May 25 May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). There are 220 days remaining. Events 1000-1899 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. 1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States. George Washington presides. 1810 - In the May Revolution, armed citizens of Buenos Aires, Argentina expel the Viceroy during the Semana de Mayo. 1865 - Mobile magazine explosion: 300 are killed in Mobile, Alabama when an ordnance depot explodes. 1895 - Playwright, poet and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of sodomy and gross indecency and sentenced to serve two years in prison. 1895 - The Republic of Taiwan is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as the president. 1900-1999 1914 - The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes Irish Home Rule. 1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. 1925 - The National Forensics League of America is founded. 1935 - In a span of 45 minutes at the Big Ten meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jesse Owens sets or ties four track and field world records. 1935 - At Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Babe Ruth hits his 714th and last home run setting a baseball record that will stand for 39 years. 1940 - World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk begins. 1946 - The parliament of Transjordan makes emir Abdullah their king. 1953 - Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test. 1961 - Apollo program: American president John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the moon" before the end of the decade. 1963 - In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established. 1966 - Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches. 1968 - In St. Louis, Missouri, US Vice-President Hubert Humphrey and US Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall dedicate the Gateway Arch as part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. 1973 - Mike Oldfield releases Tubular Bells. 1977 - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope opens in theaters and becomes the highest grossing movie to date. 1979 - American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, Illinois, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground. 1979 - Alien opens in theaters, starring Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver. 1981 - In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 1982 - HMS Coventry (D118) is sunk during the Falklands War. 1983 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi opens in theaters 1985 - Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge which kills approximately 10,000 people. 1990 - Back to the Future Part III opens in theaters. 1994 - Beverly Hills Cop III opens in theaters, starring Eddie Murphy. 1995 - The Bosnian Serb Army kills 72 youngsters in the Bosnian city of Tuzla. 1997 - A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah. 1997 - Strom Thurmond becomes the longest serving member in the history of the United States Senate (41 years and 10 months). 2000-2099 2001 - 32-year old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 2001 - 64-year old Sherman Bull, of New Canaan, Connecticut, becomes the oldest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. 2001 - Pearl Harbor opens in theaters. 2002 - A China Airlines Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people. 2002 - In Tallinn, Estonia, Marie N wins the forty-seventh Eurovision Song Contest for Latvia singing "I Wanna". 2003 - Néstor Kirchner becomes President of Argentina after defeating Carlos Menem. He is the first elected President since the December 2001 economic crisis. Births 1800-1899 1803 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, philosopher (d. 1882) 1803 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, novelist and playwright (d. 1873) 1845 - Lip Pike, baseball player 1860 - James McKeen Cattell, first professor of psychology in U.S. (d. 1944) 1865 - Pieter Zeeman, Nobel Prize winner (d. 1943) 1879 - Lord Beaverbrook, publisher (d. 1964) 1880 - Jean Alexandre Barré, neurologist (d. 1967) 1888 - Miles Malleson, actor (d. 1969) 1889 - Igor Sikorsky developer of a working helicopter (d. 1972) 1900-1999 1913 - Richard Dimbleby, journalist and broadcaster 1922 - Enrico Berlinguer, politician (d. 1984) 1926 - Max von der Grün, author 1927 - Robert Ludlum, spy fiction writer (d. 2001) 1929 - Beverly Sills, soprano 1931 - Georgi Grechko, cosmonaut 1925 - Jeanne Crain, actress 1938 - Raymond Carver, writer and poet (d. 1988) 1939 - Ian McKellen, actor 1939 - Dixie Carter, actress 1943 - Jessi Colter, country singer 1944 - Frank Oz, puppeteer, director 1949 - Jamaica Kincaid, novelist 1963 - Mike Myers, actor, comedian 1966 - Sugar Minott, singer 1967 - Poppy Z. Brite, author 1969 - Anne Heche, actress 1970 - Jamie Kennedy, actor 1971 - Sonya Smith, actress 1975 - Lauryn Hill, singer 1976 - Miguel Tejada, Major League Baseball All-Star 1979 - Monica Keena, American actress Deaths 700-1899 709 - Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne (b. c. 639) 735 - Bede, English Historian and monk (b. c. 672) 992 - Mieszko I (b. c. 935) 1085 - Pope Gregory VII 1261 - Pope Alexander IV (b. c. 1199) 1555 - Henry II of Navarre (b. 1503) 1681 - Pedro Calderón de la Barca (b. 1600) 1693 - Madame De Lafayette, French writer (b. 1634) 1786 - King Pedro III of Portugal (b. 1717) 1789 - Anders Dahl, botanist after whom the dahlia was named (b. 1751) 1805 - William Paley, philosopher (b. 1743) 1848 - Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German poet (b. 1797) 1900-1999 1912 - Austin Lane Crothers, politician (b. 1860) 1934 - Gustav Holst, composer (b. 1874) 1935 - Sir Frank Watson Dyson, English Astronomer Royal (b. 1868) 1940 - Joe De Grasse, pioneer Hollywood film director (b. 1873) 1951 - Paula von Preradovic, Croat - Austrian writer (b. 1887) 1965 - Sonny Boy Williamson 1986 - Chester Bowles, politician (b. 1901) 1988 - Ernst Ruska, Nobel Prize in Physicist (b. 1906) 1996 - Brad Nowell, lead singer and guitar player of Sublime Holidays and observances Commemoration of the Venerable Bede (Anglican) Argentina - Day of May Revolution/National Day (1810) Chad, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Zambia - African Freedom/Unity Day Jordan - National Day/Arab Renaissance Day (1946) Libya, Sudan - Sudan National Day/May Revolution Day (1969) United States - Memorial Day/Decoration Day, a legal holiday (1868) Virginia - Confederate Memorial Day (1868) Lebanon, Liberation Day(1999) Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - Day of Youth Ancient Latvia - Urbanas Diena observed Towel Day, in memory of Douglas Adams, is observed May 24 - May 26 - April 25 - June 25 - listing of all days FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. 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