Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Historical Events on October 21

  • 310 St Eusebius ends his reign as Catholic Pope

Anti-Jewish Legislation

335 Roman Emperor Constantine the Great rules that Jews are not allowed to purchase and circumcise Christian slaves

  • 686 Conon begins his reign as Catholic Pope
  • 1096 Sultan Kilidj Arslan of Nicea defeats The People's Crusade at the Battle of Civetot, only about 3,000 out of 20,000 Crusaders survive
  • 1187 Alberto de Morra elected as Pope Gregorius VIII (12/17/1187)

Luther Joins the Faculty

1512 Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.

Magellan Transits the Magellan Strait

1520 Explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his fleet reach Cape Virgenes after transiting the Magellan Strait between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, becoming the first Europeans to sail into the Pacific [1]

  • 1555 English parliament refuses to recognize Philip of Spain as king

Lord of Culemborg

1555 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V makes Erard of Pallandt, Lord of Culemborg

  • 1568 2nd Altenburger sermon: Philippisten/Gnesiolutheranen
  • 1591 Nijmegen surrenders to Earl Mauritius van Nassau
  • 1601 Memorial service for Daitokuji's Shinju held for Ikkyu Sojun in Kyoto

Battle of the Dunes

1639 Sea battle at Dunes, Dutch fleet under Maarten Tromp defeats Spanish armada under Antonio De Oquendo

  • 1652 King Louis XIV returns to Paris
  • 1708 Dutch & English troops occupy Lille (Rijsel)
  • 1727 Russian & Chinese accord to correct boundaries
  • 1774 First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
  • 1789 French Revolution: The National Assembly declares martial law in France to prevent uprisings
  • 1797 The USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) is launched in Boston

Absorption of Gases by Water

1803 English scientist John Dalton reads his paper "On the Absorption of Gases by Water and Other Liquids" to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Soc - 1st outline of his atomic theory

Battle of Trafalgar

1805 Battle of Trafalgar: British Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson shot and killed during battle.

  • 1816 The Penang Free School is founded in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, by the Rev Hutchings. It is the oldest English-language school in Southeast Asia.
  • 1824 Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement (Yorkshire, England)

Nightingale Heads to the Crimean War

1854 Florence Nightingale with a staff of 38 nurses is sent to the Crimean War

  • 1858 Jacques Offenbach's operetta " Orpheus in the Underworld" (Orphée aux Enfers) premieres in Paris, includes "Infernal Galop" (can-can tune)
  • 1861 Battle of Balls Bluff, VA (Leesburg, Harrison's Island)
  • 1864 Battle of Westport, MO (Kansas City)
  • 1868 Severe earthquake at 7:53 AM, centered in Hayward, California
  • 1869 1st shipment of fresh oysters comes overland from Baltimore
  • 1871 1st US amateur outdoor athletic games (NY)

Anti-Socialist Law

1878 German chancellor Otto von Bismarck delegates end of "Socialism"

  • 1887 Detroit clinches best-of-15 touring World Championship with its 8th victory in Game 11 this afternoon in Baltimore, 13-3
  • 1895 The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.
  • 1897 Yerkes Observatory of University of Chicago is dedicated
  • 1899 Battle at Elandslaagte Natal: (Boers vs British army)
  • 1902 In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends.
  • 1905 In early promotion of soccer in America, England Pilgrim Association XI beats All New York XI, 7-1 at the Polo Grounds, NY
  • 1911 Manitoba, Saskatchewan & Alberta Unions form Western Canada Rugby Football Union
  • 1911 RS Hichens & M Hudsons "Garden of Allah" premieres in NYC
  • 1913 Transvaal women satyagrahis begin defiance activities, hawking without licenses in Vereeniging; they cross the Natal border and encourage the miners in Newcastle to strike
  • 1914 Battle of Warsaw ends with German defeat
  • 1915 1st transatlantic radiotelephone message, Arlington, Va to Paris

American Note to Britain

1915 William Jennings Bryan's successor as US Secretary of State, Robert Lansing, sends a note to Britain protesting interference with US shipping

  • 1917 1st Americans to see action on front lines of WWI: US troops enter front lines at Sommervillier under French command
  • 1917 Petrograds garrison accepts Revolutionary Military Committee
  • 1918 Margaret Owen sets world typing speed record of 170 wpm for 1 min
  • 1921 Former Hungarian King Karl stages a second attempted coup and is arrested
  • 1921 Tuschinski Theater opens in Amsterdam
  • 1925 Sidney Howards "Lucky Sam McGarver" premieres in NYC

Asturias Offensive

1937 Francisco Franco's nationalist troops occupy Gijón, ending the occupation of Asturias

  • 1938 Japanese troops occupies Canton
  • 1940 RAF drops 1st anti-nazi pamphlets on Netherlands
  • 1944 Canadian troops occupy Breskens

Fugue on a Victory Tune

1944 Walter Piston's "Fugue on a Victory Tune" premieres in NYC

  • 1944 World War II: US troops capture Aachen, 1st large German city to fall
  • 1945 Women in France allowed to vote for 1st time
  • 1947 Dutch Dakota explodes near Copenhagen, 16 die
  • 1948 Beersheba liberated by Israeli army
  • 1948 Dutch Constellation crashes at Prestwick Scotland (40 murder)
  • 1948 Facsimile high-speed radio transmission demonstrated (Washington, D.C.)
  • 1948 UN rejects Russian proposal to destroy atomic weapons

Huxley Congratulates Orwell

1949 Author of "Brave New World" Aldous Huxley writes to congratulate George Orwell on his new novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

  • 1950 Chinese forces occupy Tibet
  • 1950 Death penalty abolished in Belgium
  • 1950 Tom Powers of Duke scores 6 touchdowns
  • 1952 Dutch government refuses New Guinea (West-Irian)

Ladies of the Corridor

1954 Dorothy Parker and Arnaud d'Usseau's black comedy play "Ladies of the Corridor" premieres

  • 1954 Indonesian troops land in New Guinea
  • 1957 Giants purchase Class-A Phoenix team
  • 1958 1st women in British House of Lords
  • 1959 Contra revolutionaries bomb Havana

Guggenheim Museum

1959 Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens in New York

  • 1959 Players Association approves 2 All-Star Games in 1960, to be held in KC & NY
  • 1960 1st British nuclear sub HMS Dreadnought launched

JFK vs Nixon

1960 JFK & Nixon clashed in 4th & final presidential debate (NYC)

Music History

1961 Barbra Streisand opens in "Another Evening with Harry Stones"

  • 1961 USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR

World Record

1964 Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia runs a world record 2:12:11.2 to beat Briton Basil Heatley by more than 4 minutes and win the men's marathon at the Tokyo Olympics; first athlete to win Olympic marathon twice

  • 1964 American men's 4×400m relay team beats Great Britain by 0.9s to set world record 3:00.7 and win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics; Ollan Cassell, Mike Larrabee, Ulis Williams & Henry Carr

My Fair Lady

1964 Film version of "My Fair Lady" directed by George Cukor, and starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn, premieres in New York (Academy Awards Best Picture 1965)

  • 1964 MLB Milwaukee Braves ask NL to allow them to move to Atlanta, Georgia
  • 1964 New Zealand athlete Peter Snell wins the 1,500m at the Tokyo Olympics; his second gold medal of the Games (800m); 3rd career gold
  • 1964 Polish 4×100m women's relay team runs a world record 43.6 to beat the US by 0.3s and win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics; Teresa Ciepły, Irena Kirszenstein, Halina Górecka & Ewa Kłobukowska

Event of Interest

1964 Society Hill Towers, a complex of three 31-story skyscrapers designed by I. M. Pei and Associates, inaugurated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  • 1964 US 4 x 100m men's relay team of Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, Richard Stebbins & Bob Hayes run world record 39.0s to beat Poland by 0.3s and win the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics
  • 1965 Comet Ikeya-Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers from the sun.
  • 1965 KTWU TV channel 11 in Topeka, KS (PBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1965 Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Robert B Woodward
  • 1965 Vivian Beaumont Theater (NYC) opens

The Tragedy of Aberfan

1966 116 children and 28 adults die as a coal waste heap slides and engulfs a school in Aberfan, South Wales

  • 1967 Egypt sinks Israeli torpedo boat
  • 1967 Tens of thousands of anti-Vietnam War protesters march on the Pentagon, besieging the military headquarters for two days
  • 1969 Bloodless coup in Somalia (National Day)

Election of Interest

1969 German statesman Willy Brandt is elected chancellor of West Germany (1969-1974)

  • 1969 Leonard Gersh's "Butterflies are Free" premieres in NYC
  • 1969 Maj Gen Mohamed Siad Barre becomes President of Somali
  • 1970 777 Unification church couples wed in Korea
  • 1970 Bernadette Devlin is released from prison having served four months of her six month sentence for riotous behaviour
  • 1970 Caledonian Airways takes over British United Airways
  • 1970 Nobel prize of peace awarded to Norman E Borlaugh

Nobel Prize in Literature

1971 Nobel prize for literature awarded to Pablo Neruda

  • 1971 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
  • 1971 William H Rehnquist & Lewis F Powell nominated to US Supreme Court by Nixon, following resignations of Justices Hugo Black & John Harlan
  • 1973 Fred Dryer of the then Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.
  • 1974 NHL New York Islanders and goaltender Billy Smith's 1st shut-out win, 5-0 vs Washington Capitals

Album Release

1975 Asylum Records releases "Nighthawks at the Diner", the third studio album by singer-songwriter Tom Waits; the double LP was recorded with a live audience in a simulated nightclub setting

  • 1975 Coast Guard Academy 1st allows women to enroll

Music History

1975 Elton John is given a star in Hollywood

  • 1975 Mexico City's 1st major subway accident takes 26 lives
  • 1975 Red Sox Carlton Fisk's 12th inning HR beats Reds 7-6 in game 6 of WS
  • 1975 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR

Nobel Prize in Literature

1976 Nobel prize for literature awarded to American Saul Bellow

Sports History

1976 NY Knicks retire 1st number, # 19, Willis Reed

  • 1977 The European Patent Institute is founded.
  • 1977 US recalls William Bowdler, ambassador to South Africa
  • 1978 Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.

Event of Interest

1979 Israeli minister of Foreign affairs Moshe Dayan resigns

  • 1979 Ozzie Newsome begins NFL streak of 150 consecutive game receptions

Election of Interest

1980 Mikhail Gorbachev elected member of Politburo

  • 1980 Phillies win their 1st World Championship in their 98-year history

Event of Interest

1982 Private funeral service held for Bess Truman, former First Lady of the United States

Appointment of Interest

1983 Pope John Paul II names 3 new Dutch bishops

F1 World Champion

1984 Austrian Ferrari driver Niki Lauda becomes a 3-time Formula 1 World Drivers champion when he finishes 2nd in the season ending Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril; wins title by just 0.5 from Alain Prost

  • 1984 Cleveland Browns' Steve Cox sets club record with a 60-yd field goal
  • 1984 Steve Jones runs Chicago Marathon in world record 2:08:05
  • 1985 Qasim Omar (206) & Javed Miandad (203*) make 397 stand v SL
  • 1986 American writer Edward Tracy kidnapped in Beirut
  • 1986 Hugh Whitemore's "Breaking the Code" premieres in London
  • 1986 IBM re-forms in South Africa
  • 1986 Republic of Marshall Islands signs Compact of Free Association with US
  • 1987 7th Belgium government of Martens forms
  • 1987 Full US Senate debate begins on Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court

Nobel Prize for Economics

1987 Nobel Prize in Economics is awarded to American Robert Solow for his theory of economic growth

  • 1988 Bat*21, an American war film, is released
  • 1988 Boston Celtics beat Yugoslavia 113-85 in Madrid

Event of Interest

1988 Philippine's former president Ferdinand Marcos and first lady Imelda Marcos indicted on racketeering charges

  • 1989 Betram Lee & Peter Bynoe purchase the Denver Nuggets for $65m - 1st African American owners of a major sports team,
  • 1989 Buck Helm found alive after being buried 4 days, in San Francisco earthquake
  • 1989 Houston becomes 1st major college team to gain 1000 yards in a game

F1 World Champion

1990 Ayrton Senna of Brazil crashes his McLaren during the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka but clinches his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship

  • 1990 The first Apple Day, is held in Covent Garden, London.
  • 1991 24 die in a fire in Oakland Calif

Event of Interest

1991 Former California Governor Jerry Brown announces his run for the US Presidency

  • 1991 US hostage Jesse Turner released from 5 years in captivity in Beirut

Music History

1992 Madonna's book "Sex" goes on sale

  • 1993 Failed military coup in Burundi, led by ex-President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, includes assassination President Ndadaye; 525,000 Hutus flee

Sports History

1993 Garry Kasparov defeats Nigel Short for chess championship

  • 1994 Hana bridge is Seoul Korea crashes, 32+ die
  • 1994 North Korea signs pact to end their nuclear projects
  • 1995 Addison Vance, 18, of Hickory NC, crowned 7th Ms Venus Swimwear
  • 1995 Mario Tremblay, selected 22nd NHL coach of Montreal Canadians

Album Release

1997 Marc Anthony releases his third studio album "Contra la Corriente" (1st salsa album to top Latin album chart, Grammy Best Tropical Latin Performance))

Music Concert

2001 "United We Stand" benefit concert for September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks victims, held at RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. organized and headlined by Michael Jackson and featuring Aerosmith, Mariah Carey and The Backstreet Boys

  • 2003 Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in its discovery by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz.

F1 World Champion

2007 Finnish Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen wins season ending Brazilian F1 Grand Prix to claim his first World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Lewis Hamilton

  • 2007 Tennessee Titans kicker Rob Bironas sets NFL record for most points scored in a game (no touchdowns) with 26 in 38-36 win over the Texans at Reliant Stadium, Houston

Canonization

2012 Kateri Tekakwitha canonized as the 1st Native American saint by Pope Benedict XVI

Event of Interest

2013 The Parliament of Canada confers Honorary Canadian citizenship on women's rights and education activist Malala Yousafzai

  • 2014 Oscar Pistorius is sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

Sports History

2015 Alex Puccio ascends Free Range in Boulder Canyon, Colorado, climbing V13 (8B) after recovering from her knee injury

Event of Interest

2015 German Chancellor Angela Merkel says German view of Holocaust will not change, after Benjamin Netanyahu says idea came from Mufti of Jerusalem

Event of Interest

2017 Spanish government suspends Catalonia's autonomy in the face of a deepening political crisis over the region's push for independence

Film & TV History

2018 Julia Louis-Dreyfus is presented with the Mark Twain Prize, comedy's top honor, at a ceremony in New York

  • 2018 Sectarian fighting between Muslim and Christian youths kill 55 at Kasuwan Magani, Nigeria
  • 2018 Train derails in Yilan County, Taiwan, killing 18 and injuring 178
  • 2019 Australia's biggest newspapers all blank out their front pages in protest against press restrictions

Election of Interest

2019 Canadian Federal Election: Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party loses its majority but wins the most seats (157) to form a minority government

  • 2019 Facebook says it has taken down four state-backed disinformation campaigns, three from Iran, one from Russia in addition to dozens earlier this year
  • 2019 Lebanon government approves economic reforms after 5 days of protests, largest in a decade
  • 2019 Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn strips his royal consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi of her titles for "misbehaviour and disloyalty against the monarch" two months after she was appointed to them
  • 2019 World's oldest natural pearl, 8,000 years old, announced discovered during excavations at Marawah Island, near Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • 2020 FBI says Iran and Russia have US voter information and are trying to influence outcome of US election
  • 2020 Nasa Osiris-Rex spacecraft lands briefly on asteroid Bennu on mission to collect dust, largest sample from space since Apollo
  • 2020 Parents of 545 children cannot be found that were separated at the US-Mexico border according to American Civil Liberties Union

Film & TV History

2020 Pope Francis backs same-sex civil unions in interview in documentary film "Francesco"

  • 2020 Spain becomes the first European country to record more than 1 million COVID-19 cases with the death toll at 34,366

Film & TV History

2021 Actor Alec Baldwin shots cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead and injures director Joel Souza with a prop gun in rehearsal on a film set at Bonanza Ranch, New Mexico

  • 2021 Syria's government says it has executed 24 people for starting devastating wildfires in 2020 that killed three [1]