On this day: October 17
Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion, "Jailhouse Rock" premieres, the New York World's Fair comes to an end, OPEC begins its oil embargo, and a deadly earthquake hits the San Francisco Bay Area, all on this day.
1771: The opera "Ascanio in Alba," composed by a 15-year-old Wolfgang Mozart, has its debut at the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan, Italy.
1771: The opera "Ascanio in Alba," composed by a 15-year-old Wolfgang Mozart, has its debut at the Teatro Regio Ducal in Milan, Italy.
1781: British Gen. Lord Charles Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown. The surrender would prompt the British government to negotiate an end to the American Revolutionary War.
1849: Polish musician and composer Frédéric Chopin, considered one of the great masters of Romantic music, dies of tuberculosis at the age of 39 in Paris, France.
1860: The Open Championship, now known as the British Open, is held for the first time, at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. The inaugural tournament is restricted to professionals and attracts a field of eight golfers who play three rounds of 12 holes each in a single day. Scottish golfer Willie Park Sr. wins with a score of 174, beating the favorite, fellow Scot Old Tom Morris, by two strokes. The tournament is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf and the only one to take place outside the United States.
1888: The first issue of National Geographic Magazine is released at newsstands.
1907: Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Clifden, Ireland.
1912: Albino Luciani, who would go on to become Pope John Paul I in 1978, is born in Forno di Canale (now Canale d'Agordo) in Belluno, a province of the Veneto region in Northern Italy.
1915: Playwright Arthur Miller, whose plays include "All My Sons," "Death of a Salesman" and "The Crucible," is born in Harlem, New York City.
1918: Actress and dancer Rita Hayworth, best known for her roles in movies such as "Cover Girl," "Gilda" and "Only Angels Have Wings," is born under the birth name Margarita Carmen Cansino in Brooklyn, N.Y.
1920: Actor Montgomery Clift, known for roles in movies such as "The Search," "Red River," "A Place in the Sun," "From Here to Eternity" and "Judgment at Nuremberg," is born in Omaha, Neb.
1931: Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion. He would be sentenced to 11 years imprisonment, at the time the longest tax evasion sentence ever given, along with heavy fines, and liens were filed against his various properties.
1938: Motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel is born under the birth name Robert Craig Knievel in Butte, Mont.
1939: The drama "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur and directed by Frank Capra, premieres in theaters. The movie would prove to be a box office success and turn Stewart into a movie star. It would also earn 11 Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Original Story.
1942: Musician Gary Puckett (center), the lead singer of Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, whose biggest hits were "Woman, Woman," "Young Girl" and "Lady Willpower," is born in Hibbing, Minn.
1947: Actor Michael McKean, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski on the sitcom "Laverne & Shirley" and as David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap, is born in New York City. McKean is also known for appearing in the ensemble movies of his "This is Spinal Tap" co-star Christopher Guest, including "Best in Show," "A Mighty Wind" and "For Your Consideration."
1948: Actress Margot Kidder, best known for her role as Lois Lane in four "Superman" movies opposite Christopher Reeve, is born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada.
1948: Actor George Wendt, best known for his role of Norm Peterson on the TV sitcom "Cheers," is born in Chicago.
1956: Donald Byrne, 26, and Bobby Fischer, 13, play a famous chess game called "The Game of the Century," with Fischer beating Byrne.
1957: The Elvis Presley movie "Jailhouse Rock" has its premiere in Memphis, Tenn.
1958: Country singer-songwriter Alan Jackson, a two-time Grammy winner who has recorded 35 No. 1 country hits, is born in Newnan, Ga.
1962: Cartoonist, filmmaker and voice actor Mike Judge, best known as the creator of "Beavis and Butt-head" and "King of the Hill" and as the director of "Office Space," is born in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
1963: Comedian and actor Norm Macdonald, best known for his stint on "Saturday Night Live," is born in Quebec City, Canada.
1965: The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair closes after a two-year run in the borough of Queens. More than 51 million people had attended the event. The fair is best remembered as a showcase of mid-20th-century American culture and technology.
1968: The action movie "Bullitt," starring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn and Jacqueline Bisset, premieres in theaters. The movie grossed more than $42.3 million in the United States, making it the fifth highest grossing film of 1968.
1969: Singer Wyclef Jean, known for his solo work as well as for being a member of The Fugees, is born in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti.
1972: Rapper and actor Eminem, who has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and won an Oscar for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself" from the movie "8 Mile," is born under the birth name Marshall Bruce Mathers III in Saint Joseph, Mo.
1973: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) begins an oil embargo against several countries including the U.S. and Great Britain. The incident stemmed from Western support of Israel when Egypt and Syria attacked the nation on Oct. 6, 1973. The embargo would last until March 1974, during which government price controls and gas rationing in the U.S. commonly led to long lines at gas stations.
1979: Mother Teresa wins the Nobel Peace Prize, "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace." She would refuse the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and ask that the $192,000 in prize money be given to the poor in India.
1986: Reinhold Messner (seen here in 2009) becomes the first mountain climber to ascend all 14 "eight-thousanders" (peaks more than 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) above sea level) after reaching the peak of Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain on Earth, on the border of Tibet and Nepal.
1987: U.S. first lady Nancy Reagan undergoes a modified radical mastectomy at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland after being diagnosed earlier in the month with breast cancer.
1987: The first indoor World Series game is held, as the Minnesota Twins host the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.
1988: The Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup comprised of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, releases their first single, "Handle With Care." The song would end up being the last release for group member Roy Orbison prior to his death on Dec. 6, 1988.
1989: The Loma Prieta earthquake (6.9 on the Richter scale) hits the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 63 people throughout northern California, injuring 3,757 and leaving some 3,000 people homeless. The earthquake occurs during warm-ups for the third game of the 1989 World Series, featuring both of the Bay Area's Major League Baseball teams, the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. Because of game-related sports coverage, this was the first major earthquake in the United States of America to have its initial jolt broadcast live on television.
1990: The Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com) is created.
2000: Patrick Roy of the Colorado Avalanche earns his 448th victory as a goalie in the NHL, passing Terry Sawchuck to become the record holder for career victories. He would end up 551 career regular season wins by the time he retired, a record that would stand until broken by Martin Brodeur on March 17, 2009.
2003: The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 184 feet and become the world's tallest highrise. It would officially rank as the world's tallest building until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010.
2005: "The Colbert Report," hosted by Stephen Colbert, premieres on Comedy Central.
2007: Entertainer Joey Bishop, a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin, dies of heart failure at age 89 in Newport Beach, Calif.
