October 17 is the 290th day of the year (291st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 75 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday (58 in 400 years each) than on Thursday or Friday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Tuesday or Sunday (56).
+ 1860 – First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).
+ 1888 – Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
+ 1919 – RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America.
+ 1931 – Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.
+ 1933 – Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.
( Births )
+ 1902 – Irene Ryan, American actress (d. 1973)
+ 1918 – Rita Hayworth, American actress, singer and dancer (d. 1987)
+ 1921 – Tom Poston, American actor and comedian (d. 2007)
+ 1938 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle rider and stuntman (d. 2007)
+ 1941 – Earl Thomas Conley, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
+ 1962 – Mike Judge, American animator, director, screenwriter, producer and actor
+ 1968 – Ziggy Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter, guitarist, and voice actor