March 25
is the
84th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (85th in
leap years). There are 281 days remaining.
*
708 -
Constantine is consecrated
Pope.
*
1300 -
Dante descends to the Inferno in
The Divine Comedy.
*
1306 -
Robert the Bruce becomes
King of
Scotland.
*
1409 - The
Council of Pisa opens.
*
1634 - The first settlers arrive in
Maryland (led by
Lord Baltimore).
*
1655 -
Saturn's largest moon,
Titan, is discovered by
Christian Huygens.
* 1655 -
Protestants take control of
Maryland at the
Battle of the Severn.
*
1802 - The
Treaty of Amiens is signed as a "
Definitive Treaty of Peace" between
France and
United Kingdom.
*
1807 - The
Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing
slavery in the
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
*
1807 - The
Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, became the first passenger carrying railway in the world.
*
1811 -
Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the
University of Oxford for his publication of the pamphlet
The Necessity of Atheism.
*
1821 -
Greece declares its independence from the
Ottoman Empire, beginning the
Greek War of Independence.
*
1857 -
Phonautograph patented.
*
1865 - The "
Claywater Meteorite" explodes just before reaching ground level in
Vernon County, Wisconsin. Fragments having a combined mass of 1.5
kg are recovered.
* 1865 -
American Civil War: In
Virginia,
Confederate forces capture
Fort Stedman from the
Union in a bloody battle.
*
1894 -
Coxey's Army, the first significant
American protest march, departs
Massillon, Ohio for
Washington D.C..
*
1901 - At the five-day "
Week of Nice" race in
Nice,
France,
Mercedes wins its first racing victory.
*
1908 -
Clube Atletico Mineiro, Founded in
Belo Horizonte,
Brazil.
*
1911 - In
New York City the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.
*
1918 - The
Belarusian People's Republic was established.
*
1924 -
Greece proclaims itself a
republic.
*
1931 - The
Scottsboro Boys are arrested in
Alabama and charged with
rape.
*
1939 -
Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli becomes
Pope Pius XII.
*
1941 -
Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the
Axis powers.
*
1947 - An explosion in a
coalmine in
Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
*
1949 - The extensive deportation campaign was conducted in
Estonia,
Latvia and
Lithuania. The
Soviet authorities deported more than 92,000 people from
Baltics to remote areas of the
Soviet Union.
*
1955 -
United States Customs seizes copies of
Allen Ginsberg's poem "
Howl" as obscene.
*
1957 - The
European Economic Community is established (
West Germany,
France,
Italy,
Belgium,
Netherlands,
Luxembourg).
*
1958 -
Canada's
Avro Arrow makes it debut flight.
*
1960 - In
London,
United Kingdom,
Jacqueline Boyer wins the fifth
Eurovision Song Contest for
France singing "
Tom Pillibi".
*
1965 -
Civil rights activists led by
Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from
Selma to the capitol in
Montgomery.
*
1969 - During their honeymoon,
John Lennon and
Yoko Ono hold their first
Bed-In for Peace in the
Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until
March 31).
*
1971 -
Bangladesh Liberation War: Beginning of
Operation Searchlight of
Pakistan Army against
East Pakistani civilians.
*
1972 - In
Edinburgh,
Scotland,
United Kingdom,
Vicky Leandros wins the seventeenth
Eurovision Song Contest for
Luxembourg singing "
Après toi" (
After you).
*
1975 -
Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a
mentally ill nephew.
*
1979 - The first fully functional
space shuttle orbiter,
Columbia, is delivered to the
John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.
*
1988 - The
Candle demonstration in
Bratislava was the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in
Czechoslovakia.
*
1990 - In
the Bronx,
New York City, a
fire at an illegal
social club called "
Happy Land" kills 87 people.
*
1992 -
Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returns to
Earth after a 10-month stay aboard the
Mir space station.
*
1995 -
Mike Tyson is released from the Indiana Youth Center after serving three years for a rape conviction.
*
1995 -
Ward Cunningham opens the first
wiki, the
WikiWikiWeb.
*
1996 - An 81-day-long standoff between the
antigovernment group
Montana Freemen and law enforcement near
Jordan, Montana, begins.
* 1996 - The
Labour Party is founded in
Turkey.
* 1996 - The
EU's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of
British beef and its by-products as a result of
mad cow disease (
BSE).
*
1999 -
Enron energy traders allegedly route 2,900 megawatts of electricity destined to
California to
Silver Peak, Nevada, population 200.
*
2004 -
Air Holland files for bankruptcy in response to unproven allegations of
marijuana abuse by their pilots.
*
2006 - The
Capitol Hill massacre, where gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in
Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, one of the largest
crime scenes the city has ever had.
*2006 - Protesters demanding a re-election in Belarus following the rigged
Belarusian presidential election, 2006 clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin was among several protesters arrested.
*2006 - Over 500,000 people in
Los Angeles were protesting against
illegal immigration.
*2006 -
Reading F.C. were promoted to the English Premiership for the first time in their 135 year history.
*
1252 -
Conradin, Duke of Swabia (d.
1268)
*
1297 -
Andronicus III Palaeologus,
Eastern Roman Emperor (d.
1341)
*1297 -
Arnost of Pardubice, Archbishop of Prague (d.
1364)
*
1345 -
Blanche of Lancaster, wife of
John of Gaunt (d.
1369)
*
1347 -
Catherine of Siena, Italian saint (d.
1380)
*
1404 (baptism) -
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (d.
1444)
*
1479 -
Vasili III, Grand Prince of Moscow (d.
1533)
*
1539 -
Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (d.
1612)
*
1541 -
Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d.
1587)
*
1593 -
Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (d.
1649)
*
1643 -
Louis Moréri, French encylopedist (d.
1680)
*
1661 -
Paul de Rapin, French historian (d.
1725)
*
1699 -
Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (d.
1783)
*
1767 -
Joachim Murat, French marshal and King of Naples (d.
1815)
*
1800 -
Heinrich von Dechsen, German geologist and mineralogist (d.
1889)
*
1863 -
Simon Flexner, American pathologist (d.
1946)
*
1867 -
Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor, (d.
1957)
*
1868 -
William Lockwood, English cricketer (d.
1932)
*
1873 -
Rudolf Rocker, German anarchist (d.
1958)
*
1877 -
Walter Little, Canadian poltician (d.
1961)
*
1881 -
Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (d.
1945)
* 1881 -
Mary Gladys Webb, English writer (d.
1927)
*
1884 -
Georges Imbert, Alsatian chemist (d.
1950)
*
1886 -
Athenagoras,
Patriarch of Constantinople (d.
1972)
*
1901 -
Ed Begley, American actor (d.
1970)
*
1906 -
A.J.P. Taylor, British historian (d.
1990)
*
1908 -
Helmut Käutner, German actor and film director (d.
1980)
* 1908 -
David Lean, English film director (d.
1991)
*
1911 -
Jack Ruby, American killer of
Lee Harvey Oswald (d.
1967)
*
1914 -
Norman Borlaug, American agricultural scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize*
1918 -
Howard Cosell, American attorney, lecturer, and sports journalist (d.
1995)
*
1920 -
Patrick Troughton, British actor (d.
1987)
* 1920 -
Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner
*
1921 -
Simone Signoret, French actress (d.
1985)
*
1925 -
Flannery O'Connor, American author (d.
1964)
*
1926 -
László Papp, Hungarian boxer (d.
2003)
* 1926 -
Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet (d.
1999)
* 1926 -
Gene Shalit, American film critic
*
1928 -
Jim Lovell, astronaut
*
1929 -
Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (d.
2003)
*
1934 -
Gloria Steinem, American author
*
1935 -
Flash Elorde, Filipino boxer
*
1938 -
Hoyt Axton, American musician and actor (d.
1999)
*
1939 -
Toni Cade Bambara, American author (d.
1995)
*
1940 -
Anita Bryant, American entertainer and activist
*
1942 -
Aretha Franklin, American singer
* 1942 -
Richard O'Brien, English actor and writer
*
1943 -
Paul Michael Glaser, American actor
*
1946 -
Bonnie Bedelia, American actress
* 1946 -
Maurice Krafft, French vulcanologist (d.
1991)
* 1946 -
Cliff Balsam, English footballer
*
1947 - Sir
Elton John, English singer, songwriter, and pianist
*
1949 -
Nick Lowe, British singer, songwriter, and producer
*
1952 -
Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician
*
1955 -
Daniel Boulud, French chef and
restaurateur*
1956 -
Matthew Garber, British actor (d.
1977)
*
1960 -
Idy Chan Yuk-Lin, Hong Kong actress
* 1960 -
Steve Norman, British saxophonist (
Spandau Ballet)
*
1962 -
Marcia Cross, American actress
*
1964 -
Lisa Gay Hamilton, American actress
* 1964 -
Ken Wregget, Canadian hockey player
* 1964 -
Alex Solis, Panamanian Thoroughbred Jockey
*
1965 -
Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress
* 1965 -
Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgarian high jumper and president of the Bulgarian Olympic committee
*
1966 -
Tom Glavine, baseball player
* 1966 -
Anton Rogan, Irish footballer
* 1966 -
Jeff Healey, Canadian guitarist
* 1966 -
Tatjana Patitz, German supermodel and actress
*
1967 -
Matthew Barney, American media artist
* 1967 -
Debi Thomas, American figure skater
*
1969 -
Dale Davis, American basketball player
*
1970 -
Kari Matchett, Canadian actress
*
1971 -
Cammi Granato, American hockey player
*
1973 -
Anthony Barness, English footballer
*
1974 -
Lark Voorhies, American actress
*
1976 -
Juvenile, American rapper
* 1976 -
Wladimir Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer
*
1976 -
Francis Bellew, Irish Gaelic Footballer, Crosmaglen and Armagh
* 1976 -
Gigi Leung, Hong Kong singer and actress
*
1979 -
Natasha Yi, American supermodel
*
1982 -
Danica Patrick, American race car driver
*
1982 -
Sean Faris, American Actor and Model
*1982 -
Álvaro Saborío, Costa Rican footballer
*
1984 -
Katharine McPhee, Season Five American Idol contestant
*
1987 -
Nobunari Oda, Japanese figure skater
*
1989 -
Alyson Michalka, American actress
*
752 -
Pope-elect Stephen (died before taking office)
*
1005 - King
Kenneth III of Scotland (in battle)
*
1223 - King
Afonso II of Portugal (b.
1185)
*
1345 -
Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, English politician (b.
1281)
*
1458 -
Marqués de Santillana, Spanish poet (b.
1398)
*
1558 -
Marcos de Niza, French Franciscan explorer
*
1603 -
Ikoma Chikamasa, Japanese warlord (b.
1526)
*
1609 -
Olaus Martini, Swedish Archbishop of Uppsala (b.
1557)
*
1620 -
Johannes Nucius, German composer
*
1625 -
Giambattista Marini, Italian poet (b.
1569)
*
1712 -
Nehemiah Grew, English naturalist (b.
1641)
*
1736 -
Nicholas Hawksmoor, British architect
*
1738 -
Turlough O'Carolan, Irish harper and composer (b.
1670)
*
1751 - King
Frederick I of Sweden (b.
1676)
*
1801 -
Novalis, German poet (b.
1772)
*
1860 -
James Braid, Scottish surgeon (b.
1795)
*
1914 -
Frédéric Mistral, French poet,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1830)
*
1918 -
Claude Debussy, French composer (b.
1862)
*
1951 -
Eddie Collins, baseball player (b.
1887)
*
1957 -
Max Ophüls, German-born director and writer (b.
1902)
*
1958 -
Tom Brown, American musician (b.
1888)
*
1969 -
Max Eastman, American writer (b.
1883)
*
1969 -
Billy Cotton, British Bandleader & Entertainer (b.
1889)
*
1975 - King
Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b.
1906)
*
1980 -
Roland Barthes, French literary critic and writer (b.
1915)
* 1980 -
Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist (b.
1901)
* 1980 -
Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (b.
1913)
*
1988 -
Robert Joffrey, dancer, teacher, and choreographer (b.
1930)
*
1991 -
Marcel Lefebvre, French Catholic leader (b.
1905)
*
1992 -
Nancy Walker, American actress (b.
1922)
*
1994 -
Max Petitpierre, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b.
1899)
*
1995 -
James Coleman, American sociologist (b.
1926)
* 1995 -
Krešimir Ćosić, Croatian basketball player (b.
1948)
*
1999 -
Cal Ripken, Sr., baseball manager (b.
1936)
*
2000 -
Helen Martin, American actress (b.
1909)
*
2002 -
Kenneth Wolstenholme, British football commentator (b.
1920)
*
2006 -
Buck Owens, American singer and television personality (b.
1929)
* 2006 -
Rocío Dúrcal, Spanish singer and actress (b.
1944)
*In
Christianity, March 25 is typically celebrated as the day of the
Annunciation so long as it does not coincide with a Sunday or during
Holy Week. (see below)
*Traditional date of the death (circa
33), of
Jesus, central figure in Christianity (b. circa 1 BC in traditional dating)
*Traditional date of the start of the new year in
England and
Wales, until the
Calendar Act of
1752 (called
Lady Day - see below).
*As the day falls close to the
vernal equinox, similar to the way
Christmas falls near the
winter solstice, both days are regarded as one of the
Quarter Days to Christians in the
British Isles. (see below)
*
Maryland Day.
*
Greek Independence Day.
*
Freedom Day in
Belarus*
International Waffle Day in
Sweden.
*The date of the passing of
Sauron in
J.R.R. Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings. Many fans celebrate this day by throwing parties.
Liturgical feasts
*
The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (
Lady Day) - this date is nine months before
Christmas Day, and is based on the traditional date in Catholicism of a
1 BC -
Annunciation of the
Virgin Mary and conception of
Jesus.
*One of the four
Irish Quarter days in the
Irish calendar.
*
Saint Dysmas, the 'Good Murderer'
*
Saint Harold*
Saint Humbert*
Saint Izaak*
Saint Pelagius*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This Day*
Today in History: March 25March 24 -
March 26 -
February 25 -
April 25 --
listing of all days
