January 21

January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 344 days remaining until the end of the year (345 in leap years).

• 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, Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
• 1643 – Abel Tasman discovers Tonga.
• 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
• 1749 - The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, northern Italy, is destroyed by fire. It is rebuilt in 1754.
• 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.
• 1840 - Adelie Land in Antarctica is discovered.
• 1853 – Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope-folding machine.
• 1854 - Iron clipper RMS Tayleur of the White Star Line sinks in the Irish Sea during its first voyage, killing 362 people.
• 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.

• 1904 - Oprera Jenůfa by Leoš Janáček first performed.
• 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.
• 1917 - An earthquake in Bali kills 15,000 people.
• 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.
• 1931 - Isaac Isaacs becomes the first Governor-General of Australia who was born in Australia.
• 1940 - Off the Mediterranean Sea coast of France, an explosion occurs on Italian passenger ship Orazio, causing a fire on board, before the ship sinks, killing 106 people.
• 1941 – World War II: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
• 1948 - The Flag of Quebec is flown over the National Assembly of Quebec for the first time.
• 1950 – Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
• 1951 - The Lamington volcano erupts on the island of New Guinea, killing 3,000 people.
• 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.
• 1960 - Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns while landing in Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37 people.
• 1961 - 435 workers are buried alive when a mine in Coalbrook, South Africa, collapses.
• 1968 – Simon & Garfunkel release the Original Soundtrack to The Graduate. It quickly goes to #1 on the pop charts and which will bring Simon a Grammy Award 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 flights take off from London and Paris.
• 1977 – President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.
• 1980 - The Great Wall of China is placed under protection.
• 1980 - A plane crash during a snowstorm in Tehran kills 128 people.
• 1985 - After being moved to this date because January 20 was a Sunday, Ronald Reagan's second inauguration as President of the United States is held indoors, because of cold and windy weather.
• 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.
• 1998 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit Cuba.
• 1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard stops a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg) of cocaine on board.
• 2000 - Jamil Mahuad is removed as President of Ecuador in a coup led by Lucio Gutiérrez.

• 2003 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes the state of Colima, Mexico.
• 2004 – Canada: The residence of reporter, Juliet O'Neill was searched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police 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 February 6.
• 2005 – In Belize's capital city, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.
• 2008 – Black Monday on the world's stock markets, the worst day for financial markets since September 11, 2001.
• 2008 – Marie Smith Jones, the last-surviving speaker of the Eyak language, dies, rendering the language extinct.
• 2012 - 16-year-old Laura Dekker becomes the youngest person to sail around the world on her own, though this category is no longer included in the Guinness Book of Records.
• 2013 - Barack Obama's second public inauguration as President of the United States takes place. A private inauguration took place the previous day, which was a Sunday.

• 1277 - Galeazzo I Visconti, ruler of Milan (d. 1328)
• 1338 – King Charles V of France (d. 1380)
• 1721 - James Murray, British Governor of Quebec (d. 1794)
• 1735 - Johann Gottfried Eckard, German pianist and composer (d. 1809)
• 1738 – Ethan Allen, American freedom fighter (d. 1789)
• 1763 - Augustin Robespierre, French politician (d. 1794)
• 1784 - Andrew Stevenson, American politician (d. 1857)
• 1813 - John C. Frémont, American army officer, explorer and politician (d. 1890)
• 1815 - John Bingham, American lawyer, judge and politician (d. 1900)
• 1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American Confederate General (d. 1870)
• 1825 - Imre Madach, Hungarian writer (d. 1864)
• 1827 – Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician (d. 1900)
• 1829 – King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway (d. 1907)
• 1846 - Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician (d. 1923)
• 1846 - Nathaniel Edwin Harris, Governor of Georgia (d. 1929)
• 1848 – Henri Duparc, French composer (d. 1933)
• 1855 - John Browning, American inventor (d. 1926)
• 1860 – Karl Staaff, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
• 1864 - Paul Troje, German politician (d. 1942)
• 1867 - Maxime Weygand, French general (d. 1965)
• 1867 – Ludwig Thoma, German writer (d. 1921)
• 1869 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk, mystic and spiritual healer (d. 1916)
• 1881 - Ernst Fast, Swedish long-distance runner (d. 1959)
• 1882 – Pavel Florensky, Russian theologian, philosopher and mathematician (d. 1937)
• 1883 – Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (d. 1929)
• 1883 - James H. Duff, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1969)
• 1885 – Umberto Nobile, Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer (d. 1978)
• 1887 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
• 1895 - Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (d. 1972)
• 1899 – Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-born American composer (d. 1977)

• 1901 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (d. 1978)
• 1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer (d. 1957)
• 1905 – Karl Wallenda, German-born acrobat (d. 1978)
• 1908 - Raymond D. Gary, Governor of Oklahoma (d. 1993)
• 1910 - Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
• 1910 – Albert Rosellini, American politician (d. 2011)
• 1911 - Bill Graber, American pole vaulter (d. 1996)
• 1912 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German biochemist (d. 2000)
• 1915 - Orazio Mariani, Italian sprinter (d. 1981)
• 1915 - Bill Sefton, American pole vaulter (d. 1982)
• 1916 – Pietro Rava, Italian footballer (d. 2006)
• 1918 – Richard Winters, American paratrooper (d. 2011)
• 1919 - Lennie Bluett, American actor (d. 2016)
• 1919 - Eric Brown, Scottish test pilot (d. 2016)
• 1921 - Howard Unruh, American murderer (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Paul Scofield, British actor (d. 2008)
• 1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor and singer (d. 1994)
• 1923 - Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer and actress (d. 1995)
• 1924 – Benny Hill, British comedian (d. 1992)
• 1926 - Steve Reeves, American actor (d. 2000)
• 1928 - Reynaldo Bignone, Argentine general and former military leader
• 1929 - Denis Sanders, American movie director, producer and screenwriter
• 1930 - Mainza Chona, 3rd Vice President of Zambia (d. 2001)
• 1932 - John Chaney, American basketball coach
• 1933 - Joseph W. Eschbach, American physician (d. 2007)
• 1934 - Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
• 1936 - Koji Hashimoto, Japanese movie director (d. 2005)
• 1937 - Prince Max, Duke of Bavaria
• 1938 - Wolfman Jack, American DJ and actor (d. 1995)
• 1938 - Ken Maginnis, Northern Irish soldier, educator and politician
• 1939 – Friedel Lutz, German footballer
• 1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
• 1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish opera singer and conductor
• 1941 – Richie Havens, American musician (d. 2013)
• 1942 - Mac Davis, American musician
• 1945 – Martin Shaw, English actor
• 1947 - Jonathan Meades, English journalist and writer
• 1949 - Gennaro Contaldo, Italian chef
• 1950 – Billy Ocean, Trinidadian musician
• 1950 - Zelimkhan Yaqub, Azerbaijani poet (d. 2016)
• 1950 – Gary Locke, American politician

• 1951 – Eric Holder, American jurist, United States Attorney General
• 1953 – Paul Allen, American entrepreneur and co-founder of Microsoft
• 1954 – Thomas de Maizière, German politician
• 1954 – Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso movie maker
• 1955 – Jeff Koons, American artist
• 1955 – Peter Fleming, American tennis player
• 1956 – Geena Davis, American actress
• 1957 – Greg Ryan, American soccer coach
• 1958 – Frank Ticheli, American composer
• 1959 – Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
• 1962 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
• 1962 – Tyler Cowen, American economist
• 1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball player
• 1965 – Jam Master Jay, American DJ (d. 2002)
• 1968 – Charlotte Ross, American actress
• 1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese manga artist
• 1969 – Karina Lombard, American actress
• 1969 – M. K. Hobson, American writer
• 1971 – Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
• 1971 – Doug Weight, American ice hockey player
• 1971 – Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skater
• 1972 – Yasunori Matsuda, Japanese composer
• 1974 – Kim Dotcom, German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and founder of Megaupload
• 1975 – Nicky Butt, English footballer
• 1975 – Ito, Spanish footballer

• 1976 – Igors Stepanovs, Latvian footballer
• 1976 – Emma Bunton, English singer (Spice Girls)
• 1977 – Phil Neville, English footballer
• 1977 - Jerry Trainor, American actor
• 1977 - Bradley Carnell, South African footballer
• 1978 - Phil Stacey, American singer
• 1978 - Andrei Zyuzin, Russian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Brian O'Driscoll, Irish rugby player
• 1979 - Johann Hari, Scottish journalist
• 1980 – Dave Kitson, English footballer
• 1980 - Nana Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress
• 1982 – Nicolas Mahut, French tennis player
• 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
• 1982 – Simon Rolfes, German footballer
• 1983 – Moritz Volz, German footballer
• 1983 – Maryse Ouellet, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1984 - Raymond Gutierrez, American-Filipino actor and television host
• 1984 - Richard Gutierrez, American-Filipino actor
• 1985 - Justin Ingram, American basketball player
• 1985 - Adrian Lewis, English darts player
• 1985 - Aura Dione, Danish singer and songwriter
• 1986 - Jonathan Quick, American ice hockey player
• 1987 – Joe Ledley, Welsh footballer
• 1987 - Darren Helm, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1990 - Jacob Smith, American actor
• 1993 - Chiara Pierobon, Italian cyclist (d. 2015)
• 1994 – Laura Robson, British tennis player
• 1994 - Kang Seung-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
• 1994 - Marny Kennedy, Australian actress, singer and model
• 1994 - Booboo Stewart, American actor, singer and sportsman
• 1997 - Jeremy Shada, American actor
• 2001 – Jackson Brundage, American actor
• 2004 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway

• 304 – Saint Agnes, Christian martyr (b. 291)
• 917 - Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (b. 880)
• 1118 – Pope Paschal II
• 1519 – Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)
• 1527 - Juan de Grijalva, Spanish conquistador (b. 1489)
• 1546 - Azai Sukemasa, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1491)
• 1609 - Joseph Justus Scaliger, French Protestant scholar (b. 1540)
• 1638 - Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (b. 1570)
• 1773 – Alexis Piron, French writer (b. 1689)
• 1774 – Mustafa III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1717)
• 1775 - Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel (b. 1742)
• 1789 - Baron d'Holbach, French-German writer, philosopher and encyclopedist (b. 1723)
• 1793 – King Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)
• 1795 - Samuel Wallis, English navigator (b. 1728)
• 1809 - Josiah Hornblower, American engineer and politician (b. 1729)
• 1831 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (b. 1781)
• 1851 – Albert Lertzing, German composer (b. 1801)
• 1872 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (b. 1791)
• 1891 – Calixa Lavallée, Canadian composer (b. 1842)

• 1901 – Elisha Gray, American inventor (b. 1835)
• 1919 - Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, Ottoman general and Grand Vizier (b. 1839)
• 1919 – Gojong of the Korean Empire, Emperor of Korea (b. 1852)
• 1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian political leader (b. 1870)
• 1926 – Camillo Golgi, Italian doctor, won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)
• 1928 - George Goethals, American army engineer (b. 1858)
• 1932 – Giles Lytton Strachey, British writer (b. 1880)
• 1937 - Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1896)
• 1938 - Georges Méliès, French director (b. 1861)
• 1940 - Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (b. 1888)
• 1945 - Rash Behari Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1886)
• 1950 – George Orwell, British writer (b. 1903)
• 1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director (b. 1881)
• 1961 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1903)
• 1967 - Ann Sheridan, American actress (b. 1915)
• 1977 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet (b. 1906)
• 1989 – Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
• 1989 - Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
• 1990 - Mariano Rumor, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1915)
• 1994 - Bassel al-Assad, brother of Bashar al-Assad (b. 1962)
• 1994 - Andrejs Kapmals, Latvian runner (b. 1889)
• 1997 – Colonel Tom Parker, American music manager (b. 1909)
• 1998 - Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
• 1999 - Charles Brown, American blues singer and musician (b. 1920)
• 1999 - Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)

• 2001 - Byron De La Beckwith, American murderer (b. 1920)
• 2004 - Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer (b. 1929)
• 2006 – Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
• 2007 - Maria Cioncan, Romanian athlete (b. 1977)
• 2007 - U-Nee, South Korean singer, dancer and actress (b. 1981)
• 2008 – Marie Smith Jones, last speaker of the Eyak language (b. 1918)
• 2011 – Dennis Oppenheim, American artist (b. 1938)
• 2013 - Michael Winner, British movie director, producer and food critic (b. 1935)
• 2013 - Alden W. Clausen, American banker and former World Bank President (b. 1923)
• 2014 - Manfred Bleskin, German journalist (b. 1949)
• 2015 - Kemal Monteno, Bosnian singer (b. 1948)
• 2015 - Leon Brittan, British politician (b. 1939)
• 2015 - Marcus Borg, American theologian (b. 1942)
• 2015 - Pauline Yates, English actress (b. 1929)
• 2016 - Bill Johnson, American skier (b. 1960)
• 2016 - Robert Sassone, French cyclist (b. 1978)
• 2016 - Derrick Todd Lee, American serial killer (b. 1968)
• 2016 - Mrinalini Sarabhai, Iranian classical dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)
• 2020 - Terry Jones, English comedy writer (b. 1942)

• Flag Day (Quebec)
• Christian feast day of Saint Agnes
• Errol Barrow Day (Bahamas)
• National Hug Day (United States)
• Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)