Calendar for June 25th, 2012

1630: Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop introduced the fork to American dining

1788: Virginia ratified the Constitution and was admitted as the 10th state

1876: Sitting Bull defeated General George Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn

1886: A 19-year-old cellist in the orchestra of the Rio de Janeiro Opera House in Brazil picked up the baton and conducted the orchestra in a performance of Aida when the regular conductor failed to make an apperance. The cellist name: Arturo Toscanini. (His success prompted him to abandon his cello for a conductor's career)

Born 1903: Eric Arthur Blair (better known by the pen-name George Orwell)

Died 1906: Famous architect Stanford White was killed by Henry K. Thaw on the roof of Madison Square Garden

Born 1917: Joe O'Brien (harness racing driver)

Born 1925: June Lockhart (actress)

Born 1933: James Meredith (political activist)

Born 1945: Carly Simon (musician)

1958: 4-day dedication ceremony for Mackinac Bridge began, Michigan

Born 1971: Angela Kinsey (actress)

Born 1975: Linda Cardellini (actress)

1993: Kim Campbell was chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and became the first female Prime Minister of Canada

Died 1995: Warren Burger (U.S. Supreme Court chief justice)

Died 1997: Jacques-Yves Cousteau (oceanographer)