April 17 is Blah, Blah, Blah Day – Blah Blah Blah Day is the opportunity to stop procrastinating and get to grips with all those stalled projects and broken promises right now!
On April 17, 1397, Geoffrey Chaucer told the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date (in 1387) as the start of the book’s pilgrimage to Canterbury.
April 17, 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus signed the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings began during the assembly of the Diet of Worms on April 17, 1521. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and was given a stay of one day.
1534 – Sir Thomas More was confined in London Tower. More accepted Parliament’s right to declare Anne Boleyn the legitimate Queen of England, but he steadfastly refused to take the oath of supremacy of the Crown in the relationship between the kingdom and the church in England. He was charged with high treason and executed the following year.
1824 – Russia abandoned all North American claims south of 54° 40’N.
Virginia was 8th state to secede from the Union on April 17, 1861.
Mary Surratt was arrested on April 17, 1865 as a conspirator in Lincoln’s assassination. Sentenced to death, she was hanged on July 7, 1865, becoming the first woman executed by the United States federal government.
The Supreme Court of the United States decided on April 17, 1905, Lochner v. New York, which holds that the “right to free contract” is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution; judges decide maximum work day is unconstitutional.
Cartoon characters Daffy Duck, Elmer J Fudd & Petunia Pig, debut in 1937.
1949 – At midnight 26 Irish counties officially left the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O’Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushered in the Republic of Ireland.
April 17, 1961, the Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
Ford Mustang was introduced to the North American market in 1964.
On April 17, 1982, Queen Elizabeth proclaimed Canada’s new constitution. The passing of the UK’s Canada Act 1982 in March 1982 confirmed the Patriation of the Constitution and transferred to Canada the power of amending its own Constitution. This process was necessary because, after the Statute of Westminster, 1931, Canada decided to allow the British Parliament to temporarily retain the power to amend Canada’s constitution, on request from the Parliament of Canada. In 1981, the Parliament of Canada requested that the Parliament of the United Kingdom remove that authority from the UK. On April 17, 1982, Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, as well as the Minister of Justice, Jean Chrétien, and André Ouellet, the Registrar General, signed the Proclamation which brought the Constitution Act, 1982 into force. The proclamation confirmed that Canada had formally assumed authority over its constitution, the final step to full sovereignty.
Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter in 1983. He ranks first all-time in strikeouts at 5,714. He struck out 15 or more players in a game 26 times, second only to Randy Johnson who had 28.
Nolan Ryan pitched for Alvin High School in Alvin, Texas. His team was playing Deer Park for the district championship. According to Ryan, he was becoming well-known for his fastball but he was wild. He says:
“It worked to my advantage that day. I hit the first kid up squarely in the helmet and split it. I hit the next guy in the arm and broke it. The third kid went and begged his coach not to make him hit….I had them after that….they were up there at the edge of the batter’s box on their toes, ready to bail out…They’d forgotten about trying to win the district. They just wanted to go home…”
from Miracle Man, Nolan Ryan, the Autobiography with Jerry Jenkins.
IBM produced 1st megabit-chip in 1986.