Who was born on October 17?
October 17 is packed with notable birthdays. Explore 154 famous birthdays, sorted by recent English Wikipedia pageviews. Top ranked names include Adolphe-Félix Cals, Alan Garner, Albertus van Raalte, Alejandra Ávalos, Alexander Gardner. Filter by actor, musician, athlete, and more — or open any other calendar day.
October 17
154 people
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Adolphe-Félix Cals
Adolphe-Félix Cals (17 October 1810 – 3 October 1880) was a French portrait, genre, and landscape painter.
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Alan Garner
Alan Garner (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. Much of his work is rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native county of Cheshire, North West England, being set in the region and making use of the native Cheshire dialect. Born in Congleton, Garner grew up in Alderley Edge, and spent much of his youth in the wooded area known locally as "The Edge", where he gained an early interest in the folklore of the region. Studying at Manchester Grammar School and then briefly at Oxford University, in 1957 he moved to the village of Blackden, where he bought and renovated an Early Modern Period (circa 1590) building known as Toad Hall. His first novel, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen, was published in 1960. A children's fantasy novel set on the Edge, it incorporated elements of local folklore in its plot and characters. Garner wrote a sequel, The Moon of Gomrath (1963), and a third book, Boneland (2012). He wrote several fantasy novels, including Elidor (1965), The Owl Service (1967) and Red Shift (1973). Turning away from fantasy as a genre, Garner produced The Stone Book Quartet (1979), a series of four short novellas detailing a day in the life of four generations of his family. He also published a series of British folk tales which he had rewritten in a series of books entitled Alan Garner's Fairy Tales of Gold (1979), Alan Garner's Book of British Fairy Tales (1984) and A Bag of Moonshine (1986). In his subsequent novels, Strandloper (1996) and Thursbitch (2003), he continued writing tales revolving around Cheshire, although without the fantasy elements which had characterised his earlier work.
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Albertus van Raalte
Albertus Christiaan van Raalte (17 October 1811 – 27 July 1876) was a Dutch Reformed clergyman who moved to the United States with a group of Dutch emigrants and founded the city of Holland, Michigan, in 1846. In 1851, he was involved in founding the school that would become Hope College. He joined the Reformed Church in America, which had existed since 1628, and was the spiritual leader of the Protestant Reformed Dutch Americans in Michigan In 1857, van Raalte disputed a number of issues with another reformed minister, Roelof Smit, and led a secession from Smit's congregation.
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Alejandra Ávalos
Alejandra Margarita Ávalos Rodríguez (born October 17, 1968) is a Mexican singer, musician and actress. She began her career in 1980, when she took part in the musical contest La Voz del Heraldo. After receiving a scholarship to study in a two-year training program, she began working as a model; afterwards, she began appearing on television as a supporting actress in 1983; by that time she also provided backing vocals for some recording artists. Since 1984, Ávalos obtained a number of leading roles on stage, including the theatrical productions The Rocky Horror Show and Jesus Christ Superstar. At the time, she began working as a TV host on Televisa. Avalos's breakthrough came in 1986 with her first leading role on television in the successful series El padre Gallo, media referred to Ávalos as "The New Young Super-Star". In 1987, Ávalos signed to Warner Music Group, afterwards, she released her debut album Ser o No Ser (1988), it was followed by the successful albums Amor Fasciname (1990) and Amor Sin Dueño (1991); a number of singles were taken from such albums, including "Contigo o Sin Tí, "Aparentemente", "Tu Hombre Yo Niña", "Amor Fasciname", "Casualidad" and "Como Puedes Saber"; she also recorded the duet "Te Quiero Así" with José José. Her music also incorporates elements of Mariachi (Mi Corazón Se Regala, 1996), Bolero-pop (Una Mujer, 1999), Big Band (Radio Diva, 2005) and electronic dance music (Te Sigo Queriendo, 2016) among others. Ávalos portrayed the leading role in the 1995 drama film Perdóname Todo; she also obtained a number of leading roles on television including the teenage drama series Tenías que ser tú (1992) and Soñadoras (1998); on the other hand, Ávalos also starred as the main antagonist in several dramas including Tal como somos (1987), Tiempo de amar (1987), the police procedural Morir dos veces (1996), Siempre te amaré (2000) and Apuesta por un amor (2004). Ávalos has taken part in several singing competitions, besides becoming a finalist at the Mexican national selection for the OTI Festival during the 1980s and 1990s, and later at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in the 2000s. In 2018, for the first time in over 30 years, Ávalos starred in a big budget musical, playing Doña Mariquita in the 4D stage production Capricho-LivExperience, an adaptation of Miguel Barnet's multi-awarded coming-of-age novel Canción de Rachel; furthermore, the artist released her eighth studio album México Majestuoso Vol.I on the same day as its counterpart México Majestuoso Vol. II; the digital version was released on October 31, as a double album; produced and co-written by Ávalos, it became the first double release in her career, an homage to the greatest singer-songwriters through Mexico's folk music history. On December 18, 2022, Ávalos, competed and eventually, she became one of the winners during the Final competition of the reality cooking show MasterChef Celebrity México, accompanied by her daughter, the Italian entrepreneur and fashion model Valentina Benaglio.
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Alexander Gardner
Alexander Gardner (October 17, 1821 – December 10, 1882) was a Scottish-American photographer who immigrated to the United States in 1856, where he began to work full-time in that profession. He is best known for his photographs of the American Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, and of the conspirators and the execution of the participants in the Lincoln assassination plot.
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Alexander Neill
Alexander Sutherland Neill (17 October 1883 – 23 September 1973) was a Scottish educator and author known for his school, Summerhill, and its philosophy of freedom from adult coercion and community self-governance. Raised in Scotland, Neill taught at several schools before attending the University of Edinburgh in 1908–1912. He took two jobs in journalism before World War I, and taught at Gretna Green Village School in the second year of the war, writing his first book, A Dominie's Log (1915), as a diary of his life there as head teacher. He joined a Dresden school in 1921 and founded Summerhill on returning to England in 1924. Summerhill gained renown in the 1930s and then in the 1960s–1970s, due to progressive and counter-culture interest. Neill wrote 20 books. His top seller was the 1960 Summerhill, read widely in the free school movement from the 1960s.
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Alexandre Bonnet
Alexandre Bonnet (born 17 October 1986) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.
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Alfred Benlloch Llorach
Alfred Benlloch Llorach (October 17, 1917 – May 8, 2013) was a Spanish inventor with over one hundred patents registered in different areas. He was born in Barcelona and was one of the pioneers of the first blood transfusion service in the world, created under the direction of Frederic Durán-Jordà during the Spanish Civil War. He also developed pioneering work on artillery predictors, reverse osmosis, transfusion equipment, thermoformed timber, solar energy, and in his last years worked on theoretical physics. He died in Ibiza, aged 95.
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Alonso de Orozco Mena
Alonso de Orozco Mena (17 October 1500 – 19 September 1591) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest from the Augustinian order. He was well known across Spain for his preaching abilities and for an austere and humble life. He was beatified in 1882 after the recognition of two healings attributed to him as miracles and was canonized in 2002 after a third received papal approval. His feast is on the date of his death - 19 September - on an annual basis.
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Andrei Grechko
Andrei Antonovich Grechko (Russian: Андре́й Анто́нович Гре́чко; Ukrainian: Андрій Антонович Гречко; 17 October [O.S. 4 October] 1903 – 26 April 1976) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as the Soviet minister of defence from 1967 to 1976. Born to a Ukrainian peasant family near Rostov-on-Don, Grechko served in the Red Army cavalry during the Russian Civil War. After graduating from the Frunze Military Academy, he took part in the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. Grechko was a fresh graduate of the Voroshilov Military Academy when Axis forces invaded the Soviet Union. He held a succession of cavalry and army commands afterwards and saw action in the Caucasus, Ukraine and Central Europe. After the war, Grechko commanded the Kiev Military District. In 1953, he was appointed commander-in-chief of Soviet Forces in East Germany, and led the suppression of the East German uprising. In 1955, he was named a Marshal of the Soviet Union. In 1957, he became commander-in-chief of the Soviet Ground Forces, and three years later he also became the commander of the Warsaw Pact forces. In 1967, Grechko was appointed Minister of Defence, and oversaw the subsequent Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and violent border clashes with China. He helped modernize the Soviet Army and was responsible for continuing the Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe. An ideological hardliner, he was a defender of the first strike nuclear strategy, and only reluctantly supported Leonid Brezhnev's détente with the United States and the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Grechko died in 1976 at the age of 72.
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Andrey Voronikhin
Andrey (Andrei) Nikiforovich Voronikhin (Russian: Андрей Никифорович Воронихин; 28 October 1759, Novoe Usolye, Perm Oblast – 21 February 1814, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian architect and painter. As a representative of classicism he was also one of the founders of the monumental Russian Empire style. Born a serf of the Stroganov family, he is best known for his work on Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. Andrey Voronikhin was born in the village of Novoa Usolye (now Perm Krai) to a family who were the serfs of count Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov, a longtime President of the Imperial Academy of Arts. It is generally believed that he was fathered by Alexander Stroganov. Voronikhin trained in painting in the workshop of Ural icon painter Gabriel Yushkov. The talents of his youth attracted Stroganov's attention, and in 1777 the count sent Voronikhin to study in Moscow. Among his teachers were Vasili Ivanovich Bazhenov and Matvey Fyodorovich Kazakov. After 1779 Voronikhin worked in Saint Petersburg. In 1785, Voronikhin was liberated. From 1786 through 1790 he studied architecture, mechanics and mathematics in France and Switzerland. In 1797, the artist obtained the academic title of «перспективной живописи» from the Academy of Fine Arts for the pictures «Вид картинной галереи в Строгановском дворце» (1793, Hermitage) and «Вид Строгановской дачи» (1797, Russian museum, Saint Petersburg). From the beginning of the 19th century he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts. The earliest architecture of Voronikhin includes finishing the interiors of Stroganov Palace (1793). The magnificent baroque forms, proposed by Rastrelli, were replaced by Voronikhin with a strict classical order, characterized by simplicity and refinement. Furthermore, he reconstructed the interiors of the Stroganov Dacha on the Black River (1795 - 1796), and also built estates in Gorodnya (1798). The main creation of Voronikhin was Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. The construction began on 27 March 1801, and work was finished in 1811. On the occasion of renovating the temple, Voronikhin was granted a pension and the order of St. Anna of the second degree. A number of other works of Voronikhin were the house of the Department of the Treasury, the building of the Saint Petersburg Mining Institute, the colonnade of the Peterhof, and palaces in Strelna, Gatchina and Pavlovsk. The architect died on 5 March 1814 in Saint Petersburg. Voronikhin's nephew, Nikolay Ilyich Voronikhin, was an architect based in Ryazan. He inherited Andrey Voronikhin's archive; Ascension Cathedral in Kasimov (photo) by Nikolay Voronikhin is remotely based on Andrey Voronikhin's unrealized draft for Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.
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André Gill
André Gill (17 October 1840 – 1 May 1885) was a French caricaturist. Born Louis-Alexandre Gosset de Guînes at Paris, the son of the Comte de Guînes and Sylvie-Adeline Gosset, Gill studied at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He adopted the pseudonym André Gill in homage to his hero, James Gillray. Gill began illustrating for Le Journal Amusant, but he became known for his work for the weekly four-sheet newspaper La Lune, edited by Francis Polo, in which he drew portraits for a series entitled The Man of the Day. He worked for La Lune from 1865 to 1868. When La Lune was banned, he worked for the periodical L'Éclipse from 1868 to 1876. Gill also drew for famous periodical Le Charivari.
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Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble (IPA: [ənɪl kʊmbleː] ; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricketer, captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. A right-arm leg spin bowler, regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in cricket history, he took 619 wickets in Test cricket and was the third-highest wicket taker of all time at the time of his retirement in 2008. Born in Bangalore, Mysore State (now Karnataka), Kumble developed an early interest in cricket as he grew up watching players like B. S. Chandrasekhar before becoming a full-fledged cricketer. He made his first-class debut at the age of 19 while representing Karnataka. Soon he was picked up for the Austral-Asia Cup in 1990 before making his Test debut against England later that year. Since then, he played 132 Test matches and was responsible for many of India's victories. In 1999, while playing against Pakistan, Kumble dismissed all ten batsmen in a Test match innings, joining England's Jim Laker as the second player to achieve the feat. He became a part of the regular ODI team during the early 1990s and had some of the best performances during this time. The year 1996 proved to very successful for him as he was selected for the World Cup and emerged as the most successful bowler of the tournament, taking 15 wickets in seven matches at an average of 18.73. Unlike his contemporaries, Kumble was not a big turner of the ball, but relied primarily on pace, bounce, and accuracy. He was nicknamed "Jumbo", as his deliveries, for a spinner, were "as fast as a jumbo jet". He was selected as the Cricketer of the Year in 1993 Indian Cricket, and one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year three years later. He was a member of the Indian team that was one of the joint-winners of the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy, where the title was shared with Sri Lanka. Kumble was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour in 2005. After having played for 18 years, he announced his retirement from international cricket in November 2008. In October 2012, he was appointed the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC)'s cricket committee. Between 2012 and 2015, Kumble held positions as a chief mentor for the teams Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. In February 2015, he became the fourth Indian cricketer to be inducted into ICC Hall of Fame. He also served as the head coach of the Indian cricket team between 2016 and 2017. From 2020 to 2022, he served as the head coach and the director of cricket operations of the IPL team Punjab Kings.
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António Calvário
António Calvário da Paz (born 17 October 1938) is a Portuguese singer, actor, and writer. A five-time winner of the national title of King of Radio, he is best known for winning the first edition of the Festival da Canção and representing Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 with the song "Oração", which was the country's debut entry in the contest. The artist has also made a significant contribution to the local revue scene.
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Aravinda de Silva
Deshabandu Pinnaduwage Aravinda de Silva (Sinhala: අරවින්ද ද සිල්වා,Tamil: அரவிந்த டி சில்வா ; born 17 October 1965) is a former Sri Lankan cricketer. Regarded as one of Sri Lanka's greatest ever cricketers, De Silva was a key member of the Sri Lankan team that won the 1996 Cricket World Cup, where he scored a match winning century in the final, bringing Sri Lanka from underdog status to present-day form. During the twilight of his career, De Silva was part of the team which finished as joint-winners alongside India at the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy. He has held various posts in Sri Lankan Cricket since his retirement in 2003. He was inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in 2023. Aravinda is the only player to make a hundred and take three or more wickets in a World cup final. He is the first man to score two unbeaten hundreds in a Test, where he scored unbeaten 138 and 103 against Pakistan in 1997. Following his illustrious cricket career, de Silva came under fire with several accusations of match fixing, along with Arjuna Ranatunga, which he vehemently denied.
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Ariel Levy
Ariel Levy (born 1974) is an American journalist and staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. She's the author of the books The Rules Do Not Apply and Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Vogue, Slate, and The New York Times. Levy was named one of the "Forty Under 40" most influential out individuals in the June/July 2009 issue of The Advocate.
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Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright and essayist in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (1955). He wrote several screenplays, including The Misfits (1961). The drama Death of a Salesman is considered one of the best American plays of the 20th century. Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. During this time, he received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), and married Marilyn Monroe. In 1980, he received the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. He received the Praemium Imperiale prize in 2001, the Prince of Asturias Award in 2002, and the Jerusalem Prize in 2003, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 1999.
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Aureliano Maestre de San Juan
Aureliano Maestre de San Juan ( October 17, 1828 - June 1, 1890) was a Spanish scientist, histologist, physician and anatomist. He is credited as being one of the first scientists to recognize the disorder known as Kallmann syndrome. He died in 1890, having been blinded in a laboratory accident involving caustic soda two years earlier.
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Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" guitarist for studio, film, and television recording sessions. Kessel was a member of the group of session musicians informally known as the Wrecking Crew.
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Bartolommeo Bandinelli
Baccio Bandinelli (also called Bartolomeo Brandini; 12 November 1493 – shortly before 7 February 1560) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, draughtsman, and painter.
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Bea Alonzo
Phylbert Angelli Ranollo Fagestrom-Co (born October 17, 1987), known professionally as Bea Alonzo, is a Filipino actress and businesswoman. She is best known for playing dramatic roles in romantic drama films, including in The Mistress (2012), A Second Chance (2015) and The Love Affair (2015). Alonzo's films have grossed ₱3.15 billion (more than US$50 million), making her one of the highest-grossing Filipino box office stars of all time.
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Bhagwant Mann
Bhagwant Singh Mann (born 17 October 1973) is an Indian politician, social worker, former comedian, actor and singer who is currently serving as the 17th Chief Minister of Punjab (and also as leader of the house in state assembly since 16 March 2022.) He represents the Dhuri Assembly constituency in the Punjab Legislative Assembly since 2022 and is also serving as the state convener of Aam Aadmi Party, Punjab since 2019. Previously, he was a member of the lower house of Parliament from Sangrur from 2014 to 2022. On 15th June 2026, the Akal Takht declared Mann a Guru Dokhi (one who has betrayed the Guru) and Panth Virodhi (anti-sikh) over an objectionable video purportedly showing him in an act that hurt Sikh sentiments.
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Bhaskarbuwa Bakhale
Bhaskar Raghunath Bakhale (17 October 1869 – 8 April 1922) (also known as Bhaskarrao or Bhaskarbua or Bhaskarbuwa) was a Hindustani classical vocalist, a composer, and a teacher.
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Brenda Asnicar
Brenda Asnicar (born 17 October 1991) is an Argentinian actress and singer who gained international popularity for her debut role as Antonella Lamas Bernardi in the Disney Channel television series Patito Feo.
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C. C. van Asch van Wijck
Jonkvrouwe (Lady) Cornélie Caroline "Cox" van Asch van Wijck (17 October 1900 – 18 September 1932) was a Dutch artist and sculptor.
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Carlos Buhler
Carlos Buhler (born October 17, 1954, in Harrison, New York) is one of America's leading high altitude mountaineers. Buhler's specialty is high-standard mountaineering characterized by small teams, no oxygen, minimal gear and equipment, and relatively low amounts of funding; yielding first ascents of difficult routes in challenging conditions, such as the Himalayan winter season.
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Carlos González
Carlos Eduardo González (born October 17, 1985), nicknamed "CarGo", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2008 to 2019, most prominently as a member of the Colorado Rockies, where he was a three-time All-Star player and the 2010 National League (NL) batting champion. González also won three Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Slugger Awards with the Rockies. While mainly a right fielder throughout his career, González was the Rockies' starting left fielder from 2010 to 2014; in 2015 he transitioned to right field. He debuted in MLB with the Oakland Athletics and played for the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs in his final season in the majors.
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Childe Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums. He produced over 3,000 paintings, oils, watercolors, etchings, and lithographs over the course of his career, and was an influential American artist of the early 20th century.
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Chris Kirkpatrick
Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick (born October 17, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, music producer, podcaster, and actor. He founded the pop group NSYNC, in which he sang countertenor. The band has sold over 70 million records, becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. Kirkpatrick was the lead singer in various songs including "Thinking of You (I Drive Myself Crazy)", "Together Again", "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "I Thought She Knew", "Just Got Paid", and many songs from their Christmas album, Home for Christmas. In television, he played Chip Skylark on the Nickelodeon series The Fairly OddParents. Kirkpatrick has also participated in numerous reality TV shows, including Celebrity Big Brother, The Masked Singer, and Gone Country.
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Christen Smith
Christen Smith (17 October 1785 – 22 September 1816) also known as Christian Smith or Chretien Smith, was an early 19th-century Norwegian physician, economist and naturalist, particularly botanist. He died, only 30 years old during a dramatic expedition to the Congo River in 1816, leaving a wealth of botanical material.
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Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon (; French: [klod ɑ̃ʁi də ʁuvʁwa kɔ̃t də sɛ̃ simɔ̃]; 17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825), better known as Henri de Saint-Simon (French: [ɑ̃ʁi də sɛ̃ simɔ̃]), was a French political, economic and socialist theorist and businessman whose thought had a substantial influence on politics, economics, sociology and the philosophy of science. He was a younger relative of the famous memoirist the Duc de Saint-Simon. Saint-Simon created a political and economic ideology known as Saint-Simonianism that claimed that the needs of an industrial class, which he also referred to as the working class, needed to be recognized and fulfilled to have an effective society and an efficient economy. Unlike conceptions within industrializing societies of a working class being manual laborers alone, Saint-Simon's late-18th-century conception of this class included all people engaged in what he saw as productive work that contributed to society, such as businesspeople, managers, scientists, bankers, and manual labourers, amongst others. Saint-Simon believed the primary threat to the needs of the industrial class was what he defined as the idling class: a tier of society that included able-bodied persons who, instead of using their labor to benefit the social and economic orders, preferred what he perceived as a parasitic life avoiding work. Saint-Simon stressed a three-pronged recognition of the merits of the individual, social hierarchy, and the wider economy, such as hierarchical, merit-based organizations of managers and scientists; those at the top of the hierarchies would be decision-makers in government. Saint-Simon condemned any intrusion of government into the economy beyond ensuring productive working conditions and reducing idleness in society. Saint-Simon endorsed what critics have described as authoritarian or totalitarian means to achieve his goals, saying that opponents of his proposed reforms should be "treated like cattle". Saint-Simon's conceptual recognition of the merits of broad socioeconomic contribution and Enlightenment-era valorization of scientific knowledge inspired and influenced utopian socialism, utilitarian political theorist John Stuart Mill, anarchism (through its founder, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon), and Marxism—Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels identified Saint-Simon as an inspiration for their ideas and classified him among the utopian socialists. Saint-Simon's views also influenced 20th-century sociologist and economist Thorstein Veblen, including Veblen's influential school of institutional economics.
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Cozy Cole
William Randolph "Cozy" Cole (October 17, 1909 – January 29, 1981) was an American jazz drummer who worked with Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong among others and led his own groups.
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Cristofano Allori
Cristofano Allori (17 October 1577 – 1 April 1621) was an Italian painter of the late Florentine Mannerist school, painting mostly portraits and religious subjects.
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David Means
David Means (born October 17, 1961) is an American short story writer and novelist based in Nyack, New York. His stories have appeared in many publications, including Esquire, The New Yorker, and Harper's. They are frequently set in the Midwest or the Rust Belt, or along the Hudson River in New York.
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Dirk Beheydt
Dirk Beheydt (born 17 October 1951) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Beheydt was discovered by Cercle Brugge while he was playing for then lower league side Winkel Sport. Even though there was a big level gap between the two teams, Beheydt had no trouble adjusting to the highest level of Belgian football. He scored on his debut against AS Oostende. This was also the first match for Cercle in their new stadium. Cercle lost the match 2–1. Beheydt achieved quite some personal highlights with Cercle: 3rd most goals in the history of Cercle (only Pertry and Weber do better) Top league goal scorer of the team (1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1983) Player of the Year (1976, 1977) Dirk Beheydt was also capped once for Belgium. He played in an away game against Italy on 26 January 1977. Belgium lost the match 2-1.
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Domenico Zipoli
Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726) was an Italian composer from the Baroque period who worked in Córdoba, in the Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish Empire (in modern Argentina). He became a Jesuit in order to work in the Reductions of Paraguay where he taught music among the Guaraní people. He is remembered as the most accomplished musician among Jesuit missionaries.
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Don Coryell
Donald David Coryell ( kor-YEL; October 17, 1924 – July 1, 2010) was an American football coach. He coached in high school, college, and the professional ranks; his most notable NCAA post was with the San Diego State Aztecs for 12 seasons from 1961 to 1972 before he moved on to the National Football (NFL), first with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1973 to 1977 and then the San Diego Chargers from 1978 to 1986. Well known for his innovations in football's passing game, in particular the Air Coryell offense he created with the Chargers, Coryell was the first head coach to win more than 100 games at both the collegiate and professional levels. He was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame in 1994, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023. Born in Seattle, Coryell served in the U.S. military during World War II and played college football before becoming a coach upon his graduation. Between 1950 and 1960 he served as either a head coach or assistant at eight different institutions, overseeing rapid improvements in most cases and winning three conference titles with the Whittier Poets. He followed this with a 12-year stint at San Diego State, from 1961 to 1972, in which he led them to seven conference titles, three NCAA College Division titles and victory in three bowl games. During this time, future Pro Football Hall of Fame coaches John Madden and Joe Gibbs served on his staff as assistants. Coryell moved into professional coaching in 1973 with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he stayed for five years, leading the team to 10-win seasons three times, including the only two divisional titles of their 28-year stint in St. Louis. He left after a dispute with Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill and joined the San Diego Chargers in 1978, leading them to three division titles over the course of eight years. During his time with the Chargers, his teams led the NFL in passing yards six years in a row and seven times in total, while also leading the league in total yardage five times and scoring three times. Coryell retired from coaching after being fired following a 1–7 start in 1986.
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Dudu Aouate
David "Dudu" Aouate (or Awat, Hebrew: דוד "דודו" אוואט, pronounced Dūdū Ahwaht; born 17 October 1977) is an Israeli retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After playing for several clubs in his country, most notably Maccabi Haifa, he moved to Spain in 2003, going on to represent Racing de Santander, Deportivo La Coruña and Mallorca for a total of 303 La Liga matches. Aouate won 78 caps for Israel, during 14 years.
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Débora García
Débora García Mateo (born 17 October 1989), commonly known as Débora, is a Spanish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Primera División club Valencia. In October 2012 she made her debut for the Spain national team at Glasgow's Hampden Park against Scotland in the 2013 European Championship's qualifying play-offs.
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Earl Thomas Conley
Earl Thomas Conley (October 17, 1941 – April 10, 2019) was an American country music singer-songwriter. Between 1980 and 2003, he recorded ten studio albums, including seven for RCA Records. In the 1980s and into the 1990s, Conley also charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, of which 18 reached Number One. His 18 Billboard Number One country singles during the 1980s were the third most by any artist in any genre during that decade, after Alabama and Ronnie Milsap.
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Eleftheria Arvanitaki
Eleftheria Arvanitaki (Greek: Ελευθερία Αρβανιτάκη) (born 17 October 1957 in Piraeus) is a Greek folk singer. She originates from the island of Icaria. Arvanitaki has worked with musicians such as Cesária Évora, Arto Tunçboyacıyan and Ara Dinkjian. On 14 March 2010 Alpha TV ranked her the sixth top-certified female artist in the nation's phonographic era (since 1960).
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Elinor Glyn
Elinor Glyn (née Sutherland; 17 October 1864 – 23 September 1943) was a British novelist and scriptwriter who specialised in romantic fiction, which was considered scandalous for its time, although her works are relatively tame by modern standards. She popularized the concept of the "it girl", and had tremendous influence on early 20th-century popular culture and, possibly, on the careers of notable Hollywood stars such as Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson and, especially, Clara Bow.
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Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. Known for his rap flow and conscious rap, which includes political criticism and social commentary, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, often credited with popularizing hip-hop in Middle America and the acceptance of white rappers. While much of his transgressive art during the late 1990s and early 2000s made him a controversial figure, Eminem has become a representation of popular angst in lower-income America. After the release of his debut album, Infinite (1996), and the extended play Slim Shady EP (1997), Eminem signed with Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment and achieved mainstream popularity with The Slim Shady LP (1999). Each of his next two releases, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002), sold over one million copies in a single week; the latter became the best-selling album worldwide in 2002 and the best-selling hip-hop album of all time. After the release of Encore (2004), Eminem took a hiatus due in part to struggles with prescription drug addiction. He returned to the music industry with the releases of Relapse (2009) and Recovery (2010); the latter was the best-selling album worldwide in 2010. Each of his subsequent releases—The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013), Revival (2017), Kamikaze (2018), Music to Be Murdered By (2020), and The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (2024)—has debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart. Eminem was also a member of the hip-hop groups New Jacks, Soul Intent, Outsidaz, and D12, as well as the duo Bad Meets Evil with Royce da 5'9". In 2002, he starred in the drama film 8 Mile, receiving critical acclaim for playing a dramatized version of himself. "Lose Yourself", a song from the 8 Mile soundtrack, topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 12 weeks—the most for a solo rap song—and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making him the first hip-hop act to ever win the award. His other ventures include co-founding the record label Shady Records, establishing the Sirius XM Radio channel Shade 45 and opening the restaurant Mom's Spaghetti. Eminem is the best-selling rapper and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 220 million records. He has 11 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. One of the highest-certified musicians in the United States, Eminem has seven diamond certifications from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In addition to an Academy Award, his accolades include 15 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, 17 Billboard Music Awards, 15 MTV Video Music Awards, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Billboard named him the Artist of the 2000s and Rolling Stone ranked him among the greatest artists and greatest songwriters of all time.
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Emma Gamboa Alvarado
Emma Gamboa Alvarado (October 17, 1901 – December 10, 1976), was a Costa Rican educator, recognized for her contributions to pedagogy and teaching. She was declared Benemérita de la Patria (Well-deserving of the Homeland) by the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica in 1980. She was depicted on the ten thousand colones bill of 1998.
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Ernie Els
Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former World No. 1, he is nicknamed "The Big Easy" due to his physical stature along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victories are four major championships: the U.S. Open in 1994 at Oakmont and in 1997 at Congressional, and The Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield and in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. He is one of six golfers to twice win both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. Other highlights in Els's career include topping the 2003 and 2004 European Tour Order of Merit (money list), and winning the World Match Play Championship a record seven times. He was the leading career money winner on the European Tour until overtaken by Lee Westwood in 2011, and was the first member of the tour to earn over €25,000,000 from European Tour events. He has held the number one spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and until 2013 held the record for weeks ranked in the top ten with 788. Els rose to fifteenth in the world rankings after winning the 2012 Open Championship. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010, on his first time on the ballot, and was inducted in May 2011. Els now primarily plays on the PGA Tour Champions.
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Ferenc Deák
Ferenc Deák de Kehida (archaically English: Francis Deak, Croatian: Franjo Deák; 17 October 1803 – 28 January 1876) was a Hungarian statesman and Minister of Justice. He was known as "The Wise Man of the Nation" and one of the greatest figures of Hungary's liberal movement. He was an instrumental contributor to a number of major events in Hungarian history, including passing and support of the April laws, the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and the Hungarian Nationalities Law (1868). While generally supporting reformist policies, he was well recognized for finding and negotiating reasonable middle ground compromises between various extremist political factions throughout his career.
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Fran Cosmo
Fran Cosmo is an American rock vocalist and guitarist. He was a member of the Boston offshoot band Orion the Hunter from 1983–1985. He later became the official lead vocalist for Boston in the 1990s, singing on the Walk On, Greatest Hits, and Corporate America albums.
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Francis Turretin
Francis Turretin (also known as François Turrettini; 17 October 1623 – 28 September 1687) was a Genevan-Italian Reformed scholastic theologian. Turretin is especially known as a zealous opponent of the moderate Calvinist theology of the Academy of Saumur (embodied by Moise Amyraut and called Amyraldianism). He was an earnest defender of the Calvinistic orthodoxy represented by the Synod of Dort, and as one of the authors of the Helvetic Consensus, which defended the formulation of predestination from the Synod of Dort and the verbal inspiration of the Bible.
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Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer the Younger
Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer (the Younger) (17 October 1735 – 6 January 1803) was a member of the German Feuchtmayer family of Baroque artists associated with the Wessobrunner School. He was the son of Franz Xaver Feuchtmayer (the Elder) (1705–1764); the grandson of Michael Feuchtmayer (b. 1667); the great-nephew of Johann Michael Feuchtmayer (the Elder) (1666–1713) and Franz Joseph Feuchtmayer (1660–1718); and the first cousin once removed of Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer (1696–1770). His most famous works are the baldacchino over the high altar and some of the side altars of the Premonstratensian Monastery Church of St. Maria and St. Verena in Rot an der Rot, constructed in 1777.
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Fructuoso Rivera
José Fructuoso Rivera y Toscana (17 October 1784 – 13 January 1854) was a Uruguayan general who fought for the liberation of Banda Oriental from Brazilian rule, thrice served as President of Uruguay and was one of the instigators of the long Uruguayan Civil War. He is also considered to be the founder of the Colorado Party, which ruled Uruguay without interruption from 1865 until 1958.
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Georg Büchner
Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. His literary achievements, though limited by his death at age 23, are generally held in great esteem in Germany. Despite his brief career, his plays profoundly influenced naturalism, expressionism, and later developments in European theater. At the age of 21, Büchner, with others, wrote a pamphlet entitled The Hessian Courier that has been called the most revolutionary manifesto of the nineteenth century before The Communist Manifesto.
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Georgios Alogoskoufis
Georgios Alogoskoufis (Greek: Γιώργος Αλογοσκούφης) (born 17 October 1955) is a professor of economics at the Athens University of Economics and Business since 1990. He was a member of the Hellenic Parliament from September 1996 till October 2009 and served as Greece's Minister of Economy and Finance from March 2004 till January 2009.
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Glenn Braggs
Glenn Erick Braggs (born October 17, 1962) is an American former Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball outfielder and designated hitter. Braggs was a member of the Cincinnati Reds team that defeated the Oakland Athletics in the 1990 World Series. He is an alumnus of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
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Gustave Schlumberger
Gustave Léon Schlumberger (17 October 1844 – 9 May 1929) was a French historian and numismatist who specialised in the era of the crusades and the Byzantine Empire. His Numismatique de l'Orient Latin (1878–82) is still considered the principal work on the coinage of the crusades. He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1903. A large portion of his extensive Crusader coin collection is housed in the Cabinet des Médailles a department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.
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Guy Henry
Guy Henry (born 17 October 1960) is an English actor whose roles include Henrik Hanssen in Holby City, Pius Thicknesse in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2, Cassius in Rome and Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One.
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Haritina Korotkevich
Haritina Evstafievna Korotkevich (Russian: Харити́на Евста́фьевна Коротке́вич, also romanised as Charitina Korotkiewicz and Haritena Korotkiewich; née Verkhozina; 17 October [O.S. 5 October] 1882 – 16 October [O.S. 3 October] 1904) was a Russian soldier who served in the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese War. Volunteering to serve disguised as a man under the pseudonym Khariton Korotkevich (Russian: Харитон Короткевич), she soon gained a reputation as a fearless leader as a woman in her own right. She was killed by shellfire on the front line during the Siege of Port Arthur.
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Harry Carpenter
Harry Leonard Carpenter, OBE (17 October 1925 – 20 March 2010) was a British BBC sports commentator broadcasting from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1994. His speciality was boxing. He was presenter of programmes such as Sportsnight (1975–1985) and Grandstand and anchored coverage of Wimbledon and golf tournaments.
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Henry Campbell Black
Henry Campbell Black (October 17, 1860 – March 19, 1927) was the founder of Black's Law Dictionary, the definitive legal dictionary in the USA first published in 1891. Born in Ossining, New York, went to school at Trinity College in Connecticut, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1880, a master’s degree in 1887, and a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree in 1916. He was also the editor of The Constitutional Review from 1917 until his death in 1927.
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Hippolyte Aucouturier
Hippolyte Aucouturier (17 October 1876 – 22 April 1944) was a French professional road bicycle racer. Aucouturier, a professional between 1900 and 1908, won two stages at the first Tour de France in 1903 and won three stages and finished second in the 1905 Tour de France. He also won Paris–Roubaix twice, in 1903 and 1904. His elder brother Francois was also a racing cyclist. Aucouturier was an outspoken man whom the Tour organiser, Henri Desgrange, referred to in L'Auto as Le Terrible.
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Horacio Cervantes
Horacio Javier Cervantes Chávez (born 17 October 1981) is a former Mexican footballer, who last played as defender for Veracruz, on loan for Cruz Azul. His brother Diego Alberto Cervantes is also a footballer.
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Howard Alden
Howard Vincent Alden (born October 17, 1958) is an American jazz guitarist born in Newport Beach, California. Alden has recorded many albums for Concord Records, including four with seven-string guitar innovator George Van Eps.
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Ignacio Rupérez
Ignacio Rupérez Rubio (17 October 1943 – 25 December 2015) was a Spanish diplomat, journalist, and writer. Rupérez was appointed Ambassador to Iraq on 3 June 2005, becoming the first Ambassador to Iraq since 1991, when the Spanish embassy in Baghdad was closed during the Gulf War. He served as Ambassador to Iraq from 2005 until 2008. He was later appointed Ambassador to Honduras. Rupérez was the brother of Javier Rupérez, a diplomat and politician. Rupérez began his career as a newspaper journalist, including ABC and El País. He became a Spanish diplomat in 1980. His first diplomatic posting was to Cairo, Egypt. He transferred to Tel Aviv, Israel, which had recently established diplomatic relations with Spain, in 1986. Rupérez was next posted to the Embassy of Spain in Havana, Cuba, from 1989 to 1992. He was then sent to Kyiv, Ukraine, as a deputy in 1992. Ignacio Rupérez was posted to the Spanish diplomatic mission in Iraq by the government of José María Aznar in 1997. Spain had closed its embassy and recalled its ambassador in 1991 during the first Gulf War. Since there was no ambassador, Ruperez was posted as chargé d'affaires until 2000. He became the Vice President of the Comité Hispano-Americano in 2003. On 3 June 2005 Ignacio Rupérez was appointed Ambassador to Iraq, becoming the first Spanish ambassador since 1991. He served as Ambassador from 2005 to 2008. In a 2008 interview with El País, Rupérez called the situation in Iraq and the Iraq War "more complicated than Vietnam." He later published his book, "Collateral Damage," in which he criticized the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Rupérez was next appointed Ambassador to Honduras in 2009. However, then President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup d'état during the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis shortly before Rupérez was scheduled to arrive in the country. The government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero criticized Zelaya's ouster. As a result, Rupérez was denied entry into Honduras by the new Honduran government. Instead, Rupérez spent the first fourteen months of his Ambassadorship to Honduras stationed at the Spanish Embassy in neighboring El Salvador. He was finally allowed into Honduras when relations between the two countries improved. Most recently, Rupérez has served as Ambassador-at-large for Muslim Communities and Organizations Abroad. Ignacio Rupérez died at a hospital in Madrid on 25 December 2015 at the age of 72, following a long illness.
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Irene Ryan
Irene Ryan (born Irene Noblitt; October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress and comedienne who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway. She is most widely known for her portrayal of Daisy May "Granny" Moses, mother-in-law of Buddy Ebsen's character Jed Clampett on the long-running TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971). She was nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1963 and 1964 for the role.
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Irene di Spilimbergo
Irene di Spilimbergo (17 October 1538 - 17 December 1559) was an Italian Renaissance painter and poet.
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Isaak Khalatnikov
Isaak Markovich Khalatnikov (Ukrainian: Ісаак Маркович Халатников, romanized: Isaak Markovych Khalatnykov, Russian: Исаак Маркович Халатников; 17 October 1919 – 9 January 2021) was a Soviet theoretical physicist who made significant contributions to many areas of theoretical physics, including general relativity, quantum field theory, and the theory of quantum liquids. He is well known for his role in developing the Landau-Khalatnikov theory of superfluidity and the so-called BKL conjecture in the general theory of relativity.
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Ismail Akbay
İsmail Akbay (October 17, 1930 – July 26, 2003) was a Turkish scientist. He is mostly remembered as the first Turk to work for NASA.
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Ivo of Kermartin
Ivo of Kermartin, TOSF (17 October 1253 – 19 May 1303), also known as Yvo, Yves, or Ives (and in Breton as Erwan, Iwan, Youenn or Eozenn, depending on the region, and known as Yves Hélory (also Helori or Heloury) in French), was a parish priest among the poor of Louannec, the only one of his station to be canonized in the Middle Ages. He is the patron of Brittany, lawyers, and abandoned children. His feast day is 19 May. Poetically, he is referred to as "advocate of the poor".
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Jacob Artist
Jacob Artist (born October 17, 1992) is an American actor, singer, and dancer. He is best known for his roles as Jake Puckerman on the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee and as Brandon Fletcher on the ABC drama-thriller series Quantico.
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Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba
Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, 17th Duke of Alba, 10th Duke of Berwick, GE, LH, GCVO (17 October 1878 – 24 September 1953) was a Spanish peer, diplomat, politician, art collector and Olympic medalist. He was one of the most important aristocrats of his time and held, among other titles, the dukedoms of Alba de Tormes and Berwick, the Countship of Lemos, Lerín, Montijo and the Marquessate of Carpio. He was granted the Order of the Golden Fleece of Spain in 1926. A close friend and relative of the British royal family, he was one of the leading guests at the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II in 1947.
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Jacques Cazotte
Jacques Cazotte (French: [kazɔt]; 17 October 1719 – 25 September 1792) was a French writer and a monarchist. He predicted the Reign of Terror and was guillotined shortly after.
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Jake DeBrusk
Jake DeBrusk (born October 17, 1996) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a left winger for the Vancouver Canucks in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 14th overall by the Boston Bruins in the 2015 NHL entry draft. DeBrusk is the son of colour commentator and former NHL forward Louie DeBrusk.
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Jamal Adams
Jamal Lee Adams (born October 17, 1995) is an American professional football linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers, and was selected by the New York Jets sixth overall in the 2017 NFL draft. Adams quickly became an impactful starter for the Jets, making the Pro Bowl twice and being named an All-Pro. In 2021, Adams signed a four-year extension with the Seattle Seahawks valued at $72 million, with a $20 million signing bonus and $38 million guaranteed, making him the highest paid safety in the NFL at that time. Adams has also played for the Tennessee Titans, the Detroit Lions, and the Las Vegas Raiders.
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James Rudolph Garfield
James Rudolph Garfield (October 17, 1865 – March 24, 1950) was an American lawyer and politician. Garfield was a son of the 20th President of the United States James A. Garfield and First Lady Lucretia Garfield. He served as Secretary of the Interior during President Theodore Roosevelt's administration.
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Jericó Abramo Masso
Jericó Abramo Masso (first name also spelled Yericó; born 17 October 1975) is a Mexican politician affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). In the 2024 general election he was elected to his fourth term in the Chamber of Deputies.
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Jerry Flannery
Jeremiah Paul Flannery (born 17 October 1978) is an Irish rugby union former player and current defence coach for South Africa. During his playing career, Flannery, a hooker, played for Munster and Ireland, before being forced to retire in March 2012 due to injury problems. He joined Munster as a coach before leaving in 2019, and, in 2020, joined English Premiership club Harlequins as their lineout coach.
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Jerry Siegel
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel ( SEE-gəl; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) was an American comic book writer. He was the co-creator of Superman, in collaboration with his friend Joe Shuster, published by DC Comics. They also created Doctor Occult, who was later featured in The Books of Magic. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993. With Bernard Baily, Siegel also co-created the long-running DC character The Spectre. Siegel created ten of the earliest members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, one of DC's most popular team books, which is set in the 30th Century. Siegel also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter and Jerry Ess.
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Jesús Reyes Ferreira
Jesús Reyes Ferreira (1880-1977), born José de Jesús Benjamín Buenaventura de los Reyes y Ferreira and also known as Chucho Reyes, was a self-taught artist and antiques/art collector and vendor. Reyes Ferreira began painting on crêpe paper, a delicate material not meant to last, as a way of decorating paper meant to wrap sales from his antiques/art store. The decorated paper became popular enough to be sold on its own. Although he began this activity in Guadalajara, he did not produce the bulk of his work until after he moved to Mexico City when he was 58 years old. Here he continued collecting and selling objects such as colonial art and Mexican handcrafts and folk art, being one of the early exponents for the appreciation of these objects. He also spent several hours a day painting. His work was first exhibited in 1950 with his first individual exhibition in 1967 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes after a half century of painting. As a self-taught painter, his works are relatively simple and often are dismissed as folk painting but they were and his aesthetics were praised by famous artists and architects at the time.
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Johann Friedrich Meckel
Johann Friedrich Meckel (17 October 1781 – 31 October 1833), often referred to as Johann Friedrich Meckel, the Younger, was a German anatomist born in Halle. He worked as a professor of anatomy, pathology and zoology at the University of Halle, Germany.
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Johann Gerhard
Johannes Gerhard (17 October 1582 – 17 August 1637) was a Lutheran church leader and Lutheran Scholastic theologian during the period of Orthodoxy.
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John Bowring
Sir John Bowring, or Phrayā Siam Mānukūlakicca Siammitra Mahāyaśa (17 October 1792 – 23 November 1872) was a British political economist, traveller, writer, literary translator, polyglot and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong. He was appointed by Queen Victoria as emissary to Siam, later he was appointed by King Mongkut of Siam as ambassador to London, also making a treaty of amity with Siam on 18 April 1855, now referred to as the "Bowring Treaty". His namesake treaty was fully effective for 70 years, until the reign of Vajiravudh. This treaty was gradually edited and became completely ineffective in 1938 under the government of Plaek Phibunsongkhram. Later, he was sent as a commissioner of Britain to the newly created Kingdom of Italy in 1861. He died in Claremont in Devon on 23 November 1872.
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John J. Gardner
John James Gardner (October 17, 1845 – February 7, 1921) was an American businessman, Civil War veteran, Republican Party politician and statesman who represented Atlantic County, New Jersey in the New Jersey Senate from 1878 to 1893 and United States House of Representatives (as the representative for New Jersey's 2nd congressional district) from 1893 to 1913. He was also mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey. At the time of his election to Congress, Gardner was the longest serving member in the history of the New Jersey Senate, having represented Atlantic County for five consecutive terms from 1878 to 1893. He was widely considered one of the most powerful legislators in New Jersey history and known for his caustic and aggressive manner.
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John Marley
John Marley (born Mortimer Leon Marlieb; October 17, 1907 – May 22, 1984) was an American actor and theatre director. He won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the 29th Venice International Film Festival for his performance in John Cassavetes' Faces (1968), and was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his role in Love Story (1970). He was also known to film audiences for his role as Jack Woltz—the defiant film mogul who awakens to find the severed head of his prized thoroughbred horse in his bed—in The Godfather (1972).
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John Wilkes
John Wilkes (17 October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was a British radical, journalist, politician, magistrate and writer. He was first elected a Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of his voters – rather than the House of Commons – to determine their representatives. In 1768, angry protests of his supporters were suppressed in the Massacre of St George's Fields. In 1771, he was instrumental in obliging the government to concede the right of printers to publish verbatim accounts of parliamentary debates. In 1776, he introduced the first bill for parliamentary reform in the British Parliament. During the American War of Independence, Wilkes was a supporter of the Patriots, who in turned admired his beliefs and support for their cause. In 1780 he commanded militia forces which helped put down the Gordon Riots, damaging his popularity with many British radicals. This marked a turning point, leading him to embrace increasingly conservative policies which caused dissatisfaction among the radical low- to middle-income landowners. This was instrumental in the loss of his Middlesex parliamentary seat in the 1790 general election. At the age of 65, Wilkes retired from politics and took no part in the social reforms following the French Revolution, such as Catholic emancipation in the 1790s. During his life, he earned a reputation as a libertine.
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Josep Puig i Cadafalch
Josep Puig i Cadafalch (Catalan: [ʒuˈzɛp ˈpudʒ i kəðəˈfalk]; 17 October 1867 in Mataró – 21 December 1956 in Barcelona) was a Spanish architect who designed many significant buildings in Barcelona, and a politician who had a significant role in the development of Catalan regional institutions.
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Joseph Bowie
Joseph Bowie (born October 17, 1953) is an American jazz trombonist and vocalist. The brother of trumpeter Lester Bowie, Joseph is known for leading the jazz-punk group Defunkt and for membership in the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.
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José Alencar
José Alencar Gomes da Silva (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ alẽˈkaʁ ˈɡõmiz dɐ ˈsiwvɐ]; 17 October 1931 – 29 March 2011) was a Brazilian businessman, entrepreneur and politician who served as the 23rd vice president of Brazil from 1 January 2003 to 1 January 2011. In business from a young age, Alencar became a self-made multimillionaire as the chief executive of Coteminas, a leading textile manufacturer. In the 1990s, Alencar groomed his son to succeed him at the company. He opted to enter politics in his home state, Minas Gerais. Alencar had a business-oriented political platform, advocating market liberalization and deregulation of production. His expensive political campaigns received hefty funds from Coteminas. After a failed run in 1994 for governor of Minas Gerais, he won the election in 1998 as Senator representing his home state. In 2002, Alencar was invited by the left-wing Workers' Party to run for vice president on the same ticket as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The alliance between the leftist union leader and Alencar, an experienced entrepreneur, proved successful. They won the 2002 Brazilian general election and were re-elected in 2006. Over the years, Lula da Silva and Alencar developed a close and affectionate friendship. Diagnosed with cancer of the stomach and kidney in 1997, Alencar died of the disease in 2011. Alencar came to be revered among journalists and politicians for his spirited personality and friendly demeanor. He overcame his lack of formal education. Based on his business success, he argued in favor of lower taxes, especially indirect taxation over consumers, and a simpler tax system; lower interest rates and greater oversight of the banking industry; and social welfare and assistance programs. As Vice President, Alencar sometimes spoke out against his own government's orthodox policies, causing embarrassment for fellow administration members. His unwavering determination to live in the face of terminal cancer also marked public perception, during and after his time in office.
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José E. Díaz
José Eduvigis Díaz Vera (17 October 1833 – 7 February 1867) was a Paraguayan general. Díaz was born in the town of Cerro Verá east of Pirayú in the department of Paraguarí. His parents were Juan Andrés Díaz and Dolores Vera. In 1852 he joined the militia and later led Battalion #40 of the police. He became the police chief in Asunción and first distinguished himself on raids across the Paraná River at Corrientes in the spring of 1866 during the Paraguayan War. Díaz was the hero of the September 22, 1866 battle of Curupaity, leading a humiliating defeat of the allied forces. Barely four months later, however, on 26 January 1867, a Brazilian shell exploded over general Díaz's canoe while he was fishing in the Paraguay River, outside the camp at Curupayty. President Francisco Solano López visited the wounded Díaz every day. Díaz's leg was amputated by doctors, but he still died on 7 February 1867. In addition to the battle of Curupayty, Díaz participated in the battles of Pehuajó, Estero Bellaco, Tuyutí (in which he commanded the Paraguayans against the combined allied forces), Boquerón, and Sauce. After his death, his coffin was brought to Asunción, where the town accompanied it to its resting place in the Recoleta neighborhood. In 1939, Díaz's remains were deposited in an urn in the National Pantheon of the Heroes, along with the remains of Carlos Antonio López.
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José López Rega
José López Rega (17 November 1916 – 9 June 1989) was an Argentine politician who served as Minister of Social Welfare from 1973 to 1975, first under Juan Perón and continuing under Isabel Perón, Juan Perón's third wife and presidential successor. Lopez Rega exercised an allegedly Rasputin-like power and influence over Isabel Perón during her presidency, and used both this and his unique access to become the de facto political boss of Argentina. His orthodox Peronist and far-right politics and interest in occultism earned him the nickname El Brujo ("the Warlock"). López Rega had one daughter, Norma Beatriz, who went on to become the spouse of President Raúl Lastiri.
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José María Álvarez del Manzano
José María Álvarez del Manzano y López del Hierro (born 17 October 1937) is a Spanish politician for the People's Party. Although born in Seville he has lived in Madrid since he was 3 years old. He studied at the Jesuit Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo. He became the Mayor of Madrid in 1991, a position that he held until 2003. He chaired the board of IFEMA (Institute for Exhibitions and Fairs Madrid) for 24 years, until 2015. He is married to María Eulalia Miró Ramírez and has four children. Under his government the idea of the nomination of Madrid as host city for the 2012 Olympic Games was launched. 28 tunnels were built crossing the city from below. His government left both many trenches as well as many unresolved problems such as street prostitution, traffic chaos and rising housing prices. He was also remembered by his affection for folklore and Casticismo madrileño.
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Juan Lavalle
Juan Galo Lavalle (Spanish pronunciation: [xuˈan ˈɡalo laˈβaʎe]; 17 October 1797 – 9 October 1841) was an Argentine military and political figure from the Unitarian Party.
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Julie Adams
Julie Adams (born Betty May Adams; October 17, 1926 – February 3, 2019) was an American actress, billed as Julia Adams in her early career, primarily known for her numerous television guest roles. She starred in a number of films in the 1950s, including Bend of the River (1952), opposite James Stewart; and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). Adams also had an extensive television career including roles as Paula Denning on the 1980s soap opera Capitol, and Eve Simpson on Murder, She Wrote.
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Jupiter Hammon
Jupiter Hammon (October 17, 1711 – c. 1806) was an American writer who is known as a founder of African-American literature, as his poem published in 1761 in New York was the first by an African American man in North America. He subsequently published both poetry and prose. In addition, he was a preacher and a commercial clerk on Long Island, New York. Born into slavery at the Lloyd Manor on Long Island, Hammon learned to read and write. In 1761, at nearly 50, Hammon published his first poem, "An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries". He was the first African-American poet published in North America. Also a well-known and well-respected preacher and clerk-bookkeeper, he gained wide circulation for his poems about slavery. As a devoted Christian evangelist, Hammon used his biblical foundation to criticize the institution of slavery.
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Kenji Miyamoto
Kenji Miyamoto (宮本 顕治, Miyamoto Kenji; 17 October 1908 – 18 July 2007) was a Japanese communist politician. He was the leader of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) from 1958 to 1977.
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Kenneth Omeruo
Kenneth Josiah Omeruo (born 17 October 1993) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a defender. Omeruo signed for Chelsea from Standard Liège in January 2012 and upon signing went on loan to Dutch top-flight side ADO Den Haag. Then only 19, he impressed enough in the Eredivisie to earn a call up to the Nigerian national team. Now a regular international, Omeruo has represented Nigeria at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. Omeruo cemented a place in the starting line-up at the Africa Cup of Nations as the Super Eagles emerged victorious in the tournament. In 2019 he scored his first goal in the Africa Cup of Nations against Guinea. He was a key part of the Super Eagles team that won the bronze medal in 2019.
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Leopoldo Benites
Leopoldo Benites (17 October 1905 – 1 January 1996) was an Ecuadorian diplomat who served as the 28th President of the United Nations General Assembly in 1973. He had been the permanent representative of Ecuador since October 1960.
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Louis Charles, Count of Beaujolais
Louis Charles Alphonse Léodgard d'Orléans, Count of Beaujolais (7 October 1779 – 30 May 1808) was a French prince of the blood, son of Philippe Égalité and the younger brother of King Louis-Philippe I of the French.
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Louis-Léon Cugnot
Louis-Léon Cugnot (Paris 17 October 1835 – 19 August 1894) was a French sculptor.
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Luiz Bonfá
Luiz Floriano Bonfá (17 October 1922 – 12 January 2001) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He was best known for the music he composed for the film Black Orpheus.
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Lý Nam Đế
Lý Nam Đế (chữ Hán: 李南帝, c. 503 – 13 April 548), personal name Lý Bôn or Lý Bí (李賁), was the founding emperor of the Early Lý dynasty of Vietnam, ruling from 544 to 548. He was originally a magistrate of the Chinese Liang dynasty in Jiaozhou.
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Marcela Bovio
Marcela Alejandra Bovio García (born October 17, 1979) is a Mexican singer, violinist and songwriter who is currently a member of the Dutch symphonic metal bands Stream of Passion (since 2005) and MaYaN (since 2017). In 1995, she joined Hydra, a Mexican metal band, singing and playing violin. In 1999 they released an EP called "Bosquejo". After leaving them, Bovio co-founded the Mexican experimental rock band Elfonía in 2001, which was active until 2006. In 2003, she responded to a "casting call" by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen for relatively unknown singers, who chose her to play the character of Wife in the Ayreon album The Human Equation. In 2005, he also picked her for his new project, the progressive metal band Stream of Passion. The band released their debut album, Embrace the Storm, the same year, with Bovio acting as sole lyricist. Lucassen left the band to continue on its own in 2007; this resulted in Bovio acting as band leader and one of the main songwriters (including for composition) on subsequent albums. Stream of Passion initially disbanded in December 2016, but reformed in October 2022. In September 2016, Bovio independently released her first solo album, Unprecedented, a classical album consisting of original songs she wrote; it was followed by Through Your Eyes in 2018. She joined MaYaN as a full-time member in 2017, after regular collaborations with the band since 2013. She regularly acts as backing vocalist for other bands, notably Epica and The Gentle Storm, and was also one of the founding members of VUUR in 2016.
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Margarita Liborio Arrazola
Margarita Liborio Arrazola (born 17 October 1964) is a Mexican politician from the Institutional Revolutionary Party. From 2009 to 2012 she served as Deputy of the LXI Legislature of the Mexican Congress representing Oaxaca.
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Maria Dulęba
Maria Zofia Dulęba (17 October 1881– 6 May 1959) was a Polish stage and film actress. She made her stage debut in 1902 and performed in a number of films, mostly in the silent era. She later taught drama.
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Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini
Maria Teresa Agnesi Pinottini (Italian pronunciation: [maˈriːa teˈrɛːza aɲˈɲeːzi pinotˈtiːni, -ɲɛːz-]; née Agnesi; 17 October 1720 – 19 January 1795) was an Italian composer. Though she was most famous for her compositions, she was also an accomplished harpsichordist and singer, and the majority of her surviving compositions were written for keyboard, the voice, or both.
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Marina Núñez del Prado
Marina Núñez del Prado (17 October 1910 – 9 September 1995) was a celebrated Bolivian sculptor. One of the most respected sculptors from Latin America, she based many of her sculptures off of the female form as well as taking inspiration from animals and landscapes native to Bolivia. Her work is highly sensuous, with rolling curves. She carved from native Bolivian woods, as well as black granite, alabaster, basalt and white onyx. Perhaps one of her most famous works is White Venus (1960), a stylized female body in white onyx. Another celebrated work is Mother and Child, sculpted in white onyx. Indigenous Bolivian cultures inspired much of her work.
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Matthew Knies
Matthew Michael Knies ( NYZE; born October 17, 2002) is an American professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Knies was drafted 57th overall by the Maple Leafs in the 2021 NHL entry draft.
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Michelle Ang
Michelle Ang (born 17 October 1983) is an actress, director and producer from New Zealand. Working mainly in film and television, she has won various professional accolades, including Best Actress at the New Zealand Film & Television Awards and Best Director at Show Me Shorts. Ang's acting work has also been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the US and a Logie in Australia. On television, her notable roles include Omega in Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Lori Lee in Australian soap opera Neighbours, and Alex in Fear the Walking Dead: Flight 462. On film, Ang has had leading and supporting roles in a range of dramas and comedies. As a supporting cast member in Hollywood movies, she has performed alongside actors such as Woody Harrelson, Kate Winslet, Martin Lawrence, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Gal Gadot, Mark Wahlberg and Aaron Paul. She has also worked for directors such as Steven Soderbergh, Jodie Foster, Shane Black and Jane Campion. In recent years, Ang's work has widened into directing and producing. She is a member of the Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand (DEGANZ). She nurtures young talent in her industry, as a guest mentor for the charitable filmmaking project Day One, based in Auckland. Ang also runs her own media production company called A Grain Of Rice.
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Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes
José Miguel Ramón Ydígoras Fuentes (17 October 1895 – 27 October 1982) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the 32nd president of Guatemala from 1958 to March 1963. He was also the main challenger to Jacobo Árbenz during the 1950 presidential election. Ydígoras previously served as the governor of the province of San Marcos.
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Mikha'il Na'ima
Mikha'il Nu'ayma (Arabic: ميخائيل نعيمة, ALA-LC: Mīkhāʼīl Nuʻaymah; US legal name: Michael Joseph Naimy), better known in English by his pen name Mikhail Naimy (October 17, 1889 – February 28, 1988), was a Lebanese poet, novelist, and philosopher, famous for his spiritual writings, notably The Book of Mirdad. He is widely recognized as one of the most important figures in modern Arabic literature and one of the most important spiritual writers of the 20th century. In 1920, Naimy re-formed the New York Pen League, along with its original founders Nasib Arida and Abd al-Masih Haddad, and other Mahjari literary figures such as Kahlil Gibran.
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Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift (October 17, 1920 – July 23, 1966) was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men", according to The New York Times. He is best remembered for his roles in Howard Hawks's Red River (1948), George Stevens's A Place in the Sun (1951), Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity (1953), Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and John Huston's The Misfits (1961). Along with Marlon Brando and James Dean, Clift was considered one of the original method actors in Hollywood (though Clift distanced himself from the term); he was one of the first actors to be invited to study in the Actors Studio with Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan. Clift's decision to sign a contract only after his first two films were a success created "a power differential that would go on to structure the star–studio relationship for the next 40 years".
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Mustafa Aberchán
Mustafa Hamed Mohamed (October 17, 1959) is a Spanish politician who served as the Mayor-President of Melilla from 5 July 1999 to 19 July 2000, and is the leader of Coalition for Melilla. Aberchán was convicted of vote buying by the Supreme Court of Spain in 2021, and was arrested for vote buying in 2024.
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Mário Wilson
Mário Wilson (Portuguese pronunciation: ['maɾju]; 17 October 1929 – 3 October 2016) was a Portuguese football player and manager. A central defender or forward, he appeared in 286 Primeira Liga matches over 14 seasons, mainly in representation of Académica. He also played for Desportivo de Lourenço Marques and Sporting CP. Subsequently, Wilson embarked in a lengthy managerial career in the country, which lasted more than 30 years and also included two spells at his main club, and a record five at Benfica.
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Nathan Field
Nathan Field (also spelled Feild occasionally; 17 October 1587 – 1620) was an English dramatist and actor.
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Oliver Rackham
Oliver Rackham (17 October 1939 – 12 February 2015) was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books included Ancient Woodland (1980) and The History of the Countryside (1986).
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Omar Azziman
Omar Azziman (born 17 October 1947, Tétouan), is an advisor to Mohammed VI, King of Morocco.
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Osvaldo Castro
Osvaldo Castro Pelayo (born 14 April 1947) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played league football for clubs in Chile and Mexico, as well as playing international football for the Chile national team.
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Owen Arthur
Owen Seymour Arthur (17 October 1949 – 27 July 2020) was a Barbadian politician who served as the fifth prime minister of Barbados from 6 September 1994 to 15 January 2008. He is the longest-serving Barbadian prime minister to date. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1 August 1993 to 6 September 1994 and from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013. Arthur was a firm advocate for regional integration and cooperation among the countries of the Caribbean. He was described by CARICOM as the chief architect of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy. He argued in favour of making the Caribbean Court of Justice the final court of appeal for countries of the Caribbean, and he advocated for the University of the West Indies, regional airline LIAT, and projection of resistance against infringement on sovereignty by large nations.
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Paolo Campinoti
Paolo Campinoti (born 17 October 1990) is an Italian footballer, who plays as a left midfielder for S.S.D. Massese.
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Paul Derringer
Samuel Paul Derringer (October 17, 1906 – November 17, 1987) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three National League teams from 1931 to 1945, primarily the Cincinnati Reds. He won 20 games for Cincinnati four times between 1935 and 1940, peaking with a 25–7 season in 1939 as the Reds won the NL pennant for the first time in 20 years. His 161 victories with Cincinnati are the club record for a right-hander, and rank second in franchise history to Eppa Rixey's 179; he also held the team record for career strikeouts when his career ended. His 579 games pitched ranked eighth in NL history when he retired, and his average of 1.88 walks per 9 innings pitched ranked behind only Christy Mathewson (1.59) and Grover Cleveland Alexander (1.65) among pitchers with 3000 innings in the NL since 1900.
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Philippe Barbarin
Philippe Xavier Christian Ignace Marie Barbarin (French pronunciation: [filip baʁbaʁɛ̃]; born 17 October 1950) is a French Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Lyon from 2002 to 2020. He was made a cardinal in 2003. He was convicted in 2019 of failing to report alleged sex abuse by a priest and was given a suspended six-month prison sentence. The same year, Barbarin turned the archdiocese over to an administrator while he appealed his case. His conviction was overturned in 2020 but Pope Francis accepted his resignation just over a month later.
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Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny
Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ alɛksɑ̃dʁ mɔ̃siɲi]; (1729-10-17)17 October 1729 – (1817-01-14)14 January 1817) was a French composer and a member of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts (1813). He is considered alongside André Grétry and François-André Danican Philidor to have been the founder of a new musical genre, the opéra comique, laying a path for other French composers such as François-Adrien Boieldieu, Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, Charles Gounod, Georges Bizet, and Jules Massenet in this genre.
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Prince René of Bourbon-Parma
Prince René of Bourbon-Parma (17 October 1894 – 30 July 1962) was the seventh surviving son of Robert I, Duke of Parma, and his second wife, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal. In 1921, he married Princess Margaret of Denmark. They had four children including Anne, the wife of Michael I, former King of Romania.
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Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia
Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia (17 October [O.S. 5 October] 1896 – 23 October 1978) was a member of the House of Romanov.
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Priscilla Buckley
Priscilla Langford Buckley (October 17, 1921 – March 25, 2012) was an American journalist and author who was the longtime managing editor of National Review.
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Raffaele Bendandi
Raffaele Bendandi (17 October 1893 – 3 November 1979) was an Italian clockmaker known for his predictions of earthquakes. Bendandi was self-taught and never published a verifiable scientific exposition of his theory.
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René Dif
René Dif (born 17 October 1967) is a Danish musician, singer-songwriter, DJ and actor, best known as the male vocalist of the Danish-Norwegian Eurodance group Aqua.
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Richard Mentor Johnson
Richard Mentor Johnson (October 17, 1780 – November 19, 1850) was an American lawyer, military officer, and politician who served as the ninth vice president of the United States from 1837 to 1841 under President Martin Van Buren. He is the only vice president elected by the United States Senate under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment. Johnson also represented Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. He began and ended his political career in the Kentucky House of Representatives. After two years in the Kentucky House, Johnson was elected to the U.S. House in 1806. He allied with fellow Kentuckian Henry Clay as a member of the War Hawks faction that favored war with Britain in 1812. At the outset of the War of 1812, Johnson was commissioned a colonel in the Kentucky Militia and commanded a regiment of mounted volunteers from 1812 to 1813. He and his brother James served under William Henry Harrison in Upper Canada. Johnson led troops in the Battle of the Thames. Many reported that he personally killed the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, a claim that he later used to his political advantage. After the war, Johnson returned to the House of Representatives. The state legislature appointed him to the Senate in 1819 to fill the seat vacated by John J. Crittenden. With his increasing prominence, Johnson was criticized for his interracial relationship with Julia Chinn, a mixed-race slave who was classified as octoroon (or seven-eighths white). Unlike other upper-class planters and leaders who had African-American mistresses or concubines, but never acknowledged them, Johnson treated Chinn as his common law wife. He acknowledged their two daughters as his children, giving them his surname, much to the consternation of some of his constituents. It is believed that because of this, the state legislature picked another candidate for the Senate in 1828, forcing Johnson to leave in 1829, but his Congressional district voted for him and returned him to the House the same year. In the 1836 election, Johnson was the Democratic nominee for vice-president on a ticket with Martin Van Buren. Campaigning with the slogan "Rumpsey Dumpsey, Rumpsey Dumpsey, Colonel Johnson killed Tecumseh", Johnson fell one short of the electoral votes needed to secure his election. Virginia's delegation to the Electoral College refused to endorse Johnson, voting instead for William Smith of South Carolina. The Senate elected him to the vice-presidential office. Due to his relationships with several Black or mixed-race women, including his common-law wife Julia Chinn, Johnson proved such a burden for the Democrats in the 1836 election that they refused to renominate him for vice president in 1840. Van Buren campaigned for reelection without a running mate. He lost to William Henry Harrison, a Whig. Johnson then served two more years in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He tried to return to higher office but was defeated. He finally was elected to the Kentucky House in 1850, but died on November 19, 1850, just two weeks into his term.
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Rita Hayworth
Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918 – May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer, and pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films over 38 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth after she became the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the second top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II, after Betty Grable. Hayworth is widely known for her performance in the 1946 film noir Gilda, opposite Glenn Ford, in which she played the femme fatale in her first major dramatic role. She is also known for her performances in Only Angels Have Wings (1939), The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Blood and Sand (1941), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Pal Joey (1957), and Separate Tables (1958). Fred Astaire, with whom she made two films, You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942), once called her his favorite dance partner. She also starred in the Technicolor musical Cover Girl (1944), with Gene Kelly. She is listed as one of the top 25 female motion picture stars of all time in the American Film Institute's survey AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Hayworth received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1645 Vine Street in 1960. In 1980, Hayworth was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, which contributed to her death in 1987 at age 68. The public disclosure and discussion of her illness drew attention to Alzheimer's and helped increase public and private funding for research into the disease.
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Robert Lowery
Robert Lowery (born Robert Lowery Hanks, October 17, 1913 – December 26, 1971) was an American motion picture, television, and stage actor who appeared in more than 70 films. He was the second actor to play Batman, appearing as the character in the 1949 film serial Batman and Robin.
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Robert Williams III
Robert Lee Williams III (born October 17, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas A&M Aggies. Williams was drafted 27th overall in the 2018 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. He had a breakout season in 2021–22, which saw him being named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team and reaching the NBA Finals as the Celtics' starting center.
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Ronni Chasen
Ronni Sue Chasen (October 17, 1946 – November 16, 2010) was an American publicist, who once represented such actors as Michael Douglas, as well as musicians such as Hans Zimmer and Mark Isham, among others. Chasen directed the Academy Award campaigns for more than 100 films during her career, including Driving Miss Daisy in 1989 and The Hurt Locker in 2009. Chasen was shot and killed on November 16, 2010, while driving home from the premiere of the film Burlesque. Police initially suspected that that her death was the result of a contract killing by an expert marksman but later concluded that unemployed felon Harold Martin Smith killed Chasen during a random robbery. On December 2, 2010, Smith died by suicide after detectives attempted to approach him at his residence in Beverly Hills.
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Roy Kilner
Roy Kilner (17 October 1890 – 5 April 1928) was an English professional cricketer who played nine Test matches for England between 1924 and 1926. An all-rounder, he played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1911 and 1927. In all first-class matches, he scored 14,707 runs at an average of 30.01 and took 1,003 wickets at an average of 18.45. Kilner scored 1,000 runs in a season ten times and took 100 wickets in a season five times. On four occasions, he completed the double: scoring 1,000 runs and taking 100 wickets in the same season, recognised as a sign of a quality all-rounder. Kilner first played for Yorkshire as a batsman before the First World War, establishing a regular place in the side. After being wounded in the war, he returned in 1919 to a Yorkshire side which was short of bowlers. As a result, Kilner began to practise his bowling to the point where he became highly regarded as a slow left-arm bowler. His aggressive batting and warm personality made him a popular player with both cricketers and spectators. His form brought selection by England in 1924 and a visit to Australia for the Ashes tour of 1924–25. Although the second most successful bowler of the tour, his bowling subsequently declined in effectiveness, and did not trouble batsmen on good pitches. He was selected during the 1926 Ashes but dropped for the final Test. Kilner went on several coaching trips to India during English winters, and on one of these, in 1928, he contracted an illness; on his return to England, he died aged 37. His funeral was attended by over 100,000 people and there was widespread sadness at his death.
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Rubén Garcés
Rubén Santiago Garcés Riquelme (born October 17, 1973) is a Panamanian professional basketball player. He last played for the Mets de Guaynabo of Puerto Rico. A 6'9" power forward/center, he played US college basketball with Navarro Junior College in Texas, and with Providence College in Rhode Island, and had a brief career in the NBA in the 2000-01 season, playing with Phoenix and Golden State. He has also played in the American CBA, the Spanish ACB, in Argentina, Venezuela, and France.
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Rubén Ramírez
Rubén Darío Ramírez (born 17 October 1982 in Margarita, Santa Fe) is an Argentine football striker who plays for Huracán FC de Vera.
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Sami Lepistö
Sami Lepistö (born 17 October 1984) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman. He is the son of former Jokerit captain and youth international defenceman Jussi Lepistö. Sami was drafted by the Washington Capitals in the third round, 66th overall, in the 2004 NHL entry draft.
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Santiago Stevenson
Panamanian singer and minister (died 2007)
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Sathima Bea Benjamin
Beatrice "Sathima Bea" Benjamin (17 October 1936 – 20 August 2013) was a South African vocalist and composer based in New York City for nearly 45 years.
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Sebastián Abreu
Washington Sebastián Abreu Gallo (Spanish pronunciation: [seβasˈtjan aˈβɾew]; born 17 October 1976), nicknamed El Loco (The Madman), is a Uruguayan football manager and former footballer who played as a striker. He is the head coach of Mexican club Tijuana. Over the course of a 26-year professional career, Abreu represented a record 32 clubs across 11 countries, playing 700 league matches and scoring 338 goals. He won honours with San Lorenzo and River Plate in Argentina, Nacional in Uruguay, Botafogo in Brazil, and Santa Tecla in El Salvador. He was also the top scorer in four seasons separate seasons in the Mexican league. On the international stage, Abreu made 70 appearances for the Uruguay national team, scoring 26 times. He represented Uruguay at the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2010, and at the Copa América in 1997, 2007 and 2011, becoming a champion in the latter.
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Segundo de Chomón
Segundo Víctor Aurelio Chomón y Ruiz (also Chomont or Chaumont, French: [ʃomɔ̃]; 17 October 1871 – 2 May 1929) was a pioneering Spanish-French film director, cinematographer and screenwriter. He produced many short films in France while working for Pathé Frères and has been compared to Georges Méliès, due to his frequent camera tricks and optical illusions. He is regarded as the most significant Spanish silent film director in an international context.
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Sergio Goycochea
Sergio Javier Goycochea (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈseɾxjo xaˈβjeɾ ɣojkoˈtʃea]; born 17 October 1963) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best known for helping his country reach the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final with his penalty kick saves.
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Sergiy Gladyr
Sergiy Viktorovych Gladyr (Ukrainian: Сергій Вікторович Гладир; born 17 October 1988) is a Ukrainian professional basketball coach and former player. He is currently the interim head coach for AS Monaco of the French LNB Élite and the EuroLeague. He was selected with the 49th overall pick by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2009 NBA draft.
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Shaun Edwards
Shaun Edwards, OBE (born 17 October 1966) is an English rugby union coach and former rugby league footballer, who is the defence coach for the France national team. A scrum-half or stand-off, Edwards is the most decorated player in rugby league history, with 37 winner's medals. In 2015, he was the 25th person inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame. Edwards captained England in both rugby league and rugby union at schoolboy level. He played for Wigan in the first division and Super League between 1983 and 1997, and also had spells with Balmain Tigers, London Broncos (twice) and Bradford Bulls. Playing for Wigan, Edwards won a record eight championships, and a record nine Challenge Cups. In total he played in eleven Challenge Cup finals, also a record. He was voted Man of Steel in 1990 and is an inductee of the Wigan Hall of Fame. Edwards played 36 times for Great Britain, as well as for England in 1995 and 1996 and Ireland in 1998. In all, he appeared in three Rugby League World Cups. After retiring from playing he joined London Wasps in rugby union as assistant coach in 2001, and was head coach from 2005 to 2011. During his time at the club, they won two Heineken Cups, four Premiership titles, an Anglo-Welsh trophy and the European Challenge Cup. In 2008, he became Wales' defence coach, and won four Six Nations championships, including three Grand Slams. He was also defence coach for the British & Irish Lions on their tour of South Africa in 2009. He joined France in 2020 and won the Grand Slam in 2022 and the Six Nations title in 2025 and again, in 2026.
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Shinichi Suzuki
Shinichi Suzuki (鈴木 鎮一, Suzuki Shin'ichi; 17 October 1898 – 26 January 1998) was a Japanese violinist, philosopher, composer, and educator and the founder of the international Suzuki method of music education and developed a philosophy for educating people of all ages and abilities. An influential pedagogue in music education of children, he often spoke of the ability of all children to learn things well, especially in the right environment, and of developing the heart and building the character of music students through their music education. Before his time, it was rare for children to be formally taught classical instruments from an early age and even more rare for children to be accepted by a music teacher without an audition or entrance examination. Not only did he endeavor to teach children the violin from infancy and early childhood, his school in Matsumoto also did not screen applicants for their ability for admittance. Suzuki was also responsible for the early training of some of the earliest Japanese violinists to be successfully appointed to prominent western classical music organizations. During his lifetime, he received several honorary doctorates in music including from the New England Conservatory of Music (1956), and the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. He was proclaimed a Living National Treasure of Japan, and in 1993 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Sophie von Dönhoff
Countess Sophie Friederike Juliane von Dönhoff (17 October 1768 – 28 January 1838) was a German lady-in-waiting and a morganatic spouse by bigamy to King Frederick William II of Prussia.
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Spring Byington
Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was an MGM contract player who appeared in films from the 1930s to the 1960s. Byington received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Penelope Sycamore in You Can't Take It with You (1938).
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Stephen Kovacevich
Stephen Kovacevich (born October 17, 1940) is an American classical pianist and conductor. He is particularly celebrated for his recordings of works by Beethoven, Bartók, and Schubert, and is known for technical skill, clarity of playing, and an intelligent approach to interpretation.
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Steve Jones
Stephen Howard "Snapper" Jones Sr. (October 17, 1942 – November 25, 2017) was an American basketball player in the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA), and later a television analyst. He was a three-time ABA All-Star. Jones' brother Nick also played in the ABA and NBA. During his time in the ABA, Jones picked up the moniker "Snapper" but he never revealed how it came to be.
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Sydney Chapman
Sir Sydney Brookes Chapman (17 October 1935 – 9 October 2014) was a British Conservative Party politician and architect who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Handsworth and Chipping Barnet.
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Syed Ahmad Khan
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898), also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu–Muslim unity, he later became the pioneer of Muslim nationalism in India and is widely credited as the father of the two-nation theory, which formed the basis of the Pakistan movement. Born into a family with strong ties to the Mughal court, Ahmad studied science and the Quran within the court. He was awarded an honorary LLD from the University of Edinburgh in 1889. In 1838, Syed Ahmad entered the service of East India Company and went on to become a judge at a Small Causes Court in 1867, retiring from this position in 1876. During the Indian Mutiny of 1857, he remained loyal to the British Raj and was noted for his actions in saving European lives. After the rebellion, he penned the booklet The Causes of the Indian Mutiny – a daring critique, at the time, of various British policies that he blamed for causing the revolt. Believing that the future of Muslims was threatened by the rigidity of their orthodox outlook, Sir Ahmad began promoting Western–style scientific education by founding modern schools and journals and organising Islamic entrepreneurs. He founded Victoria School at Ghazipur in 1863 and a scientific society for Muslims in 1864. In 1875, he founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, the first Muslim university in Southern Asia. During his career, Syed repeatedly called upon Muslims to loyally serve the British Raj and promoted the adoption of Urdu as the lingua franca of all Indian Muslims. He disagreed with the Indian National Congress over parliamentary democracy, believing it would lack impartiality given the widespread communal tensions and limitations of education in South Asia. He remained committed to secularism and inclusive politics. Sir Syed maintains a strong legacy in Pakistan and among Indian Muslims. He became a source of inspiration for the Pakistan Movement and its activists, including Allama Iqbal and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. His advocacy of Islam's rationalist tradition, and a broader, radical reinterpretation of the Quran to make it compatible with science and modernity, continues to influence the global Islamic reformation. Many universities and public buildings in Pakistan bear Sir Syed's name. Aligarh Muslim University celebrated Sir Syed's 200th birth centenary with much enthusiasm on 17 October 2017.
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Theodor Eicke
Theodor Eicke (17 October 1892 – 26 February 1943) was a German military officer who served as both a senior SS functionary and a Waffen-SS divisional commander in Nazi Germany. He was a key figure in the development of Nazi concentration camps. Eicke served as the second commandant of the Dachau concentration camp from June 1933 to July 1934, and together with his adjutant Michael Lippert, was one of the executioners of SA Chief Ernst Röhm during the Night of the Long Knives purge of 1934. He continued to expand and develop the concentration camp system as the first Concentration Camps Inspector. In 1939, Eicke became commander of the SS Division Totenkopf of the Waffen-SS, leading the division during the Second World War on the Western and Eastern fronts. Eicke was killed on 26 February 1943, when his plane was shot down during the Third Battle of Kharkov.
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Thomas Strudwick
Thomas Strudwick (born 17 October 2001) is a British motorcycle road racer from West Sussex. During 2024, he raced in both the UK BMW F900 Cup national-level series winning the championship, and the inaugural National Sportbike Championship on a Triumph 765 where he finished third.
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William Anders
William Alison Anders (17 October 1933 – 7 June 2024) was a United States Air Force major general, electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, he was a member of the crew of Apollo 8, the first three people to leave low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon. Along with fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, he circled the Moon ten times, and broadcast live images and commentary back to Earth, including the Christmas Eve Genesis reading. During one of the mission's lunar orbits, he took the iconic Earthrise photograph. A 1955 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Anders was commissioned a second lieutenant in the USAF the same year and became a fighter pilot flying Northrop F-89 Scorpions equipped with AIR-2A nuclear-tipped air-to-air rockets. In 1962, he earned a Master of Science degree in nuclear engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) of Air University, and was sent to the Air Force Weapons Laboratory to manage the technical aspects of the service's nuclear reactor programs. Anders was the executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council from 1969 to 1973, a commissioner of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1973 to 1975, and chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1975 to 1976. He then became the United States Ambassador to Norway from 1976 to 1977. In September 1977, he joined General Electric (GE) as the vice president and general manager of its Nuclear Products Division and became the general manager of the GE Aircraft Equipment Division in 1980. He left GE to join Textron as executive vice president for aerospace, and two years later became senior executive vice president for operations. During his time in the Civil Service, he remained a USAF reserve officer and retained his active flight status. He retired from the reserve as a major general in 1988. In 1990, he became vice chairman of General Dynamics, and in 1991 its chairman and CEO. He retired as CEO in 1993 and as chairman in 1994. Anders died in a crash of his Beechcraft T-34 Mentor in June 2024 near the San Juan Islands.
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Yakiv Holovatsky
Yakiv Holovatsky (Ukrainian: Яків Головацький, Russian: Яков Головацкий, romanized: Yakov Golovatsky; 17 October 1814 – 13 May 1888) was a Galician historian, literary scholar, ethnographer, linguist, bibliographer, lexicographer, poet and leader of Galician Russophiles. He was a member of the Ruthenian Triad, one of the most influential Ukrainian literary groups in the Austrian Empire.
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Yekaterina Gamova
Yekaterina Aleksandrovna Gamova (Russian: Екатерина Александровна Гамова; born 17 October 1980) is a Russian retired volleyball player. She was a member of the Russian national team that won the gold medals at the 2006 and 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championships, and the silver medal in both the Athens 2004 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Due to her stature and dominance at the net, she has been hailed as the "Queen of Volleyball". She is 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) tall with EU size 49 feet, making her one of the tallest female athletes in the world. She is also the second highest paid female player in professional volleyball history. Her role was outside hitter/opposite.
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Ángel Cristo
Ángel Papadopoulos Dordi (17 October 1944 in Huelva – 4 May 2010 in Madrid) was a Spanish circus performer as lion tamer. In 1980 he married Spanish film and television actress Bárbara Rey with whom he had two children, Ángel Cristo Jr. (1981) and Sofía Cristo (1983). They worked together in his circus in different shows. He was a drunk and abusive towards Bárbara. They divorced in 1988. On 3 May 2010 he was admitted to the University Hospital of Alcorcón after suffering multiple cardiac arrests. He died on 4 May as a result of a final heart attack.
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