April 17, 1397
Chaucer tells
The Canterbury Tales for the first time.
1524
Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
1861
Virginia votes to secede.
1897
The Aurora, Texas, UFO incident
1937
Daffy Duck makes his first appearance, in "Porky's Duck Hunt".
1961
Bay of Pigs invasion
1969
Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating
Robert F. Kennedy.
1970
The best friend I've ever had was born.
Apollo 13 returns, safely, to Earth.
2013
An explosion at a fertilizer warehouse in West, Texas kills 15, wounds 160.
Births
Alexander Cartwright-1820; J.P.Morgan-1837; Thornton Wilder-1897; Nicolas Nabokov-1903; William Holden-1918; Harry Reasoner-1923; Don Kirshner-1934; Paul Thomas-1947; Rowdy Roddy Piper-1954; Sean Bean-1959; Boomer Esiason-1961;
Maynard James Keenan-1964
;
John-1970; Ruffian (race horse)-1982; Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice)-1974
Deaths
Benjamin Franklin-1790; George Jennings (invented the flush toilet, God bless him)-1882; Eddie Cochran-1960; Felix Pappalardi-1983; Dick Shawn-1987; Linda McCartney-1998; Kitty Carlisle-2007