October 17
Today is observed as an
International Day For The Eradication of Poverty, honoring victims of poverty, hunger, violence and fear.
Events
1091 –
London tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London.
1346 –
Battle of Neville's Cross:
King David II of Scotland is captured by the English near Durham, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.
1660 –
Nine regicides, the men who signed the death warrant of
Charles I, are hanged, drawn and quartered.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British General
Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the
Siege of Yorktown.
1814 – Eight people die in the
London Beer Flood.
1860 – First
The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).
1888 –
Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
1907 –
Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
1917 – First
British bombing of Germany in World War I.
1919 –
RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.
1931 –
Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.
1933 –
Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.
1941 – World War II:
a German submarine attacks an American ship for the first time in the war.
1956 – The first commercial
nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield,in Cumbria, England.
1956 –
Donald Byrne and
Bobby Fischer play a famous chess game called
The Game of the Century. Fischer beat Byrne and wins a Brilliancy prize.
1966 – A fire at a building in New York City kills 12 firefighters, the fire department's deadliest day until the
September 11, 2001 attacks.
1970 – Montreal: Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour
Pierre Laporte is murdered by members of the
FLQ terrorist group.
1989 – The 6.9 Mw
Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast of California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Sixty-three people were killed.
2000 –
Train crash at Hatfield, north of London, leading to collapse of
Railtrack.
2003 – The pinnacle is 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 56 metres (184 ft) and become the
world's tallest highrise.
Births
1900 – Jean Arthur; 1902 – Irene Ryan; 1914 – Jerry Siegel (co-created
Superman); 1915 – Arthur Miller; 1918 – Rita Hayworth; 1918 – Ralph Wilson (founded the Buffalo Bills); 1920 – Montgomery Clift; 1921 – Tom Poston; 1923 – Barney Kessel

(The Wrecking Crew); 1926 – Julie Adams (
Creature From The Black Lagoon); 1930 – Robert Atkins (created the Atkins diet); 1933 – The Singing Nun♪ ♫; 1938 – Evel Knievel; 1941 – Earl Thomas Conley♪ ♫; 1941 – Jim Seals♪ ♫(Seals & Crofts); 1946 – Michael Hossack

(Doobie Bros); 1947 – Michael McKean; 1948 – Margot Kidder

; 1948 – George Wendt ('Norm' on
Cheers); 1950 – Howard Rollins (
In The Heat Of The Night tv series); 1956 – Mae Jemison; 1957 – Lawrence Bender (producer
Reservoir Dogs); 1958 – Alan Jackson♪ ♫; 1959 – Richard Roeper; 1962 – Mike Judge (created
Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill); 1963 – Norm Macdonald; 1968 – Ziggy Marley♪ ♫; 1969 – Ernie Els; 1969 – Wyclef Jean♪ ♫(The Fugees); 1972 – Eminem♪ ♫(
crapper)
Deaths
1849 – Frédéric Chopin

; 1868 –
Laura Secord; 1910 – Julia Ward Howe♪ ♫; 1970 – Pierre Laporte; 1991 – Tennessee Ernie Ford♪ ♫; 2007 – Joey Bishop; 2007 – Teresa Brewer♪ ♫; 2008 – Levi Stubbs♪ ♫; 2008 – Ben Weider (He was a Canadian businessman well known in two areas: Bodybuilding and Napoleonic history.)