June 25



Events

Up to 1900 
253  Pope Cornelius is executed by beheading.
524  The Franks are defeated by the Burgundians in the Battle of Vezeronce.
841  Battle of Fontenay: Forces lead by Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeat the armies of Lothair I of Italy and Pepin II of Aquitaine.
1530  At the Diet of Augsburg, the Augsburg Confession is presented to the Holy Roman Emperor by the Lutheran princes and electors of Germany.
1658  Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Rio Nuevo during the Anglo-Spanish War.
1678  Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia becomes the first woman to get a Doctorate of Philosophy, graduating from the University of Padua.
1741  Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Hungary.
1786  Gavriil Pribylov discovers Saint George Island in the Pribilof Islands (now belonging to Alaska, US) in the Bering Sea.
1788  Virginia ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 10th state of the United States.
1876  Battle of the Little Big Horn and the death of Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
1888  Fire destroys Sundsvall, Sweden.
1900  Daoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts of great historical significance, in the Magao Caves at Dunhuang, China.

1901  2000 
1903  Marie Curie announces the discovery of radium.
1910  Igor Stravinsky's ballet "The Firebird" is first performed in Paris.
1935  Colombia and the Soviet Union establish diplomatic relations.
1938  Dr. Douglas Hyde is elected the first President of Ireland.
1940  World War II: France officially surrenders to Germany.
1943  The Holocaust: Jews in the Czestochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis.
1944  World War II: The Nordic countries' biggest battle of the war, of Tali-Ihantala, begins.
1945  Seán T. O'Kelly is elected the second President of Ireland.
1947  The Diary of a Young Girl (Diary of Anne Frank) is first published.
1948  The Berlin airlift begins.
1949  "Long-Haired Hare", starring Bugs Bunny, is released in theatres.
1950  The beginning of the Korean War.
1953  In the UK, the murderer John Christie is sentenced to death.
1959  Éamon de Valera is elected the third President of Ireland.
1960  Two cryptographers  working on the US National Security Agency leave for vacation in Mexico, and from there they defect to the Soviet Union.
1967  First global satellite television programme – "Our World".
1973  Erskine Hamilton Childers is elected the fourth President of Ireland.
1975  Mozambique gains independence from Portugal.
1975  A State of Emergency is declared in India.
1976  A magnitude 7.1 earthquake in New Guinea kills 422 people.
1978  The Rainbow flag for Gay pride is flown for the first time in San Francisco.
1978  Argentina wins the FIFA World Cup, beating the Netherlands 3-1 in extra time.
1981  Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.
1982  A match-fixing scandal erupts after West Germany and Austria both qualify from the group stage of the 1982 FIFA World Cup in a very slow-paced match, at Algeria's expense.
1982  Greece abolishes headshaving of the recruits in the military.
1988  In West Germany, the Netherlands wins the UEFA European Championship, defeating the Soviet Union 2-0. In the game, Dutch striker Marco van Basten scores a goal that is widely considered to be the best in European Championship history.
1991  Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.
1993  David Letterman airs his last episode of Late Night with David Letterman.
1993  Kim Campbell is chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and becomes the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
1993  Tansu Ciller becomes the first female Prime Minister of Turkey.
1993  Vienna Declaration is adopted by World Conference on Human Rights.
1996  Khobar Towers bombing leaves 19 U.S. servicemen dead in Saudi Arabia.
1997  The Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat erupts, killing 19 people.
1997  An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian Space Station Mir.
1998  Microsoft Windows 98 is released.
1998  In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
1999  The American soap opera Another World airs its 8891st and final episode.

From 2001 
2001  A typhoon strikes Fujian province of China, killing over 100 people.
2006  Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is kidnapped by Palestinian militants.
2007  British soldiers leave Northern Ireland after 37 years.
2009  Pop star Michael Jackson dies suddenly, aged 50, leading to a worldwide outpouring of grief.
2013  Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani becomes the 8th Emir of Qatar.
2014  An explosion in Abuja, Nigeria, kills over 20 people.

Births

Up to 1900 
1242  Beatrice of England, Duchess of Brittany (d. 1275)
1328  William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English military leader (d. 1397)
1373  Joanna II of Naples (d. 1435)
1560  Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (d. 1634)
1568  Gunilla Bielke, Queen of Sweden (d. 1597)
1612  John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop (d. 1634)
1646  Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia, Italian philosopher (d. 1684)
1715  Jean-François Foulon, French politician (d. 1789)
1726  Thomas Pennant, British naturalist (d. 1798)
1755  Princess Natalia Alexeievna of Russia (d. 1776)
1768  Lazare Hoche, French general (d. 1797)
1799  David Douglas, Scottish botanist (d. 1834)
1821  Bartolomé Mitre, President of Argentina (d. 1906)
1825  James Farnell, Australian politician, 8th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1888)
1842  Eloy Alfaro, 15th President of Ecuador (d. 1912)
1852  Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect (d. 1926)
1858  Georges Courteline, French dramatist (d. 1929)
1860  Gustave Charpentier, French composer (d. 1956)
1863  Emile Francqui, Belgian soldier and diplomat (d. 1935)
1864  Walther Nernst, German chemist and physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1941)
1865  Robert Henri, painter (d. 1929)
1870  Yi-junyong, Korean Joseon Dynasty politician (d. 1917)
1884  Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, German art promoter (d. 1979)
1886  Henry H. Arnold, American general (d. 1950)
1887  Frigyes Karinthy, Hungarian writer and journalist (d. 1938)
1887  George Abbott, American playwright, screenwriter, producer, director and actor (d. 1995)
1894  Hermann Oberth, physicist (d. 1989)
1896  Alfred Anderson, Scottish centenarian and World War I veteran (d. 2005)
1900  Marta Abba, Italian actress (d. 1988)
1900  Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (d. 1979)

1901  1950 
1902  Prince Chichibu of Japan (d. 1953)
1903  George Orwell, English writer (d. 1950)
1903  Anne Revere, American actress (d. 1990)
1903  Bob Skelton, American swimmer (d. 1977)
1904  Vladimir Kokkinaki, Russian test pilot (d. 1985)
1905  Rupert Wildt, German-American astronomer (d. 1976)
1907  J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist (d. 1973)
1908  Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher (d. 2000)
1911  William Howard Stein, American chemist (d. 1980)
1912  William T. Cahill, American politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1996)
1913  Cyril Fletcher, British comedian (d. 2005)
1915  Peter Lind Hayes, actor (d. 1998)
1917  Nils Karlsson, Swedish cross-country skier (d. 2012)
1917  Claude Seignolle, French author (d. 2018)
1921  Heinrich Windelen, German politician (d. 2015)
1923  Nicholas Mosley, British writer (d. 2017)
1923  Sam Francis, American painter (d. 1994)
1924  Sidney Lumet, American actor, director and producer (d. 2011)
1925  June Lockhart, American actress
1925  Robert Venturi, American architect (d. 2018)
1926  Margaret Anstee, British diplomat (d. 2016)
1926  Ingeborg Bachmann, writer (d. 1973)
1926  Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge and politician (d. 2015)
1927  Antal Roka, Hungarian athlete (d. 1970)
1928  Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Russian physicist (d. 2017)
1928  Peyo, Belgian comic book artist (d. 1992)
1928  Alex Toth, American cartoonist (d. 2006)
1929  Eric Carle, American children's writer (d. 2021)
1929  Francesco Marchisano, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
1930  George Murdock, American actor (d. 2012)
1931  Mrunalini Devi Puar, Indian educator (d. 2015)
1931  V. P. Singh, Prime Minister of India (d. 2008)
1932  George Sluizer, Dutch filmmaker (d. 2014)
1932  Peter Blake, British artist
1933  James Meredith, American civil rights activist
1935  Charles Sheffield, English mathematician, physicist and science fiction author (d. 2002)
1935  Larry Kramer, American writer and activist
1936  Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie, 3rd President of Indonesia, 1998 – 1999
1937  Obuchi Keizo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2000)
1940  Denys Arcand, French-Canadian movie director, screenwriter and producer
1940  Peer Augustinski, German actor (d. 2014)
1940  Mary Beth Peil, American opera singer and actress
1942  Michel Tremblay, Canadian playwright
1945  Carly Simon, American singer-songwriter
1945  Kevin McKenna, Irish politician (d. 2019)
1946  Roméo Dallaire, Canadian senator
1946  Ian McDonald, British musician
1949  Brigitte Bierlein, Austrian jurist and Chancellor of Austria

1951  1975 
1952  Martin Gerschwitz, German singer-songwriter, musician and composer
1954  Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
1954  Mario Lessard, Canadian ice hockey player
1954  David Paich, American singer-songwriter
1954  Alison Leslie, British diplomat
1955  Terry Chimes, musician
1956  Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004)
1956  Anthony Bourdain, American chef and writer (d. 2018)
1957  Greg Millen, Canadian ice hockey player
1959  Jari Puikkonen, Finnish ski jumper
1960  Aldo Serena, Italian footballer
1960  Brian Hayward, Canadian ice hockey player
1961  Ricky Gervais, British comedian and actor
1961  Timur Bekmambetov, Kazakhstani producer and director
1962  Phill Jupitus, British comedian and broadcaster
1963  George Michael, British singer (d. 2016)
1963  Yann Martel, Spanish-Canadian writer
1963  Doug Gilmour, Canadian ice hockey player
1963  John Benjamin Hickey, American actor
1964  Johnny Herbert, British Formula One driver
1964  Greg Raymer, American poker player
1966  Richard Matt, American murderer and prison escapee (d. 2015)
1966  Dikembe Mutombo, basketball player
1969  Zim Sum, American guitarist
1970  Lucy Benjamin, British actress
1971  Neil Lennon, Northern Irish footballer
1971  Scott Maslen, English actor
1971  Jason Lewis, American actor
1972  Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rican baseball player
1972  Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan politician
1973  Milan Hnilicka, Czech ice hockey player
1973  Jamie Redknapp, English footballer
1973  Sunetra Sarker, English actress
1974  Karisma Kapoor, Indian actress
1975  Derek Adams, Scottish footballer and coach
1975  Linda Cardellini, American actress
1975  Albert Costa, Spanish tennis player
1975  Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player

From 1976 
1976  José Cancela, Uruguayan footballer
1976  Carlos Niesto, Argentine-Italian rugby player
1976  Iestyn Harris, Welsh rugby player
1976  Gavin Williamson, English politician
1977  Lola Ponce, Argentine-born Italian singer, actress and model
1979  Daniel Jensen, Danish footballer
1979  La La, American actress and TV host
1981  Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper
1981  Sheridan Smith, English actress and singer
1981  Pooja Umashankar, Indian actress
1982  Mikhail Youzhny, Russian tennis player
1982  Rain, Korean singer and actor
1982  Cécile Cassel, French actress and singer
1983  Marc Janko, Austrian footballer
1984  Lauren Bush, American model and fashion designer
1985  Scott Brown, Scottish footballer
1985  Hanna Pérez Moza, Mexican singer (Ha*Ash)
1985  Karim Matmour, Algerian footballer
1986  Gabriele Grunewald, American runner (d. 2019)
1986  Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer
1986  Charlie Davies, American soccer player
1987  Claudio Corti, Italian motorcycle racer
1987  Alissa Czisny, American figure skater
1988  Jhonas Enroth, Swedish ice hockey player
1989  Edgar Morais, Portuguese actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1989  Rafael Morais, Portuguese actor, director and screenwriter
1991  Kyousuke Hamao, Japanese actor, singer and model
1991  Victor Wanyama, Kenyan footballer
1991  Simone Zaza, Italian footballer
1993  Barney Clark, English actor
1997  Rodrigo Bentancur, Uruguayan footballer
2002  Mason Vale Cotton, American actor

Deaths

Up to 1900 
253  Pope Cornelius
635  Emperor Gaozu, 1st Emperor of the Tang Dynasty in China (b. 566)
1134  King Niels of Denmark (b. 1034)
1218  Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, Norman crusader (b. 1160)
1291  Eleanor of Provence (b. 1223)
1533  Mary Tudor, Queen of France (b. 1496)
1579  Hatano Hideharu, Japanese daimyo and samurai (b. 1541)
1593  Michele Mercati, Italian physician (b. 1541)
1634  John Marston, English playwright (b. 1576)
1638  Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Spanish writer (b. 1602)
1665  Archduke Sigismund Francis of Austria, regent of Tyrol and Further Austria (b. 1630)
1671  Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian astronomer (b. 1598)
1686  Simon Ushakov, Russian painter (b. 1626)
1767  Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (b. 1681)
1792  Thomas Peters, Sierra Leone founding father (b. 1738)
1822  E.T.A. Hoffmann, German writer, composer, and painter (b. 1776)
1857  Langdon Cheves, American politician (b. 1776)
1861  Abd-ul-Mejid, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1823)
1864  King William I of Württemberg (b. 1781) 
1866  Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish zoologist (b. 1803)
1868  Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist (b. 1811)
1876  George Armstrong Custer, American army officer (b. 1839)
1876  Thomas Custer, American army officer (b. 1845)
1876  Boston Custer, American guide, forager, packer and scout (b. 1848)
1882  François Jouffroy, French sculptor (b. 1806)
1884  Hans Rott, composer (b. 1858)
1886  Jean-Louis Beaudry, 11th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1809)
1889  Lucy Webb Hayes, First Lady of the United States (b. 1831)
1898  Ferdinand Julius Cohn, German botanist and microbiologist (b. 1828)

1901  2000 
1906  Stanford White, American architect (b. 1853)
1916  Thomas Eakins, artist (b. 1844)
1922  Satyendranath Dutta, Bengali poet (b. 1882)
1929  Georges Courteline, French dramatist and novelist (b. 1858)
1932  Howard Valentine, American track and field athlete (b. 1881)
1933  Giovanni Giacometti, Swiss painter (b. 1868)
1937  Colin Clive, British actor (b. 1900)
1939  Dick Seaman, English racing driver (b. 1913)
1944  Dénes Berinkey, 18th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1871)
1944  Lucha Reyes, Mexican singer (b. 1906)
1948  William C. Lee, U.S. general (b. 1895)
1949  Buck Freeman, American baseball player (b. 1871)
1960  Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player (b. 1869)
1971  John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish physician (b. 1880)
1974  Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (b. 1893)
1976  Johnny Mercer, American songwriter (b. 1909)
1977  Bob Skelton, American swimmer (b. 1903)
1979  Dave Fleischer, American animator, director and producer (b. 1894)
1983  Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer (b. 1916)
1983  Oddbjorn Hagen, Norwegian skier (b. 1908)
1984  Michel Foucault, French philosopher (b. 1926)
1988  Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American guitarist (b. 1962)
1992  James Stirling, British architect (b. 1926)
1995  Warren E. Burger, United States Supreme Court Chief Justice (b. 1907)
1995  Ernest Walton, Irish physicist (b. 1905)
1997  Jacques-Yves Cousteau, French explorer, scientist, movie maker and inventor (b. 1910)
1999  Tommy Ivan, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1911)

From 2001 
2003  Lester Maddox, segregationist Governor of Georgia (b. 1915)
2006  Kenneth Griffith, British actor and director (b. 1921)
2008  Erika Crusardson, artist and actress (b. 1975)
2009  Farrah Fawcett, American actress (b. 1947)
2009  Michael Jackson, American entertainer and singer (b. 1958)
2009  Sky Saxon, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1937)
2011  Margaret Tyzack, British actress (b. 1931)
2013  Robert E. Gilka, American photographer and journalist (b. 1916)
2014  Ana Maria Matute, Spanish writer (b. 1925)
2014  Nigel Calder, English science writer (b. 1931)
2014  Arvid Jacobsen, Norwegian newspaper editor (b. 1938)
2015  Patrick Macnee, English-American actor (b. 1922)
2016  Bill Cunningham, American photographer (b. 1929)
2016  Giuseppe Ferrara, Italian movie director (b. 1932)
2016  Patrick Mayhew, British politician, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (b. 1929)
2016  Nicole Courcel, French actress (b. 1931)
2016  Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo, Indian writer (b. 1926)
2017  Gordon Wilson, Scottish politician (b. 1938)
2017  Elsa Daniel, Argentine actress (b. 1938)
2017  K. R. Mohanan, Indian film director (b. 1947)
2017  José Manuel Mourinho Félix, Portuguese footballer and manager (b. 1938)
2017  Walter Fillmore, American general (b. 1933)
2018  Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1920)
2018  Richard Benjamin Harrison, American businessman and television presenter (b. 1941)
2018  David Goldblatt, South African photographer and critic of Apartheid (b. 1930)
2018  James M. Keck, American lieutenant general (b. 1921)
2019  Kevin McKenna, Irish politician (b. 1945)
2019  Isabel Sarli, Argentine actress and model (b. 1929)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Mozambique)
 National Day of Slovenia and Croatia
 Statehood Day (Virginia)
 National Catfish Day (United States)
 Arbor Day (Philippines)

Days of the year