Historical Events -  August 17

1936    : British parliament accepts registration of birth, marriage and death.

1945    : Indinesia gained independence from Netherland.

1947    : Radcliffe line, border between India and Pakistan was revealed.

1953    : First meeting of Narcotic Anonymous took place in south California.

1988    : President of Pakistan Mohammad Zia ul Haq and U S ambassador Arnold Rafel were killed in a plane crash.

1999    : A massive earthquake hit northwestern Turkey, killing more than 14000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands without homes and essential services.

2005    : American swimmer Michael Phelps became the first person to win eight gold medals at one Olympic game.

 

Famous Birthdays   – August 17  

1778 : Muhammad Shah, Mughal Emperor of India.

1866 : Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI. Indian sixth Nizam of Hyderabad.

1926 : Jiang Zemin, Chinese engineer and politician, former general secretary of the communist party of china, 5^th president of china.

1932 : V S Naipaul, Trinidadian writer and novelist.

1941 : Y Venugopal Reddy, Former Governor of Reserve bank of India.

1943 : Robert de Niro, American Actor. Star of many films including The Godfather, The Deer hunter, Ragging Bull, and Cape Fear.

1944 : Larry Ellison, American businessman, co-founder of Oracle Corporation.

1963 : S. Shankar. One of the highest paid film director of Indian Cinema.

 

Death Anniversaries  – August 17

1304 : Emperor Go-Fukasuka of Japan.

1850  : Jose de San Martin, An Argentine military commander who ruled all over southern America. Considered a national hero in Peru and Argentina.

1909 : Madan Lal Dhingra, Indian Revolutionary.

1935 : Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Utopian feminist and civil rights leader.

1988 : Mohammad Zia ul Haq, former president of Pakistan.

2006 : Shamsur Rehman, Bengali Poet.

2020: Pandit Jasraj, an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the Mewati gharana.