This Date in History - July 17

Happy birthday, Disneyland.  Dedicated on this date in 1955.

180:  TWELVE INHABITANTS OF SCILLIUM IN NORTH AFRICA ARE EXECUTED FOR BEING CHRISTIANS.  

If my home address was Scillium, you can kill me as well.  It sounds like bacteria.

1203:  THE FOURTH CRUSADE CAPTURES CONSTANTINOPLE BY ASSAULT.  THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR ALEXIOS III ANGELOS FLEES FROM HIS CAPITAL INTO EXILE.

Exile?  What country is that?  I don't see it on Google Maps.

1429:  CHARLES VII OF FRANCE IS CROWNED THE KING OF FRANCE AFTER A SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN BY JOAN OF ARC.

Several years before they decided to turn her into a marshmallow.

1717:  KING GEORGE I OF GREAT BRITAIN SAILS DOWN THE RIVER THAMES WITH A BARGE OF 50 MUSICIANS, WHERE HANDEL'S WATER MUSIC IS PREMIERED.

Anybody calling the cops about that racket?

1762: CATHERINE II BECOMES TSAR OF RUSSIA UPON THE MURDER OF PETER III.

So it was Catherine II, Peter 0.

1794:  THE SIXTEEN CARMELITE MARTYRS OF COMPIEGNE ARE EXECUTED 10 DAYS PRIOR TO THE END OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION'S REIGH OF TERROR.

This date is really big on executing innocent people.

1856:  THE GREAT TRAIN WRECK OF 1956 IN PENNSYLVANIA KILLS OVER 60 PEOPLE.

.....or killing them on the rails.

1867:  THE HARVARD SCHOOL OF DENTAL MEDICINE, THE FIRST IN THE US, IS OPENED.

Rinse, spit, here's your invoice.

1889:  AUTHOR ERLE STANLEY GARDNER IS BORN.

And so, in a way, is Perry Mason.

1899:  ACTOR JAMES CAGNEY IS BORN.

Not on the Fourth of July, but close enough.

1912: TV HOST ART LINKLETTER IS BORN.

Mothers produce the darndest things.

1917:  KING GEORGE V ISSUES A PROCLAMATION STATING THE MALE LINE DESCENDANTS OF THE BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY WILL BEAR THE SURNAME WINDSOR.

And knot their ties accordingly.

1917:  COMIC PHYLLIS DILLER IS BORN.

Mrs. Fang to you.

1918:  EMPEROR NICHOLAS II OF RUSSIAN AND HIS FAMILY ARE MURDERED BY BOLSHEVIK CHEKISTS IN RUSSIA.

Also a tough date to be a ruler in Russia.

1918:  THE RMS CARPATHIA, THE SHIP THAT RESCUED TITANIC SURVIVORS, IS SUNK OFF IRELAND BY A GERMAN U-BOAT.

So how come James Cameron didn't make a movie about this???

1928: COMPOSER VINCE GUARALDI IS BORN.

He did the music for the Peanuts Christmas special, so God bless him.

1933:  AFTER SUCCESSFULLY CROSSING THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, THE LITHUANIAN RESEARCH AIRCRAFT LITUANICA CRASHES IN EUROPE UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES.

In the 30s, what wasn't done in by mysterious circumstances?

1935:  ACTRESS DIAHANN CARROLL IS BORN.

Julia of TV fame and designer of wigs for Black women the world over.

1935:  ACTOR DONALD SUTHERLAND IS BORN.

I know him only as Keifer's dad.

1938:  DOUGLAS CORRIGAN TAKES OFF FROM BROOKLYN THE WRONG WAY TO IRELAND.

Hence the name that stuck for years.

1941:  FOOTBALL STAR DARYLE LAMONICA IS BORN.

And what's with the "e" at the end of the first name, Mr. and Mrs. Lamonica?

1942:  BASEBALL STAR DON KESSINGER IS BORN.

Hey, hey!

1945:  THE LEADERS OF THE THREE ALLIED NATIONS, WINSTON CHURCHILL, HARRY TRUMAN, AND JOSEPH STALIN MEET IN POTSDAM TO DECIDE THE FUTURE OF A DEFEATED GERMANY.

And also to gossip about the now-dead Franklin Roosevelt.

1948:  THE SOUTH KOREAN CONSTITUTION IS PROCLAIMED.

Yeah, that was a good idea.

1955:  DISNEYLAND IS DEDICATED AND OPENED BY WALT DISNEY IN ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA.

And immediately a sign went up.....Wait Time: 90 Minutes.

1959:  SINGER BILLIE HOLIDAY DIES.

Really singin' those blues now.

1961:  BASEBALL STAR TY COBB DIES.

And he still managed to go 3 for 4.

1974:  BASEBALL STAR DIZZY DEAN DIES.

And he still managed to pitch seven quality innings.

1975:  AN AMERICAN APOLLO AND A SOVIET SOYUZ SPACECRAFT DOCK IN ORBIT FOR THE FIRST TIME.

And immediately they exchanged spacecraft insurance cards.

1981:  A STRUCTURAL FAILURE LEADS TO THE COLLAPSE OF A WALKWAY AT THE HYATT REGENCY IN KANSAS CITY, KILLING 114 PEOPLE.

And the July 17 carnage continues.

1996:  TWA FLIGHT 800, ON ITS WAY TO PARIS, CRASHES OFF THE COAST OF LONG ISLAND, KILLING ALL 230 ON BOARD.

And continues.....

1998:  IN NEW GUINEA, A TSUNAMI TRIGGERED BY AN UNDERSEA EARTHQUAKE KILLS AN ESTIMATED 3,100 PEOPLE WITH ALMOST 2,000 MORE UNACCOUNTED FOR.

And continues.....

2001:  PUBLISHER KATHARINE GRAHAM DIES.

Hopefully in her sleep.

2005:  ACTRESS GERALDINE FITZGERALD DIES.

Her, too.

2006:  AUTHOR MICKEY SPILLANE DIES.

Who dun it?

2007:  TAM AIRLINES FLIGHT 3053 CRASHES UPON LANDING IN SAO PAULO, KILLING 199 DEATHS.

It's official.  July 17 is a day to spend under your bed.

2009:  JOURNALIST WALTER CRONKITE DIES.

And that's the way it is.

Dinner last night:  Had a big lunch so nothing really.