17 Aug, 1969 U.S.A. Woodstock Ends
1969 : This is officially the final day of the Woodstock Music Festival billed as 3 days of peace and music near Bethel, N.Y. The following day the 18th of August the concert continued with 11 artists playing including Jimi Hendrix, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Blood Sweat and Tears. Thirty Two of the world's best known musicians have appeared during the festival including The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Sly & the Family Stone, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Ravi Shankar, Santana and the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Many believe it was the greatest gathering of Sixties musicians and is still thought to be the greatest live concert ever staged.
17 Aug, 1907 U.S.A. Opium Smuggling
1907 : A customs officer discovered that dogs were being utilized to smuggle opium and silk into the country. The chief smuggler was Thomas Smith who was taken to prison. One customs officer had noticed a dog fitted with a leather saddle and shot it. This led to the seizure of three pounds of opium and some silk material. Where the dog came from or where it was going remains unknown.
17 Aug, 1926 Jamaica Fruit Growing Encouraged
1926 : In Jamaica the Producers Association was awarded with 1,250 pounds out of a special fund of 1 million pounds earmarked for it. Britain wanted to encourage production of fruit from its empire and trade between the mother country and the colonies.
17 Aug, 1935 Germany Freemasons Banned
1935 : Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior in Germany, disbanded freemasonry in the Reich. Earlier secret police also dissolved the Confessional Synod, charging that it had lied to the people. The Nazis rule deepened the rift between church and state in Germany by wanting supremacy over state-run churches.
17 Aug, 1947 Switzerland Locomotive Travel
1947 : Mrs. Orchner returned to her native Switzerland after 45 years of absence from it. She had immigrated to the U.S. in 1903. The traveler was enthusiastic about the fact that in Zurich 600 locomotives traveled to and fro all day. It was evident to her that Switzerland depended on the tourist trade, however she said only limited amounts of time and cash could be spent by tourists.
17 Aug, 1951 Guatemala Strike
1951 : Magistrates and court workers in Guatemala staged a strike which brought the legal system in that country to a grinding halt. The judges announced that they would continue striking until all court employees got a raise in salaries.
17 Aug, 1962 Beatles Replace Pete Best
1962 : The Beatles consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison replace the groups drummer "Pete Best" with Ringo Starr.
17 Aug, 1962 East German Border Guards Kill Peter Fechter
1962 : East German Border Guards Kill Peter Fechter while trying to escape from East Germany over the Berlin Wall. He was shot in the pelvis which did not kill him but when he began screaming in pain for help nobody went to help him and after about an hour he bled to death. The reasons he was left dying by the East and West German authorities can be traced to the animosity between the two countries and because he had landed on the East German side West German Authorities could not help.
17 Aug, 1969 Davis Cup Ilie Nastase Beats Mark Cox
1969 : At Wimbledon, in England a 23 year old Romanian tennis player upset the British. Ilie Nastase who used to work as a shepherd in Romania challenged Mark Cox. A crowd of 7,000 fans watched the match. In the end the Romanians won the Davis Cup and beat the British 3-2.
17 Aug, 1969 U.S.A. Hurricane Camille
1969 : Hurricane Camille a Category 5 hurricane makes landfall at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi near the mouth of the Mississippi with winds estimated between 150 and 205 mile per hour and 70 ft waves. Hurricane Camille was the second Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the last 70 years. The hurricane was responsible for the death of nearly 300 people and the destruction of thousands of homes in Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia and Louisiana.
17 Aug, 1977 Iran Modernization
1977 : As a result of modernization in Iran the cost of Persian rugs increased dramatically. Also, the quality of the prized rugs deteriorated and manufacturing of them decreased. The cottage industries that produced the rugs was undermined by workers who sought entertainment in the cities. Also the Shah’s push for literacy sent parents to prison if they didn’t send their children to school.
17 Aug, 1978 France New Trans Atlantic Record Set
1978 : Three American balloonists have made the first crossing of the Atlantic by hot air balloon in Double Eagle II, they had left Newfoundland, Canada travelling 3,000 miles to land in Miserey just outside of Paris . The three balloonists Ben Abruzzo, Larry Newman and Max Anderson were attempting to reach le Bourget airfield (the airfield where Charles Lindbergh had completed his epic journey) but were blown off course, it was the second attempt for Ben Abruzzo and Max Anderson after failing to complete the crossing last year in the first Double Eagle balloon.
17 Aug, 1987 Dublin Celebrates Diamond Jubilee
1987 : In Ireland, Dublin city was celebrating its diamond jubilee. Although the city was much older, it had been a borough for 85 years. Modern and old fashioned events were planned. Rides in helicopters and balloons were proposed with carriage rides and games of horse shoes.
17 Aug, 1987 Germany Rudolf Hess
1987 : The former deputy of Adolf Hilter has died in Spandau Prison where he has been held since 1946 after the Nuremberg war crimes trials. For the last 20 years he has been the only prisoner in Spandau. it is believed he committed suicide.
17 Aug, 1990 South Africa Tribal Fighting
1990 : One hundred and seventy South Africans were hacked to death in tribal fighting over five days. Police broke up Zulus who were brandishing axes and spears. The Zulus were fighting with the Xhosases led by Nelson Mandela.
17 Aug, 1992 Woody Allen / Soon-Yi Previn
1992 : Woody Allen (57) admits to an affair with Soon-Yi Previn (22) , the adopted daughter of his longtime companion, actress Mia Farrow. The tabloid press pointed out the 35 year age difference between Soon-Yi Previn and Woody Allen. They later married and are still married with two adopted daughters.
17 Aug, 1998 U.S.A. Monica Lewinsky
August 17, 1998 : President Clinton acknowledged to a grand jury and the nation on television that he had an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky. This is the first time since January when the story came to light that President Clinton has admitted having an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky who was a White House intern at the time.
17 Aug, 1999 Turkey Earthquake
1999 : A 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit the city of Izmit in northwestern Turkey one the country's most densely populated areas leaving more than 17,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands more left injured or homeless. The quake is one the worst to have hit Turkey and the city of Istanbul over 50 miles away was also affected causing many buildings to collapse.
17 Aug, 2006 Iraq Bomb Blast
2006 : In Baghdad twenty-one persons were killed in a bomb blast and the governor’s office was attacked. The violence was caused by Sunni-Shiite animosity to the current regime.
17 Aug, 2007 U.S.A. Stutter Experiments
2007 : Six former research subjects were rewarded almost one million dollars in compensation. The six people were orphans used in a 1939 study at Iowa University that sought to test the effects of psychological pressure in the creation of a stutter in children. None of the subjects gained a stutter but many suffered emotional damage as a result of the study.
17 Aug, 2008 Iran Rocket Tests
2008 : Iran launched a rocket capable of carrying a satellite successfully. The launch worried the international community because Iran was believed to be working on a nuclear program for weapons purposes and the success of the launch could signal the capacity for launching nuclear weapons.
17 Aug, 2009 Mauritania US Peace Corps Withdrawn
2009 : United States Peace Corps aid workers were withdrawn from Mauritania after increasing safety concerns. The Peace Corps had worked in the country for over forty years, but after the number of attacks increased, the safety of the workers when they were traveling was questioned.
17 Aug, 2011 Clothing Maker Pays Jersey Shore Cast to Not Wear Their Brand
August 17, 2011 : US clothes retailer Abercrombie and Fitch offered compensation to the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore in return for no longer wearing their brand of clothing. The company stated that the reality tv cast did not reflect the values of Abercrombie and Fitch and that they were worried that the association could cause damage to their image.
17 Aug, 2012 Japan Island Activists Deported
2012 : Japan deported seven of fourteen activists who sailed to the disputed Senkaku (Diaoyu in China) islands from Hong Kong. The islands are controlled by Japan but China also claims them and the arrival of activists on the island sparked small protests in China and diplomatic issues.
17 Aug, 2013 Italy Tourist Crushed in Venice
August 17, 2013 : A fifty year old German man is crushed to death while in a gondola in the Grand Canal of Venice, Italy. The gondola crashed into a water bus. The man along with his wife and three children were on the gondola.
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