July 21
is the 202nd day (203rd in
leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining.
*
1403 -
Battle of Shrewsbury: King
Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire,
England*
1568 -
Eighty Years' War:
Battle of Jemmingen -
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats
Louis of Nassau *
1718 -
Treaty of Passarowitz between the
Ottoman Empire,
Austria and the
Republic of Venice is signed.
*
1774 -
Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774:
Russia and the
Ottoman Empire sign the
Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war.
*
1831 - Inauguration of
Léopold I of Belgium, first king of the
Belgians.
*
1861 -
American Civil War:
First Battle of Bull Run - At
Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (
Confederate victory).
*
1865 - In the market square of
Springfield, Missouri,
Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in what is regarded as the first true western showdown.
*
1873 - At
Adair, Iowa,
Jesse James and the
James-Younger gang pull off the first successful
train robbery in the
American West.
*
1877 - After
rioting by
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of 9 rail workers at the hands of the
Maryland militia, workers in
Pittsburgh stage a sympathy
strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.
*
1925 -
Scopes Trial: In
Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher
John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching
evolution in class and fined $100.
*
1931 -
CBS's
New York City station begins broadcasting the first regular seven days a week
television schedule in the U. S.
*
1944 -
World War II:
Battle of Guam -
American troops land on
Guam starting the battle (ends on
August 10).
*
1954 -
The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of
The Lord of the Rings, is published in the UK.
*
1954 -
First Indochina War: The
Geneva Conference partitions
Vietnam into
North Vietnam and
South Vietnam.
*
1961 -
Mercury program:
Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission -
Gus Grissom piloting "Liberty Bell 7" becomes the second
American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
*
1969 -
Neil A. Armstrong and
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon.
*
1970 - After 11 years of construction, the
Aswan High Dam in
Egypt is completed.
*
1972 -
Bloody Friday bombing by the
Provisional Irish Republican Army, (
PIRA) around
Belfast,
Northern Ireland, 22 bomb explosions, 9 people were killed,130 seriously injured.
*
1973 - In the
Lillehammer affair in
Norway,
Israeli
Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in
1972's
Munich Olympics Massacre.
*
1976 -
Christopher Ewart-Biggs British ambassador to the
Republic of Ireland is assassinated by the
Provisional IRA*
1983 - The world's lowest
temperature is recorded at
Vostok Station,
Antarctica at −89.2°C (−129°F).
*
1984 - In
Jackson, Michigan, a factory
robot crushes a worker against a safety bar in apparently the first robot-related death in the
United States.
*
1994 -
Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the
British Labour Party, paving the way to him becoming
Prime Minister in
1997.
*
1995 -
Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The
People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of
Taiwan.
*
1997 - The fully restored
USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
*
2002 -
Telecom giant
WorldCom files for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in
United States history.
*
2004 - The
United Kingdom government publishes
Delivering Security in a Changing World, a paper detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's
armed forces.
*
2005 -
Four terrorist bombings, occurring exactly two weeks after the similar
July 7 bombings, target London's public transportation system. All four bombs fail to detonate and all four suspected suicide bombers escape.
*
2006 -
Pope Benedict XVI called on people of all religions to join Sunday's worldwide day of prayers for peace in the Middle East.
*
356 BC -
Alexander the Great*
1414 -
Pope Sixtus IV (d.
1484)
*
1515 -
Philip Neri, Italian churchman (d.
1595)
*
1620 -
Jean Picard, French astronomer (d.
1682)
*
1664 -
Matthew Prior, English poet and diplomat (d.
1721)
*
1693 -
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, English statesman (d.
1768)
*
1710 -
Paul Möhring, German physician (d.
1792)
*
1810 -
Henri Victor Regnault, French chemist (d.
1878)
*
1858 -
Lovis Corinth, German painter (d.
1925)
*
1870 -
Emil Orlik, Czech painter (d.
1932)
*
1882 -
David Burliuk, Ukrainian artist (d.
1967)
*
1893 -
Hans Fallada, German writer (d.
1947)
*
1899 -
Hart Crane, American poet (d.
1932)
* 1899 -
Ernest Hemingway, American writer,
Nobel laureate (d.
1961)
*
1903 -
Roy Neuberger, American financier
*
1911 -
Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author (d.
1980)
*
1920 -
Isaac Stern, Ukrainian-born violinist (d.
2001)
*
1923 -
Rudolph A. Marcus, Canadian chemist,
Nobel laureate*
1922 -
Kay Starr, American singer
*
1924 -
Don Knotts, American actor (d.
2006)
*
1925 -
Anne Meacham, American actress
*
1926 -
Norman Jewison, Canadian film director
* 1926 -
Rahimuddin Khan, Pakistani general
* 1926 -
Paul Burke, American actor
*
1929 -
Bob Orton, Sr., wrestler (d.
2006)
*
1932 -
Ernie Warlick, American football player
*
1933 -
John Gardner, American author (d.
1982)
*
1935 -
Norbert Blüm, German politician
* 1935 -
Moe Drabowsky, baseball player (d.
2006)
*
1938 -
Janet Reno, 79th
United States Attorney General*
1939 -
John Negroponte, 1st
United States Director of National Intelligence*
1943 -
Edward Herrmann, American actor
*
1944 -
Tony Scott, British film director
* 1944 -
Paul Wellstone, American
politican (d.
2002)
*
1946 -
Kenneth Starr, American lawyer
*
1948 -
Ed Hinton, American sportswriter
* 1948 -
Cat Stevens, English singer
* 1948 -
Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
*
1949 -
Al Hrabosky, baseball player
*
1950 -
Ubaldo Fillol, Argentinian footballer
*
1951 -
Robin Williams, American comedian
*
1953 -
Brian Talbot, British footballer
*
1955 -
Howie Epstein, American musician (d.
2003)
* 1955 -
Taco Ockerse, Indonesian singer
*
1957 -
Jon Lovitz, American comedian
*
1959 -
Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Australian rugby league player
*
1960 -
Lance Guest, American actor
* 1960 -
Fritz Walter, German footballer
*
1961 -
Amar Singh Chamkila, Punjabi folk singer
*1961 -
"Big" Jim Martin, American musician (
Faith No More)
*
1963 -
Kevin Poole, English footballer
*
1964 -
Jens Weißflog, German ski jumper
*
1965 -
Gudni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer
*
1968 -
Brandi Chastain, American soccer player
* 1968 -
Lyle Odelein, Canadian hockey player
*
1969 -
Emerson Hart, American musician (
Tonic)
*
1970 -
Shawn Stasiak, American professional wrestler
*
1978 -
Josh Hartnett, American actor
*
1979 -
David Carr, American football player
* 1979 -
Tamika Catchings, American basketball player
*
1980 -
C.C. Sabathia, American baseball player
*
1981 -
Titus Bramble, English footballer
* 1981 -
Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist
*
1982 -
Claudette Ortiz, American soul singer
*
1983 -
Eivør Pálsdóttir, Faroese singer
* 1983 -
Kellen Winslow II, American football player
*
1984 -
Liam Ridgewell, English footballer
*
1985 -
Von Wafer, American basketball player
*
1403 -
Henry Percy, English soldier (killed in battle)
*
1425 -
Manuel II Palaeologus,
Byzantine Emperor (b.
1350)
*
1688 -
James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (b.
1610)
*
1796 -
Robert Burns, Scottish poet (b.
1759)
*
1798 -
François Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (b.
1733)
*
1870 -
Josef Strauss, Austrian composer (b.
1827)
*
1889 -
Nelson Dewey, American politician, 1st
Governor of Wisconsin (b.
1813)
*
1899 -
Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and military officer (b.
1833)
*
1936 -
Georg Michaelis, 6th
Chancellor of the German Empire (b.
1857)
*
1937 -
Louis Vierne, French composer (b.
1870)
*
1938 -
Owen Wister, American author (b.
1860)
*
1943 -
Charlie Paddock, American athlete (b.
1900)
*
1944 -
Claus von Stauffenberg, German army colonel who tried to assassinate Hitler (b.
1907)
*1944 -
Ludwig Beck, German Chief of Staff (b.
1880)
*
1948 -
David Wark Griffith, American film director (b.
1875)
*
1967 -
Jimmie Foxx, baseball player (b.
1907)
* 1967 -
Albert Lutuli, South African politician,
Nobel Peace Prize laureate
* 1967 -
Basil Rathbone, English actor (b.
1892)
*
1968 -
Ruth St. Denis, dancer and choreographer (b.
1878)
*
1970 -
Mikhail Gerasimov, Russian anthropologist and sculptor (b.
1907)
* 1970 -
Bob Kalsu, American football player (b.
1945)
*
1972 -
Ralph Craig, American athlete (b.
1889)
*
1982 -
Dave Garroway, American television host (b.
1913)
*
1986 -
Ernest Maas, American screenwriter (b.
1892)
*
1998 -
Alan Shepard, astronaut (b.
1923)
* 1998 -
Robert Young, American actor (b.
1907)
*
2001 -
Steve Barton, American actor (b.
1954)
*
2003 -
John Davies, New Zealand Olympic Committee president (b.
1938)
* 2003 -
Walter M. "Matt" Jefferies, American film art director (b.
1921)
*
2004 -
Jerry Goldsmith, American composer (b.
1929)
* 2004 -
Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist,
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (b.
1918)
*
2005 -
Andrzej Grubba, Polish table tennis player (b.
1958)
* 2005 -
Long John Baldry, British blues musician (b.
1941)
*
2006 -
Mako, Japanese-born American actor (b.
1933)
* 2006 -
Ta Mok, "The
Khmer Rouge Butcher",
war criminal in
Democratic Kampuchea (b.
1926)
*
Belgium: National holiday (1831 - inauguration of
Léopold I, first king of the Belgians)
*
Bolivia: Martyrs' Day
*
Guam: Liberation Day (1944)
*
Singapore: Racial Harmony Day
*
Catholic - the feasts of at least 5 saints:
**St.
Praxedes**St.
Arbogastus**St.
Barhadbesciabus**St.
Victor of Marseilles**St.
Zoticus*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
Epic Idiot: On This DayJuly 20 -
July 22 -
June 21 -
August 21 --
listing of all days
