Once Upon A Time – July 17 – 1816 – “L’Argus” Accidentally Discovers Raft Holding Survivors From Wrecked French Frigate “Méduse”

180 6 inhabitants of Carthage, North Africa executed for being Christians. Earliest record of Christianity in this part of the world.

1203 Siege of Constantinople begins during the fourth Crusade; Roman Catholic Crusaders aboard a Venetian fleet attack the city

1762 Catherine II becomes Tsarina of Russia following the murder of Peter III

1918 The Romanov royal family and several of their retainers are executed by a Bolshevik firing squad in the basement of Ipatiev House, in Yekaterinburg, Siberia

1936 Spanish generals Francisco Franco and Emilio Mola lead a right-wing uprising, starting the Spanish Civil War

1945 Potsdam Conference: Harry Truman, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill hold 1st post-World War II meeting

2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down over Eastern Ukraine by a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1959 “North by Northwest” directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint premieres in Los Angeles

Today in Music
1717 George Frideric Handel’s “Water Music” premieres on the River Thames in London

Today in Sport
1976 21st modern Olympic games opens in Montreal: 25 African teams (later rising to 33 nations) boycott the games due to New Zealand playing rugby in apartheid South Africa

MORE FACTS…
1816 “L’Argus” accidentally discovers raft holding survivors from wrecked French frigate “Méduse.” After 13 days at sea only 15 of 151 remain, the rest having been cannibalised, murdered, or committed suicide. This event was made famous by Théodore Gericault’s painting “The Raft of the Medusa”

1935 “Variety” publishes famous headline “Sticks Nix Hick Pix”

Famous Weddings
1328 Prince David (4), heir to the Scottish throne marries Joan (7), Princess of England at Berwick-upon-Tweed

1942 American movie actress Lana Turner (21) weds 2nd husband, American actor and restaurateur Steve Crane (annulled due to uncompleted divorce from prior marriage)

1943 One of the world’s greatest contraltos, American Marian Anderson (46) weds architect Orpheus H. Fisher in Bethel, Connecticut