Daily historical facts, events, famous birthdays, world history. Discover what happened today in history.
Day History: January-17

Famous Birthdays
1463- Frederick III, Elector of Saxony -(d. 1525)
1484- George Spalatin -German religious reformer (d. 1545)
1501- Leonhart Fuchs -German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
1504- Pope Pius V -(d. 1572)
1560- Gaspard Bauhin -Swiss botanist (d. 1624)
1574- Robert Fludd -English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637)
1600- Pedro Calderón de la Barca -Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)
1612- Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron -English general (d. 1671)
1640- Jonathan Singletary Dunham -American settler (d. 1724)
1659- Antonio Veracini -Italian composer and violinist (d. 1745)
1666- Antonio Maria Valsalva -Italian anatomist (d. 1723)
1686- Archibald Bower -Scottish historian (d. 1766)
1706- Benjamin Franklin -American publisher and politician, 6th List of Governors of Pennsylvania|President of Pennsylvania (d. 1790)
1712- John Stanley (composer)|John Stanley -English organist and composer (d. 1786)
1719- William Vernon -American businessman (d. 1806)
1728- Johann Gottfried Müthel -German pianist and composer (d. 1788)
1732- Stanisław August Poniatowski -Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798)
1733- Thomas Linley the elder -English singer and conductor (d. 1795)
1734- François-Joseph Gossec -French composer (d. 1829)
1761- Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet -Scottish geologist (d. 1832)
1789- August Neander -German historian and theologian (d. 1850)
1793- Antonio José Martínez -Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (d. 1867)
1814- Ellen Wood (author)|Ellen Wood -English author (d. 1887)
1820- Anne Brontë -English author and poet (d. 1849)
1828- Lewis A. Grant -American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
1828- Ede Reményi -Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898)
1831- Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria -(d. 1903)
1832- Henry Martyn Baird -American historian and educator (d. 1906)
1834- August Weismann -German biologist (d. 1914)
1850- Alexander Taneyev -Russian composer (d. 1918)
1850- Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti -Brazilian cardinal (d. 1930)
1851- A. B. Frost -American illustrator (d. 1928)
1853- Alva Belmont -American activist (d. 1933)
1857- Wilhelm Kienzl -Austrian composer (d. 1941)
1857- Eugene Augustin Lauste -French-American inventor (d. 1935)
1858- Tomás Carrasquilla -Colombian author (d. 1940)
1860- Douglas Hyde -Irish politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949)
1863- David Lloyd George -English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
1863- Constantin Stanislavski -Russian actor and director (d. 1938)
1865- Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet -English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
1867- Carl Laemmle -German-American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939)
1867- Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet -English pilot and polo player (d. 1934)
1871- David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty -English admiral (d. 1936)
1871- Nicolae Iorga -Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940)
1872- Henri Masson -French fencer (d. 1963)
1875- Florencio Sánchez -Uruguayan playwright (d. 1910)
1876- Frank Hague -American politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956)
1877- May Gibbs -Australian author (d. 1969)
1879- Burt McKinnie -American golfer (d. 1946)
1880- Mack Sennett -Canadian director (d. 1960)
1881- Antoni Łomnicki -Polish mathematician (d. 1941)
1881- Harry Price -English psychologistst and author (d. 1948)
1882- Noah Beery, Sr. -American actor (d. 1946)
1882- Arnold Rothstein -American businessman (d. 1928)
1883- Compton Mackenzie -Scottish author (d. 1972)
1886- Ronald Firbank -English author (d. 1926)
1886- Glenn L. Martin -American pilot, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955)
1887- Ola Raknes -Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
1888- Babu Gulabrai -Indian author (d. 1963)
1895- John Duff -Canadian race car driver (d. 1958)
1897- Marcel Petiot -French doctor and serial killer (d. 1946)
1899- Al Capone -American gangster (d. 1947)
1899- Robert Maynard Hutchins -American philosopher and academic (d. 1977)
1899- Nevil Shute -English author (d. 1960)
1901- Aron Gurwitsch -Lithuanian-American philosopher (d. 1973)
1903- Warren Hull -American actor (d. 1974)
1904- Hem Vejakorn -Thai illustrator (d. 1969)
1905- Ray Cunningham -American baseball player (d. 2005)
1905- Peggy Gilbert -American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
1905- Eduard Oja -Estonian composer, conductor, educator, and critic (d. 1950)
1905- Guillermo Stábile -Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1966)
1905- Jan Zahradníček -Czech poet (d. 1960)
1907- Henk Badings -Dutch composer (d. 1987)
1908- Cus D'Amato -American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985)
1911- Busher Jackson -Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1966)
1911- John S. McCain, Jr. -American admiral (d. 1981)
1911- George Joseph Stigler -American economist, Nobel Prize in Economics|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1914- Anacleto Angelini -Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
1914- Irving Brecher -American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1914- William Stafford (poet)|William Stafford -American poet (d. 1993)
1916- Peter Frelinghuysen, Jr. -American politician (d. 2011)
1917- Ramón Cardemil -Chilean horse rider (d. 2007)
1917- M. G. Ramachandran -Indian actor, director, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 1987)
1918- Keith Joseph -English politician (d. 1994)
1918- George M. Leader -American politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2013)
1920- Corsica Joe -French-American wrestler (d. 2010)
1920- Georges Pichard -French illustrator (d. 2003)
1921- Herbert Ellis (actor)|Herbert Ellis -American actor
1921- Asghar Khan -Pakistani pilot and politician
1921- Antonio Prohías -Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
1922- Robert De Niro, Sr. -American painter (d. 1993)
1922- Luis Echeverría -Mexican politician, 50th President of Mexico
1922- Nicholas Katzenbach -American lawyer, 65th United States Attorney General (d. 2012)
1922- Betty White -American actress and singer
1923- Rangeya Raghav -Indian author (d. 1962)
1923- Carol Raye -English-Australian actress
1924- Rik De Saedeleer -Belgian footballer and journalist (d. 2013)
1925- Robert Cormier -American author and journalist (d. 2000)
1925- Abdul Kardar -Pakistani cricketer (d. 1996)
1925- Edgar Ray Killen -American Ku Klux Klan organizer
1925- Patricia Owens (actress)|Patricia Owens -Canadian-American actress (d. 2000)
1926- Newton N. Minow -American lawyer and politician
1926- Moira Shearer -Scottish-English actress and dancer (d. 2006)
1927- Thomas Anthony Dooley III -American physician and humanitarian (d. 1961)
1927- Norman Kaye -Australian actor (d. 2007)
1927- Eartha Kitt -American actress and singer (d. 2008)
1927- Harlan Mathews -American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1927- E.W. Swackhamer -American director and producer (d. 1994)
1928- Jean Barraqué -French composer (d. 1973)
1928- Vidal Sassoon -English-American hairdresser and businessman (d. 2012)
1929- Jacques Plante -Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
1929- Tan Boon Teik -Malaysian-Singaporean politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (d. 2012)
1930- Eddie LeBaron -American football player, amanager, and sportscaster
1931- James Earl Jones -American actor
1931- Douglas Wilder -American politician, 66th Governor of Virginia
1931- Don Zimmer -American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
1932- Sheree North -American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2005)
1933- Dalida -Egyptian-French singer and actress (d. 1987)
1933- Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan -French-Pakistani diplomat (d. 2003)
1933- Shari Lewis -American actress, puppeteer, and television host (d. 1998)
1934- Donald Cammell -Scottish-American director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1934- Stuart Nisbet -American actor
1934- Zlatko Papec -Croatian footballer (d. 2013)
1934- Cedar Walton -American pianist and composer (d. 2013)
1935- Ruth Ann Minner -American businesswoman and politician, 72nd Governor of Delaware
1936- John Boyd (diplomat)|John Boyd -English academic and diplomat
1937- Alain Badiou -French philosopher and educator
1938- John Bellairs -American author (d. 1991)
1938- Percy Qoboza -South African journalist (d. 1988)
1939- Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens -(d. 2008)
1939- Maury Povich -American talk show host
1940- Kipchoge Keino -Kenyan runner
1940- Umashanker Singh -Indian politician (d. 2013)
1940- Tabaré Vázquez -Uruguayan politician, President of Uruguay
1941- István Horthy, Jr. -Hungarian physicist and architect
1941- Gillian Weir -New Zealand organist
1942- Muhammad Ali -American boxer
1942- Ita Buttrose -Australian journalist
1942- Ulf Hoelscher -German violinist
1942- Nigel McCulloch -English bishop
1942- Nancy Parsons -American actress (d. 2001)
1943- Geoffrey Deuel -American actor
1943- Chris Montez -American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943- René Préval -Haitian politician, 52nd President of Haiti
1944- Françoise Hardy -French singer and actress
1945- Javed Akhtar -Indian poet, playwright, and composer
1946- Michèle Deslauriers -Canadian actress
1947- Jane Elliot -American actress
1947- Alain Payet -French pornographic movie director (d. 2007)
1948- Jim Ladd -American radio host and producer
1948- Davíð Oddsson -Icelandic politician, 21st Prime Minister of Iceland
1948- Anne Queffélec -French pianist
1948- Michael Rake -English businessman
1949- Gyude Bryant -Liberian businessman and politician (d. 2014)
1949- Andy Kaufman -American comedian and actor (d. 1984)
1949- Mick Taylor -English singer-songwriter and guitarist (John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones)
1950- Luis López Nieves -Puerto Rican author
1952- Darrell Porter -American baseball player (d. 2002)
1952- Ryuichi Sakamoto -Japanese pianist, composer, producer, and actor (Yellow Magic Orchestra)
1953- Jeff Berlin -American bass player
1953- Carlos Johnson (blues musician)|Carlos Johnson -American singer and guitarist
1954- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. -American lawyer, radio host, and environmentalist
1954- Susan Kiefel -Australian lawyer and judge
1955- Steve Earle -American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1955- Steve Javie -American basketball player and referee
1956- Damian Green -English politician
1956- Mitch Vogel -American actor
1956- Paul Young -English singer-songwriter and guitarist (Q-Tips (band)|Q-Tips)
1957- Keith Chegwin -English television host and actor
1957- Steve Harvey -American comedian, actor, and author
1957- Ann Nocenti -American author
1957- Michel Vaarten -Belgian cyclist
1958- Valdas Kasparavičius -Lithuanian footballer
1959- Susanna Hoffs -American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (The Bangles and Ming Tea)
1959- Momoe Yamaguchi -Japanese singer and actress
1960- John Crawford (musician)|John Crawford -American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Berlin (band)|Berlin)
1960- Chili Davis -Jamaican-American baseball player
1960- Tracey Moore -Canadian voice actress and singer
1960- Chatchai Plengpanich -Thai actor
1961- Maia Chiburdanidze -Georgian chess player
1961- Brian Helgeland -American director, producer, and screenwriter
1962- Jun Azumi -Japanese politician
1962- Jim Carrey -Canadian-American actor and producer
1962- Sebastian Junger -American journalist and author
1962- Taija Rae -American porn actress
1962- Ari Up -German-English singer (The Slits and New Age Steppers) (d. 2010)
1963- Kai Hansen -German singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Gamma Ray (band)|Gamma Ray, Helloween, Unisonic (band)|Unisonic, and Iron Savior)
1964- Michelle Fairley -Northern Irish actress
1964- Michelle Obama -American lawyer and activist, 46th List of First Ladies of the United States|First Lady of the United States
1964- Andy Rourke -English bass player (The Smiths and Freebass)
1965- Nikos Nioplias -Greek footballer
1965- Sylvain Turgeon -Canadian ice hockey player
1966- Joshua Malina -American actor
1966- Stephin Merritt -American singer-songwriter (The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, and The Gothic Archies)
1966- Shabba Ranks -Jamaican singer
1966- António Zeferino -Cape Verdean runner
1967- Richard Hawley -English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Pulp (band)|Pulp and Longpigs)
1967- Song Kang-ho -South Korean actor
1967- Wendy Mass -American author
1967- Filippo Raciti -Italian police officer (d. 2007)
1968- Svetlana Masterkova -Russian runner
1968- Rowan Pelling -English journalist
1968- Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer -Dutch author, poet, and scholar
1968- Jane Salumäe -Estonian runner
1969- Naveen Andrews -English actor
1969- Lukas Moodysson -Swedish director, screenwriter, and author
1969- Tiësto -Dutch DJ and producer (Gouryella and Kamaya Painters)
1970- Cássio Alves de Barros -Brazilian footballer
1970- Masaaki Mochizuki -Japanese wrestler
1970- Jeremy Roenick -American ice hockey player
1970- Genndy Tartakovsky -Russian-American animator, director, and producer
1970- James Wattana -Thai snooker player
1971- Giorgos Balogiannis -Greek basketball player
1971- Richard Burns -English race car driver (d. 2005)
1971- Kid Rock -American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1971- Youki Kudoh -Japanese actress
1971- Sylvie Testud -French actress
1971- Paolo Vaccari -Italian rugby player
1971- Ann Wolfe -American boxer
1972- Benno Fürmann -German actor
1972- Ken Hirai -Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1973- Cuauhtémoc Blanco -Mexican footballer
1973- Chris Bowen -Australian politician
1973- Liz Ellis -Australian netball player
1973- Aaron Ward (ice hockey)|Aaron Ward -Canadian ice hockey player
1974- Danny Bhoy -Scottish comedian
1974- Ladan and Laleh Bijani -Iranian conjoined twins (d. 2003)
1974- Vesko Kountchev -Bulgarian viola player (Amparanoia)
1974- Derrick Mason -American football player
1974- Yang Chen -Chinese footballer
1975- Freddy Rodriguez (actor)|Freddy Rodriguez -American actor
1975- Squarepusher -English singer-songwriter
1975- Rami Yacoub -Swedish songwriter and producer
1977- Kevin Fertig -American wrestler
1977- Leigh Whannell -Australian actor, producer, and screenwriter
1978- Carolina "Pampita" Ardohaín -Argentine model, television personality and actress
1978- Meilen Tu -Taiwanese-American tennis player
1978- Ricky Wilson (British musician)|Ricky Wilson -English singer-songwriter (Kaiser Chiefs)
1979- Oleg Lisogor -Ukrainian swimmer
1979- Chase Stevens -American wrestler
1980- Maksim Chmerkovskiy -Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer
1980- Zooey Deschanel -American singer-songwriter and actress (She & Him)
1980- Gareth McLearnon -Irish flute player
1980- Modestas Stonys -Lithuanian footballer
1981- Warren Feeney -Irish footballer
1981- Ray J -American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1981- Scott Mechlowicz -American actor
1982- Hwanhee -South Korean singer and actor (Fly to the Sky)
1982- Dwyane Wade -American basketball player
1982- Amanda Wilkinson -Canadian singer (The Wilkinsons)
1983- Álvaro Arbeloa -Spanish footballer
1983- Johannes Herber -German basketball player
1983- Rick Kelly -Australian race car driver
1984- Sophie Dee -Welsh porn actress
1984- Kelvin Fletcher -English actor and model
1984- Calvin Harris -Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer
1984- Sam Shaw (wrestler)|Sam Shaw -American wrestler
1985- Pablo Barrientos -Argentinian footballer
1985- Mark Briscoe -American wrestler
1985- Kangin -South Korean singer, dancer, and actor (Super Junior)
1985- Riyu Kosaka -Japanese singer and actress (BeForU)
1985- Betsy Ruth -American wrestler
1985- Simone Simons -Dutch singer-songwriter (Epica (band)|Epica)
1986- Max Adler (actor)|Max Adler -American actor
1986- Hale Appleman -American actor
1986- Viktor Stålberg -Swedish ice hockey player
1987- Oleksandr Usyk -Ukrainian boxer
1988- Andrea Antonelli -Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2013)
1988- Will Genia -Australian rugby player
1988- Héctor Moreno (footballer)|Héctor Moreno -Mexican footballer
1989- Hollie-Jay Bowes -English actress and singer
1989- Björn Dreyer (footballer born 1989)|Björn Dreyer -German footballer
1989- Taylor Jordan -American baseball player
1990- Santiago Tréllez -Colombian footballer
1991- Trevor Bauer -American baseball player
1991- Lee Kiseop -South Korean singer and dancer (U-KISS)
1993- Frankie Cocozza -English singer
1997- Jack Vidgen -Australian singer-songwriter