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January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 344 days remaining (345 in leap years).
Events
- 1189 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade.
- 1276 - Innocent V becomes Pope.
- 1525 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz's mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zurich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
- 1643 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga.
- 1720 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
- 1789 - The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, is printed in Boston, Massachusetts.
- 1793 - After being found guilty for treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is guillotined.
- 1793 - Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
- 1853 - Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope-folding machine.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
- 1864 - The Tauranga Campaign starts during the Maori Wars.
- 1887 - The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed.
- 1899 - Opel Motors opens for business.
- 1908 - New York City passes a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public only to be vetoed by the mayor.
- 1911 - The first Monte Carlo Rally.
- 1915 - Kiwanis International founded in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1919 - Meeting in the Mansion House Dublin, the Sinn Féin adopts Ireland's first constitution.
- 1924 - Vladimir Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin begins to purge his rivals to clear way for his leadership.
- 1925 - Albania declares itself a republic.
- 1941 - World War II: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
- 1950 - Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
- 1954 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, then the First Lady of the United States.
- 1968 - Simon & Garfunkel release the Original Soundtrack to The Graduate, which quickly goes to #1 on the pop charts and which will bring Simon a Grammy for Best Original Score.
- 1969 - An experimental underground nuclear reactor at Lucens Vad, Switzerland, released radiation into a cavern, which was then sealed.
- 1976 - The first commercial service Concorde flight took off.
- 1977 - President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.
- 1994 - Lorena Bobbitt is found not-guilty by reason of temporary insanity for severing the penis of her husband John Bobbitt.
- 1997 - Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
- 1999 - War on Drugs: In one of the one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg) of cocaine on board.
- 2003 - The terms of Kevin Mitnick's parole allow him to use a computer again.
- 2004 - Canada: The residence of reporter, Juliet O'Neill was searched by the RCMP investigating leaks concerning the deportation of Maher Arar.
- 2004 - NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceased communication with mission control. The problem was with Flash Memory management and fixed remotely from Earth on Feb 6th.
- 2005 - In Belize's capital city, the unrest over the goverment's new taxes erupts into riots.
Births
- 1738 - Ethan Allen, American patriot (d. 1789)
- 1824 - Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate Army general (d. 1863)
- 1829 - Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway (d. 1907)
- 1850 - Paul Vinzenz Busch, ringmaster (d. 1927)
- 1855 - John Moses Browning, inventor (d. 1926)
- 1867 - Ludwig Thoma, narrator, dramatist and lyricist (d. 1921)
- 1867 - Maxime Weygand, French General (d. 1965)
- 1883 - Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (d. 1929)
- 1884 - Roger Baldwin, ACLU president, social activist (d. 1981)
- 1885 - Umberto Nobile, politician and airship designer (d. 1978)
- 1895 - Cristóbal Balenciaga, couturier (d. 1972)
- 1905 - Karl Wallenda, German acrobat (d. 1978)
- 1905 - Christian Dior, fashion designer (d. 1957)
- 1919 - Jinx Falkenburg, American fashion model (d. 2003)
- 1921 - Howard Unruh, mass murderer
- 1921 - Barney Clark heart transplant recipient (d. 1983)
- 1922 - Paul Scofield, actor
- 1924 - Telly Savalas, actor (d. 1994)
- 1924 or 1925 - Benny Hill, comedian, actor (d. 1992)
- 1926 - Steve Reeves, actor (d. 2000)
- 1936 - Koji Hashimoto, Japanese film director (d. 2005)
- 1936 - Snooks Eaglin, American blues musician
- 1939 - Wolfman Jack, disk jockey, actor (d. 1995)
- 1940 - Jack Nicklaus,professional golfer
- 1941 - Plácido Domingo, opera singer
- 1941 - Richie Havens, musician
- 1942 - Edwin Starr, American singer (d. 2003)
- 1942 - Mac Davis, American musician
- 1946 - Johnny Oates, baseball player and manager (d. 2004)
- 1948 - Trey Wilson, American actor (d. 1989)
- 1950 - Billy Ocean, musician
- 1953 - Paul Allen, entrepreneur
- 1955 - Jeff Koons, artist
- 1956 - Geena Davis, actress
- 1956 - Robby Benson, American actor
- 1963 - Hakeem Olajuwon, basketball player
- 1963 - Detlef Schrempf, basketball player
- 1965 - Jam Master Jay, DJ (d. 2002)
- 1968 - Charlotte Ross, American actress
- 1976 - Emma Bunton, AKA "Baby Spice," singer
- 1979 - Brian O'Driscoll, rugby player
- 1981 - Dany Heatley, NHL hockey player
- 1981 - Izabella Miko, Polish actress
- 1988 - Victoria Watson, British actress
- 2004 - Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
Deaths
- 304 - Martyrdom of Saint Agnes, under emperor Diocletianus
- 1118 - Pope Paschal II
- 1519 - Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Spanish explorer (b. ca. 1475)
- 1546 - Azai Sukemasa, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1491)
- 1609 - Joseph Justus Scaliger, Protestant scholar (b. 1540)
- 1793 - King Louis XVI of France executed (b. 1754)
- 1881 - Wilhelm Matthias Näff, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1802)
- 1891 - Calixa Lavallée, composer (b. 1842)
- 1924 - Vladimir Lenin, first leader of the USSR (b. 1870)
- 1928 - George Goethals, American army engineer (b. 1858)
- 1932 - Giles Lytton Strachey British writer and biographer (b. 1880)
- 1933 - George Moore, novelist (b. 1852)
- 1948 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, composer (b. 1876)
- 1950 - George Orwell, writer (b. 1903)
- 1955 - Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
- 1959 - Cecil B. DeMille, director (b. 1881)
- 1959 - Carl Switzer, American actor
- 1961 - Blaise Cendrars, writer (b. 1887)
- 1967 - Ann Sheridan, American actress
- 1985 - James Beard, chef, author
- 1984 - Jackie Wilson, American musician
- 1989 - Billy Tipton, jazz musician (b. 1914)
- 1993 - Charlie Gehringer, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1903)
- 1997 - Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager (b. 1909)
- 1998 - Jack Lord, actor (b. 1920)
- 1999 - Susan Strasberg, actress (b. 1938)
- 2001 - Byron De La Beckwith, white supremacist
- 2001 - Chung Ju-yung, Korean industrialist
- 2002 - Peggy Lee, singer (b. 1920)
- 2004 - Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer and playwright (b. 1929)
Holidays and observances
January 20 - January 22 - December 21 - February 21 -- listing of all days
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