January 25
Events
- 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.
- 1327 – Edward III becomes King of England.
- 1494 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
- 1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
- 1554 – Founding of São Paulo city, Brazil.
- 1573 – Battle of Mikatagahara, in Japan; Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.
- 1575 – Luanda, the capital of Angola was founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.
- 1755 – Moscow University is established on Tatiana Day.
- 1787 – American Daniel Shays leads a rebellion to seize Federal arsenal to protest debtor's prisons.
- 1791 – The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.
- 1792 – The London Corresponding Society is founded.
- 1858 – The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.
- 1879 – The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.
- 1881 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
- 1890 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
- 1909 – Richard Strauss' opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
- 1915 – Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
- 1918 – The Ukraine declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.
- 1919 – The League of Nations is founded.
- 1924 – The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, France (in the French Alps), inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.
- 1937 – The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until Sept. 18, 2009.
- 1941 – Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
- 1942 – World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
- 1945 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends.
- 1946 – The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.
- 1949 – At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented.
- 1955 – The Soviet Union ends state of war with Germany.
- 1960 – The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accept money for playing particular records.
- 1961 – In Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
- 1969 – Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him 10 machine guns and 63 rifles.
- 1971 – Charles Manson and three female "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.
- 1971 – Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president.
- 1971 – Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state.
- 1981 – Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death.
- 1986 – The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.
- 1990 – The Burns' Day storm hits northwestern Europe.
- 1993 – Five people are shot outside the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia resulting in two murders.
- 1994 – The Clementine space probe launches.
- 1995 – The Norwegian Rocket Incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.
- 1996 – Billy Bailey became the last person to be hanged in the United States of America.
- 1998 – During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands the release of political prisoners and political reforms while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.
- 1998 – A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills 8 people and injures 25 others.
- 1999 – A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.
- 2001 – A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.
- 2002 – Wikipedia switches to the new version of its software ("Phase II"), aka .
- 2004 – Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
- 2005 – A stampede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi in India kills at least 258.
- 2006 – Three independent observing campaigns announce the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb through gravitational microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star.
- 2010 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on-board.
Births
- 750 – Leo IV the Khazar, Byzantine Emperor (d. 780)
- 1477 – Anna, Duchess of Brittany, wife of Charles VIII of France (d. 1514)
- 1509 – Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (d. 1580)
- 1615 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (d. 1660)
- 1627 – Robert Boyle, Irish chemist (d. 1691)
- 1634 – Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (d. 1688)
- 1640 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (d. 1707)
- 1688 – Juraj Jánošík, famous Slovak outlaw (d. 1713)
- 1736 – Joseph Louis Lagrange, Italian-born mathematician (d. 1813)
- 1739 – Charles François Dumouriez, French general (d. 1823)
- 1743 – Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, German philosopher (d. 1819)
- 1755 – Paolo Mascagni, Anatomist (d. 1815)
- 1759 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (d. 1796)
- 1777 – Karoline Jagemann, German actor (d. 1848)
- 1794 – François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (d. 1878)
- 1796 – William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (d. 1852)
- 1822 – Charles Reed Bishop, preeminent businessman and philanthropist in Hawaii (d. 1915)
- 1825 – George Pickett, American Confederate General (d. 1875)
- 1841 – Jackie Fisher, British First Sea Lord (d. 1920)
- 1858 – Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (d. 1954)
- 1860 – Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President of the United States (d. 1936)
- 1864 – Julije Kempf, Croatian historian and writer (d. 1934)
- 1868 – Juventino Rosas, Mexican composer (d. 1894)
- 1874 – W. Somerset Maugham, English writer (d. 1965)
- 1878 – Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
- 1882 – Virginia Woolf, English writer (d. 1941)
- 1885 – Kitahara Hakushū, Japanese poet and children's author (d. 1942)
- 1886 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (d. 1954)
- 1899 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian politician (d. 1972)
- 1900 – Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian-American geneticist and biologist (d. 1975)
- 1900 – Yojiro Ishizaka, Japanese writer (d. 1986)
- 1901 – Martin De Alzaga, Argentine racing driver (d. 1982)
- 1902 – Pablo Antonio, Filipino modernist architect (d. 1975)
- 1905 – Maurice Roy, French Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal, archbishop of Quebec (d. 1985)
- 1913 – Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer (d. 1994)
- 1913 – Luis Marden, American photojournalist (d. 2003)
- 1916 – Frank "Pop" Ivy, American and Canadian football coach (d. 2003)
- 1917 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian scientist Nobel Laureate (d. 2003)
- 1917 – Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician (d. 1992)
- 1918 – Ernie Harwell, American baseball sportscaster
- 1919 – Edwin Newman, American journalist and writer
- 1923 – Rusty Draper, American country and pop singer (d. 2003)
- 1923 – Shirley Mason, American psychiatric patient (aka, "Sybil") (d. 1998)
- 1923 – Arvid Carlsson, Swedish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1924 – Lou Groza, American football player (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Speedy West, Country Hall of Fame steel guitar player (d. 2003)
- 1925 – Giorgos Zampetas, Greek musician and songwriter (d. 1992)
- 1927 – Antônio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian composer (d. 1994)
- 1928 – Eduard Shevardnadze, President of Georgia
- 1928 – Jérôme Choquette, Quebec lawyer and politician
- 1929 – Benny Golson, American jazz musician
- 1930 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian diarist (d. 1944)
- 1931 – Dean Jones, American actor
- 1933 – Corazon Aquino, 11th President of the Philippines (d. 2009)
- 1935 – Conrad Burns, American politician
- 1935 – António Ramalho Eanes, 17th President of Portugal
- 1936 – Diana Hyland, American actress (d. 1977)
- 1937 – Ange-Félix Patassé, President of the Central African Republic
- 1937 – Judith Ann Mayotte, American humanitarian, author
- 1938 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese manga author (d. 1998)
- 1938 – Leiji Matsumoto, Japanese creator of anime.
- 1938 – Etta James, American singer
- 1938 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian poet (d. 1980)
- 1939 – Gabriel Romanus, Swedish politician
- 1941 – Buddy Baker, American race car driver
- 1941 – Gregory Sierra, American actor
- 1942 – Carl Eller, American football player
- 1942 – Eusébio, Portuguese footballer
- 1942 – Shinobu Tsukasa, Japanese kumicho (supreme Godfather) of the largest yakuza organization
- 1943 – Tobe Hooper, American film director
- 1943 – Roy Black, German pop singer (d. 1991)
- 1944 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian model
- 1945 – Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress
- 1947 – Tostão, Brazilian footballer
- 1947 – Ángel Nieto, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1948 – Gueorgui Chichkine, Russian painter
- 1948 – Ros Kelly, Australian politician
- 1949 – John Cooper Clarke, English punk-poet
- 1949 – Paul Nurse, English biochemist, Nobel Laureate
- 1950 – John Terry, American actor
- 1951 – Steve Prefontaine, American runner (d. 1975)
- 1952 – Sara Mandiano, French singer and songwriter
- 1952 – Timothy White, American journalist (d. 2002)
- 1953 – The Honky Tonk Man, American professional wrestler
- 1953 – Mark Weil, Uzbek theatre director (d. 2007)
- 1954 – Ricardo Bochini, Argentinian footballer
- 1954 – Kay Cottee, first woman to sail solo and non stop around the world.
- 1954 – Richard Finch, American bass player ( KC and the Sunshine Band)
- 1954 – Kim Gandy, American feminist
- 1955 – Terry Chimes, English musician ( The Clash)
- 1956 – Andy Cox, English musician ( The Beat, Fine Young Cannibals)
- 1957 – Jenifer Lewis, American actress
- 1957 – Eskil Erlandsson, Swedish politician
- 1957 – Andrew P. Harris, American politician
- 1958 – Dinah Manoff, American actress
- 1961 – Vivian Balakrishnan, Singaporean politician
- 1961 – Willie Revillame, Filipino game show host and comedian
- 1962 – Chris Chelios, American ice hockey player
- 1965 – Esa Tikkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1965 – Mark Jordon, English actor
- 1966 – Chet Culver, American politician, governor of Iowa
- 1967 – Randy McKay, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1967 – Mark Bamford, American writer/director
- 1969 – Kina, American singer
- 1970 – Stephen Chbosky, American writer
- 1970 – Chris Mills, American basketball player
- 1970 – Milt Stegall, American-born Canadian Football League player
- 1971 – Luca Badoer, Italian race car driver
- 1971 – China Kantner, American actress
- 1971 – Ana Ortiz, American actress and singer
- 1973 – Geoff Johns, American comic book writer
- 1973 – Chris Guy, American professional wrestler
- 1974 – Robert Budreau, Canadian film director
- 1974 – Attilio Nicodemo, Italian footballer
- 1975 – Mia Kirshner, Canadian actress
- 1975 – Tim Montgomery, American athlete
- 1975 – Dat Phan, Vietnamese stand-up comedian
- 1976 – Mario Haberfeld, Brazilian racing car driver
- 1978 – Denis Menchov, Russian cyclist
- 1978 – Jason Roberts, English-born footballer
- 1978 – Derrick Turnbow, American baseball player
- 1979 – Pi Hongyan, French badminton player
- 1979 – Gabe Jennings, American distance runner
- 1979 – Rodrigo Ribeiro, Brazilian racing driver
- 1979 – Christine Lakin, American actress
- 1980 – Michelle McCool, American professional wrestler
- 1980 – Xavi, Catalan Spanish footballer
- 1980 – Efstathios Tavlaridis, Greek footballer
- 1981 – Tose Proeski, Macedonian singer (d. 2007)
- 1981 – Francis Jeffers, English footballer
- 1981 – Alicia Keys, American singer
- 1981 – Charlie Bewley, English Actor
- 1982 – Sho Sakurai, Japanese singer and actor
- 1982 – Shawna Waldron, American actress
- 1983 – Andrée Watters, Canadian singer
- 1984 – Robinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1985 – Tina Karol, Ukrainian singer
- 1985 – Acie Law IV, American basketball player
- 1985 – Brent Celek, American football player
- 1985 – Patrick Willis, American football player
- 1986 – Chris O'Grady, English footballer
- 1986 – Shahriar Nafees, Bangladeshi cricketer
- 1987 – Maria Kirilenko, Russian tennis player
- 1988 – Tatiana Golovin, French tennis player
- 1989 – Mikako Tabe, Japanese stage and film actress
- 1989 – Sheryfa Luna, French singer
Deaths
- 389 – Gregory Nazianzus, theologian and Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 329)
- 477 – Geiseric, King of the Vandals and Alans
- 844 – Pope Gregory IV
- 967 – Sayf al-Daula, Hamdanid Emir of Aleppo (b. 916)
- 1067 – Emperor Yingzong of China (b. 1032)
- 1366 – Henry Suso, German mystic
- 1431 – Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1364)
- 1494 – King Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423)
- 1559 – King Christian II of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (b. 1481)
- 1573 – Hirate Hirohide, Japanese samurai (b. 1553)
- 1578 – Mihrimah Sultana, Ottoman princess (b. 1522)
- 1586 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (b. 1515)
- 1640 – Robert Burton, English scholar (b. 1577)
- 1670 – Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1612)
- 1726 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675)
- 1733 – Gilbert Heathcote, Mayor of London (b. 1652)
- 1751 – Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts (b. 1675)
- 1881 – Konstantin Thon, Russian architect (b. 1794)
- 1907 – René Pottier, French cyclist (b. 1879)
- 1908 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (b. 1850)
- 1908 – Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)
- 1912 – Dmitry Milyutin, Russian Field Marshal (b. 1816)
- 1925 – Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (b. 1858)
- 1939 – Charles Davidson Dunbar, British military piper (b. 1870)
- 1940 – Elias Simojoki, Finnish clergyman and politician (b. 1899)
- 1947 – Al Capone, American gangster (b. 1899)
- 1949 – Makino Nobuaki, Japanese statesman (b. 1861)
- 1954 – Manabendra Nath Roy, Indian marxist (b. 1887)
- 1957 – Kiyoshi Shiga, Japanese physician and bacteriologist (b. 1871)
- 1957 – Ichizo Kobayashi, Japanese industrialist and Minister of Commerce and Industry (b. 1873)
- 1963 – Wilson Kettle, Guinness World Record holder for most living descendants (b. 1860)
- 1966 – Saul Adler, Russian-born British-Israeli expert on parasitology (b. 1895)
- 1969 – Irene Castle, English dancer (b. 1887)
- 1970 – Jane Bathori, French mezzo-soprano (b. 1877)
- 1970 – Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese television writer and producer ( Ultraman) (b. 1901)
- 1972 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (b. 1892)
- 1975 – Charlotte Whitton, Canadian politician, mayor of Ottawa (b. 1896)
- 1976 – Chris Kenner, American singer and songwriter (b. 1929)
- 1980 – Queenie Watts, English actress (b. 1926)
- 1981 – Adele Astaire, American dancer (b. 1897)
- 1982 – Mikhail Suslov, Soviet politician (b. 1902)
- 1985 – Ilias Iliou, Greek politician (b. 1904)
- 1990 – Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
- 1994 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Jonathan Larson, American composer (b. 1960)
- 1999 – Sarah "Sadie" Delany, American author (b. 1889)
- 1999 – Ted Mallie, American radio and television announcer (b. 1924)
- 1999 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916)
- 2003 – Samuel Weems, Arkansas judge (b. 1936)
- 2003 – Sheldon Reynolds, American television producer (b. 1923)
- 2004 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (b. 1918)
- 2004 – Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)
- 2005 – Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (b. 1923)
- 2005 – William Augustus Bootle, American judge (b. 1902)
- 2005 – Philip Johnson, American architect (b. 1906)
- 2005 – Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean writer and poet (b. 1907)
- 2005 – Ray Peterson, American singer (b. 1935)
- 2005 – Nettie Witziers-Timmer, Dutch athlete (b. 1923)
- 2006 – Anna Malle, adult film star (b. 1967)
- 2008 – Christopher Allport, American actor (b. 1947)
- 2008 – Evelyn Barbirolli, English musician (b. 1911)
- 2009 – Kim Manners, American television producer and director (b. 1951)
- 2010 – Ali Hasan al-Majid aka Chemical Ali, Iraqi defense minister and military commander (b. 1941)
Holidays and observances
- Burns Night (Many parts of the world, originated in Scotland)
- Christian Feast Day
- * Dwynwen
- * Gregory the Theologian ( Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church)
- * January 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Criminon Day ( Scientology)
- Dydd Santes Dwynwen, celebration of love ( Wales)
- Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul ( Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches, which concludes the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity)
- Second day of the Sementivae, in honor of Ceres and Terra ( Roman Empire)
- Tatiana Day, celebrated as the Day of Russian Students since 1755, when Moscow University is founded. ( Russia)
- Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ends ( Christian ecumenism)