Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

January 25

1993
Kung Fu: The Legend Continues: The TV show debuts, starring David Carradine as the grandson of the character he played in the original Kung Fu.

1985
Subway Vigilante: Bernhard Goetz is acquitted by a grand jury for his 1984 shooting of four black youths in a New York subway. However, he did stand trial for carrying an unlicensed concealed weapon, for which he was fined $5,000 and sentenced to six months in jail.

1984
Jesse Jackson: The political leader refers to Jews as "Hymies" and New York City as "Hymietown." At first he denied making the statements, but later admitted to them.

1980
Paul McCartney: Japan orders the deportation of the ex-Beatle. He had spent nine days in prison following the discovery of marijuana in his luggage.

1971
Charles Manson: The cult leader and three of his female followers are found guilty of the 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and six others.

1964
First joint Soviet-American space effort: Echo II, a passive communications satellite, is launched.

1961
First televised presidential news conference: It was held by Pres. John F. Kennedy.

1959
First commercial transcontinental jet flight: An American Airlines Boeing 707 begins service between Los Angeles and New York.

1949
First Emmy Awards: Pantomime Quiz Time wins the Most Popular TV Program award; it was a local show in Los Angeles.

1945
First U.S. city to fluoridate its water: Grand Rapids, Michigan.

1944
First woman Anglican priest: Miss Florence Tim-Oi Lee is ordained in China; the war had brought on a shortage of male priests.

1934
John Dillinger: The bank robber, along with Pierpont, Makley, and Clark, is captured in Tuscon, Arizona.

1924
First winter Olympics: The games begin in Chamonix, France. Some of the new categories included speed skating, cross-country skiing, and ski jumping.

1917
The Virgin Islands: The islands are purchased by the U.S. from Denmark for $25,000,000.

1915
First transcontinental telephone call: Alexander Bell in New York calls Thomas Watson in San Francisco and repeats his famous request "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you."

1890
Around the World in 80 Days: New York World reporter Nellie Bly - in an effort to beat Philéas Fogg's (from Jules Verne's novel) time for a trip around the world - arrives back in New York City. She had made it with eight days to spare.

1878
First ship sunk by a torpedo in a war: A Russian boat sinks a Turkish steamer.

1787
Shays's Rebellion: Protesting harsh conditions, Daniel Shays leads 1100 farmers in an attempt to seize a Massachusetts arsenal. They were stopped by the state militia.

1935
Dean Jones, American singer, actor. Film: That Darn Cat (1965), The Love Bug (1969) and The Shaggy D.A. (1976).

1934
Elizabeth Allen, American singer, actress. TV: The Jackie Gleason Show (the woman who proclaimed "And away we go!"), C.P.O. Sharkey (Capt. Quinlan), and Texas (Victoria Bellman).

1933
Corazon "Cory" Aquino, former Philippine president.

1928
Eduard Shevardnadze, Russian minister of foreign affairs.

1901     d. 1991
Mildred Dunnock, American actress. Stage: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1956, originated the role of Big Mama). Film: Death of a Salesman (1951, Willy Loman's wife) and Baby Doll (1956).

1899     d. 1972
Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian statesman, prime minister (1938-39, 1946-49), secretary general of NATO (1957-61), and the first president of the United Nations General Assembly (1946).

1882     d. 1941
Virginia Woolf, English author, women's rights activist. Writings: Jacob's Room (1922).

1878     d. 1975
Ernst Frederik Werner Alexanderson, Swedish-born American engineer. A pioneer in transoceanic radio communication, he developed tuned-frequency receivers. In 1927 he developed a TV with a seven-foot screen.

1874     d. 1965
William Somerset Maugham, English author. Writings: Of Human Bondage.

1860     d. 1936
Charles Curtis, 31st U.S. Vice-President (1929-33).

1823     d. 1900
Dan Rice (Daniel McLaren), American clown. He worked for P.T. Barnum and later started his own circus. He ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. president and was the model for the early Uncle Sam portraits.

1813     d. 1883
James Marion Sims, American physician, gynecologist. He invented the silver suture.

1783     d. 1857
William Colgate, English-born American soap and toiletries maker, philanthropist. He helped found the American Bible Society (1816).

1759     d. 1796
Robert Burns, Scottish poet. He penned the words to Auld Lang Syne (c1789).

1627     d. 1691
Robert Boyle, British physicist, creator of Boyle's Law (1662, "The pressure of gas is proportional to the number of molecules in a given space and their temperature").

1990     b. 1922
Ava Gardner, American actress, Hollywood's leading lady of the 1940s and '50s.

1969     b. 1893
Irene Castle, American dancer. She and her husband Vernon popularized the Fox-trot dance (c1912).

1947     b. 1899
"Scarface" Al Capone, Italian-born American gangster. The FBI estimates that he made $105 million in 1927 alone. He was convicted of tax evasion and served time in Alcatraz (1931-39). Terminally ill with syphilis, he died penniless of a brain hemorrhage at home in Miami, Florida.

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