On this day: 17 August

Selected events and births on 17 August, from Wikipedia’s “On this day”.

Events

• 1560 – The Scottish Reformation Parliament approved a Protestant confession of faith, initiating the Scottish Reformation and disestablishing Catholicism as the national religion. Read more: Scottish Reformation Parliament Creed Scottish Reformation
• 1876 – The premiere of Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner closed the first Bayreuth Festival. Read more: Götterdämmerung Bayreuth Festival
• 1907 – Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the U.S. and a popular tourist attraction, opened in Seattle, Washington. Read more: Pike Place Market Seattle
• 1945 – Animal Farm, George Orwell's satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism, was first published. Read more: Animal Farm George Orwell Allegory
• 1959 – American musician Miles Davis released Kind of Blue, which became one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed jazz recordings of all time. Read more: Miles Davis Kind of Blue Jazz
• 2008 – Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, setting the record for the most gold medals won by an athlete at a single games. Read more: Michael Phelps 2008 Summer Olympics

Born on this day

• 1944 – Larry Ellison, American businessman, co-founded the Oracle Corporation Read more: Larry Ellison Oracle Corporation
• 1949 – Norm Coleman, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Mayor of St. Paul Read more: Norm Coleman List of mayors of Saint Paul, Minnesota
• 1953 – Herta Müller, Romanian-German poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate Read more: Herta Müller Nobel Prize in Literature
• 1954 – Andrés Pastrana Arango, Colombian lawyer and politician, 38th President of Colombia Read more: Andrés Pastrana Arango President of Colombia
• 1966 – Jüri Luik, Estonian politician and diplomat, 18th Estonian Minister of Defense Read more: Jüri Luik Minister of Defence (Estonia)
• 1995 – Gracie Gold, American figure skater Read more: Gracie Gold
• 1996 – Jake Virtanen, Canadian ice hockey player Read more: Jake Virtanen
• 1998 – Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Japanese baseball player Read more: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
• 2000 – Lil Pump, American rapper and songwriter Read more: Lil Pump
• 2003 – Rayan Cherki, French footballer Read more: Rayan Cherki
• 2003 – Nastasja Schunk, German tennis player Read more: Nastasja Schunk
• 2003 – The Kid Laroi, Australian rapper and songwriter Read more: The Kid Laroi

Text from Wikipedia: Selected anniversaries / August 17 and the linked articles, via the Wikimedia “On this day” feed, under CC BY-SA 4.0. We leave out entries about wars, violence and disasters to keep this page family-friendly.