{"id":14671,"date":"2022-05-25T07:04:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T05:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=208843"},"modified":"2022-05-26T10:58:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T08:58:09","slug":"25-may-on-this-day-in-history","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/25-may-on-this-day-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"25 May: On this day in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Elinor Evans\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 25 May 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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25 May 1659<\/h3>\n

Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector. He had been unable to reconcile the differences between the Protectorate parliament and an army in which, unlike his father, he had no personal influence.<\/p>\n

25 May 1812<\/h3>\n

Some 92 miners lost their lives in an explosion at the Felling Colliery near Gateshead. The disaster was a major impetus in the search for a safer way of lighting coal mines and led both George Stephenson and Humphry Davy to design safety lamps.<\/p>\n

25 May 1850<\/h3>\n

Obaysch, the first hippopotamus to be seen in Europe since ancient Rome and the first in Britain since prehistoric times, was delivered to London Zoo. He had been captured on an island on the White Nile and was exchanged by the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt for some English greyhounds and deerhounds. His appearance doubled attendances at the zoo and Queen Victoria<\/a> herself came to inspect him. In 1854 Obaysch was joined by a female, Adhela, and in 1871 she gave birth to the zoo\u2019s first baby hippo.<\/p>\n

25 May 1857\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Captain Auguste Protet of the French West African Squadron claims Dakar for France.<\/p>\n

25 MAY 1878:\u00a0HMS Pinafore<\/em> enthrals audiences<\/h3>\n

Gilbert and Sullivan\u2019s latest musical is a storming success on both sides of the pond<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

At the end of 1877, the composer Arthur Sullivan was on holiday in France when he had a letter from his chief collaborator, the writer WS Gilbert. The two men had just signed a deal to produce a new light opera for the impresario Richard D\u2019Oyly Carte, and Gilbert had good news. He already had an outline of the new opera\u2019s plot: a love story on a Royal Navy ship, brimming with silliness. \u201cI have very little doubt whatever but that you will be pleased with it,\u201d he assured Sullivan. \u201cThere is a good deal of fun in it which I haven\u2019t set down on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

HMS Pinafore<\/em> opened at London\u2019s Opera Comique on 25 May 1878 and was an immediate sensation, with reports of \u201ceager playgoers pushing and praying for seats or at least for standing room\u201d. The critic of The Era wrote he had rarely \u201cbeen in the company of a more joyous audience, more confidently anticipating an evening\u2019s amusement than that which filled the Opera Comique in every corner\u201d. It was \u201ca hit, a palpable hit\u201d.<\/p>\n

In just 18 months, 150 unauthorised productions of HMS Pinafore were put on in the United States, while it played for night after night in London to enthusiastic houses. And it remains a cultural touchstone today: you can find its songs in everything from Star Trek<\/em> and Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/em> to Family Guy<\/em>, The West Wing<\/em> and even The Simpsons.<\/em> | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

25 May 1868<\/h3>\n

The Australian Aboriginal Cricket Team, the first Australian team to tour England, takes the field for its first match \u2013 a two-day game against a Surrey XI at Kennington Oval.<\/p>\n

25 May 1895: Oscar Wilde is convicted<\/h3>\n

The Irish writer\u2019s reputation is left in tatters as he is jailed for gross indecency<\/em><\/p>\n

Oscar Wilde<\/a>\u2019s decision to launch a\u00a0libel action against the Marquess of Queensberry, who had accused him of \u201cposing somdomite [sic]\u201d, was the most unfortunate he ever made.<\/p>\n

The trial opened on 3 April 1895 and almost immediately it was obvious that Wilde was in deep trouble. When the defence announced that they had found several male prostitutes who would testify that they had had sex with Wilde, the playwright dropped the case \u2013 but, even as he left the courtroom, the authorities were drawing up a warrant for his arrest on charges of gross indecency.<\/p>\n

At Wilde\u2019s first trial, which opened on 26 April, the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Three weeks later, a second trial began at the Old Bailey, prosecuted by the Liberal government\u2019s solicitor general, Sir Frank Lockwood. Wilde wrote later that Lockwood had issued an \u201cappalling denunciation \u2013 like something out of Tacitus, like a passage in Dante, like one of Savonarola\u2019s indictments of the popes of Rome\u201d. This was an exaggeration: by the standards of the day, Lockwood\u2019s closing statement was remarkably restrained. But it is easy to understand why Wilde was so distraught.<\/p>\n

On 25 May, the foreman announced the jury\u2019s verdict: guilty. There were cries of \u201cShame!\u201d from the gallery, and Wilde turned grey with horror. \u201cIt is no use for me to address you. People who can do these things must be dead to all sense of shame, and one cannot hope to produce any effect upon them. It is the worst case I have ever tried,\u201d said Mr Justice Wills, who sentenced Wilde to two years of hard labour. It was, he added, \u201cthe severest sentence that the law allows.\nIn my judgment it is totally inadequate for a case such as this.\u201d | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

25 May 1961<\/h3>\n

President John F Kennedy announced before a special joint session of the US Congress his goal to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade and asked for an additional $1,700m to fund the project.<\/p>\n

Browse more\u00a0On this day in history<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n