January 25 ...

In 1533 England's King Henry VIII secretly married his second wife Ann Boleyn at Whitehall. In 1579 The Treaty of Utrecht was signed marking the beginning of the Dutch Republic. In 1759 Robert Burns was born in Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland. In 1787 in what became known as Shay's Rebellion, small farmers in Springfield, Massachusetts led by Captain Daniel Shays unsuccessfully revolted against tax laws. In 1874 writer Somerset Maugham was born in the British Embassy in Paris, France. In 1890 the New York World's Nellie Bly completed a round-the-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes; also on this day, the United Mine Workers of America was founded. In 1915 Alexander Graham Bell spoke from New York to his assistant in San Francisco, inaugurating the first transcontinental telephone service. In 1918 famed announcer Ernie Harwell was born in Washington, Georgia. In 1924 the first-ever Winter Olympics opened in Chamonix, France. In 1928 former leader of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze was born in the village of Mamati, Lanchkhuti region, in the Republic of Georgia. In 1947 mobster Al Capone died. In 1959 American Airlines scheduled the first transcontinental jet flight, a Boeing 707 from LA to NY. In 1961 President Kennedy held the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and television. In 1971 Maj. Gen. Idi Amin led a coup that deposed Milton Obote and became president of Uganda. In 1999 a Louisville, KY, man received the first hand transplant in the US. In 2004 NASA's second Mars Exploration Rover, called Opportunity, successfully sent signals back to Earth.