Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

April 25

1961
Silicon Integrated circuit: Robert Noyce patents his revolutionary device.

1959
St. Lawrence Seaway: Opens to the public, providing access between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.

1959
Mario Andretti: The legendary driver makes his racing debut, winning at the Nazareth Motor Speed-way (Pennsylvania) in a 1948 Hudson.

1954
Solar battery: Bell Laboratories announces its invention.

1950
First black drafted by an NBA team: Charles "Chuck" Cooper is selected by the Boston Celtics.

1944
United Negro College Fund: Founded by Frederick Douglass Patterson, president of the Tuskegee Institute.

1901
License Plates: New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates,

1898
U.S. declares war on Spain. The war was considered to have officially begun April 21.

1859
Suez Canal: Construction of the North-South waterway connecting the Mediterranean and the Red seas begins. It was completed in 1869.

1792
First execution by Guillotine: The French execute convicted criminal Nicolas Jacques Peletier.

1750
First house built in Kentucky: Dr. Thomas Walker completes its construction near the present-day town of Barbourville.

1719
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe: The first volume of Daniel Defoe's classic work is published.

1521
First circumnavigation of the globe: Magellan, leader of the expedition, is mortally wounded in a battle with the natives of the Philippine Islands. He died on the 27th. The three-year voyage, started in 1519, was completed without him.

1964
Hank Azaria, American Emmy-winning actor. TV: The Simpsons (voice of Moe, Apu, Police Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Cletus, Professor Frink, and Snake).

1946
Talia Shire (Talia Coppola), American actress. Film: The Godfather (1972, Don Corleone's daughter) and Rocky (1976, Rocky's wife).

1940
Al Pacino (Alberto Pacino), American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Godfather (1972), Serpico (1973), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and Scent of a Woman (Oscar).

1932
Meadowlark Lemon, American basketball player, Harlem Globetrotter.

1930
Paul Mazursky, American film director. Film: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) and Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986, screenplay).

1923     d. 1992
Albert King (Albert Nelson), American blues musician. Music: Laundromat Blues (1966) and Born Under a Bad Sign (1967).

1918
Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer. Music: A-Tisket, A-Tasket (1938) and On The Sunny Side Of The Street (1963).

1908     d. 1965
Edward R. Murrow, American Emmy-winning journalist. He won four Peabody awards, the Medal of Freedom (1964), and was knighted an honorary commander of the Order of the British Empire (1965).

1906     d. 1997
William Joseph Brennan Jr., American lawyer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1956-90).

1874     d. 1937
Guglielmo Marconi, Italian Nobel-winning physicist, radio pioneer, inventor of the wireless telegraph (1896).

1873     d. 1962
Howard Roger Garis, American children's author, creator of the Uncle Wiggily the rabbit stories and board game.

1599     d. 1658
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England. He led "the curse of Cromwell," in which he massacred the Irish during an extensive expropriation of their land. He also outlawed Christmas celebrations in England, calling them an extreme forgetfulness to Christ.

1284     d. 1327
Edward II, King of England (1307-1327). He decreed that an inch was equal to three average barleycorns laid end to end (1324).

1214     d. 1270
Louis IX, King of France (1226-70). Known as Saint Louis, he was canonized in 1297.

1995     b. 1911
Ginger Rogers (Virginia McMath), American Oscar-winning actress, Fred Astaire's dance partner.

1981     b. 1926
Alice Lon, American singer, TV personality, Lawrence Welk's original Champagne Lady (1955-59). Welk fired her showing too much knee on camera.

1972     b. 1906
George Sanders, British Oscar-winning Actor. Film: Starred in The Saint and The Falcon movies. He was married to both Zsa Zsa Gabor and her sister Magda. He died of suicide.

1944     b. 1880
George Herriman, American cartoonist, creator of Krazy Kat (1910).

1878     b. 1820
Anna Sewell, English author. Writings: Black Beauty (1877).

1744     b. 1701
Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer, inventor of the Celsius (centigrade) thermometer (1742).

1595     b. 1544
Torquato Tasso, Italian poet of the late Renaissance. He spent seven years confined to an insane asylum. Writings: Gerusalemme liberato (1575, which is considered one the great masterpieces of European literature).

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