Today in History, 6/25

1678: Elena Cornaro Piscopia becomes the first woman to be awarded a doctorate of philosophy.
1788: Virginia becomes the 10th state to ratify the US Constitution.
1876: The Battle of Little Bighorn takes place and Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer and his entire company are wiped out.1886: Hap Arnold is born. He was the first commander of the US Army Air Force and was taught how to fly by the Wright Brothers themselves.1900: Lord Louis Mountbatten is born. Speaking of the Raj, he was the last Viceroy of India and oversaw the dismantling of the Raj in 1947. He is also responsible for the partition of Pakistan off of India in an effort to quell Muslim/Hindu violence (it didn't work). He would later be murdered by the IRA in 1979.1903: George Orwell is born. He had a rather different perspective on the Raj than did Lord Mountbatten. Here's a link to his classic story Shooting an Elephant.1905: The Cullinan Diamond is discovered by Frederick Wells in South Africa. At 3,106.75 carats, it is the largest rough-cut gem quality diamond known.1924: Sidney Lumet is born. He directed some of the greatest movies ever (Twelve Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon) and some of the worst (The Witness ripoff A Stranger Among Us with Hasidic Jews standing in for the Amish and Melanie Griffith for Harrison Ford). Here's the trailer to Serpico, one of my favorites.

1925: June Lockhart is born. She played the mom on Lassie and Lost in Space.1928: Peyo is born. He is the creator of the Smurfs. I've always wondered why the plural of "smurf" isn't "smurves." After all, the plural of "dwarf" is "dwarves" and the plural of "elf" is "elves." It is one smurfy mystery.1932: Peter Blake is born. He designed the album cover for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Wikipedia has a list of everyone on the cover.1945: Carly Simon is born. She has steadfastly refused to say who You're So Vain is about, but most people (including Warren Beatty) think it's about Warren Beatty.

1946: Ian McDonald, of King Crimson and Foreigner, is born.
1947: The Diary of Anne Frank is published.
1947: Jimmie Walker is born. Dy-no-mite! Here's a scene where JJ gets falsely accused of robbing a liquor store and has to spend the night in jail.

1948: The Berlin Airlift begins.
1949: The Long-Haired Hare starring Bugs Bunny and Giovanni Jones is released to theaters.

1950: South Korea is invaded by North Korea, kicking off The Korean War.
1961: Ricky Gervais is born. He is best known as the creator of the British version of The Office. Here he is interviewing Patrick Stewart.

1963: George Michael of Wham! is born. Here's the gas fight scene from Zoolander that used "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" to such great effect.

1975: Linda Cardellini is born. She played Velma Dinkley in the live-action Scooby Doo movies (which weren't as bad as I had been expecting) and proved why gentlemen of taste prefer Velma to Daphne (and Mary Ann to Ginger and Bailey Quarters to Jennifer Marlowe).


Today in History elements mostly cribbed from The History Channel, Wikipedia, The New York Times, The Jewish World Review, The Writer's Almanac and anything else I can dig up.