On this day...

1554 Sir Thomas Wyatt gathers an army in Kent, rebels against Queen Mary
1579 Treaty of Utrecht signed, marks beginning of Dutch Republic
1775 Americans drag cannon up hill to fight British (Gun Hill Road, Bronx)
1799 First US patent for a seeding machine, Eliakim Spooner, Vermont
1802 Napoleon elected president of the Italian (Cisalpine) Republic
1856 Battle of Seattle; skirmish between settlers & Indians
1890 National Afro-American League forms in Chicago
1890 Nellie Bly beats Phileas Fogg's time around world by 8 days (72 days)
1890 United Mine Workers of America forms
1904 179 die in coal mine explosion at Cheswick, PA
1905 Largest diamond, the Cullinan (3106 carats), found in South Africa
1907 Julia Ward Howe is first woman elected to National Institute of Arts & Letters
1915 Transcontinental telephone service inaugurated (NY to San Francisco)
1918 Russia declared a republic of Soviets
1919 Founding of League of Nations, first meeting 1 year later
1924 First Winter Olympic games open in Chamonix, France
1937 Miami-to-Tampa bus overturned in a canal, kills 13
1937 Soap Opera "Guiding Light" premiers on radio
1940 Nazi decrees the establishment of Jewish ghetto in Lodz, Poland
1945 Grand Rapids, Michigan becomes first US city to fluoridate its water
1946 United Mine Workers union rejoins American Federation of Labor
1949 First Emmy Awards presented; best TV film, NBC's "The Necklace"
1949 First Israeli election
1955 Russia ends state of war with Germany
1957 FBI arrests Jack & Myra Sobel, charged with spying for the USSR
1959 First transcontinental commercial jet flight (American) (Los Angeles to NY for $301)
1961 First live, nationally televised Presidential news conference (JFK)
1961 Walt Disney's "101 Dalmations" released
1964 Beatles first US #1, "I Want to Hold your Hand"
1971 Charles Manson & 3 women followers convicted of Tate-LaBianca murders
1971 Himachal Pradesh becomes 18th Indian state
1971 Philadelphia mint's first trial strike of the Eisenhower dollar
1979 22.2-km Oshimizu railroad tunnel holed through, central Honshu, Japan
1979 Pope John Paul II's first overseas trip as supreme pontiff
1980 Highest speed attained by a warship, 167 kph, USN hovercraft
1981 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived back in US
1981 Super Bowl XV-Oakland Raiders-27, Philadelphia Eagles-10
1983 China's supreme court commutes Chiang Ch'ing's death sentence to life
1983 Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie arrested in Bolivia
1985 "We are the World" is recorded
1987 NY Giants defeat Denver Broncos, 39-20, to win Super Bowl XXI
1989 Michael Jordan scores his 10,000th NBA point in his 5th season

Birthdays which occurred on January 25th:

749 Leo IV (the Khazar), Byzantine emperor (775-80)
1627 Robert Boyle, Ireland, physicist/chemist/author
1759 Robert Burns, Scotland, poet (Auld Lang Syne, Winds Blah Free)
1882 Virginia Woolf, author (Jacob's Room, To the Lighthouse)
1886 Wilhelm Furtwangler, Berlin Germany, conductor
1899 Ace Goodman, Kansas City MO, comedian (Easy Aces)
1918 Ken Mayers, actor (Robbie Robertson-Space Patrol)
1919 Edwin Newman, New York NY, newscaster/journalist/author (NBC-TV, Comment)
1927 Gregg Palmer, San Francisco CA, actor (Scream, To Hell & Back)
1931 Dean Jones, Decatur AL, actor (Ensign O'Toole, Company, Love Bug)
1933 Corazon Aquino, President of Philippines
1934 Elizabeth Allen, Jersey City NJ, actress (Laura-Bracken's World)
1941 Elzie "Buddy" Baker, race-car driver
1950 Michael Cotton, rocker (Tubes)
1954 Richard Finch, rock bassist (KC & The Sunshine Band)
1955 Joe Strummer, rock vocalist/guitarist (Clash-Rock the Casbah)
1958 Dinah Manoff, New York, NY, actress (Elaine-Soap, Carol-Empty Nest)
1961 Michele Tobin, Chicago IL, actress (Fitzpatricks)

Deaths which occurred on January 25th:

1906 Joseph Wheeler, Confederate General, dies at 70
1947 Al Capone, Chicago gangster, dies of syphilis
1963 Wilson Kettle, Newfoundland, dies at 102, leaving 582 known living descendants
1975 Vivien Kellems, TV hostess (The Power of Women), dies at 78
1978 Tango Duke, dies in Australia at 42; oldest known thoroughbred horse
1990 Ava Gardner, actress, dies in London at 67 from pneumonia