May 25th in History

Michael Dobson | May 25

Today in History

  • First recorded passage of Halley’s Comet (240 BCE)
  • The Diet of Worms ends (1521 CE)
  • Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England (1659 CE)
  • H. M. S. Pinafore opens (1878 CE)
  • Oscar Wilde is convicted for homosexuality and sentenced to two years in prison (1895 CE)
  • John Scopes is indicted for teaching evolution in Tennessee (1925 CE)
  • JFK announces his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade at a joint session of Congress (1961 CE)
  • The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is dedicated (1968 CE)
  • The first Star Wars movie is released (1977 CE)
  • The Chinese government lifts its ban on the works of William Shakespeare, marking the effective end of the Cultural Revolution (1977 CE)
  • The last episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show is broadcast (2011 CE)

Birthdays

  • Edward Bulwer-Lytton, author and politician (1803)
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher (1803)
  • Lip Pike, baseball player (1845)
  • Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, dancer (1878)
  • И́горь Сико́рский (Igor Sikorsky), helicopter pioneer (1889)
  • Gene Tunney, boxer (1897)
  • Bennett Cerf, co-founder of Random House (1898)
  •  কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম (Kazī Nazrul Islām), national poet of Bangladesh (1899)
  • Binnie Barnes, actress (1903)
  • Hal David, songwriter (1921)
  • Claude Akins, actor (1926)
  • Robert Ludlum, author (1927)
  • Beverly Sills, soprano (1929)
  • John Gregory Dunne, author (1932)
  • Tom T. Hall, country musician (1936)
  • Dixie Carter, actress (1939)
  • Ian McKellen, actor (1939)
  • Leslie Uggams, singer and acress (1943)
  • Frank Oz, puppeteer (1944)
  • Karen Valentine, actress (1947)
  • Barry Windsor-Smith, comic book artist (1949)
  • Stan Sakai, comic book artist (1953)
  • Amy Klobuchar, US Senator (1960)
  • Mike Myers, comedian (1963)
  • Poppy Z. Brite, author (1967)
  • Anne Heche, actress (1969)

Deaths

  • Madam C. J. Walker, first female (and first black female) self-made millionaire in America (1919)
  • Gustav Holst, composer (1934)
  • Sonny Boy Williamson II, singer-songwriter (1965)
  • Black Jack Stewart, hockey player (1983)
  • Vic Tayback, actor (1990)
  • Sloan Wilson, author (2003)
  • Charles Nelson Reilly, actor (2007)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Africa Day (African Union)
  • African Liberation Day (African Union)
  • Flitting Day (Scotland)
  • Geek Pride Day (geek culture)
  • Independence Day (Jordan)
  • Last Bell (Russia and post-Soviet countries)
  • Liberation Day (Lebanon)
  • National Day (Argentina)
  • National Missing Children’s Day (United States)
  • National Tap Dance Day (United States)
  • Revolution Day (Sudan)
  • Towel Day (in honor of Douglas Adams)
Informal and made-up holidays include Cookie Monster’s Birthday (in honor of Frank Oz), Don’t Utter a Word Day, International Sing-Out Day, National Brown-Bag-It Day, National Wine Day, and Star Wars Day.