17 NOVEMBER

1292 John Balliol became King of Scotland. He was stripped of all his powers by Edward I, thus earning himself the Scottish nickname 'Toom Tabard'. Toom means empty, so it was likening Balliol to an empty suit.

1558 The Elizabethan era began when Mary I, England's first queen (also known as 'Bloody Mary'), died at St James's Palace London. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I.

1603 The trial of Sir Walter Raleigh began. Falsely accused of treason, he had been offered a large sum of money by Lord Cobham, a critic of England’s King James I, to make peace with the Spanish and put Arabella Stuart, James’s cousin, on the throne. Raleigh claimed he turned down the offer, but Lord Cobham told his accusers that Raleigh was involved in the plot.

1800 Congress holds its 1st session in Washington D.C. in an incomplete Capitol Building

1810 Sweden declared war on its ally Britain during the Napoleonic Wars to begin the Anglo-Swedish War, although no fighting ever took place! The declaration of war was the result of an ultimatum by France to the Swedish government that France and its allies would declare war against Sweden if Sweden did not meet the French demands to declare war on Britain, confiscate all British ships and seize all British products. The war existed only on paper, and Britain was still officially allowed to station ships in the Swedish port of Hanö and trade with the Baltic nations.

1831 Ecuador and Venezuela separated from Greater Colombia

1855 David Livingstone became the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now present day Zambia-Zimbabwe. Livingstone was born at Blantyre on the outskirts of Glasgow, where there is also a statue to him -

1869 England’s James Moore won the first cycle road race, an 83 miles race from Paris to Rouen.

1869 In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated

1871 The National Rifle Association is granted a charter by the state of New York

1880 The first three women to graduate in Britain received their Bachelor of Arts degrees at London University.

1882 The Royal Astronomer witnessed an unidentified flying object from the Greenwich Observatory. He described it as a circular object, glowing bright green.

1887 The birth of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, English soldier who was a painstaking planner, which contributed to his most successful battle in North Africa when he broke through Rommel’s lines during the Second World War.

1919 King George V proclaimed Armistice Day, later to be known as Remembrance Day.

1922 Britain elected its first Communist Member of Parliament, J T Walton-Newbold standing for Motherwell, Scotland. He eventually joined the Labour Party.

1922 The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed VI is expelled to Malta on British warship

1955 Anglesey became the first authority in Britain to introduce fluoride into the water supply.

1959 Two Scottish airports, Prestwick and Renfrew, became the first to offer duty free goods in Britain. Heathrow followed soon after.

1962 President John F. Kennedy dedicates Washington Dulles International Airport, serving the Washington, D.C., region

1964 Britain said that it was banning all arms exports to South Africa.

1969 Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the US meet in Helsinki, Finland to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides

1970 Stephanie Rahn became the Sun newspaper's first 'Page Three Girl'.

1970 Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse

1973 Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook."

1982 Duk Koo Kim dies from injuries sustained during a 14-round match against Ray Mancini in Las Vegas, prompting reforms in the sport of boxing

2014 The family of murdered schoolgirl April Jones (aged 5) watched the demolition of the house owned by her killer Mark Bridger. The rented home was bought by the Welsh government in August and is where Bridger is believed to have killed and dismembered April after snatching her outside her parents’ home in Machynlleth, mid Wales, on 1st October 2012. Detectives believe that Bridger dismembered her body at the cottage and disposed of her remains at numerous locations around the countryside. At the time of her disappearance, ribbons were tied to the railings around the town's clock tower, on shop doors and pinned to trees.

2014 Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, gave his final press conference and parliamentary speech before handing over to Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first female First Minister.

2014 According to Dutch scientists, a single 10-second kiss can transfer as many as 80 million bacteria. The research was published in the journal Microbiome.

2014 The Anglican General Synod formally enacted legislation allowing women to be nominated and appointed as bishops. The first woman bishop - the Rt. Rev. Libby Lane, was consecrated Bishop of Stockport in a ceremony at York Minster 10 weeks later, on 26th January 2015.

Famous Birthday's

Louis XVIII
(1755 - 1824)



Bernard Montgomery
(1887 - 1976)

Peter Cook
(1937 - 1995)

Martin Scorsese
75th Birthday


Gordon Lightfoot
79th Birthday

Danny DeVito
73rd Birthday

Rod Clements
70th Birthday

Terry Fenwick
58th Birthday

Jonathan Ross
57th Birthday

Famous Deaths

Thomas Pelham-Holles
(1693 - 1768)



Catherine the Great
(1729 - 1796)

Auguste Rodin
(1840 - 1917)

Calico Jack, English pirate
(1682 - 1720)

Dick Lilley
(1866 - 1929)

Jimmy Ruffin
(1936 - 2014)

Famous Weddings

1749 Founding Father of the United States Roger Sherman (28) weds first wife Elizabeth Hartwell in Massachusetts

1934 Lyndon B. Johnson marries Claudia Alta Taylor

1950 Writer Jack Kerouac (28) weds Joan Haverty

1978 Gerald Lascelles, British aristocrat and son of Princess Mary weds 2nd wife Elizabeth Collingwood in Vienna

2003 Singer Blake Shelton (27) weds Kaynette Williams in Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Famous Divorces

1995 Retired MLB player Johnny Bench (47) divorces Laura Cwikowski after nearly 8 years of marriage