June 25

1115 In 1115 the Cistercian monk Bernard was sent to found a new abbey at Val d'Absinthe, near Bar-Sur-Aube in France. He founded the monastery on June 25, 1115, naming it Claire Vallée or Clairvaux. Bernard was joined by 27 of his friends and relations. By the late 1120s, the monastery had become under Bernard of Clairvaux’s rule the most prominent of the Cistercian order. Bernard’s eloquent preaching and the miracles witnessed there attracted numerous pilgrims.

Clairvaux

1483 When twelve-year-old Edward V became King of England, his uncle Richard Plantagenet was named Lord Protector of the Realm. Richard claimed the throne from his nephew on the grounds that Edward V was illegitimate. On June 25, 1483, an assembly of Lords and commoners endorsed the claims. Richard III placed Edward V and his brother in the Tower of London for his protection. Neither Edward or his brother was ever seen again. It was suspected that Richard murdered them.

1650 Christopher Wren entered Wadham College, Oxford on June 25, 1650, where he studied Latin and Aristotelian physics. Wren was a brilliant student, and he quickly rose through the ranks at Wadham College. He was awarded his B.A. in 1651, and two years later he received his M.A.  Wren's time at Wadham laid the foundation for his later success as an architect. He learned the principles of classical architecture, and he also developed his skills in mathematics and astronomy. 

1658 The Battle of Rio Nuevo, the largest battle ever fought on Jamaica, started on June 25, 1658. The battle was fought over three days between Spanish forces under Cristóbal Arnaldo Isasi and English forces under governor Edward D'Oyley. In the end, the English were victorious, and the Spanish were routed. The Battle of Rio Nuevo was a turning point in the English conquest of Jamaica, and it ensured that the island would remain under English control for the next 300 years.

1678 Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia was knowledgeable in astronomy, mathematics, music, philosophy, and theology and fluent in French, Spanish, and Hebrew. The fame of her intellectual accomplishments spread and upon the recommendation of Carlo Rinaldini, the Chairman of Philosophy at the University of Padua, she was conferred a doctor of philosophy of degree in Philosophy on June 25, 1678, becoming the first female student in history to receive a PhD.

1761 The phrase burying the hatchet, meaning, to end an argument or conflict, is derived from a Native American custom where a hatchet or tomahawk was buried in the ground to mark a declaration of peace. The Burying the Hatchet ceremony happened in Nova Scotia on June 25, 1761. It ended more than seventy-five years of war between the British and the Mi'kmaq.

Old hatchet

1765 The Reverend Samuel Marsden was born on June 25, 1765 in Farsley, near Pudsey, Yorkshire in England. After emigrating to Australia on 1793 he became the colony's senior Anglican cleric. Marsden developed an interest in evangelizing New Zealand. and in late 1814 he took his brig, the "Active" on an exploratory journey to the Bay of Islands, during which time he conducted the first Christian service on New Zealand soil to a 400-strong Māori congregation.

1867 Ironmonger Lucien Smith of Kent, Ohio patented the first artificial thorn hedge on June 25, 1867. It is better known today as barbed wire. Joseph Farwell Glidden, a DeKalb, Illinois farmer was the first to invent a method for mass manufacturing of barbed wire seven years later. It was cheap to produce and easy to put up and Glidden made a fortune as miles of his wire criss-crossed American farms. It was the beginning of the end of open range in the west.

Barbed wire

1868 In the 1830s, South Carolina residents, frustrated by agricultural tariffs, broached the possibility of secession. Tariff reform appeased them for some time, but following the 1860 election of President Abraham Lincoln, South Carolina seceded from the Union. The state's governor immediately demanded all federal property within the state, including Fort Sumter. South Carolina was readmitted into the United States after the American Civil War on June 25, 1868.

1875 William McKinley, later the 25th US president married Ida Saxton in January 1871. They had two daughters who both died young. Ida McKinley in 1873 aged four months and Katherine "Katie" McKinley, who died aged three on June 25, 1875 of typhoid fever. McKinley's wife broke down under the loss of her two young daughters and for the rest of her life she kept a picture of Katie on the wall of her bedroom. She developed epilepsy and became totally dependent on her husband.

Katherine McKinley

1876 When General George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry located Siting Bull's camp at Little Big Horn they underestimated its size. Against orders he decided to attack the village on June 25, 1876. Having sighted the encampment Custer cried "hurrah boys, we've got them." 2,500 Sioux warriors counter attacked and defeated Custer's 655 men and Custer himself was killed. The only living thing that the US cavalry got back from Little Big Horn was a horse named Comanche.

1891 Strand Magazine published the first of their 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories, A Scandal in Bohemia, on June 25, 1891. It was the first of 38 Sherlock Holmes works illustrated by Sidney Paget. Arthur Conan Doyle modeled Sherlock Holmes after a professor at the University of Edinburgh - Dr. Bell who could diagnose a patient's problems almost purely by looking at him or her. Conan Doyle chose the name Sherlock in honor of Nottingham cricketers Mordecai Sherwin and Frank Shacklock.

A Scandal in Bohemia illustration by Sidney Paget

1903 English writer George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair on June 25, 1903, in Motihari, Bengal Presidency (present-day Bihar), in the then British colony of India.  His father worked there for the Opium Department of the Civil Service. With his characteristic humor, Orwell would later describe his family's background as "lower-upper-middle class." Eric's mother brought him to England at the age of one. Orwell is best known for his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

1910 On June 25, 1910, the US Congress passed the Mann Act which was aimed at keeping innocent girls from being lured into prostitution. In its original form the act made it a felony to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose". It was named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois, the author of the Act.

1910 The Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI - was established in 1908.  It was founded by Charles Joseph Bonaparte, a grandnephew of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who was the US Attorney General at the time. The Bureau of Investigation's first official task was visiting and making surveys of the houses of prostitution in preparation for enforcing the Mann Act. Its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935.

1910 In 1908 Russian composer Igor Stravinsky met Sergei Diaghilev, the Russian ballet impresario. Diaghilev invited Stravinsky to orchestrate various pieces of ballet music for the 1909 season of his Ballets Russes in Paris. The following year, the Ballets Russes debuted Stravinsky's first major work, "The Firebird in Paris" on June 25, 1910. Stravinsky became an overnight sensation following the success of The Firebird's premiere and the work made him world famous.

1947 Because the family of German Dutch teenager Anne Frank were of Jewish origin, they spent much of World War II, hiding from the Gestapo in some concealed rooms. Anne kept a diary, which chronicled her life until they were discovered and transported to the concentration camp, where she died. On his return home from the concentration camp, Anne Frank’s father found her diary had been saved by one of the helpers. He had it published on June 25, 1947 and it was an immediate success.

Het Achterhuis, the first Dutch edition of Anne Frank's diary, published in 1947 caption

1950 After World War II, the Korean peninsular was divided at the 38th parallel, with Soviet forces occupying the north and US forces occupying the south. Negotiations to reunify the two zones failed, and at 4:30 AM on June 25, 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea starting the Korean War.

1962 President John F. Kennedy worried about mixing religious and political institutions, and advocated strongly the separation of church and state. On June 25, 1962, the United States Supreme Court decided in Engel v. Vitale that a prayer approved by the New York Board of Regents for use in schools violated the First Amendment because it represented establishment of religion. This meant official prayers were banned in schools - against the wishes of the vast majority of the public.

1967 More than 400 million people viewed Our World on June 25, 1967. It was the first live, international satellite television broadcast.  The program was organized by the BBC and featured contributions from various countries around the world with the purpose of showcasing the global reach of television and promoting unity among nations. The Beatles topped the event with their debut performance of "All You Need Is Love".

1975 Vasco de Gama landed at what is now Mozambique on his way to India in 1498 and the area was first colonized by Portugal seven years later. After over four centuries of Portuguese rule, Mozambique gained independence on June 25, 1975, becoming the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. In 1995, Mozambique joined the Commonwealth of Nations, becoming, at the time, the only member nation that had never been part of the British Empire.

1978 The rainbow flag, a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements was first flown in the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade on June 25, 1978. The flag was originally created with eight colors, but pink and turquoise were removed for production purposes, and since 1979 it has consisted of six colored stripes.

Original eight color flag

1982 The "Disgrace of Gijón" is the name given to a 1982 FIFA World Cup football match played between West Germany and Austria in Gijón, Spain, on June 25, 1982. A win by one or two goals for West Germany would result in both them and Austria qualifying at the expense of Algeria, who had defeated West Germany in the first game. West Germany took the lead after 10 minutes, after which the remaining 80 minutes were characterized by few serious scoring attempts on either side.

1991 Following the re-establishment of Yugoslavia during World War II, Slovenia became part of Federal Yugoslavia. Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991, after elections showed that 88 percent of the people wished to secede. Yugoslavia immediately took military action, but the resulting Ten-Day War had few casualties, and the Slovenian victory solidified the new nation's independence.

2004 A Fender Stratocaster guitar once owned by Eric Clapton, nicknamed "Blackie," was sold at an auction for a then world record $959,500 on June 25, 2004. In 2006, another Stratocaster—signed by a large group of celebrities, including Clapton—was auctioned to benefit the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami. It sold for $2.8 million, surpassing Blackie's record.

2009 On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson collapsed at his rented mansion at Holmby Hills, California  from an overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray.. Attempts at resuscitating him by Murray were unsuccessful. He was proclaimed dead the same day at 2:25pm at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. Conrad Murray was sentenced to four years behind bars in November 2014. He served less than two.

2019 Belgian Thomas Detry broke the individual record for the fastest hole of golf on a hole measuring up to 500 yards, on June 25, 2019  at Real Club de Golf Guadalmina, Marbella, Spain,  He completed the 10th hole of the golf course in 1 min 29.62 sec.