May 25

### Up to 1950

- 567 BC – Servius Tullius, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
- 240 BC – First-recorded Perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
- 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors.
- 1420 – Henry the Navigator is appointed Governor of the Order of Christ.
- 1524 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor issues the Edict of Worms, which declares Martin Luther an outlaw.
- 1644 – Ming Dynasty general Wu Sangui forms an alliance with the invading Manchus  and opens the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan Pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital, Beijing.
- 1659 – Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England.
- 1809 – The South American Wars of Independence begin.
- 1810 – May Revolution: The Argentine War of Independence begins.
- 1837 – Rebels in Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom.
- 1865 – 300 people are killed in Mobile, Alabama when an ordnance depot explodes.
- 1878 – The Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
- 1895 – The Republic of Formosa is founded.
- 1895 – The playwright, novelist and poet Oscar Wilde is convicted of "Committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to two years in prison.
- 1914 – The United Kingdom House of Commons passes the Home Rule Act of 1914 for devolution to Ireland.
- 1923 – A magnitude 5.7 earthquake strikes Iran, killing around 2,200 people.
- 1925 – John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Evolution.
- 1935 – Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks three world records and ties one, in track and field athletics in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- 1938 – Spanish Civil War: 313 people are killed in Alicante.
- 1946 – Abdullah I of Jordan is declared Emir by the Parliament of Transjordan.

### From 1951

- 1953 – The US conducts its only nuclear artillery test in Nevada.
- 1955 – A night-time Force 5 tornado strikes the small city in Udall, Kansas, killing 80 people; it is the deadliest tornado ever to strike Kansas.
- 1955 – First successful climb of Kanchenjunga (8,586 metres), the third-highest mountain in the world on the India–Nepal border, by a British expedition led by Joe Brown and George Band.
- 1961 – The Bukit Ho Swee Fire occurs in Singapore.
- 1961 – John F. Kennedy announces before the United States Congress that the United States should set the target of landing a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s decade.
- 1962 – In England, the new Coventry Cathedral is consecrated. The original one had been badly damaged by German bombs in World War II.
- 1963 – The Organisation of African Unity is founded in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- 1966 – Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
- 1967 – Celtic F.C. from Glasgow, Scotland, becomes the first football team from the UK to win the European cup.
- 1968 – The Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri is dedicated.
- 1969 – Thor Heyerdahl sets off from Morocco on his Papyrus boat _Ra_, in an attempt to prove that America was directly settled from Africa.
- 1977 – _Star Wars_ is released in theatres.
- 1977 – The People's Republic of China's government removes its 10-year ban on the work of William Shakespeare.
- 1979 – American Airlines Flight 191, a McDonnell Douglas C-10, crashes during take-off from Chicago O'Hare International Airport, killing 273 people (271 on the plane and 2 on the ground).
- 1979 – 6-year-old Etan Patz disappears on his way to school near his home in New York City. This becomes one of the most notorious missing–child cases in US history and leads to Ronald Reagan declaring May 25 National Missing Children's Day in 1983.
- 1981 – In Riyadh the Guld Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
- 1982 – British ship HMS _Coventry_ is sunk by Argentine forces during the Falklands War.
- 1985 – A cyclone in Bangladesh kills 10,000 people and many more are made homeless.
- 1997 – A coup in Sierra Leone removes Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and replaces him with Johnny Paul Koromah as leader.
- 2000 – Israel withdraws most of its army from Lebanon.
- 2001 – Erik Weihenmayer of Boulder, Colorado becomes the first person with a visual impairment to reach the top of Mount Everest.
- 2002 – China Airlines Flight 611, a Boeing 747–200, breaks apart in mid-flight and plunges into the Taiwan Strait, killing 225 people.
- 2002 – A train crash kills 197 people in Tenga, Mozambique.
- 2003 – Néstor Kirchner becomes President of Argentina.
- 2005 – Liverpool F.C. win the UEFA Champions League, defeating AC Milan in a penalty shoot-out.
- 2009 – North Korea is believed to have tested its second nuclear device.
- 2011 – The Oprah Winfrey Show airs for the last time.
- 2013 – Suspected Maoist rebels kill at least 28 people and injure 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India.
- 2013 – FC Bayern Munich defeat Borussia Dortmund 2–1 in the first UEFA Champions League final to be contested by two German teams.
- 2014 – Elections are held to the European Parliament. Far-right parties make strong gains and finish in the lead in some countries, such as Nigel Farage's UKIP (UK), Marine Le Pen's National Front (France) and Danish People's Party (Denmark). In Greece, the left-wing SYRIZA Party finishes first.
- 2014 – Petro Poroshenko is elected President of Ukraine.
- 2018 – The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation enters into force.
- 2018 – A referendum in the Republic of Ireland results in an-almost two-thirds majority (66.4%) voting to change the country's strict abortion laws.

### Up to 1900

- 1048 – Emperor Shenzong of China (d. 1085)
- 1271 – Shah Jalal of Bengal (d. 1346)
- 1334 – Emperor Suko of Japan (d. 1398)
- 1458 – Mahmud Begada, Sultan of Gujarat (d. 1511)
- 1572 – Maurice, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1632)
- 1606 – Charles Garnier, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1649)
- 1661 – Claude Buffier, French philosopher and historian (d. 1737)
- 1677 – Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans (d. 1749)
- 1713 – John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1792)
- 1725 – Samuel Ward, American politician (d. 1776)
- 1762 – Walter Leake, Governor of Mississippi (d. 1825)
- 1783 – Philip Pendleton Barbour, American politician (d. 1841)
- 1791 – Ming Mang, Vietnamese Emperor (d. 1841)
- 1803 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English novelist and playwright (d. 1873)
- 1803 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and philosopher (d. 1882)
- 1815 – Giovanni Caselli, Italian physicist (d. 1891)
- 1818 – Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian (d. 1897)
- 1820 – Anne Brontë, English writer (d. 1849)
- 1845 – Lip Pike, baseball player (d.1883)
- 1846 – Princess Helena of the United Kingdom (d. 1923)
- 1846 – Naim Frasheri, Albanian poet and writer (d. 1900)
- 1848 – Johann Baptist Singenberger, Swiss composer, education and publisher (d. 1924)
- 1860 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (d. 1944)
- 1863 – Camille Erlanger, French composer (d. 1919)
- 1865 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1955)
- 1865 – Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
- 1868 – Charles Hitchcock Adams, American chemist and astronomer (d. 1961)
- 1877 – Billy Murray, American singer (d. 1954)
- 1878 – Bill Robinson, American tap dancer and actor (d. 1949)
- 1879 – Lord Beaverbrook, English publisher (d. 1964)
- 1880 – Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist (d. 1967)
- 1882 – Marie Doro, American actress (d. 1956)
- 1883 – Carl Johan Lind, Swedish hammer thrower (d. 1965)
- 1886 – Philip Murray, Scottish-American labor leader (d. 1952)
- 1886 – Rash Behari Bose, Indian revolutionary (d. 1945)
- 1887 – Francesco Forgione, better known as Padre Pio and also Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, Italian Franciscan Capuchin friar, priest and Saint in the Catholic Church (d. 1968)
- 1888 – Miles Malleson, English actor (d. 1969)
- 1889 – Igor Sikorsky, Russian inventor (d. 1972)
- 1897 – Gene Tunney, American boxer (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher (d. 1971)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1903 – Binnie Barnes, English-American actress and singer (d. 1998)
- 1907 – U Nu, Burmese politician (d. 1995)
- 1909 – Marie Menken, American actress, director and painter (d. 1970)
- 1909 – Alfred Kubel, German politician (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Princess Dukhye of Korea (d. 1989)
- 1913 – Richard Dimbleby, British journalist and broadcaster (d. 1965)
- 1913 – Donald Maclean, British secret agent (d. 1983)
- 1916 – Brian Dickinson, Canadian politician (d. 1998)
- 1917 – Theodore Hesburgh, American priest (d. 2015)
- 1918 – Claude Akins, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1921 – Hal David, American lyricist and songwriter (d. 2012)
- 1921 – Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1921 – Giorgio Orelli, Swiss writer (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (d. 1984)
- 1922 – Kitty Kallen, American singer (d. 2016)
- 1924 – István Nyers, Hungarian footballer (d. 2005)
- 1925 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet (d. 1974)
- 1925 – Jeanne Crain, American actress (d. 2003)
- 1925 – Claude Pinoteau, French screenwriter and movie director (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Bill Sharman, American basketball player (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Miles Davis, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1991)
- 1927 – Robert Ludlum, writer (d. 2001)
- 1927 – Norman Petty, American singer-songwriter, pianist and producer (d. 1984)
- 1929 – Beverly Sills, American soprano (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Aili Jogi, Estonian anti–Communist activist (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Georgi Grechko, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2017)
- 1931 – Herb Gray, former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2014)
- 1932 – John Gregory Dunne, American writer (d. 2003)
- 1933 – Jógvan Sundstein, 7th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
- 1933 – Sarah Marshall, English-American actress (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Basdeo Panday, 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
- 1935 – Cookie Gilchrist, American football player
- 1936 – Tom T. Hall, American singer and songwriter
- 1938 – Raymond Carver, American writer (d. 1988)
- 1939 – Dixie Carter, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1939 – Ian McKellen, English actor
- 1939 – Ferdinand Bracke, Belgian cyclist
- 1941 – Vladimir Voronin, former President of Moldova
- 1943 – Jessi Colter, American singer
- 1944 – Frank Oz, English-born puppeteer and director
- 1947 – Mitch Margo, American singer (The Tokens) (d. 2017)
- 1948 – Klaus Meine, German singer (Scorpions)
- 1949 – Jamaica Kincaid, Antiguan-born novelist

### 1951 – 1970

- 1951 – François Bayrou, French politician
- 1953 – Daniel Passarella, Argentine footballer
- 1953 – Gaetano Scirea, Italian footballer (d. 1989)
- 1953 – Eve Ensler, Jewish-American playwright and feminist activist
- 1954 – Murali, Indian actor (d. 2009)
- 1955 – Alistair Burt, British politician
- 1956 – Sugar Minott, Jamaican singer (d. 2010)
- 1957 – Alastair Campbell, British politician
- 1957 – Robert Picard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1957 – Mark McGhee, Scottish footballer
- 1958 – Paul Weller, English musician
- 1959 – Julian Clary, English comedian
- 1959 – Vladimir Franz, Czech composer and painter
- 1960 – Amy Klobuchar, American politician, United States Senator from Minnesota
- 1960 – Anthea Turner, English television presenter
- 1961 – Robert Brylewski, Polish singer-songwriter (d. 2018)
- 1963 – Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian
- 1963 – Anne Consigny, French actress
- 1963 – Torsten Albig, German politician
- 1964 – Ivan Bella, Slovakian astronaut
- 1965 – Simon Fowler, English singer (Ocean Colour Scene)
- 1965 – Yahya Jammeh, former President of the Gambia
- 1966 – McLoud, Swiss composer, musician, and multimedia artist
- 1966 – Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
- 1967 – Luc Nilis, Belgian footballer
- 1967 – Poppy Z. Brite, American writer
- 1968 – Kendall Gill, American basketball player
- 1969 – Anne Heche, American actress
- 1969 – Glen Drover, Canadian musician (Megadeth)
- 1970 – Jamie Kennedy, American actor
- 1970 – Octavia Spencer, American actress

### From 1971

- 1971 – Sonya Smith, American actress
- 1972 – Karan Johar, Indian director, producer, writer and actor
- 1973 – Demetri Martin, American actor, comedian and musician
- 1973 – Molly Sims, American model and actress
- 1974 – Dougie Freedman, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1974 – Monica Keena, American actress
- 1974 – Frank Klepacki, American musician
- 1975 – Keiko Fujimori, Peruvian politician
- 1975 – Lauryn Hill, American singer
- 1975 – Blaise Nkufo, Swiss footballer
- 1976 – Miguel Tejada, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- 1976 – Cillian Murphy, Irish actor
- 1977 – Pat Burrell, baseball player
- 1978 – Brian Urlacher, American football player
- 1979 – Sayed Moawad, Egyptian footballer
- 1979 – Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby player
- 1979 – Carlos Bocanegra, American soccer player
- 1979 – Caroline Ouellette, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Alex Hofmann, German motorcycle racer
- 1980 – David Navarro, Spanish footballer
- 1982 – Adam Boyd, English footballer
- 1982 – Daniel Braaten, Norwegian footballer
- 1982 – Roger Guerreiro, Brazilian-Polish footballer
- 1984 – Emma Marrone, Italian singer
- 1984 – Marion Raven, Norwegian singer-songwriter, musician and actress
- 1984 – Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, Icelandic model (Miss Iceland), former Miss World
- 1985 – Demba Ba, Senegalese footballer
- 1985 – Joe Anoa'i, American football player and wrestler
- 1986 – Lauren Crace, English actress
- 1986 – Yoan Gouffran, French footballer
- 1986 – Geraint Thomas, Welsh cyclist
- 1987 – Kamil Stoch, Polish ski jumper
- 1988 – Cameron van der Burgh, South African swimmer
- 1990 – Nikita Filatov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Jillian Wheeler, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1992 – Jon Dadi Bodvarsson, Icelandic footballer
- 1994 – Aly Raisman, American gymnast
- 1999 – Brec Bassinger, American actress

### Up to 1950

- 615 – Pope Boniface IV (b. 550)
- 675 – Li Hong, Chinese prince (b. 550)
- 709 – Aldhelm, English Christian saint (b. 639)
- 967 – Emperor Murakami of Japan (b. 926)
- 992 – Mieszko I of Poland (b. 935)
- 1085 – Pope Gregory VII (b. 1020)
- 1261 – Pope Alexander IV
- 1452 – John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1555 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and mapmaker (b. 1508)
- 1555 – Henry II of Navarre (b. 1503)
- 1595 – Philip Neri, Italian priest and saint (b. 1515)
- 1632 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1572)
- 1667 – Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (b. 1620)
- 1681 – Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Spanish playwright (b. 1600)
- 1693 – Madame de la Fayette, French writer (b. 1634)
- 1786 – King Peter III of Portugal (b. 1717)
- 1789 – Anders Dahl, Swedish botanist (b. 1751)
- 1805 – William Paley, English philosopher (b. 1743)
- 1862 – Johann Nestroy, Austrian playwright, actor and opera singer (b. 1801)
- 1895 – Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Ottoman soldier, intellectual, bureaucrat, administrator and historian (b. 1822)
- 1899 – Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor (b. 1822)
- 1899 – Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, Spanish politician and writer (b. 1832)
- 1911 – Vasily Klyuchevsky, Russian historian (b. 1841)
- 1912 – Austin Lane Crothers, 46th Governor of Maryland (b. 1860)
- 1919 – Madam C. J. Walker, American philanthropist and tycoon (b. 1867)
- 1924 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter (b. 1889)
- 1926 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian politician and statesman (b. 1879)
- 1930 – Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1848)
- 1934 – Gustav Holst, English composer (b. 1874)
- 1939 – Frank Watson Dyson, English astronomer (b. 1858)
- 1940 – Joe De Grasse, Canadian-American actor and director (b. 1873)

### 1951 – 2010

- 1954 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913)
- 1958 – Steinn Steinarr, Icelandic poet (b. 1908)
- 1965 – Sonny Boy Williamson II, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1912)
- 1970 – Tom Patey, Scottish mountaineer and writer (b. 1932)
- 1977 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (b. 1904)
- 1981 – Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (b. 1912)
- 1983 – King Idris I of Libya (b. 1890)
- 1986 – Chester Bowles, 78th Governor of Connecticut (b. 1901)
- 1988 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist (b. 1906)
- 1993 – Buddhadasa, Thai monk and philosopher (b. 1906)
- 1995 – Dany Robin, French actress (b. 1927)
- 1996 – Renzo De Felice, Italian historian and politician (b. 1929)
- 2002 – Pat Coombs, English actress (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Sunil Dutt, Indian actor and politician (b. 1929)
- 2006 – Desmond Dekker, Jamaican musician (b. 1941)
- 2009 – Haakon Lie, Norwegian politician (b. 1906)
- 2010 – Siphiwo Ntshebe, South African singer (b. 1975)

### From 2011

- 2011 – Leonora Carrington, British-Mexican painter (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (b. 1919)
- 2014 – Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and politician, last Communist leader of Poland (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Bunny Yeager, American model and photographer (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Herb Jeffries, American jazz and pop singer (b. 1913)
- 2014 – David Allen, English cricketer (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Tommy Blom, Swedish radio host and singer (b. 1947)
- 2014 – Malcolm Simmons, English motorcycle speedway racer (b. 1946)
- 2015 – John M. Murphy, American politician (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Mary Ellen Mark, American photographer (b. 1940)
- 2015 – Bill O'Herlihy, Irish broadcaster (b. 1938)
- 2016 – Yang Jiang, Chinese playwright, author and translator (b. 1911)
- 2016 – Gyula Kosice, Czechoslovakian-Argentine poet and sculptor (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Nancy Dow, American actress and model (b. 1936)
- 2016 – John Webster, British theologian (b. 1955)
- 2017 – Alistair Horne, British historian, journalist and spy (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Eva Estrada Kalaw, Filipino politician (b. 1920)
- 2017 – Frédérick Leboyer, French obstetrician and author (b. 1918)
- 2017 – Saucy Sylvia, Canadian-American radio personality and singer (b. 1920)
- 2018 – Piet Kee, Dutch composer and organist (b. 1927)
- 2018 – Sergio Graziani, Italian actor (b. 1930)
- 2018 – Naser Malek Motiei, Iranian actor (b. 1930)
- 2019 – Margaret-Ann Armour, Scottish-Canadian chemist (b. 1939)
- 2019 – Jean Burns, Australian aviatrix (b. 1919)
- 2019 – Anthony Graziano, American mobster (b. 1940)
- 2019 – Dmytro Kremin, Ukrainian poet, journalist and translator (b. 1953)
- 2019 – Thembinkosi Mbamba, South African footballer (b. 1995)

## Observances

- Africa Day
- Geek Pride Day
- Independence Day (Jordan)
- Liberation Day (Lebanon)
- National Day (Argentina)
- National Missing Children's Day (United States), after the disappearance of Etan Patz on this day in 1979