April 21
April 21 Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years ). There are 254 days remaining.
Events
753 BC - Romulus founds Rome (traditional ).
43 BC - Mark Antony is defeated in battle by consul Hirtius in the Battle of Mutina .
1792 - Tiradentes , a revolutionary who was leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged.
1836 - Texas Revolution : Battle of San Jacinto – Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna . (Santa Anna and hundreds of his troops are taken prisoner along the San Jacinto River the next day.)
1863 - Bahá'u'lláh is proclaimed as the head of the Bahá'í Faith .
1863 - American Civil War : Streight's Raid begins – Troops led by Union Colonel Abel Streight move into northern Alabama and Georgia to cut the Western and Atlantic Railroad between Chattanooga, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia (the raid failed).
1894 - Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jřrgensen rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1898 - Spanish-American War : The U.S. Congress , on April 25 , recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
1912 - The New York Giants and New York Yankees play an exhibition game to benefit survivors of the RMS Titanic .
1918 - World War I : German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen , known as "The Red Baron," is shot down and killed by Allied fire over Vaux sur Somme in France .
1930 - A fire at a Columbus, Ohio , USA , penitentiary kills 320 people.
1944 - Women in France receive the right to vote
1945 - World War II : Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1951 - The National Olympic Committee of the USSR is formed
1952 - Administrative Professionals' Day (formerly Secretaries Day ), first celebrated
1953 - Roy Cohn and G. David Schine , two of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy 's chief aides, recommend the removal of 30,000 books from the libraries of the United States Information Service posts in Europe , including works by Dashiell Hammett , W. E. B. Du Bois , Herman Melville , John Steinbeck , and Henry David Thoreau , calling them "pro-Communist ".
1955 - Bob Hope 's radio program airs its last segment.
1956 - Elvis Presley 's song "Heartbreak Hotel " becomes the "King's" first song to reach the top of the Billboard magazine music charts.
1960 - Brasília , Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 9:30 am the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro .
1960 - Founding of the Orthodox Baha'i faith in Washington, DC .
1966 - Rastafarianism : Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica , an event now celebrated as Grounation Day .
1967 - A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'état , establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
1975 - Vietnam War : President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon , as Xuan Loc , the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1985 - Tancredo de Almeida Neves , president-elect of Brazil , dies in Săo Paulo .
1985 - Ayrton Senna wins the first of 41 Formula One championship races at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril .
1989 - Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 : In Beijing , around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the late Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang .
1992 - U.S. death penalty : After 13 years on death row , convicted murderer Robert Alton Harris is executed in California 's gas chamber .
1994 - The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan .
Births
1652 - Michel Rolle , mathematician (d. 1719 )
1729 - Tsarina Catherine II of Russia (d. 1796 )
1775 - Alexander Anderson , American wood-engraver and illustrator (d. 1870 )
1810 - John Putnam Chapin , mayor of Chicago (d. 1864 )
1811 - Alson Sherman , mayor of Chicago (d. 1903 )
1814 - Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts , English philanthropist (d. 1906 )
1816 - Charlotte Brontë , author (d. 1855 )
1838 - John Muir , environmentalist (d. 1914 )
1851 - Charles Barrois , geologist (d. 1939 )
1864 - Max Weber , economist and sociologist (d. 1920 )
1912 - Marcel Camus , film director (d. 1982 )
1915 - Anthony Quinn , actor (d. 2001 )
1922 - Alistair MacLean , author (d. 1987 )
1923 - John Mortimer , barrister , writer
1924 - Clara Ward , gospel music singer (d. 1973 )
1926 - Queen Elizabeth II
1929 - Martin Kruse , theologian
1930 - Silvana Mangano , actress (d. 1989 )
1932 - Elaine May , comedienne
1935 - Charles Grodin , actor, journalist
1935 - Thomas Kean , governor of New Jersey
1947 - Iggy Pop , musician
1949 - Patti Lupone , singer, actress
1951 - Michael Hartley Freedman , mathematician
1958 - Andie MacDowell , actress
1959 - Robert Smith , musician
1963 - Ken Caminiti , baseball player (d. 2004 )
1963 - Roy Dupuis , actor
1965 - Ed Belfour , NHL goalie
1970 - Nicole Sullivan , actress, comedienne and writer
1977 - Jamie Salé , figure skater
1980 - Vincent Lecavalier , NHL hockey player
Deaths
1073 - Pope Alexander II
1109 - Anselm of Canterbury , Archbishop of Canterbury
1142 - Pierre Abélard , French writer (b. 1079 )
1574 - Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519 )
1699 - Jean Racine , French dramatist (b. 1639 )
1793 - John Michell , seismologist (b. 1724 )
1815 - Joseph Winston , American patriot and Congressman from North Carolina (b. 1746 )
1910 - Mark Twain , American author, humorist (b. 1835 )
1918 - Manfred von Richthofen , pilot (b. 1892 )
1930 - Robert Bridges , English poet (b. 1844 )
1938 - Allama Iqbal , philosopher-poet (b. 1877 )
1946 - John Maynard Keynes , economist (b. 1883 )
1956 - Charles MacArthur , writer (b. 1895 )
1973 - Arthur Fadden , thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894 )
1977 - Gummo Marx , actor, comedian, Marx Brothers (b. 1892 )
1978 - Sandy Denny , British vocalist (b. 1947 )
1978 - Thomas Wyatt Turner , civil rights advocate and agricultural engineer (b. 1877 )
1980 - Aleksandr Oparin , biochemist (b. 1894 )
1985 - Rudi Gernreich , fashion designer
1999 - Charles 'Buddy' Rogers , actor, musician
2001 - Jack Haley Jr. , producer
2003 - Nina Simone , singer and pianist (b. 1933 )
Holidays and observances
External links
April 20 - April 22 - March 21 - May 21 -- listing of all days
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