History of 25 February
1570 – England’s Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope Pius V.
1751 – Edward Willet displayed the first trained monkey act in the U.S.
1791 – First Bank of the United States (The President, Directors, and Company, of the Bank of the United States) was chartered by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Washington.
1793 – The department heads of the U.S. government met with U.S. President Washington for the first Cabinet meeting on U.S.record.
1836 – Samuel Colt received U.S. Patent No. 138 (later 9430X) for a “revolving-cylinder pistol.” It was his first patent.
1901 – The United States Steel Corp. was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.
1913 – The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. It authorized a graduated income tax.
1919 – The state of Oregon became the first state to place a tax on gasoline. The tax was 1 cent per gallon.
1928 – The Federal Radio Commission issued the first U.S. television license to Charles Jenkins Laboratories in Washington, DC.
1930 – The bank check photographing device was patented.
1933 – The aircraft carrier Ranger was launched. It was the first ship in the U.S. Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier.
1837 – Thomas Davenport patented the first commercial electrical motor. There was no practical electrical distribution system available and Davenport went bankrupt.
1940 – The New York Rangers and the Montreal Canadiens played in the first hockey game to be televised in the U.S. The game was aired on W2WBS in New York with one camera in a fixed position. The Rangers beat the Canadiens 6-2.
1948 – Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.
1950 – “Your Show of Shows” debuted on NBC.
1956 – Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev criticized the late Josef Stalin in a speech before a Communist Party congress in Moscow.
1972 – Germany gave a $5 million ransom to Arab terrorists who had hijacked a jumbo jet.
1986 – Filippino President Ferdinand E. Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule after a tainted election.
1999 – William King was sentenced to death for the racial murder of James Byrd Jr in Jasper, TX. Two other men charged were later convicted for their involvement.
1999 – In Moscow, China’s Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and Russia’s President Boris Yeltsin discussed trade and other issues.
2000 – In Albany, NY, a jury acquitted four New York City police officers of second-degree murder and lesser charges in the February 1999 shooting death of Amadou Diallo.
2005 – Dennis Rader was arrested for the BTK serial killings in Wichita, KS. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 life prison terms.
2009 – Soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including 57 army officials.
2009 – Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 crashed during landing at the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands, primarily due to a faulty radio altimeter, resulting in the death of nine passengers and crew including all three pilots.
2015 – At least 310 people are killed in avalanches in northeastern Afghanistan.
2016 – Three people are killed and fourteen others injured in a series of shootings in the small Kansas cities of Newton and Hesston.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Park Ji-sung, South Korean footballer
- 1982 – Chris Baird, Northern Irish footballer
- 1982 – Maria Kanellis, American wrestler
- 1982 – Bert McCracken, American singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Flavia Pennetta, an Italian tennis player
- 1982 – Anton Volchenkov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1983 – Eduardo da Silva, Brazilian footballer
- 1983 – Steven Lewington, English wrestler
- 1984 – Lovefoxxx, Brazilian singer-songwriter
- 1984 – Craig Mackail-Smith, Scottish footballer
- 1984 – João Pereira, Portuguese footballer
- 1984 – Dane Swan, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Benji Marshall, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1985 – Joakim Noah, American basketball player
- 1986 – Danny Saucedo, Swedish singer-songwriter
- 1986 – Jameela Jamil, American actress, and activist
- 1986 – James Starks, American football player
- 1987 – Justin Abdelkader, American ice hockey player
- 1988 – Aidan Guerra, Australian-Italian rugby league player
- 1988 – Jimmy Monaghan, American-born Irish singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1989 – Jimmer Fredette, American basketball player
- 1989 – Kana Hanazawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1989 – Milan Badelj, Croatian footballer
- 1990 – Alejandra Andreu, Spanish beauty queen
- 1990 – Jefferson Alves Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- 1990 – Marianna Zachariadi, Greek pole vaulter (d. 2013)
- 1991 – Dominika Kaňáková, a Czech tennis player
- 1991 – Tony Oller, American singer-songwriter and actor
- 1992 – Zahia Dehar, Algerian fashion & lingerie designer
- 1992 – Max Aaron, American figure skater
- 1994 – Eugenie Bouchard, a Canadian tennis player
- 1999 – Gianluigi Donnarumma, Italian footballer