(Redirected from 21 February)
Events
★
362 -
Athanasius returns to
Alexandria.
★
1245 -
Thomas, the first known
Bishop of Finland, was granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery.
★
1440 - The
Prussian Confederation is formed.
★
1543 -
Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of
Ethiopian and
Portuguese troops defeated a
Muslim army led by
Ahmed Gragn.
★
1613 -
Mikhail I is elected unanimously as
Tsar by a
national assembly, beginning the
Romanov dynasty of
Imperial Russia.
★
1743 - The premiere in
London of
George Frideric Handel's
oratorio, "
Samson".
★
1804 - The first self-propelling
steam locomotive makes its outing at the
Pen-y-Darren ironworks in
Wales.
★
1842 -
John Greenough is granted the first
U.S. patent for the
sewing machine.
★
1848 -
Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels publish the
Communist Manifesto.
★
1874 - The ''
Oakland Daily Tribune'' publishes its first
newspaper.
★
1878 - The first
telephone book is issued in
New Haven, Connecticut.
★
1885 - The newly completed
Washington Monument is dedicated.
★
1893 -
Thomas Edison receives two
U.S. patents for a "
Cut Out for Incandescent Electric Lamps" and for a "
Stop Device"
★
1907 - 125 people perish when the ''s.s. Berlin'' sinks near
Hoek van Holland.
★
1916 -
World War I: In
France the
Battle of Verdun begins.
★
1918 - The last
Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the
Cincinnati Zoo.
★
1925 - ''
The New Yorker'' publishes its first issue.
★
1937 - Initial flight of the first successful
flying car,
Waldo Waterman's Arrowbile.
★ 1937 - The
League of Nations bans foreign national "
volunteers" in the
Spanish Civil War.
★
1943 -
Battle of Guadalcanal ended.
★
1945 -
World War II: Japanese
Kamikaze planes sink escort carrier
Bismarck Sea and damage the
Saratoga.
★
1947 - In
New York City Edwin Land demonstrates the first "
instant camera", the
Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the
Optical Society of America.
★
1948 -
NASCAR is incorporated.
★
1952 - The British
government, under
Winston Churchill, abolishes
Identity Cards in the
UK to "set the people free".
★ 1952 - In
Dhaka,
East Pakistan (present
Bangladesh) police opened fire on a procession of students, who demanded the establishment
Bengali as the
official language, killing four people and starting a
country-wide protest which led to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day was later declared as "
International Mother Language Day" by
UNESCO.
★
1953 -
Francis Crick and
James D. Watson discover the structure of the
DNA molecule.
★
1960 -
Cuban leader
Fidel Castro nationalizes all businesses in
Cuba.
★
1965 -
Malcolm X is assassinated at the
Audubon Ballroom in
New York City by members of the
Nation of Islam.
★
1970 -
Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near
Zürich,
Switzerland.
★
1971 - The
Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at
Vienna.
★
1972 -
President Richard Nixon visits the
People's Republic of China to normalize
Sino-American relations.
★ 1972 - The
Soviet unmanned
spaceship Luna 20 lands on the
Moon.
★
1973 - Over the
Sinai Desert,
Israeli
fighter aircraft shoot down a
Libyan Airlines jet killing 108.
★ 1974 - The last
Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the
Suez Canal in carrying out a truce with
Egypt.
★
1975 -
Watergate scandal: Former
United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former
White House aides
H. R. Haldeman and
John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
★ 1995 -
Steve Fossett lands in
Leader, Saskatchewan,
Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the
Pacific Ocean in a
balloon.
★
2004 - The first
European political party organization, the
European Greens, is established in
Rome.
★
2007 - Italian Prime Minister
Romano Prodi resigns from office.
Births
★
1484 - Elector
Joachim I of Brandenburg (d.
1535)
★
1556 -
Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d.
1615)
★
1675 -
Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d.
1750)
★
1688 - Queen
Ulrike Eleonora of Sweden (d.
1741)
★
1705 -
Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (d.
1781)
★
1721 -
John McKinly, American physician (d.
1796)
★
1723 -
Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (d.
1808)
★
1728 - Tsar
Peter III of Russia, husband of
Catherine the Great (d.
1762)
★
1791 -
Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (d.
1857)
★
1794 -
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexican president (d.
1876)
★
1801 -
John Henry Newman, English Catholic cardinal (d.
1890)
★
1817 -
Jose Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish dramatist (d.
1893)
★
1821 -
Charles Scribner, American publisher (d.
1871)
★
1836 -
Léo Delibes, French composer (d.
1891)
★
1844 -
Charles-Marie Widor, French composer (d.
1937)
★
1860 -
Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Czech journalist (d.
1927)
★
1865 -
John Haden Badley, English school founder (d.
1967)
★
1867 -
Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire (d.
1934)
★
1875 -
Jeanne Calment, French
supercentenarian and longest-lived human on record (d.
1997)
★
1876 -
Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d.
1956)
★
1878 -
The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), multi-origined spiritual leader and founder of
Auroville in
India (d.
1973)
★
1880 -
Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d.
1952)
★
1885 -
Sacha Guitry, Russian dramatist (d.
1957)
★
1893 -
Celia Lovsky, Russian-born actress (d.
1979)
★ 1893 -
Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d.
1987)
★
1895 -
Carl Peter Henrik Dam Danish biochemist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1976)
★
1900 -
Madeleine Renaud, French theater actress (d.
1994)
★
1903 -
Fairfax M. Cone, American advertising executive (d.
1977)
★ 1903 -
Anaïs Nin, French writer (d.
1977)
★ 1903 -
Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (d.
1976)
★
1907 -
W. H. Auden, English poet (d.
1973)
★
1910 -
Douglas Bader, British pilot (d.
1982)
★ 1910 -
Carmine Galante, Italian-born gangster (d.
1979)
★ 1910 -
Eddie Waring, British sports commentator (d.
1986)
★
1913 -
Roger Laurent, Belgian racing driver (d.
1997)
★
1915 -
Ann Sheridan, American actress (d.
1967)
★
1917 -
Lucille Bremer, American actress (d.
1996)
★
1924 -
Robert Mugabe first
President of Zimbabwe
★
1925 -
Sam Peckinpah, American director (d.
1984)
★
1927 -
Erma Bombeck, American humorist (d.
1996)
★ 1927 -
Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
★ 1927 -
Pierre Mercure, French Canadian musician and composer (d.
1966)
★
1929 -
Roberto "Chespirito" Carlos Bolanõs, Mexican actor
★
1933 -
Nina Simone, American singer (d.
2003)
★
1934 -
Rue McClanahan, American actress
★
1935 -
Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d.
1994)
★ 1935 -
Jean Pelletier, French Canadian political operative
★
1936 -
Barbara Jordan, American politician (d.
1996)
★
1937 - King
Harald V of Norway
★ 1937 -
Gary Lockwood, American actor
★
1940 -
John Lewis, American politician
★ 1940 -
Peter Gethin, British racing driver
★
1941 -
James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d.
2004)
★
1942 -
Margarethe von Trotta, German actress and film director
★
1943 -
David Geffen, American record producer
★
1945 -
Paul Newton, British musician (
Uriah Heep)
★
1946 -
Tyne Daly, American actress
★ 1946 -
Anthony Daniels, British actor
★ 1946 -
Alan Rickman, English actor
★ 1946 -
Bob Ryan, Boston sports columnist
★ 1946 -
Vito Rizzuto, Sicilian-born alleged mafia boss
★
1947 -
Olympia Snowe, American politician
★ 1947 -
Victor Sokolov, Russian journalist (d.
2006)
★
1949 -
Jerry Harrison, American musician (
Talking Heads)
★ 1949 -
Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
★
1951 -
Vince Welnick, American musician (
The Grateful Dead) (d.
2006)
★
1952 -
Jean Jacques Burnel, British musician (
The Stranglers)
★
1953 -
Christine Ebersole, American actress
★ 1953 -
William Petersen, American actor
★
1955 -
Sir Steven Fayburgh, British diplomat
★ 1955 -
Kelsey Grammer, American actor
★
1958 -
Jake Burns, Irish singer (
Stiff Little Fingers}
★ 1958 -
Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
★ 1958 -
Jack Coleman, American actor
★ 1958 -
Alan Trammell, baseball player and manager
★
1959 -
José María Cano, Spanish musician (
Mecano)
★ 1959 -
Emmett McAuliffe,
KMOX radio show host and lawyer
★
1961 -
Davey Allison, American race car driver (d.
1993)
★ 1961 -
Christopher Atkins, American actor
★ 1961 -
Martha Hackett, American actress
★ 1961 -
Bertha Faye, American wrestler (d.
2001)
★
1962 -
Vanessa Feltz, British television presenter
★ 1962 -
Chuck Palahniuk, American writer
★ 1962 -
David Foster Wallace, American writer
★
1963 -
William Baldwin, American actor
★
1964 -
Mark E. Kelly, American astronaut
★ 1964 -
Jane Tomlinson, British cancer campaigner (d.
2007)
★
1967 -
Leroy Burrell, American runner
★
1969 -
James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician (
Manic Street Preachers)
★ 1969 -
Tony Meola, American footballer
★ 1969 -
Eric Wilson, American musician (
Sublime)
★
1970 -
Michael Slater, Australian cricketer
★
1972 -
Seo Taiji, Korean musician
★
1973 -
Heri Joensen, Faroese musician, (
Týr)
★ 1973 -
Bowie Tsang, Taiwanese singer, actress, TV host and author.
★
1974 -
Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
★ 1974 -
Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
★
1975 -
Affirmed, American race horse (d.
2001)
★
1976 -
Ryan Smyth, Canadian hockey player
★
1977 -
Steve Francis, American basketball player
★ 1977 -
Chad Hutchinson, baseball and football player
★ 1977 -
Kevin Rose, American television host and Internet entrepreneur
★
1978 -
Park Eun-hye, South Korean actress
★ 1978 -
Kim Ha Neul, South Korean actress
★ 1978 -
Nicole Parker, American actress
★
1979 -
Pascal Chimbonda, French footballer
★ 1979 -
Carly "Carlito" Colón, Puerto Rican
professional wrestler
★ 1979 -
Lonnie Ford, American football player
★ 1979 -
Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress
★
1980 -
Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
★ 1980 -
Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer
★ 1982 -
Bernhard Auinger, Austrian racing driver
★
1983 -
Braylon Edwards, American football player
★ 1983 -
Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
★
1984 -
Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby union player
★ 1984 -
David Odonkor, German footballer
★
1985 -
Bob Burton, American speedcuber
★ 1985 -
Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
★
1986 -
Charlotte Church, Welsh singer
★ 1986 -
Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
★
1987 -
Ellen Page, Canadian actress
★ 1987 -
Anthony Walker, British murder victim (d.
2005)
★
1988 -
Daniel Rose, English footballer
★
1989 -
Corbin Bleu, American actor and singer
★ 1989 -
Kristin Herrera, American actress
★ 1989 -
Josh Walker, English footballer
Deaths
★
1437 - King
James I of Scotland (b.
1394)
★
1471 -
John of Rokycan, Czech Catholic archbishop
★
1513 -
Pope Julius II (b.
1443)
★
1543 -
Ahmed Gragn, Sultan of Adal
★
1554 -
Hieronymus Bock, German botanist (b.
1498)
★
1595 -
Robert Southwell, English Jesuit priest and poet (executed)
★
1668 -
John Thurloe, English Puritan spy (b.
1616)
★
1677 -
Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (b.
1632)
★
1715 -
Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (b.
1637)
★
1730 -
Pope Benedict XIII (b.
1649)
★
1788 -
Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b.
1723)
★
1821 -
Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (b.
1756)
★
1824 -
Eugène de Beauharnais, son of
Napoleon's wife, Josephine (b.
1781)
★
1846 -
Emperor Ninko of Japan (b.
1800)
★
1862 -
Justinus Kerner, German poet (b.
1786)
★
1901 -
George Francis FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b.
1851)
★
1920 -
Jacinta Marto, witness of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima (b.
1910)
★
1926 -
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1853)
★
1938 -
George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (b.
1868)
★
1941 -
Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1891)
★
1944 -
Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b.
1873)
★
1945 -
Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b.
1902)
★
1946 -
José Streel, Belgian World War II collaborator (b.
1911)
★
1949 -
Tan Malaka, Indonesian nationalist activist and communist leader (b.
1894)
★
1958 -
Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b.
1936)
★
1960 -
Jacques Becker, French film director and screenwriter (b.
1906)
★
1965 -
Malcolm X, American black activist (b.
1925)
★
1966 -
Paul Comtois, French Canadian politician (b.
1895)
★
1967 -
Charles Beaumont, American writer (b.
1929)
★
1968 -
Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmocologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1898)
★
1972 -
Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian ballet dancer (b.
1891)
★ 1972 -
Eugène Tisserant, French Catholic candinal (b.
1884)
★
1974 -
Tim Horton, Canadian hockey player (b.
1930)
★
1978 -
Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish historian and priest (b.
1901)
★
1980 -
Alfred Andersch, German writer
★
1982 -
Murray the K, American impresario and disc jockey (b.
1922)
★
1984 -
Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1905)
★
1985 -
Louis Hayward, British actor (b.
1909)
★
1986 -
Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (b.
1895)
★ 1986 -
Shigechiyo Izumi, Japanese sugarcane farmer, also the world's oldest man ever (b.
1865)
★
1989 -
Alex Thépot, French footballer (b.
1906)
★
1991 - Dame
Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (b.
1919)
★
1996 -
Morton Gould, American composer (b.
1913)
★
1999 -
Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1918)
★ 1999 -
Wilmer David Mizell, baseball player (b.
1930)
★
2000 -
Antonio Díaz-Miguel, Spanish basketball coach (b.
1933)
★
2002 -
Harold Furth, Austrian-born physicist (b.
1939)
★ 2002 -
John Thaw, English actor (b.
1942)
★
2003 -
Eddie Thomson, Scottish
football player and coach (b.
1947)
★
2004 -
John Charles, Welsh footballer (b.
1931)
★ 2004 -
Guido Molinari, Canadian artist (b.
1933)
★
2005 -
Ara Berberian, American opera singer (b.
1930)
★ 2005 -
Gérard Bessette, Quebec novelist and poet (b.
1920)
★ 2005 -
Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban novelist (b.
1929)
★ 2005 -
Eugene Scott, American religious broadcaster (b.
1929)
Holidays and observances
★
Language Martyrs' Day - A day celebrated by
Bengali speaking people for gaining right of
mother tongue.
★
International Mother Language Day (
UNESCO).
Liturgical feasts
★
February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
In the
Roman Catholic Church:
★
Saint Peter Damiani
★
Saint Pepin of Landen
★
Saint Randoald
External links
★
BBC: On This Day
★
★
On This Day in Canada
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