Anniversaries 17 January

Birth

Robert Fludd6

British mathematician and astrologer 1574–1637

Pedro Calderón de la Barca8

Spanish dramatist 1600–1681

Louis Tronson11

French Roman Catholic priest 1622–1700

Sultan Bahu2

Punjabi poet 1630–1691

Benjamin Franklin183

American author, printer, political theorist, politician, p… 1706–1790

George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton8

British politician 1709–1773

Charles Brockden Brown18

American novelist, historian and editor 1771–1810

Jane Porter1

Scottish historical novelist, dramatist and literary figure 1776–1850

Emperor Norton4

Self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States 1811–1880

Anne Brontë148

British novelist and poet 1820–1849

Cyrus David Foss3

American bishop 1834–1910

Anton Chekhov222

Russian dramatist, author and physician 1860–1904

David Lloyd George172

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1863–1945

David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty1

Royal Navy officer 1871–1936

Frank Hague2

Mayor of Jersey City 1876–1956

Compton Mackenzie1

Scottish writer, cultural commentator, raconteur and nation… 1883–1972

Ronald Firbank8

British novelist 1886–1926

Leonard D. White18

American historian 1891–1958

Luther H. Gulick13

American academic 1892–1993

Al Capone44

American gangster 1899–1947

Nevil Shute5

British racing driver 1899–1960

Robert Maynard Hutchins38

philosopher and university president 1899–1977

George Stigler20

American economist 1911–1991

Keith Joseph16

British barrister and politician 1918–1994

Robert Cormier50

American author, columnist and reporter 1925–2000

Newton N. Minow6

United States attorney and former chairman of the Federal C… 1926

Thomas Anthony Dooley III2

American physician 1927–1961

Jacques Plante5

Canadian ice hockey player 1929–1986

James Earl Jones1

American actor 1931

Dalida5

French singer, actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder 1933–1987

Alain Badiou29

French writer and philosopher 1937

John Bellairs1

American novelist, primarily speculative fiction for childr… 1938–1991

Anson Chan3

Hong Kong politician 1940

Taj El-Din Hilaly2

Egyptian imam 1941

Muhammad Ali100

African American boxer, philanthropist and activist 1942–2016

René Préval1

President of Haiti 1943–2017

Andy Kaufman2

American stand-up comedian and actor 1949–1984

Alan Ganoo1

Mauritian politician 1951

Robert Francis Kennedy, Jr.5

American activist 1954

Manasseh Sogavare1

Solomon Islands politician 1955

Mohammad Shtayyeh1

Palestinian politician 1958

Jim Carrey21

Canadian-American actor, comedian, and producer 1962

Sebastian Junger4

American author, journalist and documentarian 1962

Nick Land58

British philosopher 1962

Tan Kheng Hua2

Singaporean actress 1963

Michelle Obama108

lawyer, writer, wife of Barack Obama and former First Lady … 1964

Pu Zhiqiang2

A Chinese lawyer and activist known for being a prominent m… 1965

Shabba Ranks1

Jamaican dancehall musician 1966

Amy Sherman-Palladino2

American television writer, director, and producer 1966

Song Kang-ho4

South Korean actor 1967

Tiësto3

Dutch DJ and record producer 1969

Кид Рок (Роберт Джеймс Ритчи)1

1971

Cuauhtémoc Blanco4

Mexican footballer 1973

Porochista Khakpour1

American writer 1978

Zooey Deschanel51

American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter 1980

Ryan Gage1

English actor 1983

Kelly Marie Tran5

American actress 1989

Jack Vidgen4

Australian singer 1997

Death

Anthony the Great7

Christian saint, monk, and hermit 251–357

Al-Farabi2

Philosopher in 10th century Central Asia 872–951

John Ray8

British botanist 1627–1705

George Horne18

English churchman, writer and university administrator 1730–1792

Elizabeth Willing Powel1

American socialite and women letter writer 1743–1830

George Bancroft21

American historian and statesman 1800–1891

Rutherford B. Hayes70

American politician, 19th President of the United States (i… 1822–1893

Francis Galton14

British polymath: geographer, statistician, pioneer in euge… 1822–1911

Frederic William Henry Myers1

English poet and essayist 1843–1901

Louis Comfort Tiffany3

American stained glass and jewelry designer 1848–1933

Leonard Eugene Dickson1

American mathematician 1874–1954

Betty Smith1

writer from the USA 1896–1972

John V.A. Fine1

American historian 1903–1987

Lucile Randon1

French supercentenarian; world's second oldest living person 1904–2023

T. H. White25

author 1906–1964

Zhao Ziyang1

former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China 1919–2005

Art Buchwald13

journalist, humorist, United States Marine 1925–2007

Patrice Lumumba5

Congolese Prime Minister, cold war leader, executed 1925–1961

Alec Panchen1

British paleontologist 1930–2013

Gregory Corso2

American writer 1930–2001

Mary Oliver98

American writer 1935–2019

Barbara Jordan9

American politician 1936–1996

Derek Fowlds1

British actor 1937–2020

Stephen Levine8

American poet and author 1937–2016

Erich Segal22

American writer 1937–2010

Sam Savage2

American writer 1940–2019

Gary Gilmore2

American murderer; the first person executed in the United … 1940–1977

Bobby Fischer58

American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer 1943–2008

John Bura1

Ukrainian Catholic bishop in the United States 1944–2023

Джордж Грегори Плитт (младший)2

1977–2015