THE YEAR OF 1917
Born : JAN 24 Ernest Borgnine, US film actor.
Died : 10 William F Cody (Buffalo Bill), Wild West Showman.
19 Venesta Munitions works explodes rocking London, 80 dead.
25 USA purchased the Danish West Indies (Virgin Islands) for $25 m.
30 First jazz record in United States is cut.
Born : FEB 11 Sidney Sheldon, author.
Born : 25 Anthony Burgess, British author.
5 US Immigration Act bans Asian workers (except Japanese),
vagrants, alcoholics, illiterates, 'immoral purpose'.
13 Dutch spy Mata Hari arrested by the French.
13 First female taxi drivers started work in the UK.
Born : MAR 20 Vera Lynn, English singer.
Born : 27 Cyrus Vance, US secretary of state.
2 Puerto Rico territory created, US citizenship granted.
8 The February revolution began in Petrograd.
8 US invades Cuba, for third time. No wonder they're paranoid.
11 Bagdad captured by the British.
15 Nicholas II, last Russian tsar, abdicates
15 Tsar Nicholas II gave up his throne .
19 US Supreme Court upheld 8 hour work day for the railroads.
25 Record $50 th contract by John McGraw to manage the New
York Giants baseball team for 1 year.
31 Virgin Isles sold to the USA by Denmark for $25 million.
Born : APR 26 I.M. Pei, architect
Died : 1 Scott Joplin, US composer.
Died : 14 Lazarus Zamenhof, Polish linguist who devised Esperanto.
6 WAR DECLARED by the USA on Germany.
7 WAR DECLARED by Cuba on Germany.
8 WAR DECLARED by Panama on Germany.
11 Allied offensive at Hindenburg takes 11000 German prisoners.
16 Lenin returns to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution
18 Ballet Russes in Paris present Parade by Jean Cocteau, sets 1and costumes by Picasso.
Born : MAY 29 John F. Kennedy, 35th President (1960-1963)
Born : JUN 8 Byron "Whizzer" White, football star, U.S. Supreme Court justice.
Born : 13 Howard Keel, singer, actor.
Born : 30 Lena Horne, singer.
1 Convoys of Merchant ships protected against German U-Boats.
4 WAR DECLARED by Brazil on Germany.
15 US Espionage Act bans seditious materials hindering the war effort
17 First night of the Immigrant, by Charlie Chaplin.
19 British royal family renounce German names, and use Windsor.
24 The Russian Black Sea fleet mutinied at Sebastopol.
26 The Royal Saxe-Coberg-Gothas became the Royal Windsors.
Born : JUL 17 Phyllis Diller, US comedienne.
17 British royal family adopts the name `Windsor'from Saxe-Coberg.
25 Magarethe Zelle, Dutch spy Mata Hari, sentenced to death.
Born : AUG 6 Robert Mitchum, actor, "Heaven Knows Mr. Allison"
Born : 24 Charles Causley, English poet.
Born : 30 Denis Healy, British politician.
28 Ten suffragists were arrested as they picketed the White House
Born : SEP 4 Henry Ford II, businessman
Born : 28 Michael Soames, English dancer.
Died : 22 Frances X Cabrini, first US Catholic saint.
Died : 26 Edgar Degas, French painter.
Died : 27 Edgar Degas, French painter.
15 Russian PM, Alexander Kerensky, declares Russia a Republic.
20 The First RSPCA animal hospital was opened in Liverpool.
21 Latvia proclaimed it's independence.
Born : OCT 15 Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., historian
Born : 21 Dizzy Gillespie, trumpeter, a creator of modern jazz
Born : 22 Joan Fontaine, actress.
Born : 26 Felix the cat, cartoon character
Died : 15 Mata Hari, executed by the Allies for espionage.
5 Sir Arthur Lee donated Chequers as a retreat for prime ministers.
22 Trans-Australian railway opens. Kalgoorlie to port Augusta.
27 US troops entered the war in France.
Born : NOV 19 Indira Gandhi (nee Nehru),Indian Prime Minister.(1966-77, 1980-84)
Born : 23 Michael Gough, English actor.
Born : 30 Efrem Zimbalist Jnr, actor.
Died : 17 Auguste Rodin, French sculptor.
Died : 26 Leander Jameson, British colonial administrator.
3 First Class Mail now costs 3 cents.
6 Allied troops take Passchendale Ridge, 3rd Battle of Ypres ends.
6 The Russian Bolshevik revolution begins.
7 Bolshevik revolutionaries oust the provisional government
7 October Revolution overthrows Russian Provisional Government
set up in march, in a bloodless coup.
10 Canadian troops re-take Passchenddale.
20 First allied use of tanks in a mass assault at Cambria.
Born : DEC 16 Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author (Childhood's End, 2001).
Born : 21 Heinrich Boll, German author
Died : 17 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, first English woman physician.
1 Father Edward Flanagan founds Boys Town
3 The Quebec Bridge was opened, 87 lives were lost building it.
6 Finland gains its independence, from Russia.
6 Munitions ship at Halifax, Nova Scotia exploded, 2000 dead.
9 Jerusalem captured by Allied troops under General Allenby.
10 First British postmark slogan 'Buy British War Bonds Now'.
11 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
30 Guatemala City destroyed by massive earthquake.