October 17

1091 On Friday October 17, 1091, a tornado struck London, killing two people and demolishing 600 houses and William the Conqueror's newly built wooden London Bridge. It is the earliest documented tornado in England, and is considered to be one of the strongest tornadoes ever to hit the British Isles.

1534 It was during Francis I's reign that Martin Luther's preaching and writing led to the formation of the Protestant movement, which spread through much of Europe, including France. At first Francis was relatively tolerant of the new movement, but the French king's attitude toward Protestantism changed for the worse following the "Affair of the Placards", on the night of October 17, 1534, in which notices appeared on the streets of Paris and other major cities denouncing the Catholic mass. Francis came to view the movement as a plot against him and began to persecute its followers. Protestants were jailed and executed and in some areas whole villages were destroyed.

Placard contre la messe, http://www.garamond.culture.fr/en/glossaire

1558 Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, was founded by order of King Sigismund II Augustus on October 17, 1558. It was established because King Sigismund II Augustus had to maintain permanent and regular correspondence with Italy in order to collect his inheritance. The services of this post, which ran from Cracow to Venice, could also be used by private persons. 

1604 On October 17, 1604, German astronomer Johannes Kepler observed an exceptionally bright star, now known as Kepler's Supernova, which had suddenly appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus. while working at the imperial court in Prague for Emperor Rudolf II. Kepler tracked the object for an entire year and in 1606 wrote a book on the subject, entitled De Stella nova in pede Serpentarii ("On the new star in Ophiuchus's foot").

X-ray, Optical & Infrared Composite of Kepler's Supernova Remnant 

1666 The enemies of English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes incorrectly accused him of being an atheist, though he was in fact, a religious reactionary. Hobbes' former pupil Charles II was important in protecting him when on October 17, 1666 the House of Commons introduced a bill against atheism and profaneness. The only consequence that came of the bill was that Hobbes could never publish anything on subjects relating to human conduct.

1814 The rupture of a beer vat at the Meux and Company Brewery on Tottenham Court Road in London on October 17, 1814 caused a wave of 323,000 gallons of booze. The flood of beer destroyed two homes and crumbled the wall of the Tavistock Arms Pub, trapping teenage employee Eleanor Cooper under the rubble. Within minutes neighboring George Street and New Street were swamped with alcohol, In total eight people were killed and an unknown number injured.

1849 Polish composer Frédéric Chopin died on October 17, 1849 of tuberculosis in a house on the Square Place Vendome, Paris. He was surrounded by his friends including the painter Delacroux but not his lover George Sand. His last request was to have Polish soil sprinkled over his grave. Chopin's own Funeral March was performed at the graveside during his own burial at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Photograph of Chopin by Bisson, c. 1849 

1860 The Open Golf Championship, the annual British golfing championship, was first contested at Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland on October 17, 1860. It was played over three rounds of the twelve-hole links course. Eight golfers contested the event, with Willie Park, Sr. winning the championship by 2 shots from Old Tom Morris, and he was declared "The Champion Golfer of the Year." The competition was opened to both professionals and amateurs the following year.

1918 The actress Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Cansino on October 17, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York, the oldest child of two dancers. Her father, Eduardo Cansino, Sr., was from Castilleja de la Cuesta, a little town near Seville, Spain. Her mother, Volga Hayworth, was an American of Irish-English descent who had performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. She was featured in over 60 films throughout her 37-year career and was the top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II.

1931 Al Capone was convicted on October 17, 1931 on five counts of income tax evasion. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined $80,000. It was the only charge that could be sustained against him. Capone served eight years in prison. After surviving a brutal assault by a fellow inmate, he was released early in 1939 for good behavior.

1933 Albert Einstein came from a family of non active Jews. From the 1920s he lectured all over the world and Einstein was in California when Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933. The Jewish theoretical physicist did not go back to Nazi Germany and a price of 20,000 marks was placed on Einstein's head on October 17, 1933.

1943 The Empire of Japan completed the Burma Railway on October 17, 1943 to support its forces in the Burma Campaign of World War II.  More than 180,000—possibly many more—Southeast Asian civilian laborers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war worked on the railway. 12,621 Allied POWs died during the construction.

1949 On October 17, 1949, Northwest Airlines became the first airline in the United States to serve alcoholic beverages during a flight. The arrival in 1949 of Northwest's fleet of Boeing Stratocruiser airliners, with their large kitchen galleys made pouring drinks for passengers a possibility. However, because of conflicting state liquor laws, drinks could be served only when flying over certain states.

1956 Queen Elizabeth II opened the world's first commercial nuclear power plant at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England on October 17, 1956. The first power station to generate electricity on an industrial scale (four 60 MWe reactors) from nuclear energy, it was first connected to the national power grid on August 27, 1956.

1956 The "Game of the Century" is a famous chess game played between Donald Byrne and a young Bobby Fischer on October 17, 1956, during the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament in New York. Bobby Fischer, who was just 13 years old at the time, played an astonishing and brilliant game against the highly-regarded American chess master Donald Byrne. Fischer won the game in a stunning fashion, showcasing his extraordinary talent and creativity.

1961 It was on platform 2 of Dartford station on October 17, 1961 that a young Keith Richards spotted a young Mick Jagger with two blues albums under his arm and got talking to him about music. The pair joined musician Brian Jones's band half a year later after he placed an advertisement in Jazz News on May 2, 1962, inviting musicians to audition for a new R&B group at the Bricklayer's Arms pub. They shared an admiration of Muddy Waters and the band was named The Rolling Stones after the American bluesman's "Rollin' Stone Blues."

1962 In between their October 17, 1962 lunchtime and night shows at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, The Beatles traveled to Granada TV Centre in Manchester to make their television debut. They appeared live on the local magazine program, People and Places, which was broadcast only in the north and north-west of England. The Beatles sang two songs: "Some Other Guy" and their new single "Love Me Do."

  

1964 Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opened the artificial Lake Burley Griffin in the middle of Canberra on October 17, 1964. It is named after Walter Burley Griffin, the American architect who won the competition to design the city of Canberra

2000 Queen Elizabeth II was the head of the United Kingdom's Anglican church but she often met with other religious leaders as well. In 1980, she became the first British Monarch to visit the Vatican, where she was welcomed by Pope John Paul II. She made another visit twenty years later on October 17, 2000.

2003 The pinnacle was fitted on the roof of Taipei 101 on October 17, 2003. A 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, it surpassed the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 56 metres (184 ft) and was officially classified as the world's tallest building in 2004, and remained such until the completion of Burj Khalifa in Dubai.