 1468 – George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, Albanian leader (b. 1405)
• 1598 – Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557)
• 1617 – Faust Vrancic, Croatian inventor (b. 1551)
• 1654 – Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (b. 1625)
• 1705 – John Ray, English naturalist (b. 1627)
• 1718 – Captain Benjamin Church, Plymouth Colony settler and military leader
• 1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
• 1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French composer (b. 1682)
• 1751 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (b. 1671)
• 1826 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (b. 1806)
• 1834 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist (b. 1762)
• 1861 – Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)
• 1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
• 1869 – Aleksandr Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
• 1874 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Siamese twins (b. 1811)
• 1878 – Sir Edward Creasy, English historian (b. 1812)
• 1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist (b. 1804)
• 1887 – William Giblin, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
• 1891 – George Bancroft, U.S. historian (b. 1800)
• 1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
• 1903 – Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
• 1908 – Ferdinand IV Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
• 1909 – Sir Francis Smith, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819)
• 1911 – Sir Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, eugenicist (b. 1822)
• 1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
• 1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia, son of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (b. 1864)
• 1932 – Albert Jacka, VC, Australian soldier (b. 1893)
• 1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American artist and designer (b. 1848)
• 1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian author (b. 1885)
• 1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
• 1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1869)
• 1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, French Archbishop of Quebec (b. 1883)
• 1951 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Assamese poet, playwright, film maker (b. 1903)
• 1952 – Walter Briggs, Sr., American entrepreneur and sports team owner (b. 1877)
• 1956 – Blind Alfred Reed, American folk, country, and old-time musician (b. 1880)
• 1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
• 1964 – T.H. White, English author (b. 1906)
• 1967 – Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (b. 1884)
• 1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoonist (b. 1890)
• 1970 – Billy Stewart, American singer (b. 1937)
• 1972 – Betty Smith, American writer and singer (b. 1896)
• 1977 – Gary Gilmore, American murderer (b. 1940)
• 1977 – Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1940)
• 1981 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek footballer (b. 1899)
• 1983 – Doodles Weaver, American actor (b. 1911)
• 1987 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (b. 1908)
• 1991 – King Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Frank Pullen, English businessman and racehorse owner (b. 1915)
• 1993 – Albert Hourani, English historian (b. 1915)
• 1994 – Helen Stephens, American runner (b. 1918)
• 1994 – Yevgeni Ivanov, Soviet spy involved in the Profumo affair (b. 1926)
• 1996 – Amber Hagerman, American namesake of the Amber Alert system (b. 1986)
• 1996 – Barbara Jordan, American politician (b. 1936)
• 1996 – Mostafa Sid Ahmed, Sudanese singer (b. 1953)
• 1997 – Bert Kelly, Australian politician (b. 1912)
• 1997 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)
• 1998 – Junior Kimbrough, American bluesman (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Robert Eads, American transsexual (b. 1945)
• 1999 – Samantha Reid, American girl killed by GHB overdose (b. 1984)
• 2000 – Philip Jones, British trumpeter (b. 1928)
• 2001 – Gregory Corso, American poet (b. 1930)
• 2002 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
• 2002 – Bishop Karas, Sudanese-born American religious leader (b. 1955)
• 2002 – Queenie Leonard, American actress (b. 1905)
• 2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)
• 2003 – Balint Vazsonyi, Hungarian pianist (b. 1936)
• 2004 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Czeslaw Niemen, Polish musician (b. 1939)
• 2004 – Ray Stark, American stage and film producer (b. 1915)
• 2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Charlie Bell, Australian fast food executive (b. 1960)
• 2005 – Virginia Mayo, American actress (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Albert Schatz, American microbiologist (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Zhao Ziyang, Former Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)
• 2006 – Pierre Grondin, French Canadian cardiac surgeon (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Art Buchwald, American humorist (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian politician (b. 1951)
• 2008 – Bobby Fischer, American chess grandmaster and author (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Ernie Holmes, American football player (b. 1948)
• 2008 – Allan Melvin, American actor (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist, writer, and historian (b. 1943)
• 2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician (b. 1914)
• 2010 – Daisuke Gouri, Japanese seiyu (b. 1952)
• 2010 – Michalis Papakonstantinou, Greek politician and author (b. 1919)
• 2010 – Gaines Adams, American football player (b. 1983)
• 2011 – Don Kirshner, American composer (b. 1934)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Anthony the Great (Roman Catholic and Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church)
  • Blessed Amelbert
  • Mildgytha
  • Sulpitius the Pious
  • January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• National Day (Minorca)
• The opening ceremony of Patras Carnival, celebrated until Clean Monday. (Patras)