March 25

Birthdays:

1984 ~ Katherine Hope McPhee, American actress and singer.

1952 ~ Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician.  He served as Mayor of Bogotá.

1947 ~ Sir Elton John (né Reginald Kenneth Dwight), English singer and songwriter.

1942 ~ Aretha Louise Franklin, American singer known as the Queen of Soul.

1942 ~ Richard O’Brien (né Richard Timothy Smith), English actor best known for writing the cult musical, The Rocky Horror Show.

1934 ~ Gloria Marie Steinem, American feminist, writer publisher and founder of Ms. magazine.

1928 ~ Jim Lovell (né James Arthur Lovell, Jr.), American astronaut.

1926 ~ Gene Shalit (né Eugene Shalit), American journalist and movie critic.

1925 ~ Flannery O’Connor (née Mary Flannery O’Connor, d. Aug. 3, 1964), American Southern author.  She died of complications of lupus at age 39.

1922 ~ Eileen Ford (née Eileen Cecile Ottensosor, d. July 9, 2014), American businesswoman and co-founder of Ford Models.  She was the modeling agent who created the supermodel.  She died in Morristown, New Jersey at age 92.

1918 ~ Howard Cosell (né Howard William Cohen, d. Apr. 23, 1995), American sportscaster.  He died of a heart attack about a month after his 77^th birthday.

1914 ~ Norman Ernest Borlaug (d. Sept. 12, 2009), American agriculturalist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions of increasing the world’s food supplies as a pathway to peace.  He died at age 95.

1911 ~ Jack Ruby (né Jacob Leonard Rubenstein, d. Jan. 3, 1967), Ammerican assassin of Lee Harvey Oswald.  Ruby shot Oswald while the news cameras were rolling while Oswald was being transported from a prison in Dallas.  Ruby was convicted of murder.  He died in prison of lung cancer at age 55.

1910 ~ Benzion Netanyahu (d. Apr. 30, 2012), Israeli historian whose field of expertise was the history of Jews in Spain during the Inquisition.  He was also the father of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  He died at age 102.

1908 ~ Sir David Lean (d. Apr. 16, 1991) English movie director.  He is best known for his movies Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Doctor Zhivago.  He died 22 days after his 83^rd birthday.

1903 ~ Nahum Norbet Glatzer (d. Feb. 27, 1990), Jewish-American scholar.  He died about a month after his 86^th birthday.

1881 ~ Béla Bartók (d. Sept. 26, 1945), Hungarian composer.  He refused to perform concerts in Nazi Germany.  He died at age 64 of complications from leukemia.

1867 ~ Gutzon Borglum (né John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum, b. Mar. 6, 1941), Danish-born sculptor who designed Mount Rushmore.  He died from complications following surgery 19 days before his 74^th birthday.

1867 ~ Arturo Toscanini (d. Jan. 16, 1957), Italian composer.  He died at age 89.

1862 ~ George Sutherland (né Alexander George Sutherland, d. July 18, 1942), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was born in England, but his family moved to Utah territory when he was a year old because his father had converted to Mormonism.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Woodrow Wilson.  He served on the court from September 1922 until January 1938.  He died in while on vacation in Stockbridge, Massachusetts at age 80.

1541 ~ Francesco I de’Medici (d. Oct. 19, 1587), Grand Duke of Tuscany.  He died at age 46.

1538 ~ Christopher Clavius (d. Feb. 6, 1612), German mathematician.  He died at age 73.

1479 ~ Vasili III Ivanovich, Grand Prince of Moscow (d. Dec. 3, 1553).  He died at age 54.

1453 ~ Giuliano de’Medici (d. Apr. 26, 1478), ruler of Florence, Italy.  He was murdered by members of the Pazzi family, who had conspired to kill both Guiliano and Lorenzo de’Medici during High Mass in the Duomo of Florence.  Lorenzo was not killed in this attack.  Guiliano was killed a month after his 26^th birthday.

1347 ~ Catherine of Siena (d. Apr. 29, 1380), Italian Catholic saint.  She died of a stroke at age 33.

1345 ~ Blanche of Lancaster (d. Sept. 12, 1368), member of the House of Plantagenet.  She was the first wife of John of Gaunt and mother of King Henry IV of England.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been born in either 1345 or 1347.  She is believed to have died of the Black Death between the age of 21 or 23.

Events that Changed the World:

2018 ~ Palm Sunday.

2015 ~ Good Friday.

2013 ~ Passover began at sunset.

1965 ~ The 4-day 50-mile civil rights march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 ~ 1968), from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama was completed.

1957 ~ United States Customs officials seized Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl on the grounds of obscenity.

1957 ~ The European Economic Community was established with West German, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

1947 ~ 111 people were killed in a coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois.

1931 ~ The Scottsboro Boys, nine African-American teenagers, were arrested in Alabama and charged with the rape of two white women.

1911 ~ The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City caught fire.  Of the 600 workers in the factory, the fire killed 146 garment workers.  This was the deadliest disaster in New York City until the terrorist attack on the Trade Towers on September 11, 2001.  The fire led to the beginning of workplace safety laws.

1807 ~ In Great Britain, the Slave Trade Act was passed, which abolished the slave trade throughout the British Empire.

1655 ~ Christiaan Huygens (1629 ~ 1695) discovered Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.

1584 ~ Sir Walter Raleigh (1554 ~ 1618) was granted a patent to colonize Virginia.

1306 ~ Robert the Bruce (1275 ~ 1329) became King of Scotland.

717 ~ Theodosios III resigned the thrown to the Byzantine Empire to enter religious life.

708 ~ Pope Constantine (664~715) became the 88^th Pope, after succeeding Pope Sisinnius (650~708).  Pope Sisinnius had served in that Office for only 20 days.

421 ~ According to legend, Venice was founded at noon with the dedication of its first church, the San Giacomo di Rialto.

Good-Byes:

2013 ~ Anthony Lewis (b. Mar. 27, 1927), American journalist and author of Gideon’s Trumpet.  He died of a heart attack 2 days before his 86^th birthday.

2009 ~ John Hope Franklin (b. Jan. 2, 1915), African-American historian.  He died at age 94.

2006 ~ Buck Owens (né Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr., b. Aug. 12, 1929), American singer and television personality.  He died of a heart attack at age 76.

1998 ~ Bernard C. Meltzer (b. May 2, 1916), American radio host.  He died at age 81.

1992 ~ Nancy Walker (née Anna Myrtle Swoyer, b. May 10, 1922), American actress.  She was best known for her role on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.  She died at age 69 of lung cancer.

1988 ~ Robert Joffrey (né Abdullah Jaffa Bey Khan, b. Dec. 24, 1930), American choreographer and founder of the Joffrey Ballet.  He died at age 57.

1975 ~ King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b. Apr. 14, 1906).  He was shot and killed by a nephew.  He died less than a month before his 69^th birthday.

1973 ~ Edward Steichen (b. Mar. 27, 1879), American painter and photographer.  He died 2 days before his 94^th birthday.  He was born in Luxembourg, but his family moved to the United States when he was a child.

1931 ~ Ida B. Wells (b. July 16, 1862), African-American journalist and political activist.  She died of kidney failure at age 68.

1918 ~ Claude Debussy (né Archille-Claude Debussy, b. Aug. 22, 1862), French composer.  He died of cancer at age 55.

1914 ~ Frédéric Mistral (b. Sept. 8, 1830), French poet and recipient of the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 83.

1905 ~ Maurice Barrymore (né Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe, b. Sept. 21, 1849), American actor and patriarch of the Barrymore acting family.  He died at age 55.  Drew Barrymore can thank her lucky stars for him!

1857 ~ William Colgate (b. Jan. 25, 1783), 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.

1818 ~ Caspar Wessel (b. June 8, 1745), Danish mathematician.  He died at age 72.

1223 ~ King Afonso II of Portugal (Apr. 23, b. 1185).  He reigned as King of Portugal from March 1211 until his death 12 years later.  He died about a month before his 38^th birthday.

1005 ~ King Kenneth III of Scotland (b. 966).  He was killed in battle.  The exact date of his birth is not known.