Anniversaries 17 November

Birth

Vespasian1

Emperor of Ancient Rome, founder of the Flavian dynasty 9–79

John Ogilby121

Scottish academic 1600–1676

Eliza Farnham4

American novelist, feminist, abolitionist, and activist for… 1815–1864

Archibald Lampman1

Canadian poet 1861–1899

Voltairine de Cleyre78

American anarchist writer and feminist 1866–1912

Walter Terence Stace36

British civil servant, educator and philosopher. 1886–1967

Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein9

British Army officer, Commander of Allied forces at the Bat… 1887–1976

Eugene Paul Wigner6

mathematician and Nobel Prize-winning physicist 1902–1995

Soichiro Honda3

Japanese businessman 1906–1991

Shelby Foote16

Novelist, historian 1916–2005

Jean Starobinski1

Swiss writer 1920–2019

Colin Campbell Mitchell2

British Army officer and politician 1925–1996

Fenella Fielding7

English actress 1927–2018

Alan Harrington1

Welsh footballer 1933–2019

James Inhofe15

American politician 1934

Luis Rafael Sánchez4

Puerto Rican playwright and novelist 1936

Peter Cook45

British architect 1937–1995

Gordon Lightfoot14

Canadian singer-songwriter 1938

Auberon Waugh2

Author 1939–2001

Barry McCaffrey4

United States Army general 1942

Martin Scorsese8

American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor 1942

Partha Dasgupta2

British economist 1942

Gary Goldman1

American film director and producer 1944

Lorne Michaels1

American television producer 1944

Rem Koolhaas11

Dutch architect (b.1944) 1944

Abdelmadjid Tebboune1

Algerian politician, current President of Algeria 1945

Howard Dean39

American political activist 1948

Nguyễn Tấn Dũng5

Prime Minister of Vietnam 1949

John Boehner5

Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives 1949

Jack Vettriano3

Scottish painter 1951

Cyril Ramaphosa8

5th President of South Africa 1952

Yolanda King28

American actress 1955–2007

Takashi Tezuka5

video game designer 1960

RuPaul18

Actriz de Televisa, dueña y señora de los ejidos cacaoahuat… 1960

Susan Rice1

24th United States National Security Advisor 1964

Ed Brubaker1

comic book writer and cartoonist 1966

Jeff Buckley29

American singer, guitarist and songwriter 1966–1997

Robin Li2

billionaire businessman and entrepreneur 1968

Rebecca Walker1

American writer 1969

Jonathan Blow1

American video game designer and programmer 1971

Lord Infamous3

American rapper 1975–2013

Mike Cernovich2

American writer 1977

Rachel McAdams3

Canadian actress 1978

Melissa Lackey Oremus1

American politician 1978

Patrick McHale (artist)2

writer, storyboard artist, animator, filmmaker 1983

Rocsi Diaz1

Television and radio personality 1983

Christopher Paolini166

American author 1983

Death

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola7

humanist and philosopher from Italy 1463–1494

Mary I of England7

Queen of England and Ireland 1516–1558

Jakob Böhme4

German Christian mystic and theologian 1575–1624

Joseph Alleine18

Pastor, author 1634–1668

Alain-René Lesage14

French writer 1668–1747

Catherine the Great29

Empress of Russia 1729–1796

Robert Owen29

Welsh social reformer 1771–1858

William Greenough Thayer Shedd5

American theologian 1820–1894

Isaac Parker3

American politician 1838–1896

Auguste Rodin73

French sculptor 1840–1917

Lala Lajpat Rai6

Indian author and politician 1865–1928

George Sterling3

American poet and playwright 1869–1926

The Mother41

spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo 1878–1973

Eric Gill3

British artist 1882–1940

Victor Serge3

Russian revolutionary and writer 1890–1947

Louis Eugène Félix Néel1

French physicist 1904–2000

Eduardo de Castro1

Filipino actor and film director 1907–1955

Mervyn Peake91

English writer, artist, poet and illustrator 1911–1968

Abba Eban5

Israeli diplomat and politician 1915–2002

Doris Lessing94

British novelist, poet, playwright, librettist, biographer … 1919–2013

Patrick Suppes1

philosopher from United States of America 1922–2014

Ferenc Puskás6

Hungarian-Spanish association football player 1927–2006

Colin Winter2

Bishop of Damaraland noted for opposing apartheid; exiled B… 1928–1981

Audre Lorde72

writer and activist 1934–1992

David Marr9

British neuroscientist and psychologist 1945–1980