November 17 in History

1558 – Queen Mary I of England died and was succeeded by her half-sister, The ‘Virgin Queen’ Elizabeth I of England.

1827 – The Delta Phi & Sigma Phi fraternities were founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York. Along with Kappa Alpha Society and Sigma Phi Society, the trio was informally called the ‘Union Triad.’

1855 – David Livingstone became the first European to see Victoria Falls in what was now present-day Zambia-Zimbabwe.

1869 – Suez Canal (Egypt) opened, linking the Mediterranean & Red seas. It is 102 miles long.

1871 – National Rifle Association was organized (in New York City) by Army and Navy Journal editor William Conant Church and General George Wood Wingate.

1894 – Daily Racing Form was founded in Chicago, Illinois by Frank Brunell.

1894 – H. H. Holmes (Dr. Henry Howard Holmes), one of the first modern serial killers, is arrested in Boston, Massachusetts. He killed between 23 and 200 people.

1911 – Omega Psi Phi Fraternity incorporated; it was/is the first black Greek-lettered organization founded at an American historically black college or university, on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC.

1933 – Duck Soup, starring The Marx Brothers, was released.

1947 – The Screen Actors Guild implemented an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

1952 – Archeologists reported finding a 2,000-year-old mosaic floor at Circum, Cyprus, that depicted a scene from Homer’s Iliad.

1954 – The US Senate used the same gavel for 165 years until (then vice-president) Richard Nixon cracked it on November 17, 1954. India gifted them with a new one.

#1 Hit November 17, 1958 – November 30, 1958: The Kingston Trio – Tom Dooley

#1 Hit November 17, 1962 – December 21, 1962: The Four Seasons – Big Girls Don’t Cry

1968 – The NBC/NFL Heidi Game –  On November 17, 1968, in a Game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets ended with a JETS win 43 to 32. That happened by 7:07 PM. The problem was that NBC had scheduled and ran the TV movie, Heidi, at 7:00. There was still over a minute left to play, and the TV audience never got the chance to see two Raider Touchdowns in the last 65 seconds of the game.

1969 – SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) discussions opened in Helsinki, Finland.

1970 – A patent (#3541541) was issued to Doug Engelbart for the computer mouse – an “X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System”.

1973 – In Orlando, Florida, President Richard Nixon told 400 Associated Press managing editors, “I am not a crook.”

1978 – The Star Wars Holiday Special aired on CBS.

#1 Hit November 17, 1979 – November 23, 1979: Commodores – Still

#1 Hit November 17, 1984 – December 7, 1984: Wham! – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

1992 – Dateline NBC aired a demonstration show General Motors trucks blowing up on impact, later it was revealed that NBC rigged test.

2001 – The Justice League premiered on The Cartoon Network. The initial team included Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (John Stewart), The Flash (Wally West), Martian Manhunter (J’onn J’ones), and Hawkgirl.

2004 – Kmart Corp. announced it was buying Sears, Roebuck, and Company for 11 billion dollars and naming the newly merged company Sears Holdings Corporation.

#1 Hit November 17, 2018 – December 7, 2018: Ariana Grande – Thank U, Next