January 17

356 Saint Anthony the Great was a Christian monk from Egypt, who is known as the Father of All Monks. He spent the last forty-five years of his life in the inner desert that lay between the Nile and the Red Sea.  Filled with serenity, St Anthony passed away on January 17, 356, at the age of 105 in a cave on Mount Colzin. His feast day is celebrated on January 17 among the Orthodox and Catholic churches

395 When Emperor Theodosius I died in Milan on January 17, 395, the Roman Empire was re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire was centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum (the ancient Milan) under Honorius, his 10-year-old brother.

The Eastern and Western Roman Empire at the death of Theodosius I in 395

1562 The Edict of Saint-Germain, also known as the Edict of January, was a landmark decree issued on January 17, 1562, by Catherine de' Medici, the regent of France, during a turbulent period of religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants (known as Huguenots). It granted Huguenots the right to private worship within their homes and on the estates of noblemen who converted to Protestantism. However, it prohibited public Protestant worship in towns and cities, 

1604 The newly crowned King James I of England convened the Hampton Court Conference, which proposed a new English version of The Bible in response to the perceived problems of earlier translations as detected by the Puritan faction of the Church of England. The motion was carried on January 17, 1604, "...that a translation be made of the whole Bible, as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek; and this to be set out and printed, without any marginal notes..."

1648 England's Long Parliament had won the first phrase of the English Civil War, but King Charles 1 gained support from the Scots, in return for a promise to introduce Presbyterianism into England. On hearing the news that Charles I was entering into an engagement with the Scots, the Long Parliament passed the "Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with the king and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.

1706 Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, one of seventeen children of Josiah Franklin, a poor candle and soap maker who had emigrated from Ecton, Northamptonshire, England, in 1685. His mother, Abiah Folger, was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The Franklins lived on Milk Street, Boston for the first six years of Benjamin's life. A founding Father of the United States, Franklin is known as a politician, writer, inventor, and for his contribution to the understanding of electricity, 

1773 On January 17, 1773, Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle. Cook wrote a week earlier in his journal: "In the afternoon we passed more ice islands than we had seen for several days. Indeed they were now so familiar to us, that they were often passed unnoticed; but more generally unseen on account of the thick weather." At 67°15'S, the ice pack forced them north again, a mere 80 miles from the Antarctic coastline.

1811 On January 17, 1811, the Battle of Calderón Bridge was fought in the First Mexican War of Independence on the banks of the Calderón River in present-day Zapotlanejo, Jalisco, Mexico. Led by Miguel Hidalgo, the rebels numbering 100,000 (reportedly) were destroyed by 6,000 Spanish Royalists under Calleja.

Map of the Battle of Calderón Bridge (1811)

1863 UK Prime Minister David Lloyd George was born David George in Chorlton-on-Medlock, near Manchester, to Welsh parents on January 17, 1863. His father died in June 1864 of pneumonia, aged 44 and his mother moved with her children to her native Llanystumdwy in Caernarfonshire, where she lived with her brother Richard Lloyd, who was a shoemaker, a minister and a strong Liberal. David grew up to admire his uncle and took the name Lloyd in honor of him.

1863 Konstantin Stanislavsky, the Russian actor and theater director whose Stanislavsky system would inspire numerous acting teachers in America, was born on January 17, 1863. His "emotional memory" technique became a dominant force in film acting, especially in the period after World War II. Stanislavsky's motto was "Think of your own experiences and use them truthfully."

1889 After cutting off his ear, Vincent van Gogh painted a portrait of  Dr. Félix Rey the 23 year old intern doctor who treated him. By January 17, 1889 van Gogh had given the portrait to Rey as a keepsake. While appreciative, the doctor never really liked the painting and used it for years to repair a chicken coop. It's now worth $50 million.

Portrait of Doctor Félix Rey

1893 Rutherford B Hayes, 19th US President, died of complications of a heart attack at his home on January 17, 1893. Hayes had been greatly saddened by losing his wife Lucy in 1889, writing "the soul had left [Spiegel Grove]" when she died. Hayes' last words before his passing were "I know that I'm going where Lucy is." President-elect Grover Cleveland and Ohio Governor William McKinley led the funeral procession that followed Hayes's body until he was interred in Oakwood Cemetery.

1899 Alphonse "Al" Capone was born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York on January 17, 1899. He was the fourth of nine children born to Gabriele and Teresina (Teresa) Capone. Alphonse's father was a barber and his mother stayed home with the children. He joined his first gang, the South Brooklyn Rippers in his mid teens. Capone was then initiated into a more prestigious gang, the Forty Thieves Juniors, at the age of 17.

1903 El Yunque National Forest, is located on the slopes of the Sierra de Luquillo mountains, in northeastern Puerto Rico. Established on January 17, 1903, it is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System and is the largest block of public land in Puerto Rico.

View towards Pico Los Picachos from the top of Pico El Yunque. By Kai Griebenow

1912 Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912, only to find that Roald Amundsen's team had beaten them by 33 days. Amundsen had left a letter to be delivered to King Haakon VII of Norway should the Norwegian expedition perish on their return journey. Scott made his disappointment clear in his diary: "The worst has happened"; "All the day dreams must go"; "Great God! This is an awful place".

1929 Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic strip on January 17, 1929. In its early days, the strip starred Olive Oyl and her boyfriend, Ham Gravy and Popeye was just a minor character. However, Popeye became so popular that his role was expanded, and he soon replaced Ham as Olive's love interest, going on adventures with her brother, Castor Oyl.

1942 Boxing great Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Marcellus Clay in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17, 1942. He changed his name when he later joined the Black Muslim religious sect. His father Cassius Clay Sr. was a muralist, but painted signs for a living. His mother Odessa Clay worked as a house cleaner and a cook. Cassius Clay took an interest in boxing when his bike was stolen by local hoods.

1944 Allied forces launched the first of four assaults on January 17, 1944 on Monte Cassino, a historic hilltop abbey founded in AD 529 by Benedict of Nursia in Italy. The intention was break through the Winter Line held by Axis forces and seize Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.

1946 The United Nations Security Council is the organ of the United Nations charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. It held its first meeting at Church House, Westminster, London on January 17, 1946.

1954 The first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, commissioned by the United States Navy in 1954, made her maiden voyage on January 17, 1957. It was launched from Groton, Connecticut, with the message, "Underway on nuclear power."

1961 President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a televised farewell address to the nation on January 17, 1961, three days before leaving office, in which he warned against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.

1962 Comic actor James Eugene "Jim" Carrey was born on January 17, 1962, in Ontario, Canada to Percy (an accountant and aspiring jazz saxophonist) and Kathleen. He is of French-Canadian ancestry on his father's side, and has French, Irish, and Scottish ancestry on his mother's side. His family's surname was originally "Carré". As a child, Jim Carrey used to wear his tap shoes to bed just in case his parents needed cheering up in the middle of the night.

1964 Andy Warhol once made an underground film called Sleep featuring a man sleeping... for over five hours. Only nine people attended the premiere on January 17, 1964 at the Gramercy Arts Theater in New York City - and two walked out.

1964 Michelle Robinson Obama was born on January 17, 1964, in Chicago, Illinois. She grew up in a one-bedroom flat, sleeping in the living room with her brother. Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton and has a law degree from Harvard. At 5ft 11in, Michelle Obama is the joint tallest First Lady — sharing the honor with Eleanor Roosevelt and Melania Trump.

1983 The Hudson's store in Detroit, Michigan, United States, was once considered to be the tallest department store in the world. The store, which was located on Woodward Avenue, was 14 stories tall and had a height of 210 feet (64 meters). It opened in 1911 and was the flagship store of the Hudson's department store chain. The store was closed on January 17, 1983 due to the high cost of operating. 

1997 The first divorce in Ireland’s history was granted on January 17, 1997, a year after residents of the Roman Catholic country held a referendum on changing the law.  The courts granted the divorce to a terminally ill man whose dying wish was to marry his partner.

2000 Ronald Reagan signed a bill on November 2, 1983 in the White House designating a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around King's birthday, January 15th. The day was officially observed for the first time in all 50 states on January 17, 2000, when "Human Rights Day" was officially changed to "Martin Luther King Jr. Day" in Utah.

2000 Garth Brooks was named the 1990s’ Artist of the Decade at the American Music Awards on January 17, 2000. He was a dominant force in country music throughout the 1990s, achieving phenomenal success with numerous chart-topping albums, sold-out stadium tours, and Grammy Awards. His influence extended beyond the country genre, making him a household name and one of the most popular artists of the decade.

2017 Colo the gorilla entered this world at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio on December 22, 1956 becoming the first-ever gorilla born in captivity. Weighing in at approximately 4 pounds, Colo, a western lowland gorilla, was the daughter of Millie and Mac, two gorillas captured in French Cameroon, who were brought to the Columbus Zoo in 1951. Colo passed away on January 17, 2017. She was the oldest gorilla in captivity in the world before her death.