April 21

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). There are 254 days remaining.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

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Events

753 BC - Romulus founds Rome (traditional).
1792 - Tiradentes, a revolutionary who was leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged.
1836 - Texas Revolution: Battle of San Jacinto – Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1863 - Bahá'u'lláh is proclaimed as the head of the Bahá'í Faith.
1863 - Quantrill's Raiders launch a reprisal raid Lawrence, Kansas in the Battle of Lawrence, killing a number of civilians.
1894 - Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jørgensen rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1898 - Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
1912 - The New York Giants and New York Yankees play an exhibition game to benefit survivors of the RMS Titanic.
1918 - World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron," is shot down and killed by Allied fire over Vaux sur Somme in France.
1930 - A fire at a Columbus, Ohio, USA, penitentiary kills 320 people.
1944 - Women in France receive the right to vote.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1952 - Secretaries Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
1955 - Bob Hope's radio program airs its last segment.
1956 - Elvis Presley's song "Heartbreak Hotel" becomes the "King's" first song to reach the top of the Cash Box magazine [1] music charts.
1960 - Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 9:30 am the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
1960 - Founding of the Orthodox Baha'i faith in Washington, DC.
1965 - The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 - Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
1967 - A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'état, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
1975 - Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1985 - Ayrton Senna wins the first of 41 Formula One championship races at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril.
1986 - Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on live television and finds nothing.
1987 - The Tamil Tigers is blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, killing 106 people.
1989 - Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the late Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1992 - U.S. death penalty: After 13 years on death row, convicted murderer Robert Alton Harris is executed in California's gas chamber.
1994 - The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.
2005 - John Negroponte becomes the first United States Director of National Intelligence.

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Births

1555 - Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter (d. 1619)
1652 - Michel Rolle, French mathematician (d. 1719)
1671 - John Law, Scottish economist (d. 1729)
1713 - Louis, 4th duc de Noailles, Marshal of France (d. 1793)
1729 - Tsarina Catherine II of Russia (d. 1796)
1774 - Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist (d. 1862)
1775 - Alexander Anderson, American wood-engraver and illustrator (d. 1870)
1810 - John Putnam Chapin, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1864)
1811 - Alson Sherman, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1903)
1814 - Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, English philanthropist (d. 1906)
1816 - Charlotte Brontë, English author (d. 1855)
1837 - Fredrik Bajer, Danish politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1922)
1838 - John Muir, American environmentalist (d. 1914)
1851 - Charles Barrois, French geologist (d. 1939)
1864 - Max Weber, German economist and sociologist (d. 1920)
1879 - Kartini, Indonesian national heroine (d. 1904)
1882 - Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1889 - Paul Karrer, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1905 - Pat Brown, American politician (d. 1996)
1911 - Ivan Combe, American inventor (d. 2000)
1912 - Marcel Camus, French film director (d. 1982)
1915 - Anthony Quinn, Mexican-born actor (d. 2001)
1919 - Don Cornell, American singer (d. 2004)
1922 - Alistair MacLean, Scottish author (d. 1987)
1923 - John Mortimer, English barrister and writer
1926 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
1927 - Gerald Flood, British actor (d. 1989)
1930 - Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (d. 1989)
1932 - Elaine May, American comedienne, writer, director, and actress
1935 - Charles Grodin, American actor and journalist
1935 - Thomas Kean, Governor of New Jersey
1936 - James Dobson, American evangelist
1938 - Helen Prejean, American nun and writer
1947 - Iggy Pop, American musician (The Stooges)
1948 - Gary Condit, American politician
1949 - Patti Lupone, American singer and actress
1951 - Tony Danza, American actor and talk show host
1951 - Michael Hartley Freedman, American mathematician
1958 - Andie MacDowell, American actress
1959 - Gene Callahan, American writer
1959 - Robert Smith, British musician, singer, and songwriter (The Cure)
1963 - Ken Caminiti, baseball player (d. 2004)
1963 - Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor
1965 - Ed Belfour, Canadian hockey player
1970 - Nicole Sullivan, American actress, comedienne, and writer
1071 - Eric Mabius, American actor
1977 - Jamie Salé, Canadian figure skater
1980 - Vincent Lecavalier, Canadian hockey player