September 21
September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). There are 101 days remaining.
Events
- 454 - Roman Emperor Valentinian III assassinates Aëtius in his own throne room.
- 1745 - Battle of Prestonpans: A Hanoverian army under the command of John Cope is defeated, in ten minutes, by the Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart
- 1765 - Antoine de Beauterne announced he had killed the Beast of Gévaudan.
- 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
- 1792 - The French National Convention votes to abolish the monarchy.
- 1827 - Joseph Smith, Jr., claims that the angel Moroni gave him a record of gold plates, one-third of which is translated into The Book of Mormon.
- 1860 - In the Second Opium War, an Anglo-French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Baliqiao.
- 1896 - British force under Horatio Kitchener takes Dongola in the Sudan.
- 1897 - The Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus letter is published in the New York Sun.
- 1898 - Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.
- 1921 - Oppau explosion, a storage silo at a fertilizer producing plant exploded in Oppau, Germany, 500—600 killed.
- 1937 - J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published.
- 1939 - Romanian Prime Minister Armand Calinescu is assassinated by pro-Nazi members of the Iron Guard.
- 1942 - The B-29 Superfortress makes its debut.
- 1950 - George Marshall sworn in as the 3rd Secretary of Defense of United States.
- 1964 - Malta becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1970 - Monday Night Football premieres.
- 1972 - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos issues Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.
- 1981 - Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1991 - Armenia is granted independence from Soviet Union.
- 1993 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin suspends parliament and scraps the then-functioning constitution, thus triggering the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993.
- 1993 - Grunge rock band Nirvana releases its album In Utero.
- 1999 - Chi-Chi earthquake occurs in central Taiwan, leaving about 2,400 people dead.
- 2001 - Deep Space 1 flies within 2,200 km of Comet Borrelly.
- 2002 - International Day of Peace recognized by the United Nations as a full day of ceasefire and nonviolence.
- 2003 - Galileo mission terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.
- 2004 - The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merge to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
- 2004 - Punk rock band Green Day releases its critically acclaimed album American Idiot.
Births
- 1328 - Hongwu Emperor of China (d. 1398)
- 1411 - Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, claimant to the English throne (d. 1460)
- 1415 - Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1493)
- 1428 - Jingtai Emperor of China (d. 1457)
- 1452 - Girolamo Savonarola, Dominican priest and ruler of Florence (d. 1498)
- 1629 - Philip Cardinal Howard, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1694)
- 1645 - Louis Joliet, Canadian explorer (d. 1700)
- 1756 - John MacAdam, Scottish engineer and road-builder (d. 1836)
- 1840 - Murad V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1904)
- 1842 - Abd-ul-Hamid II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
- 1853 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
- 1863 - John Bunny, American film comedian (d. 1915)
- 1866 - H. G. Wells, English writer (d. 1946)
- 1866 - Charles Nicolle, French bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1936)
- 1873 - Papa Jack Laine, American musician (d. 1966)
- 1874 - Gustav Holst, English composer (d. 1934)
- 1895 - Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (d. 1925)
- 1902 - Luis Cernuda, Spanish poet (d. 1963)
- 1912 - Chuck Jones, American animator (d. 2002)
- 1919 - Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher and physicist
- 1919 - Fazlur Rahman, Pakistani scholar (d. 1988)
- 1920 - Jay Ward, American animator (d. 1988)
- 1926 - Donald A. Glaser, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1929 - Bernard Williams, English philosopher (d. 2003)
- 1929 - Sándor Kocsis, Hungarian footballer (d. 1979)
- 1931 - Larry Hagman, American actor
- 1934 - Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1935 - Henry Gibson, American actor
- 1944 - Fannie Flagg, American actress and novelist
- 1944 - Hamilton Jordan, Carter's 1ST Chief of Staff
- 1945 - Jerry Bruckheimer, American film and television producer
- 1946 - Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss Federal Councilor
- 1947 - Stephen King, American author
- 1947 - Marsha Norman, American playwright
- 1949 - Artis Gilmore, American basketball player
- 1950 - Charles Clarke, British politician
- 1950 - Bill Murray, American actor
- 1951 - Aslan Maskhadov, Chechen rebel leader
- 1952 - Neil Peart, Canadian drummer (Rush)
- 1953 - Arie Luyendyk, Dutch race car driver
- 1954 - Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
- 1955 - Mika Kaurismäki, Finnish director
- 1957 - Ethan Coen, American film director
- 1959 - Dave Coulier, American actor
- 1960 - David James Elliott, Canadian actor
- 1961 - Nancy Travis, American actress
- 1962 - Rob Morrow, American actor
- 1963 - Angus Macfadyen, Scottish actor
- 1963 - Curtly Ambrose, West Indian cricketer
- 1963 - Cecil Fielder, baseball player
- 1965 - Cheryl Hines, American actress
- 1967 - Faith Hill, American singer
- 1967 - Tyler Stewart, Canadian drummer (Barenaked Ladies)
- 1968 - Ricki Lake, American actress and talk show hostess
- 1971 - Luke Wilson, American actor
- 1971 - Alfonso Ribeiro, Dominican-born actor
- 1972 - Liam Gallagher, British singer (Oasis)
- 1972 - Jon Kitna, American football player
- 1972 - David Silveria, American drummer (KoЯn)
- 1974 - Andy Todd, English footballer
- 1975 - Doug Davis, baseball player
- 1979 - Richard Dunne, Irish footballer
- 1979 - Chris Gayle, West Indian cricketer
- 1979 - Julian Gray, English footballer
- 1980 - Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
- 1981 - Nicole Richie, American actress
- 1983 - Maggie Grace, American actress
- 1983 - Manikandan M, Great indian hero (actor)
Deaths
- 454 - Aëtius, Roman general
- 1217 - Lembitu of Lehola, Estonian soldier
- 1327 - King Edward II of England (b. 1284)
- 1397 - Richard FitzAlan, 11th Earl of Arundel, English military leader (executed) (b. 1346)
- 1542 - Juan Boscán Almogáver, Spanish poet
- 1558 - Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1500)
- 1576 - Gerolamo Cardano, Italian mathematician (b. 1501)
- 1586 - Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French church leader (b. 1517)
- 1626 - François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières, Constable of France (b. 1543)
- 1719 - Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (b. 1647)
- 1743 - Jai Singh II, King of Amber-Juiper (b. 1688)
- 1748 - John Balguy, English philosopher (b. 1686)
- 1796 - François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, French general (b. 1769)
- 1798 - George Read, American lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1733)
- 1832 - Sir Walter Scott, Scottish writer (b. 1771)
- 1860 - Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (b. 1788)
- 1897 - Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian (b. 1819)
- 1904 - Chief Joseph, Nez Perce leader (b. 1840)
- 1926 - Leon Charles Thevenin, French telegraph engineer (b. 1857)
- 1938 - Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic Croatian writer (b. 1874)
- 1954 - Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese inventor (b. 1858)
- 1957 - King Haakon VII of Norway (b. 1872)
- 1971 - Bernardo Houssay, Argentine physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- 1974 - Walter Brennan, American actor (b. 1894)
- 1974 - Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (b. 1918)
- 1987 - Jaco Pastorius, American bassist (b. 1951)
- 1995 - Rudy Perpich, American politician (b. 1928)
- 1998 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American athlete (b. 1959)
- 2002 - Robert L. Forward, American physicist and writer (b. 1932)
- 1983 - Manikandan M, Great indian hero (actor)
Holidays and observances
International
- International Day of Peace of the United Nations, as propagated by Peace One Day
- RC Saints - Matthew the Evangelist
Also see September 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
National
- Independence Day in Malta (1964), Belize (1981) & Armenia (1991)
- Philippines - Thanksgiving Day
- Mabon - Neopagan festival of Mabon
- In ancient Greece, the eighth day of the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the secret rites in the Telesterion finish and the feast, Pannychis, begins.
External links
September 20 · September 22 · August 21 · October 21 · more historical anniversaries