12 History Lessons + 6 Births & 6 Deaths for May 14, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1607 – The Jamestown settlers land in Virginia after months at sea.
- 1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first successful smallpox vaccination.
- 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially departs from Camp Dubois to explore the American West.
- 1940 – Holland surrenders to Nazi Germany during World War II.
- 1948 – The State of Israel is declared as British rule ends in Palestine.
- 1955 – The Warsaw Pact is signed by the Soviet Union and seven Eastern Bloc countries.
- 1973 – Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched.
- 1988 – Carrollton bus disaster: 27 people die in one of the worst drunk driving accidents in U.S. history.
- 1991 – Winnie Mandela is sentenced to six years in prison for kidnapping and assault (later reduced).
- 1998 – The final episode of Seinfeld airs on NBC, drawing over 76 million viewers.
- 2005 – The USS America, a decommissioned U.S. aircraft carrier, is deliberately sunk in the Atlantic after explosives testing.
- 2011 – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF, is arrested in New York for sexual assault, leading to his resignation.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1944 – George Lucas, filmmaker and creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones (81)
- 1952 – Robert Zemeckis, director of Back to the Future and Forrest Gump (73)
- 1961 – Tim Roth, English actor (Reservoir Dogs, Lie to Me) (64)
- 1969 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress (Blue Jasmine, Tar) (56)
- 1983 – Amber Tamblyn, American actress and poet (Joan of Arcadia) (42)
- 1993 – Miranda Cosgrove, actress and singer (iCarly) (32)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1610 – Henry IV of France, assassinated by François Ravaillac (Age 56)
- 1885 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and auto pioneer (Age 51)
- 1925 – H. Rider Haggard, British adventure novelist (King Solomon’s Mines) (Age 68)
- 1936 – Edmund Allenby, British field marshal and WWI commander in the Middle East (Age 75)
- 1987 – Rita Hayworth, American actress and 1940s icon (Gilda) (Age 68)
- 2015 – B.B. King, American blues legend and guitarist (Age 89)
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