Historical Events for 17th April 2024

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1711 - Charles VI becomes Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his brother Joseph I
1758 - Francis Williams, 1st US black college graduate, publishes poems
1797 - Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, one of the largest invasions of Spanish territories in America
1860 - Champion of England Tom Sayers and American John Heenan fight out brutal 2 hour, 27 minute draw near Farnborough, England; police stop fight acknowledged as first world title bout
1865 - Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Abraham' Lincoln's assassination
1875 - Modern Snooker invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain, a bored British officer in Jabalpur, India
1969 - People's Democracy activist Bernadette Devlin becomes the youngest woman Member of Parliament ever elected to Westminster at 21 years old
1979 - Four Royal Ulster Constabulary officers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army van bomb in Bessbrook, County Armagh; the bomb is believed to be the largest PIRA bomb used up to that point
1979 - Brian Clark's stage drama "Whose Life is it Anyway?" starring Tom Conti and Phillip Bosco, and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, opens at the Trafalgar Theatre, NYC; runs for 223 performances, winning Conti a Tony Award
1983 - 1st National Coin Week begins

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