TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, OCT. 17, the 290th day of 2019. There are 75 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On Oct. 17, 1979, Mother Teresa of India was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1610, French King Louis XIII, age nine, was crowned at Reims, five months after the assassination of his father, Henry IV.
In 1777, British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrendered to American troops in Saratoga, New York, in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.
In 1907, Guglielmo Marconi began offering limited commercial wireless telegraph service between Nova Scotia and Ireland.
In 1931, mobster Al Capone was convicted in Chicago of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone was released in 1939.)
In 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.
In 1939, Frank Capra’s comedy-drama “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” starring James Stewart as an idealistic junior U.S. senator, had its premiere in the nation’s capital.
In 1966, 12 New York City firefighters were killed while battling a blaze in lower Manhattan. The TV game show “The Hollywood Squares” premiered on NBC.
In 1967, Puyi, the last emperor of China, died in Beijing at age 61.
In 1973, Arab oil-producing nations announced they would begin cutting back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result was a total embargo that lasted until March 1974.
In 1978, President Carter signed a bill restoring U.S. citizenship to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
In 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck northern California, killing 63 people and causing $6 billion worth of damage.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actress Marsha Hunt is 102. Singer Jim Seals (Seals & Crofts) is 77. Singer Gary Puckett is 77. Actor Michael McKean is 72. Actor George Wendt is 71. Actor-singer Bill Hudson is 70. Astronaut Mae Jemison is 63. Country singer Alan Jackson is 61. Movie critic Richard Roeper is 60. Movie director Rob Marshall is 59. Actor Grant Shaud is 59. Animator Mike Judge is 57. Rock singer-musician Fred LeBlanc (Cowboy Mouth) is 56. Actor-comedian Norm Macdonald is 56. Singer Rene’ Dif is 52. Reggae singer Ziggy Marley is 51. Actor Wood Harris is 50. Singer Wyclef Jean is 50. World Golf Hall of Famer Ernie Els is 50. Singer Chris Kirkpatrick (‘N Sync) is 48. Rapper Eminem is 47. Actress Sharon Leal is 47. Actor Matthew Macfadyen is 45. Rock musician Sergio Andrade is 42. Actress Felicity Jones is 36.