THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― NOVEMBER 17

November 17 is the 321st day of the year (322nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 44 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Sunday or Monday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Wednesday or Friday (56).

NATIONAL TAKE A HIKE DAY

1558 — Elizabeth I, aged 42, ascends to the English throne upon the death of her half sister "Bloody" Mary. Both women were daughters of Henry VIII.

1603 — English explorer, writer and courtier, Sir Walter Raleigh, goes on trial for treason and is convicted. King James spared his life and he remained imprisoned in the Tower until 1616. Finally, Raleigh was beheaded in the Old Palace Yard at the Palace of Westminster on 29 October 1618.

1800 — Congress held its first session in Washington, DC in the incomplete Capitol building.

1827 — The Delta Phi fraternity, America's oldest continuous social fraternity, was founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York.

1894 — Serial killer H. H. Holmes is arrested in Boston after being tracked there from Philadelphia by the Pinkertons.

1914 — The United States declares the Panama Canal Zone as neutral (WWI).

1928 — Notre Dame, under coach Knute Rockne, loses it's first home game in 25 years, 27-7, to Carnegie Tech.

1933 — The United States recognizes the Soviet Union and opens trade. And what the hell did they ever "trade" to us? Thank you, again, FDR.

1938 — Italy passes its own version of anti-Jewish Nuremberg laws.

1947 — The U.S. Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

1956 — Syracuse fullback Jim Brown, scores NCAA record of 43 points versus Colgate; the game in which the "I give up" signal was first introduced to football, here shown by number 23. 

1964 — British Labor Party installs weapon embargo against South Africa.

1967 — First Calvary unit ambushed in the Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam, in the first-ever battle between the American and North Vietnam armies.

1970 — Russia lands Lunokhod 1 unmanned remote-controlled vehicle on the Moon.


1997 — The Pittsburgh Penguins' star center, Mario Lemieux, enters the NHL Hall of Fame immediately after retirement.

2006 — Official naming of element 111, Roentgenium (Rg).

2013 – A rare late-season tornado outbreak strikes the Midwest. Illinois and Indiana are most affected with tornado reports as far north as lower Michigan. In all around six dozen tornadoes touch down in approximately an 11-hour time period, including seven EF3 and two EF4 tornadoes.

TODAY'S BIRTHS

AD 9 – Vespasian, Roman emperor (d. 79)

1755 – Louis XVIII of France (d. 1824)

1790 – August Ferdinand Möbius, German mathematician and astronomer, Möbius plane, the Möbius transformations (d. 1868)

1916 – Shelby Foote, American historian and author (d. 2005)

From Wikipedia and Google, except as noted.