Deep Dive: The Chamonix Winter Olympics, Literary Giants and Alicia Keys, and Al Capone's Final Days - January 25, 2026

Hello and welcome to Deep Dive. I am Jonah Klein. And I'm Evelyn Hartwell. You know, Jonah, today we are looking back at January 25th. a date that really highlights how much the world can change in just a few generations, from the birth of global sports traditions to the fall of notorious figures. Right! And we have to start with something that probably feels like it has been around forever, but actually just hit a century of history recently. I am talking about the very first Winter Olympic Games, which kicked off in Cheminique, France in 1924. It is fascinating because at the time it was not even officially called the Olympics. It was known as International Winter Sports Week. It was so successful that the IOC later retroactively designated it as the first winter Olympics. We had 16 nations competing in things like skiing, skating, and even bobsleigh. Evelyn K. Can you imagine the logistics back then? No high-tech gear, no massive heated stadiums, just raw athleticism in the French Alps. It really set the stage for the massive global spectacle we see every four years now. Exactly. It proved there was a massive appetite for winter sports on a global scale. It moved the needle from regional pastimes to a unified international competition, which is a legacy that still shapes how we view environmental resilience and tourism in those alpine regions today. While we are talking about legacies that last, we have to look at the incredible lineup of birthdays today. It is a massive day for literature and music. We have the legendary Virginia Wolf, born in 1882. Wolf was such a force, a modernist pioneer who completely changed how we think about narrative structure, with books like Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse. She was a feminist icon who really dug in to the internal lives of women during a time when that was often ignored by the literary establishment. She was a total game changer. I mean, jumping back even further to 1759, we have Robert Burns. If you have ever sung Ald Lang Syne at midnight on New Year's Eve, you have him to thank. He is the national poet of Scotland, and his work like Tam O'Shanter is still foundational. His influence is truly global. He captured the spirit of the common person and the beauty of the natural world in a way that feels very grounded and real. It is rare for a poet to remain that culturally relevant for over 200 years. And speaking of cultural relevance, we have a modern icon celebrating today too. Alicia Keys was born in 1981. Fifteen Grammys, millions of albums sold. She basically redefined R&B and soul for the 2000s. She is a phenomenal talent, Jonah. From the moment fallen hit the airwaves, you could tell she was different. That classical piano training mixed with her raw vocal power and social activism makes her a very unique figure in the industry. She really has that timeless quality, much like Wolf and Burns. It is like January 25th is just the day for creative heavyweights. It certainly seems that way, but the day also marks the end of a very different kind of influence. Moving from the arts to the underworld, we have to talk about the death of Al Capone in 1947. The big fellow himself. Ah, he died at 48 after a stroke in cardiac arrest. But what is always so wild to me is how he actually ended up behind bars. He was the most notorious gangster in America, the leader of the Chicago outfit during Prohibition, yet the law couldn't get him for any of the violence. It is one of the most famous examples of the government using every tool at its disposal when the traditional ones fail. He was famously imprisoned for tax evasion. It just goes to show that sometimes the most mundane laws are the ones that have the biggest impact on organized crime. Social media analysis with an upbeat conversation and smart cultural fluency. Keep reactions playful and clear. Concludes the historical segment with a thoughtful reflection. It is a strange end for a man who cast such a long, dark shadow over the early 20th century. By the time he passed away in Florida, his health had completely declined, and the era of the classic prohibition-style mobster was largely fading. It serves as a stark reminder of how even the most powerful figures are ultimately subject to both the law and time. From the frozen tracks of shamaniques to the literary heights of wolf and the final quiet days of Capone, January 25th really covers the full spectrum of the human experience. It really does, Evelyn. That is all for our look into history today. I'm Jonah Klein. And I'm Evelyn Hartwell. Thank you for joining us on Deep Dive. Deep Dive is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. Explore history every day on Neural Newscast.