From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
October 21
is the 294th day of the year (295th in
leap years
) in the
Gregorian calendar
. There are 71 days remaining until the end of the year.
- 686
?
Conon
becomes
Pope
.
- 1096
-
People's Crusade
: The
Turkish
army
heavily defeats the
People's Army of the West
.
- 1097
-
First Crusade
: The
Siege of Antioch
begins.
- 1209
-
Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
is crowned by
Pope Innocent III
.
- 1392
-
Emperor Kameyama
of
Japan
abdicates the throne in favour of his arch-rival
Emperor Go-Komatsu
.
- 1512
-
Martin Luther
joins the theological faculty at the
University of Wittenberg
.
- 1520
-
Ferdinand Magellan
enters what is now known as the
Magellan Strait
.
- 1600
?
Tokugawa Ieyasu
defeats the leaders of rival
Japanese
clans in the
Battle of Sekigahara
, which marks the beginning of the
Tokugawa shogunate
, who in effect rule Japan until the mid-Nineteenth century.
- 1638
- In
England
, the
church
at Widecombe-on-the-Moor is struck by
lightning
during an afternoon service, leading to new scientific research on lightning strikes.
- 1797
? In
Boston Harbor
, the 44-gun
United States Navy
frigate
USS
Constitution
is launched.
- 1805
?
Napoleonic Wars
:
Battle of Trafalgar
? a
British
fleet led by Admiral
Lord Nelson
defeats a combined
French
and
Spanish
fleet off the coast of Spain under
Admiral Villeneuve
. It signalled the virtual end of French maritime power and left Britain navally unchallenged until the twentieth century.
- 1805
?
Napoleonic Wars
: Austrian
General Mack
surrendurs his army to the
Grand Armee
of
Napoleon
at
Ulm
, reaping
Napoleon
over 30,000 prisoners and inflicting 10,000 casualties on the losers. Ulm was considered to be one of Napoleon's finest hours.
- 1816
- The
Penang
Free School is founded in
George Town
,
Malaysia
. It is the oldest
English language
school in
Southeast Asia
.
- 1824
?
Joseph Aspdin
patents
Portland cement
.
- 1854
?
Florence Nightingale
and a staff of 38
nurses
were sent to the
Crimean War
.
- 1861
?
American Civil War
:
Battle of Ball's Bluff
?
Union
forces under Colonel
Edward Baker
are defeated by
Confederate
troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of
Abraham Lincoln
, is killed in the fighting.
- 1867
?
Manifest Destiny
:
Medicine Lodge Treaty
? Near
Medicine Lodge Creek, Kansas
a landmark treaty is signed by southern
Great Plains
Indian leaders. The treaty requires
Native American
Plains tribes to relocate a reservation in western
Oklahoma
.
- 1879
? Using a filament of
carbonized
thread,
Thomas Edison
tests the first practical electric
light bulb
(it lasted 13 1/2 hours before burning out).
- 1885
- In an
assassination
attempt, Danish Prime Minister
Jacob Estrup
is shot.
- 1888
- The
Swiss
Social Democratic Party
is founded.
- 1895
? The
Republic of Taiwan
collapses as
Japanese
forces invade.
- 1902
? In the
United States
, a five-month
strike
by
United Mine Workers
ends.
- 1907
- A magnitude 8.1
earthquake
hits Central
Asia
, killing 12,000.
- 1910
- HMS
Niobe
arrives at Halifax Harbour,
Nova Scotia
to become the first ship of the
Royal Canadian Navy
.
- 1921
? US President
Warren G. Harding
delivers the first speech by a sitting president against
lynching
in the deep south.
- 1930
- A mining disaster at Alsdorf, near
Aachen
,
Germany
, kills 271 people.
- 1934
?
Mao Tse-tung
and his followers begin the
Long March
.
- 1941
?
World War II
:
Germans
rampage in
Yugoslavia
, killing thousands of civilians.
- 1943
- The
Provisional Government of Free India
is declared by
Subhas Chandra Bose
.
- 1944
? The first
kamikaze
attack:
HMAS Australia
was hit by a
Japanese
plane carrying a 200 kg (441 pound)
bomb
off
Leyte Island
, as the
Battle of Leyte Gulf
began.
- 1944
-
World War II
:
Aachen
becomes the first major German city to fall to the
Allies
.
- 1945
?
Women's suffrage
: Women are allowed to vote in
France
for the first time.
- 1945
?
Argentine
military officer
and
politician
Juan Peron
married
actress
Evita
.
- 1947
? 21 die as a fire destroys an
asylum
in
Hoff
,
Germany
.
- 1948
- A Lockheed Constellation
airplane
crashes at
Prestwick
,
Scotland
, killing 39 people.
- 1957
? The movie
Jailhouse Rock
, starring
Elvis Presley
, opens.
- 1959
? In
New York City
, the
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
opens to the public. It was designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright
.
- 1959
? US President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
signs an
executive order
transferring
Wernher von Braun
and other
German
scientists from the
United States Army
to
NASA
.
- 1962
-
Norwegian
postal ship
Sanct Svithun
sinks, killing 41.
- 1965
-
Comet
Ikeya-Seki approaches
Perihelion
, passing 200,000
kilometers
(279,617
miles
) within
Earth
.
- 1966
?
Aberfan disaster
: A coal tip falls on the village of
Aberfan
in
Wales
, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren
- 1967
?
Vietnam War
: More than 100,000
war protesters
gather in
Washington, DC
. A peaceful rally at the
Lincoln Memorial
is followed by a march to
The Pentagon
and clashes with soldiers and
United States Marshals
protecting the facility (event lasts until
October 23
; 683 people will be arrested). Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in
Japan
and
Western Europe
.
- 1969
-
Willy Brandt
is elected
Chancellor
of
West Germany
.
- 1971
- 22 people are killed in a
gas
explosion at a shopping centre in Clarkston,
East Renfrewshire
, near
Glasgow
,
Scotland
.
- 1973
?
John Paul Getty III
's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in
Rome
; it does not arrive until
November 8
.
- 1977
- The
European Patent Institute
is founded.
- 1980
?
1980 World Series
: In 6 games, the
Philadelphia Phillies
win their first
World Series
.
- 1981
-
Andreas Papandreou
becomes
Prime Minister
of
Greece
.
- 1986
? In
Lebanon
, pro-
Iranian
kidnappers claim to have abducted
American
writer
Edward Tracy
(he will be released in August
1991
).
- 1986
-
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
enters into force.
- 1987
? Former
Miss America
Bess Myerson
is arrested on charges of
bribery
,
conspiracy
, and mail
fraud
, all involving an alimony-fixing scandal. She is later found not guilty.
- 1994
?
North Korea nuclear weapons program
:
North Korea
and the
United States
sign an agreement that requires North Korea to stop its
nuclear weapons
program and agree to inspections.
- 1994
- In
Seoul
,
South Korea
, 32 people are killed when the Seongsu
Bridge
collapses.
- 1997
? Hotel owners from the
Detroit
area meet to discuss
Jack Kevorkian
's practice of leaving corpses in hotel rooms.
- 1997
? The government of
Singapore
announces in a widely publicized "
toilet
alert" that the drive for toilet cleanliness is a great success; five toilets were selected by citizens as toilet role models.
- 1328
-
Hongwu Emperor
of
China
(d.
1398
)
- 1449
?
George, Duke of Clarence
(d.
1478
)
- 1527
-
Louis I, Cardinal of Guise
(d.
1578
)
- 1581
?
Domenico Zampieri
, Italian painter (d.
1641
)
- 1650
-
Jean Bart
, French
naval
commander (d.
1702
)
- 1660
?
Georg Ernst Stahl
, German scientist (d.
1734
)
- 1671
? King
Frederick IV of Demmark
(d.
1730
)
- 1672
-
Ludovico Antonio Muratori
, Italian writer (d.
1750
)
- 1675
?
Emperor Higashiyama of Japan
(d.
1710
)
- 1687
?
Nicolaus I Bernoulli
, Swiss
mathematician
(d.
1759
)
- 1728
-
Jose Monino, 1st Count of Floridablanca
, Spanish politician (d.
1808
)
- 1762
-
Herman Willem Daendels
, Dutch
statesman
(d.
1818
)
- 1772
?
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
, British
poet
(d.
1834
)
- 1775
-
Giuseppe Baini
, Italian composer (d.
1844
)
- 1790
-
Alphonse de Lamartine
, French writer (d.
1869
)
- 1811
-
Filippo Colini
, Italian
opera
singer (d.
1863
)
- 1823
-
Emilio Arrieta
, Spanish
composer
(d.
1894
)
- 1833
?
Alfred Nobel
, Swedish inventor (d.
1896
)
- 1837
-
James A. Beaver
, 20th
Governor
of
Pennsylvania
(d.
1914
)
- 1839
-
Georg von Siemens
, German banker and politician (d.
1901
)
- 1845
?
Will Carleton
, American poet (d.
1912
)
- 1846
-
Edmondo De Amicis
, Italian novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer (d.
1908
)
- 1847
?
Giuseppe Giacosa
, Italian writer (d.
1906
)
- 1874
-
Henri Guisan
, Swiss general (d.
1960
)
- 1884
-
Claire Waldoff
, German singer and entertainer (d.
1957
)
- 1886
?
Eugene Burton Ely
, American
aviator
(d.
1911
)
- 1886
-
Karl Polanyi
,
Austro-Hungarian
economist
(d.
1964
)
- 1887
-
James L. McConaughy
, American politician,
Governor
of
Connecticut
(d.
1948
)
- 1887
-
Krishna Singh
, Indian politician, 1st
Chief Minister
of
Bihar
(d.
1961
)
- 1892
?
Otto Nerz
, German
footballer
and coach (d.
1949
)
- 1894
-
Edogawa Rampo
, Japanese writer and critic (d.
1965
)
- 1895
-
Edna Purviance
, American actress (d.
1958
)
- 1895
-
Paavo Johansson
, Finnish
javelin
thrower (d.
1983
)
- 1896
-
Evgeny Schwarz
, Russian movie writer (d.
1958
)
- 1901
-
Margarete Buber-Neumann
, German politician (d.
1989
)
- 1907
-
Nikos Engonopoulos
, Greek painter and poet (d.
1985
)
- 1911
?
Mary Blair
, American artist and illustrator (d.
1978
)
- 1912
?
Georg Solti
, Hungarian
conductor
(d.
1997
)
- 1914
?
Kazimierz Swiatek
, Roman Catholic
cardinal
of
Belarus
(d.
2011
)
- 1914
?
Martin Gardner
, American writer (d.
2010
)
- 1917
?
Dizzy Gillespie
, American musician (d.
1993
)
- 1918
-
Hulett C. Smith
,
Governor
of
West Virginia
(d.
2012
)
- 1921
?
Malcolm Arnold
, British
composer
(d.
2006
)
- 1921
-
Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld
, Dutch
astronomer
(d.
2015
)
- 1921
-
Sena Jurinac
,
Bosnian
operatic
soprano
(d.
2011
)
- 1922
?
Liliane Bettencourt
, French
L'Oreal
heiress (d.
2017
)
- 1924
-
Joyce Randolph
, American actress
- 1924
-
Julie Wilson
, American actress (d.
2015
)
- 1925
?
Celia Cruz
, Cuban
Salsa
singer (d.
2003
)
- 1925
-
Virginia Zeani
, Romanian
soprano
- 1926
?
Leonard Rossiter
, English comedian and actor (d.
1984
)
- 1926
-
William Love Waller
,
Governor
of
Mississippi
(d.
2011
)
- 1927
?
Fritz Wintersteller
, Austrian
mountaineer
(d.
2018
)
- 1927
-
Howard Zieff
, American director (d.
2009
)
- 1928
-
Vern Mikkelsen
, American
basketball
player (d.
2013
)
- 1928
-
Whitey Ford
, American
baseball
player
- 1929
-
Pierre Bellemare
, French
writer
,
radio
and
television
host (d.
2018
)
- 1930
-
Pascale Roberts
, French actress (d.
2019
)
- 1930
-
Ivan Silayev
,
Soviet
Prime Minister
- 1931
?
Shammi Kapoor
, Indian actor (d.
2011
)
- 1932
-
Alex Ifeanyichukwu Ekwueme
,
Vice president
of
Nigeria
(d.
2017
)
- 1932
-
Pal Csernai
, Hungarian
footballer
(d.
2013
)
- 1933
-
Georgia Brown
, American actress (d.
1992
)
- 1933
-
Joan Hinde
, English
trumpeter
and entertainer (d.
2015
)
- 1937
-
Hans-Ulrich Schmincke
, German
volcanologist
- 1937
-
Said Afandi al-Chirkawi
, Russian spiritual leader (d.
2012
)
- 1937
-
Valentina Pyatchenko
, Russian singer (
Buranovskiye Babushki
)
- 1940
?
Geoffrey Boycott
, English
cricketer
- 1940
?
Manfred Mann
, South African-English musician
- 1940
-
Marita Petersen
,
Prime Minister
of the
Faroe Islands
(d.
2001
)
- 1941
?
Steve Cropper
, American musician and songwriter
- 1942
?
Christopher A. Sims
, American
economist
- 1942
-
Paul Churchland
, Canadian
philosopher
- 1942
-
Judith Sheindlin
, American judge (
Judge Judy
)
- 1942
-
Lou Lamoriello
, American
ice hockey
player, coach and manager
- 1943
?
Tariq Ali
, Pakistani writer and historian
- 1944
-
Jean-Pierre Sauvage
, French
chemist
,
2016
joint
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
laureate
- 1944
-
Mandy Rice-Davies
, British media personality (d.
2014
)
- 1945
-
Nikita Mikhalkov
, Soviet-Russian movie director
- 1946
-
Jane Heal
, British
philosopher
- 1946
?
Lux Interior
, American singer (d.
2009
)
- 1948
-
Tom Everett
, American actor
- 1949
?
Benjamin Netanyahu
,
Prime Minister
of
Israel
- 1949
-
LeTanya Richardson
, American actress
- 1949
-
Mike Keenan
, Canadian
ice hockey
coach
- 1950
-
Ronald McNair
, American
astronaut
(d.
1986
)
- 1952
-
Trevor Chappell
, Australian
cricketer
- 1952
?
Brent Mydland
, American
keyboardist
(d.
1990
)
- 1952
-
Patti Davis
, American actress and novelist, daughter of
Ronald Reagan
- 1953
?
Peter Mandelson
, English politician
- 1953
-
Eric Faulkner
, Scottish
singer-songwriter
and
guitarist
- 1954
-
Brian Tobin
, Canadian politician
- 1955
-
Catherine Hardwicke
, American
movie director
,
producer
,
designer
and
screenwriter
- 1956
?
Carrie Fisher
, American actress and writer (d.
2016
)
- 1957
-
Steve Lukather
, American
guitarist
and
singer
(
Toto
)
- 1957
?
Wolfgang Ketterle
, German
physicist
,
Nobel Prize
winner
- 1958
-
Andre Geim
, Russian-born
physicist
,
Nobel Prize
winner
- 1959
?
Ken Watanabe
, Japanese actor
- 1960
-
Scott Stearney
, American Vice Admiral (d.
2018
)
- 1962
-
David Campese
, Australian
rugby
player
- 1964
?
Jon Carin
, American musician
- 1965
?
Ion Andoni Goikoetxea
, Basque-Spanish
footballer
- 1967
?
Paul Ince
, English footballer
- 1969
?
Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
, crown prince of
Bahrain
- 1969
-
Chris Law
, Scottish politician
- 1971
?
Jade Jagger
, socialite and jewellery designer
- 1971
-
Damien Martyn
, Australian cricketer
- 1971
-
Paul Telfer
, Scottish
footballer
- 1971
-
Thomas Ulsrud
, Norwegian
curler
- 1972
-
Felicity Anderson
, Australian actress
- 1974
-
Costel Busuioc
, Romanian
tenor
- 1976
-
Andrew Scott
, Irish actor
- 1979
-
Fernanda Rodrigues
, Brazilian actress and television presenter
- 1979
-
Karl Harris
, British
motorcycle
racer (d.
2014
)
- 1980
?
Kim Kardashian
, American socialite, model and reality television personality
- 1981
?
Nemanja Vidic
,
Serbian
footballer
- 1981
-
Martin Castrogiovanni
, Argentine-born Italian
rugby
player
- 1983
?
Hrvoje Custic
, Croatian footballer (d.
2008
)
- 1983
-
Amber Rose
, American model
- 1983
-
Charlotte Sullivan
, Canadian actress
- 1984
?
Kieran Richardson
, English footballer
- 1986
?
Natalee Holloway
, American teenager (missing since
2005
)
- 1986
-
Tamerlan Tsarnaev
,
Chechen
-American terrorist (d.
2013
)
- 1988
-
James White
, American
basketball
player
- 1989
-
Sam Vokes
, Welsh
footballer
- 1990
-
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
, French
chess
player
- 1990
?
Ricky Rubio
, Spanish
basketball
player
- 1992
?
Bernard Tomic
, Australian
tennis
player
- 1993
-
Kane Brown
, American singer
- 1995
-
Cameron Burgess
, Scottish-Australian
footballer
- 1995
-
Shannon Magrane
, American
singer
- 310
?
Pope Eusebius
- 1125
-
Cosmas of Prague
,
Bohemian
writer
- 1204
-
Robert de Beaufort, 4th Earl of Leicester
- 1221
-
Alix, Duchess of Brittany
(b.
1201
)
- 1266
?
Birger Jarl
, Swedish statesman (b.
1210
)
- 1422
? King
Charles VI of France
(b.
1368
)
- 1500
-
Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado
of
Japan
(b.
1442
)
- 1558
?
Julius Caesar Scaliger
,
humanist
scholar (b.
1484
)
- 1600
-
Toda Katsushige
, Japanese
warlord
(b.
1557
)
- 1623
-
William Wade
, English
statesman
and
diplomat
(b.
1546
)
- 1687
? Sir
Edmund Waller
, English
poet
(b.
1606
)
- 1708
-
Guru Gobind Singh
, 10th
Sikh
Guru
(b.
1666
)
- 1765
?
Giovani Paolo Panini
, Italian painter and architect (b.
1691
)
- 1775
?
Peyton Randolph
, American politician, President of the
Continental Congress
(b.
1721
)
- 1805
- Killed in the
Battle of Trafalgar
:
- 1818
?
Michael Howe
,
bushranger
in
Tasmania
,
Australia
- 1821
-
Dorothea Ackermann
, German actress (b.
1752
)
- 1872
-
Jacques Babinet
, French
physicist
(b.
1794
)
- 1873
?
Johann Sebastian Welhaven
, Norwegian poet (b.
1807
)
- 1896
?
James Henry Greathead
,
British
engineer
(b.
1844
)
- 1903
-
Jinmaku Kyugoro
, Japanese
sumo
wrestler (b.
1829
)
- 1904
-
Isabelle Eberhardt
, Swiss explorer and writer (b.
1877
)
- 1907
-
Jules Chevalier
, French
priest
(b.
1824
)
- 1916
-
Count Karl von Sturgkh
, Austrian politician (b.
1859
)
- 1929
-
Vasil Radoslavov
, Bulgarian politician (b.
1854
)
- 1931
?
Arthur Schnitzler
,
Austrian
writer (b.
1862
)
- 1931
-
Barbecue Bob
, American
blues
musician (b.
1902
)
- 1940
-
William G. Conley
,
Governor
of
West Virginia
(b.
1866
)
- 1944
?
Alois Kayser
,
German
missionary, working in
Nauru
- 1944
-
Hilma af Klint
, Swedish artist and mystic (b.
1862
)
- 1952
-
Hans Merensky
, South African geologist and philanthropist (b.
1871
)
- 1967
-
Ejnar Hertzsprung
, Danish
astronomer
(b.
1873
)
- 1969
?
Waclaw Sierpinski
,
Polish
mathematician (b.
1882
)
- 1969
?
Jack Kerouac
,
American
beat novelist (b.
1922
)
- 1975
?
Charles Reidpath
, American athlete (b.
1887
)
- 1978
?
Anastas Mikoyan
, Soviet politician (b.
1895
)
- 1980
?
Hans Asperger
,
Austrian
psychologist who discovered
Asperger's Syndrome
(b.
1906
).
- 1980
-
Vulko Cherenkov
, Bulgarian politician (b.
1900
)
- 1984
?
Francois Truffaut
,
French
movie director (b.
1932
)
- 1985
-
Dan White
, American politician (b.
1946
)
- 1986
?
Lionel Murphy
, Australian Labor Party
politician
and
High Court
judge (b.
1922
)
- 1990
-
Walther Sommerlath
, German businessman, father of
Queen Silvia of Sweden
(b.
1901
)
- 1993
?
Melchior Ndadaye
,
President
of
Burundi
(b.
1953
)
- 1995
?
Shannon Hoon
, lead singer of pop band
Blind Melon
(b.
1967
)
- 1995
-
Maxene Andrews
, American singer (b.
1916
)
- 1995
?
Jesus Blasco
,
Spanish
comic book
writer (b.
1919
)
- 1996
-
Georgios Zoitakis
, Greek army general and regent (b.
1910
)
- 1998
-
Francis W. Sargent
,
Governor of Massachusetts
(b.
1915
)
- 1999
?
Lars Bo
, Danish artist and writer (b.
1924
)
- 2003
?
Fred Berry
, American actor (b.
1951
)
- 2003
?
Luis A. Ferre
, former governor of
Puerto Rico
(b.
1904
)
- 2003
?
Louise Day Hicks
, US politician (b.
1916
)
- 2003
?
Elliott Smith
, American musician (b.
1969
)
- 2006
?
Sandy West
, American musician (b.
1959
)
- 2010
?
Loki Schmidt
, German
environmentalist
and wife of
Helmut Schmidt
(b.
1919
)
- 2011
-
Edmundo Ros
,
Trinidadian
musician (b.
1910
)
- 2012
-
George McGovern
, American politician (b.
1922
)
- 2012
-
Yash Chopra
, Indian
movie director
,
screenwriter
and
producer
(b.
1932
)
- 2014
-
Gough Whitlam
, 21st
Prime Minister of Australia
(b.
1916
)
- 2014
-
Benjamin C. Bradlee
, American
journalist
(b.
1921
)
- 2014
-
Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani
, Iranian politician and cleric (b.
1931
)
- 2014
-
Seth Gaaikema
, Dutch comedian and writer (b.
1939
)
- 2014
-
Lilli Carati
, Italian actress (b.
1956
)
- 2015
-
Marty Ingels
, American actor (b.
1936
)
- 2016
-
Manfred Krug
, German actor (b.
1937
)
- 2017
-
Martin Eric Ain
, American-Swiss musician (b.
1967
)
- 2017
-
Emilio D'Amore
, Italian politician (b.
1915
)
- 2017
-
Rosemary Leach
, English actress (b.
1935
)
- 2017
-
Lech Ordon
, Polish actor (b.
1928
)
- 2017
-
Denise P. Barlow
, British geneticist (b.
1950
)
- 2017
-
Judith McGrath
, Australian actress (b.
1947
)
- 2017
-
Gilbert Stork
, American organic chemist (b.
1921
)
- 2018
-
Earl Bakken
, American inventor and museum founder (b.
1924
)
- 2018
-
Ilie Balaci
, Romanian footballer and manager (b.
1956
)
- 2018
-
Harry L. Ettlinger
, American engineer (b.
1926
)
- 2018
-
Robert Faurisson
, British-French journalist, academic and
Holocaust
denier (b.
1929
)
- 2018
-
Joachim Ronneberg
, Norwegian military officer and broadcaster (b.
1919
)
- 2018
-
Jun-ichi Nishizawa
, Japanese electrical engineer (b.
1926
)
- 2018
-
Charles Wang
, Chinese-born American software engineer, philanthropist and sports team owner (b.
1944
)
- 2019
-
Gilberto Aceves Navarro
, Mexican painter and sculptor (b.
1931
)
- 2019
-
Bengt Feldreich
, Swedish television journalist (b.
1925
)
- 2019
-
Taras Kutovy
, Ukrainian politician (b.
1976
)
- 2019
-
Lho Shin-yong
,
Prime Minister of South Korea
(b.
1930
)
- 2019
-
Aila Meriluoto
, Finnish poet (b.
1924
)