Anniversaries 17 August

Birth

William Carey (missionary)12

English Baptist missionary and a Particular Baptist minister 1761–1834

George Croly2

Irish poet, novelist, historian, and divine 1780–1860

Davy Crockett29

American politician 1786–1836

Isaac Taylor1

British writer 1787–1865

Matthijs Maris9

Dutch painter 1839–1917

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt4

English poet and writer 1840–1922

Henry Drummond3

Scottish evangelist, writer and lecturer 1851–1897

Charles Cooley17

American sociologist 1864–1929

Samuel Goldwyn16

American film producer (1879-1974). 1879–1974

Marcus Garvey18

Jamaica-born British political activist, Pan-Africanist, or… 1887–1940

Harry Hopkins3

American politician, 8th United States Secretary of Commerc… 1890–1946

Oliverio Girondo1

Argentinian writer 1891–1967

Michael Chekhov1

Russian actor and director 1891–1955

Mae West24

American actress and sex symbol 1893–1980

William Rootes, 1st Baron Rootes1

British automobile pioneer 1894–1964

Mikhail Botvinnik1

Soviet chess player 1911–1995

W. Mark Felt11

Whistleblower who exposed the Watergate scandal 1913–2008

Bill Downs24

American journalist 1914–1978

Maureen O'Hara6

Irish-American film actress and singer 1920–2015

Geoffrey Elton4

historian 1921–1994

Charles Simmons1

American editor and writer 1924–2017

Lewis M. Branscomb13

physicist and science policy advisor 1926

Jiang Zemin7

former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China 1926

Ted Hughes55

English poet and children's writer 1930–1998

V.S. Naipaul34

Trinidadian-British writer of Indo-Nepalese ancestry 1932–2018

Gene Kranz8

NASA Flight Director and manager 1933

Josh McDowell4

American writer 1939

Robert De Niro8

American actor, director and producer 1943

John Humphrys1

British broadcaster, journalist and author 1943

Larry Ellison9

American internet entrepreneur, businessman and philanthrop… 1944

Julian Fellowes5

English actor, dramatist, director, novelist, producer and … 1949

Norm Coleman2

American politician 1949

Susan Carroll1

American writer 1952

Herta Müller28

German-Romanian novelist, poet and essayist 1953

Kevin Rowland5

English singer-songwriter 1953

Anatoly Kudryavitsky13

a Russian/Irish novelist, poet, literary translator and mag… 1954

Ingrid Daubechies1

Belgian physicist and mathematician 1954

Colin Moulding14

English bassist, songwriter and vocalist 1955

Chip Tsao2

columnist, broadcaster, and writer 1958

Eric Schlosser1

American journalist and author 1959

Jonathan Franzen50

novelist 1959

Sean Penn7

American actor, screenwriter, and film director 1960

Steve Hockensmith2

American writer 1968

Benny Wenda2

West Papuan activist 1975

Thierry Henry22

French association football player 1977

Jaani Peuhu7

Finnish musician 1978

Jessie Burton1

British author and actress 1982

Ruben Vergara Meersohn10

Entrepreneur 1991

Death

Frederick II of Prussia36

king of Prussia 1712–1786

Matthew Boulton1

English industrialist, business partner of James Watt 1728–1809

José de San Martín18

Argentine general and independence leader 1778–1850

Hans Gude1

Norwegian painter 1825–1903

Mary Abigail Dodge3

American writer 1833–1896

Charlotte Perkins Gilman40

American feminist, writer, commercial artist, lecturer and … 1860–1935

Fernand Léger42

French painter 1881–1955

Umberto Boccioni41

Italian painter and sculptor 1882–1916

Günther von Kluge2

German general 1882–1944

Madan Lal Dhingra1

Indian revolutionary 1883–1909

Aldo Palazzeschi6

Italian novelist, poet and essayist 1885–1974

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe6

German architect 1886–1969

Otto Stern2

German physicist 1888–1969

Conrad Aiken70

American novelist and poet 1889–1973

Rudolf Hess12

German Nazi leader 1894–1987

Ira Gershwin12

American lyricist 1896–1983

Arthur W. Radford1

United States naval aviator 1896–1973

Günther Pancke2

German general 1899–1973

Moses Hadas1

American classical philologist 1900–1966

Howard Koch2

American screenwriter 1901–1995

Carlos Drummond de Andrade6

Brazilian poet 1902–1987

Gwen Bristow1

American author and journalist 1903–1980

Irène Némirovsky7

French novelist who died at the age of 39 in Auschwitz 1903–1942

Pearl Bailey4

American singer 1918–1990

Edwin Morgan1

Scottish poet and translator 1920–2010

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq3

6th President of Pakistan 1924–1988

Thea Astley1

Australian novelist 1925–2004

John N. Bahcall2

American physicist 1934–2005