From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
January 21
is the 21st day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar
. There are 344 days remaining until the end of the year (345 in
leap years
).
- 1189
?
Philip II of France
and
Richard I of England
begin to assemble troops to wage the
Third Crusade
.
- 1276
?
Innocent V
becomes
Pope
.
- 1525
? The
Swiss
Anabaptist
Movement was born when
Conrad Grebel
,
Felix Manz
,
George Blaurock
, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz's mother on
Neustadt-Gasse
,
Zurich
, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
- 1643
?
Abel Tasman
discovers
Tonga
.
- 1720
?
Sweden
and
Prussia
sign the
Treaty of Stockholm
.
- 1749
- The
Teatro
Filarmonico in
Verona
, northern
Italy
, is destroyed by
fire
. It is rebuilt in
1754
.
- 1789
? The first American novel,
The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth
, is printed in
Boston, Massachusetts
.
- 1793
? After being found guilty for
treason
by the
French Convention
,
Louis XVI of France
is
guillotined
.
- 1793
?
Russia
and
Prussia
partition
Poland
.
- 1840
-
Adelie Land
in
Antarctica
is discovered.
- 1853
?
Russell L. Hawes
patents the
envelope
-folding machine.
- 1854
-
Iron
clipper
RMS
Tayleur
of the
White Star Line
sinks in the
Irish Sea
during its first voyage, killing 362 people.
- 1861
?
American Civil War
:
Jefferson Davis
resigns from the
United States Senate
.
- 1864
? The
Tauranga Campaign
starts during the
Maori Wars
.
- 1887
? The
Amateur Athletic Union
(AAU) is formed.
- 1899
?
Opel Motors
opens for business.
- 1904
- Oprera
Jen?fa
by
Leo? Jana?ek
first performed.
- 1908
?
New York City
passes a law, the
Sullivan Ordinance
, making it illegal for women to smoke in public only to be vetoed by the mayor.
- 1911
? The first
Monte Carlo Rally
.
- 1915
?
Kiwanis International
founded in
Detroit, Michigan
.
- 1917
- An
earthquake
in
Bali
kills 15,000 people.
- 1919
? Meeting in the Mansion House
Dublin
, the
Sinn Fein
adopts
Ireland
's first constitution.
- 1924
?
Vladimir Lenin
dies and
Joseph Stalin
begins to purge his rivals to clear way for his leadership.
- 1925
?
Albania
declares itself a republic.
- 1931
-
Isaac Isaacs
becomes the first
Governor-General of Australia
who was born in
Australia
.
- 1940
- Off the
Mediterranean Sea
coast
of
France
, an explosion occurs on Italian
passenger
ship
Orazio
, causing a
fire
on board, before the
ship
sinks, killing 106 people.
- 1941
?
World War II
:
Australian
and
British
forces attack
Tobruk
,
Libya
.
- 1948
- The
Flag of Quebec
is flown over the
National Assembly
of
Quebec
for the first time.
- 1950
?
Alger Hiss
is convicted of
perjury
.
- 1951
- The Lamington
volcano
erupts on the
island
of
New Guinea
, killing 3,000 people.
- 1954
? The first
nuclear-powered
submarine
, the
USS
Nautilus
, is
launched
in
Groton, Connecticut
by
Mamie Eisenhower
, then the
First Lady of the United States
.
- 1960
- Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns while landing in
Montego Bay
,
Jamaica
, killing 37 people.
- 1961
- 435 workers are buried alive when a
mine
in Coalbrook,
South Africa
, collapses.
- 1968
?
Simon & Garfunkel
release the Original Soundtrack to
The Graduate
. It quickly goes to #1 on the pop charts and which will bring
Simon
a
Grammy Award
for
Best Original Score
.
- 1969
? An experimental underground
nuclear reactor
at
Lucens Vad
,
Switzerland
, released radiation into a cavern, which was then sealed.
- 1976
? The first commercial service
Concorde
flights take off from
London
and
Paris
.
- 1977
?
President
Jimmy Carter
pardons nearly all
Vietnam War
draft evaders.
- 1980
- The
Great Wall of China
is placed under protection.
- 1980
- A
plane
crash during a
snowstorm
in
Tehran
kills 128 people.
- 1985
- After being moved to this date because
January 20
was a
Sunday
,
Ronald Reagan
's second
inauguration
as
President of the United States
is held indoors, because of
cold
and
windy
weather
.
- 1994
?
Lorena Bobbitt
is found not-guilty by reason of
temporary insanity
for severing the
penis
of her husband
John Bobbitt
.
- 1997
?
Newt Gingrich
becomes the first leader of the
United States House of Representatives
to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
- 1998
-
Pope John Paul II
becomes the first
Pope
to visit
Cuba
.
- 1999
?
War on Drugs
: In one of the one of the largest drug busts in American history, the
United States Coast Guard
stops a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg) of
cocaine
on board.
- 2000
-
Jamil Mahuad
is removed as
President of Ecuador
in a
coup
led by
Lucio Gutierrez
.
- 2003
- A magnitude 7.6
earthquake
strikes the state of
Colima
,
Mexico
.
- 2004
?
Canada
: The residence of
reporter
,
Juliet O'Neill
was searched by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
investigating leaks concerning the deportation of
Maher Arar
.
- 2004
?
NASA
's
MER-A
(the Mars Rover
Spirit
) ceased communication with mission control. The problem was with Flash Memory management and fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
- 2005
? In
Belize
's
capital city
, the
unrest over the government's new taxes
erupts into
riots
.
- 2008
?
Black Monday
on the world's stock markets, the worst day for financial markets since
September 11
,
2001
.
- 2008
?
Marie Smith Jones
, the last-surviving speaker of the
Eyak language
, dies, rendering the language extinct.
- 2012
- 16-year-old
Laura Dekker
becomes the youngest person to sail around the world on her own, though this category is no longer included in the
Guinness Book of Records
.
- 2013
-
Barack Obama
's second public
inauguration
as
President of the United States
takes place. A private inauguration took place the previous day, which was a
Sunday
.
- 1277
-
Galeazzo I Visconti
, ruler of
Milan
(d.
1328
)
- 1338
? King
Charles V of France
(d.
1380
)
- 1721
-
James Murray
, British
Governor
of
Quebec
(d.
1794
)
- 1735
-
Johann Gottfried Eckard
, German
pianist
and
composer
(d.
1809
)
- 1738
?
Ethan Allen
, American freedom fighter (d.
1789
)
- 1763
-
Augustin Robespierre
, French politician (d.
1794
)
- 1784
-
Andrew Stevenson
, American politician (d.
1857
)
- 1813
-
John C. Fremont
, American army officer, explorer and politician (d.
1890
)
- 1815
-
John Bingham
, American
lawyer
,
judge
and
politician
(d.
1900
)
- 1824
?
Stonewall Jackson
, American
Confederate
General (d.
1870
)
- 1825
-
Imre Madach
, Hungarian writer (d.
1864
)
- 1827
?
Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin
, Russian
mathematician
(d.
1900
)
- 1829
? King
Oscar II of Sweden
and
Norway
(d.
1907
)
- 1846
-
Pieter Hendrik Schoute
, Dutch
mathematician
(d.
1923
)
- 1846
-
Nathaniel Edwin Harris
,
Governor
of
Georgia
(d.
1929
)
- 1848
?
Henri Duparc
, French
composer
(d.
1933
)
- 1855
-
John Browning
, American
inventor
(d.
1926
)
- 1860
?
Karl Staaff
,
Prime Minister
of
Sweden
(d.
1915
)
- 1864
-
Paul Troje
, German politician (d.
1942
)
- 1867
-
Maxime Weygand
, French
general
(d.
1965
)
- 1867
?
Ludwig Thoma
, German
writer
(d.
1921
)
- 1869
-
Grigori Rasputin
, Russian
monk
, mystic and spiritual healer (d.
1916
)
- 1881
-
Ernst Fast
, Swedish long-distance runner (d.
1959
)
- 1882
?
Pavel Florensky
, Russian
theologian
,
philosopher
and mathematician (d.
1937
)
- 1883
?
Olav Aukrust
, Norwegian
poet
(d.
1929
)
- 1883
-
James H. Duff
, 36th
Governor of Pennsylvania
(d.
1969
)
- 1885
?
Umberto Nobile
, Italian aeronautical engineer and
Arctic
explorer (d.
1978
)
- 1887
?
Georges Vezina
, Canadian
ice hockey
player (d.
1926
)
- 1895
-
Cristobal Balenciaga
, Spanish
fashion
designer
(d.
1972
)
- 1899
?
Alexander Tcherepnin
, Russian-born American
composer
(d.
1977
)
- 1901
?
Ricardo Zamora
, Spanish
footballer
(d.
1978
)
- 1905
?
Christian Dior
, French
fashion
designer (d.
1957
)
- 1905
?
Karl Wallenda
, German-born
acrobat
(d.
1978
)
- 1908
-
Raymond D. Gary
,
Governor of Oklahoma
(d.
1993
)
- 1910
-
Eua Sunthornsanan
,
Thai
composer
and
bandleader
(d.
1981
)
- 1910
?
Albert Rosellini
, American
politician
(d.
2011
)
- 1911
-
Bill Graber
, American pole vaulter (d.
1996
)
- 1912
?
Konrad Emil Bloch
, German
biochemist
(d.
2000
)
- 1915
-
Orazio Mariani
, Italian sprinter (d.
1981
)
- 1915
-
Bill Sefton
, American pole vaulter (d.
1982
)
- 1916
?
Pietro Rava
, Italian
footballer
(d.
2006
)
- 1918
?
Richard Winters
, American paratrooper (d.
2011
)
- 1919
-
Lennie Bluett
, American
actor
(d.
2016
)
- 1919
-
Eric Brown
, Scottish test pilot (d.
2016
)
- 1921
-
Howard Unruh
, American
murderer
(d.
2009
)
- 1922
?
Paul Scofield
, British
actor
(d.
2008
)
- 1922
?
Telly Savalas
, American actor and singer (d.
1994
)
- 1923
-
Lola Flores
, Spanish
singer
,
dancer
and
actress
(d.
1995
)
- 1924
?
Benny Hill
, British
comedian
(d.
1992
)
- 1926
-
Steve Reeves
, American actor (d.
2000
)
- 1928
-
Reynaldo Bignone
, Argentine
general
and former
military
leader
- 1929
-
Denis Sanders
, American
movie director
,
producer
and
screenwriter
- 1930
-
Mainza Chona
, 3rd
Vice President
of
Zambia
(d.
2001
)
- 1932
-
John Chaney
, American
basketball
coach
- 1933
-
Joseph W. Eschbach
, American
physician
(d.
2007
)
- 1934
-
Audrey Dalton
, Irish actress
- 1936
-
Koji Hashimoto
, Japanese
movie director
(d.
2005
)
- 1937
-
Prince Max, Duke of Bavaria
- 1938
-
Wolfman Jack
, American
DJ
and
actor
(d.
1995
)
- 1938
-
Ken Maginnis
, Northern Irish soldier, educator and politician
- 1939
?
Friedel Lutz
, German footballer
- 1940
?
Jack Nicklaus
, American
golfer
- 1941
?
Placido Domingo
, Spanish
opera
singer and
conductor
- 1941
?
Richie Havens
, American musician (d.
2013
)
- 1942
-
Mac Davis
, American musician
- 1945
?
Martin Shaw
, English actor
- 1947
-
Jonathan Meades
, English
journalist
and
writer
- 1949
-
Gennaro Contaldo
, Italian
chef
- 1950
?
Billy Ocean
, Trinidadian
musician
- 1950
-
Zelimkhan Yaqub
, Azerbaijani
poet
(d.
2016
)
- 1950
?
Gary Locke
, American politician
- 1951
?
Eric Holder
, American jurist,
United States Attorney General
- 1953
?
Paul Allen
, American
entrepreneur
and co-founder of
Microsoft
- 1954
?
Thomas de Maiziere
, German politician
- 1954
?
Idrissa Ouedraogo
,
Burkina Faso
movie
maker
- 1955
?
Jeff Koons
, American
artist
- 1955
?
Peter Fleming
, American
tennis
player
- 1956
?
Geena Davis
, American
actress
- 1957
?
Greg Ryan
, American
soccer
coach
- 1958
?
Frank Ticheli
, American
composer
- 1959
?
Alex McLeish
, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1962
?
Marie Trintignant
, French actress (d.
2003
)
- 1962
?
Tyler Cowen
, American
economist
- 1963
?
Hakeem Olajuwon
, Nigerian-American
basketball
player
- 1965
?
Jam Master Jay
, American
DJ
(d.
2002
)
- 1968
?
Charlotte Ross
, American actress
- 1969
?
Tsubaki Nekoi
, Japanese
manga
artist
- 1969
?
Karina Lombard
, American actress
- 1969
?
M. K. Hobson
, American writer
- 1971
?
Alan McManus
, Scottish
snooker
player
- 1971
?
Doug Weight
, American
ice hockey
player
- 1971
?
Sergey Klevchenya
, Russian speed skater
- 1972
?
Yasunori Matsuda
, Japanese composer
- 1974
?
Kim Dotcom
, German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and founder of
Megaupload
- 1975
?
Nicky Butt
, English
footballer
- 1975
?
Ito
, Spanish footballer
- 1976
?
Igors Stepanovs
, Latvian
footballer
- 1976
?
Emma Bunton
, English singer (
Spice Girls
)
- 1977
?
Phil Neville
, English footballer
- 1977
-
Jerry Trainor
, American actor
- 1977
-
Bradley Carnell
, South African
footballer
- 1978
-
Phil Stacey
, American singer
- 1978
-
Andrei Zyuzin
, Russian
ice hockey
player
- 1979
?
Brian O'Driscoll
, Irish
rugby
player
- 1979
-
Johann Hari
, Scottish
journalist
- 1980
?
Dave Kitson
, English footballer
- 1980
-
Nana Mizuki
, Japanese
singer-songwriter
and
voice
actress
- 1982
?
Nicolas Mahut
, French
tennis
player
- 1982
?
Dean Whitehead
, English footballer
- 1982
?
Simon Rolfes
, German footballer
- 1983
?
Moritz Volz
, German footballer
- 1983
?
Maryse Ouellet
, Canadian
professional wrestler
- 1984
-
Raymond Gutierrez
, American-Filipino
actor
and
television
host
- 1984
-
Richard Gutierrez
, American-Filipino
actor
- 1985
-
Justin Ingram
, American
basketball
player
- 1985
-
Adrian Lewis
, English
darts
player
- 1985
-
Aura Dione
, Danish
singer
and
songwriter
- 1986
-
Jonathan Quick
, American
ice hockey
player
- 1987
?
Joe Ledley
, Welsh
footballer
- 1987
-
Darren Helm
, Canadian
ice hockey
player
- 1990
-
Jacob Smith
, American actor
- 1993
-
Chiara Pierobon
, Italian cyclist (d.
2015
)
- 1994
?
Laura Robson
, British
tennis
player
- 1994
-
Kang Seung-yoon
, South Korean
singer-songwriter
and
actor
- 1994
-
Marny Kennedy
, Australian
actress
,
singer
and
model
- 1994
-
Booboo Stewart
, American actor, singer and sportsman
- 1997
-
Jeremy Shada
, American actor
- 2001
?
Jackson Brundage
, American actor
- 2004
? Princess
Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
- 304
?
Saint Agnes
, Christian martyr (b.
291
)
- 917
-
Erchanger, Duke of Swabia
(b.
880
)
- 1118
?
Pope Paschal II
- 1519
?
Vasco Nunez de Balboa
, Spanish explorer (b.
1475
)
- 1527
-
Juan de Grijalva
, Spanish
conquistador
(b.
1489
)
- 1546
-
Azai Sukemasa
, Japanese
samurai
and warlord (b.
1491
)
- 1609
-
Joseph Justus Scaliger
, French Protestant scholar (b.
1540
)
- 1638
-
Ignazio Donati
, Italian composer (b.
1570
)
- 1773
?
Alexis Piron
, French writer (b.
1689
)
- 1774
?
Mustafa III
,
Ottoman
Sultan
(b.
1717
)
- 1775
-
Yemelyan Pugachev
, Russian rebel (b.
1742
)
- 1789
-
Baron d'Holbach
, French-German writer, philosopher and encyclopedist (b.
1723
)
- 1793
? King
Louis XVI of France
(b.
1754
)
- 1795
-
Samuel Wallis
, English
navigator
(b.
1728
)
- 1809
-
Josiah Hornblower
, American
engineer
and
politician
(b.
1729
)
- 1831
?
Ludwig Achim von Arnim
, German
poet
(b.
1781
)
- 1851
?
Albert Lertzing
, German
composer
(b.
1801
)
- 1872
?
Franz Grillparzer
, Austrian writer (b.
1791
)
- 1891
?
Calixa Lavallee
, Canadian composer (b.
1842
)
- 1901
?
Elisha Gray
, American inventor (b.
1835
)
- 1919
-
Ahmed Muhtar Pasha
, Ottoman
general
and Grand Vizier (b.
1839
)
- 1919
?
Gojong of the Korean Empire
, Emperor of
Korea
(b.
1852
)
- 1924
?
Vladimir Lenin
, Russian political leader (b.
1870
)
- 1926
?
Camillo Golgi
,
Italian
doctor, won the 1906
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
(b.
1843
)
- 1928
-
George Goethals
, American
army
engineer
(b.
1858
)
- 1932
?
Giles Lytton Strachey
, British writer (b.
1880
)
- 1937
-
Marie Prevost
, Canadian actress (b.
1896
)
- 1938
-
Georges Melies
, French
director
(b.
1861
)
- 1940
-
Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark
(b.
1888
)
- 1945
-
Rash Behari Bose
, Indian freedom fighter (b.
1886
)
- 1950
?
George Orwell
, British
writer
(b.
1903
)
- 1959
?
Cecil B. DeMille
, American director (b.
1881
)
- 1961
?
Blaise Cendrars
, Swiss writer (b.
1903
)
- 1967
-
Ann Sheridan
, American actress (b.
1915
)
- 1977
?
Sandro Penna
, Italian
poet
(b.
1906
)
- 1989
?
Billy Tipton
, American musician (b.
1914
)
- 1989
-
Carl Furillo
, American
baseball
player (b.
1922
)
- 1990
-
Mariano Rumor
,
Prime Minister of Italy
(b.
1915
)
- 1994
-
Bassel al-Assad
, brother of
Bashar al-Assad
(b.
1962
)
- 1994
-
Andrejs Kapmals
,
Latvian
runner (b.
1889
)
- 1997
?
Colonel Tom Parker
, American music manager (b.
1909
)
- 1998
-
Jack Lord
, American actor (b.
1920
)
- 1999
-
Charles Brown
, American
blues
singer
and
musician
(b.
1920
)
- 1999
-
Susan Strasberg
, American actress (b.
1938
)
- 2001
-
Byron De La Beckwith
, American
murderer
(b.
1920
)
- 2004
-
Yordan Radichkov
, Bulgarian writer (b.
1929
)
- 2006
?
Ibrahim Rugova
,
President
of
Kosovo
(b.
1944
)
- 2007
-
Maria Cioncan
, Romanian athlete (b.
1977
)
- 2007
-
U-Nee
, South Korean
singer
,
dancer
and
actress
(b.
1981
)
- 2008
?
Marie Smith Jones
, last speaker of the
Eyak language
(b.
1918
)
- 2011
?
Dennis Oppenheim
, American artist (b.
1938
)
- 2013
-
Michael Winner
, British
movie director
,
producer
and
food
critic
(b.
1935
)
- 2013
-
Alden W. Clausen
, American banker and former
World Bank
President (b.
1923
)
- 2014
-
Manfred Bleskin
, German
journalist
(b.
1949
)
- 2015
-
Kemal Monteno
, Bosnian singer (b.
1948
)
- 2015
-
Leon Brittan
, British politician (b.
1939
)
- 2015
-
Marcus Borg
, American
theologian
(b.
1942
)
- 2015
-
Pauline Yates
, English
actress
(b.
1929
)
- 2016
-
Bill Johnson
, American
skier
(b.
1960
)
- 2016
-
Robert Sassone
, French
cyclist
(b.
1978
)
- 2016
-
Derrick Todd Lee
, American
serial killer
(b.
1968
)
- 2016
-
Mrinalini Sarabhai
, Iranian classical
dancer
and
choreographer
(b.
1918
)
- 2020
-
Terry Jones
, English comedy writer (b.
1942
)