Today in History - August 25: Music superstar's fears in last phone call come tragically true
On August 25, 2001, music superstar Aaliyah, known as the "Princess of RnB", was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas.
After shooting a music video, she and her entourage of eight other people packed into a light plane for a short flight to Miami.
According to witnesses, there was an argument with the pilot who insisted the aircraft was not overloaded.
Ominously, in her final phone call with her boyfriend, the music star reportedly told him she had concerns about the plane, which was about 300kg overweight.
Just after take-off, the aircraft reached 30 metres off the ground before taking a nose-dive and slamming into the ground.
Aaliyah, aged 22, along with five others died at the crash site, while three other survivors died later in hospital.
Motor racing ace Michael Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut in the Belgian Grand Prix on August 25, 1991. An impressive display led the German to be signed with Benetton for the remainder of the season.
He went on to clinch a record seven world drivers' championship titles. In 2021, he was placed in a medically induced coma after a skiing accident, and has been recovering since.
One of the best-loved films in history, The Wizard of Oz, was first screened in US cinemas on August 25, 1939.
Starring Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch, left, and Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, it was based on the 1900 book by L. Frank Baum and became a cinema classic.
Italian astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei on August 25, 1609, demonstrated his pioneering telescope to senior Venetian officials for the first time.
The instrument enabled him to become the first astronomer to identify the moons of Jupiter and describe the landscape of the moon. The Galileo Spacecraft, the first to orbit the planet Jupiter, was named after him.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
