October 17th, 1944

Born on October 17th, 1944

Age in days, weeks and months
Wow, over 29,000 days old!

Why not celebrate an alternative birthday? In 133 days, exactly on December 6th, 2026, people who were born on October 17th, 1944 will be 30,000 days old!

... in seconds, minutes and hours

What happened on October 17th?

October 17th, 1914

Off the coast of the Dutch island of Texel, a British naval squadron sank the German 7th Half Flotilla of torpedo boats in the Battle off Texel.

October 17th, 2001

Rehavam Ze'evi, the Israeli minister of tourism, was assassinated in revenge for the killing of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa.

October 17th, 2000

A fatal rail crash at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, led to the introduction of widespread speed limit reductions throughout the British rail network and eventually caused the collapse of the railway management group Railtrack.

October 17th, 1992

Having gone to the wrong house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for a Halloween party, Japanese exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori was shot and killed by the homeowner.

October 17th, 1973

Yom Kippur War: Egyptian forces retreated from the Battle of the Chinese Farm, allowing Israeli forces to build their first bridge across the Suez Canal.

October 17th, 1969

The Caravaggio painting Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence was stolen from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo, Italy.

October 17th, 1964

Prime Minister Robert Menzies inaugurated the artificial Lake Burley Griffin (pictured) in the centre of the Australian capital Canberra.

October 17th, 1952

Indonesian Army elements surrounded the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, demanding that President Sukarno disband the Provisional People's Representative Council.

October 17th, 1931

American gangster Al Capone was convicted on five counts of income-tax evasion.

October 17th, 1860

The Open Championship, the oldest of the four major championships in men's golf, was first played at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland.

October 17th, 1814

A wooden beer-fermenting vat in London burst, destroying a second vat and causing a large flood of at least 128,000 imperial gallons (580,000 l; 154,000 US gal) of porter that killed eight people.

October 17th, 1777

American Revolutionary War: British general John Burgoyne's Saratoga campaign ended with his surrender to the Americans, later convincing France to enter the war in alliance with the United States.

October 17th, 1660

A series of executions of the commissioners who signed the death warrant of King Charles I of England concluded; six were hanged, drawn and quartered for treason.

October 17th, 1604

German astronomer Johannes Kepler began observations of an exceptionally bright object, now known as Kepler's Supernova, that had appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus.

October 17th, 1346

Hundred Years' War: Under the terms of Scotland's Auld Alliance with France, King David II of Scotland (pictured) was captured at the Battle of Neville's Cross following his invasion of England.

Birthdays
... of famous people, actors, celebrities and stars on October 17th

Born on October 17th, 1944

81

Werner Asam

German actor and director

*October 17th, 1944, Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg

81

Ulrich Schlüer

Swiss politician

*October 17th, 1944, Zürich

70

Nobutaka Machimura

Japanese politician (1944-2015)

*October 17th, 1944, Numazu †June 1st, 2015, Tokyo

Same year
Born in 1944

81

Udo Kier

German actor

*October 14th, 1944, Cologne

82

Joachim Schimpke

German badminton player

*March 8th, 1944, Hohenstein-Ernstthal

81

Dieter Planck

German archaeologist

*August 14th, 1944, Rottenburg am Neckar

82

Poul Michelsen

Faroese businessperson and politician

*July 22nd, 1944, Tórshavn

73

Jonathan Demme

American film director (1944–2017)

*February 22nd, 1944, Baldwin †April 26th, 2017, Manhattan

81

Nils Ole Oftebro

Norwegian actor

*December 1st, 1944, Sarpsborg Municipality

82

John Rhys-Davies

Welsh actor

*May 5th, 1944, Ammanford

82

Gernot Erler

German politician

*May 3rd, 1944, Meissen

82

Gerhard Schröder

Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005

*April 7th, 1944, Mossenberg-Wöhren

80

Françoise Hardy

French singer, actress, and composer (1944–2024)

*January 17th, 1944, 9th arrondissement of Paris †June 11th, 2024, American Hospital of Paris

81

Michael Douglas

American actor and film producer

*September 25th, 1944, New Brunswick

82

Alice Walker

American author and activist (1944- )

*February 9th, 1944, Eatonton

82

Ban Ki-moon

8th Secretary-General of the United Nations

*June 13th, 1944, Eumseong County

82

Alexander Van der Bellen

President of Austria since 2017

*January 18th, 1944, Vienna

77

Volker Lechtenbrink

German actor and singer

*August 18th, 1944, Zelenogradsk †November 22nd, 2021, Hamburg

81

Serge Haroche

French physicist, Nobel laureate

*September 11th, 1944, Casablanca

72

Helena Štáchová

Czech actress, theatre director, manager and puppeteer (1944–2017)

*November 18th, 1944, Prague †March 22nd, 2017, Prague

72

David Chandler

American chemist (1944-2017)

*October 15th, 1944, New York City †April 18th, 2017, Berkeley

82

Nana Akufo-Addo

President of the Republic of Ghana

*March 29th, 1944, Accra

82

Mary Robinson

Former President of Ireland and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

*May 21st, 1944, Ballina

Birthdays of famous people

Public holidays on October 17th

Fixed holidays (Christian feast day) which are celebrated on October 17th.

Date as a Roman numeral / digit

Born on October 17th, 1944
Future birthdays

Leap year

Yes: 1944 is a leap year, therefore has a 29th of February with an additional leap day and a total of 366 days (instead of the usual 365 days in a normal year).

Calendar
October 1944