Today is
April 17.
The best friend I'll ever have would've been 47 today.
World Hemophilia Day is today.
1397 –
Geoffrey Chaucer tells
The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
1907 – The
Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
1949 – At midnight 26 Irish counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the
Republic of Ireland.
1961 –
Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of
assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
2013 –
An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others. [
video link]
1837 – J. P. Morgan, 1918 – William Holden, 1923 – Harry Reasoner, 1934 – Don Kirshner♪ ♫, 1940 – Billy Fury♪ ♫, 1948 – Jan Hammer♪ ♫, 1959 – Sean Bean, 1964 – Maynard James Keenan♪ ♫(<--just for you, Jim), 1970 - My friend John, 1972 – Jennifer Garner, 1974 – Victoria Beckham♪ ♫, 1985 – Rooney Mara
1790 – Benjamin Franklin, 1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, 1960 – Eddie Cochran♪ ♫, 1983 – Felix Pappalardi♪ ♫, 1998 – Linda McCartney♪ ♫, 2016 – Doris Roberts
Ima try something new. I don't know how I'm gonna pick the year each time, but this time it's gonna be
1970, in honor of my buddy John, who took me into his home when no one else wanted ol' Gravdigr around. For no reason.
April 17, 1970
The number one song in the U.S. was
"Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" by
Otis Redding.
The number one song in the U.K. was
"Wand'rin' Star" by
Lee Marvin.
The number one movie in the U.S. was
"2001: A Space Odyssey" directed by Stanley Kubrick, and starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, and Douglas Rain as the voice of the
HAL 9000.
The number one movie in the U.K. was "Patton" starring George C. Scott.