January 25

Birthdays:

1981 ~ Alicia Keys, American singer-songwriter.

1951 ~ Steve Prefontaine (d. May 30, 1975), American runner.  He died at age 24 in a car accident.

1949 ~ Paul Nurse, English biochemist and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1943 ~ Tobe Hooper (né Willard Tobe Hooper, d. Aug. 26, 2017), American film director who combined horror and chain saws.  He is best known for directing 1974 film, The Chain Saw Massacre.  He died at age 74.

1938 ~ Etta James (née Jamesetta Hawkins, d. Jan. 20, 2012), American singer.  She died 5 days before her 74^th birthday.

1936 ~ Donald Featherstone (d. June 22, 2015), American kitsch artist who, in 1957, crafted the law flamingo when he was just 21 years old.  He was from Massachusetts.  He died at age 79.

1933 ~ Corazon Aquino (né Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco, d. Aug. 1, 2009), 11^th President of the Philippines.  She was in office from February 1986 until June 1992.  She was 76 at the time of her death.

1931 ~ Dean Jones (d. Sept. 1, 2015), American clean-cut Disney star who found faith.  He had leading roles in several Disney films, including The Love Bug.  He died of Parkinson’s disease at age 84.

1923 ~ Arvid Carlsson, Swedish biochemist and recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1919 ~ Edwin Newman (d. Aug. 13, 2010), American journalist.  He died at age 91.

1917 ~ Ilya Prigogine (d. May 28, 2003), Russian-Belgian chemist and recipient of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 86.

1882 ~ Virginia Woolf (née Adeline Virginia Stephen, d. Mar. 28, 1941), English writer.  She committed suicide by drowning at age 59.

1874 ~ W. Somerset Maugham (né William Somerset Maugham, d. Dec. 16, 1965), English writer best known for his novel Of Human Bondage.  He died at age 91.

1860 ~ Charles Curtis (d. Feb. 8, 1936), 31^st United States Vice President.  He served under President Herbert Hoover.  He was also the first Native American to be elected a United States Senator when he was elected to the Office in 1907.  He died 15 days after his 76^th birthday.

1783 ~ William Colgate (d. Mar. 25, 1857), British manufacturer who founded what would become the Colgate-Palmolive Company.  Colgate University in New York State was named in recognition of the Colgate family.  He died at age 74.

1759 ~ Robert Burns (d. July 21, 1796), Scottish poet.  He died at age 37

1736 ~ Joseph-Louis Lagrange (né Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia, d. Apr. 10, 1813), Italian-born mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1627 ~ Robert William Boyle (d. Dec. 31, 1691), Irish chemist and physicist.  He is considered to be the father of modern chemistry.  He died 25 days before his 65^th birthday.

1477 ~ Anna, Duchess of Brittany (d. Jan. 9, 1514), Queen of Charles VIII of France.  She died at age 36.  She is believed to have been born on January 25, 1477, so died just 16 days before her 37^th birthday.

750 ~ Leo IV the Khazar (d. Sept. 8, 780), Byzantine emperor.  He died at age 30.

Events that Changed the World:

2011 ~ The Egyptian revolution began in Cairo and Alexandria with a series of street demonstrations, marches, acts of civil disobedience, and labor strikes.

1999 ~ A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck western Columbia killing at least 1,000 people.

1971 ~ Idi Amin (d. 2003) lead a coup and deposed Milton Obote (1925 ~ 2005), thereby claiming Uganda’s presidency for himself.

1971 ~ Charles Manson (1934 ~ 2017) and his three female “family” members were found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.

1961 ~ President John F. Kennedy (1917 ~ 1963) delivered the first live presidential television news conference.

1946 ~ The United Mine Workers union rejoined the American Federation of Labor.

1945 ~ The World War II battle, the Battle of the Bulge ended.

1937 ~ The soap opera, The Guiding Light, debuted on NBC radio.  In 1952, it moved to CBS television where it aired until it was finally cancelled on September 18, 2009.

1924 ~ The 1924 Winter Olympic Games opened in Chamonix, in the French Alps.

1919 ~ The League of Nations was founded.

1918 ~ The Ukraine declared its independence from Bolshevik Russia.

1890 ~ Journalist Nellie Bly (né Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, 1864 ~ 1922) completed her around-the-world journey in 72 days.

1858 ~ Victoria, Princess Royal (1840 ~ 1901), daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, married Friedrich of Prussia (1831 ~ 1888).  Felix Mendelssohn’s The Wedding March was played and subsequently became a popular wedding recessional.

1765 ~ The British founded Port Egmont, their first settlement in the Falkland Islands.

1533 ~ King Henry VIII (1491 ~ 1547) of England secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn (1501 ~ 1536).

Good-byes:

2017 ~ Sir John Vincent Hurt (b. Jan. 22, 1940), British actor who made outsiders his specialty.  He died of pancreatic cancer 3 days after his 77^th birthday.

2017 ~ Mary Tyler Moore (b. Dec. 29, 1936), American sit-com star who defined the modern career woman.  She died of cardiopulmonary arrest due to pneumonia.  She died 27 days after her 80^th birthday.

2014 ~ Heini Halberstam (b. Sept. 11, 1926), Czech-born English mathematician.  He was among the children transported to England in the Kindertransport during World War II.  He died at age 87.

2010 ~ Charles Mathias (b. July 24, 1922), American senator from Maryland who was one of the last liberal Republicans.  He died at age 87.

2005 ~ Philip Johnson (b. July 8, 1906), American architect.  He died at age 98.

1999 ~ Sarah Louise Delany (b. Sept. 19, 1889), American physician and author.  She and her younger sister, Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany (1891 ~ 1995) wrote the book, Having Our Say: The First 100 Years.  The book was published when both sisters were over 100 years old.  Sarah Delany died at age 109 and Bessie died at age 104.

1997 ~ Jeane Dixon (née Lydia Emma Pinckert, b. Jan. 5, 1904), American astrologer.  She advised Nancy Reagan.  She died of cardiac arrest 20 days after her 93^rd birthday.

1994 ~ Stephen Cole Kleene (b. Jan. 5, 1909), American mathematician.  He died 20 days after his 85^th birthday.

1990 ~ Ava Gardner (b. Dec. 24, 1922), American actress.  She died of pneumonia a month after her 67^th birthday.

1981 ~ Adele Astaire (née Adele Marie Austerlitz, b. Sept. 10, 1896), American dancer and elder sister of Fred Astaire.  She died at age 84.

1969 ~ Irene Castle (b. Apr. 27, 1893), English dancer.  She died at age 75.

1947 ~ Al Capone (né Alphonse Gabriel Capone, b. Jan. 17, 1899), American gangster.  He was ultimately arrested on tax evasion.  He died 8 days after his 48^th birthday of cardiac arrest following a stroke.

1891 ~ Theodorus “Theo” van Gogh (b. May 1, 1857), Dutch art dealer and younger brother of painter Vincent van Gogh.  He died of Dementia paralytic just six months after Vincent van Gogh’s suicide.  Theo was 33 years old at the time of his death.

1881 ~ Konstantin Thon (b. Oct. 26, 1794), Russian architect.  He designed the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.  He died at age 86.

1742 ~ Edmond Halley (b. Nov. 8, 1656), British astronomer and mathematician.  He is best known for calculating the orbit of the comet that was ultimately named in his honor ~ Halley’s Comet.  He died at age 85.

1586 ~ Lucas Cranach the Younger (b. Oct. 4, 1515), German painter.  He died at age 70.

1559 ~ King Christian II of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (b. July 1, 1481).  He died at age 77.

1067 ~ Emperor Yingzong of Song (b. Feb. 16, 1032), 5^th Emperor of the Song Dynasty.  He was emperor from May 1063 until his death.  He died 22 days before his 35^th birthday.

951 ~ Ma Xiguang, Chinese ruler during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.  The date of his birth is not known.

844 ~ Pope Gregory IV (b. 827).  He was Pope from October 827 until his death in this date nearly 17 years later.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 54 at the time of his death.