Wednesday, October 25, 2017

THIS DAY IN HISTORY ― OCTOBER 25

October 25 is the 298th day of the year(299th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 67 days remaining until the end of the year. This date is slightly more likely to fall on a Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday (58 in 400 years each) than on Friday or Saturday (57), and slightly less likely to occur on a Monday or Wednesday (56). 

NATIONAL GREASY FOOD DAY  

1415 – During the Hundred Years' War between England and France, Henry V, the young king of England, leads his forces to victory at the Battle of Agincourt in northern France. "Band of brothers..." (Shakespeare).

1774 – On this day in 1774, the First Continental Congress sends a respectful petition to King George III to inform his majesty that if it had not been for the acts of oppression forced upon the colonies by the British Parliament, the American people would be standing behind British rule.


1780 – John Hancock becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts. Hancock was also the President of the Continental Congress that drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence. Hancock was the first to signed the document, writing his name extremely large allegedly so "old John Bull" (King George III) "could read it more easily."


1916 – In WWI French troops rejoice after recapturing Fort Douaumont, the preeminent fortress guarding the city of Verdun, under siege by the German army since the previous February.


1854 – In an event alternately described as one of the most heroic or disastrous episodes in British military history, Lord James Cardigan leads a charge of the Light Brigade cavalry against well-defended Russian artillery during the Crimean War. The British were winning the Battle of Balaclava when Cardigan received his order to attack the Russians. His cavalry gallantly charged down the valley and were decimated by the heavy Russian guns, suffering 40 percent casualties. It was later revealed that the order was the result of confusion and was not given intentionally. Lord Cardigan, who survived the battle, was hailed as a national hero in Britain.


1940 – Prior to WWII Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.


1944 – In WWII during the Battle of the Leyte Gulf, the Japanese deploy kamikaze ("divine wind") suicide bombers against American warships for the first time. It will prove costly―to both sides.

1962 – American author John Steinbeck is awarded Nobel Prize for Literature. Steinbeck was an author of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books, and five collections of short stories. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), East of Eden (1952) and the novella Of Mice and Men (1937). 

1971 – In a dramatic reversal of its long-standing commitment to the Nationalist Chinese government of Taiwan, and a policy of non-recognition of the communist People's Republic of China (PRC), America's U.N. representatives vote to seat the PRC as a permanent member. Over American objections, Taiwan was expelled.

1986 – The International Red Crossis  ousted from South Africa.

1994 – Susan Smith claims her two young sons were carjacked (she actually killed them). According to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Smith will be eligible for parole on November 4, 2024, after serving a minimum of 30 years. 

2000 – A team led by Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford discover Orrorin tugenensis, one of the earliest species on the human family tree that lived about 6 million years ago, in the Tugen Hills, Kenya.

2009 – The 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings kill 155 and wounds at least 721.


TODAY'S BIRTHS

1838 – Georges Bizet, French pianist and composer (d. 1875)

1888 – Richard E. Byrd, American admiral and pilot and Medal of Honor winner (d. 1957)

1902 Henry Steele Commager, American historian and author (d. 1998)

1926 Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian-American soprano and actress (d. 2012)

1935 – Rusty Schweickart, American soldier, pilot, and astronaut

1941 Anne Tyler, American author and critic

1945 Peter Ledger, Australian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1994)

From This Day in HistoryWikipedia and Google ex as noted.

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