Performer Ngoc Lan

Events in 1985 and 17-8

Events in the world in the birth year of Ngoc Lan

• Soviet leader Chernenko dies at 73 and is replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev, 54 (March 11). Under the slogans of glasnost and Perestroika, Gorbachev initiates a broad program of reform and liberalization. Background: Rulers of Russia since 1533
• Two Shi'ite Muslim gunmen capture TWA airliner with 133 aboard, 104 of them Americans (June 14); 39 remaining hostages freed in Beirut (June 30).
• PLO terrorists hijack Achille Lauro, Italian cruise ship, with 80 passengers, plus crew (Oct. 7); American, Leon Klinghoffer, killed (Oct. 8); Italian government toppled by political crisis over hijacking (Oct. 16).
• Reagan and Gorbachev meet at summit (Nov. 19); agree to step up arms control talks and renew cultural contacts (Nov. 21). Background: nuclear disarmament
• Terrorists seize Egyptian Boeing 737 airliner after takeoff from Athens (Nov. 23); 59 dead as Egyptian forces storm plane on Malta (Nov. 24).

Birthday Ngoc Lan (17-8) in history

• Day 17-8 year 1807: Robert Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont, began its trip up the Hudson River to Albany.
• Day 17-8 year 1863: Fort Sumter, S.C. was bombarded by Union ships during the Civil War.
• Day 17-8 year 1896: Prospectors found gold in Alaska, a discovery that set off the Klondike gold rush.
• Day 17-8 year 1945: Indonesian nationalists proclaimed independence from the Netherlands.
• Day 17-8 year 1962: 18-year-old Peter Fechter was shot and killed by guards at the Berlin Wall, spurring riots.
• Day 17-8 year 1969: Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast, killing 248 people.
• Day 17-8 year 1978: The first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight landed outside of Paris.
• Day 17-8 year 1987: Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's second in command, committed suicide.
• Day 17-8 year 2008: U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal, breaking the record set by Mark Spitz in the 1972 Games. Phelps also set the record for the most golds in a single Olympics.