Bobby Fischer, seated right, plays against Paul Keres in Slovenia in 1959. AP File
A number of major events over the years have made the day, 17 January a historic one. On this day in 1929, the popular cartoon character – Popeye the Sailor Man – debuted on the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre. On the same day in 1943, a meeting between US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill took place in Casablanca, Morocco. On 17 January 1995, the western part of Japan was devastated by the infamous Kobe earthquake. On that very day in 2008, chess master Bobby Fischer died at the age of 64 in Iceland.
17 January- Historic Events:
Popeye the Sailor Man debut in 1929:
Popeye the Sailor Man, a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, made its debut on 17 January 1929. It first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre. Popeye made his debut in the comic strip’s ninth year, but he swiftly rose to prominence in the 1930s. Max Fleischer transformed the Thimble Theatre character into a series of theatrical Popeye the Sailor animated cartoons in 1933. Popeye has also made appearances in countless commercials, video games, comic books, television shows, and other media over the years.
The Casablanca Conference in 1943:
On 17 January 1943, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met during the Casablanca Conference in Morocco. The Anglo-American invasions in French North Africa in November 1942 were followed by the conference. During this meeting, Roosevelt and Churchill discussed how to plan the Allied military offensive against the Axis forces for the upcoming year. The conference’s two most significant outcomes were the adoption of the “unconditional surrender” policy and the completion of Allied strategic preparations against the Axis powers in 1943.
Kobe earthquake of 1995:
On 17 January 1995, a massive earthquake that hit the Osaka-Kobe (Hanshin) metropolitan area of western Japan comes among the deadliest and costliest ones to hit the country ever. West-central Honshu’s Hyogo prefecture was the area where the earthquake first struck. It had a magnitude of 6.9 and lasted for around 20 seconds. It was the deadliest earthquake to strike Japan since the Tokyo-Yokohama earthquake in 1923, with an estimated death toll of 6,400. More than 240,000 homes were damaged, 40,000 people were injured, and over 300,000 people became homeless as a result of the Kobe earthquake. Millions of residences in the area lost access to water or electricity.
Grandmaster Bobby Fischer breathed his last in 2008:
On 17 January 2008, America-born chess master Bobby Fischer passed away at the age of 64 in Reykjavik, Iceland. He is the youngest grandmaster in history as he got his hands on the title in 1958 at the age of 15. In 1956, Fischer captured global attention when he defeated Donald Byrne in a tournament in New York City. Fischer gave up his queen to Byrne on the 17th move in what became known as the “Game of the Century,” allowing him to set up a devastating comeback that resulted in a checkmate. He left high school at the age of 16 in order to entirely focus on the game.
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