December 17 - What happened today?

Home What happened today in history? Blamepro's Almanac for December 17
In the headlines today:

1999	Singer Grover Washington, Jr., dies of a heart attack in New York City at age 56.
1994	North Korea shoots down a US Army helicopter when it strays north of the demilitarized zone.
1994	Actress Heather Locklear marries Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora.
1969	A TV audience estimated at 50 million watch singer Tiny Tim wed Miss Vicky on the Tonight Show (NBC).
1969	Project Blue Book, the US Air Force project investigating UFO sightings, concludes that there is no evidence of extraterrestrial visitors on earth.
1957	The Atlas US intercontinental ballistic missile makes its inaugural test flight.
1945	Honduras joins the United Nations.
1939	The German battleship Graf Spee is scuttled by her crew, ending the Battle of the River Plate off Uruguay in WWII.
1925	Colonel William 'Billy' Mitchell is convicted of insubordination at his US court-martial.
1903	The Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur, make their historic manned airplane flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The flight lasts 12 seconds as the craft goes airborne for a distance of 120 feet.
1843	Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is first published.
1830	South American revolutionary hero Simon Bolivar dies in Colombia.
1819	Colombia and Venezuela become one country.
1777	France recognizes American independence.
1187	Paolo Scalari becomes Pope Clement III, following the death of Pope Gregory VIII.