Today is Sunday, April 17, the 108th day of 2016. There are 258 days left in the year.
Today’s birthdays: Actor David Bradley is 74. Composer-musician Jan Hammer is 68. Actress Olivia Hussey is 65. Actor Clarke Peters is 64. Rock singer-musician Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) is 61. Actor Sean Bean is 57. Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason is 55. Actor Joel Murray is 54. Rock singer Maynard James Keenan is 52. Actress Lela Rochon is 52. Actor William Mapother is 51. Actress Leslie Bega is 49. Actor Henry Ian Cusick is 49. Actress Kimberly Elise is 49. Singer Liz Phair is 49. Rapper-actor Redman is 46. Actress Jennifer Garner is 44. Country musician Craig Anderson is 43. Singer Victoria Adams Beckham is 42. Actress-singer Lindsay Korman is 38. Actor Tate Ellington (TV: ‘‘Quantico’’) is 37. Actress Rooney Mara is 31. Actress Jacqueline MacInnes Wood is 29. Actor Paulie Litt is 21. Actress Dee Dee Davis is 20.
In 1492, a contract was signed by Christopher Columbus and a representative of Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, giving Columbus a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.
In 1861, the Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union.
In 1924, the motion picture studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was founded, the result of a merger of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Co.
In 1937, Daffy Duck (pictured) made his debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon ‘‘Porky’s Duck Hunt,’’ directed by Tex Avery.
In 1941, Yugoslavia surrendered to Germany during World War II.
In 1961, some 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in an attempt to topple Fidel Castro, whose forces crushed the incursion by the third day.
In 1964, Geraldine ‘‘Jerrie’’ Mock became the first woman to complete a solo airplane trip around the world as she returned to Columbus, Ohio, after 29½ days in her Cessna 180. Ford Motor Co. unveiled the Mustang at the New York World’s Fair. The first game was played at New York’s Shea Stadium; the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Mets, 4-3.
In 1970, Apollo 13 astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise, and Jack Swigert splashed down safely in the Pacific, four days after a ruptured oxygen tank crippled their spacecraft while en route to the moon.
In 1975, Cambodia’s five-year war ended as the capital Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, which instituted brutal, radical policies that claimed an estimated 1.7 million lives until the regime was overthrown in 1979.
In 1984, an 11-day police siege began at Libya’s embassy in London when an unidentified shooter inside the building fired on a crowd of protesters, killing police Officer Yvonne Fletcher. (The Libyans in the embassy were eventually allowed to leave the country as Britain and Libya severed relations.)
In 1991, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 3,000 for the first time, ending the day at 3,004.46, up 17.58.
In 2006, former Illinois governor George Ryan, a Republican, was convicted of corruption (he later served more than 5½ years in federal custody).
In 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Japan, where she expressed confidence the country would fully recover from its tsunami and nuclear disasters. Actor Michael Sarrazin, 70, died in Montreal.
