January 21

January 21 in recent years

2024 (Sunday)

2023 (Saturday)

2022 (Friday)

2021 (Thursday)

2020 (Tuesday)

2019 (Monday)

2018 (Sunday)

2017 (Saturday)

2016 (Thursday)

2015 (Wednesday)

January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 344 days remain until the end of the year (345 in leap years).

Events

• 763 – The Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa ends in a decisive Abbasid victory.
• 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
• 1643 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to reach Tonga.
• 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
• 1749 – The Verona Philharmonic Theatre 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 of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
• 1840 – Jules Dumont d'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
• 1864 – The Tauranga Campaign begins during the Maori Wars.
• 1887 – 465 millimetres (18.3 in) of rain falls in Brisbane, a record for any Australian capital city.
• 1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.
• 1899 – Opel manufactures its first automobile.
• 1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
• 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.
• 1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1919 – Meeting of the First Dáil Éireann in the Mansion House Dublin. Sinn Féin adopts Ireland's first constitution. The first engagement of Irish War of Independence, Sologhead Beg, County Tipperary.
• 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic.
• 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
• 1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania, the day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews.
• 1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Quebec Flag Day.
• 1950 – Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
• 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
• 1958 – The last Fokker C.X in military service, the Finnish Air Force FK-111 target tower, crashes, killing the pilot and winch-operator.
• 1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.
• 1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37. It is the worst air disaster in Jamaica's history and the first for Avianca.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.
• 1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
• 1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.
• 1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
• 1977 – President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all American Vietnam War draft evaders, some of whom had emigrated to Canada.
• 1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.
• 1985 – The inauguration of President Ronald Reagan to a second term, already postponed a day because January 20 fell on a Sunday, becomes the second inauguration in history moved indoors because of freezing temperatures and high winds. The parade is cancelled altogether.
• 1997 – Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
• 1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.
• 2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutierrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.
• 2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.
• 2004 – NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
• 2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.
• 2008 – Black Monday in worldwide stock markets. FTSE 100 had its biggest ever one-day points fall, European stocks closed with their worst result since 11 September 2001, and Asian stocks drop as much as 14%.
• 2011 – 2011 Albanian opposition demonstrations

Births

• 1338 – King Charles V of France (d. 1380)
• 1610 – Elizabeth Fones, English-born colonial American pioneer (d. 1673)
• 1721 – James Murray, British military officer, governor of Quebec (d. 1794)
• 1735 – Johann Gottfried Eckard, German pianist and composer (d. 1809)
• 1804 – Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (d. 1887)
• 1813 – John C. Frémont, American army officer, explorer and presidential candidate (d. 1890)
• 1815 – John Bingham, American politician and lawyer (d. 1900)
• 1824 – Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, American, Confederate army general (d. 1863)
• 1825 – Imre Madách, 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)
• 1848 – Henri Duparc, French composer (d. 1933)
• 1860 – Karl Staaff, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
• 1864 – Paul Troje, German politician (d. 1942)
• 1867 – Ludwig Thoma, German writer (d. 1921)
• 1867 – Maxime Weygand, French general (d. 1965)
• 1878 – Vahan Tekeyan, Armenian poet and public activist (d. 1948)
• 1879 – Joseph Roffo, French rugby player (d. 1933)
• 1881 – Arch McCarthy, American baseball player (d. unknown)
• 1882 – Pavel Florensky (O.S. January 9), Russian Orthodox theologian and mathematician (d. 1937)
• 1882 – Francis Gailey, Australian born American freestyle swimmer (d. 1972)
• 1883 – Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (d. 1929)
• 1883 – Amang Rodriguez, Filipino politician (d. 1964)
• 1884 – Roger Baldwin, American social activist (d. 1981)
• 1885 – Umberto Nobile, Italian aeronautical engineer (d. 1978)
• 1887 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
• 1887 – Maude Farris-Luse, American supercentenarian who was the oldest living person at the age of 115. (d. 2002)
• 1895 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish couturier (d. 1972)
• 1897 – René Iché, French sculptor (d. 1954)
• 1898 – Avery Claflin, American composer (d. 1979)
• 1899 – Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian born American composer (d. 1977)
• 1901 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (d. 1978)
• 1904 – Puck van Heel, Dutch footballer (d. 1984)
• 1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer (d. 1957)
• 1905 – Karl Wallenda, German acrobat (d. 1978)
• 1906 – Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer (d. 2007)
• 1909 – Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer (d. 2004)
• 1910 – Albert Rosellini, American politician and 15th Governor of Washington (d. 2011)
• 1910 – Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
• 1912 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-born biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2000)
• 1918 – Chichay, Filipino actress (d. 1993)
• 1918 – Richard D. Winters, American war hero (d. 2011)
• 1919 – Eric "Winkle" Brown, Scottish test pilot
• 1921 – Lincoln Alexander, Canadian politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d. 2012)
• 1921 – Howard Unruh, American murderer (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1922 – Paul Scofield, English actor (d. 2008)
• 1923 – Lola Flores, Spanish singer (d. 1995)
• 1924 – Benny Hill, English actor, comedian, and singer (d. 1992)
• 1925 – Eva Ibbotson, Austrian-born British author
• 1926 – Brian Brockless, English organist (d. 1995)
• 1926 – Steve Reeves, American actor (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Clive Churchill, Australian rugby league footballer (d. 1985)
• 1928 – Gene Sharp, American political theorist and pacifist
• 1932 – John Chaney, American basketball coach
• 1933 – Joseph W. Eschbach, American doctor (d. 2007)
• 1934 – Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
• 1935 – Ann Wedgeworth, American actress
• 1936 – Koji Hashimoto, Japanese film director (d. 2005)
• 1937 – Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria
• 1938 – Wolfman Jack, American disk jockey and actor (d. 1995)
• 1938 – John Savident, British actor
• 1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
• 1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor
• 1941 – Stathis Giallelis, Greek actor
• 1941 – Richie Havens, American musician
• 1941 – Mike Medavoy, American film producer
• 1941 – Ivan Putski, Polish-born American professional wrestler
• 1942 – Mac Davis, American musician
• 1942 – Edwin Starr, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1943 – Dimitris Poulikakos, Greek actor, songwriter and singer
• 1945 – Martin Shaw, British actor
• 1946 – Johnny Oates, American baseball player and manager (d. 2004)
• 1947 – Jill Eikenberry, American actress
• 1947 – Pye Hastings, English singer and musician (Caravan)
• 1947 – Michel Jonasz, French singer and composer
• 1950 – Agnes van Ardenne, Dutch politician and diplomat.
• 1950 – Gary Locke, American politician, 21st Governor of Washington, 36th United States Secretary of Commerce, and United States Ambassador to China
• 1950 – Billy Ocean, West Indian musician
• 1951 – Eric Holder, American jurist, and 82nd United States Attorney General
• 1952 – Marco Camenisch, Swiss environmental activist
• 1952 – Cyril and Libbye Hellier, identical-twin sopranos
• 1952 – Louis Menand, American writer and critic
• 1953 – Paul Allen, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft
• 1953 – Glenn Kaiser, Blues-rock, Heavy metal, Rock, R&B (Resurrection Band)
• 1954 – Phil Thompson, English footballer and coach
• 1954 – Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkinabé filmmaker
• 1955 – Jeff Koons, American artist
• 1956 – Robby Benson, American actor
• 1956 – Geena Davis, American actress
• 1957 – Greg Ryan, American soccer coach
• 1958 – Frank Ticheli, American composer
• 1958 – Michael Wincott, Canadian actor
• 1959 – Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
• 1960 – Toxey Haas, American entrepreneur, founder of Haas Outdoors, Inc.
• 1962 – Tyler Cowen, American economist
• 1962 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
• 1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-born American basketball player
• 1963 – Detlef Schrempf, German basketball player
• 1965 – Jam Master Jay, American disc jockey (d. 2002)
• 1966 – Robert Del Naja, English musician (Massive Attack)
• 1966 – Candi Milo, American voice actress
• 1967 – Artashes Minasian, Armenian chess Grandmaster
• 1968 – Ulrica Messing, Swedish politician
• 1968 – Charlotte Ross, American actress
• 1968 – Sundar C., Film Director and Actor
• 1969 – Eduard Hämäläinen, Finnish-Belarusian decathlete
• 1969 – M. K. Hobson, American speculative fiction and fantasy writer
• 1969 – Karina Lombard, American actress
• 1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese manga artist
• 1970 – Ken Leung, American actor
• 1970 – Mark Trojanowski, American musician (Sister Hazel)
• 1971 – Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
• 1971 – Tweet, American singer
• 1971 – Doug Weight, American ice hockey player
• 1971 – Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skating World Champion
• 1972 – Alan Benes, American baseball player
• 1972 – Rick Falkvinge, Swedish politician
• 1972 – Yasunori Mitsuda, Japanese composer
• 1972 – Cat Power (Chan Marshall), American musician
• 1974 – Rove McManus, Australian television host and comedian
• 1974 – Alex Sperafico, Brazilian racing driver
• 1975 – Nicky Butt, English footballer
• 1975 – Thomas Castaignede, French rugby player
• 1975 – Yuji Ide, Japanese racing driver
• 1975 – Willem Korsten, Dutch footballer
• 1975 – Ito, Spanish footballer
• 1976 – Emma Bunton, English singer (Spice Girls)
• 1976 – Patrick de Lange, Dutch baseball player
• 1977 – Al Baxter, Australian rugby union footballer
• 1977 – Phil Neville, English footballer
• 1977 – Matt Perry, English rugby player
• 1977 – Jerry Trainor, American comedic actor
• 1978 – Bryan Gilmore, National Football League player
• 1978 – Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin, American singer (Dru Hill)
• 1978 – Phil Stacey, American singer
• 1978 – Faris al-Sultan, German-Iraqi triathlete
• 1978 – Andrei Zyuzin, Russian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Byung-Hyun Kim, Korean baseball player
• 1979 – Spider Loc, American rapper (G-Unit)
• 1979 – Brian O'Driscoll, Irish rugby union footballer
• 1980 – Dave Kitson, English footballer
• 1980 – Nana Mizuki, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1980 – Mari Possa, Salvadorian-American pornographic actress
• 1980 – Santhanam (actor), Excellent Comedian
• 1980 – Brie Rippner, American tennis player
• 1981 – Gillian Chung, Hong Kong singer and actress (Twins)
• 1981 – Jamie Dalrymple, English cricketer
• 1981 – Ivan Ergić, Serbian footballer
• 1981 – Dany Heatley, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1981 – Andy Lee, Korean singer (Shinhwa)
• 1981 – Izabella Miko, Polish actress and model
• 1981 – Michel Teló, Brazilian sertanejo singer-songwriter
• 1982 – Nicolas Mahut, French tennis player
• 1982 – Simon Rolfes, German footballer
• 1982 – Go Shiozaki, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
• 1983 – Alex Acker, American basketball player
• 1983 – Maryse Ouellet, Canadian model and professional wrestler
• 1983 – Peter Philipakos, American/Greek soccer player
• 1983 – Niels de Ruiter, Dutch dart player
• 1983 – Moritz Volz, German footballer
• 1984 – Raymond Gutierrez, Filipino actor and television host
• 1984 – Richard Gutierrez, Filipino actor and television host
• 1984 – Robert Ray, American baseball player
• 1985 – Salvatore Giunta, Medal of Honor recipient
• 1985 – Adrian Lewis, English darts player
• 1985 – Álex Pérez, Spanish footballer
• 1985 – Sasha Pivovarova, Russian model
• 1985 – Matt Unicomb, Australian basketball player
• 1986 – Peyton Hillis, American football player
• 1986 – Jonathan Quick, American hockey player
• 1986 – Sushant Singh Rajput, Indian actor
• 1987 – Darren Helm, Canadian Ice Hockey player
• 1987 – Henrico Drost, Dutch footballer
• 1988 – Ashton Eaton, American decathlete
• 1988 – Vanessa Hessler, Italian model
• 1988 – William C. Woxlin, Swedish composer
• 1989 – Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenian footballer
• 1990 – Jacob Smith, American actor
• 1993 – John Cofie, English footballer
• 1994 – Laura Robson, British tennis player
• 1994 – BooBoo Stewart, American actor and singer (T-Squad)
• 1997 – Jeremy Shada, American actor
• 2001 – Jackson Brundage, American actor
• 2004 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway

Deaths

• 304 – Saint Agnes (martyred) (b. 291)
• 496 – Epiphanius, Bishop of Pavia (b. 438)
• 917 – Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (b. c. 880)
• 1118 – Pope Paschal II
• 1519 – Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)
• 1527 – Juan de Grijalva, Spanish conquistador (b. c. 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. c. 1570)
• 1683 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, British politician (b. 1621)
• 1699 – Obadiah Walker, English writer (b. 1616)
• 1706 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (b. 1649)
• 1710 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (b. 1638)
• 1722 – Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, English supporter of William III of England (b. 1661)
• 1731 – Thomas Woolston, English theologian (b. 1669)
• 1731 – Ignjat Đurđević, baroque poet and translator from the Republic of Ragusa (b. 1675)
• 1766 – James Quin, English actor (b. 1693)
• 1773 – Alexis Piron, French writer (b. 1689)
• 1774 – Mustafa III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1717)
• 1775 – Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel
• 1793 – King Louis XVI of France (executed) (b. 1754)
• 1795 – Samuel Wallis, English navigator (b. 1728)
• 1809 – Josiah Hornblower, American statesman (b. 1729)
• 1814 – Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, French writer and botanist (b. 1737)
• 1823 – Cayetano José Rodríguez, Argentine cleric, journalist and poet (b. 1761)
• 1831 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (b. 1781)
• 1836 – Ferenc Novák Hungarian Slovene writer (b. 1791)
• 1851 – Albert Lortzing, German composer (b. 1801)
• 1862 – Božena Němcová, Czech writer (b. 1820)
• 1870 – Alexander Herzen, Russian writer (b. 1812)
• 1872 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (b. 1791)
• 1881 – Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1802)
• 1891 – Calixa Lavallée, Canadian composer (b. 1842)
• 1901 – Elisha Gray, American inventor (b. 1835)
• 1914 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian artist (b. 1857)
• 1919 – Gojong of Joseon, Emperor of Korea (b. 1852)
• 1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary (b. 1870)
• 1926 – Camillo Golgi, Italian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)
• 1928 – George Goethals, American army engineer (b. 1858)
• 1931 – Felix Blumenfeld, Russian composer (b. 1863)
• 1932 – Giles Lytton Strachey, British writer (b. 1880)
• 1933 – George A. Moore, Irish novelist (b. 1852)
• 1937 – Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1898)
• 1938 – Georges Méliès, French filmmaker and innovator (b. 1861)
• 1940 – John Duha, American gymnast (b. 1875)
• 1948 – Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
• 1950 – George Orwell, British writer (b. 1903)
• 1955 – Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
• 1956 – Sam Langford, Canadian boxer (b. 1883)
• 1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director (b. 1881)
• 1959 – Carl Switzer, American actor (b. 1927)
• 1961 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1887)
• 1965 – Gwynne Evans, American freestyle swimmer and water polo player (b. 1880)
• 1967 – Ann Sheridan, American actress (b. 1915)
• 1968 – Will Lang Jr., American magazine executive (b. 1914)
• 1977 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet (b. 1906)
• 1978 – Freda Utley, British scholar and author. (b. 1898)
• 1984 – Giannis Skaribas, Greek writer, dramatist, and poet (b. 1893)
• 1984 – Jackie Wilson, American musician (Billy Ward and His Dominoes) (b. 1934)
• 1985 – James Beard, American chef and author (b. 1903)
• 1985 – Eddie Graham, American professional wrestler and promoter (b. 1930)
• 1987 – Charles Goodell, American politician (b. 1926)
• 1989 – Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
• 1989 – Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
• 1993 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player (b. 1903)
• 1994 – Bassel al-Assad, son of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad (b. 1962)
• 1996 – René Marc Jalbert, sergeant-at-Arms at the National Assembly of Quebec (b. 1921)
• 1997 – Colonel Tom Parker, American manager of Elvis Presley (b. 1909)
• 1998 – Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Charles Brown, American blues singer and pianist (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)
• 2001 – Byron De La Beckwith, American white supremacist (b. 1921)
• 2002 – Peggy Lee, American singer (b. 1920)
• 2003 – Paul Haines, American-born Canadian poet (b. 1933)
• 2004 – Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Theun de Vries, Dutch writer (b. 1907)
• 2005 – John L. Hess, American journalist (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
• 2006 – Bedanand Jha, Nepalese politician
• 2007 – Maria Cioncan, Romanian athlete (b. 1977)
• 2007 – U;Nee, Korean pop artist (b. 1981)
• 2008 – Pam Barrett, Canadian politician (b. 1953)
• 2008 – Marie Smith Jones, last native speaker of the Eyak language (b. 1918)
• 2008 – Kenneth Parnell, American convicted sex offender (b. 1931)
• 2009 – Veatrice Rice, American television personality (b. 1949)
• 2010 – Paul Quarrington, Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator (b. 1953)
• 2011 – Dennis Oppenheim, American conceptual artist (b. 1938)
• 2011 – E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Indian film director and producer (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Agnes
  • Fructuosus
  • Meinrad of Einsiedeln
  • January 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Errol Barrow Day (Barbados)
• Flag Day (Quebec)
• Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)
• National Hug Day (United States)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On this day in Canada

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