January 25th in History

On this day in history —

  • The Senate accepts Claudius as Emperor (41)
  • Mendelssohn’s Wedding March is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria’s daughter and subsequently becomes a popular wedding processional (1858)
  • Nellie Bly completes her around-the-world journey in 72 days (1890)
  • Alexander Graham Bell places the first US transcontinental telephone call (1915)
  • World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends (1945)
  • JFK conducts the first live presidential press conference (1961)
  • Charles Manson and three associates are found guilty of the Tate-LaBianca murders (1971)
  • Idi Amin becomes president of Uganda (1971)

It’s the birthday of —

  • Messalina, wife of the emperor Claudius (17)
  • Robert Boyle, first modern chemist (1627)
  • Robert Burns, poet (1759)
  • William Colgate, founder of Colgate-Palmolive (1783)
  • W. Somerset Maugham, writer (1874)
  • Virginia Woolf, writer (1882)
  • Ewan MacColl, folk singer (1915)
  • Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian politician (1928)
  • Dean Jones, actor (1931)
  • Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician (1933)
  • Etta James, singer-songwriter (1938)
  • Gregory Sierra, actor (1941)
  • Tobe Hooper, filmmaker (1943)
  • John Leslie, porn star (1945)
  • Alicia Keys, singer-songwriter (1981)

Deaths —

  • Al Capone, mob boss (1947)
  • Adele Astaire, dancer (1981)
  • Philip Johnson, architect (2005)

Holidays and Celebrations —

  • Burns Night (Scottish people)
  • 2001 Revolution Day (Egypt)
  • National Police Day (Egypt)
  • National Voters’ Day (India)
  • Tatiana Day (Russian Orthodox)

Informal and made-up holidays include A Room of One’s Own Day, Macintosh Computer Day, National Irish Coffee Day, and Opposite Day.

(*O.S., or Old Style, when used, refers to the fact that Russia did not convert from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar until 1918.)