January 21
January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 344 days remaining (345 in leap years).
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2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances |
Events
- 1189 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade
- 1276 - Innocent V becomes Pope
- 1643 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga
- 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
- 1853 - Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope folding machine.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate
- 1887 - The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed
- 1899 - Opel Motors opens for business
- 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 motor rally
- 1915 - Kiwanis International founded in Detroit, Michigan
- 1919 - Meeting in 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
- 1941 - World War II: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya
- 1950 - Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury
- 1954 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut.
- 1968 - Simon & Garfunkel release the Original Soundtrack to The Graduate, which quickly goes to #1 on the pop charts and which will bring Simon a Grammy for Best Original Score.
- 1969 - A coolant malfunction from an experimental underground nuclear reactor at Lucens Vad, Switzerland, released a large amount of radiation into a cavern, which was then sealed.
- 1976 - The first commercial service Concorde flight took off.
- 1977 - President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.
- 1994 - Lorena Bobbitt is found not-guilty by reason of temporary insanity for severing the penis of her husband John.
- 1995 - Would have been the date which Phase I of Project Bojinka, an Al Qaeda plan, would have been implemented. If the plan hadn't been exposed in Manila, Philippines, 11 jetliners would have exploded over the Pacific Ocean on a 48-hour period spanning that day and the subsequent day, January 22.
- 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 one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds of cocaine aboard. The ship was headed to Houston, Texas.
- 2003 - The terms of Kevin Mitnick's parole allow him to use a computer again.
Births
- 1738 - Ethan Allen, American patriot, (d. 1789)
- 1824 - Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate Army general, (d. 1863)
- 1829 - Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway, (d. 1907)
- 1850 - Paul Vinzenz Busch, ringmaster, (d. 1927)
- 1855 - John Moses Browning, inventor, (d. 1926)
- 1867 - Ludwig Thoma, narrator, dramatist and lyricist, (d. 1921)
- 1867 - Maxime Weygand, French General, (d. 1965)
- 1884 - Roger Baldwin, ACLU president, social activist, (d. 1981)
- 1885 - Umberto Nobile, politician and airship designer, (d. 1978)
- 1895 - Cristobal Balenciaga, couturier, (d. 1972)
- 1922 - Paul Scofield, actor
- 1924 - Telly Savalas, actor, (d. 1994)
- 1925 - Benny Hill, comedian, actor, (d. 1992)
- 1926 - Steve Reeves, actor, (d. 2000)
- 1939 - Wolfman Jack, disk jockey, actor, (d. 1995)
- 1941 - Richie Havens, musician
- 1941 - Placido Domingo, opera singer
- 1950 - Billy Ocean, musician
- 1953 - Paul Allen, entrepreneur
- 1956 - Geena Davis, actress
- 1963 - Hakeem Olajuwon, basketball player
- 2004 - Ingrid Alexandra, Princess of Norway
Deaths
- 1519 - Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, Spanish explorer, (b. ca.1475)
- 1609 - Joseph Justus Scaliger, protestant scholar, (b. 1540)
- 1793 - King Louis XVI of France, executed, (b. 1754)
- 1891 - Calixa Lavallée, composer, (b. 1842)
- 1924 - Vladimir Lenin, first leader of the USSR, (b. 1870)
- 1932 - Lytton Strachey, writer, (b. 1880)
- 1933 - George A. Moore, novelist, (b. 1852)
- 1948 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, composer, (b. 1876)
- 1950 - George Orwell, writer, (b. 1903)
- 1959 - Cecil B. DeMille, director, (b. 1881)
- 1961 - Blaise Cendrars, writer, (b. 1887)
- 1997 - Colonel Tom Parker, celebrity manager
- 1998 - Jack Lord, actor, (b. 1920)
- 1999 - Susan Strasberg, actress
- 2002 - Peggy Lee, singer, (b. 1920)
Holidays and observances
- Catholicism - Feast day of Saint Agnes.
See Also:
January 20 - January 22 - December 21 - February 21 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
