Tuesday, 21st April 2026 in Lisbon
Welcome to your daily snapshot of Lissabon! It's World Creativity and Innovation Day. Explore 53 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in Lissabon. From remarkable moments in local and world history to the people who left their mark — find out what makes today special. Today's weather in Lissabon brings drizzly with temperatures between 15°C and 21°C. Tonight's moon is in its waning gibbous phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Taurus. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Tuesday, 21st April in Lissabon, PT.

Lisbon, Portugal's capital, sits on the Tagus estuary and is known for its historic neighbourhoods and Atlantic coastal setting. On 21 April 2026, the city experiences drizzly conditions typical of spring weather in the region. The sun is in Taurus, an earth sign associated with stability and practicality, whilst the moon is in its waning gibbous phase, a period traditionally linked to reflection and gradual release.
On this day
On 21 April 1960, Brasília was officially inaugurated as the capital of Brazil, replacing Rio de Janeiro. Designed by architect and urban planner Lúcio Costa, the purpose-built city represented an ambitious modernist vision for the nation's future and remains a distinctive example of planned urban development from the mid-twentieth century.
In 1789, the Ladies of Trenton social club hosted a reception for President-elect George Washington as he travelled to New York City for his first inauguration, marking an early moment in the ceremonial traditions of the United States presidency. Nearly two centuries later, on 21 April 1967, a violent tornado struck multiple schools and destroyed houses in Belvidere, Illinois, causing over 450 casualties and leaving a lasting impact on the community.
World Creativity and Innovation Day
World Creativity and Innovation Day falls on 21 April each year and celebrates the role of creativity and innovation in advancing human progress. The date marks the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance polymath whose work epitomised creative thinking across art, science and engineering. The observance was established by the United Nations in 2001 to encourage individuals and organisations to embrace creative problem-solving. It has since become a focal point for promoting innovation in business, education and public policy globally.
DayAtlas provides detailed information for any date and location, including weather conditions, historical events, and notable births and deaths. Users can explore what happened on this day across centuries of recorded history.
Find out what's happening today in Lissabon.
What the Weather Had in Store for Lissabon on 21st April 2026
Mastery hides itself in repetitive, ordinary effort.
Fortune of the Day
21st April in the Stars – Star Sign Taurus
Personality Profile
Personality Those born on April 21st blend classic Taurus groundedness with Saturn-inspired discipline and structure. They appear calm and dependable without being rigid. This combination creates thoughtful, ordered individuals with quiet wisdom and inner strength.
Strengths & Weaknesses Their strengths include patience, endurance, and practical skill-building that lasts. They construct solid, lasting foundations in all areas. Their weakness: occasional inflexibility and resistance to change can sometimes hinder progress and growth.
Love April 21st natives seek deep, committed relationships rich in sensory pleasure and stability. They're loyal and affectionate but need time to open emotionally. Trust, security, and material comfort form the foundation of their romantic bonds.
Caree & Finance These individuals thrive in roles combining structure, creativity, and grounded thinking. They're reliable workers with natural financial wisdom and instinct. Long-term stability and building lasting wealth are their primary motivations.
Health April 21st natives benefit from movement—it stabilizes their nervous system. Sensory self-care like massage and quality nutrition serve them well. Regular routines support both physical vitality and mental equilibrium.
That night, the moon was in its waning gibbous phase.
Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).
Fun Facts About 21st April
Name Days in Your Language: Ansel, Ansell, Anselma, Selma, Zelma
Someone born on this day would be just 42 days old today — roughly 1,029 hours, 61,776 minutes, or 3,706,586 seconds spent on Earth so far.
It's the 111. day of the year. In 2026, 21st April falls on a Tuesday.
There are 254 days still to come.
We’re currently in Week 17 — the year marches on.
Famous Birthdays on 21st April
On this day, 156 notable people were born on 21st April — spanning from 1132 to 2008. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
21/04/2008
Hyein, South Korean singer
Lee Hye-in, known mononymously as Hyein, is a South Korean singer and former child model. She began her musical career at nine years old as a member of the South Korean children's groups U.sso Girl and Play with Me Club. She later debuted as a member of South Korean girl group NewJeans, formed by ADOR in July 2022.
21/04/2007
Princess Isabella of Denmark, daughter of King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark
Princess Isabella of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, is a member of the Danish royal family. She is the second child and elder daughter of King Frederik X and Queen Mary.
21/04/2003
Xavi Simons, Dutch footballer
Xavi Quentin Shay Simons is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the Netherlands national team.
21/04/1999
Choi Hyun-suk, South Korean rapper
Choi Hyun-suk is a South Korean rapper, singer and dancer under YG Entertainment. As a member of boy band Treasure, Choi debuted on August 7, 2020, with the single album entitled The First Step: Chapter One. He is also known for his television appearance as a contestant on Mix Nine (2017–2018).
21/04/1998
Jarrett Allen, American basketball player
Jarrett Allen is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas Longhorns and was selected 22nd overall by the Brooklyn Nets in the 2017 NBA draft. In January 2021, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of the four-team blockbuster James Harden trade. In February 2022, Allen was named to his first NBA All-Star Game.
21/04/1997
Mikel Oyarzabal, Spanish footballer
Mikel Oyarzabal Ugarte is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Real Sociedad, which he captains, and the Spain national team.
21/04/1996
Arianne Hartono, Dutch tennis player
Arianne Hartono is a Dutch former professional tennis player. On 8 April 2024, she reached her career-high singles WTA ranking of No. 135, and on 11 July 2022, she achieved No. 123 in doubles. Hartono has won three singles titles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
21/04/1994
Ludwig Augustinsson, Swedish footballer
Hans Carl Ludwig Augustinsson is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Pro League club Anderlecht and the Sweden national team.
21/04/1992
Isco, Spanish footballer
Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez, commonly known as Isco, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or left winger for La Liga club Real Betis, which he captains, and the Spain national team.
Joc Pederson, American baseball player
Joc Russell Pederson is an American professional baseball outfielder and first baseman for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants, and Arizona Diamondbacks. He is a two-time World Series champion and a two-time All-Star.
21/04/1989
Nikki Cross, Scottish wrestler
Nicola Glencross is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Nikki Cross.
21/04/1988
Ricky Berens, American swimmer
Richard Berens is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and current world record-holder. As a member of the U.S. national team, he holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He competed in the 4×100-meter and 4×200-meter freestyle relay events, as well as the individual 200-meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Jencarlos Canela, American singer-songwriter and actor
Jencarlos Canela is an American actor and singer. Canela starred in the telenovela Mi corazón insiste en Lola Volcán, and two other telenovelas.
21/04/1983
Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (died 2020)
Tarvaris D'Andre Jackson was an American professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). Jackson played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Alabama State Hornets. He was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the second round of the 2006 NFL draft.
Kim Wall, British sprinter
Kimberly Wall is an English former sprinter specializing in the 400 metres and the 2010 World Athletics Indoor Championships bronze medalist in the 4 × 400 m relay. She also won eight continental medals throughout her career, mostly as a member of the British 4 × 400 m relay team which spanned from the 1990s through her retirement in 2012. She was controversially not selected for the four-woman British 4 × 400 m team at the 2008 Summer Olympics despite finishing 4th at that year's national championships.
21/04/1980
Tony Romo, American football player and announcer
Antonio Ramiro Romo is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Eastern Illinois Panthers, where he made an Ohio Valley Conference championship appearance in 2001 and won the Walter Payton Award the following year. Romo signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2003.
21/04/1979
Virginie Basselot, French chef
Virginie Basselot is a French chef de cuisine who held one Michelin star at the restaurant within the Saint James Paris hotel. She became the second woman to be named to the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France. In 2017, after moving to become executive chef at La Réserve Genève during the previous year, she was named Chef of the Year by the restaurant guide Gault Millau. At the moment she is working in the Hotel Negresco in Nice.
James McAvoy, Scottish actor
James McAvoy is a Scottish actor and director. He made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his film career began. His television work includes the thriller State of Play (2003), the science fiction miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003), and the drama series Shameless (2004–2005).
21/04/1977
Gyula Koi, Hungarian scholar and educator
Gyula Koi is a Hungarian legal scholar and lecturer. His main research fields are administrative law, and theory of public administration. His Chinese name is Guo Yi.
Jamie Salé, Canadian figure skater
Jamie Rae Salé is a Canadian former competitive pair skater. With her former husband David Pelletier, she is the 2002 Olympic Champion and 2001 World Champion. The Olympic gold medals of Salé and Pelletier were shared with the Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze after the 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal.
21/04/1976
Petero Civoniceva, Fijian-Australian rugby league player
Petero Civoniceva, is a Fijian-Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative prop forward, in 2009 he broke the record for most international matches for Australia of any forward in history. Civoniceva played his club football for the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he won the 1998, 2000 and 2006 NRL Premierships, as well as for the Penrith Panthers, whom he captained. Late in his career whilst playing for the Redcliffe Dolphins in the Queensland Cup, Civoniceva captained the Fiji national team in their 2013 Rugby League World Cup campaign. The Petero Civoniceva Medal is awarded to the Australian Fijian rugby league footballer of the year, while the Civoniceva Medal is awarded to the Queensland Cup player voted as the best and fairest.
21/04/1974
David Peachey, Australian rugby league player
David Peachey is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative fullback, he played the majority of his club football in the National Rugby League for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. During his career, Peachey also played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the NRL and the Widnes Vikings in the National League One. Peachey also played representative rugby league for Country Origin. He is an Indigenous Australian. His nephew Tyrone Peachey debuted for the Cronulla Sharks but currently plays for the Penrith Panthers.
21/04/1973
Steve Backshall, English naturalist, writer, and television presenter
Stephen James Backshall is an English naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer, best known for BBC TV's Deadly... franchise.
21/04/1971
Michael Turner, American author and illustrator (died 2008)
Michael Layne Turner was an American comics artist known for his work on Witchblade, Fathom, Superman/Batman, Soulfire, and various covers for DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He was also the president of the entertainment company Aspen MLT.
21/04/1970
Rob Riggle, American actor and comedian
Robert Allen Riggle Jr. is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and retired United States Marine officer. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, joining the Marines in 1990 and later attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel.
21/04/1969
Toby Stephens, English actor
Toby Stephens is an English actor who has appeared in films in the United Kingdom, United States, and India. He is known for the roles of Bond villain Gustav Graves in the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day, for which he was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor; William Gordon in the 2005 Bollywood film Mangal Pandey: The Rising; and Edward Fairfax Rochester in the 2006 BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre. From 2014 to 2017, he starred as Captain Flint in the Starz television series Black Sails, followed by one of the lead roles in the Netflix science fiction series Lost in Space from 2018 to 2021. He portrays the Greek god Poseidon in Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
21/04/1965
Fiona Kelleghan, American academic, critic and librarian
Fiona Kelleghan is an American academic and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy. She was a metadata librarian and a cataloguer at the University of Miami's Otto G. Richter Library. She left the university in 2011.
21/04/1963
Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (died 2004)
Kenneth Gene Caminiti was an American professional baseball third baseman who spent 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres (1995–1998), Texas Rangers (2001) and Atlanta Braves (2001).
21/04/1961
David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist, and author (died 2011)
David Servan-Schreiber was a French physician, neuroscientist and author. He was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He was also a lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine of Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1.
21/04/1959
Tim Jacobus, American illustrator and painter
Tim Jacobus is an American artist best known for illustrating the covers for nearly one hundred books in R. L. Stine's Goosebumps series. He has done over three hundred book covers and paintings for various different series, novels and video games. He currently resides in New Jersey, doing most of his art digitally.
Robert Smith, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
Robert James Smith is an English musician who is the co-founder, lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the Cure, a post-punk band formed in 1976. His guitar-playing style, distinctive singing voice, and fashion sense were highly influential on the goth subculture that rose to prominence in the 1980s.
21/04/1958
Andie MacDowell, American model, actress, and producer
Rosalie Anderson MacDowell is an American actress and former fashion model. MacDowell is known for her starring film roles in romantic comedies and dramas. She has modeled for Calvin Klein and has been a spokeswoman for L'Oréal since 1986.
Yoshito Usui, Japanese illustrator (died 2009)
Yoshito Usui was a Japanese manga artist known for the popular Crayon Shin-chan series. He was born in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.
Michael Zarnock, American author
Michael Zarnock is an American writer of collector guides and articles about Hot Wheels toy cars and accessories. Zarnock is known for a massive Hot Wheels collection that earned him a Guinness World Record title in 2003 and 2007 for owning the largest collection of different model cars (8,128) and is featured in the 2008 "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" book Prepare to Be Shocked. And the 2011 "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" book "Utterly Crazy!" By his own account he has collected more than 20,000 toy cars; From 2004 to 2010 some had been on display at the Children's Museum of Utica, New York. The local Utica newspaper reported Zarnock as saying: "I’ve been in love with Hot Wheels since 1968."
21/04/1957
Hervé Le Tellier, French linguist and author
Hervé Le Tellier is a French writer and linguist, and a member of the international literary group Oulipo. He is its fourth president. Other notable members have included Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec, Italo Calvino, Jacques Roubaud, Jean Lescure and Harry Mathews. He won the 2020 Prix Goncourt for The Anomaly.
Herbert Wetterauer, German painter, sculptor, and author
Herbert Wetterauer is a German painter, sculptor and author. He is known for his paintings in ink and life-sized figures made of paperboard, for which he developed his own technique.
21/04/1956
Peter Kosminsky, English director, producer, and screenwriter
Peter Kosminsky is a British writer, director and producer. He has directed Hollywood movies such as White Oleander and television films like Warriors, The Government Inspector, The Promise, Wolf Hall and The State.
Phillip Longman, German-American demographer and journalist
Phillip Longman is an American demographer. Presently he is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, and he formerly worked as a senior writer and deputy assistant managing editor at U.S. News & World Report.
21/04/1955
Murathan Mungan, Turkish author, poet, and playwright
Murathan Mungan is a Turkish author, short story writer, playwright, and poet.
21/04/1954
Ebiet G. Ade, Indonesian singer-songwriter and guitarist
Abid Ghoffar bin Aboe Dja’far, better known as Ebiet G. Ade, is an Indonesian singer-songwriter and guitarist of Javanese descent.
James Morrison, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
James Paige Morrison is an American actor best known for his portrayal of CTU Director Bill Buchanan on 24.
Mike Wingfield, South African academic and scientist
Michael John Wingfield is a South African academic and scientist who studies plant pathology and biological control. He was the founding director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria. Wingfield has authored or co-authored over 1,000 scientific publications and is considered a leading expert in the field of forest health and invasive species. He has received numerous awards and honours throughout his career, including Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship Award and John Herschel Medal, the highest accolade from the Royal Society of South Africa. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa and the African Academy of Sciences. Wingfield has had several fungi named after him.
21/04/1953
John Brumby, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Victoria
John Mansfield Brumby is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier after the resignation of Steve Bracks. He also served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. He contested his first election as premier at the November 2010 Victorian state election. His government was defeated by the Liberal/National Coalition led by Ted Baillieu. Brumby resigned as Labor leader after the election, on 30 November, to be replaced by Daniel Andrews. Within weeks of this leadership change, Brumby left parliament, with a Broadmeadows by-election taking place on 19 February 2011.
21/04/1952
Gerald Early, American author and academic
Gerald Lyn Early is an American essayist and American culture critic. He is currently the Merle Kling Professor of Modern letters, of English, African studies, African-American studies, American culture studies, and Director, Center for Joint Projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
Cheryl Gillan, British businesswoman and politician, Secretary of State for Wales (died 2021)
Dame Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chesham and Amersham from 1992 until her death in 2021. A member of the Conservative Party, she served as Secretary of State for Wales from 2010 to 2012.
21/04/1951
Tony Danza, American actor and producer
Tony Danza is an American actor and retired professional boxer. He is known for co-starring in the television series Taxi (1978–1983) and Who's the Boss? (1984–1992), for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards. In 1998, Danza won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his work on the 1997 sitcom The Tony Danza Show. He has also appeared in films such as The Hollywood Knights (1980), Going Ape! (1981), She's Out of Control (1989), Angels in the Outfield (1994), Crash (2004), and Don Jon (2013).
Michael Freedman, American mathematician and academic
Michael Hartley Freedman is an American mathematician at Microsoft Station Q, a research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1986, he was awarded a Fields Medal for his work on the 4-dimensional generalized Poincaré conjecture. Freedman and Robion Kirby showed that an exotic R4 manifold exists.
Bob Varsha, American sportscaster
Robert August Varsha is an American broadcast journalist who specializes in covering motorsports. He is best known for being the lap-by-lap commentator for Formula 1 and CART series races for ESPN, ABC Sports, and Speed Channel among others.
Steve Vickers, Canadian ice hockey player
Stephen James Vickers is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played ten seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Rangers from 1972 to 1982. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 1973.
Soledad Gallego-Díaz, Spanish journalist (died 2026)
Soledad Gallego-Díaz Fajardo was a Spanish journalist. She was the editor of Spanish newspaper El País from June 2018 to June 2020.
21/04/1950
Shivaji Satam, Indian actor
Shivaji Satam is an Indian television and film actor. He is best known for his role as ACP Pradyuman in the detective television series CID. He is recipient of two Maharashtra State Film Awards. He is honoured with the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award, Maharashtra's highest award in the field of Marathi cinema.
21/04/1949
Patti LuPone, American actress and singer
Patti Ann LuPone is an American actress and singer. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972, she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on the Broadway and West End stage. Known for playing bold, resilient women in musical theater, she has received numerous accolades, including three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and two Grammy Awards. She was inducted to the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2006.
21/04/1948
Gary Condit, American businessman and politician
Gary Adrian Condit is an American former politician from California. A Democrat, Condit represented California's 18th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1989 to 2003. He gained significant national attention after the May 2001 disappearance of Chandra Levy, an intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Condit and Levy were having an affair, and she was subsequently found to have been murdered.
Paul Davis, American singer-songwriter and musician (died 2008)
Paul Lavon Davis was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his radio hits and solo career that started worldwide in 1970. His career encompassed soul, country, and pop. His most successful songs are 1977's "I Go Crazy", a No. 7 pop hit that once held the record for the longest chart run on the Billboard Hot 100, and 1982's "'65 Love Affair", which at No. 6 is his highest-charting single. Another pop hit, "Cool Night", was released in 1981. In the mid-1980s, he also had two No. 1 country hits as a guest vocalist on songs by Marie Osmond and Tanya Tucker.
Josef Flammer, Swiss ophthalmologist
Josef Flammer is a Swiss ophthalmologist and long-time director of the Eye Clinic at Basel University Hospital. Flammer is a glaucoma specialist who developed a new pathogenetic concept of glaucomatous damage according to which unstable blood supply leads to oxidative stress, which in turn plays a major role in apoptosis of cells in the optic nerve and retina in glaucoma patients.
Dieter Fromm, German runner
Dieter Fromm is a retired East German middle-distance runner who specialized in the 800 metres. He held the indoor 800 m world record for over ten years.
21/04/1947
Al Bumbry, American baseball player
Alonza Benjamin Bumbry is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder who played for the Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres from 1972 through 1985. Bumbry was the 1973 American League Rookie of the Year, and went on to be an All-Star and World Series champion. He is an inductee of the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. Prior to his major league career, Bumbry served in the US Army during the Vietnam War and was awarded a Bronze Star.
Iggy Pop, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
James Newell Osterberg Jr., known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor who was the lead vocalist of the proto-punk band the Stooges. Regarded as the "Godfather of Punk", he is noted for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics, poetic lyrics, and unique voice. He was named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Stooges in 2010, and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020 for his solo career.
John Weider, English bass player
John Weider was an English rock musician who played guitar, bass guitar and violin. He is best remembered as the guitarist for The Animals from 1966 to 1968. He was also the bass player for Family from 1969 to 1971.
21/04/1945
Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Indian cricketer and umpire
Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, also known as Venkat, is an Indian former international cricketer and umpire. He was a right arm off break bowler and a lower order batter. He captained the Indian cricket team in test cricket and also at the first two ICC Cricket World Cups in 1975 and 1979. He represented Tamil Nadu and South zone in domestic cricket while also playing for Derbyshire in English county cricket from 1973 to 1975.
Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (died 2017)
Mark Arnold Wainberg, was a Canadian HIV/AIDS researcher and HIV/AIDS activist. He was the director of the McGill University AIDS Centre at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital and Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology at McGill University. His laboratory primarily studies HIV reverse transcriptase, the molecular basis for drug resistance, and gene therapy. He received a B.Sc. from McGill University in 1966, a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1972, and did his post-doctoral research at Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University.
Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (died 2000)
Diana Magdalene Roloff, known professionally as Diana Darvey, was a British actress, singer and dancer, best known for her appearances on The Benny Hill Show.
21/04/1942
Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand politician, 33rd Prime Minister of New Zealand
Sir Geoffrey Winston Russell Palmer is a New Zealand lawyer, political scientist and former politician, who served as the 33rd prime minister of New Zealand for a little over a year from August 1989 until September 1990. A member of Parliament from 1979 to 1990, he spent six years as a senior member of the Fourth Labour Government.
21/04/1941
David Boren, American lawyer and politician, 21st Governor of Oklahoma (died 2025)
David Lyle Boren was an American lawyer and politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1994. A conservative Democrat, to date, he is the last in his party to have served as U.S. Senator from Oklahoma. He was the 13th and second-longest serving president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 to 2018. He was the longest serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On September 20, 2017, Boren officially announced his retirement as president of the University of Oklahoma, effective June 30, 2018.
21/04/1940
Jacques Caron, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Jacques Joseph Caron is a Canadian former ice hockey player and coach. He played 72 games in the National Hockey League with the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, and Vancouver Canucks between 1967 and 1974, and 26 games in the World Hockey Association with the Cleveland Crusaders and Cincinnati Stingers between 1975 and 1977. After his playing career, he worked as an assistant coach with the Hartford Whalers, and then as the goaltending coach and special assignment coach with the New Jersey Devils from 1993 to 2017. With New Jersey, he won the Stanley Cup three times.
Souleymane Cissé, Malian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2025)
Souleymane Cissé was a Malian film director, regarded as one of the first generation of African filmmakers. He was called "Africa's greatest living filmmaker" while his film Yeelen has been called "conceivably the greatest African film ever made".
21/04/1939
John McCabe, English pianist and composer (died 2015)
John McCabe was a British composer and pianist. He created works in many different forms, including symphonies, ballets, and solo works for the piano. He served as director of the London College of Music from 1983 to 1990. Guy Rickards praised him as "one of Britain's finest composers in the past half-century" and "a pianist of formidable gifts and wide-ranging sympathies".
Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, activist, and author
Helen Prejean is an American Catholic religious sister and a leading advocate for the abolition of the death penalty.
Reni Santoni, American actor (died 2020)
Renaldo Santoni was an American film, television and voice actor. He was noted for playing Poppie on the television sitcom Seinfeld, Tony Gonzales in Cobra, and Chico González in Dirty Harry.
21/04/1937
Gary Peters, American baseball player (died 2023)
Gary Charles Peters was an American professional baseball player. He was a left-handed Major League Baseball pitcher who played on two major league teams for 14 seasons, from 1959 through 1972. He was one of the best-hitting pitchers of his era.
Ben Zinn, Israeli-born American academic and former international soccer player
Ben T. Zinn is an American academic in engineering and former international soccer player. He is the David S. Lewis Jr., Chair and Regents' Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
21/04/1936
James Dobson, American evangelist, psychologist, and author, founded Focus on the Family (died 2025)
James Clayton Dobson Jr. was an American evangelical Christian author, psychologist and founder of Focus on the Family (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the most influential spokesmen for conservative social positions in American public life. Although never an ordained minister, he was called "the nation's most influential evangelical leader" by The New York Times while Slate portrayed him as being a successor to evangelical leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
Reg Fleming, Canadian-American ice hockey player (died 2009)
Reginald Stephen "Reggie, the Ruffian" Fleming was a professional hockey player in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres. He also played for the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association, as well as with a number of minor league teams in other professional leagues. His professional career spanned over 20 years. He was known as an aggressive and combative player who could play both forward and defence, as well as kill penalties.
21/04/1935
Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host (died 2021)
Charles Sidney Grodin was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting actor in many Hollywood comedies. After a small part in Rosemary's Baby in 1968, he played the lead in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972) where he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Grodin also starred in 11 Harrowhouse (1974), for which he also wrote the adaptation.
Thomas Kean, American academic and politician, 48th Governor of New Jersey
Thomas Howard Kean Sr. is an American statesman and academic administrator who served as the 48th governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the New Jersey General Assembly and was chair of the 9/11 Commission from 2002 to 2004.
21/04/1933
Edelmiro Amante, Filipino lawyer and politician (died 2013)
Edelmiro Atega Amante Sr., was a Filipino politician.
Easley Blackwood, Jr., American pianist, composer, and educator (died 2023)
Easley Rutland Blackwood Jr. was an American professor of music, concert pianist, composer, and the author of books on music theory, including his research into the properties of microtonal tunings and traditional harmony.
Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Iraqi patriarch (died 2014)
Mor Ignatius Zakka I Iwas was the 122nd reigning Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and, as such, Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church. Also known by his traditional episcopal name, Severios, he was enthroned as patriarch on 14 September 1980 in St. George's Patriarchal Cathedral in Damascus. He succeeded Ignatius Ya`qub III. As is traditional for the head of the church, Mor Severios adopted the name Ignatius.
21/04/1932
Slide Hampton, African-American trombonist and composer (died 2021)
Locksley Wellington Hampton was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tuba and flugelhorn.
Elaine May, American actress, comedian, director, and screenwriter
Elaine Iva May is an American actress, comedian, writer, and director. She first gained fame in the 1950s for her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols before going on to write and direct several critically acclaimed films. She has received numerous awards, including a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and a Tony Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2013, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2022.
Angela Mortimer, English tennis player (died 2025)
Florence Angela Margaret Mortimer-Barrett was a British world No. 1 tennis player. Mortimer won three major singles titles: the 1955 French Championships, the 1958 Australian Championships and 1961 Wimbledon Championships, the last won when she was partially deaf.
21/04/1931
Morgan Wootten, American high school basketball coach (died 2020)
Morgan Bayard Wootten was an American high school basketball coach for 46 seasons at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. He led the Stags to five national championships and 33 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) titles. In 2000, he was the third high school coach to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the first high school only coach to be inducted.
21/04/1930
Hilda Hilst, Brazilian author, poet, and playwright (died 2004)
Hilda de Almeida Prado Hilst was a Brazilian poet, novelist, and playwright. Her work touches on the themes of mysticism, insanity, the body, eroticism, and female sexual liberation. Hilst greatly revered the work of James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, and the influence of their styles—like stream of consciousness and fractured reality—is evident in her own work.
Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (died 1989)
Silvana Mangano was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 1950s and '60s. She won the David di Donatello for Best Actress three times – for The Verona Trial (1963), The Witches (1967), and The Scientific Cardplayer (1972) – and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress twice.
Dieter Roth, German-Swiss illustrator and sculptor (died 1998)
Dieter Roth was a Swiss artist known for his artist's books, editioned prints, sculptures, and works made of found materials, including rotting food stuffs. He was also known as Dieter Rot and Diter Rot.
Jack Taylor, English footballer and referee (died 2012)
John Keith Taylor was an English football referee. Later described by the Football League as "perhaps the finest English referee of all time", Taylor was famous for officiating in the 1974 FIFA World Cup Final during which he awarded two penalties in the first 30 minutes. The first of these penalties, awarded after just a minute of play, was the first penalty kick awarded in a World Cup final.
21/04/1928
Jack Evans, Welsh-Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 1996)
William John Trevor "Jack" Evans was a Welsh professional ice hockey defenceman and coach who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks between 1949 and 1963. With Chicago, he won the Stanley Cup in 1961. After his playing career, he worked as a coach, and coached the California Golden Seals, Cleveland Barons, and Hartford Whalers between 1975 and 1988.
21/04/1927
Ahmed Arif, Turkish poet and author (died 1991)
Ahmed Arif was a Turkish-Kurdish poet.
21/04/1926
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and her other realms (died 2022)
Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years, 214 days, is the longest of any British monarch, the second-longest of any sovereign state, and the longest of any queen regnant in history.
Arthur Rowley, English footballer, manager, and cricketer (died 2002)
George Arthur Rowley Jr., nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his explosive left-foot shot, was an English football player and cricketer. He holds the record for the most goals in the history of English league football, scoring 434 from 619 league games. He was the younger brother of Manchester United footballer Jack Rowley. He was shortlisted for inclusion into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
21/04/1925
Anthony Mason, Australian soldier and judge, 9th Chief Justice of Australia (died 2026)
Sir Anthony Frank Mason was an Australian judge who served as the ninth Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1987 to 1995. He was first appointed to the High Court in 1972, having previously served on the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He had also served as a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong from 1997 to 2015.
John Swinton of Kimmerghame, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire (died 2018)
Major-General Sir John Swinton of Kimmerghame, was a British Army officer who served as Major-General commanding the Household Division and General Officer Commanding London District from 1976 until his retirement in 1979. He was the father of actress Tilda Swinton.
21/04/1924
Ira Louvin, American singer-songwriter and mandolin player (died 1965)
Ira Lonnie Loudermilk, known professionally as Ira Louvin, was an American country music singer, mandolinist and songwriter. He was a cousin of songwriter John D. Loudermilk.
21/04/1923
John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (died 2009)
Sir John Clifford Mortimer was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for short stories about a barrister named Horace Rumpole, adapted from episodes of the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey also written by Mortimer.
21/04/1922
Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (died 1987)
Alistair Stuart MacLean was a Scottish novelist, who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. His books are estimated to have sold over 150 million copies, making him one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.
Allan Watkins, Welsh-English cricketer (died 2011)
Albert John "Allan" Watkins was a Welsh cricketer, who played for England in fifteen Tests from 1948 to 1952.
21/04/1919
Don Cornell, American singer (died 2004)
Don Cornell was an American singer and guitarist.
Roger Doucet, Canadian tenor (died 1981)
Roger Doucet was a Canadian tenor best known for singing the Canadian national anthem, "O Canada", at televised games of the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Alouettes, and Montreal Expos during the 1970s. He was particularly known for his bilingual version of the anthem, which began in French and ended in English, in recognition of the two languages of Canada.
Licio Gelli, Italian financer (died 2015)
Licio Gelli was an Italian Freemason, businessman, and terrorist. A fascist volunteer in his youth, he is chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal and in the Bologna massacre. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the clandestine Masonic lodge Propaganda Due (P2). This would lead to him getting arrested in Switzerland in 1982. He managed to escape from prison the next year, but eventually agreed to surrender him back into the custody of Swiss authorities for a short period of time in 1987. From 1996 until his death in 2015, Gelli remained mostly under house arrest at his home in Arezzo, Italy.
21/04/1918
Eddy Christiani, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2016)
Eduard "Eddy" Christiani was a Dutch guitarist, singer, and composer. He was best known for songs like Zonnig Madeira (1938), Ouwe Taaie (1943), Op De Woelige Baren (1948), Kleine Greetje Uit De Polder (1950), Spring Maar Achterop (1952), Daar Bij De Waterkant and Rosemarie Polka (1953). In 1961 he reached the 82nd position with his Spanish-language song Sucu Sucu (1961)
21/04/1916
Estella B. Diggs, American businesswoman and politician (died 2013)
Estella B. Diggs was an American businesswoman, writer and politician from New York.
21/04/1915
Garrett Hardin, American ecologist, author, and academic (died 2003)
Garrett James Hardin was an American ecologist and microbiologist. He focused his career on the issue of human overpopulation, and is best known for his exposition of the tragedy of the commons in a 1968 paper of the same title in Science, which called attention to "the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment". He is also known for Hardin's First Law of Human Ecology: "We can never do merely one thing. Any intrusion into nature has numerous effects, many of which are unpredictable."
Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (died 2001)
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca, known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican and American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 film, television and stage roles between 1936 and 2002. He was a two-time Academy Award winner, and was also nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and a Tony Award.
21/04/1914
Angelo Savoldi, Italian-American wrestler and promoter, co-founded International World Class Championship Wrestling (died 2013)
Mario Louis Fornini was an Italian/American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter, better known professionally as Angelo Savoldi. At the time of his death, he was known as the world's oldest retired wrestler at the age of 99.
21/04/1913
Norman Parkinson, English photographer (died 1990)
Norman Parkinson was an English portrait and fashion photographer. His work revolutionised British fashion photography, as he moved his subjects out of the studio and used outdoor settings. While serving as a Royal Air Force photographer in World War II, he started with Vogue magazine, discovering several famous models. He became an official royal photographer in 1969, taking photographs for Princess Anne's 19th birthday and the Investiture portrait of Charles III as Prince of Wales. Many other royal portraits included official portraits of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for her 75th birthday. He was known for using elements of humour in his photographs. Parkinson received many honours during his life including the Royal Photographic Society's Progress Medal, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, a Google Doodle, and a British postage stamp.
21/04/1912
Eve Arnold, Russian-American photojournalist (died 2012)
Eve Arnold, OBE (honorary), FRPS (honorary) was an American photojournalist, long-resident in the UK. She joined Magnum Photos agency in 1951, and became a full member in 1957. She was the first woman to join the agency. She frequently photographed Marilyn Monroe, including candid-style photos on the set of The Misfits (1961).
Marcel Camus, French director and screenwriter (died 1982)
Marcel Camus was a French film director. He is best known for Orfeu Negro, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the 1960 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
21/04/1911
Ivan Combe, American businessman, developed Clearasil (died 2000)
Ivan DeBlois Combe was the American inventor of personal-care products, most notably Clearasil and Odor Eaters. In 1949 he established his eponymous company Combe Incorporated in White Plains, New York.
Kemal Satır, Turkish physician and politician (died 1991)
Kemal Satır was a Turkish physician and politician.
21/04/1905
Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (died 1996)
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he was later elected attorney general of California in 1950, before becoming the state's governor after the 1958 election.
21/04/1904
Jean Hélion, French painter (died 1987)
Jean Hélion was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter. He was also the author of several books and an extensive body of critical writing.
Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer and Holocaust perpetrator (died 1945)
Odilo Lothar Ludwig Globočnik was a Nazi Party official and a perpetrator of the Holocaust. A high-ranking member of the SS, Globočnik was the leader of Operation Reinhard, the organized murder of around one and a half million Jews, mostly of Polish origin, during the Holocaust in the Majdanek, Treblinka, Sobibór and Bełżec extermination camps. Historian Michael Allen described him as "the vilest individual in the vilest organization ever known". Globočnik killed himself shortly after his capture and detention by British soldiers.
21/04/1903
Luis Saslavsky, Argentinian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1995)
Luis Saslavsky was an Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer, notable for his work during the classical era of Argentine cinema.
21/04/1899
Randall Thompson, American composer and academic (died 1984)
Ira Randall Thompson was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works, and educator.
21/04/1898
Maurice Wilson, English soldier, pilot, and mountaineer (died 1934)
Maurice Wilson MC was a British soldier, mystic, and aviator who is known for his ill-fated attempt to climb Mount Everest alone in 1934.
21/04/1897
Odd Lindbäck-Larsen, Norwegian Army general and war historian (died 1975)
Odd Lindbäck-Larsen was a Norwegian military officer and war historian. He participated in the Norwegian Campaign in Northern Norway during the Second World War as the chief-of-staff, under general Fleischer. He spent most of the war in Norwegian and German concentration camps. He continued his military career after the war, eventually with the rank of major general and military attaché in Stockholm. He wrote several books on Norwegian military history.
21/04/1893
Romeo Bertini, Italian runner (died 1973)
Romeo Bertini was an Italian athlete who competed mainly in the marathon.
21/04/1892
Freddie Dixon, English motorcycle racer and racing driver (died 1956)
Frederick William Dixon was an English motorcycle racer and racing car driver. The designer of the motorcycle and banking sidecar system, he was also one of the few motorsport competitors to have been successful on two, three and four wheels. He was twice awarded the BRDC Gold Star for car racing. Dixon, who had the nickname "Flying Freddie", was born at Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England, one of eight children of John and Martha Dixon.
21/04/1889
Marcel Boussac, French businessman (died 1980)
Marcel Boussac was a French entrepreneur best known for his ownership of the Maison Dior and one of the most successful thoroughbred race horse breeding farms in European history.
Paul Karrer, Russian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971)
Paul Karrer was a Swiss organic chemist best known for his research on vitamins. He and British chemist Norman Haworth won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1937.
Efrem Zimbalist, Sr., Russian-American violinist, composer, and conductor (died 1985)
Efrem Zimbalist was a Russian and American concert violinist, composer, conductor and director of the Curtis Institute of Music.
21/04/1887
Joe McCarthy, American baseball manager (died 1978)
Joseph Vincent McCarthy was an American manager in Major League Baseball (MLB), most renowned for his leadership of the "Bronx Bombers" teams of the New York Yankees from 1931 to 1946. The first manager to win pennants with both National and American League teams, he won a total nine league pennants and seven World Series championships – the latter is a record tied only by Casey Stengel. McCarthy was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1957. He recorded a 100-win season six times, a record matched only by Bobby Cox. McCarthy's career winning percentages in both the regular season (.615) and postseason are the highest in major league history. His 2,125 career victories rank ninth all-time in major league history for managerial wins, and he ranks first all-time for the Yankees with 1,460 wins.
21/04/1885
Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (died 1967)
Tatu Kolehmainen was a Finnish long-distance runner who competed at the 1912 and 1920 Summer Olympics. In 1912, he reached the finals of 10,000 m and marathon races, but failed to finish due to a strong heat. In 1920, he placed 10th in the marathon. His younger brother Hannes competed alongside at the 1912 and 1920 Games.
21/04/1882
Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1961)
Percy Williams Bridgman was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1946 for his work on the physics of high pressures. He also wrote extensively on the scientific method and on other aspects of the philosophy of science. The Bridgman effect, the Bridgman–Stockbarger technique, and the high-pressure mineral bridgmanite are named after him.
21/04/1874
Vincent Scotto, French composer and actor (died 1952)
Vincent Scotto was a French composer.
21/04/1870
Edwin Stanton Porter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1941)
Edwin Stanton Porter was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Of over 250 films created by Porter, his most important include What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City (1901), Jack and the Beanstalk (1902), Life of an American Fireman (1903), The Great Train Robbery (1903), The European Rest Cure (1904), The Kleptomaniac (1905), Life of a Cowboy (1906), Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1908), The Prisoner of Zenda (1913), and Tess of the Storm Country (1914).
21/04/1868
Alfred Henry Maurer, American painter (died 1932)
Alfred Henry Maurer was an American modernist painter. He exhibited his work in avant-garde circles internationally and in New York City during the early twentieth century. Highly respected today, his work met with little critical or commercial success in his lifetime, and he died, a suicide, at the age of sixty-four.
Mary Rogers Miller, American author and educator (died 1971)
Mary Farrand Rogers Miller was an American writer, naturalist, and educator. She authored The Brook Book (1902) and Outdoor Work (1911), as well as magazine articles and educational pamphlets.
21/04/1864
Max Weber, German economist and sociologist (died 1920)
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber was a German sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sciences more generally. His ideas continue to influence social theory and research.
21/04/1854
William Stang, German-American bishop (died 1907)
William Stang was a German Catholic prelate who served as the first Bishop of Fall River from 1904 until his death in 1907.
21/04/1838
John Muir, Scottish-American environmentalist and author (died 1914)
John Muir, also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States.
21/04/1837
Fredrik Bajer, Danish lieutenant and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1922)
Fredrik Bajer was a Danish writer, teacher, and pacifist politician who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1908 together with Klas Pontus Arnoldson.
21/04/1816
Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet (died 1855)
Charlotte Nicholls, commonly known by her maiden name Charlotte Brontë, was an English novelist and poet, and was the elder sister of Emily, Anne and Branwell Brontë. She is best known for her novel Jane Eyre, which was first published under the pseudonym Currer Bell. Jane Eyre was a great success on publication, and has since been acknowledged as a classic of English literature.
21/04/1814
Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, English art collector and philanthropist (died 1906)
Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts was a British philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and Sophia, formerly Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts. In 1837 she became one of the wealthiest women in England when she inherited her grandfather's fortune of around £1.8 million following the death of her stepgrandmother, Harriot Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans. She joined the surnames of her father and grandfather, by royal licence, to become Burdett-Coutts. Edward VII is reported to have described her as "[a]fter my mother, the most remarkable woman in the kingdom".
21/04/1811
Alson Sherman, American merchant and politician, 8th Mayor of Chicago (died 1903)
Alson Smith Sherman served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1844–1845) as an Independent Democrat.
21/04/1810
John Putnam Chapin, American politician, 10th Mayor of Chicago (died 1864)
John Putnam Chapin served as the 10th Mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1846–1847) for the Whig Party.
21/04/1790
Manuel Blanco Encalada, Spanish-Chilean admiral and politician, 1st President of Chile (died 1876)
Manuel José Blanco y Calvo de Encalada was a vice-admiral in the Chilean Navy, a political figure, and Chile's first President (Provisional) (1826).
21/04/1783
Reginald Heber, English priest (died 1821)
Reginald Heber was an English Anglican bishop, a man of letters, and hymn-writer. After 16 years as a country parson, he served as Bishop of Calcutta until his death at the age of 42. The son of a rich landowner and cleric, Heber gained fame at the University of Oxford as a poet. After graduation he made an extended tour of Scandinavia, Russia and Central Europe. Ordained in 1807, he took over his father's old parish, Hodnet, Shropshire. He also wrote hymns and general literature, including a study of the works of the 17th-century cleric Jeremy Taylor.
21/04/1775
Alexander Anderson, Scottish-American illustrator and engraver (died 1870)
Alexander Anderson was an American physician and illustrator.
21/04/1774
Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (died 1862)
Jean-Baptiste Biot was a French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician who co-discovered the Biot–Savart law of magnetostatics with Félix Savart, established the reality of meteorites, made an early balloon flight, and studied the polarization of light.
21/04/1752
Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, French engineer, hydrographer, and politician, French Minister of Marine and the Colonies (died 1807)
Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait was a French shipwright, hydrographer and politician who served as Minister of the Navy and the Colonies from 1799 to 1801.
Humphry Repton, English gardener and author (died 1818)
Humphry Repton was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intricate and eclectic styles of the 19th century. His first name is often incorrectly spelt "Humphrey".
21/04/1730
Antonín Kammel, Czech violinist and composer (died 1788)
Antonín Kammel was a Bohemian composer and violinist of the Classical period. He is known for his instrumental works composed primarily for strings, though he did compose a few sinfonias and divertimentos that included wind instruments. His music incorporates many features of other Classical period works as well as elements reminiscent of Czech folk music.
21/04/1713
Louis de Noailles, French general (died 1793)
Louis de Noailles, 4th Duke of Noailles was a French peer and Marshal of France.
21/04/1673
Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (died 1742)
Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg was Holy Roman Empress, Queen of the Germans, Queen of Hungary, Queen of Bohemia, Archduchess consort of Austria etc. as the spouse of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor.
21/04/1671
John Law, Scottish economist (died 1729)
John Law was a Scottish-French economist and financier. He rose to power in France where he created a novel financial scheme for French public finances known as Law's System with two institutions at its core, John Law's Bank and John Law's Company, ending in the devastating boom and bust "Mississippi Bubble" of 1720.
21/04/1652
Michel Rolle, French mathematician and academic (died 1719)
Michel Rolle was a French mathematician. He is best known for Rolle's theorem (1691). He is also the co-inventor in Europe of Gaussian elimination (1690).
21/04/1651
Joseph Vaz, Sri Lankan priest, missionary, and saint (died 1711)
Joseph Vaz CO was a Oratorian priest and missionary in Dutch Ceylon. Originally from Sancoale in Goa, Portuguese India, Vaz arrived in Ceylon during the Dutch occupation, a time when the Dutch had banned Catholicism in Ceylon and imposed Calvinism as the official religion after taking control from the Portuguese Empire.
21/04/1642
Simon de la Loubère, French mathematician, poet, and diplomat (died 1729)
Simon de la Loubère was a French diplomat to Siam (Thailand), writer, mathematician and poet. He is credited with bringing back a document which introduced Europe to Indian astronomy, the "Siamese method" of making magic squares, and one of the earliest descriptions of parachutes.
21/04/1631
Francesco Maidalchini, Catholic cardinal (died 1700)
Francesco Maidalchini was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
21/04/1630
Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten, Dutch-English painter (died 1700)
Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten or Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraeten was a Dutch painter of still lifes, in particular floral and vanitas still lifes. He also painted genre scenes and portraits. After starting his career in Haarlem, he worked most of his career in London where he enjoyed the patronage of the highest circles.
21/04/1619
Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch founder of Cape Town (died 1677)
Johan Anthoniszoon van Riebeeck was a Dutch merchant and colonial administrator who served as the first Commander of the Cape from 1652 to 1662.
21/04/1555
Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter and etcher (died 1619)
Ludovico Carracci was an Italian early-Baroque painter, etcher, and printmaker from Bologna. His works are characterized by a strong mood invoked by broad gestures and flickering light that create spiritual emotion and are credited with reinvigorating Italian art, especially fresco art, which was subsumed with formalistic Mannerism. He died in Bologna in 1619.
21/04/1523
Marco Antonio Bragadin, Venetian lawyer and military officer (died 1571)
Marco Antonio Bragadin, also Marcantonio Bragadin, was a Venetian lawyer and military officer of the Republic of Venice.
21/04/1488
Ulrich von Hutten, German religious reformer (died 1523)
Ulrich von Hutten was a German knight, scholar, poet and satirist, who later became a follower of Martin Luther and a Protestant reformer.
21/04/1132
Sancho VI, king of Navarre (died 1194)
Sancho Garcés VI, called the Wise was King of Navarre from 1150 until his death in 1194. He was the first monarch to officially drop the title of King of Pamplona in favour of King of Navarre, thus changing the designation of his kingdom. Sancho Garcés was responsible for bringing his kingdom into the political orbit of Europe. He was the eldest son of García Ramírez, the Restorer and Margaret of L'Aigle.
Lives Remembered on 21st April
On 21st April, 86 remarkable people passed away — from 234 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.
21/04/2025
Pope Francis (born 1936)
Pope Francis was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 13 March 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first pope born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.
21/04/2024
Terry A. Anderson, American journalist (born 1947)
Terry Alan Anderson was an American journalist and combat veteran. He reported for the Associated Press. In 1985, he was taken hostage by Shia Hezbollah militants of the Islamic Jihad Organization in Lebanon and held until 1991. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio State Senate.
21/04/2019
Polly Higgins, Scottish barrister, author and environmental lobbyist (born 1968)
Pauline Hélène "Polly" Higgins was a Scottish barrister, author, and environmental lobbyist, described by Jonathan Watts in her obituary in The Guardian as, "one of the most inspiring figures in the green movement". She left her career as a lawyer to focus on environmental advocacy, and unsuccessfully lobbied the United Nations Law Commission to recognise ecocide as an international crime. Higgins wrote three books, including Eradicating Ecocide, and started the Earth Protectors group to raise funds to support the cause.
21/04/2018
Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian (born 1900)
Nabi Tajima was a Japanese supercentenarian who was the world's oldest living person from 16 September 2017, until her own death, and the last surviving person to have been born in the 19th century.
21/04/2017
Ugo Ehiogu, English footballer (born 1972)
Ugochukwu Ehiogu was an English professional football coach and player who played as a centre-back. After retiring, he became a record executive, jointly founding the successful record label, Dirty Hit. Ehiogu was the head coach of the Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s from 2014 until his death in 2017.
21/04/2016
Prince, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (born 1958)
Prince Rogers Nelson, known mononymously as Prince, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, actor, and filmmaker. Often being credited as one of the greatest musicians of his generation, he pioneered the Minneapolis sound and was influential in the evolution of various other genres.
21/04/2014
George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (born 1936)
George Harry Heilmeier was an American engineer, manager, and a pioneering contributor to liquid crystal displays (LCDs), for which he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Heilmeier's work is an IEEE Milestone.
Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (born 1930)
Win Tin was a Burmese journalist, politician and political prisoner. He co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD). He was imprisoned by the military government for 19 years (1989–2008) for his writings and his leadership position in the NLD.
21/04/2013
Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician and astrologer (born 1929)
Shakuntala Devi was an Indian mental calculator, astrologer, and writer, popularly known as the "Human Computer". Her talent earned her a place in the 1982 edition of The Guinness Book of World Records. However, the certificate for the record was given posthumously on 30 July 2020, despite Devi achieving her world record on 18 June 1980 at Imperial College, London. Devi was a precocious child, and she demonstrated her arithmetic abilities at the University of Mysore without any formal education.
Leopold Engleitner, Austrian Holocaust survivor, author, and educator (born 1905)
Leopold Engleitner was an Austrian conscientious objector, as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and a concentration camp survivor who spoke publicly and with students about his experiences. He was the subject of the documentary Unbroken Will. Before his death, Engleitner was the world's oldest known male Buchenwald, Niederhagen and Ravensbrück concentration camp survivor and the oldest male Austrian.
21/04/2012
Doris Betts, American author and academic (born 1932)
Doris Betts was a short story writer, novelist, essayist and Alumni Distinguished Professor Emerita at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was the author of three short story collections and six novels.
21/04/2011
Catharina Halkes, Dutch theologian and academic (born 1920)
Catharina Joanna Maria Halkes was a Dutch theologian and feminist, notable for having been the first Dutch professor of feminism and Christianity, at the Radboud University Nijmegen from 1983 to 1986. A Roman Catholic who was originally schooled in Dutch language and literature, she became active in the women's movement within the church, and gained a measure of notoriety when she was forbidden to address Pope John Paul II during his visit to the Netherlands in 1985. She is considered the founding mother of feminist theology in the Netherlands.
21/04/2010
Gustav Lorentzen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1947)
Gustav Lorentzen, also known by his stage name Ludvigsen, was a Norwegian singer-songwriter, best known from being half of the successful duo Knutsen & Ludvigsen, alongside Øystein "Knutsen" Dolmen. He went solo in 1986, winning four Spellemann awards and one nomination for his 5 albums.
Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish businessman, seventh President of the International Olympic Committee (born 1920)
Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1980 to 2001.
Kanagaratnam Sriskandan, Sri Lankan-English engineer and civil servant (born 1930)
Kanagaratnam Sriskandan was a Sri Lankan born British engineer and civil servant. He was the former Chief Highway Engineer, of Under Secretary Grade at the British Department for Transport
21/04/2005
Zhang Chunqiao, Chinese writer and politician, member of the Gang of Four (born 1917)
Zhang Chunqiao was a Chinese political theorist, writer, and politician. He came to the national spotlight during the late stages of the Cultural Revolution, and was a member of the ultra-Maoist group dubbed the "Gang of Four".
21/04/2003
Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and activist (born 1933)
Nina Simone was an American pianist, singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Simone's bearing and stage presence earned her the title the High Priestess of Soul. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice. Rolling Stone named Simone one of the greatest singers on various lists.
21/04/1999
Buddy Rogers, American actor (born 1904)
Charles Edward "Buddy" Rogers was an American film actor and musician. During the peak of his popularity in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was publicized as "America's Boyfriend".
21/04/1998
Jean-François Lyotard, French sociologist and philosopher (born 1924)
Jean-François Lyotard was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and postmodern art, literature and critical theory, music, film, time and memory, space, the city and landscape, the sublime, and the relation between aesthetics and politics. He is best known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970s and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity on the human condition. Lyotard was a key personality in contemporary continental philosophy and authored 26 books and many articles. He was a director of the International College of Philosophy founded by Jacques Derrida, François Châtelet, Jean-Pierre Faye, and Dominique Lecourt.
21/04/1997
Diosdado Macapagal, Filipino lawyer and politician, 9th President of the Philippines (born 1910)
Diosdado Pangan Macapagal Sr. was the ninth president of the Philippines, serving from 1961 to 1965. He served as the 5th vice president from 1957 to 1961 under Carlos P. Garcia. He also served as a member of the House of Representatives, and headed the Constitutional Convention of 1970. He was the father of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who followed his path as President of the Philippines from 2001 to 2010. Diosdado Macapagal Sr is one of the few presidents with doctoral degrees, earning a Doctors of Civil Law degree and a PHD in Economics degree from University of Santo Tomas.
21/04/1996
Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer (born 1925)
Abdul Hafeez Kardar PP, HI was a Pakistani cricketer, politician, and diplomat. He was the first captain of the Pakistan cricket team and one of only three players to have played Test cricket for both India and Pakistan. Known as "The Skipper," Kardar led the Pakistan cricket team in its first 23 Test matches, spanning from 1952 to 1958, and later became the nation's foremost cricket administrator.
Jimmy Snyder, American sportscaster (born 1919)
James George Snyder Sr., better known as Jimmy the Greek, was an American sports commentator and Las Vegas bookmaker. A regular contributor to the CBS program The NFL Today, Snyder predicted the scores of NFL games, which sports bettors used to determine the point spread. In January 1988, Snyder was fired by CBS after he made comments suggesting that breeding practices during slavery had led blacks to become superior athletes.
21/04/1992
Väinö Linna, Finnish author (born 1920)
Väinö Valtteri Linna was a Finnish author and a former soldier who fought in the Continuation War (1941–44). Linna gained literary fame with his third novel, Tuntematon sotilas, and consolidated his position with the trilogy Täällä Pohjantähden alla. Both have been adapted to a film format on several occasions; The Unknown Soldier was first adapted into a film in 1955 and Under the North Star in 1968 as Here, Beneath the North Star, both directed by Edvin Laine.
21/04/1991
Willi Boskovsky, Austrian violinist and conductor (born 1909)
Willibald Karl Boskovsky was an Austrian violinist and conductor, best known as the long-standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert from 1955 to 1979.
21/04/1990
Erté, Russian-French illustrator (born 1892)
Romain de Tirtoff, known by the pseudonym Erté, was a Russian-born French artist and designer. He worked in several fields, including fashion, jewellery, graphic arts, costume, set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior decor.
21/04/1987
Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (born 1906)
Gustav Bergmann was an Austrian-American philosopher. He studied at the University of Vienna and was a member of the Vienna Circle. Bergmann was influenced by the philosophers Moritz Schlick, Friedrich Waismann, and Rudolf Carnap, who were members of the Circle. In the United States, he was a professor of philosophy and psychology at the University of Iowa.
21/04/1986
Marjorie Eaton, American painter and actress (born 1901)
Marjorie Lee Eaton was an American painter, photographer and character actress.
Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet, playwright, and composer (born 1930)
Muhammad Salah Eldin Bahgat Ahmad Helmy, known as Salah Jaheen was a leading Egyptian poet, lyricist, playwright and cartoonist.
21/04/1985
Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the monokini (born 1922)
Rudolf "Rudi" Gernreich was an Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposefully used fashion design as a social statement to advance sexual freedom, producing clothes that followed the natural form of the female body, freeing them from the constraints of high fashion.
Tancredo Neves, Brazilian banker and politician, Prime Minister of Brazil (born 1910)
Tancredo de Almeida Neves was a Brazilian politician, lawyer, and entrepreneur. He served as Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs from 1953 to 1954, President of the Council of Ministers from 1961 to 1962, Minister of Finance in 1962, and as Governor of Minas Gerais from 1983 to 1984. He was elected President of the Republic in 1985, but died before he had the chance to take office; the vice-president-elect, José Sarney, took office as president in his place.
21/04/1984
Marcel Janco, Romanian-Israeli artist (born 1895)
Marcel Janco was a Romanian and Israeli visual artist, architect and art theorist. He was the co-inventor of Dadaism and a leading exponent of Constructivism in Eastern Europe. In the 1910s, he co-edited, with Ion Vinea and Tristan Tzara, the Romanian art magazine Simbolul. Janco was a practitioner of Art Nouveau, Futurism and Expressionism before contributing his painting and stage design to Tzara's literary Dadaism. He parted with Dada in 1919, when he and painter Hans Arp founded a Constructivist circle, Das Neue Leben.
Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian engineer and mountaineer (born 1943)
Hristo Ivanov Prodanov, also known as Christo Prodanov was a Bulgarian mountaineer. Prodanov was the first Bulgarian to climb Mount Everest, doing it via the most difficult way—the West Ridge—as well as alone and without oxygen. Prodanov was the first person to climb Everest in April, when the weather conditions are generally too bad for an expedition, and also the thirteenth person to climb Everest without using bottled oxygen. Climbing the summit at 18:15 local time, he had to descend overnight and got lost shortly after that. On the next afternoon, he reported he had lost his gloves and soon would be unable to hold the radio button long enough to talk. His body was never found.
21/04/1983
Walter Slezak, Austrian-American actor and singer (born 1902)
Walter Slezak was an Austrian-born film and stage actor active between 1922 and 1976. He mainly appeared in German films before migrating to the United States in 1930 and performing in numerous Hollywood productions.
21/04/1980
Alexander Oparin, Russian biochemist and academic (born 1894)
Alexander Ivanovich Oparin was a Soviet biochemist notable for his theories about the origin of life and for his book The Origin of Life.
Sohrab Sepehri, Iranian poet and painter (born 1928)
Sohrab Sepehri was an Iranian poet and painter, considered to be one of the five most famous Iranian poets who have practiced modern poetry alongside Nima Youshij, Ahmad Shamlou, Mehdi Akhavan-Sales, and Forough Farrokhzad. Sepehri's poems have been translated into several languages, including English, French, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian and Kurdish.
21/04/1978
Sandy Denny, English singer-songwriter (born 1947)
Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny was an English musician who was lead vocalist of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "arguably the pre-eminent British folk-rock singer/songwriter of her time".
Thomas Wyatt Turner, American biologist and academic (born 1877)
Thomas Wyatt Turner was an American civil rights activist, biologist, and educator. He was the first Black American to receive a Ph.D. in botany, and helped found both the NAACP and the Federated Colored Catholics.
21/04/1977
Gummo Marx, American vaudevillian and talent agent (born 1892)
Milton "Gummo" Marx was an American vaudeville performer, theatrical agent and businessman. He was the fourth-born of the five Marx Brothers. Born in Manhattan, he worked with his brothers on the vaudeville circuit, leaving the act when he was drafted into the US Army in 1918 during World War I and replaced by his brother Zeppo. He had no taste for the theatre, never appeared in any of his brothers' films, and became a successful businessman.
21/04/1973
Arthur Fadden, Australian accountant and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1894)
Sir Arthur William Fadden was an Australian politician and accountant who served as the 13th prime minister of Australia from 29 August to 7 October 1941. He held office as the leader of the Country Party from 1940 to 1958 and served as treasurer of Australia from 1940 to 1941 and 1949 to 1958.
Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (born 1910)
Kemal Tahir was a prominent Turkish novelist and intellectual. Tahir spent 13 years of his life imprisoned for political reasons and wrote some of his best known novels during this time.
21/04/1971
François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (born 1907)
François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, was a Haitian politician and physician who served as president of Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971.
21/04/1965
Edward Victor Appleton, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1892)
Sir Edward Victor Appleton was a British physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1947 for his contributions to the knowledge of the ionosphere, which led to the development of radar and shortwave radio.
21/04/1956
Charles MacArthur, American playwright and screenwriter (born 1895)
Charles Gordon MacArthur was an American playwright, screenwriter, and 1935 winner of the Academy Award for Best Story.
21/04/1954
Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (born 1897)
Emil Leon Post was an American mathematician and logician. He is best known for his work in the field that eventually became known as computability theory.
21/04/1952
Leslie Banks, American actor, director and producer (born 1890)
Leslie James Banks CBE was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, but also the Chorus in Laurence Olivier's wartime version of Henry V.
21/04/1948
Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (born 1887)
Aldo Leopold was an American writer, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, ecologist, forester, professor, conservationist, and environmentalist. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac (1949), which has been translated into fifteen languages and has sold more than two million copies.
21/04/1947
Meir Feinstein (born 1929, disputed) with Moshe Barazani (born c. 1927), suicide militants.
Meir Feinstein was an Irgun member in Mandatory Palestine, during the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine. Feinstein, who was sentenced to death by the British authorities, is remembered for his suicide together with Moshe Barazani, a member of the group Lehi, under sentence of death; the two killed themselves embracing each other with a live grenade lodged between them hours before their scheduled hangings. He is memorialized in Israel today as one of 12 Olei Hagardom.
21/04/1946
John Maynard Keynes, English economist and philosopher (born 1883)
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, was an English economist whose writings are considered the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian economics, as well as its various offshoots. Originally trained in mathematics, he built on and refined earlier work on the causes of business cycles. His ideas, further developed after his death as New Keynesianism, are seen as foundational to mainstream macroeconomics. He has been referred to as the "father of macroeconomics" and is considered one of the most influential economists of the 20th century.
21/04/1945
Walter Model, German field marshal (born 1891)
Otto Moritz Walter Model was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. Although he was a hard-driving, aggressive panzer commander early in the war, Model became best known as a practitioner of defensive warfare. His relative success as commander of the Ninth Army in the battles of 1941–1942 determined his future career path.
21/04/1941
Fritz Manteuffel, German gymnast (born 1875)
Julius Carl Fritz Manteuffel was a German gymnast. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.
21/04/1938
Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistani National philosopher and poet (born 1877)
Sir Muhammad Iqbal was an Islamic philosopher and poet. His poetry in Urdu is considered to be among the greatest of the 20th century, and his vision of a cultural and political ideal for the Muslims of British India is widely regarded as having animated the impulse for the Pakistan Movement. He is commonly referred to by the honorific Allamah and widely considered one of the most important and influential Muslim thinkers and Islamic religious philosophers of the 20th century.
21/04/1932
Friedrich Gustav Piffl, Bohemian cardinal (born 1864)
Friedrich Gustav Piffl was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church and Archbishop of Vienna.
21/04/1930
Robert Bridges, English poet and author (born 1844)
Robert Seymour Bridges was a British poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is the author of many well-known hymns. It was through Bridges's efforts that the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins achieved posthumous fame.
21/04/1924
Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (born 1858)
Eleonora Giulia Amalia Duse, often known simply as Duse, was an Italian actress, rated by many as the greatest of her time. She performed in many countries, notably in the plays of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Henrik Ibsen. Duse achieved a unique power of conviction and verity on the stage through intense absorption in the character, "eliminating the self" as she put it, and letting the qualities emerge from within, not imposed through artifice.
21/04/1918
Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot, known popularly as the Red Baron (born 1892)
Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
21/04/1910
Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (born 1835)
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He has been praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced", with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature". Twain's novels include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), with the latter often called the "Great American Novel". He also wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and cowrote The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) with Charles Dudley Warner.
21/04/1900
Vikramatji Khimojiraj, Indian ruler (born 1819)
Maharaja RanaShri Vikramatji Khimojiraj Sahib was the ruler of Princely State of Porbandar belonging to Jethwa Rajput dynasty.
21/04/1863
Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Baronet, Irish politician (born 1782)
Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Baronet DL was an Irish baronet, landowner and Conservative politician.
21/04/1852
Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (born 1787)
Ivan Aleksandrovich Nabokov was a Russian adjutant general and general of the infantry prominent during the Napoleonic Wars.
21/04/1825
Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician and academic (born 1765)
Johann Friedrich Pfaff was a German mathematician. He is best known for his work on differential equations and as Carl Friedrich Gauss's doctoral advisor.
21/04/1815
Joseph Winston, American soldier and politician (born 1746)
Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Winston was an American pioneer, politician and American Revolutionary War hero from Surry County, North Carolina, and the first cousin of statesman and Virginia governor Patrick Henry. He also served in the United States House of Representatives and North Carolina Senate. In 1766, Winston moved to the northern part of Rowan County, North Carolina, the area which subsequently became the current Stokes County, North Carolina.
21/04/1758
Francesco Zerafa, Maltese architect (born 1679)
Francesco "Franco" Zerafa was a Maltese architect and donato to the Religion. In 1714, he succeeded Giovanni Barbara as Capomastro delle Opere della Religione, a post which he held until his death.
21/04/1740
Thomas Tickell, English poet and author (born 1685)
Thomas Tickell was a minor English poet and man of letters.
21/04/1736
Prince Eugene of Savoy (born 1663)
Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy-Carignano, better known as Prince Eugene, was a distinguished feldmarschall in the Army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th and 18th centuries. Renowned as one of the greatest military commanders of his era, Prince Eugene also rose to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna, spending six decades in the service of three emperors.
21/04/1722
Robert Beverley, Jr., English historian and author (born 1673)
Robert Beverley Jr. was a historian of early colonial Virginia, as well as a planter and politician.
21/04/1720
Antoine Hamilton, Irish-French soldier and author (born 1646)
Anthony Hamilton PC (Ire), also known as Antoine and comte d'Hamilton, was a soldier and a writer. As a Catholic of Irish and Scottish ancestry, his parents brought him to France in 1651 when Cromwell's army overran Ireland.
21/04/1719
Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (born 1640)
Philippe de La Hire was a French painter, mathematician, astronomer, and architect. According to Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, he was an "academy unto himself".
21/04/1699
Jean Racine, French playwright and poet (born 1639)
Jean-Baptiste Racine was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tradition and world literature. Racine was primarily a tragedian, producing such "examples of neoclassical perfection" as Phèdre, Andromaque, and Athalie. He did write one comedy, Les Plaideurs, and a muted tragedy, Esther, for the young.
21/04/1668
Jan Boeckhorst, Flemish painter (born c. 1604)
Jan Boeckhorst or Johann Bockhorst was a German-born Flemish Baroque painter and draughtsman who worked most of his career in Antwerp. He was a versatile artist who produced history paintings, genre scenes and portraits in a style influenced by the trio of leading Antwerp painters Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. Boeckhorst also worked as a designer of cartoons for tapestries.
21/04/1650
Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi, Japanese samurai (born 1607)
Yagyū Jūbē Mitsuyoshi was one of the most famous and romanticized of the samurai in Japan's feudal era.
21/04/1591
Sen no Rikyū, Japanese exponent of the tea ceremony (born 1522)
Sen no Rikyū , also known simply as Rikyū, was a Japanese tea master considered the most important influence on the Japanese tea ceremony, particularly the tradition of wabi-cha. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspects of the ceremony, including rustic simplicity, directness of approach and honesty of self. Originating from the Sengoku and Azuchi–Momoyama periods, these aspects of the tea ceremony persist.
21/04/1574
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (born 1519)
Cosimo I de' Medici was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. He built the Uffizi (office) to organize his administration, and conquered Siena to consolidate Florence's rule in Tuscany. He expanded the Pitti Palace and most of the Boboli Gardens were also laid out during his reign.
21/04/1557
Petrus Apianus, German mathematician and astronomer (born 1495)
Petrus Apianus, also known as Peter Apian, Peter Bennewitz, and Peter Bienewitz, was a German humanist, known for his works in mathematics, astronomy and cartography. His work on "cosmography", the field that dealt with the earth and its position in the universe, was presented in his most famous publications, Astronomicum Caesareum (1540) and Cosmographicus liber (1524). His books were extremely influential in his time, with the numerous editions in multiple languages being published until 1609. The lunar crater Apianus and asteroid 19139 Apian are named in his honour.
21/04/1509
Henry VII of England (born 1457)
Henry VII, also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
21/04/1400
John Wittlebury, English politician (born 1333)
John Wittlebury or Whittlebury was an English Member of Parliament.
21/04/1329
Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (born 1282)
Frederick IV, called the Fighter, was the Duke of Lorraine from 1312 to his death in 1328.
21/04/1213
Maria of Montpellier, Lady of Montpellier, Queen of Aragon (born 1182)
Marie of Montpellier was Lady of Montpellier and by her three marriages Viscountess of Marseille, Countess of Comminges and Queen of Aragon.
21/04/1142
Peter Abelard, French philosopher and theologian (born 1079)
Peter Abelard was a medieval French scholastic, philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet.
21/04/1136
Stephen, Count of Tréguier Breton noblemen (born c. 1058/62)
Stephen of Penthièvre, Count of Tréguier, 3rd Lord of Richmond was a Breton noble and a younger son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre and Agnes of Cornouaille, sister of Hoël II, Duke of Brittany. In 1093, he succeeded to the title of Count of Tréguier; in 1098, he succeeded his brother Alain as Lord of Richmond in Yorkshire, England.
21/04/1109
Anselm of Canterbury, Italian-English archbishop and saint (born 1033)
Anselm of Canterbury OSB, also known as Anselm of Aosta after his birthplace and Anselm of Bec after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine abbot, philosopher and theologian who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109.
21/04/1073
Pope Alexander II
Pope Alexander II, born Anselm of Baggio, was the head of the Roman Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1061 to his death in 1073. Born in Milan, Anselm was deeply involved in the Pataria reform movement. Elected according to the terms of his predecessor's bull, In nomine Domini, Anselm's was the first election by the cardinals without the participation of the people and minor clergy of Rome. He also authorized the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.
21/04/0941
Bajkam, de facto regent of the Abbasid Caliphate
Abū al-Husayn Bajkam al-Mākānī, referred to as Bajkam, Badjkam or Bachkam, was a Turkish military commander and official of the Abbasid Caliphate. A former ghulam of the Ziyarid dynasty, Bajkam entered Abbasid service following the assassination of the Ziyarid ruler Mardavij in 935. During his five-year tenure at the Caliphate's court at Baghdad, he was granted the title of amir al-umara, consolidating his dominance over the caliphs al-Radi and al-Muttaqi and giving him absolute power over their domains. Bajkam was challenged throughout his rule by various opponents, including his predecessor as amir al-umara, Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, the Basra-based Baridis, and the Buyid dynasty of Iran, but he succeeded in retaining control until his death. He was murdered by a party of Kurds during a hunting excursion in 941, shortly after the accession of al-Muttaqi as Caliph. Bajkam was known both for his firm rule and for his patronage of Baghdad intellectuals, who respected and in some cases befriended him. His death led to a void in central power, resulting in a brief period of instability and fighting in Baghdad.
21/04/0866
Bardas, de facto regent of the Byzantine Empire
Bardas was a Byzantine noble and high-ranking minister. As the brother of Empress Theodora, he rose to high office under Theophilos. Although sidelined after Theophilos's death by Theodora and Theoktistos, in 855 he engineered Theoktistos's murder and became the de facto regent for his nephew, Michael III. Rising to the rank of Caesar, he was the effective ruler of the Byzantine Empire for ten years, a period which saw military success, renewed diplomatic and missionary activity, and an intellectual revival that heralded the Macedonian Renaissance. He was assassinated in 866 at the instigation of Michael III's new favourite, Basil the Macedonian, who a year later would usurp the throne for himself and install his own dynasty on the Byzantine throne.
21/04/0847
Odgar, Frankish archbishop of Mainz
Otgar, Otger or Odgar is a Germanic masculine given name. It may refer to:Saint Otger, missionary Autchar, Frankish nobleman Otgar of Mainz, archbishop (826–847) Otgar, bishop of Eichstätt (847–880) Hoger, abbot and music theorist Otgar, founding abbot of Saint-Pons-de-Thomières (937–940) Otgar, bishop of Speyer (962–970) Otger of Girona, Catalan count (c.862–c.872) Otger Cataló, figure of Catalan legend
21/04/0586
Liuvigild, king of the Visigoths
Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leovigildo was a Visigothic king of Hispania and Septimania from 569 to 586. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a law allowing equal rights between the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman population, his kingdom covered modern Spain down to Toledo and Portugal. Liuvigild ranks among the greatest Visigothic kings of the Arian period. He consolidated and expanded Visigothic power by defeating the Suebi, campaigning against the Byzantines in the south, and extending control over Basque territories. His legal reforms repealed prohibitions on intermarriage between Goths and Hispano-Romans, fostering greater unity within the kingdom.
21/04/0234
Emperor Xian of Han, Chinese emperor (born 181)
Emperor Xian of Han, personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty of China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until his abdication and subsequent end of the dynasty on 11 December 220.
Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 21st April
Christian feast day: Abdecalas
Abdecalas, also known as Abdelas, was a Persian priest and martyr, who together with another priest called Ananias, and about a hundred other Christians, was killed under the Persian ruler Shapur II on Good Friday, 345. One of these others was also named Abdecalas.
Christian feast day: Anastasius Sinaita
Anastasius Sinaita, also called Anastasius of Sinai or Anastasius the Sinaite, was a Greek writer, priest and abbot of Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai.
Christian feast day: Anselm of Canterbury
Anselm of Canterbury OSB, also known as Anselm of Aosta after his birthplace and Anselm of Bec after his monastery, was an Italian Benedictine abbot, philosopher and theologian who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109.
Christian feast day: Conrad of Parzham
Conrad of Parzham, O.F.M. Cap., was a German Capuchin lay brother. He served for over 40 years in the post of porter of the Capuchin friary in Altötting, through which work he gained a widespread reputation for his wisdom and holiness. He has been canonized by the Catholic Church.
Christian feast day: Holy Infant of Good Health
The Holy Infant of Good Health is a statue of the Christ Child regarded by many as miraculous. It was found in 1939 in Morelia, Michoacán State, Mexico. The statue is eleven inches tall. A number of healings have been attributed to Child Jesus through veneration of this image.
Christian feast day: Máel Ruba
Máel Ruba is an Irish saint of the Christian Church who was active in Scotland. Originally from Bangor, County Down, Ireland, he was a monk and founded the monastic community of Applecross in Ross, one of the best attested early Christian monasteries in what is now Scotland. Forms of his name include Máelrubai, Maol Rubha (MoRubha/MaRuibhe), or Malruibhe, and it is sometimes latinised as Rufus.
Christian feast day: Shemon Bar Sabbae
Mar Shimun Bar Sabbae was the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon from Persia, the de facto head of the Church of the East, maintaining this position until his death. He was bishop in the Sasanian Empire during the persecutions of Shapur II against Christians and he was executed along with many of his followers. He is revered as a saint in various Christian communions.
Christian feast day: Wolbodo
Saint Wolbodo was the bishop of Liège from 1018 to 1021.
Christian feast day: April 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
April 20 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - April 22
Natale di Roma (Rome)
Natale di Roma is an annual festival held in Rome on April 21 to celebrate the legendary founding of the city. According to legend, Romulus is said to have founded the city of Rome on April 21, 753 BC. A Roman chronology derived its system, known by the Latin phrase Ab urbe condita, meaning 'from the founding of the City', from this date and counted the years from this presumed foundation. The dominant method of identifying years in Roman times, though, was to name the two consuls who held office that year.
Parilia (ancient Rome)
The Parilia or Palilia was an ancient Roman festival of rural character performed annually on 21 April, aimed at cleansing both sheep and shepherd. It was carried out in acknowledgment to the Roman deity Pales, a deity of uncertain gender who was a patron of shepherds and sheep.
Civil Service Day (India)
In India, the Civil Service is the collection of civil servants of the government who constitute the permanent executive branch of the country. This includes career officials in the All India Services, the Central Civil Services, and various State Civil Services. The civil service forms the basis of the Government, without which there is no administration. They act as the main channel to articulate people's needs and implement government policies on the ground. They provide the necessary inputs, identify policy areas, analyse various alternatives, offer multiple solutions to societal issues, and give robust advice to the ministers, policy makers, and legislators.
Grounation Day (Rastafari)
Grounation Day is the most important Rastafari holiday; it is celebrated in honor of Haile Selassie's 1966 visit to Jamaica.
National Tea Day (United Kingdom)
National Tea Day is observed in the United Kingdom every year on 21 April to celebrate the drinking of tea. It is celebrated in tea rooms, hotels, pubs and cafés through special events, and charitable fundraising events held across the country, including a tea 'Fes-Tea-Val' at Chiswick House & Gardens in London. Tea brands and press outlets run promotions and features in conjunction with the day, including The Independent, Metro and The Telegraph, as well as local newspapers. The day is observed to celebrate the British tea culture and is celebrated in other countries to enjoy British teas.
National Tree Planting Day (Kenya)
Arbor Day is a secular day of observance in which individuals and groups are encouraged to plant trees. Today, many countries observe such a holiday. Though usually observed in the spring, the date varies, depending on climate and suitable planting season.
San Jacinto Day (Texas)
San Jacinto Day is the celebration of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. It was the final battle of the Texas Revolution where Texas won its independence from Mexico.
What Happened on 21st April?
53 significant events took place on Friday, 21st April — stretching from -753 to 2021. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.
21/04/2021
Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala (402) sinks in the Bali Sea during a military drill, killing all 53 on board.
The Indonesian Navy is the naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol Indonesia's lengthy coastline, to enforce and patrol the territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Indonesia, to protect Indonesia's maritime strategic interests, to protect the islands surrounding Indonesia, and to defend against seaborne threats.
21/04/2019
Eight bombs explode at churches, hotels, and other locations in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing at least 269.
On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller explosions occurred at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people were killed, including at least 45 foreign nationals, three police officers, and eight suicide bombers. An additional 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo; the hotels bombed included the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn. According to the State Intelligence Service, a second wave of attacks was planned, but was prevented due to government raids.
21/04/2012
Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, killing one person and injuring 116 others.
On 21 April 2012 at 18:30 local time, two trains were involved in a head-on collision at Westerpark, near Sloterdijk, in the west of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Approximately 117 people were injured, one of whom later died in hospital. The collision is thought to have been caused by the driver of one of the trains passing a red signal.
21/04/2010
The controversial Kharkiv Pact (Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas Treaty) is signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia on March 31, 2014.
The Agreement between Ukraine and Russia on the Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine, widely referred to as the Kharkiv Pact or Kharkov Accords, was a treaty between Ukraine and Russia whereby the Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea was extended beyond 2017 until 2042, with an additional five-year renewal option in exchange for a multiyear discounted contract to provide Ukraine with Russian natural gas.
21/04/2004
Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.
On 21 April 2004, a series of large car bomb explosions ripped through Basra, Iraq. Seventy-four people died and more than 100 were injured. The attacks were some of the deadliest in southern Iraq since the fall of President Saddam Hussein.
21/04/1996
Four people are killed and 75 are injured in a train accident in Jokela, Finland.
The Jokela rail accident occurred on 21 April 1996, at 07:08 local time in Tuusula, Finland, approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of Helsinki. Four people were killed and 75 injured when express train P82 from Oulu, bound for Helsinki, derailed in heavy fog. The overnight sleeper train was carrying 139 passengers and five crew members. The official investigation found the accident was caused by overspeeding through a slow-speed turnout.
21/04/1993
The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis García Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the seat of government of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, it is the third-most populous city in Bolivia. Its metropolitan area, which includes the neighboring city of El Alto, and other smaller towns, is the second most populous urban area in Bolivia, with a population of 2.2 million, after Santa Cruz de la Sierra with a population of 2.3 million. The city is also the capital of the department of the same name.
21/04/1989
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
Protests led by students and workers, known in China as the June Fourth Incident, were held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between the demonstrators and the Chinese government to find a peaceful resolution, the Chinese government initiated martial law in late May and deployed troops to occupy the square on the night of 3 June in what is referred to as the Tiananmen Square massacre. The events are sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement, the Tiananmen Square Incident, or the Tiananmen uprising. The Chinese government terms the events as the political turmoil between the spring and summer of 1989.
21/04/1987
The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government.
21/04/1985
The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.
The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) was a far-right survivalist anti-government militia which advocated Christian Identity and was active in the United States during the 1970s and early 1980s. The CSA developed from a Baptist congregation, the Zarephath-Horeb Community Church, which was founded in 1971 in Pontiac, Missouri. Over time, Zarephath-Horeb evolved into an extremist militant group and it was rechristened the CSA. The group operated at a large compound in northern Arkansas which was known as "the Farm".
21/04/1982
Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners advancing around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate.
21/04/1977
Annie opens on Broadway.
Annie is a musical with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and a book by Thomas Meehan. It is based on the 1924 comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre. It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won seven Tony Awards, including for Best Musical. The musical's songs "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are among its most popular musical numbers.
21/04/1975
Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu flees Saigon, as Xuân Lộc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.
21/04/1972
Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke fly Apollo 16's Apollo Lunar Module to the Moon's surface, the fifth NASA Apollo Program crewed lunar landing.
John Watts Young was an American astronaut, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. He became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972.
21/04/1967
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.
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections typically occur at regular intervals as mandated by a country's constitution or electoral laws, and may include elections for a legislature and sometimes other positions such as a directly elected president. In many jurisdictions, general elections can coincide with other electoral events such as local, regional, or supranational elections. For example, on 25 May 2014, Belgian voters simultaneously elected their national parliament, 21 members of the European Parliament, and regional parliaments.
A tornado outbreak in Illinois, United States, kills over 50 and injures over 1,000. Belvidere sustains over 500 casualties as a violent tornado strikes the high school. Another tornado near Chicago causes another 500 casualties, devastating Oak Lawn.
A destructive tornado outbreak affected much of the Midwestern United States on April 21, 1967, in particular the towns of Belvidere and Oak Lawn, Illinois, United States. It was the largest tornado outbreak of 1967 and has been described by NWS Chicago as "Northern Illinois' worst tornado disaster". The outbreak produced numerous and significant (F2+) tornadoes, with ten of them in Illinois alone. Included was one of just six documented violent (F4/F5) tornadoes in the Chicago metropolitan area since the area was first settled.
21/04/1966
Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Rastafari, Rastafarians, or Rastas.
21/04/1965
The 1964–1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
The 1964 New York World's Fair was an international exposition at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. The fair included exhibitions, activities, performances, films, art, and food presented by 80 nations, 24 U.S. states, and nearly 350 American companies. The five sections of the 646-acre (261 ha) fairground were the Federal and State, International, Transportation, Lake Amusement, and Industrial areas. The fair's theme was "Peace through Understanding", and its symbol was the Unisphere, a stainless-steel model of Earth. Initially, the fair had 139 pavilions, and 34 concessions and shows.
21/04/1964
A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.
The Transit system, also known as NAVSAT or NNSS, was the first satellite navigation system to be used operationally. The radio navigation system was primarily used by the U.S. Navy to provide accurate location information to its Polaris ballistic missile submarines, and it was also used as a navigation system by the Navy's surface ships, as well as for hydrographic survey and geodetic surveying. Transit provided continuous navigation satellite service from 1964, initially for Polaris submarines and later for civilian use as well. In the Project DAMP Program, the missile tracking ship USAS American Mariner also used data from the satellite for precise ship's location information prior to positioning its tracking radars.
21/04/1963
The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Baháʼí Faith.
The Universal House of Justice is the nine-member supreme ruling body of the Baháʼí Faith. It was envisioned by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, as an institution that could legislate on issues not already addressed in the Baháʼí writings, providing flexibility for the Baháʼí Faith to adapt to changing conditions. It was first elected in 1963, and subsequently every five years, by delegates consisting of the members of Baháʼí National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world.
21/04/1962
The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.
The Century 21 Exposition was a world's fair held April 21, 1962, to October 21, 1962, in Seattle, Washington, United States. Nearly 10 million people attended the fair during its six-month run.
21/04/1960
Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil and the Federal District. Located in the Brazilian Highlands in the country's Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino Kubitschek on 21 April 1960, to replace Rio de Janeiro as the national capital. Brasília is Brazil's third-most populous city after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with a population of 2.8 million. Among major Latin American cities, it has the highest GDP per capita.
21/04/1958
United Air Lines Flight 736 collides with a United States Air Force fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada.
United Air Lines Flight 736 was a scheduled American transcontinental passenger service flown daily by United Airlines between Los Angeles and New York City. On April 21, 1958, the airliner assigned to the flight, a Douglas DC-7 with 47 on board, was flying over Clark County, Nevada in clear weather when it was involved in a daytime mid-air collision with a United States Air Force fighter jet crewed by two pilots. Both aircraft fell out of control from 21,000 feet (6,400 m) and crashed into unpopulated desert terrain southwest of Las Vegas, leaving no survivors. The loss of Flight 736, one of a series of 1950s mid-air collisions involving passenger aircraft in American skies, helped usher-in widespread improvements in air traffic control within the United States, and led to a sweeping reorganization of federal government aviation authorities.
21/04/1952
Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
Administrative Professionals Day is a day observed yearly in a small number of countries. It is not a public holiday in any of them. In some countries, it falls within Administrative Professionals Week. The day recognizes the work of secretaries, administrative assistants, executive assistants, personal assistants, receptionists, client services representatives, and other administrative support professionals. Typically, administrative professionals are given cards, flowers, chocolates, and lunches.
21/04/1950
The Nainital wedding massacre occurs, killing 22 members of the Harijan caste.
This is a list of mass stabbings that took place before 2010. It includes incidents in which there were at least three casualties.
21/04/1948
United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 relating to Kashmir conflict is adopted.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 47, adopted on 21 April 1948, concerns the resolution of the Kashmir conflict. After hearing arguments from both India and Pakistan, the Council increased the size of the UN Commission created by the former Resolution 39 to five members, instructed the Commission to go to the subcontinent and help the governments of India and Pakistan restore peace and order to the region and prepare for a plebiscite to decide the fate of Kashmir.
21/04/1946
The U.S. Weather Bureau records that a tornado which struck Timber Lake, South Dakota was 4 miles (6.4 km), among the widest tornadoes on record.
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the purposes of protection, safety, and general information. It is a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) branch of the Department of Commerce, and is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland, within the Washington metropolitan area. The agency was known as the United States Weather Bureau from 1891 until it adopted its current name in 1970.
21/04/1945
World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
21/04/1934
The "Surgeon's Photograph", the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1994, it is revealed to be a hoax).
The Loch Ness Monster, known affectionately as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with a number of disputed photographs and sonar readings.
21/04/1926
Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four Shi'a Imams, is leveled to the ground by Wahhabis.
Jannat al-Baqī is the oldest and first Islamic cemetery of Medina located in the Hejaz region of present-day Saudi Arabia. It is also known as Baqi al-Gharqad.
21/04/1918
World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.
21/04/1914
Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
The Ypiranga Incident occurred on April 21, 1914, at the port of Veracruz in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. Ypiranga was a German steamship that was commissioned to transport arms and munitions to the Mexican federal government under Victoriano Huerta. The United States had placed Mexico under an arms embargo to stifle the flow of weaponry to the war-torn state, then in the throes of civil war, forcing Huerta's government to look to Europe and Japan for armaments.
21/04/1898
Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
The Spanish–American War was fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the U.S. acquiring sovereignty over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and establishing a protectorate over Cuba. It represented U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence and Philippine Revolution, with the latter later leading to the Philippine–American War. The Spanish–American War brought an end to almost four centuries of Spanish presence in the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific; the United States meanwhile not only became a major world power, but also gained several island possessions spanning the globe, which provoked rancorous debate over the wisdom of expansionism.
21/04/1894
Norway formally adopts the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
The Krag–Jørgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Norway, Denmark, and the United States. About 300 were delivered to Boer forces of the South African Republic.
21/04/1856
Australian labour movement: Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne march from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day.
The Australian labour movement began in the early 19th century and since the late 19th century has included industrial and political wings. Trade unions in Australia may be formed on the basis of craft unionism, general unionism, or industrial unionism. Almost all unions in Australia are affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). Many unions have undergone a significant process of amalgamations, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The leadership and membership of unions hold and have at other times held a wide range of political views, including socialist, democratic and right-wing views.
21/04/1836
Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto: Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
The Texas Revolution was a rebellion in the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas in which Anglo-American settlers (Texians) and Hispanic Texans (Tejanos) opposed the Mexican government. It formed part of the federalist uprisings against the Centralist Republic of Mexico and against the increasingly authoritarian leadership of Antonio López de Santa Anna. Tensions escalated quickly due to the Mexican government's decision to suspend the Constitution of 1824, the increased concentration of political authority in Mexico City, as well as disputes over immigration and slavery.
21/04/1821
Benderli Ali Pasha arrives in Constantinople as the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire; he remains in power for only nine days before being sent into exile.
Benderli Ali Pasha was an Ottoman statesman. He was Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
21/04/1809
Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.
Landshut is a town in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the River Isar. Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria, and the seat of the surrounding district. With a population of more than 75,000, Landshut is the largest city in Lower Bavaria.
21/04/1806
Action of 21 April 1806: A French frigate escapes British forces off the coast of South Africa.
The action of 21 April 1806 was a minor engagement between the French and British navies off the Cape Colony during the Napoleonic Wars. The Isle Bonaparte and Isle de France were two French colonies in the Indian Ocean, from which privateers and frigate squadrons could engage in commerce raiding and disrupt British shipping. After encountering a strongly escorted British convoy, the 40-gun Cannonière attempted to flee, but was rejoined by the 74-gun HMS Tremendous. In the ensuing battle, Captain Bourayne displayed superior sailmanship and managed to fend off his much stronger opponent by a combination of manoeuvers that rendered the batteries of Tremendous ineffective, and threatened her with sustaining raking fire. The French frigate thus managed to evade and escape.
21/04/1802
Twelve thousand Wahhabis sack Karbala, killing over three thousand inhabitants.
The Wahhabi sack of Karbala occurred on 21 April 1802, under the rule of Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Al Saud, the second ruler of the Emirate of Diriyah, where approximately 12,000 Wahhabis from Najd attacked the Shia city of Karbala in Ottoman Iraq. The raid was conducted in retaliation against attacks on Hajj caravans by Iraqi tribes and coincided with the anniversary of Ghadir Khumm.
21/04/1796
War of the First Coalition: In the climax of the Montenotte Campaign, Napoleon Bonaparte decisively defeats the army of Piedmont at the Battle of Mondovi, leading to Piedmont's surrender a week later and decisively turning the Italian campaign in France's favor.
The War of the First Coalition was a set of wars between a coalition of several European powers and France fought between 1792 and 1797. The coalition was only loosely allied and fought without much coordination; each power wanted to annex a different part of France should they defeat the French, something that never occurred.
21/04/1792
Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.
Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, known as Tiradentes, was a military officer, dentist and political activist in colonial Brazil. He is best known as a leading participant in the Inconfidência Mineira, a separatist conspiracy against Portuguese colonial rule in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais.
21/04/1789
John Adams sworn in as first US Vice President (nine days before George Washington).
John Adams was a Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain. During the latter part of the Revolutionary War and in the early years of the new nation, he served the Continental Congress of the United States as a senior diplomat in Europe. Adams was the first vice president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was a dedicated diarist and regularly corresponded with contemporaries, including his wife and advisor Abigail Adams and his friend and rival Thomas Jefferson.
George Washington's reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration.
George Washington's reception at Trenton was a celebration hosted by the Ladies of Trenton social club on April 21, 1789, in Trenton, New Jersey, as George Washington, then president-elect, journeyed from his home at Mount Vernon to his first inauguration in the then capital of the United States, New York City. A ceremonial triumphal arch was erected on the bridge over the Assunpink Creek to commemorate his two victories here, the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776 and the Battle of the Assunpink Creek on January 2, 1777.
21/04/1782
The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres (605.7 sq mi) in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated population of 11.4 million people as of 2024, 15.9% of the country's population. Over 17.4 million people live within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region as of the 2021 estimate, making Bangkok a megacity and an extreme primate city, dwarfing Thailand's other urban centres in both size and importance to the national economy.
21/04/1615
The Wignacourt Aqueduct is inaugurated in Malta.
The Wignacourt Aqueduct is a 17th-century aqueduct in Malta, which was built by the Order of Saint John to carry water from springs in Dingli and Rabat to the newly built capital city Valletta. The aqueduct carried water through underground pipes and over arched viaducts across depressions in the ground.
21/04/1526
The last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi, is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
The Lodi dynasty was an Afghan royal family that ruled the Sultanate of Delhi from 1451 to 1526. It was the fifth and final dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, and was founded by Bahlul Lodi when he replaced the Sayyid dynasty.
21/04/1509
Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
Henry VIII was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. After the Pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry passed legislation that severed England and Ireland from the Roman Catholic Church and established the monarch as Supreme Head of the Church of England, initiating the English Reformation. He subsequently married five more times; two marriages were annulled, and two wives were executed.
21/04/1506
The three-day Lisbon Massacre comes to an end with the slaughter of over 1,900 suspected Jews by Portuguese Catholics.
On 19 April 1506, a crowd of churchgoers in Lisbon attacked and killed several people in the congregation whom they suspected were Jews. The violence escalated into a city-wide, antisemitic riot that killed between 500 and 4,000 "New Christians", the name for Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity.
21/04/1092
The Diocese of Pisa is elevated to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Urban II.
The Archdiocese of Pisa is a Latin Church metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Pisa, Italy. It was founded in the 4th century and elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese on 21 April 1092 by Pope Urban II. The seat of the bishop is the cathedral of the Assumption in the Piazza del Duomo.
21/04/0900
The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (the earliest known written document found in what is now the Philippines): the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Tondo, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah, pardons from all debt the Honourable Namwaran and his relations.
The Laguna Copperplate Inscription is an official acquittance certificate inscribed onto a copper plate in the Shaka year 822. It is the earliest-known, extant, calendar-dated document found within the Philippines.
01/01/1970
Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.
The Battle of Mutina took place on 21 April 43 BC between the forces loyal to the Senate under consuls Gaius Vibius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, supported by the forces of Caesar Octavian, versus the forces of Mark Antony which were besieging the troops of Decimus Brutus. The latter, one of Caesar's assassins, held the city of Mutina in Cisalpine Gaul.
01/01/1970
Romulus founds Rome (traditional date).
Romulus was the legendary founder and first king of Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus and his contemporaries. Although many of these traditions incorporate elements of folklore, and it is not clear to what extent a historical figure underlies the mythical Romulus, the events and institutions ascribed to him were central to the myths surrounding Rome's origins and cultural traditions.