1925
The states of Aleppo and Damascus were united into the State of Syria. Stella Tanner born in London.
Fresh violence broke out across Italy as Benito Mussolini's crackdown on opposition newspapers continued. Mussolini met with King Victor Emmanuel III and requested dictatorial powers to quell the chaos (for which he, personally, was largely responsible). The King refused, but gave Mussolini tacit permission to act 'however he considered necessary' within at least the appearance of constitutional legality. Leo Chiozza Money testified before Britain's Royal Commission that an increase in the world's population had led to the country's food situation becoming as desperate as it was during the war. 'The ten pence price of bread has doubled in recent years and looking into the future there are good prospects of its doubling again,' he stated. Money recommended a 'department of supply' be created to remedy the problem.
Mussolini made a pivotal speech in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He took personal responsibility for the actions of his Blackshirts, challenged his political opponents to remove him from office and then promised to take charge of 'restoring order' to Italy within forty-eight hours. Cyril Brownlie was sent off for foul play during a very rough test match against England during New Zealand's rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France. It was the first time such a severe sanction had ever been applied in an international rugby match. New Zealand won seventeen-eleven. Jill Angela Henriette Balcon born in Westminster.
Adolf Hitler, whose Nazi Party had been banned in Bavaria since the failed Beer Hall Putsch, met with the state's Minister President Heinrich Held. Hitler pledged 'total loyalty' to Held and offered to help him in his fight against Communists.
Woolf Steinberg born in Portsmouth.
Gerald Malcolm Durrell born in Jamshedpur, India.
Australia won the second Ashes test at Melbourne by eighty one runs. In another match in which the bat dominated, Vic Richardson and Bill Ponsford scored centuries for Australia whilst Herbert Sutcliffe hit hundreds in each innings for the tourists (Jack Hobbs also scored a century). Maurice Tate took nine wickets in the match.
The Ku Klux Klan was banned from the state of Kansas when its Supreme Court ruled that it was a corporation organised for profit and therefore could not operate there without a charter.
Economist George Paish suggested that another war in Europe was 'inevitable' unless Germany's reparations payments were reduced and the French were to leave the Rhineland. He also warned that 'Germany will not make the mistake she made the last time, in having Russia as an enemy, but will have that nation as a friend. Germany and Russia will be able to overrun Europe and establish a military despotism.' Perceptive chap, George Paish.
In Chicago, the North Side Gang tried to kill Al Capone, using tommy guns to rake his car with bullets as it idled outside a State Street restaurant. Only Capone's bodyguard was wounded as Capone himself was 'doing business' inside, but the attack prompted him to order tommy guns for his own men, as well as his famous bulletproof Cadillac.
Wojciech Roman Pawel Jerzy Szendzikowski born in Warsaw, Poland.
Blues singer Huddie Ledbetter, popularly known as Lead Belly, was granted a full pardon by Texas governor Pat Morris Neff, having served the minimum seven years of his prison sentence after killing one of his own relatives 'in a fight over a woman.' Neff had been impressed by a religiously-themed song about forgiveness that Lead Belly had written and performed for him during a visit he made to the prison the previous year.
Patricia Molly Owens born in Golden, British Columbia.
Awkwardly, An Old Time Nigger-Minstrel Programme was broadcast on 5IT Birmingham. Those were very different times, dear blog reader. And, not necessarily better ones, either - when attitudes and phrases which many will now, rightly, find offensive were used without thought.. See also 2LO London's Forty Minutes Of Nigger Minstrelsy, 2BE Belfast's Songs By Uncle Sambo, 2BD Aberdeen's Old Style Nigger Entertainment and 5WA Cardiff's Darkies' Revels. Et cetera.
The tomb of Tutankhamun was reopened in Egypt so Howard Carter could resume his archaeological work. Carter was disappointed to find that the pall which had covered the sarcophagus was now ruined because someone in Egypt's antiquities department had carelessly stored it in a wooden shed which did not provide adequate protection from sunlight.
Australia won the third Ashes test at Adelaide by eleven runs. For the hosts Jack Ryder scored a double century. Jack Hobbs made a hundred and Patsy Hendren ninety two in England's first innings. Roy Kilner took eight wickets in the match. Set a target of three hundred and seventy four, England fell agonisingly short despite seventy five from debutant Dodger Whysall. Paul Leonard Newman born in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Anthony Newlands born in London.
Ahmed Zog ascended to power in Albania, becoming its President, Prime Minister and Marshal of the Royal Albanian Army.
Fanny Carby born in Sutton Coldfield.
Marion Douglas Mathie born in Kingston Upon Thames.
In the House of Commons, Reginald Applin (Conservative) asked the Speaker of the House if Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson was 'in order while addressing the House without wearing a hat.' The Speaker ruled that she was - and asked that members of the House should stand up and salute the utter shite that some Tory scum choose to care about.
The first episode of The Humours & Curiosities Of Parliament broadcast.
Finald's Paavo Nurmi broke the two mile world record in Madison Square Garden with a race of eight minutes 58.2 seconds.
London Zoo announced it would install lights to 'cheer up the animals during London's foggy spells.'
In Melbourne, the English cricket team - aided by Herbert Sutcliffe's century and some fine bowling from Maurice Tate - defeated Australia in the fourth test by an innings and twenty nine for their first win against the Australians in an Ashes match since 1912. Russell Ellis born in Glasgow. David March born in Leamington Spa.
Highlights of the Civil Service Dinner broadcast, 'relayed from the Connaught Rooms, Holborn Restaurant, London.' Speakers included Winston Churchill and Austen Chamberlain. George Edward Waring born in Eccles, Lancashire.
Harry H Corbett born in Ragoon, Burma. England beat Wales two-one in Swansea, in the Home International championships. Frank Roberts scored twice for the visitors with Fred Keenor replying for the hosts. Dick Pym of Bolton Wanderers, Burnley's Jack Hill, Len Grhaham of millwall and Brighton & Hove Albion's Tommy Cook made their England debuts. In the First Division, leaders Huddersfield Town won one-nil at Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers beat Manchester City four-two, Burnley defeated West Ham united five-four and Cardiffy City - despite being without Harry Beadles, Willie Davies, Keenor and John Nicholls, who were playing for Wales at Swansea, Tom Farquharson, who was in goal for Ireland against Scotland at Belfast and Jimmy Nelson, who was playing for Scotland, still managed to beat Newcastle United three-nil (the latter missing Charlie Spencer who was playing for England). In the Second Division Arthur Chandler scored five in Leicester City's six-nil thumping of Barnsley.
The Reverend William Bettison of the village of Hungarton in Leicestershire, shot himself in the head at the vicarage, before his sister shot him again in the heart to 'end his suffering.' The verdict was suicide as he was already dying before his sister administered the second bullet. His younger sister had also killed herself with a shotgun, four years earlier.
Edward Raymond Cast born in London.
Australia won the fifth Ashes test at Sydney by three hundred and seven runs to complete a four-one series victory. Al Kippax and Clarrie Grimmett made their test debuts of the hosts.
Bruce Wightman McCombe born in Auckland.
Patricia Mahar born in New York.
Richard Evelyn Vernon born in Naivasha, Kenya. George Alphonsus Cooper born in Leeds.
The Chicago Department of Public Health announced that the present crossword puzzle fad caused no ill health effects from headaches or eye strain, as had previously been feared. Dennis Lotis born in Johannesburg.
Buster Keaton's Seven Chances premiered.
The state of Tennessee enacted The Butler Act, prohibiting school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man's origin. The first performance of the Maurice Ravel opera ballet L'enfant et les sortilèges was conducted in Monte Carlo.
Women's tuxedos were reported as the newest fashion rage in Paris.
The two-act operetta The Red Pen - composed by Geoffrey Toye to a libretto by AP Herbert - first broadcast.
John Logie Baird publicly demonstrated the transmission of moving silhouette pictures at the London department store Selfridges. Frank Morris Perry born in Bromley.
Barry Leopold Letts born in Leicester.
'The perfectly polite pair' Kenneth and George Western's made their radio debut in their own, self-titled show. Double Chase won the Grand National at Aintree. James Red Herring won boxing's World Junior Welterweight title in a controversial decision over Pinky Mitchell.
Frank Morris Perry born in Bromley.
Frederick William Treves born in Margate.
Anthony Neil Wedgewood Benn born in Marylebone. Gustav Holst's opera At The Boar's Head was premiered in Manchester.
Western Australia held a referendum on prohibition. The proposal was defeated. Dorothy Alison born in Broken Hill, Australia. A pair of goals by Hughie Gallacher of Airdrieonians gave Scotland a two-nil victory over a very poor England at at Hampden Park in the Home International championship. It was the first time in over thirty years that Scotland have fielded an entire home-based team against England. John Townrow of Clapton Orient made his international debut.
The Ulster Unionist Party maintained its majority in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, despite losing eight seats in the province's General Erection.
A flight billed as showing the first 'in-flight movie' was conducted by Imperial Airways from London to Paris, showing The Lost World. Subsequent research has established that this was actually not the first, as the earliest known in-flight movie has been dated to 1921.
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald was published.
Conrad Philip Havord born in Lambeth.
William Thomas Clucas born in Manchester.
Baseball star Babe Ruth underwent surgery for what the media dubbed 'The Bellyache Heard Round the World', as the public was informed he had suffered 'indigestion' after consuming 'an excess of hot dogs and soda pop.' Conflicting accounts exist regarding the true nature of the surgery, but doctors called it 'an intestinal abscess.'
Minsky's Burlesque was raided by police in New York as authorities began to crack down on burlesque houses for featuring striptease performances. Although a minor incident at the time, it became famous when it was retold in the 1960 novel The Night They Raided Minsky's, which led to the 1968 comedy musical.
George Edward Cole born in Tooting.
Brenda Rose Cowling born in Islington.
Sheffield United defeated Cardiff City one-nil in the FA Cup Final. Meanwhile, Huddersfield Town's four-one win at Preston North End secured their second successive First Division title. Unbeaten for their first ten league games, The Terriers' defence was particularly impressive, only conceding twenty eight goals during forty two games. West Bromwich Albion finished second and Bolton Wanderers third. Manchester United won promotion to the First Division (along with Leicester City) and Darlington, whose David Brown was the league's top scorer, won the Third Division (North).
Presenting the government's budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill announced Britain's return to the gold standard. The International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts opened in Paris. The term 'Art Deco' was derived by shortening the French title of the exposition and this show also did much to popularise the style worldwide.
John Reginald Neville born in Willesden.
In Tennessee, high school biology teacher John Scopes was charged with teaching evolution from a chapter in the textbook Civic Biology.
The London Radio Repertory Players' performance of Edgar Wallace's The Little Quaker broadcast on 5WA Cardiff.
Gordon Massey Gostelow born in Wellington, New Zealand. Ysanne Churchman born in Sutton Coldfield.
Atwell Roy Stewart born in Jamaica.
In an expedition directed by explorer Roald Amundsen, two specially-equipped seaplanes (the N24 and N25) took off from Kings Bay in Svalbard, Norway in an attempt to be the first to fly to the North Pole. Unsure of their position, experiencing engine trouble and with half their fuel used up, the crew of the N25 touched down on the ice one hundred and fifty miles short of the Pole. The N24 spotted their predicament and landed as well. The next twenty-four days would be spent trying to chisel a primitive runway so they could take off again. England beat France three-two in a friendly international in Paris. Vivian Gibbins and Arthur Dorrell scored along with a Philippe Bonnardel own goal. There were five England debutants, Freddie Fox of Millwall, Tom Parker of Southampton, The Wednesday's Billy Felton, Bill Bryant of Clapton and Sheffield United's Geroge Green. England finished the match with only nine men. Gibbins had to leave ten minutes before the interval because of an injured knee. Fox had to be withdrawn after being kicked in the face, in a scrimmage after the French scored their second goal. He was replaced in goal by Billy Walker.
Alexander Duncan McCowen born in Tunbridge Wells.
Aviator Alan Cobham set a new record for the longest non-stop flight in a light airplane, flying his de Havilland Moth from Croydon Aerodrome to Zürich. The flight consumed only twenty-five gallons of gasoline and six pints of oil.
Los Angeles police announced they had foiled a plot to kidnap Hollywood film stars Mary Pickford, Pola Negri and Buster Keaton for ransom. Three arrests had been made.
Doctor Charles Horace Mayo said that 'the pace of modern life is serious, causing many of our present day ills. A return to the simple life would do away with the necessity for many doctors, but, alas, how can this be done?' Bernard Schwartz born in Manhattan. Peter Reginald Gadd born in Hendon.
Gerald Grant Sim born in Liverpool.
William Sellars born in Tideswell, Derbyshire.
A meeting of the International Football Association Board in Paris approved a change to the offside law, the so-called 'two-player rule' which was one of the more significant rule changes in the history of the game during the Twentieth Century. It led to an immediate change in the style of play, with the game becoming more stretched, 'short passing giv[ing] way to longer balls' and the development of the W-M formation. It also led to an increase in goalscoring: four thousand seven hundred goals had been scored in eighteen hundred and forty eight Football League games in 1924–25. This number rose to six thousand three hundred and sevety three goals (from the same number of games) in 1925–26.
In a spontaneous reaction against the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, the crowd at an FC Barcelona game jeered the Marcha Real and applauded 'God Save The King' as performed by an English marching band. The club was fined and shut down for six months in reprisal.
Miriam Samuels born in London.
Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
David Graham born in London. Jack Pulman born in London.
Hugh David born in Aberystwyth.
Adolf Hitler published volume one of his autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf.
Ivor Roberts born in Nottingham.
John Waldemar Maxim born in Sydney.
The Scopes Trial ended with John Scopes being found guilty of violating The Butler Act and fined one hundred dollars, which both William Jennings Bryan and the American Civil Liberties Union offered to pay for him. After the verdict was read Scopes made his only statement during the trial, vowing to 'oppose this law in any way I can. Any other action would be in violation of my ideal of academic freedom - that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution, of personal and religious freedom.'
A Northumbrian Idyll broadcast on 5NO Newcastle. Radio Radiance and the first performance of Ethel Smyth's comic opera Entente Cordiale broadcast on 2LO London.
The long-wave station 5XX moved from Chelmsford to Borough Hill, Daventry. It became the first station to achieve near national coverage, the initial step in the establishment of the BBC National Programme. Harry Towb born in Larne, County Antrim.
On what became known as Red Friday, the government of Stanley Baldwin averted a miners' strike by agreeing to provide a subsidy to maintain the miners' wages until a commission could study the situation. Just a day earlier, Baldwin had declared 'All the workers in this country have got to take reductions in wages to help put industry on its feet.'
Papa Charlie Jackson released 'I'm Alabama Bound' on Paramount Records.
Alan Donald Whicker born in Cairo, Egypt (although some sources list his birth year as 1921).
Rosemary Lucy Jane Haycock born in Bath.
Honor Blackman born in Plaistow.
The opening day of the football season. In a significant change to the offside law, only two, instead of three, opposing defenders had to be goal-side of the last attacker for him to be ruled onside. The change was designed to produce more goals and it certainly succeeded. Across the Football League, one hundred and sixty goals were scored compared to ninety one on the corresponding day of the the previous season. Aston Villa beat Burnley ten-nil at Villa Park with Len Capewell scoring five.
Robert Müller born in Hamburg.
Yorkshire won the cricket county championship for the fourth consecutive season, securing the title with a ten wicket win over Somerset at Taunton. Surrey were runners-up and Lancashire finished third. The season was dominated by Surrey's Jack Hobbs who scored a then-record sixteen centuries and three thousand and twenty four first class runs. He surpassed the career record for most centuries, previously held by WG Grace. Another veteran, Yorkshire's Wilfred Rhodes was the leading bowler with an average of 14.86 and one hundred and fifteen wickets. The leading run-scorer in championship matches was Yorkshire's Percy Holmes (two thousand one hundred and twenty three). Gloucester's Charlie Parker was, again, the season's leading wicket-taker (two hundred).
Ronald Stevens born in Peckham.
Richard Henry Sellers born in Portsmouth.
Blackburn Rovers beat Newcastle United seven-one at St James Park in the First Division with Ted Harper scoring five.
James Garbutt born in Houghton-Le-Spring, County Durham.
James Ivor Selby born in Holburn.
Alex Scott born in Australia.
Dallas Cavell born in London.
John Wiles born in Kimberley, South Africa. Christopher Chisholm Barry born in East Greenwich.
Alan Edgar Stratford Johns born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. William Leo Franklin born in Kensington.
Peter Murray James born in London.
A Vatican committee issued a circular to the directors of pilgrimages notifying them that women found in churches not wearing opaque clothing that covered their head, collar, legs and upper arms would be ejected.
John Logie Baird successfully transmitted a series of television pictures with a greyscale image.
England and Ireland shared a goalless draw in the Home International championship at Windsor Park. England had five players winning their first cap, Charlton Athletic's Geroge Armitage, Manchester City's Sam Austin, Sydney Puddefoot of Blackburn Rovers, Claude Ashton of Corinthians and, a late replacement for Horace Cope, Newcastle United's Frank Hudspeth, a thirty five, the third oldest England debutant. Plymouth Argyle's Jack Leslie had, initially, been included in the squad as a reserve - the first black player ever to be called-up by England - but he was, later, excluded. It has been speculated, though never confirmed, that this was because of belated objections to his skin colour by (unnamed) members of the FA who had been unaware of his ethnicity when they selected him. Later in life, Leslie told the journalist Brian Woolnough: 'They must have forgot I was a coloured boy.' In 2022, Leslie was awarded a posthumous honorary England cap by the FA 'to right a historical wrong.' Leslie showed what England were missing scoring twice in Plymouth's seven-two victory over Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic in the Third Division (South). Jack Cock also netted twice. In the First Division, Manchester City thrashed Burnley eight-three with Tommy Browell scoring five. West Bromwich Albion defeated West Ham United seven-one. Huddersfield Town lost at home for the only time all season, one-nil to Newcastle. In the Second Division, Derby County beat Stoke City seven-three and Darlington hammered Portsmouth seven-one. Table-toppers Middlesbrough won two-one at Hull City. Bulgaria appealed to the League Of Nations after a border dispute led to Greece invading the Bulgarian town of Petrich. Five days later, the Greeks withdrew, after being ordered to by The League.
The first episode of Romance Of Famous Lives broadcast in 5WACardiff's Teen Corner strand.
Leonard Alfred Schneider born in Mineola, New York.
Angela Brigid Lansbury born in London.
The Incident at Petrich occurred near the Bulgarian town on the border with Greece, when at least one Greek soldier was shot very dead by someone on the Bulgarian side. Conflicting accounts exist as to what led to the incident, but one holds that a Greek soldier was running across the border after his dog. As a consequence, the incident is sometimes called 'The War of the Stray Dog.' Francis Bernard Heptonstall born in Bradford.
Glyndwr Desmond Houston born in Clydach Vale, Rhondda.
The first recording of 'I'm Sitting On Top Of The World' was made by Art Gillham, The Whispering Pianist. Al Jolson's much more famous version was recorded two months later on 21 December.
Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy born in Cheltenham. Paul Frederick Daneman born in Islington.
Arthur George Murcell born in Naples.
The probable birth date of Lyova Haskell Rosenthal in New York (the year is disputed).
Buster Keaton's Go West premiered.
Alfred Hitchcock's directorial debut, The Pleasure Garden, released. Robert Walter Quarry born in Santa Rosa, California.
John Wilson Stratton born in Clitheroe, Lancashire.
Richard Walter Jenkins born in Pontrhydyfen, Glamorgan.
June Rosemary Whitfield born in Streatham.
Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five recorded their first songs for Okeh Records.
Alfred J Goulding's Don't - starring Sally O'Neil and Ethel Wales - premiered.
Patricia Lawrence born in Andover.
TS Eliot's The Hollow Men published.
Philip Stephen Hancock born in Bishop Auckland. Alun Davies Owen born Menai Bridgem Wales.
Philip McCall born in Glasgow.
Ernest Wiseman born in Leeds.
The American weekly country music radio show The Grand Ole Opry was first broadcast on WSM radio in Nashville, as The WSM Barn Dance.
The Stanley Baldwin government survived a vote of censure condemning a recent wave of arrests of Communists on offences under the Incitement to Mutiny Act as a violation of free speech rights.
Julia Ann Harris born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
The Northern Irish Border Agreement was signed between the United Kingdom and Irish Free State delineating the border of Northern Ireland.
Samuel George Davis Junior born in Harlem. Newcastle United signed Scottish international centre-froward Hughie Gallacher from Airdrieonians for six thousand five hundred pounds.
Paul Anthony Wright born in London.
Hughie Gallacher made a lightning start to his career at Newcastle, scoring twice in a thrilling three-three draw with Everton in the First Division. Dixie Deans scored a hat-trick for the visitors. Elswhere Bolton Wanderers thrashed Huddersfield Town six-one, Manchester City won four-three at Leeds United and league leaders Arsenal defeated West Bromwich Albion one-nil. Second Division table-toppers The Wednesday beat Southampton two-one. In the FA Cup Second Round, Midland League Boston United beat Third Division Bradford Park Avenue one-nil, whilst Chilton Colliery Recreation Athletic of the Northern Alliance and Kettering Town of the Southern League both forced replays against Third Division opposition (Rochdale and Grimsby Town respectively). In the all-Isthmian League tie Clapton beat Ilford one-nil at The Old Spotted Dog Ground. Accrington Stanley thumped Blyth Spartans five-nil (Jimmy Jepson scoring three). Third Division New Brighton beat Second Division Darlington two-nil, Reading thrashed London League Leyton six=nil, Oldham Athletic won six-four at Northern League Stockton (Bert Watson neting four), Swindon Town beat Sittingbourne seven-nil (Frank Richardson hitting four) and Chesterfield won two-one at Worksop Town.
Augusta Margaret Diane Fuller born in Prestatyn.
The Sergei Eisenstein film Battleship Potemkin was released in the Soviet Union.
An adaptation of A Christmas Carol broadcast.
The Stranger - a Christmas play by L Du Garde Peach - broadcast.
Old Christmas Customs by E Le Breton-Martin and The Diver - 'an experience by AJ Alan' - broadcast.
A Christmas Gatheround - with John Henry - broadcast.
Poems By Tennyson broadcast, spoken by Robert Horton.
Songs Of 1925 broadcast. Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef born in Ulm, Württemberg.
The Offenbach Follies, Second Edition broadcast.
E Le Breton Martin's Trim Dyke broadcast. Edward Ian MacNaughton born in Glasgow.
Radio Reminiscences Of 1925 broadcast. The first attempt at a worldwide New Year's celebration was made via international radio. The United States sent out musical entertainment and New Year's greetings from the consuls general of various foreign countries in New York. Evening listeners from participating stations across the United States heard a radio announcer in London say, 'This is 2LO calling America and sending New Year's greetings. We have received word that the American stations are broadcasting this programme and we hope that it is being relayed successfully.' Norman Chappell born in Lucknow, India.
The states of Aleppo and Damascus were united into the State of Syria. Stella Tanner born in London.
Fresh violence broke out across Italy as Benito Mussolini's crackdown on opposition newspapers continued. Mussolini met with King Victor Emmanuel III and requested dictatorial powers to quell the chaos (for which he, personally, was largely responsible). The King refused, but gave Mussolini tacit permission to act 'however he considered necessary' within at least the appearance of constitutional legality. Leo Chiozza Money testified before Britain's Royal Commission that an increase in the world's population had led to the country's food situation becoming as desperate as it was during the war. 'The ten pence price of bread has doubled in recent years and looking into the future there are good prospects of its doubling again,' he stated. Money recommended a 'department of supply' be created to remedy the problem.
Mussolini made a pivotal speech in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He took personal responsibility for the actions of his Blackshirts, challenged his political opponents to remove him from office and then promised to take charge of 'restoring order' to Italy within forty-eight hours. Cyril Brownlie was sent off for foul play during a very rough test match against England during New Zealand's rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France. It was the first time such a severe sanction had ever been applied in an international rugby match. New Zealand won seventeen-eleven. Jill Angela Henriette Balcon born in Westminster.
Adolf Hitler, whose Nazi Party had been banned in Bavaria since the failed Beer Hall Putsch, met with the state's Minister President Heinrich Held. Hitler pledged 'total loyalty' to Held and offered to help him in his fight against Communists. Woolf Steinberg born in Portsmouth.
Gerald Malcolm Durrell born in Jamshedpur, India.
Australia won the second Ashes test at Melbourne by eighty one runs. In another match in which the bat dominated, Vic Richardson and Bill Ponsford scored centuries for Australia whilst Herbert Sutcliffe hit hundreds in each innings for the tourists (Jack Hobbs also scored a century). Maurice Tate took nine wickets in the match.
The Ku Klux Klan was banned from the state of Kansas when its Supreme Court ruled that it was a corporation organised for profit and therefore could not operate there without a charter.
Economist George Paish suggested that another war in Europe was 'inevitable' unless Germany's reparations payments were reduced and the French were to leave the Rhineland. He also warned that 'Germany will not make the mistake she made the last time, in having Russia as an enemy, but will have that nation as a friend. Germany and Russia will be able to overrun Europe and establish a military despotism.' Perceptive chap, George Paish.
In Chicago, the North Side Gang tried to kill Al Capone, using tommy guns to rake his car with bullets as it idled outside a State Street restaurant. Only Capone's bodyguard was wounded as Capone himself was 'doing business' inside, but the attack prompted him to order tommy guns for his own men, as well as his famous bulletproof Cadillac.
Wojciech Roman Pawel Jerzy Szendzikowski born in Warsaw, Poland.
Blues singer Huddie Ledbetter, popularly known as Lead Belly, was granted a full pardon by Texas governor Pat Morris Neff, having served the minimum seven years of his prison sentence after killing one of his own relatives 'in a fight over a woman.' Neff had been impressed by a religiously-themed song about forgiveness that Lead Belly had written and performed for him during a visit he made to the prison the previous year.
Patricia Molly Owens born in Golden, British Columbia.
Awkwardly, An Old Time Nigger-Minstrel Programme was broadcast on 5IT Birmingham. Those were very different times, dear blog reader. And, not necessarily better ones, either - when attitudes and phrases which many will now, rightly, find offensive were used without thought.. See also 2LO London's Forty Minutes Of Nigger Minstrelsy, 2BE Belfast's Songs By Uncle Sambo, 2BD Aberdeen's Old Style Nigger Entertainment and 5WA Cardiff's Darkies' Revels. Et cetera.
The tomb of Tutankhamun was reopened in Egypt so Howard Carter could resume his archaeological work. Carter was disappointed to find that the pall which had covered the sarcophagus was now ruined because someone in Egypt's antiquities department had carelessly stored it in a wooden shed which did not provide adequate protection from sunlight.
Australia won the third Ashes test at Adelaide by eleven runs. For the hosts Jack Ryder scored a double century. Jack Hobbs made a hundred and Patsy Hendren ninety two in England's first innings. Roy Kilner took eight wickets in the match. Set a target of three hundred and seventy four, England fell agonisingly short despite seventy five from debutant Dodger Whysall. Paul Leonard Newman born in Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Anthony Newlands born in London.
Ahmed Zog ascended to power in Albania, becoming its President, Prime Minister and Marshal of the Royal Albanian Army.
Fanny Carby born in Sutton Coldfield.
Marion Douglas Mathie born in Kingston Upon Thames.
In the House of Commons, Reginald Applin (Conservative) asked the Speaker of the House if Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson was 'in order while addressing the House without wearing a hat.' The Speaker ruled that she was - and asked that members of the House should stand up and salute the utter shite that some Tory scum choose to care about.
The first episode of The Humours & Curiosities Of Parliament broadcast.
Finald's Paavo Nurmi broke the two mile world record in Madison Square Garden with a race of eight minutes 58.2 seconds.
London Zoo announced it would install lights to 'cheer up the animals during London's foggy spells.'
In Melbourne, the English cricket team - aided by Herbert Sutcliffe's century and some fine bowling from Maurice Tate - defeated Australia in the fourth test by an innings and twenty nine for their first win against the Australians in an Ashes match since 1912. Russell Ellis born in Glasgow. David March born in Leamington Spa.
Highlights of the Civil Service Dinner broadcast, 'relayed from the Connaught Rooms, Holborn Restaurant, London.' Speakers included Winston Churchill and Austen Chamberlain. George Edward Waring born in Eccles, Lancashire.
Harry H Corbett born in Ragoon, Burma. England beat Wales two-one in Swansea, in the Home International championships. Frank Roberts scored twice for the visitors with Fred Keenor replying for the hosts. Dick Pym of Bolton Wanderers, Burnley's Jack Hill, Len Grhaham of millwall and Brighton & Hove Albion's Tommy Cook made their England debuts. In the First Division, leaders Huddersfield Town won one-nil at Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers beat Manchester City four-two, Burnley defeated West Ham united five-four and Cardiffy City - despite being without Harry Beadles, Willie Davies, Keenor and John Nicholls, who were playing for Wales at Swansea, Tom Farquharson, who was in goal for Ireland against Scotland at Belfast and Jimmy Nelson, who was playing for Scotland, still managed to beat Newcastle United three-nil (the latter missing Charlie Spencer who was playing for England). In the Second Division Arthur Chandler scored five in Leicester City's six-nil thumping of Barnsley.
The Reverend William Bettison of the village of Hungarton in Leicestershire, shot himself in the head at the vicarage, before his sister shot him again in the heart to 'end his suffering.' The verdict was suicide as he was already dying before his sister administered the second bullet. His younger sister had also killed herself with a shotgun, four years earlier.
Edward Raymond Cast born in London.
Australia won the fifth Ashes test at Sydney by three hundred and seven runs to complete a four-one series victory. Al Kippax and Clarrie Grimmett made their test debuts of the hosts.
Bruce Wightman McCombe born in Auckland.
Patricia Mahar born in New York.
Richard Evelyn Vernon born in Naivasha, Kenya. George Alphonsus Cooper born in Leeds.
Buster Keaton's Seven Chances premiered.
The state of Tennessee enacted The Butler Act, prohibiting school teachers from denying the Biblical account of man's origin. The first performance of the Maurice Ravel opera ballet L'enfant et les sortilèges was conducted in Monte Carlo.
Women's tuxedos were reported as the newest fashion rage in Paris.
The two-act operetta The Red Pen - composed by Geoffrey Toye to a libretto by AP Herbert - first broadcast.
John Logie Baird publicly demonstrated the transmission of moving silhouette pictures at the London department store Selfridges. Frank Morris Perry born in Bromley.
Barry Leopold Letts born in Leicester.
'The perfectly polite pair' Kenneth and George Western's made their radio debut in their own, self-titled show. Double Chase won the Grand National at Aintree. James Red Herring won boxing's World Junior Welterweight title in a controversial decision over Pinky Mitchell.
Frank Morris Perry born in Bromley.
Frederick William Treves born in Margate.
Anthony Neil Wedgewood Benn born in Marylebone. Gustav Holst's opera At The Boar's Head was premiered in Manchester.
Western Australia held a referendum on prohibition. The proposal was defeated. Dorothy Alison born in Broken Hill, Australia. A pair of goals by Hughie Gallacher of Airdrieonians gave Scotland a two-nil victory over a very poor England at at Hampden Park in the Home International championship. It was the first time in over thirty years that Scotland have fielded an entire home-based team against England. John Townrow of Clapton Orient made his international debut.
The Ulster Unionist Party maintained its majority in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, despite losing eight seats in the province's General Erection.
The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald was published.
Conrad Philip Havord born in Lambeth.
William Thomas Clucas born in Manchester.
Baseball star Babe Ruth underwent surgery for what the media dubbed 'The Bellyache Heard Round the World', as the public was informed he had suffered 'indigestion' after consuming 'an excess of hot dogs and soda pop.' Conflicting accounts exist regarding the true nature of the surgery, but doctors called it 'an intestinal abscess.'
Minsky's Burlesque was raided by police in New York as authorities began to crack down on burlesque houses for featuring striptease performances. Although a minor incident at the time, it became famous when it was retold in the 1960 novel The Night They Raided Minsky's, which led to the 1968 comedy musical.
George Edward Cole born in Tooting.
Brenda Rose Cowling born in Islington.
Sheffield United defeated Cardiff City one-nil in the FA Cup Final. Meanwhile, Huddersfield Town's four-one win at Preston North End secured their second successive First Division title. Unbeaten for their first ten league games, The Terriers' defence was particularly impressive, only conceding twenty eight goals during forty two games. West Bromwich Albion finished second and Bolton Wanderers third. Manchester United won promotion to the First Division (along with Leicester City) and Darlington, whose David Brown was the league's top scorer, won the Third Division (North).
Presenting the government's budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill announced Britain's return to the gold standard. The International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts opened in Paris. The term 'Art Deco' was derived by shortening the French title of the exposition and this show also did much to popularise the style worldwide.
John Reginald Neville born in Willesden.
In Tennessee, high school biology teacher John Scopes was charged with teaching evolution from a chapter in the textbook Civic Biology.
The London Radio Repertory Players' performance of Edgar Wallace's The Little Quaker broadcast on 5WA Cardiff.
Gordon Massey Gostelow born in Wellington, New Zealand. Ysanne Churchman born in Sutton Coldfield.
Atwell Roy Stewart born in Jamaica.
In an expedition directed by explorer Roald Amundsen, two specially-equipped seaplanes (the N24 and N25) took off from Kings Bay in Svalbard, Norway in an attempt to be the first to fly to the North Pole. Unsure of their position, experiencing engine trouble and with half their fuel used up, the crew of the N25 touched down on the ice one hundred and fifty miles short of the Pole. The N24 spotted their predicament and landed as well. The next twenty-four days would be spent trying to chisel a primitive runway so they could take off again. England beat France three-two in a friendly international in Paris. Vivian Gibbins and Arthur Dorrell scored along with a Philippe Bonnardel own goal. There were five England debutants, Freddie Fox of Millwall, Tom Parker of Southampton, The Wednesday's Billy Felton, Bill Bryant of Clapton and Sheffield United's Geroge Green. England finished the match with only nine men. Gibbins had to leave ten minutes before the interval because of an injured knee. Fox had to be withdrawn after being kicked in the face, in a scrimmage after the French scored their second goal. He was replaced in goal by Billy Walker.
Alexander Duncan McCowen born in Tunbridge Wells.
Aviator Alan Cobham set a new record for the longest non-stop flight in a light airplane, flying his de Havilland Moth from Croydon Aerodrome to Zürich. The flight consumed only twenty-five gallons of gasoline and six pints of oil.
Los Angeles police announced they had foiled a plot to kidnap Hollywood film stars Mary Pickford, Pola Negri and Buster Keaton for ransom. Three arrests had been made.
Doctor Charles Horace Mayo said that 'the pace of modern life is serious, causing many of our present day ills. A return to the simple life would do away with the necessity for many doctors, but, alas, how can this be done?' Bernard Schwartz born in Manhattan. Peter Reginald Gadd born in Hendon.
Gerald Grant Sim born in Liverpool.
William Sellars born in Tideswell, Derbyshire.
A meeting of the International Football Association Board in Paris approved a change to the offside law, the so-called 'two-player rule' which was one of the more significant rule changes in the history of the game during the Twentieth Century. It led to an immediate change in the style of play, with the game becoming more stretched, 'short passing giv[ing] way to longer balls' and the development of the W-M formation. It also led to an increase in goalscoring: four thousand seven hundred goals had been scored in eighteen hundred and forty eight Football League games in 1924–25. This number rose to six thousand three hundred and sevety three goals (from the same number of games) in 1925–26.
In a spontaneous reaction against the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, the crowd at an FC Barcelona game jeered the Marcha Real and applauded 'God Save The King' as performed by an English marching band. The club was fined and shut down for six months in reprisal.
Miriam Samuels born in London.
Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush premiered at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
David Graham born in London. Jack Pulman born in London.
Hugh David born in Aberystwyth.
Adolf Hitler published volume one of his autobiographical manifesto Mein Kampf.
Ivor Roberts born in Nottingham.
John Waldemar Maxim born in Sydney.
The Scopes Trial ended with John Scopes being found guilty of violating The Butler Act and fined one hundred dollars, which both William Jennings Bryan and the American Civil Liberties Union offered to pay for him. After the verdict was read Scopes made his only statement during the trial, vowing to 'oppose this law in any way I can. Any other action would be in violation of my ideal of academic freedom - that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution, of personal and religious freedom.'
A Northumbrian Idyll broadcast on 5NO Newcastle. Radio Radiance and the first performance of Ethel Smyth's comic opera Entente Cordiale broadcast on 2LO London.
The long-wave station 5XX moved from Chelmsford to Borough Hill, Daventry. It became the first station to achieve near national coverage, the initial step in the establishment of the BBC National Programme. Harry Towb born in Larne, County Antrim.
On what became known as Red Friday, the government of Stanley Baldwin averted a miners' strike by agreeing to provide a subsidy to maintain the miners' wages until a commission could study the situation. Just a day earlier, Baldwin had declared 'All the workers in this country have got to take reductions in wages to help put industry on its feet.'
Papa Charlie Jackson released 'I'm Alabama Bound' on Paramount Records.
Alan Donald Whicker born in Cairo, Egypt (although some sources list his birth year as 1921).
Rosemary Lucy Jane Haycock born in Bath.
Honor Blackman born in Plaistow.
The opening day of the football season. In a significant change to the offside law, only two, instead of three, opposing defenders had to be goal-side of the last attacker for him to be ruled onside. The change was designed to produce more goals and it certainly succeeded. Across the Football League, one hundred and sixty goals were scored compared to ninety one on the corresponding day of the the previous season. Aston Villa beat Burnley ten-nil at Villa Park with Len Capewell scoring five.
Robert Müller born in Hamburg.
Yorkshire won the cricket county championship for the fourth consecutive season, securing the title with a ten wicket win over Somerset at Taunton. Surrey were runners-up and Lancashire finished third. The season was dominated by Surrey's Jack Hobbs who scored a then-record sixteen centuries and three thousand and twenty four first class runs. He surpassed the career record for most centuries, previously held by WG Grace. Another veteran, Yorkshire's Wilfred Rhodes was the leading bowler with an average of 14.86 and one hundred and fifteen wickets. The leading run-scorer in championship matches was Yorkshire's Percy Holmes (two thousand one hundred and twenty three). Gloucester's Charlie Parker was, again, the season's leading wicket-taker (two hundred).
Ronald Stevens born in Peckham.
Richard Henry Sellers born in Portsmouth.
Blackburn Rovers beat Newcastle United seven-one at St James Park in the First Division with Ted Harper scoring five.
James Garbutt born in Houghton-Le-Spring, County Durham.
James Ivor Selby born in Holburn.
Alex Scott born in Australia.
Dallas Cavell born in London.
John Wiles born in Kimberley, South Africa. Christopher Chisholm Barry born in East Greenwich.
Alan Edgar Stratford Johns born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. William Leo Franklin born in Kensington.
Peter Murray James born in London.
A Vatican committee issued a circular to the directors of pilgrimages notifying them that women found in churches not wearing opaque clothing that covered their head, collar, legs and upper arms would be ejected.
John Logie Baird successfully transmitted a series of television pictures with a greyscale image.
England and Ireland shared a goalless draw in the Home International championship at Windsor Park. England had five players winning their first cap, Charlton Athletic's Geroge Armitage, Manchester City's Sam Austin, Sydney Puddefoot of Blackburn Rovers, Claude Ashton of Corinthians and, a late replacement for Horace Cope, Newcastle United's Frank Hudspeth, a thirty five, the third oldest England debutant. Plymouth Argyle's Jack Leslie had, initially, been included in the squad as a reserve - the first black player ever to be called-up by England - but he was, later, excluded. It has been speculated, though never confirmed, that this was because of belated objections to his skin colour by (unnamed) members of the FA who had been unaware of his ethnicity when they selected him. Later in life, Leslie told the journalist Brian Woolnough: 'They must have forgot I was a coloured boy.' In 2022, Leslie was awarded a posthumous honorary England cap by the FA 'to right a historical wrong.' Leslie showed what England were missing scoring twice in Plymouth's seven-two victory over Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic in the Third Division (South). Jack Cock also netted twice. In the First Division, Manchester City thrashed Burnley eight-three with Tommy Browell scoring five. West Bromwich Albion defeated West Ham United seven-one. Huddersfield Town lost at home for the only time all season, one-nil to Newcastle. In the Second Division, Derby County beat Stoke City seven-three and Darlington hammered Portsmouth seven-one. Table-toppers Middlesbrough won two-one at Hull City. Bulgaria appealed to the League Of Nations after a border dispute led to Greece invading the Bulgarian town of Petrich. Five days later, the Greeks withdrew, after being ordered to by The League.
The first episode of Romance Of Famous Lives broadcast in 5WACardiff's Teen Corner strand.
Leonard Alfred Schneider born in Mineola, New York.
Angela Brigid Lansbury born in London.
The Incident at Petrich occurred near the Bulgarian town on the border with Greece, when at least one Greek soldier was shot very dead by someone on the Bulgarian side. Conflicting accounts exist as to what led to the incident, but one holds that a Greek soldier was running across the border after his dog. As a consequence, the incident is sometimes called 'The War of the Stray Dog.' Francis Bernard Heptonstall born in Bradford.
Glyndwr Desmond Houston born in Clydach Vale, Rhondda.
The first recording of 'I'm Sitting On Top Of The World' was made by Art Gillham, The Whispering Pianist. Al Jolson's much more famous version was recorded two months later on 21 December.
Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy born in Cheltenham. Paul Frederick Daneman born in Islington.
Arthur George Murcell born in Naples.
The probable birth date of Lyova Haskell Rosenthal in New York (the year is disputed).
Buster Keaton's Go West premiered.
Alfred Hitchcock's directorial debut, The Pleasure Garden, released. Robert Walter Quarry born in Santa Rosa, California.
John Wilson Stratton born in Clitheroe, Lancashire.
Richard Walter Jenkins born in Pontrhydyfen, Glamorgan.
June Rosemary Whitfield born in Streatham.
Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five recorded their first songs for Okeh Records.
Alfred J Goulding's Don't - starring Sally O'Neil and Ethel Wales - premiered.
Patricia Lawrence born in Andover.
TS Eliot's The Hollow Men published.
Philip Stephen Hancock born in Bishop Auckland. Alun Davies Owen born Menai Bridgem Wales.
Philip McCall born in Glasgow.
Ernest Wiseman born in Leeds.
The American weekly country music radio show The Grand Ole Opry was first broadcast on WSM radio in Nashville, as The WSM Barn Dance.
The Stanley Baldwin government survived a vote of censure condemning a recent wave of arrests of Communists on offences under the Incitement to Mutiny Act as a violation of free speech rights.
Julia Ann Harris born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
The Northern Irish Border Agreement was signed between the United Kingdom and Irish Free State delineating the border of Northern Ireland.
Samuel George Davis Junior born in Harlem. Newcastle United signed Scottish international centre-froward Hughie Gallacher from Airdrieonians for six thousand five hundred pounds.
Paul Anthony Wright born in London.
Hughie Gallacher made a lightning start to his career at Newcastle, scoring twice in a thrilling three-three draw with Everton in the First Division. Dixie Deans scored a hat-trick for the visitors. Elswhere Bolton Wanderers thrashed Huddersfield Town six-one, Manchester City won four-three at Leeds United and league leaders Arsenal defeated West Bromwich Albion one-nil. Second Division table-toppers The Wednesday beat Southampton two-one. In the FA Cup Second Round, Midland League Boston United beat Third Division Bradford Park Avenue one-nil, whilst Chilton Colliery Recreation Athletic of the Northern Alliance and Kettering Town of the Southern League both forced replays against Third Division opposition (Rochdale and Grimsby Town respectively). In the all-Isthmian League tie Clapton beat Ilford one-nil at The Old Spotted Dog Ground. Accrington Stanley thumped Blyth Spartans five-nil (Jimmy Jepson scoring three). Third Division New Brighton beat Second Division Darlington two-nil, Reading thrashed London League Leyton six=nil, Oldham Athletic won six-four at Northern League Stockton (Bert Watson neting four), Swindon Town beat Sittingbourne seven-nil (Frank Richardson hitting four) and Chesterfield won two-one at Worksop Town.
Augusta Margaret Diane Fuller born in Prestatyn.
An adaptation of A Christmas Carol broadcast.
The Stranger - a Christmas play by L Du Garde Peach - broadcast.
Old Christmas Customs by E Le Breton-Martin and The Diver - 'an experience by AJ Alan' - broadcast.
A Christmas Gatheround - with John Henry - broadcast.
Poems By Tennyson broadcast, spoken by Robert Horton.
Songs Of 1925 broadcast. Hildegard Frieda Albertine Knef born in Ulm, Württemberg.
The Offenbach Follies, Second Edition broadcast.
E Le Breton Martin's Trim Dyke broadcast. Edward Ian MacNaughton born in Glasgow.
Radio Reminiscences Of 1925 broadcast. The first attempt at a worldwide New Year's celebration was made via international radio. The United States sent out musical entertainment and New Year's greetings from the consuls general of various foreign countries in New York. Evening listeners from participating stations across the United States heard a radio announcer in London say, 'This is 2LO calling America and sending New Year's greetings. We have received word that the American stations are broadcasting this programme and we hope that it is being relayed successfully.' Norman Chappell born in Lucknow, India.
