Thursday, 21st May 2026 in Rome
Welcome to your daily snapshot of Rom! It's World Cultural Diversity Day and World Tea Day. Explore 75 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in Rom. 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 Rom brings drizzly with temperatures between 13°C and 28°C. Tonight's moon is in its waning gibbous phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Gemini. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Thursday, 21st May in Rom, IT.
Rome, Italy's capital, is located in the central-western region of Latium and serves as the country's largest city and political centre. The date falls under the zodiac sign of Gemini, a period typically associated with curiosity and communication. Weather conditions on this day are expected to be drizzly. The moon is in its waning gibbous phase, having passed its full stage and gradually decreasing in illumination.
On this day
On 21 May 1927, American aviator Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight aboard the Spirit of St. Louis, departing from Roosevelt Field near New York City and arriving at Paris–Le Bourget Airport. This historic achievement marked a watershed moment in aviation history and demonstrated the feasibility of long-distance air travel across the Atlantic Ocean.
In more recent history, the date witnessed significant political upheaval when Indonesian president Suharto resigned on 21 May 1998 following a collapse of support for his presidency amid severe economic and political crises. His departure ended 32 years in power and marked a crucial turning point in Indonesian politics, leading to the country's transition towards democratic governance.
World Cultural Diversity Day
World Cultural Diversity Day, observed on 21 May, recognises the richness of world cultures and their contributions to humanity. The date was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2002 to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. The observance emphasises the importance of cultural exchange and the preservation of cultural heritage across the globe. It has been marked annually for over two decades as a response to growing globalisation and the need to protect cultural identities.
World Tea Day
World Tea Day, established by the United Nations in 2019, falls on 21 May to honour the historical and cultural significance of tea production and consumption. The date marks the beginning of the tea-picking season in many regions and recognises the livelihoods of millions of tea farmers and workers worldwide. The observance promotes sustainable tea production and fair trade practices within the industry. Since its inception, the day has raised awareness about the economic and social importance of tea in developing nations.
DayAtlas provides comprehensive information for any date and location, displaying weather conditions, notable historical events, and significant births and deaths that occurred on that day. Users can explore the past and discover what happened on their chosen date anywhere in the world.
Find out what's happening today in Rom.
What the Weather Had in Store for Rom on 21st May 2026
Listening deeper reveals what speech obscures.
Fortune of the Day
21st May in the Stars – Star Sign Gemini
Personality Profile
Personality People born on May 21st merge classic Gemini curiosity with innovative Uranus influence. They're restless thinkers constantly exploring new ideas and favoring unconventional perspectives. Their communication is vibrant, often pushing conventional boundaries.
Strengths & Weaknesses These individuals excel through originality, quick thinking, and adaptability. Their weakness lies in emotional superficiality and lack of sustained focus. Impatience can sabotage projects when routine sets in.
Love In relationships, they value intellectual connection and freedom equally. Partners must respect their independence while remaining stimulating. Commitment develops through shared learning journeys and collective adventures.
Caree & Finance Careers in technology, journalism, and creative fields suit them perfectly. The number eight brings ambition and success potential. Financial gains emerge through innovative business ideas and risk tolerance.
Health These individuals have active minds that struggle with stillness. Mental overstimulation triggers nervousness and sleep disruption. Regular movement and mindfulness practices significantly promote inner balance.
That night, the moon was in its waning gibbous phase.
Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).
Fun Facts About 21st May
Name Days in Your Language: Adelric, Adiel, Audric, Keaton, Kendrick
Someone born on this day would be just 10 days old today — roughly 259 hours, 15,556 minutes, or 933,387 seconds spent on Earth so far.
It's the 141. day of the year. In 2026, 21st May falls on a Thursday.
There are 224 days still to come.
We’re currently in Week 21 — the year marches on.
Famous Birthdays on 21st May
On this day, 252 notable people were born on 21st May — spanning from 1471 to 2002. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
21/05/2002
Elena Huelva, Spanish cancer activist and influencer (died 2023)
Elena Huelva Palomo was a Spanish cancer activist, influencer, and writer. Through her regular use of social media, she divulged information about Ewing sarcoma, the type of cancer she was suffering from, to a wider audience, and demanded more investment for cancer research. She was credited with increasing the visibility of childhood bone cancer while dispelling misconceptions and myths about the disease.
21/05/1997
Ivan De Santis, Italian footballer
Ivan Francesco De Santis is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a defender. A centre-back, he made his professional debut on 2 November 2016, for Catania.
Sisca Folkertsma, Dutch footballer
Sippie Catharine "Sisca" Folkertsma is a Dutch footballer who plays as a forward for Dutch Vrouwen Eredivisie club PSV and the Netherlands national team.
Viktoria Petryk, Ukrainian singer-songwriter
Viktoria Ihorivna "Vika" Petryk is a Ukrainian singer and songwriter who represented Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008, held in Limassol, Cyprus, with the song "Matrosy" ("Sailors"). She finished in second place.
Kevin Quinn, American actor and singer
Kevin Gerard Quinn is an American actor and musician. He is known for his starring role as Xander in the Disney Channel original series Bunk'd and for his roles in the 2016 Disney Channel Original Movie Adventures in Babysitting and the 2021 Netflix film A Week Away.
21/05/1996
Josh Allen, American football player
Joshua Patrick Allen is an American professional football quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). A lightly regarded high school prospect, Allen began his college football career with the Reedley Tigers before transferring to the Wyoming Cowboys. He was selected seventh overall by the Bills in the 2018 NFL draft.
Indy de Vroome, Dutch tennis player
Indy de Vroome is a inactive Dutch tennis player.
Karen Khachanov, Russian tennis player
Karen Abgarovich Khachanov is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 8 in singles, which he achieved on 15 July 2019, and No. 53 in doubles, attained on 29 January 2024. Khachanov has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, the most significant at the 2018 Paris Masters, an ATP 1000-level event. In doubles, he has won one title at the 2023 Madrid Open, with compatriot Andrey Rublev.
21/05/1995
Diego Loyzaga, Filipino actor
Carlos Diego Loyzaga Manhilot is a Filipino model, actor and video jockey. He is known as one of the members of the male group Kapamilya Cuties.
21/05/1994
Tom Daley, English diver
Thomas Robert Daley is an English retired diver, YouTuber and television personality. He is an Olympic champion in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics and double world champion in the FINA 10-metre platform event, winning in 2009 at the age of fifteen, and again in 2017. He is an Olympic bronze medallist in the 2012 platform event, the 2016 synchronised event, and the 2020 platform event. He won the silver medal in the men's synchronised 10-metre at the 2024 Olympics, making him the first British diver to win 5 Olympic medals. Daley also competed in team events, winning the inaugural mixed team World title in 2015, and repeating the win in 2024, his fourth World title in all. He is an Olympic champion, four-time World Champion, a two-time junior World Champion, a five-time European champion and four-time Commonwealth champion.
21/05/1993
Grete Gaim, Estonian biathlete
Grete Gaim is an Estonian biathlete. She competed at the Biathlon World Championships 2013, and at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, in sprint and individual.
Luke Garbutt, English footballer
Luke Samuel Garbutt is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL League Two club Salford City. Usually a left back, he is also capable of playing as a winger. He has previously played for Everton, Cheltenham Town, Colchester United, Fulham, Wigan Athletic, Oxford United, Ipswich Town and Blackpool.
Matías Kranevitter, Argentine footballer
Claudio Matías Kranevitter is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük.
Lynn Williams, American soccer player
Lynn Biyendolo is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. The NWSL's all-time leading scorer, she was drafted out of Pepperdine University by the Western New York Flash in 2015.
21/05/1992
Hutch Dano, American actor
Hutchings Royal Dano is an American actor and painter. He is known for playing co-lead character Zeke Falcone in the Disney XD comedy series Zeke and Luther.
Lisa Evans, Scottish footballer
Lisa Catherine Evans is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Scottish Women's Premier League club Glasgow City and the Scotland national team. Operating as a winger or full-back, she began her senior career at Glasgow City, then played for Turbine Potsdam and FC Bayern Munich in Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga, and for Arsenal, West Ham United and Bristol City in the English FA WSL, winning the domestic league title in all three nations.
Philipp Grüneberg, German footballer
Philipp Grüneberg is a German footballer who plays as a forward for SV Lichtenberg 47.
Olivia Olson, American singer and actress
Olivia Olson is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and screenwriter, largely known for her voice roles as Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb and Marceline the Vampire Queen in Adventure Time. She also played the character of Joanna in the 2003 film Love Actually and its 2017 short sequel Red Nose Day Actually.
21/05/1991
Guilherme, Brazilian footballer
Guilherme Costa Marques, known simply as Guilherme, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série B club Atlético Goianiense.
21/05/1990
Kierre Beckles, Barbadian athlete
Kierre Kamille Beckles is a Barbadian athlete specializing in the 100 metres hurdles. She competed at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships failing to advance to the semi-finals on both occasions.
Rene Krhin, Slovenian footballer
Rene Krhin is a Slovenian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He earned a total of 48 caps for the Slovenia national team.
21/05/1989
Emily Robins, New Zealand actress and singer
Emily Iris Robins is a British-born New Zealand actress and singer. She was born to Danny Robins and Susan Robins. She is known for her role in the popular TV2 soap opera Shortland Street as Claire Simone Solomon (2004–2007), and for her role in the popular FOX 8 teen drama, SLiDE, where she portrayed Scarlett Carlyle. She was born in London, but raised in New Zealand. She grew up in Orewa. She was involved with Centre Stage Theatre.
Hal Robson-Kanu, Welsh footballer
Thomas Henry Alex "Hal" Robson-Kanu is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in England, he played for the Wales national team. Although he initially played primarily on the wing, he was used as a forward during Wales' run to the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016.
21/05/1988
Claire Cashmore, English Paralympic swimmer
Claire Cashmore is a Paralympic Swimming Champion and PTS5 classified British paratriathlete. She has been to four Paralympic Games with swimming and has won 4 bronze, 3 silver, and 1 gold medal. Cashmore also broke the world record in the SM9 100m Individual Medley in 2009. She decided to switch to competing in paratriathlon after winning gold and silver at the Paralympic Games in 2016, and became ITU World Champion in the PTS5 classification in 2019. Claire Cashmore is based in Loughborough, England. She was born in Redditch, England, without a left forearm.
Park Gyu-ri, South Korean singer
Park Gyu-ri, better known by the mononym Gyuri, is a South Korean singer, actress, and radio personality. She is a member of South Korean girl group Kara.
Jonny Howson, English footballer
Jonathan Mark Howson is an English professional football coach and player who plays as a defensive midfielder. He is currently the manager-player for Leeds United's Under-21 team.
Kaire Leibak, Estonian triple jumper
Kaire Leibak is an Estonian retired triple jumper. Her personal best jump of 14.43 metres is the Estonian record.
21/05/1987
Beau Falloon, Australian rugby league player
Beau Falloon is a former professional rugby league footballer who last played for Leeds in the Super League. He played as a hooker and previously played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League.
21/05/1986
Mario Mandžukić, Croatian footballer
Mario Mandžukić is a Croatian football coach and a former player who was most recently an assistant coach for the Croatia national team. As a player, he played as a forward and became known for his aggressiveness, defensive contribution, and aerial prowess.
Myra, American singer and actress
Mayra Ambriz, known mononymously as Myra, is an American pop singer of Mexican descent. She is the first Latina artist to sign with Hollywood Records and Walt Disney Records. She is best known for her 2001 singles "Dancing in the Street" for Recess: School's Out and "Miracles Happen " for the film The Princess Diaries, as well as her role in Max Keeble's Big Move.
Eder Sánchez, Mexican race walker
Heraclio Eder Sánchez Terán is a Mexican race walker. He has competed at the World Championships in Athletics five times and represented his country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. He is currently serving the Mexican Army, and has won the Mexican 'Premio Nacional del Deporte'. He holds the Mexican record for walking over 5 km and 10 km. His best for the 20 km distance is 1:18:34 hours.
Park Sojin, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
Park So-jin, better known mononymously as Sojin, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as the leader of South Korean girl group Girl's Day.
Greg Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player
Gregory John Stewart is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. He played 26 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens over three seasons from 2008 to 2009. The rest of his career, which lasted from 2006 to 2016, was mainly spent in the minor leagues. Stewart was born in Kitchener, Ontario.
Matt Wieters, American baseball player
Matthew Richard Wieters is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, and St. Louis Cardinals.
21/05/1985
Mark Cavendish, Manx cyclist
Sir Mark Simon Cavendish is a Manx retired professional cyclist. As a track cyclist he specialised in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he was a sprinter. He is widely considered the greatest road sprinter of all time, and in 2021 was called "the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour and of cycling" by Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France.
Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (died 2012)
Alexander Dale Oen was a Norwegian competitive swimmer. He was an Olympic silver medallist, World Championships gold medallist, World Championships (25m) bronze medallist, two-time European Championships gold medallist and European Short Course Championships gold medallist in the 100 metre breaststroke.
Isa Guha, English cricketer and sportscaster
Isa Tara Guha is an English former England cricketer and now a sports television commentator and radio broadcaster. She played in the 2005 South Africa World Cup and the 2009 Australia World Cup.
Lucie Hradecká, Czech tennis player
Lucie Hradecká is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and 26-time WTA Tour doubles titlist, she reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in October 2012. She was also an integral member of the Czech Republic's national team and helped her country to win five titles at the Fed Cup between 2011 and 2016, in addition to winning two Olympic medals in both women's doubles with Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková in 2012 and in mixed doubles with Radek Štěpánek in 2016. Hradecká also reached the top 45 in singles and was a finalist in seven tour-level singles tournaments. She announced her retirement from the sport at the end of the 2022 season.
Kano, English rapper, producer, and actor
Kane Brett Robinson, known by the stage name Kano, is a British rapper, songwriter and actor from East Ham, London. His fifth album, Made in the Manor was shortlisted for the 2016 Mercury Prize and won Best Album at the 2016 MOBO Awards. On screen, he played the role of Sully in Top Boy (2011–2023).
Dušan Kuciak, Slovak footballer
Dušan Kuciak is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Polish club Stoczniowiec Gdańsk. He is the younger brother of Martin Kuciak, who also played as a goalkeeper.
Heath L'Estrange, Australian rugby league player
Heath L'Estrange, also known by the nickname of "Stranger", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He played for the Sydney Roosters, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League, and the Bradford Bulls in the Super League. In his rugby league career, he won the 2008 NRL Grand Final with the Sea Eagles. He played as hooker.
Andrew Miller, American baseball player
Andrew Mark Miller is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and St. Louis Cardinals. Primarily a starting pitcher who struggled early in his MLB career, Miller found sustained success as a reliever utilizing a multi-faceted fastball and slider approach that proved deceptive for batters to hit. A left-handed batter and thrower, Miller stands 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall and weighs 205 pounds (93 kg). Internationally, Miller represented the United States. In the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC), he helped win Team USA's first gold medal in a WBC tournament.
21/05/1984
Brandon Fields, American football player
Brandon David Fields is an American former professional football player who was a punter for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans, earning consensus All-American honors. He was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL draft. He also played for the New Orleans Saints.
Sara Goller, German volleyball player
Sara Goller is a former professional German beach volleyball player.
21/05/1983
Līga Dekmeijere, Latvian tennis player
Līga Dekmeijere is an inactive Latvian tennis player.
Deidson Araújo Maia, Brazilian footballer
Deidson Araújo Maia, better known as Veloso, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
21/05/1981
Craig Anderson, American ice hockey player
Craig Peter Anderson is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Ottawa Senators, Washington Capitals, and Buffalo Sabres, with the Senators being his longest-tenured team. Internationally, Anderson represented the United States on multiple occasions. He is one of 40 NHL goaltenders to have won over 300 games in their career.
Edson Buddle, American soccer player
Edson Michael Buddle is an American former professional soccer player who is currently the head coach of USL League Two side Westchester Flames. He is one of only 13 players to have scored 100 goals in Major League Soccer history.
Josh Hamilton, American baseball player
Joshua Holt Hamilton is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 2007 to 2015, most prominently as a member of the Texas Rangers teams that won consecutive American League pennants in 2010 and 2011. A five-time All-Star, Hamilton won three Silver Slugger Awards and was named the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2010. He also won an AL batting championship along with an AL RBI title. During his major league tenure, he also played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Maximilian Mutzke, German singer-songwriter
Maximilian Nepomuk Mutzke is a German singer, songwriter and television personality. He gained public interest in early 2004 when he won SSDSGPS, a talent contest hosted in Stefan Raab's late-night show TV total. Mutzke subsequently qualified for and won the national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, Germany 12 Points!, and thus represented Germany with his debut single "Can't Wait Until Tonight" that year, eventually finishing eighth in a field of 24 participants. Meanwhile, "Can't Wait Until Tonight" debuted atop the German singles chart and became a top five hit in Austria and Switzerland. His eponymous debut album, a mixture of soul and pop songs in German and English language, was released in January 2005 and also reached number one in Germany, where it was certified gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI).
Anna Rogowska, Polish pole vaulter
Anna Rogowska is a retired Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. She became the World Champion in 2009 in Berlin.
21/05/1980
Gotye, Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter
Wouter André "Wally" De Backer is a Belgian-born Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" topped the Billboard Hot 100, as well as several international charts, and became the best-selling song of 2012. He has won five ARIA Awards and received a nomination for an MTV EMA for Best Asia and Pacific Act. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, the song won Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, while its parent album — Making Mirrors (2012) — won Best Alternative Music Album.
21/05/1979
Damián Ariel Álvarez, Argentinian-Mexican footballer
Damián Ariel Álvarez, also known as "La Chilindrina", is a former professional footballer who played as a winger. Born in Argentina, he played for the Mexico national team.
Jamie Hepburn, Scottish politician, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health
James Douglas Hepburn is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth since 2011, having previously represented the Central Scotland region from 2007 to 2011.
James Clancy Phelan, Australian author and academic
James Clancy Phelan (born 21 May 1979, known professionally as James Phelan, is an Australian writer of thrillers and young adult novels, including Fox Hunt, The Last 13 series for teens, and the Jed Walker and Lachlan Fox thrillers. He has also written short stories and the non-fiction book Literati.
Scott Smith, American mixed martial artist
Scott Smith is an American retired mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 to 2016, Smith was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback, and has competed for the UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC and PFC. He is the former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion.
21/05/1978
Max B, American rapper and songwriter
Charley Wingate, better known by his stage name Max B, is an American rapper, singer, and convicted criminal. He is best known for his solo Public Domain and Million Dollar Baby series of mixtapes. He introduced the term "wavy" as a slang in popular lexicon.
Briana Banks, German-American porn actress and model
Briana Banks is a German pornographic actress and model. She was the Penthouse Pet of the Month for June 2001. She is a member of the AVN Hall of Fame and XRCO Hall of Fame.
Jamaal Magloire, Canadian basketball player and coach
Jamaal Dane Magloire is a Canadian former professional basketball player who currently serves as basketball development consultant and community ambassador for the Toronto Raptors. He played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Charlotte Hornets, New Orleans Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, and Toronto Raptors. The 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), 265 lb center was selected out of the University of Kentucky by the Charlotte Hornets, with the 19th overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft, after withdrawing his name from the previous draft. He was voted into the NBA All-Star Game in 2004, becoming the second Canadian All-Star in NBA history.
21/05/1977
Quinton Fortune, South African international footballer and coach
Quinton Fortune is a South African professional soccer coach and former player, who played as a midfielder or left-back. After stints with Mallorca and Atlético Madrid, he settled with Manchester United in 1999 and spent seven years there, winning a Premier League title, FA Community Shield and Intercontinental Cup.
Michael Fuß, German footballer
Michael Fuß is a German footballer.
Ricky Williams, American football player
Errick Miron, known professionally as Ricky Williams, is an American former professional football player who was a running back for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
21/05/1976
Stuart Bingham, English snooker player
Stuart Bingham is an English professional snooker player who is a former World Champion and Masters winner. He won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional career. His form improved in his mid-thirties: at age 35, he won his first ranking title at the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open, which helped him enter the top 16 in the rankings for the first time.
Abderrahim Goumri, Moroccan runner (died 2013)
Abderrahim Goumri was a Moroccan long-distance runner. He had competed in cross country, track, road running and marathon races.
Deron Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
Deron John Miller is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band CKY, which he co-founded in 1998. Other bands Miller fronts include the progressive metal band Foreign Objects, the melodic death metal band World Under Blood, and the alternative metal band 96 Bitter Beings.
21/05/1975
Anthony Mundine, Australian rugby league player and boxer
Anthony Steven Mundine is an Australian former professional boxer and rugby league footballer. In boxing he competed from 2000 to 2021, and held the World Boxing Association (WBA) super-middleweight title twice between 2003 and 2008. He also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight title from 2009 to 2010, and the WBA interim super-welterweight title from 2011 to 2012. Mundine is well known for his heated rivalries with fellow Australians Danny Green and Daniel Geale.
21/05/1974
Brad Arthur, Australian rugby league coach
Bradley Arthur is a professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League.
Fairuza Balk, American actress
Fairuza Balk is an American actress, musician, and visual artist. Known for her portrayals of distinctive characters—often with a dark edge and "goth-girl" persona—she has appeared in numerous independent films and blockbuster features.
Havoc, American rapper and producer
Kejuan Waliek Muchita, known professionally as Havoc, is an American rapper and record producer. He was one half of the hip-hop duo Mobb Deep with Prodigy.
21/05/1973
Stewart Cink, American golfer
Stewart Ernest Cink is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He won the 2009 Open Championship, defeating Tom Watson in a four-hole aggregate playoff. He spent over 40 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking from 2004 to 2009, reaching a career best ranking of 5th in 2008.
Noel Fielding, English comedian, musician and television presenter
Noel Fielding is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He gained prominence in the late 1990s as a member of the comedy troupe The Mighty Boosh, which he formed with Julian Barratt. Fielding has also had a successful solo career as a stand-up comedian and is known for his dark and surreal comedic style.
21/05/1972
The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (died 1997)
Christopher George Latore Wallace, known professionally as the Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in the East Coast hip-hop and gangsta rap traditions, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive, laidback lyrical delivery, offsetting his lyrics' often grim content. His music was semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality but also of debauchery and celebration.
21/05/1971
Shane Cloete, Zimbabwean-British ex-cricketer and teacher
Shane Cloete is a teacher and ex-Zimbabwean cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. He was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia.
21/05/1970
Brigita Bukovec, Slovenian hurdler
Brigita Bukovec is a retired Slovenian hurdler who won an Olympic silver medal in 1996. During the Olympics she set a personal best time with 12.59 seconds.
Dorsey Levens, American football player and sportscaster
Herbert Dorsey Levens is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Green Bay Packers. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and later the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Levens was selected by Green Bay in the fifth round of the 1994 NFL draft. He helped the Packers win the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl XXXI against the New England Patriots.
Pauline Menczer, Australian surfer
Pauline Menczer is an Australian surfer. She was Women's World Champion for Professional Surfing in 1993.
Carl Veart, Australian footballer and coach
Thomas Carl Veart is an Australian former footballer who is currently the head coach for Australia Under-17.
21/05/1969
Pierluigi Brivio, Italian footballer
Pierluigi Brivio is an Italian professional football coach and a former goalkeeper. He is a goalkeeping coach with Serbia club Red Star Belgrade.
Georgiy Gongadze, Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and director (died 2000)
Georgiy Ruslanovych Gongadze was a Ukrainian journalist. He founded the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda along with Olena Prytula in 2000. The same year, he was kidnapped and murdered near Kyiv. Gongadze was born to a Ukrainian mother and a Georgian father in Tbilisi, Georgia, then part of the Soviet Union.
Masayo Kurata, Japanese voice actress and singer
Masayo Kurata is a Japanese voice actress. Some of her major roles are Koyomi from Girls Bravo, Shinobu Maehara in Love Hina, Tomoe Kashiwaba in Rozen Maiden, Karinka from Steel Angel Kurumi, and Subaru Mikage in Comic Party. In video games she voices Kurara in Purikura Daisakusen, Ai Senou in Hourglass of Summer, Chizuru Sakaki in the Rumbling Hearts / Muv-Luv visual novels, and Souffle Rossetti in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.
George LeMieux, American lawyer and politician
George Stephen LeMieux is an American former politician who was a United States senator from Florida from 2009 to 2011. He is chairman of the Florida-based law firm of Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart and was chief of staff to Governor Charlie Crist. He was the Deputy Florida Attorney General and is credited with spearheading Crist's successful campaign for governor. In 2009, Crist appointed LeMieux as U.S. Senator to replace Mel Martínez, who resigned.
Brian Statham, Rhodesian born English footballer and manager
Brian Statham is an English retired professional footballer who made over 160 appearances in the Football League for Brentford as a right back. He also played League football for Tottenham Hotspur, Gillingham, Reading, Bournemouth and was capped by England at U21 level. Statham later managed Heybridge Swifts, Billericay Town and Welling United in non-League football. He currently serves as director of football at Welling United.
21/05/1968
Ilmar Raag, Estonian director, producer, and screenwriter
Ilmar Raag is an Estonian media executive, actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his socio-critical film The Class. He was CEO of Estonian Television from 2002 to 2005. He is a well known columnist in many prestigious Estonian newspapers. He has written many scripts and directed critically acclaimed films, notably August 1991 and The Class.
Matthias Ungemach, German-Australian rower
Matthias Ungemach is a German rower, double World Champion and Olympian.
Julie Vega, Filipino actress and singer (died 1985)
Julie Pearl Apostol Postigo, better known by her stage name Julie Vega, was a Filipino actress, singer and commercial model. She remains very popular in her native Philippines, years after her death at the peak of her career at age 16. She won two FAMAS Awards for Best Child Actress during her brief showbiz career.
21/05/1967
Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler (died 2007)
Christopher Michael Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler who worked for various promotions during his 22-year career. Despite his accomplishments, he is more generally known for murdering his wife and youngest son before committing suicide.
Alain Yzermans, Belgian politician
Alain L. J. Yzermans is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of Vooruit, he has represented Limburg since June 2024.
21/05/1966
Lisa Edelstein, American actress and playwright
Lisa Edelstein is an American actress and artist. She is known for playing Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the Fox medical drama series House (2004–2011). Between 2014 and 2018, Edelstein starred as Abby McCarthy in the Bravo series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce.
Tatyana Ledovskaya, Belarusian hurdler
Tatyana Mikhailovna Ledovskaya is a retired athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres hurdles. She represented the Soviet Union and later Belarus, training in Minsk.
21/05/1964
Danny Bailey, English footballer and coach
Danny Stephen Bailey is an English retired professional footballer.
Pete Sandoval, Salvadoran-American drummer
Pedro Rigoberto "Pete" Sandoval is a Salvadoran-born American drummer, best known for his work with extreme metal bands Morbid Angel, Terrorizer and I Am Morbid.
21/05/1963
Richard Appel, American screenwriter and producer
Richard James Appel is an American writer, producer and former attorney. Since 2012, he has served as an executive producer and co-showrunner of Family Guy on Fox. He attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School. As an undergraduate, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon.
Patrick Grant, American musician and producer
Patrick Grant is an American composer living and working in New York City. His works are a synthesis of classical, popular, and world musical styles that have found place in concert halls, film, theater, dance, and visual media over three continents. Over the last three decades, his music has moved from post-punk and classically bent post-minimal styles, through Balinese-inspired gamelan and microtonality, to ambient, electronic soundscapes involving many layers of acoustic and electronically amplified instruments. Throughout its evolution, his music has consistently contained a "...a driving and rather harsh energy redolent of rock, as well as a clean sense of melodicism...intricate cross-rhythms rarely let up..." Known as a producer and co-producer of live musical events, he has presented many concerts of his own and other composers, including a 2013 Guinness World Record-breaking performance of 175 electronic keyboards in NYC. He is the creator of International Strange Music Day and the pioneer of the electric guitar procession Tilted Axes.
David Lonsdale, English actor
David Lonsdale is an English actor. He is best known for playing David Stockwell in the ITV period police drama series Heartbeat.
Dave Specter, American guitarist
Dave Specter is an American Chicago blues and jazz guitarist.
Laurie Spina, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
Laurie Joseph Spina is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and rugby league commentator. In 1995, Spina was the inaugural captain of the North Queensland Cowboys.
21/05/1962
David Crumb, American composer and educator
David Crumb is an American contemporary composer born into a musical family. His father was composer George Crumb, and his sister was singer Ann Crumb. His music is not as avant-garde or experimental as his father's; it has been called "attractive, accessible, imaginative, well-crafted" by the Chicago-Sun Times, and "expressive and beautiful" by the American Record Guide: reviews listed on the Presser bio.
21/05/1960
Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (died 1994)
Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
Kent Hrbek, American baseball player and sportscaster
Kent Alan Hrbek, nicknamed "Herbie", is an American former Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 14-year baseball career with the Minnesota Twins (1981–1994). Hrbek batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He hit the first home run in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on April 3, 1982, in an exhibition game against the Phillies. Fans knew Hrbek as an outstanding defensive player, perennial slugger, and charismatic hometown favorite. Former Twins pitcher Jim Kaat considered Hrbek to be the best defensive first baseman he had ever seen, despite him never winning a Gold Glove at the position.
Mohanlal, Indian actor
Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair, known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, producer and playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has also occasionally appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 400 films. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. Mohanlal was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN. In 2025, the Government of India honoured him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in the field of Indian cinema, for his "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema."
Mark Ridgway, Australian cricketer
Mark William Ridgway is an Australian former cricketer, who played for the Tasmanian Tigers from 1993 until 2000.
Vladimir Salnikov, Russian swimmer
Vladimir Valeryevich Salnikov is a Russian former freestyle swimmer who set 12 world records in the 400, 800 and 1,500 metre events. Nicknamed the "Tsar of the Pool", "Monster of the Waves" and "Leningrad Express", he was the first person to swim under fifteen minutes in the 1500 m freestyle and also the first person to swim under eight minutes in the 800 m freestyle. He was named the Male World Swimmer of the Year in 1979 and 1982 by Swimming World.
21/05/1959
Nick Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter
Nicholas David Rowland Cassavetes is an American actor, director, and writer. He has directed such films as She's So Lovely (1997), John Q. (2002), The Notebook (2004), Alpha Dog (2006), and My Sister's Keeper (2009). His acting credits include an uncredited role in Husbands (1970)—which was directed by his father, John Cassavetes—as well as roles in the films The Wraith (1986), Face/Off (1997), and Blow (2001).
Abdulla Yameen, Maldivian politician, 6th President of the Maldives
Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom is a Maldivian politician who served as president of the Maldives from 2013 to 2018.
21/05/1958
Christian Audigier, French fashion designer (died 2015)
Christian Audigier was a French fashion designer known for the Ed Hardy and Von Dutch clothing lines.
Muffy Calder, Canadian-Scottish computer scientist and academic
Dame Muffy Calder is a Canadian-born British computer scientist, Vice-Principal and Head of College of Science and Engineering, and Professor of Formal Methods at the University of Glasgow. From 2012 to 2015 she was Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.
Michael Crick, English journalist and author
Michael Lawrence Crick is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He was a founding member of the Channel 4 News team in 1982 and remained there until joining the BBC in 1990. He started work on the BBC's Newsnight programme in 1992, serving as political editor from 2007 until his departure from the BBC in 2011. Crick then returned to Channel 4 News as political correspondent. In 2014 he was chosen as Specialist Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society television journalism awards.
Naeem Khan, Indian-American fashion designer
Naeem Khan is an Indian-American fashion designer based in New York City known for his ornate and intricately detailed gowns, and for dressing First Lady Michelle Obama, Queen Noor of Jordan, and the Princess of Wales.
Jefery Levy, American director, producer, and screenwriter
Jefery Levy is an American film and television director, producer, and writer.
21/05/1957
James Bailey, American basketball player
James L. Bailey is an American former professional basketball player. A 6-foot-9-inch (2.06 m) forward/center from Rutgers University, he was selected with the 6th pick of the 1979 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. Nicknamed "Jammin' James," he spent 9 seasons (1979–1988) in the National Basketball Association (NBA), playing for the Sonics as well as the New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, and Phoenix Suns. He ended his NBA career with 5,246 total points.
Nadine Dorries, English politician
Nadine Vanessa Dorries is a British author and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Bedfordshire from 2005 to 2023 for the Conservative Party. Since 2025, she has been a member of Reform UK.
Judge Reinhold, American actor and producer
Edward Ernest "Judge" Reinhold Jr. is an American actor who is best known for his work in Hollywood films during the 1980s. He has starred in several popular films such as Stripes (1981), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Ruthless People (1986). He has co-starred in all of the films in the Beverly Hills Cop series and The Santa Clause franchises.
Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress
Renette Pauline Soutendijk, known professionally as Renée Soutendijk, is a Dutch actress. A gymnast in her youth, Soutendijk began her acting career in the late 1970s. She was a favorite star of director Paul Verhoeven's films, and is perhaps best known for her work in his 1980 release Spetters and 1983's The Fourth Man. Her good looks and striking blond hair secured her status as a Dutch sex symbol in the 1980s.
21/05/1955
Paul Barber, English field hockey player
Paul Jason Barber is an English former field hockey player, who won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
Stanley Joseph Lynch is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994.
21/05/1954
Marc Ribot, American guitarist and composer
Marc Ribot is an American guitarist and composer.
21/05/1953
Nora Aunor, Filipino actress and recording artist (died 2025)
Nora Cabaltera Villamayor, known professionally as Nora Aunor, was a Filipino actress, producer, and singer. Known for her leading roles with patriotic, feminist and socio-political themes, she appeared in more than 170 motion pictures during a career that spanned over five decades. Regarded as the most awarded Filipino actress in history, she was known as the Philippines' "Superstar" and was conferred as a National Artist of the Philippines for Film and Broadcast Arts in 2022.
Jim Devine, British politician
James Devine is a former Labour Party politician in Scotland. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston from 2005 until 2010 and chairman of the Scottish Labour Party between 1994 and 1995.
21/05/1952
Mr. T, American actor and wrestler
Laurence T is an American actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III. He is also known for his distinctive hairstyle inspired by Mandinka warriors in West Africa, his copious gold jewelry, his tough-guy persona and his catchphrase "I pity the fool!", first uttered as Clubber Lang in Rocky III, then turned into a trademark used in slogans or titles, like the reality show I Pity the Fool in 2006.
21/05/1951
Al Franken, American actor, screenwriter, and politician
Alan Stuart Franken is an American politician, comedian, screenwriter, and actor who served from 2009 until his resignation in 2018 as a United States senator from Minnesota. A member of the Democratic Party, he worked as an entertainer, appearing on television and in films, before entering politics.
Adrian Hardiman, Irish lawyer and judge (died 2016)
Adrian Hardiman was an Irish judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2000 to 2016.
21/05/1950
Will Hutton, English economist and journalist
William Nicolas Hutton is an English journalist. As of 2022, he writes a regular column for The Observer, co-chairs the Purposeful Company, and is the president-designate of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is the chair of the advisory board of the UK National Youth Corps. He was principal of Hertford College, University of Oxford from 2011 to 2020, and co-founder of the Big Innovation Centre, an initiative from the Work Foundation, having been chief executive of the Work Foundation from 2000 to 2008. He was formerly editor-in-chief of The Observer.
21/05/1949
Andrew Neil, Scottish journalist and academic
Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Neil attended Paisley Grammar School, before studying at the University of Glasgow. He entered journalism in 1973 as a correspondent for The Economist.
Denis O'Connor, British police officer
Sir Denis Francis O'Connor is the former Chief Inspector of Constabulary. He was appointed on 11 May 2009 and retired on 31 July 2012.
Rosalind Plowright, English soprano
Rosalind Anne Plowright is an English opera singer who spent much of her career as a soprano but in 1999 changed to the mezzo-soprano range.
21/05/1948
Elizabeth Buchan, English author and critic
Elizabeth Buchan, née Oakleigh-Walker is a British writer of non-fiction and fiction books since 1985. In 1994, her novel Consider the Lily won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association, and she was elected its eighteenth Chairman (1995–1997). Her novel, Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman (2001), has been made into a television film for CBS.
Joe Camilleri, Maltese-Australian singer-songwriter and saxophonist
Joseph Vincent Camilleri, aka Jo Jo Zep, is a Maltese Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Camilleri has recorded as a solo artist and as a member of Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and The Black Sorrows. Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons' highest-charting single was "Hit & Run" from June 1979, which peaked at #12; Jo Jo Zep's "Taxi Mary" peaked at No. 11 in September 1982; and The Black Sorrows top single, "Chained to the Wheel", peaked at No. 9 in March 1989.
Jonathan Hyde, Australian-English actor
Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King, known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian-British actor. He portrayed Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the comedy film Richie Rich (1994), Samuel Parrish and Van Pelt in the fantasy adventure film Jumanji (1995), J. Bruce Ismay in the epic romantic film Titanic (1997), Culverton Smith in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Warren Westridge in creature feature film Anaconda (1997), Dr. Allen Chamberlain in the adventure horror film The Mummy (1999), and Eldritch Palmer in the FX TV series The Strain. Although an Australian citizen, he has mostly lived in the United Kingdom since 1969, after his family left Australia.
Denis MacShane, Scottish journalist and politician, UK Minister of State for Europe
Denis MacShane is a British former politician, author, commentator and convicted criminal who served as Minister of State for Europe from 2002 to 2005. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham from 1994 to his forced resignation in 2012.
Leo Sayer, English-Australian singer-songwriter and musician
Gerard Hugh Sayer, known by his stage name Leo Sayer, is an English singer and songwriter who has been active since the early 1970s. He is best known for his 1978 Grammy Award-winning song "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing". He has been an Australian citizen since 2009, and lives in New South Wales.
21/05/1947
Bill Champlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
William Bradford Champlin is an American singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the rock band Chicago from 1981 to 2009. He performed lead vocals on three of Chicago's biggest hits of the 1980s, 1984's "Hard Habit to Break" and 1988's "Look Away" and "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love". During live shows, he sang the songs originally performed by founding guitarist Terry Kath, who had died in 1978. He has won multiple Grammy Awards for songwriting.
Linda Laubenstein, American physician and academic (died 1992)
Linda Jane Laubenstein was an American physician and early HIV/AIDS researcher. She was among the first doctors in the United States to recognize the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s; she co-authored the first article linking AIDS with Kaposi's sarcoma.
İlber Ortaylı, Turkish historian and academic (died 2026)
İlber Ortaylı was a Turkish historian and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin at the Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Ankara University and Bilkent University in Ankara. In 2005, he was appointed the director of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul, until he retired in 2012.
21/05/1946
Allan McKeown, English-American screenwriter and producer (died 2013)
Allan McKeown was a British television, film, and stage producer.
Wayne Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider and coach
Wayne William Roycroft, is an Australian equestrian and coach who won two bronze medals at three Olympics. He was the national eventing coach from 1988 to 2010; Australia won four team and two individual medals in the sport during his reign.
21/05/1945
Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut
Ernst Willi Messerschmid is a German physicist and former astronaut.
Richard Hatch, American actor, writer, and producer (died 2017)
Richard Lawrence Hatch was an American actor and writer. He began his career as a stage actor before moving on to television work in the 1970s. Hatch is best known for his roles as Captain Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica television series and Tom Zarek in the reimagined series.
21/05/1944
Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, Iranian-English academic and politician (died 2022)
Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, was a British life peer in the House of Lords. She had a life-long interest in women's rights and Islamic law. She was a professor at the University of York and she wrote over a dozen scholarly books.
Marcie Blane, American singer
Marcia Blank, known as Marcie Blane, is an American former pop singer known for her 1962 hit song, "Bobby's Girl".
Janet Dailey, American author and entrepreneur (died 2013)
Janet Anne Haradon Dailey was an American author of numerous romance novels as Janet Dailey. Her novels have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.
Mary Robinson, Irish lawyer and politician, President of Ireland
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senator in Seanad Éireann from 1969 to 1989, and as a councillor on Dublin Corporation from 1979 to 1983. Although she had been briefly affiliated with the Labour Party during her time as a senator, she became the first independent candidate to win the presidency and the first not to have had the support of Fianna Fáil. Following her time as president, Robinson became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002.
21/05/1943
Vincent Crane, English pianist and composer (died 1989)
Vincent Rodney Cheesman, known professionally as Vincent Crane, was an English keyboardist, best known as the organist for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and subsequently for Atomic Rooster.
John Dalton, English bass player
John Dalton is a British bass guitar player, most notable as a member of the Kinks in 1966 and between 1969 and 1976, replacing original member Pete Quaife.
Hilton Valentine, English guitarist and songwriter (died 2021)
Hilton Stewart Paterson Valentine was an English skiffle and rock and roll musician who was the original guitarist in the Animals. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and into Hollywood’s Rock Walk of Fame in 2001 with the other members of the Animals.
21/05/1942
David Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales
David James Fletcher Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, is a British Conservative politician who served as a member of the Cabinet during the Thatcher and Major ministries, and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1990.
John Konrads, Australian swimmer (died 2021)
John Konrads was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won the 1500 m freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In his career, he set 26 individual world records, and after his swimming career ended, was the Australasian director of L'Oréal, as well as campaigning for the Sydney Olympics bid. Along with his sister Ilsa, who also set multiple world records, they were known as the Konrads Kids.
Danny Ongais, American race car driver (died 2022)
Ezekiel "Danny" Ongais was an American racing driver.
21/05/1941
Martin Carthy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later artists such as Richard Thompson, since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s.
Bobby Cox, American baseball player and manager (died 2026)
Robert Joe Cox was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played as a third baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees and managed for the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He recorded a 100-win season six times, a record matched only by Joe McCarthy.
Ambrose Greenway, 4th Baron Greenway, English photographer and politician
Ambrose Charles Drexel Greenway, 4th Baron Greenway, is a British marine photographer and shipping consultant. He was one of the ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, where he sat as a crossbencher.
Ronald Isley, American singer-songwriter and producer
Ronald Isley is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Isley is the lead singer, a founding member, and last surviving original member of the family music group The Isley Brothers.
21/05/1940
Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013)
Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity, known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of the Beatles, one of two non-Beatles to receive label performance credit on a record with the group, and the only non-Beatle to appear as lead singer on a Beatles recording which charted as a single.
21/05/1939
Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist, composer, and conductor
Heinz Robert Holliger is a Swiss composer, virtuoso oboist, and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Classical pieces, but he has regularly engaged in lesser known pieces of Romantic music, as well as his own compositions. He often performed contemporary works with his wife, the harpist Ursula Holliger. Many composers have written works for him, including Messiaen, Berio, Carter, Henze, Krenek, Lutosławski, Martin, Penderecki, Stockhausen and Yun. A noted composer himself, Holliger has written works such as the opera Schneewittchen (1998).
21/05/1938
Lee "Shot" Williams, American singer (died 2011)
Henry Lee "Shot" Williams was an American blues singer. He got the nickname "Shot" from his mother at a young age, owing to his fondness for wearing suits and dressing up as a "big shot."
21/05/1936
Günter Blobel, Polish-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018)
Günter Blobel was a Silesian German and American biologist and 1999 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell.
21/05/1935
Terry Lightfoot, English clarinet player and bandleader (died 2013)
Terence John Lightfoot was a British jazz clarinettist and bandleader, and together with Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball was one of the leading members of the trad jazz generation of British jazzmen.
21/05/1934
Jocasta Innes, Chinese-English journalist and author (died 2013)
Jocasta Claire Traill Innes was a British writer, journalist and businesswoman. She mainly wrote about cooking, crafts and homemaking, including in her books The Pauper's Homemaking Book (1976) and The Country Kitchen (1987), and worked for publications such as Cosmopolitan. She founded and was CEO of the paint company Paint Magic in the 1980s, inspired by her 1981 book Paint Magic. Two of her children, Daisy and Jason Goodwin, are also writers.
Bob Northern, American horn player and bandleader (died 2020)
Robert Northern, known professionally as Brother Ah, was an American jazz French hornist.
Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024)
Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson was a Swedish biochemist. He shared with Sune K. Bergström and John R. Vane the 1982 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related substances.
21/05/1933
Maurice André, French trumpet player (died 2012)
Maurice André was a French trumpeter, active in the classical music field.
Yevgeny Minayev, Russian weightlifter (died 1993)
Yevgeny Gavrilovich Minayev was a Russian weightlifter who competed for the Soviet Union. He won a silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
21/05/1932
Inese Jaunzeme, Latvian javelin thrower and surgeon (died 2011)
Inese Jaunzeme was a Latvian javelin thrower who won a gold medal at the 1956 Olympics.
Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral and intelligence chief (died 2014)
Leonidas Vasilikopoulos was a Greek Navy officer, who served as Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff in 1986–1989 and then as head of the Greek National Intelligence Service in 1993–1996. A distinguished officer, he is also notable for his participation in resistance groups against the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, being repeatedly imprisoned and exiled as a consequence.
21/05/1930
Tommy Bryant, American bassist (died 1982)
Thomas Bryant was an American jazz double-bassist.
Keith Davis, New Zealand rugby player (died 2019)
Keith Davis was a New Zealand rugby union player who played for both New Zealand and New Zealand Māori. He played for Auckland, and won the Ranfurly Shield in his first ever provincial game. After gaining All Blacks selection in 1952, Davis toured with the team to Europe and North America in 1953–54. He played extensively for New Zealand Māori between 1952 and his retirement in 1959; his time with the team included matches against both South Africa and the British Lions. Davis was awarded the Tom French Cup for Māori player of the year in 1952, 1953 and 1954.
Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (died 2015)
John Malcolm Fraser was an Australian farmer and politician who was the 22nd prime minister of Australia, serving from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth longest-serving prime minister in Australian history.
21/05/1929
Larance Marable, American drummer (died 2012)
Larance Norman Marable was a jazz drummer from Los Angeles, California.
Robert Welch, English silversmith and industrial designer (died 2000)
Robert Radford Welch MBE, RDI, was an English designer and silversmith.
21/05/1928
Tom Donahue, American radio host and producer (died 1975)
Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue, was an American rock and roll radio disc jockey, record producer and concert promoter.
Alice Drummond, American actress (died 2016)
Alice Elizabeth Drummond was an American actress. A veteran Off-Broadway performer, she was nominated in 1970 for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Mrs. Lee in The Chinese by Murray Schisgal. She may be best known as Alice, the librarian, in the opening scenes of the 1984 horror-comedy Ghostbusters.
21/05/1927
Kay Kendall, English actress and comedian (died 1959)
Justine Kay Kendall McCarthy was an English actress and singer. She began her film career in the musical film London Town (1946), a financial failure. Kendall worked regularly until her appearance in the comedy film Genevieve (1953) brought her widespread recognition. Prolific in British films, Kendall also achieved some popularity with American audiences, and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her role in the musical-comedy film Les Girls (1957).
Péter Zwack, Hungarian businessman and diplomat (died 2012)
Péter János Zwack was a Hungarian businessman, investor, philanthropist, diplomat and the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States from 1990 until 1991. He was the CEO and owner of the company Zwack.
21/05/1926
Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (died 2005)
Robert White Creeley was an American poet and author of more than 60 books. He is associated with the Black Mountain poets, although his verse aesthetic diverged from that school. Creeley was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn.
21/05/1924
Peggy Cass, American actress, comedian, and game show panelist (died 1999)
Mary Margaret "Peggy" Cass was an American actress, comedian, game show panelist, and announcer.
21/05/1923
Vernon Biever, American photographer (died 2010)
Vernon Joseph Biever was an American photographer, most notably with the Green Bay Packers.
Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic (died 2003)
Armand Borel was a Swiss mathematician, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and was a permanent professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, United States from 1957 to 1993. He worked in algebraic topology, in the theory of Lie groups, and was one of the creators of the contemporary theory of linear algebraic groups.
Ara Parseghian, American football player and coach (died 2017)
Ara Raoul Parseghian was an American football coach and player who coached the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for bringing Notre Dame's Fighting Irish football program back from years of futility into national prominence in 1964 and is regarded alongside Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy as a part of the "Holy Trinity" of Notre Dame head coaches.
Dorothy Hewett, Australian feminist poet, novelist and playwright (died 2002)
Dorothy Coade Hewett was an Australian playwright, poet and author. She wrote in a number of different literary styles: modernism, socialist realism, expressionism and avant garde. She was a member of the Australian Communist Party in the 1950s and 1960s, which informed her work during that period.
Evelyn Ward, American actress (died 2012)
Evelyn Mae Ward was an American actress and dancer known for her stage musical performances and television appearances. Her son was the actor-singer David Cassidy.
21/05/1921
Sandy Douglas, English computer scientist and academic, designed OXO (died 2010)
Alexander Shafto "Sandy" Douglas CBE was a British professor of computer science, credited with creating the first graphical computer game, OXO, a version of noughts and crosses, in 1952 on the EDSAC computer at University of Cambridge.
Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989)
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet physicist and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world.
21/05/1920
Bill Barber, American tuba player and educator (died 2007)
John William Barber was an American jazz tubist. He is considered by many to be the first person to play tuba in modern jazz. He recorded with Miles Davis on the albums Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain, and Miles Ahead.
Forrest White, American businessman, co-founded the Music Man Company (died 1994)
Forrest Fred White was an American musical instruments industry executive, best known for his association with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and as co-founder of the Music Man company.
21/05/1919
George P. Mitchell, American businessman and philanthropist (died 2013)
George Phydias Mitchell was an American businessman, real estate developer and philanthropist from Texas credited with pioneering the economic extraction of shale gas.
21/05/1917
Raymond Burr, Canadian-American actor and director (died 1993)
Raymond William Stacy Burr was a Canadian actor who had a lengthy Hollywood film career and portrayed the title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside.
21/05/1916
Dennis Day, American singer and actor (died 1988)
Dennis Day was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He was of Irish descent.
Tinus Osendarp, Dutch sprinter and police officer (died 2002)
Martinus Bernardus "Tinus" Osendarp was a Dutch sprint runner.
Harold Robbins, American author and screenwriter (died 1997)
Harold Robbins was an American author. One of the best-selling writers of all time, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages.
21/05/1915
Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, Indian Civil Service Officer and former Under Secretary-General of the UN (died 2003)
Chakravarthi Vijayaraghava Narasimhan MBE, ICS was an Indian Civil Service officer and a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, serving twenty-two years in the UN.
21/05/1914
Romain Gary, French novelist, diplomat, film director, aviator (died 1980)
Romain Gary, also known by the pen name Émile Ajar, was a Lithuanian-born French novelist, diplomat, film director, and military aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice. He is considered a major writer of French literature of the second half of the 20th century.
21/05/1913
Gina Bachauer, Greek pianist and composer (died 1976)
Gina Bachauer was a Greek classical pianist who toured extensively in the United States and Europe. Interested in piano at a young age, Bachauer graduated from the Athens Conservatory and studied under Alfred Cortot and Sergei Rachmaninoff. She is best known for playing Romantic piano concertos. She played hundreds of concerts for the Allied troops in the Middle East during World War II while she lived in Egypt. She spent a lot of time touring the United States and Europe, giving over 100 concerts each year. Bachauer also recorded extensively, both as a soloist and with orchestras. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Utah. During her career she was called the "queen of pianists". The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation was named in honor of her contributions to the musical world. In her personal life, Bachauer married music conductor Alec Sherman, who became her manager. She died at the age of 63 at the Athens Festival.
21/05/1912
Chen Dayu, Chinese painter and calligrapher (died 2001)
Chen Dayu, was a Chinese painter, calligrapher, seal carver and educator.
John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist and academic (died 1986)
John Curtis Gowan was a psychologist who studied, along with E. Paul Torrance, the development of creative capabilities in children and gifted populations.
Monty Stratton, American baseball player and coach (died 1982)
Monty Franklin Pierce Stratton was an American professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was born in Palacios, Texas and lived in Greenville, Texas, for part of his life. His major league career ended prematurely when a hunting accident in 1938 forced doctors to amputate his right leg. Wearing a prosthetic leg, Stratton played in the minor leagues from 1946 to 1953. His comeback was the subject of the 1949 film The Stratton Story, in which he was portrayed by Jimmy Stewart.
21/05/1907
John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (died 1979)
John C. Allen was a roller coaster designer who was responsible for the revival of wooden roller coasters which began in the 1960s. He attended Drexel University. He started working for the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1934 as a coaster operator and rose to become president of the company by 1954. He designed more than 25 coasters and made significant contributions to roller coaster technology. He once said, "You don't need a degree in engineering to design roller coasters, you need a degree in psychology."
21/05/1904
Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (died 1981)
Robert Montgomery was an American actor, director, and producer. He began his acting career on the stage, but was soon hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Initially assigned roles in comedies, he soon proved he was able to handle dramatic ones, as well. He appeared in a wide variety of roles, such as the weak-willed prisoner Kent in The Big House (1930), the psychotic Danny in Night Must Fall (1937), and Joe, the boxer mistakenly sent to Heaven in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). The last two earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1943)
Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999, respectively.
21/05/1903
Manly Wade Wellman, American author (died 1986)
Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer. While his science fiction and fantasy stories appeared in such pulps as Astounding Stories, Startling Stories, Unknown and Strange Stories, Wellman is best remembered as one of the most popular contributors to the legendary Weird Tales and for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains, which draw on the native folklore of that region. Karl Edward Wagner referred to him as "the dean of fantasy writers." Wellman also wrote in a wide variety of other genres, including historical fiction, detective fiction, western fiction, juvenile fiction, and non-fiction.
21/05/1902
Earl Averill, American baseball player (died 1983)
Howard Earl Averill was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1929 to 1941, including 11 seasons for the Cleveland Indians. He was a six-time All-Star (1933–1938) and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975.
Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-American architect and academic, designed the Ameritrust Tower (died 1981)
Marcel Lajos Breuer was a Hungarian-American modernist architect and furniture designer. He moved to the United States in 1937 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1944.
Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1974)
Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak OBE, commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Russian-American filmmaker.
21/05/1901
Regina M. Anderson, Multiracial playwright and librarian (died 1993)
Regina M. Anderson was an American playwright and librarian. Influenced by Ida B. Wells and the lack of Black history teachings in school, Anderson became a key member of the Harlem Renaissance.
Horace Heidt, American pianist, bandleader, and radio host (died 1986)
Horace Heidt was an American pianist, big band leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, toured vaudeville and performed on radio and television during the 1930s and 1940s.
Sam Jaffe, American film producer and agent (died 2000)
Sam Jaffe was, at different points in his career in the motion picture industry, an agent, a producer, and a studio executive.
Suzanne Lilar, Belgian author and playwright (died 1992)
Baroness Suzanne Lilar was a Flemish Belgian essayist, novelist, and playwright writing in French. She was the wife of the Belgian Minister of Justice Albert Lilar and mother of the writer Françoise Mallet-Joris and the art historian Marie Fredericq-Lilar.
21/05/1898
Armand Hammer, American physician and businessman, founded Occidental Petroleum (died 1990)
Armand Hammer was an American oil tycoon, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
Charles Léon Hammes, Luxembourgian lawyer and judge (died 1967)
Charles-Léon Hammes was a Luxembourgish lawyer, judge and the third president of the European Court of Justice.
Carl Johnson, American long jumper (died 1932)
Carl Johnson was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump. He competed for the United States in the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium in the long jump, where he won the silver medal.
John McLaughlin, American painter and translator (died 1976)
John Dwyer McLaughlin was an American abstract painter. Based primarily in California, he was a pioneer in minimalism and hard-edge painting. Considered one of the most significant Californian postwar artists, McLaughlin painted a focused body of geometric works that are completely devoid of any connection to everyday experience and objects, inspired by the Japanese notion of the void. He aimed to create paintings devoid of any object hood including but not limited to a gestures, representations and figuration. This led him to the rectangle. Leveraging a technique of layering rectangular bars on adjacent planes, McLaughlin creates works that provoke introspection and, consequently, a greater understanding of one's relationship to nature.
21/05/1895
Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexican general, president (1934–1940) and father of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (died 1970)
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was a Mexican revolutionary, army officer, and politician who served as the 51st president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revolution and as Governor of Michoacán and President of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. He later served as the Secretary of National Defence. During his presidency, which is considered the end of the Maximato, he implemented massive land reform programs, led the expropriation of the country's oil industry, and implemented many key social reforms.
21/05/1893
Arthur Carr, English cricketer (died 1963)
Arthur William Carr was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and the English cricket team, captaining both sides.
Giles Chippindall, Australian public servant (died 1969)
Sir Giles Tatlock Chippindall was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Supply and Shipping between 1945 and 1946 and Director-General of the Postmaster-General's Department between 1949 and 1958.
21/05/1885
Princess Sophie of Albania, (Princess Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg) (died 1936)
Sophie was Princess of Albania from 7 March to 3 September 1914 as the wife of Prince Wilhelm. In 1906, she married Wilhelm, second son of the Prince of Wied. When her husband became prince of Albania, Sophie became princess consort. However, in Albania, she was referred to as Mbretëreshë, or Queen.
21/05/1884
Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet and publisher (died 1920)
Manuel Pérez y Curis was a Uruguayan poet, born in Montevideo, Uruguay.
21/05/1880
Tudor Arghezi, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (died 1967)
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer and political figure, widely considered one of his country's greatest poets. An illegitimate, part-Hungarian child who was purposely vague about his roots, he had a troubled youth during which he held a variety of jobs—including a stint as a hierodeacon of the Romanian Orthodox Church, from which he gathered his extreme anti-clericalism. He debuted in the 1890s as an affiliate of the Symbolist movement, being welcomed as an outstanding poet. Arghezi renounced this career to study theology in Switzerland, but never graduated, training instead as a watchmaker and typographer. From 1910, his social poetry and leftist journalism became widely read, allowing him to return as a professional writer and art columnist. He soon became highly controversial for his apparent corruption and his mordant satire, as well as for his political positions during World War I—when, as editor of Seara and Cronica, he favored the Central Powers. Arghezi stayed behind in occupied Bucharest after the Romanian Debacle of 1916, collaborating with the German Empire in a manner that was judged as treasonous. In postwar Greater Romania, he was initially punished with imprisonment at Văcărești, but amnestied within months.
21/05/1878
Glenn Curtiss, American cyclist and engineer (died 1930)
Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early as 1904, he began to manufacture engines for airships, and with his V8 engine in the Curtiss V-8 motorcycle set an unofficial world speed record, for all kinds of vehicles, that was not broken until 1911.
21/05/1873
Hans Berger, German neurologist and academic (died 1941)
Hans Berger was a German psychiatrist. He is best known as the inventor of electroencephalography (EEG) in 1924, which is a method used for recording the electrical activity of the brain, commonly described in terms of brainwaves, and as the discoverer of the alpha wave rhythm which is a type of brainwave. Alpha waves have been eponymously referred to as the "Berger wave".
21/05/1867
Anne Walter Fearn, American physician (died 1939)
Anne Walter Fearn was an American physician who went to Shanghai, China, on a temporary posting in 1893, and remained there for 40 years.
21/05/1864
Princess Stéphanie of Belgium (died 1945)
Princess Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte of Belgium was a Belgian princess who became Crown Princess of Austria through marriage to Crown Prince Rudolf, heir-apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
21/05/1863
Archduke Eugen of Austria (died 1954)
Archduke Eugen Ferdinand Pius Bernhard Felix Maria of Austria-Teschen was an Archduke of Austria and a Prince of Hungary and Bohemia. He was the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from the Habsburg dynasty.
21/05/1861
Abel Ayerza, Argentinian physician and academic (died 1918)
Abel Ayerza was an Argentine doctor who gave his name to the cardiological condition Ayerza’s disease.
21/05/1860
Willem Einthoven, Indonesian-Dutch physician, physiologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1927)
Willem Einthoven was a Dutch medical doctor and physiologist. He invented the first practical electrocardiograph in 1895 and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924 for it.
21/05/1858
Édouard Goursat, French mathematician (died 1936)
Édouard Jean-Baptiste Goursat was a French mathematician, now remembered principally as an expositor for his Cours d'analyse mathématique, which appeared in the first decade of the twentieth century. It set a standard for the high-level teaching of mathematical analysis, especially complex analysis. This text was reviewed by William Fogg Osgood for the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. This led to its translation into English by Earle Raymond Hedrick published by Ginn and Company. Goursat also published texts on partial differential equations and hypergeometric series.
21/05/1856
José Batlle y Ordóñez, Uruguayan journalist and politician, President of Uruguay (died 1929)
José Pablo Torcuato Batlle y Ordóñez, nicknamed Don Pepe, was a prominent Uruguayan politician who served two terms as President of Uruguay for the Colorado Party. The son of a former president, he introduced his political system, Batllism, to South America and modernized Uruguay through his creation of extensive welfare state reforms.
21/05/1855
Ella Stewart Udall, American telegraphist (died 1937)
Eliza Luella "Ella" Stewart Udall was an American telegraphist and entrepreneur. Recruited by Brigham Young in 1870 and stationed at the Deseret Telegraph Company office in Pipe Spring in 1871, Udall was the first telegraph operator in Arizona Territory.
21/05/1853
Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (died 1905)
Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, known as Godefroy Cavaignac, was a French politician.
21/05/1851
Léon Bourgeois, French police officer and politician, 64th Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1925)
Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois was a French statesman. His ideas influenced the Radical Party regarding a wide range of issues.
21/05/1850
Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian priest and volcanologist (died 1914)
Giuseppe Mercalli was an Italian volcanologist and Catholic priest. He is known best for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquake intensity.
21/05/1849
Édouard-Henri Avril, French painter (died 1928)
Édouard-Henri Avril was a French painter and commercial artist. Under the pseudonym Paul Avril, he was an illustrator of erotic literature. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art; he was awarded the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War.
21/05/1844
Henri Rousseau, French painter (died 1910)
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier, a humorous description of his occupation as a toll and tax collector. He started painting seriously in his early forties; by age 49, he retired from his job to work on his art full-time.
21/05/1843
Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss lawyer and politician, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1914)
Charles Albert Gobat was a Swiss lawyer, educational administrator, and politician who jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize with Élie Ducommun in 1902 for their leadership of the Permanent International Peace Bureau.
Louis Renault, French jurist, educator, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1918)
Louis Renault was a French jurist and educator, and the co-winner in 1907 of the Nobel Peace Prize.
21/05/1837
Itagaki Taisuke, Japanese soldier and politician (died 1919)
Count Itagaki Taisuke was a Japanese samurai, politician, and leader of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, which evolved into Japan's first political party, the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō). His activism in favour of a parliamentary democracy was a pivotal influence on the political development of Meiji Japan.
21/05/1835
František Chvostek, Czech-Austrian physician and academic (died 1884)
František Chvostek was a Czech-Austrian military physician and lecturer in internal medicine. He published articles on a wide variety of medical disorders but is most notable for having described Chvostek's sign which he described in 1876.
21/05/1828
Rudolf Koller, Swiss painter (died 1905)
Rudolf Koller was a Swiss painter. He is associated with a realist and classicist style, and also with the essentially romantic Düsseldorf school of painting. Koller's style is similar to that of the realist painters Gustave Courbet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Considered Switzerland's finest animal painter, Koller is rated alongside George Stubbs, Rosa Bonheur and Théodore Géricault. While his reputation was based on his paintings of animals, he was a sensitive and innovative artist whose well-composed works in the "plein air" tradition, including Swiss mountain landscapes, are just as finely executed.
21/05/1827
William P. Sprague, American banker and politician (died 1899)
William Peter Sprague was a businessman, banker, politician, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio, serving from 1871 to 1875.
21/05/1808
David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (died 1890)
David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo was a Dutch Talmudist and communal worker. He was sent at an early age to the bet ha-midrash 'Etz Chayyim, studied under Rabbi Berenstein at The Hague, and received his diploma of "Morenu" in 1839.
21/05/1806
Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, English duchess (died 1868)
Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, styled The Honourable Harriet Howard before her marriage, was an English courtier and abolitionist from the Howard family.
21/05/1801
Princess Sophie of Sweden, Swedish princess (died 1865)
Sophie of Sweden was, by marriage, Grand Duchess of Baden as the wife of sovereign Grand Duke of Baden, Leopold.
21/05/1799
Mary Anning, English paleontologist (died 1847)
Mary Anning was an English fossil collector, dealer, and palaeontologist. She became known internationally for her discoveries in Jurassic marine fossil beds in the cliffs along the English Channel at Lyme Regis in the county of Dorset, South West England. Anning's findings contributed to changes in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.
21/05/1792
Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, French mathematician and engineer (died 1843)
Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis was a French mathematician, mechanical engineer and scientist. He is best known for his work on the supplementary forces that are detected in a rotating frame of reference, leading to the Coriolis effect. He was the first to apply the term travail for the transfer of energy by a force acting through a distance, and he prefixed the factor +1⁄2 to Leibniz's concept of vis viva, thus specifying today's kinetic energy.
21/05/1790
William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Lord Chamberlain of the Household (died 1858)
William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, styled Marquess of Hartington until 1811, was an English peer, courtier and Whig politician. Known as the "Bachelor Duke", he served as Lord Chamberlain from 1827 to 1828 and again from 1830 to 1834. The Cavendish banana is named after him.
21/05/1780
Elizabeth Fry, English prison reformer, philanthropist and Quaker (died 1845)
Elizabeth Fry, sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the treatment of prisoners, especially female inmates, and as such has been called the "Angel of Prisons". She was instrumental in the Gaols Act 1823 which mandated sex-segregation of prisons and female warders for female inmates to protect them from sexual exploitation. Fry kept extensive diaries, in which she wrote explicitly of the need to protect female prisoners from rape and sexual abuse.
21/05/1775
Lucien Bonaparte, French soldier and politician (died 1840)
Lucien Bonaparte, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano, was a French politician and diplomat of the French Revolution and the Consulate. He served as Minister of the Interior from 1799 to 1800 and as the president of the Council of Five Hundred in 1799.
21/05/1759
Joseph Fouché, French lawyer and politician (died 1820)
Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante, 1st Comte Fouché was a French statesman, revolutionary, and Minister of Police under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. Fouché later became a subordinate of Emperor Napoleon. He was particularly known for the ferocity with which he suppressed the Lyon insurrection during the Revolution in 1793. But he also was a highly competent minister of police under the Directory, the Consulate, and the Empire. In 1815, he served as President of the Executive Commission, which was the provisional government of France installed after the abdication of Napoleon. In English texts, his title is often translated as Duke of Otranto.
21/05/1756
William Babington, Irish-born, English physician and mineralogist (died 1833)
William Babington FRS FGS was an Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist.
21/05/1755
Alfred Moore, American lawyer and judge (died 1810)
Alfred Moore was an American judge, lawyer, planter and military officer who became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Moore Square, a park located in the Moore Square Historic District in Raleigh, North Carolina, was named in his honor, as was Moore County, North Carolina. He was also a founder and trustee of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
21/05/1688
(O.S.) Alexander Pope, English poet, essayist, and translator (died 1744)
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and 1923. Before as well as after the legal change, writers used the dual dating convention to specify a given day by giving its date according to both styles of dating.
21/05/1653
Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Poland (died 1697)
Eleonore Maria Josefa of Austria was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania by marriage to King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, and subsequently Duchess of Lorraine by her second marriage to Charles V, Duke of Lorraine. She acted as nominal regent of the Duchy of Lorraine during the minority of her son between 1690 and 1697.
21/05/1527
Philip II of Spain (died 1598)
Philip II, sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent, was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He was also jure uxoris King of England and Ireland from his marriage to Queen Mary I in 1554 until her death in 1558. Further, he was Duke of Milan from 1540. From 1555, he was Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands.
21/05/1497
Al-Hattab, Muslim jurist (died 1547)
Muhammad Abu 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad at-Tarabulsi al-Hattab al-Ru'yani, more commonly referred to in Islamic scholarship as al-Hattab or Imam al-Hattab, was a 16th-century CE Muslim jurist from Tripoli, the capital of modern-day Libya. Al-Hattab was a scholar of the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). His book Mawahib al-Jalil, which was one of the first major commentaries on Khalil's Mukhtassar, is considered one of the best and most thorough commentaries in the Maliki school of law.
21/05/1471
Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (died 1528)
Albrecht Dürer, sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints. He was in contact with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci, and from 1512 was patronized by Emperor Maximilian I.
Lives Remembered on 21st May
On 21st May, 115 remarkable people passed away — from 252 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.
21/05/2025
Gerry Connolly, American politician, U.S. Representative from Virginia's 11th congressional district (born 1950)
Gerald Edward Connolly was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district from 2009 until his death in 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in 2008 to replace retiring Republican incumbent Tom Davis, who did not seek re-election and later resigned shortly after the election. The 11th district is situated in the suburbs of Northern Virginia. It is anchored in the affluent Fairfax County, where Connolly served on the county's board of supervisors before his election to Congress, and also includes the entirety of Fairfax City.
21/05/2024
Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Polish composer (born 1953)
Jan Andrzej Paweł Kaczmarek was a Polish composer. He wrote scores for more than 70 feature films and documentaries, including Finding Neverland (2004), for which he won an Oscar and a National Board of Review Award. Other notable scores were for Hachi: A Dog's Tale, Unfaithful, Evening, The Visitor, and Washington Square.
21/05/2020
Alan Merten, fifth President of George Mason University (born 1941)
Alan Gilbert Merten was the fifth president of George Mason University.
21/05/2019
Rik Kuypers, Belgian film director (born 1925)
Rik Kuypers was a Belgian film director. He directed 29 films between 1947 and 1981. He co-directed the film Seagulls Die in the Harbour, which was entered into the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.
Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (born 1971)
Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina was a Kenyan author, journalist and 2002 winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. In 2003, he became the founding editor of Kwani? literary magazine, launched in Kenya, East Africa. In April 2014, Time magazine included Wainaina in its annual Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World".
21/05/2016
Nick Menza, American drummer and songwriter (born 1964)
Nicholas Menza was an American musician who was the drummer of the thrash metal band Megadeth from 1989 to 1998. He played drums on four of Megadeth's albums: Rust in Peace (1990), Countdown to Extinction (1992), Youthanasia (1994), and Cryptic Writings (1997).
21/05/2015
Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker (born 1969)
Annarita Sidoti was an Italian race walker.
Twinkle, English singer-songwriter (born 1948)
Lynn Annette Ripley, better known by the stage name Twinkle, was an English singer-songwriter. She had chart success in the 1960s with her songs "Terry" and "Golden Lights".
Jassem Al-Kharafi, Kuwaiti businessman and politician, 8th Kuwaiti Speaker of the National Assembly (born 1940)
Jassem Al-Kharafi, was a Kuwaiti oligarch who was the speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly from 1999 to 2011. In his capacity as Speaker in 2006, Al-Kharafi played a critical role in the ascension of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to the emirship of Kuwait by coordinating a no-confidence vote of the incumbent emir, Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah. During the reign of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, his family conglomerate, M.A. Kharafi & Sons, dominated several sectors of the Kuwaiti economy, including construction, telecommunications and investment.
Fred Gladding, American baseball player and coach (born 1936)
Fred Earl Gladding was an American professional baseball player and coach. He was a right-handed pitcher for all or parts of 13 seasons (1961–1973) with the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. He was born in Flat Rock, Michigan, and attended Flat Rock Community High School. He was listed at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 220 pounds (100 kg).
Louis Johnson, American bass player and producer (born 1955)
Louis Johnson was an American bass guitarist. Johnson was best known for his work with the group the Brothers Johnson and his session playing on several hit albums of the 1970s and 1980s, including the best-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's Thriller.
21/05/2014
Tunku Annuar, Malaysian son of Badlishah of Kedah (born 1939)
Tunku Annuar ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah was a member of the Kedah royal family and the Chairman of the Regency Council of the Malaysian state of Kedah from December 2011 until his death in May 2014. He was the son of Sultan Badlishah and the half-brother of Sultan Abdul Halim.
Johnny Gray, American baseball player (born 1926)
John Leonard Gray was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics / Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians, and Philadelphia Phillies in all or part of four baseball seasons. Listed at 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), 226 lb (103 kg), he batted and threw right handed.
Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (born 1924)
Jaime Ramón Lusinchi was the president of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. His term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the external debt, populist policies, currency depreciation, inflation and corruption that exacerbated the crisis of the political system established in 1958.
Alireza Soleimani, Iranian wrestler (born 1956)
Alireza Soleimani Karbalaei was an Iranian heavyweight freestyle wrestler. He was the first Iranian to win the world superheavyweight title, which he achieved in 1989. He served as the flag bearer for Iran at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where he placed sixth.
21/05/2013
Count Christian of Rosenborg, member of the Danish royal family (born 1942)
Count Christian of Rosenborg was a member of the Danish royal family. Born Prince Christian of Denmark, from 1947 he was third in the line of line of succession until the constitution was changed in 1953 to allow females to inherit the crown, placing his branch of the dynasty behind that of his cousin Margrethe and her two younger sisters. He later gave up his princely rank and his rights to the throne in order to marry a commoner.
Frank Comstock, American trombonist, composer, and conductor (born 1922)
Frank G. Comstock was an American composer, arranger, conductor, and trombonist. For television, Comstock wrote and arranged music for major situation comedies and variety shows. His theme and incidental music for Rocky and His Friends (1959–1964) are probably his best-remembered works. Additionally, his music for Adam-12 earned him a 1971 Emmy nomination.
Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (born 1923)
Ellis Ferguson "Cot" Deal was an American pitcher and coach in Major League Baseball. Listed at 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m), 185 lb (84 kg), Deal was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. A native of Arapaho, Oklahoma, he grew up in Oklahoma City and was nicknamed "Cot" for his cotton-top hair color.
Leonard Marsh, American businessman, co-founded Snapple (born 1933)
Leonard Marsh was an American businessman who co-founded the Snapple Beverage Corporation in 1972. Marsh co-founded Snapple, which was originally known as Unadulterated Food Products, with his brother-in-law, Hyman Golden, and childhood friend, Arnold Greenberg.
Bob Thompson, American pianist and composer (born 1924)
Robert Lamar Thompson was a composer, arranger, and orchestra leader from the 1950s through the 1980s. Active in Los Angeles, Thompson was a recording artist for RCA Victor and Dot Records, scored film and television soundtracks, and wrote musical accompaniments for commercials. He composed, arranged, and conducted the orchestra for such wide-ranging artists as Rosemary Clooney, Mae West, Julie London, Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters, Chet Atkins, Duane Eddy, Judy Garland, Jerry Lewis, and Phil Ochs.
Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (born 1935)
Dominique Venner was a French journalist and essayist. Venner was a member of the Organisation armée secrète and later became a European nationalist, founding the neo-fascist Europe-Action, before withdrawing from politics to focus on a career as a historian. He specialized in military and political history. At the time of his death, he was the editor of the La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, a bimonthly history magazine.
21/05/2012
Eddie Blazonczyk, American singer-songwriter (born 1941)
Eddie Blazonczyk, Sr. was an American polka musician and founder of the band The Versatones. He was inducted into the International Polka Hall of Fame in 1970, and was a 1998 National Heritage Fellowship recipient. He has been called "one of the most important figures in the creation of the contemporary Polish-American polka sound." He released more than 60 albums.
Otis Clark, American butler and preacher, survivor of the Tulsa race riot (born 1903)
Otis Clark was an American butler who was one of the last survivors of the May 31, 1921, Tulsa race massacre, considered to be the worst racial massacre in American history. He had worked for movie stars such as Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, and Joan Crawford. Clark's wife lived at the Crawford residence working as the cook for Joan Crawford.
Constantine of Irinoupolis, Metropolitan of Irinoupolis and Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (born 1936)
Metropolitan Constantine was the Metropolitan of Irinoupolis, and Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Diaspora, which are jurisdictions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States and the Ukrainian diaspora. The primatial cathedral is in Parma, Ohio, and the Church's head offices and Consistory are based in South Bound Brook, New Jersey.
Roman Dumbadze, Georgian commander (born 1964)
Roman Dumbadze was a Georgian military commander, who led a mutiny during the 2004 crisis in Adjara. From 2008, he resided in Russia, where he was shot dead in 2012.
Douglas Rodríguez, Cuban boxer (born 1950)
Douglas Rodríguez was an amateur boxer from Cuba, who represented his native country in the Men's Flyweight category at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany.
Bill Stewart, American football player and coach (born 1952)
William L. Stewart, nicknamed "Stew", was an American football coach. He was named interim head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers after Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan in December 2007. After leading the Mountaineers to a 48–28 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl, he was named the school's 32nd head football coach on January 3, 2008. Stewart resigned in the summer of 2011. He was previously the head coach of Virginia Military Institute for three seasons.
Alan Thorne, Australian anthropologist and academic (born 1939)
Alan Gordon Thorne was an Australian born anatomist who is considered an authority on interpretations of Aboriginal Australian origins and the human genome. Thorne first became interested in archaeology and human evolution as a lecturer in human anatomy at the University of Sydney and later joined the Australian National University (ANU) as a professor, where he taught biology and human anatomy. Over time, through many excavations such as Lake Mungo and Kow Swamp, Thorne made arguments that contradict traditionally accepted theories explaining the early dispersion of human beings.
21/05/2006
Spencer Clark, American race car driver (born 1987)
Spencer Clark was an American stock car racing driver.
Katherine Dunham, American dancer, choreographer, and author (born 1909)
Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. One of the most renowned modern dance artists of the 20th century, she has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance."
Cherd Songsri, Thai director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1931)
Cherd Songsri was a Thai film director, screenwriter and film producer. A maker of period films that sought to introduce international audiences to his vision of Thai culture, his best-known work is the 1977 romance film Plae Kao, which earned more box-office receipts than any Thai film before it. It won a prize at the 1981 Three Continents Festival in Nantes, France.
Billy Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1929)
William Marvin Walker was an American country music singer and guitarist best known for his 1962 hit, "Charlie's Shoes". Nicknamed The Tall Texan, Walker had more than 30 charting records during a nearly 60-year career, and was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry.
21/05/2005
Deborah Berger, American outsider artist (born 1956)
Deborah Berger was an American artist noted for her oeuvre of brightly colored textile works created in knitting and crochet. She is considered an outsider artist and a prodigy.
Stephen Elliott, American actor (born 1918)
Elliott Pershing Stitzel, better known by his stage name Stephen Elliott, was an American actor. His best known roles were that of the prospective father-in-law, Burt Johnson, in the hit 1981 film Arthur and as Chief Hubbard in the 1984 blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop.
Howard Morris, American actor and director (born 1919)
Howard Jerome Morris was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in The Andy Griffith Show as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (1954). He did voices for television shows such as The Flintstones (1962–1965), The Jetsons (1962–1987), The Atom Ant Show (1965–1966), Garfield and Friends (1988–1994), and Cow and Chicken (1997–1999).
21/05/2003
Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (born 1928)
Alejandro de Tomaso was an Argentine racing driver and businessman. His name is sometimes seen in an Italianised form as Alessandro de Tomaso. He participated in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 January 1957, but scored no championship points. He later founded the Italian sports car company De Tomaso Automobili in 1959.
Frank D. White, American captain, banker, and politician, 41st Governor of Arkansas (born 1933)
Frank Durward White was an American banker and politician who served as the 41st governor of Arkansas. He served a single two-year term from 1981 to 1983.
21/05/2002
Niki de Saint Phalle, French-American sculptor and painter (born 1930)
Niki de Saint Phalle was a French American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monumental sculptors, Saint Phalle was also known for her social commitment and work.
21/05/2000
Barbara Cartland, English author (born 1901)
Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland was an English writer who published both contemporary and historical romance novels, the latter set primarily during the Victorian or Edwardian period. Cartland is one of the best-selling authors worldwide of the 20th century.
John Gielgud, English actor (born 1904)
Sir Arthur John Gielgud was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31.
Mark R. Hughes, American businessman, founded Herbalife (born 1956)
Mark R. Hughes was an American entrepreneur who was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Herbalife, a multi-level marketing company.
21/05/1998
Robert Gist, American actor and director (born 1917)
Robert Marion Gist was an American actor and film director.
21/05/1996
Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1957)
Paul Delph was a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer, engineer, and studio musician whose catalog includes work with many well-known recording artists from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s. Delph died from complications of HIV/AIDS at his parents' home in Cincinnati, Ohio. His ashes are interred at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. A panel in Delph's name is part of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (born 1917)
Alfred "Lash" LaRue was a Western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s.
Villem Raam, Estonian art historian, art critic and conservator (born 1910)
Villem Raam was an Estonian art historian, art critic and conservator-restorer. His work in documenting and preserving the cultural heritage of Estonia, not least during the Soviet occupation of Estonia, contributed significantly to the understanding of art history and cultural heritage in Estonia.
21/05/1995
Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defense (born 1938)
Leslie Aspin Jr. was an American Democratic Party politician and economist who served as the U.S. representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district from 1971 to 1993 and as the 18th United States Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1994.
21/05/1991
Rajiv Gandhi, Indian politician, 6th Prime Minister of India (born 1944)
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was an Indian politician and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989 for two terms. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become the youngest Indian prime minister at the age of 40. He served until his defeat at the 1989 election, and then became Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, resigning in December 1990, six months before his own assassination.
21/05/1988
Sammy Davis Sr., American actor and dancer (born 1900)
Samuel George Davis Sr. was an American dancer and the father of entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.
21/05/1984
Ann Little, American actress (born 1891)
Ann Little, also known as Anna Little, was an American film actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the early 1910s through the early 1920s. Today, most of her films are lost, with only 12 known to survive.
21/05/1983
Kenneth Clark, English historian and author (born 1903)
Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark was a British art historian, museum director and broadcaster. His expertise covered a wide range of artists and periods, but he is particularly associated with Italian Renaissance art, most of all that of Leonardo da Vinci. After running two art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television, presenting a succession of programmes on the arts from the 1950s to the 1970s, the largest and best known being the Civilisation series in 1969.
21/05/1981
Raymond McCreesh, PIRA volunteer and Hunger Striker (born 1957)
Raymond McCreesh was an Irish volunteer in the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1976, he and two other IRA volunteers were captured while attempting to ambush a British Army observation post. McCreesh was one of the ten Irish republicans who died during the 1981 Irish hunger strike in the Maze Prison. McCreesh was one of 22 Irish republicans who died on hunger-strike.
Patsy O'Hara, INLA volunteer and Hunger Striker (born 1957)
Patsy O'Hara was an Irish republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). O'Hara was one of 10 Irish republicans who died in the 1981 hunger strike.
21/05/1973
Vaughn Monroe, American singer, trumpet player, bandleader, and actor (born 1911)
Vaughn Wilton Monroe was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for recording and another for radio performance.
Ivan Konev, Soviet Marshal and general (born 1897)
Ivan Stepanovich Konev was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, responsible for taking much of Axis-occupied Eastern Europe.
21/05/1970
E. L. Grant Watson, English-Australian biologist and author (born 1885)
Elliot Lovegood Grant Watson was a writer and biologist. Among some 40 books and many essays and short stories he wrote six 'Australian' novels and several scientific-philosophical works that challenge Darwinism, or the mechanism of evolutionary theory, as an entire explanation for the development of life on earth.
21/05/1968
Doris Lloyd, English actress (born 1896)
Hessy Doris Lloyd was a British actress. She appeared in The Time Machine (1960) and The Sound of Music (1965).
21/05/1965
Marguerite Bise, French chef (born 1898)
Marguerite Valentine Bise was a French chef and restaurateur at her restaurant Auberge du Père Bise in Talloires, Haute-Savoie, France. In 1951, she became the third woman to win three Michelin stars.
Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, designed the de Havilland Mosquito (born 1882)
Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer who founded the aircraft company de Havilland. The company produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built, and his Comet was the first jet airliner to go into production.
21/05/1964
James Franck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1882)
James Franck was a German–American atomic physicist who shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Hertz "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom."
21/05/1957
Alexander Vertinsky, Ukrainian-Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (born 1889)
Alexander Nikolayevich Vertinsky was a Russian and Soviet artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing.
21/05/1956
Harry Bensley, English businessman and adventurer (born 1877)
Harry Bensley was an English rake and adventurer, best remembered as the subject of an extraordinary wager between John Pierpont Morgan and Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale. How much of his story is based on fact is unclear.
21/05/1952
John Garfield, American actor (born 1913)
John Garfield was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of the Group Theatre. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner Bros.' stars. He received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Four Daughters (1938) and Body and Soul (1947).
21/05/1949
Klaus Mann, German-American novelist, playwright, and critic (born 1906)
Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann was a German writer and anti-fascist activist. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann and Golo Mann.
21/05/1940
Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (born 1888)
William James Minter, was a footballer, trainer, manager and assistant secretary at Tottenham Hotspur. He scored 101 goals for Tottenham, and was for a time the top scorer for the club. He also managed the club for three years, and after he resigned as manager he stayed at the club until his death in 1940.
21/05/1935
Jane Addams, American activist and author, co-founded Hull House, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1860)
Laura Jane Addams was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage. In 1889, Addams co-founded Hull House, one of America's most famous settlement houses, in Chicago, Illinois, providing extensive social services to poor, largely immigrant families. Philosophically a "radical pragmatist", she was arguably the first woman public philosopher in the United States. In the Progressive Era, when even presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and might be seen as social activists, Addams was one of the most prominent reformers.
Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist and geneticist (born 1848)
Hugo Marie de Vries was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He is known chiefly for suggesting the concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of heredity in the 1890s while apparently unaware of Gregor Mendel's work, for introducing the term "mutation", and for developing a mutation theory of evolution.
21/05/1932
Marcel Boulenger, French fencer and author (born 1873)
Marcel Jacques Amand Romain Boulenger was a French novelist and fiction writer. He was awarded the Prix Nee of the Académie Française in 1918 and the Prix Stendhal in 1919. He was also a fencer of international standard, competing in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries.
21/05/1929
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1847)
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of his father in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl of Rosebery, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.
21/05/1926
Ronald Firbank, English-Italian author (born 1886)
Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank was an innovative English novelist. His eight short novels, partly inspired by the London aesthetes of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, consist largely of dialogue, with references to religion, social-climbing, and sexuality.
21/05/1925
Hidesaburō Ueno, Japanese agriculturalist, guardian of Hachikō (born 1871)
Hidesaburō Ueno was a Japanese agricultural scientist, well-known as the guardian of Hachikō, a devoted Akita dog.
21/05/1920
Venustiano Carranza, Mexican politician, 54th President of Mexico (born 1859)
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, known as Venustiano Carranza, was a Mexican land owner, revolutionary, and politician who served as the 44th President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Revolution. He was previously Mexico's de facto head of state as Primer Jefe of the Constitutionalist faction from 1914 to 1917, and previously served as a senator and governor for Coahuila. He played the leading role in drafting the Constitution of 1917 and maintained Mexican neutrality in World War I.
21/05/1919
Evgraf Fedorov, Russian mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist (born 1853)
Evgraf Stepanovich Fedorov was a Russian mathematician, crystallographer and mineralogist.
21/05/1915
Leonid Gobyato, Russian general and engineer (born 1875)
Leonid Nikolaevich Gobyato was a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Russian Army and designer of the modern, man-portable mortar.
21/05/1911
Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (born 1857)
Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming was a Scottish astronomer. At the Harvard College Observatory, she contributed to the photographic classification of stellar spectra, helping to develop a common designation system for stars. Fleming cataloged more than ten thousand stars, 59 gaseous nebulae, over 310 variable stars, and 10 novae, among other astronomical phenomena. She is credited with the discovery of the Horsehead Nebula in 1888, and she was a vocal supporter of women's representation in her field.
21/05/1901
Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (born 1874)
Joseph Adolphe Théophile Olivier was a French rugby union player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the French rugby union team, which won the gold medal.
21/05/1895
Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (born 1819)
Franz von Suppé, born Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo de Suppé was an Austrian composer of light operas and other theatre music. He came from the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. A composer and conductor of the Romantic period, he is notable for his four dozen operettas, including the first operetta to a German libretto. Some of them remain in the repertory, particularly in German-speaking countries, and he composed a substantial quantity of church music, but he is now chiefly known for his overtures, which remain popular in the concert hall and on record. Among the best-known are Poet and Peasant, Light Cavalry, Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna and Pique Dame.
21/05/1894
Émile Henry, French anarchist (born 1872)
Émile Henry, nicknamed 'the Saint-Just of Anarchy', was an individualist and illegalist anarchist militant and terrorist. He is best known for his terrorist actions and is considered one of the main founders of modern terrorism.
August Kundt, German physicist and academic (born 1839)
August Adolf Eduard Eberhard Kundt was a German physicist known for developing Kundt's tube, an appartus used to measure the speed of sound in gases and solids.
21/05/1879
Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and commander (born 1848)
Agustín Arturo Prat Chacón was a Chilean Navy officer and lawyer. He was killed in the Battle of Iquique, during the War of the Pacific. During his career, Prat had taken part in several naval engagements, including battles at Papudo (1865), and at the Abtao (1866). Following his death, his name became a rallying cry for Chilean forces, and Arturo Prat has since been considered a national hero.
21/05/1862
John Drew, Irish-American actor and manager (born 1827)
John Drew was an Irish-American stage actor and theatre manager. Drew is a part of the multi-generational Drew acting family and the great-great-grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore.
21/05/1858
José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (born 1783)
José Mariano de la Cruz de la Riva Agüero y Sánchez Boquete was a Peruvian soldier and politician who was the first president of Peru and the second president of North Peru, a constituent country of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation. A leading figure of the Peruvian War of Independence, he was president of Peru in 1823, being the first head of state to serve as President of the Republic and to wear the two-color presidential sash as a symbol of the power he exercised. Although this power was de facto, that is, born from a coup d'état and not by popular will expressed in elections, since it was imposed by the Peruvian Army through the so-called Balconcillo mutiny, which ordered Congress to dismiss the Supreme Governing Junta headed by José de La Mar. He governed for four months before being replaced by the Marquis of Torre Tagle. He was a supporter of liberalism.
21/05/1844
Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest and composer (born 1775)
Abbate Giuseppe Baini was an Italian priest, music critic, conductor, and composer of church music.
21/05/1829
Sikandar Jah, 3rd Nizam (born 1768)
Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III Mir Akbar Ali Khan Siddiqi, was the 3rd Nizam of Hyderabad, India from 1803 to 1829. He was born in Chowmahalla Palace in the Khilwath, the second son of Asaf Jah II and Tahniat un-nisa Begum.
21/05/1810
Chevalier d'Eon, French diplomat and spy (born 1728)
Charlotte d'Éon de Beaumont, usually known as the Chevalière d'Éon or the Chevalier d'Éon, was a French diplomat, spy, and soldier. D'Éon fought in the Seven Years' War, and spied for France while in Russia and England. Assigned male at birth, D'Éon had androgynous physical characteristics and natural abilities as a mimic and spy. She appeared publicly as a man and pursued masculine occupations for the first half of her life, except for when she successfully infiltrated the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia by presenting as a woman. Starting in 1777, d'Éon lived as a woman and was officially recognised as such by King Louis XVI.
21/05/1790
Thomas Warton, English poet and critic (born 1728)
Thomas Warton was an English literary historian, critic, and poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1785, following the death of William Whitehead.
21/05/1786
Carl Wilhelm Scheele, German-Swedish chemist and pharmacist (born 1742)
Carl Wilhelm Scheele was a German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist.
21/05/1771
Christopher Smart, English actor, playwright, and poet (born 1722)
Christopher Smart was an English poet. He was a major contributor to two popular magazines, The Midwife and The Student, and a friend to influential cultural icons like Samuel Johnson and Henry Fielding. Smart, a high church Anglican, was widely known throughout London.
21/05/1762
Alexander Joseph Sulkowski, Polish and Saxon general (born 1695)
Aleksander Józef Sułkowski was a Polish general and the progenitor of the Sułkowski noble line. He was politically active in Poland, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in the Electorate of Saxony.
21/05/1742
Lars Roberg, Swedish physician and academic (born 1664)
Lars Roberg was a Swedish physician and natural science researcher. He served as a professor of anatomy and medicine at Uppsala University.
21/05/1724
Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1661)
Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, KG, PC, FRS was a British statesman of the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. He began his career as a Whig, before defecting to a new Tory ministry. He was raised to the peerage of Great Britain as an earl in 1711. Between 1711 and 1714 he served as Lord High Treasurer, effectively Queen Anne's chief minister. He has been called a prime minister, although it is generally accepted that the de facto first minister to be a prime minister was Robert Walpole in 1721.
21/05/1719
Pierre Poiret, French mystic and philosopher (born 1646)
Pierre Poiret Naudé was a prominent French mystic and Christian philosopher. He was born in Metz and died in Rijnsburg.
21/05/1690
John Eliot, English-American minister and missionary (born 1604)
John Eliot was a Puritan missionary to Native Americans who some called "the apostle to the Indians", and the founder of Roxbury Latin School in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1645. In 1660 he completed the enormous task of translating the Eliot Indian Bible into the Massachusett language, producing more than two thousand completed copies.
21/05/1686
Otto von Guericke, German physicist and inventor of the Magdeburg Hemispheres (born 1602)
Otto von Guericke was a German scientist, inventor, mathematician, and physicist. His pioneering scientific work, the development of experimental methods and repeatable demonstrations on the physics of the vacuum, atmospheric pressure, electrostatic repulsion, his advocacy for the reality of "action at a distance" and of "absolute space" were noteworthy contributions for the advancement of the Scientific Revolution.
21/05/1670
Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist (born 1586)
Niccolò Zucchi was an Italian Jesuit, astronomer, and physicist.
21/05/1664
Elizabeth Poole, English settler, founded Taunton, Massachusetts (born 1588)
Elizabeth Poole or Pole was an English settler in Plymouth Colony who founded the town of Taunton, Massachusetts. She was the first woman known to have founded a town in the Americas.
21/05/1650
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish general and politician (born 1612)
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was a Scottish nobleman, poet, soldier and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequently supported King Charles I as the English Civil War developed. From 1644 to 1646, and again in 1650, he fought in the civil war in Scotland on behalf of the King. He is referred to as the Great Montrose.
21/05/1647
Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch poet and playwright (born 1581)
Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft - Knight in the Order of Saint Michael - was a Dutch historian, poet and playwright who lived during the Dutch Golden Age in literature.
21/05/1639
Tommaso Campanella, Italian astrologer, theologian, and poet (born 1568)
Tommaso Campanella, baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.
21/05/1619
Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (born 1537)
Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente, also known as Girolamo Fabrizio or Hieronymus Fabricius, was a pioneering anatomist and surgeon known in medical science as "The Father of Embryology".
21/05/1617
Luis Fajardo, Spanish admiral and nobleman (born c. 1556)
Luis Fajardo y Ruíz de Avendaño,, known simply as Luis Fajardo, was a Spanish admiral and nobleman who had an outstanding naval career in the Spanish Navy. He is considered one of the most reputable Spanish militaries of the last years of the reign of Philip II and the reign of Philip III. He held important positions in the navy and carried out several military operations in which he had to fight against English, Dutch, French and Barbary forces in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. He is known for the conquest of La Mamora in 1614.
21/05/1607
John Rainolds, English scholar and academic (born 1549)
John Rainolds was an English academic and churchman, of Puritan views. He is remembered for his role in the Authorized Version of the Bible, a project of which he was initiator.
21/05/1563
Martynas Mažvydas, Lithuanian writer (born 1510)
Martynas Mažvydas was a Protestant author who edited the first printed book in the Lithuanian language.
21/05/1542
Hernando de Soto, Spanish-American explorer (born 1496)
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador, who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, but is best known for leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States. He is the first European documented as having crossed the Mississippi River.
21/05/1524
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (born 1443)
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1485 and again from 1489 to 1514, was an English nobleman, soldier and statesman who served four monarchs. He was the eldest son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk, by his first wife, Catharina de Moleyns. The Duke was the grandfather of both Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Catherine Howard and the great-grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I. In 1513, he led the English to victory over the Scots at the decisive Battle of Flodden, for which he was richly rewarded by King Henry VIII, then away in France.
21/05/1512
Pandolfo Petrucci, Italian ruler (born 1452)
Pandolfo Petrucci was the lord of Siena during the Renaissance.
21/05/1481
Christian I, king of Denmark (born 1426)
Christian I (Christiern I) was a German noble and Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was king of Denmark (1448–1481), Norway (1450–1481) and Sweden (1457–1464). From 1460 to 1481, he was also duke of Schleswig and count of Holstein. He was the first king of the House of Oldenburg.
21/05/1471
Henry VI, king of England (born 1421)
Henry VI was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471, and claimant to the French throne from 1422 to 1453 under the terms of the Treaty of Troyes. He became king of England at the age of nine months following the death of his father, Henry V, and inherited the French claim upon the death of his maternal grandfather, Charles VI of France.
21/05/1416
Anna of Celje, queen consort of Poland (born 1386)
Anna of Cilli or Anne of Celje was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania from 1402 to 1416. She was the second wife of Jogaila, King of Poland and Supreme Duke of Lithuania. Their marriage was politically motivated to strengthen Jogaila's ties with the Piast dynasty and his claims to the Polish throne. Their marriage was rather distant and during fourteen years Anna bore only one daughter, Hedwig Jagiellon, who died without issue.
21/05/1254
Conrad IV, king of Germany (born 1228)
Conrad, a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was the only son of Emperor Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem. He inherited the title of King of Jerusalem upon the death of his mother in childbirth. Appointed Duke of Swabia in 1235, his father had him elected King of Germany and crowned King of Italy in 1237. After the emperor was deposed and died in 1250, he ruled as King of Sicily until his death.
21/05/1237
Olaf the Black, Manx son of Godred II Olafsson
Óláfr Guðrøðarson, also known as Olaf the Black, was a thirteenth-century King of the Isles, and a member of the Crovan dynasty. He was a son of Guðrøðr Óláfsson, King of the Isles and Fionnghuala Nic Lochlainn. Óláfr was a younger son of his father; Óláfr's elder brother, Rǫgnvaldr, probably had a different mother. According to the Chronicle of Mann, Guðrøðr appointed Óláfr as heir since he had been born "in lawful wedlock". Whether or not this is the case, after Guðrøðr's death in 1187 the Islesmen instead appointed Rǫgnvaldr as king, as he was a capable adult and Óláfr was a mere child. Rǫgnvaldr ruled the island-kingdom for almost forty years, during which time the half-brothers vied for the kingship.
21/05/1086
Wang Anshi, Chinese statesman and poet (born 1021)
Wang Anshi, courtesy name Jiefu, was a Chinese economist, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. He served as chancellor and attempted major and controversial socioeconomic reforms known as the New Policies. These reforms constituted the core concepts of the Song-dynasty Reformists, in contrast to their rivals, the Conservatives, led by the Chancellor Sima Guang.
21/05/1075
Richeza of Poland, queen of Hungary (born 1013)
Richeza of Poland was Queen of Hungary by marriage to Béla I, King of Hungary.
21/05/0987
Louis V, king of West Francia (born c. 966)
Louis V, also known as Louis the Lazy, was a king of West Francia from 979 to his early death in 987. During his reign, the nobility essentially ruled the country. Dying childless, Louis V was the last Carolingian monarch in West Francia.
21/05/0954
Feng Dao, Chinese prince and chancellor (born 882)
Feng Dao, courtesy name Kedao, posthumous title the Wenyi Prince of Ying, was a Chinese inventor, printer, and official. He was a government official during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, who served Jie Yan and the Later Tang, the Later Jin, the Liao, the Later Han, and the Later Zhou dynasties. He was chancellor of the Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Zhou dynasties.
21/05/0252
Sun Quan, Chinese emperor of Eastern Wu (born 182)
Sun Quan, courtesy name Zhongmou (仲謀), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of Eastern Wu, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime established by his elder brother, Sun Ce, in 200 AD. He declared formal independence and ruled from November 222 to May 229 as the King of Wu and from May 229 to May 252 as the Emperor of Wu. Unlike his rivals Cao Cao and Liu Bei, Sun Quan was much younger and governed his state mostly separate of politics and ideology. He is sometimes portrayed as neutral considering he adopted a flexible foreign policy between his two rivals with the goal of pursuing the greatest interests for the country.
Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 21st May
Afro-Colombian Day (Colombia)
Afro-Colombian Day is an annual commemoration of the abolition of slavery in the Republic of Colombia on May 21, 1851. It is also the anniversary of the establishment of the first free town in the Americas, Palenque de San Basilio. Afro-Colombian Day was first celebrated in 2001.
Christian feast day: Blessed Adílio Daronch and Manuel Gómez González
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".
Christian feast day: Blessed Franz Jägerstätter
Franz Jägerstätter, was an Austrian farmer and conscientious objector during World War II. Jägerstätter refused to fight for Nazi Germany because of his devout Catholic faith, leading to him getting sentenced to death and executed. He is venerated as a martyr and has been beatified by the Catholic Church.
Christian feast day: Earliest day on which Corpus Christi can fall, while June 24 is the latest; held on Thursday after Trinity Sunday (often locally moved to Sunday). (Roman Catholic Church)
The Feast of Corpus Christi, also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is a liturgical solemnity celebrating the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; the feast is observed by the Catholic Church, in addition to certain Western Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican churches. Two months earlier, the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper is observed on Maundy Thursday in a sombre atmosphere leading to Good Friday. The liturgy on that day also commemorates Christ's washing of the disciples' feet, the institution of the priesthood, and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Christian feast day: Eugène de Mazenod
Eugène de Mazenod, OMI was a French aristocrat and Catholic bishop who founded the congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
Christian feast day: Helena of Constantinople, also known as "Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles." (Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion)
Flavia Julia Helena, also known as Helena of Constantinople and in Christianity as Saint Helena, was a Greek Augusta of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great as well as a Canonized saint in both Catholic and Orthodox Churches for her pivotal role in the spread of Christianity. She was born in the lower classes traditionally in the city of Drepanon, Bithynia, in Asia Minor, which was renamed Helenopolis.
Christian feast day: Blessed Hemming of Turku
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".
Christian feast day: John Elliot (Episcopal Church)
John Eliot was a Puritan missionary to Native Americans who some called "the apostle to the Indians", and the founder of Roxbury Latin School in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1645. In 1660 he completed the enormous task of translating the Eliot Indian Bible into the Massachusett language, producing more than two thousand completed copies.
Christian feast day: Saints of the Cristero War, including Christopher Magallanes
On May 21, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized a group of 25 saints and martyrs who had died in the Mexican Cristero War. The vast majority are Catholic priests who were executed for carrying out their ministry despite the suppression under the anti-clerical laws of Plutarco Elías Calles after the revolution in the 1920s. Priests who took up arms, however, were excluded from the process. The group of saints share the feast day of May 21.
Christian feast day: May 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
May 20 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 22
Circassian Day of Mourning (Circassians)
The Circassian Day of Mourning is observed by the Circassian diaspora every year on 21 May to commemorate all those who were killed in and displaced by the Circassian genocide, which took place in the final stages of the Russian invasion of Circassia. It is known in Russia as the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Caucasus War, because the Russian government does not recognize the events as a genocide. On 21 May 1864, the Russian general Pavel Grabbe held a military parade in what is now Krasnaya Polyana following his troops' victory in the Battle of Qbaada; it was also on this day that Circassia was annexed by the Russian Empire, which then launched a campaign to empty the region of the native Circassian people.
Day of Patriots and Military (Hungary)
An Armed Forces Day, alongside its branch-specific variants often referred to as Army or Soldier's Day, Navy or Sailor's Day, and Air Force or Aviator's Day, is a holiday dedicated to honoring the armed forces, or one of their branches, of a sovereign state, including their personnel, history, achievements, and sacrifices. It's often patriotic or nationalistic in nature, carrying information value outside of the conventional boundaries of a military's subculture and into the wider civilian society. Many nations around the world observe this day. It is usually distinct from a Veterans or Memorial Day, as the former is dedicated to those who previously served and the latter is dedicated to those who perished in the fulfillment of their duties.
Independence Day, celebrates the Montenegrin independence referendum in 2006, celebrated until the next day. (Montenegro)
Independence Day is observed in Montenegro on 21 May to commemorate the passage of the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, marking Montenegro's independence from Serbia and Montenegro.
International Tea Day (International)
International Tea Day is observed annually on May 21, according to the United Nations. Chinese scholar Chen Entian was the earliest initiator and promoter. The concerning resolution was adopted on December 21, 2019, and called on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to lead the observance of the Day.
Navy Day (Chile)
Day of Naval Glories is a Chilean national holiday celebrated on May 21 each year. The day was selected to commemorate the Battle of Iquique, which occurred on May 21, 1879, during the War of the Pacific. The day is an official holiday and until 2016 was the traditional day for the Annual Statement of the President of Chile, also known as the Mensaje Presidencial or Discurso del 21 de mayo), until it was moved on June 1 in 2017 to avoid major protest actions on that day.
Saint Helena Day, celebrates the discovery of Saint Helena in 1502. (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)
This is a list of public holidays in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean consisting of Saint Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (International)
The World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, sometimes abbreviated World Day for Cultural Diversity, is a United Nations sanctioned observance day for the promotion of diversity and intercultural dialogue. Begun in 2002, it is celebrated on 21 May. It was established by UNESCO in response to the 2001 Taliban terrorist attack that destroyed the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan.
What Happened on 21st May?
75 significant events took place on Sunday, 21st May — stretching from 293 to 2024. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.
21/05/2024
The Greenfield tornado kills 5 and injures 35 across rural Iowa, United States. Wind speeds in excess of 480 kilometres per hour (300 mph) are estimated from measurements for the third time in history.
On the afternoon of May 21, 2024, a violent and destructive EF4 tornado tracked across southwestern Iowa, United States, devastating the city of Greenfield. The tornado, known most commonly as the Greenfield tornado, destroyed many buildings and wind turbines across its path that stretched through Page, Taylor, Adams, and Adair counties, while also causing more than $31 million in property damage, killing five people and injuring 35 more. The tornado reached peak intensity within Greenfield, where National Weather Service surveyors denoted maximum wind speeds estimated at 185 mph (298 km/h), or EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. However, estimated winds of 309–318 mph (497–512 km/h) were briefly determined from inside the tornado by a Doppler on Wheels portable radar unit, one of only three times that wind speeds exceeding 300 miles per hour (480 km/h) have been determined in a tornado from radar observations.
A stabbing spree on the Green line of the Taichung MRT injures four people, including the perpetrator.
On 21 May 2024, a Taiwanese man carried out a stabbing spree directed at passengers on a Taichung MRT train, near Taichung City Hall station. Three people, including the attacker, were injured. The attack occurred exactly ten years after the 2014 Taipei Metro attack.
21/05/2017
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.
21/05/2014
Random killings occurred on the Bannan Line of the Taipei MRT, killing four and injuring 24.
On 21 May 2014, a Taiwanese man carried out a stabbing spree targeting random civilians on a Taipei Metro C321 train near Jiangzicui Station, resulting in four deaths and 24 injuries. It was the first fatal attack on the city's subway system since operations began in 1996. The attacker, 21-year-old Cheng Chieh, was arrested after the attack. He was sentenced to death, in addition to 144 years in prison, and was executed on 10 May 2016.
21/05/2012
A bus accident near Himara, Albania kills 13 people and injures 21 others.
The Qafa e Vishës bus accident occurred on 21 May 2012, at Qafa e Vishës near Himarë, Albania, when a bus plunged 80 metres (260 ft) off a cliff. Most of the victims were students of Aleksandër Xhuvani University of Elbasan. The driver is also believed to have been killed. The students were travelling from Elbasan to Sarandë.
A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sanaa, Yemen.
On 21 May 2012, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt among groups of Yemeni soldiers rehearsing for the annual Unity Day military parade in Sanaa, Yemen. An 18-year-old soldier recruited as a suicide bomber entered al-Sabeen Square in uniform and joined his Central Security Organization brigade midway through the rehearsal. As the soldiers were passing by the parade view stand, the bomber detonated his explosive belt. The attack, which unsuccessfully attempted to target Yemen's Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, killed at least 96 soldiers and wounded 222, making it one of the worst in Yemen's history. The bombing was claimed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula affiliate Ansar al-Sharia.
21/05/2011
Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date.
Harold Egbert Camping was an American Christian radio broadcaster and evangelist. Beginning in 1958, he served as president of Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that, at its peak, broadcast to more than 150 markets in the United States. In October 2011, he retired from active broadcasting following a stroke, but still maintained a role at Family Radio until his death. Camping was notorious for issuing a succession of failed predictions of dates for the End Times, which temporarily gained him a global following and millions of dollars of donations.
21/05/2010
JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is the current operator of the Japan's space program and aeronautics development.
21/05/2006
The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence.
The Republic of Montenegro was a constituent federated state of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and then Serbia and Montenegro between 1992 and 2006. The declaration of independence of Montenegro in 2006 ended the ex-Yugoslav state. After the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), the remaining republics of Montenegro and Serbia agreed to the formation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) which officially abandoned communism and endorsed liberal institutions. Montenegro was a constituent republic of the FRY and its successor state until June 2006 when Montenegro declared independence from Serbia and Montenegro following the 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum.
21/05/2005
The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey.
A roller coaster is a type of amusement ride employing a form of elevated railroad track that carries passengers on a train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements. Roller coasters are usually designed to produce a thrilling experience, though some roller coasters aim to provide a more gentle experience. Trains consist of open cars connected in a single line, and tracks are typically built and designed as a complete circuit in which trains depart from and return to the same loading station. The rides are typically found in amusement parks around the world but can also be located in shopping malls and zoos. The Roller Coaster DataBase records over 6,000 extant roller coasters as of January 2026.
21/05/2003
The 6.8 Mw Boumerdès earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). More than 2,200 people were killed and a moderate tsunami sank boats at the Balearic Islands.
The 2003 Boumerdès earthquake occurred on May 21 at 19:44:21 local time in northern Algeria. The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). The epicentre of the earthquake was located near the town of Thénia in Boumerdès Province, approximately 60 km east of the capital Algiers. The quake was the strongest to hit Algeria in more than twenty years – since 1980, when a magnitude 7.1 earthquake resulted in at least 2,633 deaths.
21/05/2001
French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
Christiane Marie Taubira is a French politician who served as Minister of Justice of France in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean-Marc Ayrault and Manuel Valls under President François Hollande from 2012 until 2016. She was a member of the National Assembly of France for French Guiana from 1993 to 2012 and member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999.
21/05/2000
Nineteen people are killed in a plane crash in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
On May 21, 2000, a British Aerospace BAe-3101 Jetstream 3101 operated by East Coast Aviation Services crashed into mountainous terrain in Bear Creek Township, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The plane was carrying 17 professional gamblers returning home from Caesar's Palace Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, along with 2 crew members. It was chartered by Caesar's Palace. All 19 passengers and crew on board were killed on impact. This accident, alongside the accident of Aerocaribe Flight 7831 were the accidents with the most fatalities involving the Jetstream 3101 airliner.
21/05/1998
In Miami, five abortion clinics are attacked by a butyric acid attacker.
Miami is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the second-most populous city proper in Florida, with a population of 442,241 at the 2020 census. The Miami metropolitan area in South Florida has an estimated 6.39 million residents, ranking as the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southeast and eighth-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Miami has the third-largest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises, 70 of which exceed 491 ft (150 m). It is the county seat of Miami-Dade County.
President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.
Suharto was an Indonesian military officer and politician who served as the second president of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998. He is the longest serving president of Indonesia at 31 years.
21/05/1996
The ferry MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000.
MV Bukoba was a Lake Victoria ferry that carried passengers and cargo along Tanzania's Lake Victoria between the Tanzanian ports of Bukoba and Mwanza City. It also served the regular line between Port Bell, Uganda, and Mwanza, Tanzania, across Lake Victoria. MV Bukoba was built in about 1979 and had capacity for 850 tons of cargo and 430 passengers.
The seven Trappist monks of Tibhirine that were abducted on March 27 are killed under uncertain circumstances.
The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Catholic religious order of cloistered monastics that branched off from the Cistercians. They follow the Rule of Saint Benedict and have communities of both monks and nuns that are known as Trappists and Trappistines, respectively. They are named after La Trappe Abbey, the monastery from which the movement and religious order originated. The movement began with the reforms that Abbot Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé introduced in 1664, later leading to the creation of Trappist congregations, and eventually the formal constitution as a separate religious order in 1892.
21/05/1994
The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out.
The Democratic Republic of Yemen, was a short-lived state that fought against the mainland Yemen in the 1994 Yemeni Civil War. It was declared in May 1994 and covered all of the former South Yemen.
21/05/1992
After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show.
John William Carson was an American television host, comedian, and writer best known as the host of NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992).
21/05/1991
Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
The prime minister of India is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the executive. The prime minister has to be a member of one of the houses of bicameral Parliament of India, alongside heading the respective house. The prime minister and the cabinet are at all times responsible to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament.
Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
Mengistu Haile Mariam is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991, chairman of the Derg—the Marxist–Leninist military junta that ruled Ethiopia—from 1977 to 1987, and president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.
21/05/1988
Margaret Thatcher holds her controversial Sermon on the Mound before the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the office. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
21/05/1982
Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos.
The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.
21/05/1981
The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.
Propaganda Due was a Masonic lodge, founded in 1877, within the tradition of Continental Freemasonry and under the authority of Grand Orient of Italy. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it was transformed by Worshipful Master Licio Gelli into an international, illegal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-Marxist, and radical right criminal organization and secret society operating in contravention of Article 18 of the Constitution of Italy that banned all such secret associations. Gelli continued to operate the unaffiliated lodge from 1976 to 1984. P2 was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries, including the collapse of the Holy See-affiliated Banco Ambrosiano, the contract killings of journalist Carmine Pecorelli and mobbed-up bank president Roberto Calvi, and political corruption cases within the nationwide mani pulite bribery scandal. P2 came to light through the investigations into the collapse of Michele Sindona's financial empire.
Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven's Gate.
Transamerica Corporation is an American holding company for various life insurance companies and investment firms operating primarily in the United States, offering life and supplemental health insurance, investments, and retirement services. The company is located in Baltimore, Maryland, with its subsidiary Transamerica Life Company headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; It has back offices Denver, Colorado; Harrison, New York; Toronto, Ontario; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Knoxville, Tennessee. Additional affiliated offices are located throughout the United States. In 1999, it became an independent subsidiary of multinational company Aegon.
21/05/1979
White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
The White Night riots were a series of violent events sparked by an announcement of a lenient sentencing of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone, the mayor of San Francisco, and of Harvey Milk, a member of the city's Board of Supervisors who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States. The events took place on the night of May 21, 1979, in San Francisco. Earlier that day White had been convicted of voluntary manslaughter, the lightest possible conviction for his actions. The lesser conviction outraged the city's gay community, setting off the most violent reaction by gay Americans since the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City.
21/05/1976
Twenty-nine people are killed in the Yuba City bus disaster in Martinez, California.
The Yuba City bus disaster occurred on May 21, 1976, in Martinez, California, United States. A chartered school bus transporting 52 passengers came off an elevated off ramp left the roadway, and landed on its roof. There were 53 people on the bus, passengers and a driver. Twenty nine people died; 28 students and an adult adviser were killed in the crash.
21/05/1972
Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth.
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. He was born in the Republic of Florence but was mostly active in Rome from his 30s onwards. His work was inspired by models from classical antiquity and had a lasting influence on Western art. Michelangelo's creative abilities and mastery in a range of artistic arenas define him as an archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and elder contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci. Given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences, Michelangelo is one of the best-documented artists of the 16th century. He was lauded by contemporary biographers as the most accomplished artist of his era.
21/05/1969
Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
Rosario, officially the Autonomous City of Rosario, is a city in central Argentina, in the south of the province of Santa Fe. Located 300 km (186 mi) northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, it is the country's third-most populous city after Buenos Aires and Córdoba. With a growing and important metropolitan area, Greater Rosario has an estimated population of 1,750,000 as of 2020. One of its main attractions includes the neoclassical, Art Nouveau, and Art Deco architecture that has been preserved in hundreds of residences, houses and public buildings. The city is also famous for being the birthplace of footballer Lionel Messi.
21/05/1966
The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom.
21/05/1961
American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
The civil rights movement was a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which most commonly affected African Americans. The movement had origins in the Reconstruction era in the late 19th century, and modern roots in the 1940s and in Mohandas Gandhi's nonviolent movement in India. After years of nonviolent protests and civil disobedience campaigns, the civil rights movement achieved many of its legislative goals in the 1960s, during which it secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
21/05/1951
The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition: A gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.
The 9th Street Art Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture is the official title artist Franz Kline hand-lettered onto the poster he designed for the Ninth Street Show. Now considered historic, the artist-led exhibition marked the formal debut of Abstract Expressionism, and the first American art movement with international influence. The School of Paris, long the headquarters of the global art market, typically launched new movements, so there was both financial and cultural fall-out when all the excitement was suddenly emanating from New York. The postwar New York avant-garde, artists like Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, would soon become "art stars," commanding large sums and international attention. The Ninth Street Show marked their "stepping-out," and that of nearly 75 other artists, including Harry Jackson, Helen Frankenthaler, Michael Goldberg, Joan Mitchell, Grace Hartigan, Robert De Niro Sr., John Ferren, Philip Guston, Elaine de Kooning, Louis Schanker, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Ad Reinhardt, Ludwig Sander, David Smith, Milton Resnick, Joop Sanders, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, and many others who were then mostly unknown to an art establishment that ignored experimental art without a ready market.
21/05/1946
Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Louis Alexander Slotin was a Canadian physicist and chemist who took part in the Manhattan Project. Born and raised in the North End of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Slotin earned both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the University of Manitoba, before obtaining his doctorate in physical chemistry at King's College London in 1936. Afterwards, he joined the University of Chicago as a research associate to help design a cyclotron.
21/05/1939
The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
The National War Memorial, titled The Response, is a tall, granite memorial arch with accreted bronze sculptures in Ottawa, Ontario, designed by Vernon March and first dedicated by King George VI in 1939. Originally built to commemorate the Canadians who died in the First World War, it was in 1982 rededicated to also include those killed in the Second World War and Korean War and again in 2014 to add the dead from the Second Boer War and War in Afghanistan, as well as all Canadians killed in all conflicts past and future. It now serves as the pre-eminent war memorial of 76 cenotaphs in Canada. In 2000, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was added in front of the memorial and symbolizes the sacrifices made by all Canadians who have died or may yet die for their country.
21/05/1937
A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.
A drifting ice station is a temporary or semi-permanent facility built on an ice floe. During the Cold War the Soviet Union and the United States maintained a number of stations in the Arctic Ocean on floes such as Fletcher's Ice Island for research and espionage, the latter of which were often little more than quickly constructed shacks. Extracting personnel from these stations proved difficult and in the case of the United States, employed early versions of the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system.
21/05/1936
Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her handbag. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals.
Sada Abe was a Japanese geisha and prostitute who murdered her lover, Kichizō Ishida , via strangulation on May 18, 1936, before cutting off his penis and testicles and carrying them around with her in her kimono. The story became a national sensation in Japan, acquiring mythic overtones; it has also been interpreted by artists, philosophers, novelists and filmmakers. Abe was released after serving five years in prison and went on to write an autobiography.
21/05/1934
Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.
Oskaloosa is a city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U.S. census. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. Today, Oskaloosa is home to William Penn University, a private university, and Lake Keomah State Park which is located four miles east of the city.
21/05/1932
Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviator and aviation pioneer who became one of the most celebrated figures of early flight.
21/05/1927
Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, military officer, and author. On May 20–21, 1927, he made the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris, a distance of 3,600 miles (5,800 km), flying alone for over 33 hours. His aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was built to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize for the first flight between the two cities. Although not the first transatlantic flight, it was the first solo crossing of the Atlantic and the longest at the time by nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 km), setting a new flight distance world record. The achievement garnered Lindbergh worldwide fame and stands as one of the most consequential flights in history, signalling a new era of air transportation between parts of the globe.
21/05/1925
The opera Doktor Faust, unfinished when composer Ferruccio Busoni died, is premiered in Dresden.
Doktor Faust is an opera by Ferruccio Busoni with a German libretto by the composer, based on the myth of Faust. Busoni worked on the opera, which he intended as his masterpiece, between 1916 and 1924, but it was still incomplete at the time of his death. His pupil Philipp Jarnach finished it. More recently, in 1982, Antony Beaumont completed the opera using sketches by Busoni that were previously thought to have been lost. Nancy Chamness published an analysis of the libretto to Doktor Faust and a comparison with Goethe's version.
21/05/1924
University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing".
The University of Chicago is a private research university in the Hyde Park community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States.
21/05/1917
The Imperial War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record, and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of the British Empire's military forces.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through royal charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.
The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack).
The Great Atlanta Fire of 1917 began just after noon on 21 May 1917 in the Old Fourth Ward of Atlanta, Georgia. It is unclear just how the fire started, but it was fueled by hot temperatures and strong winds which propelled the fire. The fire, which burned for nearly 10 hours, destroyed 300 acres (120 ha) and 1,900 structures displacing over 10,000 people. Damages were estimated at $5 million,.
21/05/1911
President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
The president of Mexico, officially the president of the United Mexican States, is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Constitution of Mexico, the president heads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander in chief of the Mexican Armed Forces. The office, which was first established by the federal Constitution of 1824, is currently held by Claudia Sheinbaum, who was sworn in on October 1, 2024. The office of the president is considered to be revolutionary, in the sense that the powers of office are derived from the Revolutionary Constitution of 1917. Another legacy of the Mexican Revolution is the Constitution's ban on re-election. Mexican presidents are limited to a single six-year term, called a sexenio. No one who has held the post, even on a caretaker basis, is allowed to run or serve again. The constitution and the office of the president closely follow the presidential system of government.
21/05/1904
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is an international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to oversee international competition among the national associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, its membership now comprises 211 national associations. These national associations must also be members of one of the six regional confederations: CAF (Africa), AFC (Asia), UEFA (Europe), CONCACAF, OFC (Oceania), and CONMEBOL.
21/05/1894
The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
The Manchester Ship Canal is a 36-mile-long (58 km) inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire before joining the latter at Salford Quays. Several sets of locks lift vessels about 60 ft (18 m) to the canal's terminus in Manchester. Landmarks along its route include the Barton Swing Aqueduct, the world's only swing aqueduct, and Trafford Park, the world's first planned industrial estate and one of the largest in Europe.
21/05/1881
The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Dansville, New York.
The American National Red Cross, sometimes referred to as ANRC, is an American nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded the organization in 1881 after initially learning of the Red Cross, founded 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland. It is the designated American affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
21/05/1879
War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
The War of the Pacific, also known by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Chilean claims on coastal Bolivian territory in the Atacama Desert, the war ended with victory for Chile, which gained a significant amount of resource-rich territory from Peru and Bolivia. The war demonstrated Chile's military-technological superiority over its opponents at the time.
21/05/1871
French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week", some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended Paris, and working class radicalism grew among its soldiers. Following the establishment of the French Third Republic in September 1870 and the complete defeat of the French Army by the Germans by March 1871, soldiers of the National Guard seized control of the city on 18 March. The Communards killed two French Army generals and refused to accept the authority of the Third Republic; instead, the radicals set about establishing their own independent government.
Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi Bahnen on Mount Rigi.
A rack railway is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail. This allows the trains to operate on steep gradients of 100% or more, well above the 10% maximum for friction-based rail. The rack-and-pinion mechanism also provides more controlled braking and reduces the effects of snow or ice on the rails. Most rack railways are mountain railways, although a few are transit railways or tramways built to overcome a steep gradient in an urban environment. The first cog railway was the Middleton Railway between Middleton and Leeds in West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom, where the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, ran in 1812. This used a rack and pinion system designed and patented in 1811 by John Blenkinsop.
21/05/1864
Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.
The Russo-Circassian War, also known as the Russian invasion of Circassia, took place in the North Caucasus between July 1763 and June 1864. It began when the Russian Empire entered Circassia and occupied Mozdok, which prompted the Circassian people to organize a resistance movement to preserve their independence. Over the next century, the Imperial Russian Army expanded across the country until the last Circassian fighters were defeated in the Battle of Qbaada. It remains the longest war to have ever occurred in the Caucasus and in the history of Russia, as well as the longest and final war in the history of Circassia. Although it initially involved only Russia and Circassia, the conflict soon drew in a number of other Caucasian nations after they also became targets for Russian conquests, and it is consequently sometimes considered to be the western half of the Caucasian War.
American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes more simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania, was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. Following the bloody but inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, Grant's army disengaged from Confederate General Robert E. Lee's army and moved to the southeast, attempting to lure Lee into battle under more favorable conditions. Elements of Lee's army beat the Union army to the critical crossroads of the Spotsylvania Court House in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, and began entrenching. Fighting occurred on and off from May 8 through May 21, 1864, as Grant tried various schemes to break the Confederate line. In the end, the battle was tactically inconclusive, but both sides declared victory. The Confederacy declared victory because they were able to hold their defenses. The United States declared victory because the Federal offensive continued and Lee's army suffered losses that could not be replaced. With almost 32,000 casualties on both sides, Spotsylvania was the costliest battle of the campaign.
The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece.
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, but the group includes many smaller islands in addition to the seven principal ones.
21/05/1863
American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.
21/05/1856
Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas and Wakarusa rivers. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 94,934. The city is a college town with a significant student population, because it is home to both the University of Kansas (KU) and Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU).
21/05/1851
Slavery in Colombia is abolished.
The practice of slavery in present-day Colombia dates back to the pre-Spanish era and persisted until its definitive abolition in 1851. This practice involved the human trafficking of Indigenous individuals, initially among Indigenous groups such as the Chibchas, the Muzos, or the Panches, and later by European traders, particularly the Portuguese, who brought enslaved Africans, to the region. Subsequently, commercial elites of the early Republic of New Granada, what is present-day Colombia, also participated in this trade.
21/05/1809
The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held.
In the Battle of Aspern–Essling, Napoleon crossed the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were attacked and forced back across the river by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. It was the first time Napoleon had been personally defeated in a major battle, as well as his first battle defeat in 10 years since the siege of Acre, and his first battle defeat as head of state, although he did suffer a tactical defeat in the Battle of Caldiero and in the Second Battle of Bassano. Archduke Charles drove out the French but fell short of destroying their army. The French lost over 20,000 men, including one of Napoleon's ablest field commanders and closest friends, Marshal Jean Lannes.
21/05/1799
The end of the Siege of Acre (1799): Napoleon Bonaparte abandons his siege of the Ottoman city of Acre after two months. This was the turning point of Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign and one of the first major defeats he suffered in his military career.
The siege of Acre of 1799 was an unsuccessful French siege of the Ottoman city of Acre and was the turning point of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria, along with the Battle of the Nile. It was Napoleon's third tactical defeat in his career, being defeated at the Second Battle of Bassano and the Battle of Caldiero three years previously during the Italian campaign, and his first major strategic defeat, along with the last time he was defeated in battle for 10 years. As a result of the failed siege, Napoleon retreated two months later and withdrew to Egypt.
21/05/1792
A lava dome collapses on Mount Unzen, near the city of Shimbara on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, creating a deadly tsunami that killed nearly 15,000 people.
In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular, mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on Earth form lava domes. The geochemistry of lava domes can vary from basalt to rhyolite although the majority are of intermediate composition. The characteristic dome shape is attributed to high viscosity that prevents the lava from flowing very far. This high viscosity can be obtained in two ways: by high levels of silica in the magma, or by degassing of fluid magma. Since viscous basaltic and andesitic domes weather fast and easily break apart by further input of fluid lava, most of the preserved domes have high silica content and consist of rhyolite or dacite.
21/05/1758
Ten-year-old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War. She is returned six and a half years later.
Mary Campbell was an American colonial settler who was known for her abduction by Native Americans during the French and Indian War being the first white child to travel to the Western Reserve. Born in 1747 or 1748, Campbell was taken captive by the Lenape tribe at the age of ten in 1758. It is believed that she lived with the Lenape, possibly under the care of their chief Netawatwees, in locations near Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and Newcomerstown, eastern Ohio. Campbell's return to her family in Pennsylvania in 1764 was facilitated by British military pressure on the Native Americans. She was among a group of captives released to British forces and transported to Fort Pitt.
21/05/1725
The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on 1 June [O.S. 21 May] 1725 by Empress Catherine I of Russia.
21/05/1703
Daniel Defoe is imprisoned on charges of seditious libel.
Daniel Defoe was an English writer, journalist, merchant and spy. He is famous for his novels Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flanders (1722) and Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (1724). He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson.
21/05/1674
The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
The szlachta were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was the dominating social class in the Kingdom of Poland and the Commonwealth, which was exercising political rights and power. Szlachta as a class differed substantially from the feudal nobility of Western Europe. The estate was officially abolished in 1921 by the March Constitution.
21/05/1660
The Battle of Long Sault concludes after five days in which French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, are defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Battle of Long Sault occurred over a five-day period in early May 1660 during the Beaver Wars. It was fought between French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, against the Iroquois Confederacy.
21/05/1659
In the Concert of The Hague, the Dutch Republic, the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France set out their views on how the Second Northern War should end.
The Concert of The Hague, signed on 21 May 1659, was an outline of the common stance of England, France and the Dutch Republic regarding the Second Northern War. The powers agreed that the Swedish Empire and Denmark–Norway should settle for a peace treaty based on the Treaty of Roskilde, including free navigation through The Sound and the Baltic Sea based on the Treaty of Elbing. The subsequent Dano-Swedish Peace of Copenhagen largely followed the terms dictated by the Concert of the Hague.
21/05/1554
Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.
Mary I was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous attempts to reverse the English Reformation, which had begun during the reign of her father, King Henry VIII. Her attempt to restore to the Church the property confiscated in the previous two reigns was largely thwarted by Parliament but, during her five-year reign, more than 280 religious dissenters were burned at the stake, in what became known as the Marian persecutions, leading later commentators to label her "Bloody Mary".
21/05/1424
Coronation of James I of Scotland at Scone.
James I was King of Scots from 1406 to 1437. The youngest of three sons, he was born in Dunfermline Abbey to King Robert III and his wife Annabella Drummond. His older brother David, Duke of Rothesay died under suspicious circumstances while being detained by their uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany. His other brother, Robert, died young. Fears for James's safety grew through the winter of 1405/6 and plans were made to send him to France. In February 1406, James was forced to take refuge in the castle of the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth after his escort was attacked by supporters of Archibald, 4th Earl of Douglas. He remained there until mid-March, when he boarded a vessel bound for France. On 22 March, English pirates captured the ship and delivered the prince to Henry IV of England. The ailing Robert III died on 4 April, and the 11-year-old James, now the uncrowned King of Scotland, would not regain his freedom for another eighteen years.
21/05/1403
Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo as ambassador to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
Henry III of Castile, called the Suffering due to his ill health, was the son of John I and Eleanor of Aragon. He succeeded his father as King of Castile in 1390.
21/05/1349
Dušan's Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty.
Dušan's Code is a compilation of several legal systems that was enacted by Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia in 1349. It drew upon Roman law, Byzantine law, as well as elements of customary and canon law. It was used in the Serbian Empire and the succeeding Serbian Despotate. It is considered an early constitution, or close to it; an advanced set of laws which regulated all aspects of life such as family relations, property rights, contracts, and crimes.
21/05/1347
Coronation of John VI Kantakouzenos as Byzantine Emperor by patriarch Isidore I of Constantinople at the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae.
John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene was a Byzantine Greek emperor and nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byzantine emperor in his own right from 1347 to 1354. Deposed by his former ward, he was forced to retire to a monastery under the name Joasaph Christodoulos and spent the remainder of his life as a monk and historian. At age 90 or 91 at his death, he was the longest-lived of the Roman emperors. His two disastrous civil wars led to the loss of much of the remaining territory in the Balkans under Byzantine control to the Serbian and Bulgarian empires, but the most severe loss during his civil war was the loss of the Gallipoli peninsula to the Ottoman Turks, allowing the Ottomans to gain territory in Europe and setting the stage for the destruction of the Byzantine Empire a century later.
21/05/1294
Coronation of Michael IX Palaiologos as Byzantine Emperor.
Michael IX Palaiologos or Palaeologus was Byzantine emperor together with his father, Andronikos II Palaiologos, from 1294 until his death. Andronikos II and Michael IX ruled as equal co-rulers, both using the title autokrator.
21/05/0996
Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
Otto III was the Holy Roman emperor and King of Italy from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
21/05/0879
Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.
Pope John VIII was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 14 December 872 to his death. He is often considered one of the most able popes of the 9th century.
21/05/0878
Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabids after a nine-month siege.
Syracuse is a city and municipality, capital of the free municipal consortium of the same name, located in the autonomous region of Sicily in Southern Italy. As of 2025, with a population of 115,636, it is the fourth most populous city in Sicily, following Palermo, Catania, and Messina.
21/05/0293
Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.
Diocletian, nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia. As with other Illyrian soldiers of the period, Diocles rose through the ranks of the military early in his career, serving under Aurelian and Probus, and eventually becoming a cavalry commander for the army of Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on a campaign in Persia, Diocles was proclaimed emperor by the troops, taking the name "Diocletianus". The title was also claimed by Carus's surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus.