April 21

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

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.
• 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 Billboard magazine 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.
• 1966 – Rastafarianism: 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.
• 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.

Births

• 1652 – Michel Rolle, mathematician (d. 1719)
• 1729 – Tsarina Catherine II of Russia (d. 1796)
• 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)
• 1838 – John Muir, American environmentalist (d. 1914)
• 1851 – Charles Barrois, geologist (d. 1939)
• 1864 – Max Weber, economist and sociologist (d. 1920)
• 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, actor (d. 2001)
• 1919 – Don Cornell, American singer (d. 2004)
• 1922 – Alistair MacLean, author (d. 1987)
• 1923 – John Mortimer, barrister and writer
• 1924 – Clara Ward, gospel music singer (d. 1973)
• 1926 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
• 1930 – Silvana Mangano, actress (d. 1989)
• 1932 – Elaine May, comedienne, writer, director, actress
• 1935 – Charles Grodin, actor, journalist
• 1935  – Thomas Kean, Governor of New Jersey
• 1936 – James Dobson, American evangelist
• 1938 – Helen Prejean, American nun, writer
• 1947 – Iggy Pop, musician
• 1948 – Gary Condit, American politician
• 1949 – Patti Lupone, singer, actress
• 1951 – Michael Hartley Freedman, mathematician
• 1951 – Tony Danza, American actor, talk show host
• 1958 – Andie MacDowell, actress
• 1959 – Robert Smith, British musician, singer/songwriter, guitarist with The Cure
• 1963 – Ken Caminiti, baseball player (d. 2004)
• 1963 – Roy Dupuis, actor
• 1965 – Ed Belfour, hockey player
• 1970 – Nicole Sullivan, actress, comedienne and writer
• 1977 – Jamie Salé, figure skater
• 1980 – Vincent Lecavalier, hockey player

Deaths

• 1073 – Pope Alexander II
• 1109 – Anselm of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1142 – Pierre Abélard, French writer (b. 1079)
• 1574 – Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519)
• 1699 – Jean Racine, French dramatist (b. 1639)
• 1793 – John Michell, seismologist (b. 1724)
• 1815 – Joseph Winston, Congressman from North Carolina (b. 1746)
• 1910 – Mark Twain, American author, humorist (b. 1835)
• 1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, pilot (b. 1892)
• 1930 – Robert Bridges, English poet (b. 1844)
• 1938 – Allama Iqbal, philosopher-poet (b. 1877)
• 1946 – John Maynard Keynes, economist (b. 1883)
• 1956 – Charles MacArthur, writer (b. 1895)
• 1971 – François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, Haitian dictator (b. 1907)
• 1973 – Arthur Fadden, thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
• 1977 – Gummo Marx, actor, comedian, Marx Brothers (b. 1892)
• 1978 – Sandy Denny, British vocalist (b. 1947)
• 1978 – Thomas Wyatt Turner, civil rights advocate and agricultural engineer (b. 1877)
• 1980 – Aleksandr Oparin, biochemist (b. 1894)
• 1983 – Walter Slezak, American actor
• 1985 – Rudi Gernreich, fashion designer
• 1985 – Tancredo de Almeida Neves, president-elect of Brazil
• 1990 – Erté, French artist
• 1996 – Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen leader
• 1996 – Jimmy the Greek, American bookie, sports broadcaster
• 1999 – Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, actor, musician
• 2000 – Neal Matthews, Jr., American singer
• 2001 – Jack Haley Jr., producer
• 2003 – Nina Simone, singer and pianist (b. 1933)
• 2004 – Mary McGrory, American journalist

Holidays and observances

• Bahá'í Faith – First day of the festival of Ridván
• Roman Empire – the Parilia was held in honor of Pales
• Rome – city birthday
• United States – Administrative Professionals Day
• Sunni Islam – Mawlid, Prophet Muhammad's birthday (2005)

External links

• BBC: On This Day

April 20 – April 22 – March 21 – May 21 — listing of all days