12 History Lessons + 6 Births & 5 Deaths for July 25, 2025
Today’s History:
- 306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman Emperor by his troops.
- 1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
- 1609 – The English ship Sea Venture is wrecked on Bermuda, inspiring Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
- 1814 – Battle of Lundy’s Lane: One of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812 is fought near Niagara Falls.
- 1898 – During the Spanish-American War, U.S. forces invade Puerto Rico.
- 1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft.
- 1943 – Benito Mussolini is dismissed as Italy’s Prime Minister by King Victor Emmanuel III.
- 1956 – The Italian liner SS Andrea Doria collides with MS Stockholm near Nantucket and later sinks.
- 1965 – Bob Dylan controversially “goes electric” at the Newport Folk Festival.
- 1978 – Louise Brown, the world’s first “test tube baby,” is born in England.
- 2000 – Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde, crashes outside Paris killing 113 people.
- 2020 – NASA’s Mars 2020 mission successfully completes pre-launch preparations for Perseverance rover.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1941 – Manny Charlton, guitarist and producer (Nazareth) (84)
- 1946 – Rita Marley, Jamaican singer and widow of Bob Marley (79)
- 1967 – Matt LeBlanc, actor known for Friends and Episodes (58)
- 1968 – Tracie Spencer, R&B singer and songwriter (57)
- 1980 – Brad Renfro, actor (The Client, Apt Pupil) (would be 45; died 2008)
- 1985 – James Lafferty, actor known for One Tree Hill (40)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1834 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) (Age 61)
- 1980 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter and actor (Age 42)
- 1984 – Big Mama Thornton, blues singer famous for “Hound Dog” (Age 57)
- 1995 – Charlie Rich, country music star (Age 62)
- 2008 – Randy Pausch, professor and author of The Last Lecture (Age 47)
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