In case you’ve wondered if there’s any special occasion on December 17, then this list of historic events that happened on this day will keep you informed.
- 1903 – The Wright brothers made the 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight.
- 1967 – Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, vanished in mysterious circumstances while swimming near Melbourne.
- 1969 – Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki Budinger were married on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.
- 1973 – Thirty-one people were killed at Rome airport when Arab guerrillas hijacked a German airliner.
- 1978 – OPEC decided to raise oil prices by 14.5% by end of 1979.
- 1986 – Mrs. Davina Thompson made medical history by having the 1st heart, lung & liver transplant at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England.
- 1992 – “Christmas Carol” opened at Broadhurst Theater, NYC for 22 performances.
- 1992 – U.S. President George W. Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement.
- 1997 – U.S. President Clinton signed the No Electronic Theft Act.
- 2002 – McDonald’s Corp. warned that they would report its first quarterly loss in its 47-year history.
- 2003 – The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London.
- 2004 – U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering
- 2005 – Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong.
- 2012 – Jiroemon Kimura of Japan became the world’s oldest verified man at 116 years old.
- 2012 – NASA completed a successful mission of mapping the Moon’s gravity field.
- 2013 – Angela Merkel was elected Chancellor of Germany for a third term.
- 2015 – Jose Mourinho was sacked from being a manager of Chelsea football club.
- 2017 – Set of ink-brush paintings by Qi Baishi was sold at auction for 931.5m yuan ($US140m) in Beijing.
- 2018 – US poacher was sentenced to watch the film “Bambi” repeatedly during his year in prison, for killing hundreds of deer in Missouri.
- 2019 – Australia has its hottest day ever, with an average temperature of 40.9 across the country.