Thursday 17th of August 1786

Folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician Davy David Crockett aka King of the Wild Frontier is born in Limestone, Tennessee, United States.

Sunday 17th of August 1879

Film producer Samuel Goldwyn aka Samuel Goldfish is born as Szmuel Gelbfisz in Warszawa, Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland.

Goldwyn was more likely born on 27 July 1879, although he claimed his birthday to be 27 August 1882.

Thursday 17th of August 1893

Actress, singer and sex symbol Mae Mary Jane West is born in Bushwick, New York, Brooklyn, New York, United States.

Monday 17th of August 1896

Bridget Driscoll becomes the United Kingdom's first automobile fatality when she steps in front of a car off Dolphin Terrace at the age of 45 in The Crystal Palace, London, Greater London, United Kingdom.

At the coroner's inquest, driver Arthur James Edsall stated that he had been driving at only 4 mph and that when he saw Driscoll he rang his bell and shouted "Stand back!".

Tuesday 17th of August 1909

Assassin Madan Lal Shaheed Dhingra is executed by hanging by Henry Pierrepoint at the age of 26 in HM Prison Pentonville, Caledonian Road, London, Islington, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Tuesday 17th of August 1915

Alleged child killer Leo Max Frank aka Max the Jew is lynched by a mob of prominent citizens calling themselves 'The Knights of Mary Fagan' at the age of 31 in Marietta, Georgia, United States.

Several photographs were taken of the lynching, which were published and sold as postcards in local stores for 25 cents each, a common practice after lynchings, along with pieces of the rope, Frank's nightshirt, and branches from the tree.

Thursday 17th of August 1916

Artist Umberto Boccioni dies of multiple injuries at the age of 34 in Verona, Veneto, Italy.

The day before Boccioni was thrown off his horse during a cavalry training and trampled.

Sunday 17th of August 1924

Inventor and murderer Jean-Pierre Vaquier is executed by hanging by Robert Baxter at the age of 45 in Wandsworth Prison, London, Wandsworth, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 17th of August 1929

United States Air Force pilot Francis Gary Powers known from the 1960 U-2 incident is born in Jenkins, Kentucky, United States.

Thursday 17th of August 1933

Revolutionary black activist Michael X aka Abdul Malik is born as Michael de Freitas in Port-of-Spain, Metropolitan Area, Trinidad.

Tuesday 17th of August 1943

Actor Robert De Niro known from the movie Taxi Driver is born in Greenwich Village, New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

Wednesday 17th of August 1955

Artist Fernand Joseph Henri Léger dies of unknown causes at the age of 74 in Gif-sur-Yvette, Île-de-France, France.

Wednesday 17th of August 1960

Pop group The Beatles play their first concert in Indra Club, Grosse Freiheit 64, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

The tired and hungry band played to just a handful of spectators, mainly prostitutes and their clients. They also had to turn down their amplifiers following a complaint from the woman who lived above the venue. Nervous of the unfamiliar surroundings The Beatles played the entire four and a half hour opening show, huddled together and standing stock still.

Friday 17th of August 1962

21-year-old Mass murderer Charles Joseph Whitman aka The Man on the Tower marries 19-year-old Kathleen Frances Leissner in Needville, Texas, United States.

Friday 17th of August 1962

Bricklayer and first victim of the Berlin Wall Border Guard Peter Fechter bleeds to death after being shot in the right hip by border guards 26-year-old Rolf Friedrich and 20-year-old Erich Schreiber at the age of 18 in Zimmerstraße, Berlin, Berlin, Germany.

Fechter was left bleeding on the spot for over an hour in full view of western onlookers.

Sunday 17th of August 1969

Modernist architecture pioneer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe dies of esophageal cancer at the age of 83 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Sunday 17th of August 1969

Dentist Philip Blaiberg dies of a final rejection of his new heart at the age of 60 in Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa.

Blaiberg was the man who lived longest with a transplanted heart.

Tuesday 17th of August 1971

17-year-old Ruben Willfard Watson is tortured and strangled by serial killer Dean Corll aka The Candyman in 6363 San Felipe Street, Houston, Texas, United States.

Watson was persuaded by David Brooks to attend a party at an address Corll had moved to.

Friday 17th of August 1973

8-year-old Steven Cropper is slashed dead by unidentified serial killer Charlie Chop-off in New York City, New York, United States.

Cropper bled to death from an injury to his arm but his penis was left intact.

Sunday 17th of August 1980

Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain aka The Dingo Baby is possibly abducted and killed by a dingo at the age of 0 in Barbecue Area, Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia.

Saturday 17th of August 1985

66-year-old Peter Pan is shot dead by serial killer Richard Ramirez aka The Night Stalker in Lake Merced, San Francisco, California, United States.

Ramirez then beat and sexually assaulted 62-year-old Barbara Pan before he shot her in the head and left her for dead.

Monday 17th of August 1987

Nazi leader and Stellvertreter des Führers Rudolf Walter Richard Hess commits suicide by asphyxiation at the age of 93 in Kriegsverbrechergefängnis, Berlin, Spandau, Berlin, Germany.

Hess took an extension cord from one of the lamps, strung it over a window latch and hanged himself. A short note to his family thanking them for all they had done was found in his pocket.

Saturday 17th of August 1991

Mass murderer Wade Frankum aka The Strathfield Killer commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 33 in Strathfield Plaza, Sydney, Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia.

Apparently without provocation Frankum pulled a large knife from an army surplus duffel bag and repeatedly stabbed one of two teenage girls who were sitting behind him in a café called The Coffee Pot. Leaving the knife in the body of the girl Frankum pulled a Chinese-made SKS semi-automatic rifle out of his duffel and shot around the café, killing several more people. Frankum then shot the café's owner dead and fled into the main area of the mall where he killed his last victim. When closed in by the police Frankum knelt on the ground next to his car and committed suicide. Frankum killed seven people: 15-year-old Roberta Armstrong, 51-year-old Robertson Kan Hock Voon, 37-year-old Patricia Rowe, 47-year-old Carole Dickinson, 61-year-old Joyce Nixon, 17-year-old Rachell Milburn and 51-year-old George Mavris.

Sunday 17th of August 1997

Actor Anthony Wheeler accidently hangs himself in a stage prop at the age of 26 in Sani Beach Sani Resort, Chalkidiki, Macedonia, Greece.

More than 600 spectators, including young children, were left shocked and distressed when they saw the body of Wheeler dangling from a prop rope at the open-air performance of the Greek production of Jesus Christ Superstar in the scene where Judas takes his own life.

Saturday 17th of August 2002

A lonely break during a party on our rooftop terrace in Oudstrijdersstraat 35, Antwerpen, Borgerhout, Antwerpen, Belgium.

Sunday 17th of August 2003

62-year-old Military commander and chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service Ali Hassan al-Majid aka Chemical Ali is arrested by American forces in Basra, Basra Governorate, Iraq.

al-Majid had been listed as the fifth most-wanted man in Iraq, shown as the King of Spades in the deck of most-wanted Iraqi playing cards.

Sunday 17th of August 2003

Season's greetings with a picture of the shattered windows after 28-year-old al-Qaeda suicide bomber Asmar Latin Sani detonated a Toyota Kijang car bomb outside the lobby of the Marriott on 5 August 2003, killing twelve people and injuring 150 in Marriott Hotel, Jakarta, Mega Kuningan, Jakarta, Indonesia.

Thursday 17th of August 2006

Rapist and murderer Richard Hinojosa is executed by lethal injection at the age of 45 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

After Hinojosa finished his statement he told the warden "Kick the tires and light the fire. I'm going home to see my son and my mom."

Sunday 17th of August 2014

298 die in Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Boeing 777-200ER crash in Hrabove, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.

The plane was shot down by pro-Russian rebels with a Buk surface-to-air missile during the Donbass insurgency.