November 17

Births

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC ( 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General", was a British Army officer.

He saw action in the First World War, where he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the Eighth Army from August 1942 in the Western Desert until the final Allied victory in Tunisia. This command included the Battle of El Alamein, a turning point in the Western Desert Campaign. He subsequently commanded the Eighth Army in Sicily and Italy before being given responsibility for planning the D-Day invasion in Normandy. He was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord from the initial landings until after the Battle of Normandy. He then continued in command of the 21st Army Group for the rest of the campaign in North West Europe. As such he was the principal field commander for the failed airborne attempt to bridge the Rhine at Arnhem and theAllied Rhine crossing. On 4 May 1945 he took the German surrender at Luneburg Heath in northern Germany. After the war he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in Germany and then Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English actor, satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. Cook has been described as "the funniest man who ever drew breath", although his work was also controversial. Cook was closely associated with anti-establishment comedy which emerged in Britain and the United States in the late 1950s.

Auberon Alexander Waugh ( 17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist, and eldest son of Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname 'Bron'.

After a traditional classical education at Downside, he was commissioned in the army during National Service, where he was badly injured in a shooting accident, before studying briefly at Oxford.

At twenty, he launched his Fleet Street career at the Telegraph Group, though he also wrote for many other media, including Private Eye, presenting a profile that was half Tory grandee and half cheeky rebel, so he could not be taken entirely seriously. He is remembered for his joke-campaign to stand for Parliament as candidate for the Dog Lovers' Party, reminding voters that the sitting MP had been accused of arranging the shooting of a dog.

As a young man, Waugh wrote five novels that were quite well received, but gave up fiction, for fear of unfavourable comparisons with his father.

With his wife Lady Teresa, he had four children, and they lived at their manor-house, Combe Florey in Somerset.

Roland Joffé (born 17 November 1945) is an English-French film director who is known for his Oscar nominated movies, The Killing Fields and The Mission. He began his career in television. His early television credits included episodes of Coronation Street and an adaptation of The Stars Look Down for Granada. He gained a reputation for hard-hitting political stories with the series Bill Brand and factual dramas for Play for Today.

Sarah Nicole Harding (born Sarah Nicole Hardman, 17 November 1981) is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, and actress. She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Harding had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls Aloud. The group has achieved massive success, having twenty consecutive top ten singles (including four number ones) in the UK, six studio albums have all been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), two of which went to number one in the UK, and accumulating a total of five BRIT Award nominations. In 2009, Girls Aloud won "Best Single" with their song "The Promise".

During the group's hiatus Harding turned her attentions to acting, appearing in Bad Day, the BBC television film Freefall, Run For Your Wife, and St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold. Harding contributed three solo songs to the soundtrack of St. Trinian's 2. Harding has also modeled forUltimo lingerie. In 2011, Harding entered a rehab facility for depression, alcohol addiction, and prescription drug abuse. In late 2012, Harding reunited with Girls Aloud to celebrate their tenth anniversary a band.