About the day » Wednesday April 17, 1940Calender converter

• Kattestaart, dirksland (goeree overflakkee)
• Aalbert Hendrik van den Berg († 2008)
• Betsy Roza Schuitevoerder, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Nederland († 1943)
• H.E.M. (Bert) CONINX, Heer/Maastricht (NL/LI) († 2007)
• Adrianus Manders 12BAN, Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands († 1999)
• Franciscus Portegijs († 1965)
• Johanna Kroon, Amsterdam († 2008)
• Cornelis den Hartog, Oud-Alblas, Zuid-Holland, Nederland († 2015)
• Cornelis Gerrit Schimmel, Ede († 1940)
• Harry Bertens, Tilburg, Noord-Brabant, Nederland († 2002)

• Alida Jacoba Paats (73), Den Haag
• Aloisius Casteleyn (75), Klerken,8650,West-Vlaanderen,België
• Anna Gertrudis Geurts (73), Helden, Limburg, Nederland
• Barbara Catharina Brouwer (83), Utrecht, Nederland
• Adriana Maan (83), Haarlem, Noord-Holland, Nederland
• Allertje Hiemstra (89), Franeker, Friesland, Nederland
• Adriaan de Bree (91), Dongen
• "Joseph" Marie Emmanuel de Bucy (67), Paris
• Aloysius Henricus Maria (Lou) Melchers (63), Schiedam, ZH, Nederland
• Barbara Catharina Brouwer (83), Utrecht, Utrecht, NL

• 1938 » Ben Barnes, American businessman and politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
• 1938 » Doug Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 41st Canadian Minister of Justice
• 1939 » Robert Miller, American art dealer († 2011)
• 1940 » Agostino Vallini, Italian cardinal and vicar general of Rome
• 1940 » Anja Silja, German soprano and actress
• 1940 » Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter († 1983)
• 1940 » Chuck Menville, American animator and screenwriter († 1992)
• 1940 » Eric Dancer, English businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Devon
• 1940 » John McCririck, English journalist († 2019)
• 1941 » Lagle Parek, Estonian architect and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior

• 1923 » Laurence Ginnell, Irish lawyer and politician (b. 1852)
• 1930 » Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1863)
• 1933 » Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (b. 1872)
• 1936 » Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch lawyer and politician, 28th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1873)
• 1942 » Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
• 1944 » Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (b. 1893)
• 1944 » J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (b. 1867)
• 1946 » Juan Bautista Sacasa, Nicaraguan medical doctor, politician and 20th President of Nicaragua (b. 1874)
• 1948 » Suzuki Kantarō, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
• 1954 » Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian lawyer and politician, Romanian Minister of Justice (b. 1900)

1. Jan
2. Johannes
3. Cornelis
4. Hendrik
5. Willem
6. Gerrit
7. Pieter
8. Jacob
9. Adrianus
10. Robert
11. Petrus
12. Jacobus
13. Wilhelmus
14. Gerardus
15. Dirk
16. Arie

1. Maria
2. Johanna
3. Anna
4. Cornelia
5. Elisabeth
6. Wilhelmina
7. Hendrika
8. Adriana
9. Catharina
10. Petronella
11. Geertruida
12. Jacoba
13. Annie
14. Margaretha
15. Marie
16. Helena

• Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
• In The Netherlands , there was from August 10, 1939 to September 3, 1940 the cabinet De Geer II, with Jonkheer mr. D.J. de Geer (CHU) as prime minister.
• In The Netherlands , there was from September 3, 1940 to July 27, 1941 the cabinet Gerbrandy I, with Prof. dr. P.S. Gerbrandy (ARP) as prime minister.
• The Netherlands had about 8.8 million citizens.
• June 7 » King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian government leave Tromsø and go into exile in London. They return exactly five years later.
• July 19 » World War II: Battle of Cape Spada: The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualties.
• September 7 » World War II: The German Luftwaffe begins the Blitz, bombing London and other British cities for over 50 consecutive nights.
• October 1 » The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.
• November 12 » World War II: Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov arrives in Berlin to discuss the possibility of the Soviet Union joining the Axis Powers.
• November 27 » In Romania, the ruling Iron Guard fascist party assassinates over 60 of arrested King Carol II of Romania's aides and other political dissidents.

The temperature on April 17, 1940 was between 0.9 °C and 11.7 °C and averaged 6.9 °C. There was 0.6 mm of rain during 0.8 hours. There was 8.3 hours of sunshine (59%). The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the south-southwest.