Today in History

Today is Saturday, July 25, the 206th day of 2015. There are 159 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan drew boos from some spectators at the Newport Folk Festival as he performed with a rock band. (The cause of the negative reaction is in dispute, with some citing Dylan's use of an electric guitar, others blaming poor audio quality and still others complaining about the shortness of Dylan's set.)

On this date:

In 1554, Queen Mary I of England married Philip II, future King of Spain.

In 1814, the Battle of Lundy's Lane, one of the bloodiest battles of the War of 1812, took place in present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario, with no clear victor.

In 1909, French aviator Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel, traveling from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes.

In 1918, the musical revue "The Passing Show of 1918" opened on Broadway, featuring a cast that included Fred Astaire and his sister, Adele, and the song "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles."

In 1934, Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated by pro-Nazi Austrians in a failed coup attempt.

In 1943, Benito Mussolini was dismissed as premier of Italy by King Victor Emmanuel III, and placed under arrest. (However, Mussolini was later rescued by the Nazis, and re-asserted his authority.)

In 1952, Puerto Rico became a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.

In 1956, the Italian liner Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish passenger ship Stockholm off the New England coast late at night and began sinking; at least 51 people were killed.

In 1975, the musical "A Chorus Line" opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre, beginning a run of 6,137 performances.

In 1985, a spokeswoman for Rock Hudson confirmed that the actor, hospitalized in Paris, was suffering from AIDS. (Hudson died in October 1985.)

In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein signed a declaration at the White House ending their countries' 46-year-old formal state of war.

In 2000, a New York-bound Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris shortly after takeoff, killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground; it was the first-ever crash of the supersonic jet.

Ten years ago: The AFL-CIO splintered as the Service Employees International Union and the Teamsters announced they were leaving the labor federation. Cpl. Dustin Berg, an Indiana National Guard soldier, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the death of an Iraqi police officer (Berg was later sentenced to 18 months in military prison). Four adult Boy Scout leaders were killed in an electrical accident while setting up camp for the organization's Jamboree in Bowling Green, Virginia.

Five years ago: The online whistleblower Wikileaks posted some 90,000 leaked U.S. military records that amounted to a blow-by-blow account of the Afghanistan war, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings as well as covert operations against Taliban figures. Alberto Contador won the Tour de France for the third time in four years. Erich Steidtmann, a former Nazi SS officer suspected of involvement in World War II massacres but never convicted, died in Hannover, Germany, at age 95.

One year ago: President Barack Obama met at the White House with the presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador; afterward, he urged the leaders and congressional Republicans to help ease the influx of minors and migrant families crossing the southwest border of the Unite States. Bel Kaufman, author of the 1965 best-selling novel "Up the Down Staircase," died in New York at age 103. Manny Roth, 94, a colorful club owner in Greenwich Village, New York, whose Cafe Wha? and its basement-level stage was a rite of passage in the 1960s for Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen and many others, died in Ojai, California.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Barbara Harris is 80. Folk-pop singer-musician Bruce Woodley (The Seekers) is 73. Rock musician Jim McCarty (The Yardbirds) is 72. Rock musician Verdine White (Earth, Wind & Fire) is 64. Singer-musician Jem Finer (The Pogues) is 60. Model-actress Iman is 60. Cartoonist Ray Billingsley ("Curtis") is 58. Rock musician Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) is 57. Actress-singer Bobbie Eakes is 54. Actress Katherine Kelly Lang is 54. Actress Illeana Douglas is 50. Country singer Marty Brown is 50. Actor Matt LeBlanc is 48. Actress Wendy Raquel Robinson is 48. Rock musician Paavo Lotjonen (Apocalyptica) is 47. Actor D.B. Woodside is 46. Actress Miriam Shor is 44. Actor David Denman is 42. Actor Jay R. Ferguson is 41. Actor James Lafferty is 30. Actress Shantel VanSanten is 30. Actor Michael Welch is 28. Actress Linsey (cq) Godfrey (TV: "The Bold and the Beautiful") is 27. Classical singer Faryl Smith is 20. Actor Pierce Gagnon is 10.

Thought for Today: "Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless." -- Sinclair Lewis, American author (1885-1951).

Copyright 2015, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.