Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

August 25

1993
Superman rises from the dead in the Superman comic book released today.

1993
Snoop Doggy Dog: The rap singer acts as the driver in a drive-by shooting. His bodyguard shot and killed a man from the passenger window.

1992
Nobody votes in the Dutton, Alabama election for mayor and city council. And why should they; nobody ran for office.

1992
Hurricane Andrew hits Louisiana.

1940
World War II: The British fly a bombing raid over Berlin, surprising Hitler. Marshall Hermann Goering had assured him no such thing was possible.

1916
National Park Service is established.

1718
City of New Orleans is founded.

1955
Elvis Costello (Declan Patrick McManus), English musician, songwriter. Music: My Aim is True (1977).

1949
Gene Simmons (Gene Klein), American rock musician, the Phantom of Kiss. Music: Rock And Roll All Nite (1975).

1947
Anne Archer, American actress. Film: Fatal Attraction (1987). TV: Falcon Crest (Cassandra Wilder).

1938
David Canary, actor. TV: All My Children (Adam Chandler).

1933
Tom Skerritt, American actor. TV: Cheers (Evan Drake) and Picket Fences.

1930
Sean Connery (Thomas Connery), Scottish actor, "Bond, James Bond."

1923
Monty Hall, Canadian-born game show host, Let's Make A Deal.

1919
George Corley Wallace, Alabama governor, elected four times (1963-66, 71-79, 83-88). He was shot and partially paralyzed by Arthur Bremer (1972).

1918     d. 1982
Richard Greene, British actor, TV: The Adventures of Robin Hood (title role).

1918     d. 1990
Leonard Bernstein, American Emmy-Grammy-winning conductor, composer. Music: West Side Story (1957).

1917
Mel Ferrer (Melchior Gaston Ferrer), American actor, producer.

1917     d. 1993
Don DeFore, American actor. TV: The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (next-door neighbor "Thorny" Thornberry) and Hazel (Mr. Baxter).

1913     d. 1973
Walt Kelly, American cartoonist, created Pogo (1948) with its famous quote "We have met the enemy, and it is us."

1912
Ted Key, American cartoonist, created Hazel (1943).

1912     d. 1994
Erich Honecker, East German political leader. He supervised the construction of the Berlin Wall.

1909     d. 1993
Ruby Keeler (Ethel Hilda Keeler), American dancer, actress, frequently co-starred with Dick Powell. Film: 42nd Street (1933).

1822     d. 1897
Gardiner Greene Hubbard, American lawyer, co-founder and president of the Clarke Institute for Deaf Mutes (1867-76) and founder and president of the National Geographic Society (1888-97). The Hubbard Memorial Hall in Washington D.C. and the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska are named for him.

1819     d. 1884
Allan Pinkerton, American detective, co-founded the first U.S. detective agency (1850), and was the first chief of the U.S. Army's secret service.

1786     d. 1868
Louis I, King of Bavaria (1825-48), he made dancer Lola Montez a countess and gave her authority over state affairs. This led to the revolution (1848) which forced his resignation.

1530     d. 1584
Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV), Czar of Russia (1533-84).

1985     b. 1972
Samantha Smith, American school-girl. Her 1982 letter to Soviet leader Yuri Andropov led to a two-week visit to the Soviet Union, and a part in an upcoming prime-time TV series. She died in a plane crash.

1984     b. 1924
Truman Capote, American author. Writings: In Cold Blood (1965). He also won an Emmy for A Christmas Memory (1966).

1956     b. 1894
Alfred Charles Kinsey, American zoologist. His book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) shocked the public by pointing out how many "perverted acts" were common place in American homes.

1940     b. circa 1856
Édouard Michelin, French tiremaker, he and his brother founded the Michelin Tire Co. (1888) and invented a removable rubber pneumatic tire (1889).

1900     b. 1844
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, German philosopher, author of Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883), in which he developed the idea of "Übermensch" (Superman) who would control society. Quote: "Two great European narcotics are alcohol and Christianity" and "What doesn't kill you makes you strong." (source: Fifth 637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said)

1867     b. 1791
Michael Faraday, English scientist. He discovered electromagnetic induction (1831), the magnetism of light (1845), the compound bencene, and developed the first dynamo.

1822     b. 1738
Sir William Herschel, English astronomer, discovered Uranus (1781), two of its moons (1787), and the sixth and seventh moons of Saturn (1789).

1819     b. 1736
James Watt, British inventor, for whom the unit of power the 'watt' is named. He invented the modern condensing steam engine (1765).

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

383     b. 359
Gratian (Flavius Gratianus), Roman Emperor (367-383), helped establish Christianity by persecuting heretics and pagans.

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