Today in History for 17th April 2017:
Historical Events
1945 – German occupiers flood Wieringermeer, Netherlands
1964 – Jerrie Mock becomes 1st woman to fly solo around the world
1974 – Bundy victim Susan Rancourt disappears from CWU, Ellensburg, WA
1983 – Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter
1994 – 55th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Lee Trevino wins
2015 – James Anderson becomes the highest wicket-taking bowler in England’s test cricket history
Famous Birthdays
1885 – Cecil Burleigh, composer
1897 – Thornton N Wilder, US, novelist/playwright (Our Town)
1920 – Joan “Maudie” Warburton, painter
1923 – Harry Reasoner, American newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC, CBS), born in Dakota City, Iowa (d. 1991)
1957 – Byron Cherry, actor (Coy-Dukes of Hazzard), born in Atlanta, Georgia
1962 – Nancy Hogshead, swimmer (Olympic-gold-1984)/model (jockey), born in Iowa City, Iowa
Famous Deaths
1714 – Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, composer, dies at 56
1764 – Johann Mattheson, German composer/musicologist, dies at 82
1945 – Ion Pillat, Romania poet/senator (Umbra timpului), dies
1991 – Jack Yellen, US poet (Sons o’ Fun), dies at 97
2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress and television personality, dies at 96
2014 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist (1982 Nobel Prize in Literature), dies of pneumonia at 87