today.nukz.net: Almanac July 17 :: Birthday

Phyllis Diller (born July 17, 1917) is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes self-deprecating jokes about her age and appearance, her terrible cooking, and a husband named "Fang", while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder. Diller's signature is her unusual laugh.

Events

180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.
1203 – The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault. The Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile.
1402 – Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming Dynasty of China.
1453 – Battle of Castillon: The last battle of Hundred Years' War, the The French under Jean Bureau defeat the English under the Earl of Shrewsbury, who is killed in the battle in Gascony.
1586 – A meeting takes place at Lüneburg between several Protestant powers in order to discuss the formation of an 'evangelical' league of defence, called the 'Confederatio Militiae Evangelicae', against the Catholic League.
1717 – King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.
1762 – Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia.
1771 – Bloody Falls Massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
1791 – Members of the French National Guard under the command of General Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, during the French Revolution, killing as many as 50 people.
1794 – The sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne are executed 10 days prior to the end of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.
1856 – The Great Train Wreck of 1856 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, kills over 60 people.
1867 – Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established in Boston, Massachusetts. It was the first dental school in the U.S. that was affiliated with a university.
1899 – NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.
1917 – King George V issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor.
1918 – On the orders of the Bolshevik Party carried out by Cheka, Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
1918 – The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; 5 lives are lost.
1932 – Altona Bloody Sunday.
1933 – After successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft Lituanica crashes in Europe under mysterious circumstances.
1936 – Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the civil war.
1938 – Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the "wrong way" to Ireland and becomes known as "Wrong Way" Corrigan.
1944 – Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320.
1944 – World War II: Napalm incendiary bombs are dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near Saint-Lô, France.
1945 – World War II: the leaders of the three Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.
1948 – The South Korean constitution is proclaimed.
1955 – Disneyland is dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California.
1962 – Nuclear weapons testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada National Security Site.
1968 – A revolution occurs in Iraq when 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.
1973 – King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan while in Italy undergoing eye surgery.
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.
1976 – History of East Timor: East Timor is annexed, and becomes the 27th province of Indonesia.
1976 – The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team.
1979 – Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.
1981 – The opening of the Humber Bridge by Queen Elizabeth II in England, United Kingdom.
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.
1989 – First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
1996 – TWA Flight 800: Off the coast of Long Island, New York, a Paris-bound TWA Boeing 747 explodes, killing all 230 on board.
1998 – Papua New Guinea earthquake: A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 3,183, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless.
1998 – A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, Crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
2007 – TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas) Flight 3054 crashes upon landing during rain in São Paulo. This is Brazil's deadliest aviation accident to date with an estimated 199 deaths.
2009 – Jakarta double bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels killed 9 people including 4 foreigners.

Births

1487 – Ismail I, Shah of Persia (d. 1524)
1674 – Isaac Watts, English hymnwriter (d. 1748)
1698 – Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician (d. 1759)
1744 – Elbridge Gerry, 5th Vice President of the United States (d. 1814)
1745 – Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Russian general (d. 1826)
1763 – John Jacob Astor, American businessman (d. 1848)
1774 – John Wilbur, American religious leader, Quaker minister (d. 1856)
1797 – Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter (d. 1856)
1823 – Leander Clark, American businessman, legislator, Indian agent (d. 1910)
1831 – Xianfeng, Emperor of China (d. 1861)
1839 – Ephraim Shay, American inventor (d. 1916)
1853 – Alexius Meinong, Austrian philosopher (d. 1920)
1868 – Henri Nathansen, Danish writer and stage director (d. 1944)
1870 – Charles Davidson Dunbar, British military piper (d. 1939)
1871 – Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and caricaturist (d. 1956)
1888 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
1888 – Milán Füst, Hungarian writer, (d. 1967)
1889 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (Perry Mason) (d. 1970)
1898 – George Robert Vincent, American sound recording pioneer (d. 1985)
1898 – Osmond Borradaile, Canadian cinematographer (d. 1999)
1898 – Berenice Abbott, American photographer (d. 1991)
1899 – James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)
1900 – Marcel Dalio, French actor (d. 1983)
1901 – Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American racecar driver and NART team owner (d. 1994)
1901 – Bruno Jasienski, Polish poet (d. 1938)
1902 – Christina Stead, Australian novelist (d. 1983)
1910 – Barbara O'Neil, American actress, (d. 1980)
1910 – Frank Olson, American biologist (d. 1953)
1911 – Ted Anderson, English footballer (d. 1979)
1912 – Art Linkletter, Canadian television host (d. 2010)
1912 – Erwin Bauer, German racing driver (d. 1958)
1913 – Bertrand Goldberg, American architect (d. 1997)
1915 – Fred Ball, American movie studio executive, actor, and the brother of comedienne Lucille Ball (d. 2007)
1917 – Phyllis Diller, American comedienne
1917 – Red Sovine, American country music singer (d. 1980)
1917 – Lou Boudreau, Major League Baseball player and manager (d. 2001)
1918 – Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (d. 2003)
1920 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish chairman of the International Olympic Committee (d. 2010)
1920 – Kenneth Wolstenholme, English sports commentator (d. 2002)
1920 – Gordon Gould, inventor of the laser (d. 2005)
1921 – Louis Lachenal, French alpinist, one of the first two mountaineers to climb a summit of more than 8,000 meters.(d. 1955)
1921 – František Zvarík, Slovakian actor (d. 2008)
1923 – John Cooper, English race car designer (d. 2000)
1924 – Olive Ann Burns, American writer (d. 1990)
1925 – Jimmy Scott, American jazz singer
1926 – Édouard Carpentier, French-born professional wrestler (d. 2010)
1926 – Charles Champlin, American film critic and writer
1928 – Vince Guaraldi, American musician and composer (d. 1976)
1929 – Sergei K. Godunov, Russian mathematician
1932 – Johnny Kerr, American basketball player, coach, and longtime Chicago Bulls color commentator (d. 2009)
1932 – Hal Riney, American advertising executive (d. 2008)
1932 – Quino, Argentine cartoonist and comic strip artist (Mafalda)
1933 – Tony Pithey, South African Cricketer (d. 2006)
1935 – Diahann Carroll, American actor
1935 – Peter Schickele, American author, composer and radio host
1935 – Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
1938 – Hermann Huppen, Belgian comic book artist (Bernard Prince, Comanche, Jeremiah)
1939 – Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
1939 – Andrée Champagne, French Canadian actress and politician
1939 – Spencer Davis, British singer and guitarist (The Spencer Davis Group)
1940 – Tim Brooke-Taylor, English comedian
1941 – Daryle Lamonica, American football player
1941 – Achim Warmbold, German rally driver
1941 – Bob Taylor, English Cricketer
1942 – Gale Garnett, Canadian singer
1942 – Connie Hawkins, American basketball player
1942 – Don Kessinger, American baseball player
1942 – Peter Sissons, British newsreader
1943 – LaVyrle Spencer, American author
1944 – Carlos Alberto, Brazilian football player
1944 – Catherine Schell, Hungarian born British actress
1944 – Mark Burgess, New Zealand Cricketer
1945 – Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
1946 – Alun Armstrong, English actor
1947 – Robert Begerau, German footballer
1947 – Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
1947 – Wolfgang Flür, German musician (Kraftwerk)
1948 – Ron Asheton, American musician and composer (Iggy Pop & The Stooges) (d. 2009)
1948 – Luc Bondy, Swiss theatre and opera director
1949 – Terence "Geezer" Butler, British musician and lyricist (Black Sabbath)
1949 – Charley Steiner, American sports broadcaster
1950 – Derek de Lint, Dutch actor
1950 – Phoebe Snow, American singer/songwriter (d. 2011)
1950 – P. J. Soles, German-born American actress
1951 – Lucie Arnaz, American actress
1952 – David Hasselhoff, American actor and musician
1952 – Nicolette Larson, American singer (d. 1997)
1954 – Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
1954 – J. Michael Straczynski, American author
1955 – Paul Stamets, American mycologist and environmentalist
1955 – Christopher Chappell, Canadian Cricketer
1956 – Robert Romanus, American actor
1956 – Bryan Trottier, Canadian ice hockey player
1957 – Fern Britton, British television presenter
1958 – Wong Kar-wai, Chinese film director
1960 – Kim Barnett, English cricketer
1960 – Mark Burnett, English-born television producer
1960 – Nancy Giles, American actress
1960 – Robin Shou, Hong Kong actor
1960 – Dawn Upshaw, American soprano
1960 – Jan Wouters, Dutch football player and manager
1961 – Jeremy Hardy, British comedian
1961 – Keith "Guru" Elam, American rapper
1961 – Roy Pienaar, South African cricketer
1961 – Jonathan Potts, Canadian actor
1962 – Bill Sage, American actor
1963 – Regina Belle, Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter
1963 – Letsie III, King of Lesotho
1963 – Matti Nykänen, Finnish ski jumper
1963 – John Ventimiglia, American actor
1965 – Craig Morgan, American singer
1965 – Santiago Segura, Spanish film director and actor
1965 – Alex Winter, English film director
1966 – Lou Barlow, American alternative rock singer and musician (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh)
1966 – Sten Tolgfors, Swedish politician
1967 – Susan Ashton, Christian singer
1968 – Beth Littleford, American comedian
1968 – Andre Royo, American actor
1968 – Bitty Schram, American actress
1969 – Scott Johnson, American Cartoonist
1969 – F. Gary Gray, American music video and film director
1970 – Mandy Smith, English model and singer
1971 – Calbert Cheaney, American basketball player
1971 – Cory Doctorow, Canadian author and activist
1971 – Nico Mattan, Belgian cyclist
1972 – Donny Marshall, American basketball player
1972 – Jason Rullo, American drummer (Symphony X, Redemption)
1972 – Jaap Stam, Dutch footballer
1972 – Eric Williams, American basketball player
1973 – Tony Dovolani, Albanian ballroom dancer
1973 – Eric Moulds, American football player
1973 – Liam Kyle Sullivan, American comedian and actor
1974 – Laura Macdonald, Scottish jazz musician
1974 – Andy Whitfield, Welsh actor (d. 2011)
1975 – Andre Adams, New Zealand Cricketer
1975 – Elena Anaya, Spanish actress
1975 – Darude, Finnish trance DJ
1975 – Cécile de France, Belgian actress
1975 – Paul Hinojos, American guitarist (At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta)
1975 – Konnie Huq, English television presenter
1975 – Terence Tao, Australian-Chinese mathematician
1975 – Harlette, British Fashion Designer lingerie
1976 – Luke Bryan, American musician
1976 – Gino D'Acampo, Italian celebrity chef
1976 – Dagmara Dominczyk, Polish actress
1976 – Matt Holmes, Australian actor
1976 – Eric Winter, American actor
1977 – Leif Hoste, Belgian cyclist
1977 – Lehmber Hussainpuri, Famous Indian Singer
1977 – Marc Savard, Canadian hockey player
1978 – Ricardo Arona, Brazilian mixed martial artist
1978 – Mike Knox, American professional wrestler
1978 – Noah Lennox, American musician
1978 – Émilie Simon, French singer
1978 – Katharine Towne, American actress
1979 – Mike Vogel, American actor
1980 – Javier Camuñas, Spanish footballer
1980 – Ryan Miller, American hockey player
1981 – Hely Ollarves, Venezuelan track and field athlete
1981 – Elpida Romantzi, Greek archer
1982 – Omari Banks, West Indian cricketer
1982 – Natasha Hamilton, British singer (Atomic Kitten)
1982 – René Herms, German athlete (d. 2009)
1983 – Jessi Cruickshank, Canadian television presenter
1983 – Ryan Guettler, Australian BMX rider
1983 – Sarah Jones, American actress
1983 – Brooke Kinsella, British actress
1983 – Adam Lind, American baseball player
1984 – Asami Kimura, Japanese singer (Country Musume)
1984 – Sotiris Leontiou, Greek footballer
1985 – Tom Fletcher, British singer (McFly)
1985 – Neil McGregor, Scottish footballer
1986 – Dana, Korean singer and actress (TSZX)
1986 – Brando Eaton, American actor
1986 – DeAngelo Smith, American football player
1986 – Lacey Von Erich, American professional wrestler
1987 – Darius Boyd, Australian rugby player
1987 – Jan Charouz, Czech racing driver
1987 – Jeremih, American R&B singer
1988 – Summer Bishil, American actress
1998 – Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y Borbón, Spanish royal
2000 – Maria Aragon, Canadian singer

Deaths

521 – Magnus Felix Ennodius, bishop and Latin poet (b. 474)
656 – Uthman ibn Affan, Third Caliph, assassinated.
924 – King Edward the Elder of England
1070 – Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (b. 1030)
1453 – Dmitry Shemyaka, Grand Prince of Moscow 1445, 1446-1447, poisoned in Veliky Novgorod by Vasily Tyomny's agents
1453 – John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English military leader
1531 – Hosokawa Takakuni, Japanese military commander (b. 1484)
1566 – Bartolomé de las Casas, Spanish priest (b. 1484)
1571 – Georg Fabricius, German poet and historian (b. 1516)
1588 – Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect (b. 1489)
1645 – Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, Scottish politician
1704 – Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French fur trader and explorer
1709 – Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (b. 1646)
1790 – Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher (b. 1723)
1791 – Martin Dobrizhoffer, Austrian Jesuit missionary (b. 1717)
1793 – Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat and murderer (b. 1768)
1794 – John Roebuck, British inventor (b. 1718)
1845 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1764)
1878 – Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
1879 – Maurycy Gottlieb, Ukrainian painter (b. 1856)
1881 – Jim Bridger, American mountain man, Indian fighter, and explorer (b. 1804)
1883 – Tu Duc, emperor of the Nguy?n Dynasty of Vietnam
1885 – Jean-Charles Chapais, Canadian politician (b. 1811)
1887 – Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
1893 – Frederick A. Johnson, American politician (b. 1833)
1894 – Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist (b. 1810)
1894 – Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle, French poet (b. 1818)
1907 – Hector Malot, French writer (b. 1830)
1912 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (b. 1854)
1918 – Family of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich (b. 1868)

Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (b. 1872)
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (b. 1895)
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna (b. 1897)
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (b. 1899)
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (b. 1901)
Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich (b. 1904)

1928 – Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (b. 1842)
1935 – George William Russell, Irish nationalist, poet and artist (b. 1867)
1944 – William James Sidis, gifted mathematician and child prodigy (b. 1898)
1945 – Ernst Busch, German field marshal (b. 1885)
1946 – General Draža Mihailovic, commandant of the Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland (b. 1893)
1950 – Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1865)
1950 – Antonie Nedošinská, Czech actress (b. 1885)
1959 – Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
1959 – Eugene Meyer, American businessman and newspaper publisher (b. 1875)
1961 – Ty Cobb, baseball player (b. 1886)
1967 – John Coltrane, American musician (b. 1926)
1974 – Dizzy Dean, Major League Baseball pitcher (b. 1910)
1975 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (b. 1893)
1980 – Don "Red" Barry, American actor (b. 1912)
1980 – Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
1987 – Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (b. 1934)
1988 – Bruiser Brody, professional wrestler (b. 1946)
1989 – Itubwa Amram, Nauruan pastor and politician (b. 1922)
1995 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1911)
1996 – Victims of Trans World Airlines Flight 800

Michel Breistroff, French hockey player (b. 1971)
Marcel Dadi, French guitarist (b. 1951)
David Hogan, American composer (b. 1949)
Jed Johnson, American interior designer and film director (b. 1948)
Pam Lychner, American crime victims' rights advocate and former TWA flight attendant (b. 1959)

1996 – Chas Chandler, bass guitarist (The Animals), record producer and manager (b. 1938)
2001 – Katharine Graham, American publisher (b. 1917)
2003 – David Kelly, Welsh UN weapons inspector (b. 1944)
2003 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914)
2004 – Pat Roach, British professional wrestler and actor (b. 1937)
2005 – Laurel Aitken, Jamaican singer (b. 1927)
2005 – Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-born actress (b. 1913)
2005 – Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
2005 – Gavin Lambert, British-born screenwriter (b. 1924)
2005 – Joe Vialls, Australian writer (b. 1944)
2006 – Sam Myers, American musician and songwriter (b. 1936)
2006 – Mickey Spillane, American author (b. 1918)
2007 – Júlio Redecker, Brazilian politician (b. 1956)
2008 – Larry Haines, American actor (b. 1918)
2009 – Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist (b. 1916)
2009 – Leszek Kolakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)
2011 – David Ngoombujarra, Australian actor (b. 1967)