today.nukz.net: Almanac May 25 :: Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson

Bill “Bojangles” Robinson (May 25, 1878 – November 25, 1949) was an American tap dancer and actor of stage and film. Audiences enjoyed his understated style, which eschewed the frenetic manner of the jitterbug in favor of cool and reserve; rarely did he use his upper body, relying instead on busy, inventive feet, and an expressive face. A figure in both the black and white entertainment worlds of his era, he is best known today for his dancing with Shirley Temple in a series of films during the 1930s.

Events

567 BC – Servius Tullius, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain back from the Moors.
1420 – Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ.
1521 – The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
1659 – Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England.
1738 – A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: The Carnew massacre, Dunlavin massacre and Carlow massacre takes place.
1809 – Chuquisaca Revolution: a group of patriots in Chuquisaca (modern day Sucre) revolt against the Spanish Empire, starting the South American Wars of Independence.
1810 – May Revolution: citizens of Buenos Aires expel Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence.
1819 – The Argentine Constitution of 1819 is promulgated.
1833 – The Chilean Constitution of 1833 is promulgated.
1837 – The Rebels of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom.
1865 – In Mobile, Alabama, 300 are killed when an ordnance depot explodes.
1878 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London.
1895 – Playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
1895 – The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as its president.
1914 – The United Kingdom's House of Commons passes the Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland.
1925 – Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
1926 – Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the Paris-based government-in-exile of Ukrainian People's Republic.
1935 – Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks three world records and ties a fourth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1936 – The Remington Rand strike, led by the American Federation of Labor, begins.
1938 – Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante takes place, with 313 deaths.
1946 – The parliament of Transjordan makes Abdullah I of Jordan their Emir.
1951 – Future Hall of Famer Willie Mays was called up by the New York Giants from their farm team Minneapolis Millers. We went 0-5 in his first major league game.
1953 – Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conduct their first and only nuclear artillery test.
1953 – The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.
1955 – In the United States, a night time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It is the deadliest tornado to ever occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S.
1955 – First ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition led by Joe Brown and George Band.
1961 – Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces before a special joint session of the Congress his goal to initiate a project to put a "man on the Moon" before the end of the decade.
1962 – The Old Bay Line, the last overnight steamboat service in the United States, goes out of business.
1963 – In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.
1966 – Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches.
1966 – The first prominent dàzìbào during the Cultural Revolution in China is posted at Peking University.
1967 – Celtic F.C. from Glasgow, Scotland becomes the first ever Northern European team to win the European Cup; with previous winners being from Spain, Italy and Portugal.
1968 – Gateway Arch Saint Louis Gateway Arch is dedicated.
1973 – HNS Velos (D-16), while participating in a NATO exercise and in order to protest against the dictatorship in Greece, anchored at Fiumicino, Italy, refusing to return to Greece.
1977 – Star Wars (retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1981) is released in theaters, inspiring the Jediism religion and Geek Pride Day holiday.
1979 – American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport killing 271 on board and two people on the ground.
1979 – Six-year-old Etan Patz disappears from the street just two blocks away from his New York City home, prompting an international search for the child, and causing U.S. President Ronald Reagan to designate May 25th as National Missing Children's Day (in 1983).
1981 – In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
1982 – HMS Coventry is sunk during the Falklands War.
1985 – Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
1986 – Hands Across America takes place.
1997 – A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
1999 – The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details the People's Republic of China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
2000 – Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.
2001 – 32-year-old Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
2002 – China Airlines Flight 611: A Boeing 747-200 breaks apart in mid-air and plunges into the Taiwan Strait killing 225 people.
2002 – A train crash in Tenga, Mozambique kills 197 people.
2009 – North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests building tensions in the international community.
2011 – Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her twenty five year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Births

1048 – Emperor Shenzong of Song China (d. 1085)
1334 – Emperor Suko, Japanese Pretender (d. 1398)
1458 – Sultan Mahmud Begada of Gujarat (d. 1511)
1572 – Maurice of Hesse-Kassel German music patron and composer (d. 1632)
1606 – Charles Garnier, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1649)
1661 – Claude Buffier, French philosopher and historian (d. 1737)
1713 – John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1792)
1725 – Samuel Ward, American politician (d. 1776)
1749 – Gregorio Funes, Argentine clergyman, politician and Junta Grande figure (d. 1829)
1783 – Philip Pendleton Barbour, American politician, 12th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1841)
1803 – Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English novelist and playwright (d. 1873)
1803 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and philosopher (d. 1882)
1818 – Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian (d. 1897)
1845 – Lip Pike, American baseball player (d. 1893)
1846 – Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria (d. 1923)
1846 – Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet and writer (d. 1900)
1848 – Johann Baptist Singenberger, Swiss composer, editor and publisher (d. 1924)
1852 – William Muldoon, American Greco-Roman wrestler (d. 1933)
1856 – Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general (d. 1942)
1860 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (d. 1944)
1865 – John Mott, American evangelical; Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1955)
1865 – Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
1877 – Billy Murray, American singer (d. 1954)
1878 – Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, American tap dancer and actor (d. 1949)
1879 – Lord Beaverbrook, Canadian-born British publisher (d. 1964)
1880 – Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist (d. 1967)
1882 – Marie Doro, American actress (d. 1956)
1886 – Philip Murray, Scottish-born American labor leader (d. 1952)
1886 – Rash Behari Bose, Indian revolutionary (d. 1945)
1887 – Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian Catholic priest (d. 1968)
1888 – Miles Malleson, English actor (d. 1969)
1889 – Igor Sikorsky, Russian-born American aviation designer (d. 1972)
1897 – Gene Tunney, American boxer(d. 1978)
1898 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher and TV personality (d. 1971)
1899 – Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengali poet and musician (d. 1976)
1900 – Alain Grandbois, French Canadian poet (d. 1975)
1903 – Binnie Barnes, British actress (d. 1998)
1907 – U Nu, Burmese politician (d. 1995)
1908 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (d. 1963)
1909 – Alfred Kubel, German politician (d. 1999)
1909 – Marie Menken, American filmmaker and socialite (d. 1970)
1912 – Princess Deokhye of Korea (d. 1989)
1912 – Dean Rockwell, American wrestling and football coach (d. 2005)
1913 – Heinz "Pritzl" Bär, German fighter pilot (d. 1957)
1913 – Richard Dimbleby, British journalist and broadcaster (d. 1965)
1916 – Brian Dickson, Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1998)
1917 – Theodore Hesburgh, American educator and theologian
1917 – Steve Cochran, American actor (d. 1965)
1921 – Hal David, American lyricist and songwriter
1921 – Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1922 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian P.C.I. politician (d. 1984)
1922 – Kitty Kallen, American big band singer
1924 – István Nyers, Hungarian footballer (d. 2005)
1925 – Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet (d. 1974)
1925 – Jeanne Crain, American actress (d. 2003)
1925 – Don Liddle, American baseball player (d. 2000)
1926 – Claude Akins, American actor (d. 1994)
1927 – Robert Ludlum, American writer (d. 2001)
1927 – Norman Petty, American musician, composer and record producer (d. 1984)
1929 – Beverly Sills, American soprano (d. 2007)
1929 – Warren Frost, American actor
1931 – Georgy Grechko, Russian cosmonaut
1931 – Aili Jõgi, Estonian anti-Soviet occupation figure
1931 – Irwin Winkler, American film producer and director
1932 – John Gregory Dunne, American writer (d. 2003)
1932 – K. C. Jones, American professional basketball player and coach
1932 – W. P. Kinsella, Canadian writer
1933 – Basdeo Panday, Trinidadian statesman
1933 – Ray Spencer, English footballer
1935 – Cookie Gilchrist, American football player
1935 – Victoria Shaw, Australian-born American actress (d. 1988)
1936 – Tom T. Hall, American singer and songwriter
1938 – Raymond Carver, American writer (d. 1988)
1939 – Dixie Carter, American actress (d. 2010)
1939 – Ian McKellen, English actor
1941 – Vladimir Voronin, Moldovan statesman
1943 – Jessi Colter, American country singer
1943 – John Palmer, British musician (Family)
1943 – Leslie Uggams, American actress
1944 – Pierre Bachelet, French singer and songwriter (d. 2005)
1944 – John Bunnell, American law enforcement official and TV personality
1944 – Robert MacPherson, American mathematician
1944 – Frank Oz, British-born American puppeteer and director
1946 – Bill Adam, Scottish-born Canadian racing driver
1946 – David A. Hargrave, American writer and role-playing games designer (d. 1988)
1947 – Mitch Margo, American singer and songwriter
1947 – Karen Valentine, American actress
1948 – Klaus Meine, German singer (Scorpions)
1949 – Jamaica Kincaid, Antiguan-born novelist
1951 – Bob Gale, American screenwriter
1952 – Jeffrey Bewkes, American media executive
1952 – Al Sarrantonio, American writer
1952 – Gordon Smith, American politician
1953 – Eve Ensler, American playwright
1953 – Stan Sakai, Japanese-American cartoonist (Usagi Yojimbo)
1953 – Daniel Passarella, Argentine footballer
1955 – Alistair Burt, British politician
1956 – Stavros Arnaoutakis, Greek politician
1956 – Tatsutoshi Goto, Japanese professional wrestler
1956 – Sugar Minott, Jamaican reggae singer
1956 – David P. Sartor, American composer
1957 – Edward Lee, American writer
1957 – Robert Picard, Canadian ice hockey player
1957 – Hillary B. Smith, American actress
1958 – Aikaterini Batzeli, Greek politician
1958 – Carrie Newcomer, American folksinger
1958 – Paul Weller, English musician
1959 – Julian Clary, British television personality
1959 – Manolis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician
1959 – Rick Wamsley, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Amy Klobuchar, American politician
1960 – Anthea Turner, British television personality
1962 – Rick Nattress, Canadian ice hockey player
1963 – Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian
1963 – Eha Rünne, Estonian shot putter and discus thrower
1963 – George Hickenlooper, American documentary film-maker (d. 2010)
1964 – Ivan Bella, Slovak cosmonaut
1964 – David Shaw, Canadian ice hockey player
1964 – Ray Stevenson, British actor
1966 – Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
1967 – Poppy Z. Brite, American author
1968 – Kendall Gill, American basketball player
1969 – Glen Drover, Canadian guitarist (Megadeth)
1969 – Anne Heche, American actress
1969 – Stacy London, American fashion consultant
1970 – Jamie Kennedy, American actor
1970 – Joey Eischen, American baseball player
1970 – Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush, American actresses
1970 – Octavia Spencer, American actress
1970 – Satsuki Yukino, Japanese voice actress
1971 – Marco Cappato, Italian politician
1971 – Justin Henry, American actor
1972 – Karan Johar, Indian director, producer, writer, actor
1973 – Daz Dillinger, American rapper
1973 – Demetri Martin, American comedian
1973 – Molly Sims, American model and actress
1974 – Frank Klepacki, American musician
1974 – Miguel Tejada, Dominican baseball player
1975 – Lauryn Hill, American singer
1975 – Blaise Nkufo, Swiss footballer
1976 – Tarik Glenn, American football player
1976 – Cillian Murphy, Irish actor
1976 – Sandra Nasic, German singer (Guano Apes)
1976 – Marcelo Silva, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Ethan Suplee, American actor
1976 – Clifton Williams, American Designer of TripIt
1977 – Karthik Sivakumar, Indian actor
1977 – Alberto Del Rio, Mexican wrestler
1978 – Brian Urlacher, American football player
1979 – Carlos Bocanegra, American footballer
1979 – Caroline Ouellette, French Canadian ice-hockey player
1979 – Sam Sodje, Nigerian footballer
1979 – Sayed Moawad, Egyptian footballer
1979 – Jonny Wilkinson, English rugby player
1980 – Jae Hee, South Korean actor
1980 – Joe King, American musician (The Fray)
1980 – David Navarro, Spanish footballer
1981 – Michalis Pelekanos, Greek basketball player
1982 – Adam Boyd, English footballer
1982 – Daniel Braaten, Norwegian footballer
1982 – Ryan Gallant, American skateboarder
1982 – Roger Guerreiro, Polish footballer
1982 – Jason Kubel, American baseball player
1982 – Luke Webster, Australian rules footballer
1983 – Kunal Khemu, Indian actor
1983 – Tiaguinho Brazilian footballer
1984 – Luke Ball, Australian rules footballer
1984 – Kyle Brodziak, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – A. J. Foyt IV, American race car driver
1984 – Shawne Merriman, American football player
1984 – Kostas Martakis, Greek singer
1984 – Marion Raven, Norwegian singer-songwriter (M2M)
1984 – Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, Icelandic beauty pageant constestant (Miss World 2005)
1985 – Luciana Abreu, Portuguese singer and actress
1985 – Demba Ba, Senegalese footballer
1986 – Lauren Crace, English actress
1986 – Edewin Fanini, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Yoan Gouffran, French footballer
1986 – Geraint Thomas, Welsh cyclist
1986 – Juri Ueno, Japanese actress
1987 – Timothy Derijck, Belgian footballer
1987 – Yves De Winter, Belgian footballer
1988 – Elle Fowler, American beauty guru
1988 – Cameron van der Burgh, South African swimmer
1990 – Nikita Filatov, Russian ice hockey player
1991 – Jillian Wheeler, American musician
1994 – Alexandra Raisman, American gymnast
1995 – Gabby Soleil, American actress

Deaths

615 – Pope Boniface IV (b. c. 550)
709 – Aldhelm, English Christian saint, Latin poet and Anglo-Saxon literature scholar (b. c. 639)
967 – Murakami, Emperor of Japan (b. 926)
992 – Mieszko I first lord and knight of Poland, duke of Poland (b. c. 935)
1085 – Pope Gregory VII (b. c. 1020)
1261 – Pope Alexander IV
1452 – John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury
1555 – Gemma Frisius, Dutch mathematician and cartographer (b. 1508)
1555 – King Henry II of Navarre (b. 1503)
1595 – Valens Acidalius, German critic and poet (b. 1567)
1632 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1572)
1667 – Gustaf Bonde, Swedish statesman (b. 1620)
1681 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright (b. 1600)
1693 – Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette, French writer (b. 1634)
1741 – Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German theologian (b. 1660)
1786 – Peter III of Portugal, consort of Queen Maria I of Portugal (b. 1717)
1789 – Anders Dahl, Swedish botanist (b. 1751)
1797 – John Griffin Whitwell, 4th Baron Howard de Walden, British field marshal (b. 1719)
1805 – William Paley, English philosopher (b. 1743)
1848 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German writer (b. 1797)
1849 – Benjamin d'Urban, British general and colonial administrator (b. 1777)
1899 – Rosa Bonheur, French realist painter and sculptor (b. 1822)
1912 – Austin Lane Crothers, American politician (b. 1860)
1917 – Maksim Bahdanovic, Belarusian poet (b. 1891)
1919 – Madam C. J. Walker, American philanthropist and tycoon (b. 1867)
1924 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter (b. 1889)
1926 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian politician and statesman (b. 1879)
1927 – Payne Whitney, American businessman (b. 1876)
1930 – Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1848)
1934 – Gustav Holst, English composer (b. 1874)
1939 – Sir Frank Watson Dyson, English astronomer (b. 1868)
1940 – Joe De Grasse, American film director (b. 1873)
1942 – Emanuel Feuermann, Austrian-American cellist (b. 1902)
1943 – Nils von Dardel, Swedish post-impressionist painter (b. 1888)
1946 – Marcel Petiot, French serial killer (b. 1897)
1951 – Paula von Preradovic, Croatian-born writer (b. 1887)
1954 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913)
1965 – Aleck "Rice" Miller, American blues singer, songwriter and harmonica player, known as Sonny Boy Williamson (II) (b. 1908)
1968 – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (b. 1881)
1970 – Tom Patey, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1932)
1977 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (b. 1904)
1979 – John Arthur Spenkelink, American murderer (b. 1949)
1981 – Fredric Warburg, British publisher and author (b. 1898)
1983 – King Idris I, of Libya (b. 1889)
1983 – Jean Rougeau, French Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1925)
1983 – Black Jack Stewart, Canadian NHL hockey player (b. 1917)
1986 – Chester Bowles, American Democratic politician (b. 1901)
1988 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
1994 – Sonny Sharrock, American jazz guitarist (b. 1940)
1995 – Dany Robin, French actress (b. 1927)
1996 – Renzo De Felice, Italian historian (b. 1929)
1996 – Bradley Nowell, American singer and guitarist (Sublime) (b. 1968)
2000 – Nicholas Clay, British actor (b. 1946)
2002 – Pat Coombs, English actress (b. 1926)
2003 – Jeremy Michael Ward, American sound technician and vocal operator (The Mars Volta) (b. 1976)
2004 – Roger W. Straus, Jr., American publisher (b. 1917)
2005 – Sunil Dutt, Indian actor and politician (b. 1929)
2005 – Robert Jankel, British coachbuilder (b. 1938)
2005 – Gregory Scott Johnson, American murderer (b. 1965)
2005 – Graham Kennedy, Australian television personality (b. 1934)
2006 – Desmond Dekker, Jamaican ska musician (b. 1941)
2007 – Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor and TV host (b. 1931)
2008 – J. R. Simplot, American potato farmer (b. 1909)
2008 – Camu Tao, American rapper and producer (b. 1977)
2009 – Haakon Lie, Norwegian Labour politician (b. 1905)
2010 – Alexander Belostenny, Ukrainian basketball player (b. 1959)
2010 – Michael H. Jordan, American businessman and Chief Executive Officer (b. 1936)
2010 – Alan Hickinbotham, Australian businessman, football player & football coach (b. 1925)
2010 – Silvius Magnago, Italian politician (b. 1914)
2010 – Siphiwo Ntshebe, South African opera singer (b. 1975)
2010 – Gabriel Vargas, Mexican cartoonist (b. 1915)
2011 – Terry Jenner, Australian cricketer (b. 1944)