Anniversaries 17 December
Birth
![Thomas Tickell photo]()
English poet and man of letters
1685–1740
![Humphry Davy photo]()
Cornish chemist
1778–1829
![Thomas Chandler Haliburton photo]()
Canadian-British politician, judge, and author
1796–1865
![John Greenleaf Whittier photo]()
American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slave…
1807–1892
![Herbert Beerbohm Tree photo]()
English actor and theatre manager
1852–1917
![Ford Madox Ford photo]()
English writer and publisher
1873–1939
![Aubrey Faulkner photo]()
South African cricketer
1881–1930
![Will T. Kirk photo]()
Commissioner of the Oregon Industrial Accident Commission
1884–1947
![Hu Shih photo]()
Chinese philosopher, essayist and diplomat
1891–1962
![Mohammad Hidayatullah photo]()
11th Chief Justice of India
1905–1992
![Bede Griffiths photo]()
Benedictine Monk
1906–1993
![Eknath Easwaran photo]()
spiritual teacher, author of books on meditation and spirit…
1910–1999
![Robert A. Dahl photo]()
American political scientist
1915–2014
![Kenneth E. Iverson photo]()
Canadian computer scientist
1920–2004
![Jaroslav Pelikan photo]()
US historian of Christianity, Christian theology and mediev…
1923–2006
![Helen Frankenthaler photo]()
American artist
1928–2011
![William Safire photo]()
American journalist
1929–2009
![Frank Martinus Arion photo]()
writer and poet
1936–2015
![Pope Francis photo]()
266th Pope of the Catholic Church
1936
![John Kennedy Toole photo]()
American novelist
1937–1969
![William J. Higginson photo]()
American writer
1938–2008
![Chuba Okadigbo photo]()
Nigerian politician
1941–2003
![Lin Join-sane photo]()
Taiwanese politician
1944
![Chris Matthews photo]()
American news anchor
1945
![Philip Kan Gotanda photo]()
American film director and playwright
1951
![Christopher A. Wray photo]()
American lawyer, and current director of the U.S. Federal B…
1966
![Paul Tracy photo]()
Canadian racecar driver
1968
![Robinah Nabbanja photo]()
Ugandan politician and teacher
1969
![Igor Girkin photo]()
Russian citizen from Moscow who played a significant role i…
1970
![Rian Johnson photo]()
American writer, director and producer
1973
![Milla Jovovich photo]()
Ukrainian-born american model and actress
1975
![Manny Pacquiao photo]()
Filipino boxer, basketball player, singer and politician, d…
1978
![Chelsea Manning photo]()
United States Army soldier and whistleblower
1987
![Marvelous MMW photo]()
Nigerian gospel singer and songwriter
2005
Death
![Simón Bolívar photo]()
Venezuelan military and political leader, South American li…
1783–1830
![Linn Boyd photo]()
American politician
1800–1859
![Lewis H. Morgan photo]()
United States ethnologist
1818–1881
![William Thomson photo]()
British physicist and engineer
1824–1907
![Abbott Eliot Kittredge photo]()
American minister
1834–1912
![Leopold II of Belgium photo]()
King of the Belgians
1835–1909
![Alexander Herrmann photo]()
French magician
1844–1896
![Robert Blatchford photo]()
British writer and activist
1851–1943
![David L. Webster photo]()
American Physicist
1888–1976
![Dorothy L. Sayers photo]()
English crime writer, playwright, essayist and Christian wr…
1893–1957
![S.L.A. Marshall photo]()
United States Army general and Military historian
1900–1977
![Harold Holt photo]()
Australian politician, 17th Prime Minister of Australia
1908–1967
![Daniel Inouye photo]()
American politician from Hawaii, Medal of Honor recipient a…
1924–2012
![Willoughby Sharp photo]()
American artist
1936–2008
![Kim Jong-il photo]()
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea
1941–2011
