17th January: Today In History

Today is January,  the 17th day of 2016. There are 340 days left in the year. Today's Highlight In History; Birthdays:   1706 Benjamin Franklin, American statesman & scientist   1820 Anne Bronte, Youngest of the 'Bronte' sisters   1899 Al Capone, American gangster   1942 Muhammad Ali, American heavyweight boxing champion   1956 Paul Young, English singer   1957 Keith Chegwin, Broadcaster & television presenter Events:   1773 Captain Cooks ship became the first to cross the Antartic Ocean   1912 English explorer Robert F. Scott reached the South Pole   1959 The African country of Mali was formed with the joining of Senegal & French Sudan   1968 The motor manufacturer British Leyland was formed, from the merger of two companies   1982 The Federal Government gives aliens residing or working illegally in Nigeria 14 days to leave the country.   1983 Breakfast television began in Britain   1986 The Royal yacht Britannia evacuated Britions and other foreign nationals from Aden   1995 In Japan a massive earthquake caused widespread destruction & left 300,000 homeless