December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in Leap Year s) in the Gregorian Calendar . There are 14 days remaining.
- 283 - St Gaius becomes Pope .
- 384 - St Siricius becomes Pope .
- 1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor Of Japan .
- rise against Daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu .
- 1843 - Charles Dickens ' '' A Christmas Carol '' is first published.
- issues '' General Order No. 11 '', expelling Jews from Tennessee , Mississippi , and Kentucky .
- 1903 - The Wright Brothers make the first powered heavier-than-air flight in the '' Wright Flyer '' at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina .
- 1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires Copyright Treaty .
- 1935 - First flight of the Douglas DC-3 Airplane .
- - The '' Admiral Graf Spee '' is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo .
- - Malmédy Massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper .
- - India seizes Goa from Portugal .
- 1967 - Prime Minister Of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria .
- closes its study of UFOs , stating that sightings were generated as a result of 'A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, Psychopathological persons, and Misidentification of various conventional objects'.
- , soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing hundreds.
- 1978 - The Workers Party Of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe .
- 1981 - Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy .
- 1983 - The IRA bomb Harrods Department Store in London , killing seven people.
- 1989 - The first episode of '' The Simpsons '' airs on FOX .
- 1989 - with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party 's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
- 2002 - Second Congo War : The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and prrresidential elections within two years.
- 2003 - SpaceShipOne Flight 11P , piloted by Brian Binnie , makes the first privately-funded manned supersonic flight.
- 2003 - '''' is released worldwide.
- 2004 - Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events is released in theaters.
- 2005 - Anti- WTO protesters Riot in Wan Chai , Hong Kong
- 1239 - Kujo Yoritsugu , Japanese Shogun (d. 1256 )
- 1267 - Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (d. 1324 )
- 1619 - Prince Rupert , Royalist commander in the English Civil War (d. 1682 )
- 1632 - Anthony Wood , English antiqurian (d. 1695 )
- 1685 - Thomas Tickell , English writer (d. 1740 )
- 1706 - Émilie Du Châtelet , French mathematician and physicist (d. 1749 )
- 1734 - Maria I Of Portugal , Portuguese queen (d. 1816 )
- 1749 - Domenico Cimarosa , Italian composer (d. 1801 )
- 1770 - ( Baptism ) - Ludwig Van Beethoven , German composer (d. 1827 )
- 1778 - Sir Humphry Davy , British chemist and physicist (d. 1829 )
- 1796 - Thomas Chandler Haliburton , Canadian novelist (d. 1865 )
- 1799 - Titian Peale , American artist (d. 1885 )
- 1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier , American poet and abolitionist (d. 1892 )
- 1830 - Jules De Goncourt , French publisher (d. 1870 )
- 1853 - Émile Roux , French physician (d. 1933 )
- 1859 - Paul César Helleu , French artist (d. 1927 )
- 1873 - Ford Madox Ford , British writer (d. 1939 )
- 1874 - William Lyon Mackenzie King , tenth Prime Minister Of Canada (d. 1950 )
- 1883 - Raimu , French actor (d. 1946 )
- 1887 - Josef Lada , Czech painter (d. 1957 )
- 1888 - King Alexander I Of Yugoslavia (d. 1934 )
- 1892 - Sam Barry , American basketball coach (d. 1950 )
- 1893 - Erwin Piscator , German film director (d. 1966 )
- 1894 - Arthur Fiedler , American conductor (d. 1979 )
- 1901 - Lee Strasberg , Austrian-born actor and director (d. 1982 )
- 1903 - Erskine Caldwell , American author (d. 1987 )
- 1903 - Ray Noble , British bandleader, composer, arranger and actor (d. 1978 )
- 1906 - Simo Häyhä , Finnish sniper (d. 2002 )
- 1908 - Willard Frank Libby , American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980 )
- 1911 - André Claveau , French singer (d. 2003 )
- 1916 - Penelope Fitzgerald , British writer (d. 2000 )
- 1920 - Kenneth E. Iverson , Canadian computer scientist
- 1922 - Alan Voorhees , American engineer and urban planner (d. 2005 )
- 1929 - Jacqueline Hill , British actress (d. 1993 )
- 1929 - William Safire , American columnist
- 1930 - Bob Guccione , American magazine publisher
- 1930 - Bob Mathias , American decathlete and congressman
- 1930 - Armin Mueller-Stahl , German actor
- 1937 - Kerry Packer , Australian businessman (d. 2005 )
- 1938 - Peter Snell , New Zealander runner
- 1938 - Carlo Little , UK influential Rock And Roll Drummer (d. 2005 )
- 1939 - Eddie Kendricks , American singer ( The Temptations ) (d. 1992 )
- 1940 - Kåre Valebrokk , Norwegian journalist
- 1941 - Gene Clark , American singer and songwriter ( The Byrds ) (d. 1991 )
- 1942 - Paul Butterfield , American harmonica player (d. 1987 )
- 1943 - Ron Geesin , British musician and composer
- 1944 - Jack L. Chalker , Canadian novelist
- 1944 - Bernard Hill , British actor
- 1945 - Ernie Hudson , American actor
- 1945 - Jacqueline Wilson , British author
- 1946 - Eugene Levy , Canadian actor
- 1949 - Paul Rodgers , British singer ( Free & Bad Company )
- 1951 - Ken Hitchcock , Canadian ice hockey coach
- 1955 - Brad Davis , American basketball player
- 1956 - Mike Mills , American bassist ( R.E.M. )
- 1962 - Rocco Mediate , American golfer
- 1966 - Kristiina Ojuland , Estonian politician
- 1967 - Vincent Damphousse , Canadian Ice Hockey player
- 1968 - Paul Tracy , Canadian race car driver
- 1970 - Joshua Seth , American voice actor
- 1971 - Antoine Rigaudeau , French basketball player
- 1971 - Alan Khan , South African radio disc jockey
- 1973 - Paula Radcliffe , British runner
- 1975 - Nick Dinsmore , American professional wrestler
- 1975 - Milla Jovovich , Ukrainian-born actress and model
- 1976 - Zsanett Égerházi , Hungarian-born adult actress and model
- 1978 - Manny Pacquiao , Filipino boxer
- 1978 - Chase Utley , baseball player
- 942 - William Longsword
- 1187 - Pope Gregory VIII
- 1195 - Baldwin V, Count Of Hainaut (b. 1150 )
- 1663 - Queen Nzinga Of Ndongo And Matamba (b. 1583 )
- 1721 - Richard Lumley, 1st Earl Of Scarbrough , English statesman (b. 1640 )
- 1830 - Simón Bolívar , Venezuelan-born President Of Bolivia (b. 1783 )
- 1833 - Kaspar Hauser , German foundling (b. 1812 )
- 1897 - Alphonse Daudet , French writer (b. 1840 )
- 1907 - William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin , Irish-born physicist (b. 1824 )
- 1909 - King Léopold II Of Belgium (b. 1835 )
- 1917 - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson , British physician (b. 1836 )
- 1933 - Thubten Gyatso , 13th Dalai Lama (b. 1876 )
- 1957 - Dorothy L. Sayers , British writer (b. 1893 )
- 1964 - Victor Franz Hess , Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883 )
- 1967 - Harold Holt , Australian Prime Minister, believed drowned, (b. 1908 )
- 1987 - Marguerite Yourcenar , Belgian novelist (b. 1903 )
- 1992 - Dana Andrews , American actor (b. 1909 )
- 1998 - Claudia Benton , Peruvian child psychologist (b. 1959 )
- 1999 - Grover Washington, Jr. , American saxophonist (b. 1943 )
- 2003 - Ed Devereaux , Australian actor (b. 1925 )
- 2003 - Otto Graham , American football player (b. 1921 )
- 2005 - Jack Anderson , American journalist (b. 1922 )
December 16 - December 18 - November 17 - January 17 -- Listing Of All Days
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