February 25 Birthday
On February 25, 1964, twenty-two-year-old Cassius Clay fought Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world. Liston was a 7-1 favorite. He was feared — a former enforcer for the mob with a criminal record and a punch that had knocked out his previous opponent in the first round. Clay had predicted he would win, and he was so obnoxious about it that many people wanted to see him beaten. Liston quit on his stool before the seventh round, claiming a shoulder injury. Clay shouted, "I shook up the world!" The next day, he announced he had joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. He held the title for three years before being stripped of it for refusing the draft. Samuel Colt received a patent for his revolver on this day in 1836. The key innovation was the revolving cylinder, which allowed multiple shots without reloading. Colt's first factory in Paterson, New Jersey, failed — the guns were too expensive and too fragile. He went bankrupt in 1842. The Mexican-American War revived his business, and by the Civil War, the Colt revolver was the standard sidearm. Colt was one of the first industrialists to use interchangeable parts and assembly line techniques. His marketing — "God created men equal, Colonel Colt made them equal" — was as innovative as his gun. He died at forty-seven, one of the wealthiest men in America. His widow, Elizabeth, inherited a fortune and used it to build Hartford's most beautiful church. The People Power Revolution began on February 25, 1986, in Manila, Philippines. Ferdinand Marcos, who had ruled the country for twenty years under martial law, had declared himself the winner of a fraudulent election against Corazon Aquino. Millions of Filipinos took to the streets, blocking tanks with their bodies. Catholic nuns knelt in front of soldiers and offered them flowers and rosaries. The military defected. Marcos fled to Hawaii, where he died three years later. The revolution was peaceful and it was televised. It inspired democratic movements across Asia and Eastern Europe. It is one of the few revolutions in history that was genuinely nonviolent and genuinely successful. George Harrison, born this day in 1943, was the youngest Beatle and the quietest. He learned to play the sitar from Ravi Shankar and introduced Indian music and philosophy to the West. "Something" became the most covered Beatles song after "Yesterday." His 1970 solo album All Things Must Pass was a triple album — the material he had written for the Beatles that was rejected. He organized the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, the first major charity concert. He was stabbed in his home by an intruder in 1999 and survived. He died of cancer in 2001. People born on February 25 fall under the zodiac sign of Pisces. The birthstone is Amethyst and the birth flower is Violet. Historical events on February 25 include 1836: Samuel Colt patents the first revolving cylinder firearm, 1964: Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston to win heavyweight boxing title, 1986: People Power Revolution begins in the Philippines. Famous people born on February 25 include Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841), George Harrison (1943), Téa Leoni (1966).