Today In History
Today is Thursday, Jan. 25, the 25th day of 2018. There are 340 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
› 1858: Britain’s Princess Victoria, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, married Crown Prince Frederick William, the future German Emperor and King of Prussia, at St. James’s Palace. (The ceremony’s tradition-setting music, personally selected by the Princess Royal, included the “Bridal Chorus” from Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and the “Wedding March” by Felix Mendelssohn.)
ON THIS DATE
› 1533: England’s King Henry VIII secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who later gave birth to Elizabeth I.
› 1890: Reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World completed a round-the-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. The United Mine Workers of America was founded in Columbus, Ohio.
› 1915: America’s first official transcontinental telephone call took place as Alexander Graham Bell, who was in New York, spoke to his former assistant, Thomas Watson, who was in San Francisco, over a line set up by American Telephone & Telegraph.
› 1924: The first Winter Olympic Games opened in Chamonix, France.
› 1945: The World War II Battle of the Bulge ended as German forces were pushed back to their original positions. Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first community to add fluoride to its public water supply.
› 1961: President John F. Kennedy held the first presidential news conference to be carried live on radio and television.
› 1993: Sears announced that it would no longer publish its famous century-old catalog.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Country singer Claude Gray is 86. Actress Leigh Taylor-Young is
73. Actress Jenifer Lewis is 61. Country musician Mike Burch (River Road) is 52. Rhythm and blues singer Kina is 49. Actress China Kantner is
47. Actress Ana Ortiz is
47. Drummer Joe Sirois (Mighty Mighty Bosstones) is 46. Musician Matt Odmark (Jars of Clay) is 44. Actress Christine Lakin is 39. Rhythm and blues singer Alicia Keys is 37. Pop musician Calum Hood (5 Seconds to Summer) is 22. Actress Olivia Edward is 11.