July 21

July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining.

Events

• 1298 – Battle of Falkirk (1298): England's King, Edward Longshank, defeats William Wallace's Scottish rebels
• 1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: England's King Henry IV defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England
• 1568 – Battle of Jemmingen: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau
• 1718 – Treaty of Passarowitz signed.
• 1774 – Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the Russo-Turkish War, 1768–74.
• 1831 – Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians.
• 1861 – American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run – At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (Confederate victory).
• 1865 – In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in what is regarded as the first true western showdown.
• 1873 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American West.
• 1877 – After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of 9 rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.
• 1925 – Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.
• 1931 – CBS's New York City station begins broadcasting the first regular seven days a week television schedule in the U. S.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of Guam – American troops land on Guam starting the battle (ends on August 10).
• 1954 – First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
• 1961 – Mercury program: Gus Grissom piloting the Mercury 4 capsule "Liberty Bell 7" becomes the second American to go into orbit around the Earth.
• 1963 – Pope Paul VI elected by College of Cardinals.
• 1970 – After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
• 1984 – In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushes a worker against a safety bar in apparently the first robot-related death in the United States.
• 1995 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
• 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
• 2002 – Telecom giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history.
• 2004 – The United Kingdom government publishes Delivering Security in a Changing World, a paper detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's armed forces.

Births

• 1414 – Pope Sixtus IV (d. 1484)
• 1810 – Henri Victor Regnault, French chemist and physicist (d. 1878)
• 1858 – Lovis Corinth, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1925)
• 1870 – Emil Orlik, Czech painter and graphic artist (d. 1932)
• 1893 – Hans Fallada, German writer (d. 1947)
• 1899 – Hart Crane, American poet (d. 1932)
• 1899  – Ernest Hemingway, American author (d. 1961)
• 1903 – Roy Neuberger, American financier and art collector
• 1911 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author (d. 1980)
• 1920 – Isaac Stern, Ukrainian violinist (d. 2001)
• 1924 – Don Knotts, American actor
• 1925 – Anne Meacham, Broadway and television actress
• 1926 – Norman Jewison, film director
• 1932 – Ernie Warlick, American football player
• 1933 – John Gardner, American author (d. 1982)
• 1935 – Norbert Blüm, German politician
• 1938 – Janet Reno, former Attorney General of the United States
• 1941 – Martin Bandier, Chairman and CEO of EMI Music Publishing
• 1943 – Edward Herrmann, actor
• 1944 – Tony Scott, film director
• 1944 – Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator: Democrat from Minnesota (d. 2002)
• 1948 – Ed Hinton, sportswriter
• 1948 – Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), English singer
• 1948 – Garry Trudeau, cartoonist
• 1952 – Robin Williams, American comedian
• 1957 – Jon Lovitz, comedian
• 1968 – Brandi Chastain, American soccer player
• 1968 – Lyle Odelein, ice hockey player
• 1978 – Josh Hartnett, actor
• 1979 – David Carr, American football quarterback
• 1983 – Kellen Winslow Jr., American football player
• 1985 – Jeremy P. A. Sexton, physicist

Deaths

• 1425 – Manuel II Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1350)
• 1796 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (b. 1759)
• 1870 – Josef Strauss, Austrian composer (b. 1827)
• 1899 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American political leader and orator, atheist, American Civil War Colonel (b. 1833)
• 1938 – Owen Wister, American author (b. 1860)
• 1943 – Charlie Paddock, American athlete (b. 1900)
• 1948 – David Wark Griffith, American film director (b. 1875)
• 1967 – Jimmie Foxx, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1907)
• 1967  – Basil Rathbone, English actor (b. 1892)
• 1968 – Ruth St. Denis, dancer, choreographer (b. 1878)
• 1970 – Bob Kalsu, American football player (b. 1945)
• 1972 – Ralph Craig, American athlete (b. 1889)
• 1982 – Dave Garroway, American television host (b. 1913)
• 1998 – Alan Shepard, astronaut (b. 1923)
• 1998  – Robert Young, American actor (b. 1907)
• 2001 – Steve Barton, actor
• 2003 – Walter M. "Matt" Jefferies, film art director
• 2003 – John Davies, president of the New Zealand Olympic Committee
• 2004 – Elder Neal A. Maxwell, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• 2004 – Jerry Goldsmith, film score composer

Holidays and observances

• Belgium: National holiday (1831 – inauguration of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians)
• Bolivia: Martyrs' Day
• Guam: Liberation Day (1944)
• Singapore: Racial Harmony Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

July 20 – July 22 – June 21 – August 21 — listing of all days