May 25

May 25 in recent years

2024 (Saturday)

2023 (Thursday)

2022 (Wednesday)

2021 (Tuesday)

2020 (Monday)

2019 (Saturday)

2018 (Friday)

2017 (Thursday)

2016 (Wednesday)

2015 (Monday)

May 25 is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 220 days remain until the end of the year.

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.
• 1659 – Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England.
• 1738 – A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
• 1787 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States; George Washington presides.
• 1809 – Chuquisaca Revolution: a group of patriots in Chuquisaca (modern day Sucre) revolt against the Spanish Empire, starting the South American Wars of Independence.
• 1810 – May Revolution: citizens of Buenos Aires expel Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence.
• 1837 – The Patriots of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom.
• 1865 – In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
• 1878 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
• 1895 – Playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
• 1895 – The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as its president.
• 1914 – The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes the Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland.
• 1925 – Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
• 1926 – Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the Paris-based government-in-exile of Ukrainian People's Republic.
• 1935 – Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks five world records and ties a sixth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• 1936 – The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins.
• 1938 – Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante takes place, with 313 deaths.
• 1940 – World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk begins.
• 1946 – The parliament of Transjordan makes Abdullah I of Jordan their Emir.
• 1953 – Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conduct their first and only nuclear artillery test.
• 1953 – The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
• 1955 – In the United States, a night time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It is the deadliest tornado to ever occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S.
• 1955 – First ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition led by Joe Brown and George Band.
• 1961 – Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of the Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade.
• 1962 – The Old Bay Line, the last overnight steamboat service in the United States, goes out of business.
• 1963 – In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.
• 1966 – Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
• 1966 – The first prominent dàzìbào during the Cultural Revolution in China is posted at Peking University.
• 1967 – Celtic Football Club become the first Scottish, British and northern European team to win the European Cup, beating in the final Inter 2–1 in the Estádio Nacional, in Lisbon, Portugal.
• 1979 – American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
• 1979 – Six-year-old Etan Patz disappears from the street just two blocks away from his New York home, prompting an International search for the child, and causing President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25th as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983).
• 1981 – In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• 1982 – HMS Coventry is sunk during the Falklands War.
• 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.
• 1999 – The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details the People's Republic of China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
• 2000 – Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.
• 2001 – 32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
• 2002 – China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people.
• 2002 – A train crash in Tenga, Mozambique kills 197 people.
• 2009 – North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests building tensions in the international community.

Births

• 1048 – Emperor Shenzong of Song China (d. 1085)
• 1334 – Emperor Sukō, Japanese Pretender (d. 1398)
• 1458 – Mahmud Begada, Sultan of Gujarat (d. 1511)
• 1606 – Charles Garnier, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1649)
• 1661 – Claude Buffier, French philosopher and historian (d. 1737)
• 1713 – John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1792)
• 1725 – Samuel Ward, American politician (d. 1776)
• 1783 – Philip Pendleton Barbour, 12th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1841)
• 1803 – Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English novelist and playwright (d. 1873)
• 1803 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and philosopher (d. 1882)
• 1818 – Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian (d. 1897)
• 1845 – Lip Pike, American baseball player (d. 1893)
• 1846 – Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria (d. 1923)
• 1846 – Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet and writer (d. 1900)
• 1848 – Johann Baptist Singenberger, Swiss composer, music teacher, editor and publisher (d. 1924)
• 1852 – William Muldoon, American Greco-Roman wrestler (d. 1933)
• 1856 – Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general (d. 1942)
• 1860 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (d. 1944)
• 1865 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1955)
• 1865 – Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
• 1877 – Billy Murray, American singer (d. 1954)
• 1878 – Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, American tap dancer and actor (d. 1949)
• 1879 – Lord Beaverbrook, Canadian-born British publisher (d. 1964)
• 1880 – Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist (d. 1967)
• 1882 – Marie Doro, American actress (d. 1956)
• 1886 – Philip Murray, Scottish-born American labor leader (d. 1952)
• 1886 – Rash Behari Bose, Indian revolutionary leader against the British Raj (d. 1945)
• 1887 – Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian Catholic priest and saint (d. 1968)
• 1888 – Miles Malleson, English actor (d. 1969)
• 1889 – Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American inventor and aviation pioneer (d. 1972)
• 1892 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav resistance leader and later Prime Minister and President (d. 1980)
• 1897 – Gene Tunney, American boxer(d. 1978)
• 1898 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher and TV personality (d. 1971)
• 1899 – Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengali poet, musician, revolutionary and philosopher (d. 1976)
• 1900 – Alain Grandbois, French Canadian poet (d. 1975)
• 1903 – Binnie Barnes, British actress (d. 1998)
• 1907 – U Nu, Burmese politician (d. 1995)
• 1908 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (d. 1963)
• 1909 – Alfred Kubel, German politician (d. 1999)
• 1909 – Marie Menken, American experimental filmmaker and socialite (d. 1970)
• 1912 – Princess Deokhye of Korea (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Richard Dimbleby, British journalist and broadcaster (d. 1965)
• 1917 – Theodore Hesburgh, American educator and theologian
• 1917 – Steve Cochran, American actor (d. 1965)
• 1918 – Claude Akins, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1921 – Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1921 – Hal David, American lyricist and songwriter
• 1922 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian P.C.I. politician (d. 1984)
• 1922 – Kitty Kallen, American big band singer
• 1924 – István Nyers, Hungarian footballer (d. 2005)
• 1925 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet (d. 1974)
• 1925 – Jeanne Crain, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1925 – Don Liddle, American baseball player (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Robert Ludlum, American writer (d. 2001)
• 1929 – Beverly Sills, American soprano (d. 2007)
• 1929 – Warren Frost, American actor
• 1931 – Georgi Grechko, Russian cosmonaut
• 1931 – Aili Jõgi, Estonian freedom fighter
• 1931 – Irwin Winkler, American film producer and director
• 1932 – John Gregory Dunne, American writer (d. 2003)
• 1932 – K. C. Jones, American professional basketball player and coach
• 1932 – W. P. Kinsella, Canadian writer
• 1933 – Ray Spencer, English footballer
• 1933 – Basdeo Panday, 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago
• 1935 – Cookie Gilchrist, American football player
• 1935 – Victoria Shaw, Australian-born American actress (d. 1988)
• 1936 – Tom T. Hall, American singer and songwriter
• 1938 – Raymond Carver, American writer (d. 1988)
• 1939 – Dixie Carter, American actress (d. 2010)
• 1939 – Ian McKellen, English actor
• 1941 – Vladimir Voronin, President of Moldova
• 1943 – Jessi Colter, American country singer
• 1943 – John "Poli" Palmer, British vibraphone, flute, piano and synthesizers player (Family)
• 1944 – Frank Oz, English-born puppeteer and director
• 1944 – Pierre Bachelet, French singer and songwriter (d. 2005)
• 1944 – John Bunnell, American former Sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon and TV personality
• 1944 – Robert MacPherson, American mathematician
• 1946 – David A. Hargrave, American RPG designer (d.1988)
• 1947 – Karen Valentine, American actress
• 1948 – Klaus Meine, German singer (Scorpions)
• 1949 – Jamaica Kincaid, Antiguan-born novelist
• 1951 – Bob Gale, American screenwriter
• 1952 – Al Sarrantonio, American writer
• 1952 – Gordon Smith, American politician and U.S Senator from Oregon
• 1952 – Jeffrey Bewkes, American media executive
• 1953 – Eve Ensler, American playwright
• 1953 – Daniel Passarella, Argentine footballer
• 1953 – Stan Sakai, Japanese-American cartoonist (Usagi Yojimbo)
• 1955 – Alistair Burt, British Conservative politician
• 1956 – Stavros Arnaoutakis, Greek politician
• 1956 – Tatsutoshi Goto, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1956 – Sugar Minott, Jamaican reggae singer
• 1956 – David P. Sartor, American composer
• 1957 – Edward Lee, American writer
• 1957 – Robert Picard, French Canadian ice hockey player
• 1958 – Aikaterini Batzeli, Greek politician
• 1958 – Carrie Newcomer, American folksinger
• 1958 – Paul Weller, British musician (The Jam, The Style Council)
• 1959 – Manolis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician
• 1959 – Rick Wamsley, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1959 – Julian Clary, British television personality
• 1960 – Amy Klobuchar, American politician and U.S Senator from Minnesota
• 1960 – Anthea Turner, British television personality
• 1962 – Rick Nattress, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1963 – Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian
• 1963 – Eha Rünne, Estonian shot putter and discus thrower
• 1964 – Ivan Bella, Slovak cosmonaut
• 1964 – David Shaw, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1965 – George Hickenlooper, American documentary film-maker
• 1966 – Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
• 1967 – Poppy Z. Brite, American author
• 1968 – Kendall Gill, American basketball player
• 1969 – Anne Heche, American actress
• 1969 – Stacy London, American fashion consultant
• 1969 – Glen Drover, Canadian guitarist (Megadeth)
• 1970 – Joey Eischen, American baseball player
• 1970 – Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush, American actresses
• 1970 – Jamie Kennedy, American actor
• 1970 – Satsuki Yukino, Japanese voice actress
• 1971 – Marco Cappato, Italian Bonino List politician
• 1971 – Justin Henry, American actor
• 1972 – Octavia Spencer, American actress
• 1973 – Demetri Martin, American comedian
• 1973 – Molly Sims, American model and actress
• 1973 – Daz Dillinger, American rapper
• 1974 – Frank Klepacki, American musician
• 1974 – Miguel Tejada, Dominican baseball player
• 1975 – Lauryn Hill, American singer
• 1976 – Tarik Glenn, American football player
• 1976 – Cillian Murphy, Irish actor
• 1976 – Ethan Suplee, American actor
• 1976 – Sandra Nasic, German singer (Guano Apes)
• 1977 – Giel Beelen, Dutch radio DJ
• 1978 – Brian Urlacher, American football player
• 1979 – Carlos Bocanegra, American footballer
• 1979 – Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby player
• 1979 – Caroline Ouellette, French Canadian ice-hockey player
• 1979 – Sam Sodje, Nigerian footballer
• 1980 – Jae Hee, South Korean actor
• 1980 – David Navarro, Spanish footballer
• 1980 – Joe King (guitarist), American guitarist, co-founder of The Fray
• 1981 – Michalis Pelekanos, Greek footballer
• 1982 – Luke Webster, Australian rules footballer
• 1982 – Adam Boyd, English footballer
• 1982 – Daniel Braaten, Norwegian footballer
• 1982 – Ryan Gallant, American skateboarder
• 1982 – Jason Kubel, American baseball player
• 1983 – Kunal Khemu, Indian actor
• 1984 – Marion Raven, Norwegian singer-songwriter (M2M)
• 1984 – Luke Ball, Australian rules footballer
• 1984 – Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, Icelandic Miss World 2005
• 1984 – Kyle Brodziak, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Shawne Merriman, American football player
• 1984 – Kostas Martakis, Greek singer
• 1985 – Luciana Abreu, Portuguese singer and actress
• 1986 – Yoan Gouffran, French footballer
• 1986 – Geraint Thomas, Welsh cyclist
• 1986 – Lauren Crace, English actress
• 1986 – Juri Ueno, Japanese actress
• 1987 – Timothy Derijck, Belgian footballer
• 1987 – Yves De Winter, Belgian goalkeeper
• 1990 – Nikita Filatov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1993 – Dilley sextuplets, American sextuplets

Deaths

• 615 – Pope Boniface IV (b. c. 550)
• 709 – Aldhelm, English Christian saint, Latin poet and Anglo-Saxon literature scholar (b. c. 639)
• 735 – The Venerable Bede, English historian and monk (b. 672 or 673)
• 967 – Murakami, Emperor of Japan (b. 926)
• 992 – Mieszko I first lord and knight of Poland, duke of Polans (b. c. 935)
• 1085 – Pope Gregory VII (b. c. 1020)
• 1261 – Pope Alexander IV
• 1452 – John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1555 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and cartographer (b. 1508)
• 1555 – King Henry II of Navarre (b. 1503)
• 1595 – Valens Acidalius, German critic and poet (b. 1567)
• 1632 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1572)
• 1667 – Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (b. 1620)
• 1681 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright (b. 1600)
• 1693 – Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette, French writer (b. 1634)
• 1741 – Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German theologian (b. 1660)
• 1786 – Peter III of Portugal, consort of Queen Maria I of Portugal (b. 1717)
• 1789 – Anders Dahl, Swedish botanist (b. 1751)
• 1797 – John Griffin Whitwell, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, British field marshal (b. 1719)
• 1805 – William Paley, English philosopher (b. 1743)
• 1848 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German writer (b. 1797)
• 1849 – Benjamin d'Urban, British general and colonial administrator (b. 1777)
• 1899 – Rosa Bonheur, French realist painter and sculptor (b. 1822)
• 1912 – Austin Lane Crothers, American politician (b. 1860)
• 1917 – Maksim Bahdanovič, Belarusian poet (b. 1891)
• 1919 – Madam C. J. Walker, American philanthropist and tycoon (b. 1867)
• 1924 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter (b. 1889)
• 1926 – Symon Petlura, Ukrainian politician and statesman (b. 1879)
• 1927 – Payne Whitney, American businessman (b. 1876)
• 1930 – Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1848)
• 1934 – Gustav Holst, English composer (b. 1874)
• 1939 – Sir Frank Watson Dyson, English astronomer (b. 1868)
• 1940 – Joe De Grasse, American film director (b. 1873)
• 1942 – Emanuel Feuermann, Austrian-American cellist (b. 1902)
• 1943 – Nils von Dardel, Swedish post-impressionist painter (b. 1888)
• 1951 – Paula von Preradović, Croatian-born writer (b. 1887)
• 1954 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913)
• 1965 – Aleck "Rice" Miller, American blues singer, songwriter and harmonica player
• 1968 – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (b. 1881)
• 1970 – Tom Patey, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1932)
• 1977 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (b. 1904)
• 1979 – John Arthur Spenkelink, American murderer (b. 1949)
• 1981 – Fredric Warburg, British publisher and author (b. 1898)
• 1983 – Idris I, King of Libya (b. 1889)
• 1983 – Jean Rougeau, French Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1925)
• 1983 – Black Jack Stewart, Canadian NHL hockey player (b. 1917)
• 1986 – Chester Bowles, American Democratic politician (b. 1901)
• 1988 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
• 1994 – Sonny Sharrock, American jazz guitarist (b. 1940)
• 1995 – Dany Robin, French actress (b. 1927)
• 1996 – Renzo De Felice, Italian historian (b. 1929)
• 1996 – Bradley Nowell, American singer and guitarist (Sublime) (b. 1968)
• 2000 – Nicholas Clay, British actor (b. 1946)
• 2002 – Pat Coombs, English actress (b. 1926)
• 2003 – Jeremy Michael Ward, American sound technician and vocal operator (The Mars Volta) (b. 1976)
• 2004 – Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Sunil Dutt, Indian actor and politician (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Robert Jankel, British coachbuilder (b. 1938)
• 2005 – Graham Kennedy, Australian television personality (b. 1934)
• 2005 – Ruth Laredo, American pianist (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Gregory Scott Johnson, American murderer (b. 1965)
• 2006 – Desmond Dekker, Jamaican ska musician (b. 1941)
• 2007 – Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor and TV host (b. 1931)
• 2008 – J. R. Simplot, American potato farmer (b. 1909)
• 2008 – Camu Tao, American rapper and producer (b. 1977)
• 2009 – Haakon Lie, Norwegian Labour politician (b. 1905)

Holidays and observances

• Africa Day (African Union)
• African Liberation Day (African Union)
• Christian Feast Day
  • Bede
  • Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
  • Pope Gregory VII
  • Pope Urban I
• Day of Youth, celebrated on Josip Broz Tito's birthday (the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
• Geek Pride Day, celebrating the premiere of the first Star Wars movie.
  • Star Wars Day (Los Angeles City Council)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Jordan from the United Kingdom in 1946.
• Integrity Day (Church of Scientology)
• Liberation Day (Lebanon)
• May Revolution Day/National Day (Argentina)
• National Tap Dance Day (A celebration of tap dancing as an American art-form)
• Palmerston Gospel Day (Palmerston Island)
• Thargelia (Hellenism)
• Towel Day (Douglas Adams fans)
• Urbanas Diena (ancient Latvia)
• Glorious 25th of May (Discworld fans)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

---