May 25

Events

• 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors.
• 1420 - Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
• 1521 - The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
• 1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States (George Washington is presiding).
• 1810 - Armed citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy from Spain and establish a provincial government for Argentina.
• 1865 - Mobile magazine explosion: 300 are killed in Mobile, Alabama when an ordnance depot explodes.
• 1895 - Playwright, poet and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "sodomy and gross indecency" and sentenced to serve two years in a London prison.
• 1895 - The Republic of Taiwan forms, with Tang Ching-sung as the president.
• 1914 - The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule.
• 1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
• 1925 - The National Forensics League is founded.
• 1935 - In a span of 45 minutes at the Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jesse Owens sets or ties four track and field world records.
• 1935 - At Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Babe Ruth hits his 714th and last home run setting a baseball record that will stand for 39 years.
• 1940 - World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk begins.
• 1946 - The parliament of Transjordan makes emir Abdullah their king.
• 1953 - Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test.
• 1961 - Apollo program: President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the decade.
• 1963 - In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.
• 1966 - Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
• 1968 - In St. Louis, Missouri, US Vice-President Hubert Humphrey and US Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall dedicate the Gateway Arch as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
• 1973 - Mike Oldfield releases Tubular Bells.
• 1977 - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope opens in theaters and becomes the highest grossing movie to date.
• 1979 - American Airlines flight 191: In Chicago, Illinois, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board on two people on the ground.
• 1981 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• 1985 - Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge which kills approximately 10,000 people.
• 1997 - A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
• 1997 - Strom Thurmond becomes the longest serving member in the history of the United States Senate (41 years and 10 months).
• 2000 - Lebanon celebrates the liberation of south after 22 years of Israeli occupation.
• 2001 - Mountain climbing: 32-year old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
• 2001 - Mountain climbing: 64-year old Sherman Bull, of New Canaan, Connecticut, becomes the oldest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
• 2002 - A China Airlines Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225

Births

• 1261 - Pope Alexander IV (+ 1254)
• 1803 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, philosopher (+ 1882)
• 1803 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, novelist and playwright (+ 1873)
• 1860 - James McKeen Cattell, first professor of psychology in U.S. (+ 1944)
• 1865 - Pieter Zeeman, Nobel Prize winner (+ 1943)
• 1879 - Lord Beaverbrook, publisher ((+ 1964)
• 1880 - Jean Alexandre Barré, neurologist (+ 1967)
• 1888 - Miles Malleson, actor (+ 1969)
• 1889 - Igor Sikorsky developer of a working helicopter (+ 1972)
• 1922 - Enrico Berlinguer, politician (+ 1984)
• 1926 - Max von der Grün, author
• 1927 - Robert Ludlum, science fiction writer (+ 2001)
• 1929 - Beverly Sills, soprano
• 1931 - Georgi Grechko, cosmonaut
• 1932 - Jeanne Crain, actress
• 1939 - Ian McKellen, actor
• 1944 - Frank Oz, puppeteer, director
• 1963 - Mike Myers, actor, comedian
• 1966 - Sugar Minott, singer
• 1967 - Poppy Z. Brite, author
• 1971 - Sonya Smith, actress

Deaths

• 709 - Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne
• 735 - Bede, English Historian and monk
• 992 - Mieszko I
• 1085 - Pope Gregory VII
• 1555 - Henry II of Navarre
• 1681 - Pedro Calderón de la Barca
• 1789 - Anders Dahl, botanist after whom the dahlia was named
• 1805 - William Paley, philosopher
• 1912 - Austin Lane Crothers, politician
• 1934 - Gustav Holst, composer
• 1935 - Sir Frank Watson Dyson, English Astronomer Royal
• 1940 - Joe De Grasse, pioneer Hollywood film director
• 1965 - Sonny Boy Williamson
• 1986 - Chester Bowles, politician
• 1988 - Ernst Ruska, Nobel Prize in Physicist

Holidays and observances

• Commemoration of the Venerable Bede (Anglican)
• Argentina - Day of May Revolution/National Day (1810)
• Chad, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Zambia - African Freedom/Unity Day
• Jordan - Independence Day/Arab Renaissance Day (1946)
• Libya, Sudan - Sudan National Day/May Revolution Day (1969)
• United States - Memorial Day/Decoration Day, a legal holiday (1868)
• Virginia - Confederate Memorial Day (1868)
• Yugoslavia - Day of Youth
• Ancient Latvia - Urbanas Diena observed

May 24 - May 26 - April 25 - June 25 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By