January 25 facts for kids

January 25 is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 340 days remain until the end of the year (341 in leap years).

January 25th is a day filled with interesting historical events, from ancient Roman times to modern-day discoveries and celebrations. Many important people were also born or passed away on this date, leaving their mark on history.

Historical Events

Early History (Before 1600)

• 41 – After a night of talks, Claudius became the new Roman emperor, accepted by the Senate.
• 750 – The Abbasid rebels won the Battle of the Zab, leading to the end of the Umayyad Caliphate.
• 1327 – Fourteen-year-old Edward III became King of England. His father, King Edward II, had to step down.
• 1348 – A powerful earthquake hit the Friuli region in modern Italy. It caused a lot of damage, even reaching as far as Rome.
• 1515 – Francis I of France was crowned King at Reims Cathedral.
• 1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn.
• 1554 – The city of São Paulo, Brazil, was founded by Jesuit priests.
• 1576 – Luanda, the capital of Angola, was founded by the Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias de Novais.
• 1585 – Walter Raleigh was knighted. He had recently named a part of North America "Virginia" to honor Queen Elizabeth I.

Later History (1601–1900)

• 1704 – The Battle of Ayubale destroyed most of the Spanish missions in Florida.
• 1755 – Moscow State University was officially opened.
• 1765 – Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands, was established.
• 1791 – The British Parliament divided the old Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
• 1819 – The University of Virginia was created by the state of Virginia. Thomas Jefferson was one of its founders.
• 1858 – The famous Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn was played at a royal wedding. It became a very popular song for weddings.
• 1879 – The Bulgarian National Bank was founded.
• 1881 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell started the Oriental Telephone Company.
• 1890 – Nellie Bly finished her amazing trip around the world in just 72 days!

Modern History (1901–Present)

• 1909 – Richard Strauss's opera Elektra was performed for the first time in Dresden.
• 1915 – Alexander Graham Bell made the first U.S. transcontinental telephone call, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
• 1917 – The ship SS Laurentic sank after hitting two German mines off Ireland.
• 1918 – The Ukrainian People's Republic declared its independence from Soviet Russia.
• 1924 – The first ever Winter Olympic Games began in Chamonix, France.
• 1937 – The radio show The Guiding Light started on NBC. It later became a very long-running TV show.
• 1942 – During World War II, Thailand declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom.
• 1945 – World War II: The major Battle of the Bulge came to an end.
• 1947 – Thomas Goldsmith Jr. filed a patent for a "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device," which was the first ever electronic game.
• 1949 – The first Emmy Awards were given out in the United States.
• 1961 – US President John F. Kennedy held the first live presidential television news conference.
• 1964 – Blue Ribbon Sports, which later became the famous company Nike, was founded.
• 1979 – Pope John Paul II began his first official papal visits outside Italy, traveling to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Mexico.
• 1980 – Mother Teresa received India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
• 1990 – Avianca Flight 052 crashed in Cove Neck, New York, a tragic accident that killed 73 people.
• 1994 – The Clementine spacecraft was launched by NASA.
• 1995 – The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launched a nuclear attack after mistaking a Norwegian research rocket for a US missile.
• 1998 – During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II asked for political changes and the release of prisoners.
• 1999 – A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit western Colombia, causing a lot of damage.
• 2005 – A stampede at a temple in India tragically killed many people.
• 2010 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, killing 90 people.
• 2011 – The Egyptian revolution began with street protests and demonstrations across the country.
• 2019 – A mining company's dam collapsed in Brumadinho, Brazil, leading to a tragic loss of life.

Famous Births

Born Before 1900

• 1459 – Paul Hofhaimer, an Austrian organist and composer.
• 1477 – Anne of Brittany, who was Queen of France.
• 1526 – Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.
• 1627 – Robert Boyle, an important Anglo-Irish chemist and physicist.
• 1634 – Gaspar Fagel, a Dutch politician and diplomat.
• 1736 – Joseph-Louis Lagrange, a famous Italian-French mathematician and astronomer.
• 1759 – Robert Burns, a beloved Scottish poet and songwriter.
• 1783 – William Colgate, an English-American businessman who founded Colgate-Palmolive.
• 1822 – Charles Reed Bishop, an American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Bishop Museum.
• 1841 – John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, an English admiral.
• 1858 – Mikimoto Kōkichi, a Japanese businessman known for pearls.
• 1860 – Charles Curtis, an American lawyer and politician who became the 31st Vice President of the United States.
• 1874 – W. Somerset Maugham, a British playwright and novelist.
• 1882 – Virginia Woolf, a famous English novelist and essayist.
• 1886 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, a German conductor and composer.
• 1894 – Aino Aalto, a Finnish architect and designer.
• 1899 – Paul-Henri Spaak, a Belgian lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Belgium.

Born After 1900

• 1901 – Mildred Dunnock, an American actress.
• 1905 – Margery Sharp, an English author.
• 1913 – Witold Lutosławski, a Polish composer and conductor.
• 1917 – Ilya Prigogine, a Russian-Belgian chemist and physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1917 – Jânio Quadros, who became the 22nd President of Brazil.
• 1919 – Edwin Newman, an American journalist.
• 1923 – Arvid Carlsson, a Swedish pharmacologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1927 – Antônio Carlos Jobim, a famous Brazilian singer-songwriter and pianist.
• 1928 – Eduard Shevardnadze, a Georgian general and politician who became the 2nd President of Georgia.
• 1931 – Dean Jones, an American actor.
• 1933 – Corazon Aquino, a Filipino politician who became the 11th President of the Philippines.
• 1935 – António Ramalho Eanes, a Portuguese general and politician who became the 16th President of Portugal.
• 1938 – Etta James, a legendary American singer.
• 1938 – Leiji Matsumoto, a Japanese author and animator.
• 1942 – Eusébio, a famous Mozambican-Portuguese footballer.
• 1949 – Paul Nurse, an English geneticist and biologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1951 – Steve Prefontaine, a well-known American runner.
• 1952 – Peter Tatchell, an Australian-English journalist and activist.
• 1954 – Ricardo Bochini, an Argentinian footballer.
• 1956 – Dinah Manoff, an American actress.
• 1957 – Jenifer Lewis, an American actress and singer.
• 1962 – Chris Chelios, an American ice hockey player.
• 1967 – David Ginola, a French footballer.
• 1970 – Stephen Chbosky, an American author and director.
• 1971 – Luca Badoer, an Italian racing driver.
• 1971 – Ana Ortiz, an American actress.
• 1974 – Emily Haines, a Canadian singer-songwriter.
• 1975 – Mia Kirshner, a Canadian actress.
• 1978 – Charlene, Princess of Monaco.
• 1978 – Denis Menchov, a Russian cyclist.
• 1978 – Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the current President of Ukraine.
• 1981 – Alicia Keys, a famous American singer-songwriter and pianist.
• 1984 – Robinho, a Brazilian footballer.
• 1985 – Hwang Jung-eum, a South Korean actress.
• 1987 – Maria Kirilenko, a Russian tennis player.
• 1988 – Tatiana Golovin, a French tennis player.
• 1991 – Ariana DeBose, an American actress, singer, and dancer.

Notable Deaths

Passed Away Before 1900

• 390 – Gregory Nazianzus, an important theologian.
• 477 – Gaiseric, king of the Vandals.
• 844 – Pope Gregory IV.
• 1138 – Antipope Anacletus II.
• 1494 – Ferdinand I of Naples.
• 1559 – Christian II of Denmark.
• 1586 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, a German painter.
• 1640 – Robert Burton, an English scholar.
• 1742 – Edmond Halley, a famous English astronomer.
• 1852 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, a Russian admiral and explorer.
• 1881 – Konstantin Thon, a Russian architect who designed famous buildings like the Grand Kremlin Palace.
• 1891 – Theo van Gogh, an art dealer and brother of the painter Vincent van Gogh.

Passed Away After 1900

• 1907 – René Pottier, a French cyclist.
• 1908 – Ouida, an English-Italian author.
• 1947 – Al Capone, a well-known American criminal.
• 1957 – Ichizō Kobayashi, a Japanese businessman who founded Hankyu Hanshin Holdings.
• 1960 – Diana Barrymore, an American actress.
• 1970 – Eiji Tsuburaya, a Japanese director and producer.
• 1975 – Charlotte Whitton, a Canadian journalist and politician who was Mayor of Ottawa.
• 1990 – Ava Gardner, a famous American actress.
• 1996 – Jonathan Larson, an American playwright and composer.
• 1999 – Robert Shaw, an American conductor.
• 2004 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, a Dutch runner and hurdler.
• 2005 – Philip Johnson, an American architect who designed many famous buildings.
• 2010 – Ali Hassan al-Majid, an Iraqi general and politician.
• 2012 – Paavo Berglund, a Finnish conductor.
• 2014 – Eusébio, a famous Mozambican-Portuguese footballer.
• 2015 – Demis Roussos, an Egyptian-Greek singer.
• 2017 – John Hurt, a well-known English actor.
• 2017 – Mary Tyler Moore, a beloved American actress and producer.

Holidays and Celebrations

• Betico Day (Aruba)
• Burns Night (Scotland) – A celebration of the Scottish poet Robert Burns.
• Christian feast day:
  • Dydd Santes Dwynwen (Wales)
  • Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul (celebrated by many Christian churches)
• National Nutrition Day (Indonesia)
• National Police Day (Egypt)
• National Voters' Day (India)
• Revolution Day 2011 (Egypt)
• Tatiana Day or Russian Students Day (Russia)

See also

In Spanish: 25 de enero para niños