21st April, on this day

753 BC - Traditional date of the foundation of Rome
43 BC - Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Although Antony fails to capture Mutina, Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly afterwards.
953 Otto I the Great gives Utrecht fishing rights
1420 Treaty of Saint Maartens Dike
1453 Turkish fleet sinks ships Golden Receiver in Constantinople
1477 Maximilian of Habsburg marries Maria of Bourgondië at proxy
1500 Explorer Pedro Alvarez Cabral lands in Brazil and claims it for Portugal
1509 Henry VIII becomes King of England following the death of his father, Henry VII
1521 Battle at Villalar Emperor Charles I beats Communards
1526 Battle at Panipat Mogol Emperor Babur beats sultan Ibrahim Lodi
1572 France and England sign anti-Spanish military covenant
1600 1st date in James Clavell's novel Shogun (OS)
1649 Maryland Toleration Act passed, allowing all freedom of worship
1654 England and Sweden sign trade agreement
1689 William III and Mary Stuart proclaimed king & queen of England
1739 Spain and Naples-Austria sign peace accord
1785 Russian tsarina Catharina II ends noble privileges
1789 John Adams sworn in as 1st US Vice President (9 days before Washington)
1792 Tiradentes, a revolutionary who was leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged and quartered.
1794 NYC formally declares coast of Ellis Island publically owned, so they can build forts to protect NYC from British
1828 Noah Webster publishes 1st American dictionary
1836 Battle of San Jacinto, in which Texas wins independence from México
1856 1st railroad bridge across Mississippi River, Rock Island IL-Davenport IA
1857 Alexander Douglas patents the bustle
1862 Congress establishes US Mint in Denver CO
1862 Ellen Price Wood's "East Lynne, premieres in Boston
1863 Bahá'u'lláh declares his mission as "He whom God shall make manifest". Considered the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
1865 Abraham Lincoln's funeral train leaves Washington
1873 Formation of the Mounties, the Canadian North-West Mounted Police
1878 The ship Azor leaves Charleston with 206 blacks for Liberia
1878 New York installs 1st firehouse pole
1878 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Inscrutabili
1884 Potters Field reopened as Madison Park
1892 1st buffalo born in Golden Gate Park
1892 Black Longshoremen strike for higher wages in St Louis, Mo
1894 George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man", premieres in London
1898 The United States of America formerly recognises the independence of Cuba
1898 Spanish-American War begins. The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
1904 Ty Cobb makes his pro debut for Augusta (South Atlantic League)
1907 Political clubs in Ireland merge to form the Sinn Fein League.
1908 Frederick A Cook claims to reach North Pole (He didn't)
1913 German passenger ship Imperator runs aground
1913 Gideon Sundback of Sweden patents the zipper
1914 US marines occupy Vera Cruz México, stay 6 months
1918 German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France.
1920 John Galsworthy's "Skin Game", premieres in London
1925 Chuvash Autonomous Region in RSFSR becomes Chuvash ASSR
1925 Noël Coward's "Fallen Angels", premieres in London
1930 Fire (set as part of an escape attempt) at Ohio State Penitentiary kills 320
1935 King Boris of Bulgaria forbids all political parties
1940 1st $64 Question, "Take It or Leave It", on CBS Radio
1941 Greece surrenders to Nazi-Germany
1944 Women in France receive the right to vote.
1945 Allied troops occupy German nuclear laboratory
1945 Ivor Novello's 'Perchance To Dream' opens at the London Hippodrome. The show runs for more than 1,000 performances and includes the song 'We'll Gather Lilacs'
1945 Russian army arrives at outskirts of Berlin. Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1945 US 7th Army occupies Neurenberg
1946 SED, Socialistic Einheitspartei Germany forms in East Germany
1948 1st Polaroid camera is sold in US
1952 BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corporation) begins 1st passenger service with jets (London-Rome route)
1952 Secretar y's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
1954 Gregori Malenkov becomes premier of USSR
1954 USAF flies French battalion to Vietnam
1955 Minas Gerais Argentina tunnel caves in; 30 die
1956 Elvis Presley's 1st hit record, "Heartbreak Hotel", becomes number 1
1957 Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Fidei Donum
1959 Alf Dean (using a rod and reel) hooks a 2,664lb, 16' 10" great white shark (largest fish ever caught on a rod)
1960 Brasilia becomes the capital of Brazil
1961 French army revolts in Algeria
1961 USAF Major Robert M White takes X-15 to an altitude of 32,000 meters
1961 Dirk U Stikker chosen as Secretary-General of NATO
1962 Century 21 Exposition opens in Seattle, WA
1963 Beatles meet Rolling Stones for 1st time
1963 Dr Michael Ellis De Bakey performs 1st successful heart implant
1965 The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) visits Kingston, Jamaica
1967 Svetlana Alliluyeva (Josef Stalin's daughter) defects in NYC
1967 Military coup in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'état, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years. Konstantinos Kollias becomes premier
1970 The Hutt River Province Principality secedes from Australia
1971 Original Codex Reguis (with Edda-liederen) returns to Iceland
1972 John Young and Charles Duke explore Moon (Apollo 16)
1972 Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 4 (Copernicus) launched
1975 Last South Vietnam President Nguyen Van Thieu resigns after 10 years
1976 Swine Flu vaccine, for non-epidemic, enters testing
1976 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR es
1977 Zia ur-Rahman appointed President of Bangladesh
1983 £1 coin introduced in United Kingdom
1984 After 37 weeks, "Thriller" is knocked off as top album by "Footloose"
1984 Franz Weber of Austria skis downhill at a record 209.8 kph
1984 Centers for Disease Control says virus discovered in France causes AIDS
1985 Bomb attack in NATO/AEG-Telefunken building in Brussels
1986 Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on TV and finds nothing
1987 Tamil Tigers bomb attack in Colombo Sri Lanka, 115 killed
1989 Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing's Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom
1992 Mobil Oil tug with 12,000 gallons of oil run aground in Arthur Kill
1993 Brazil votes against a monarchy
1993 Rolling Stone Bill Wyman weds Suzanne Accosta on French Riveria
1994 Serbian army bombs distress clinic in Goradze Bosnia, 28 killed
1994 The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.
1995 FBI arrests Timothy McVeigh and charge him with Oklahoma City bombing
1997 Ashes of Timothy Leary and Gene Roddenberry launched into orbit

21st April 2006

Nepal king moves to end protests

Iran launches Islamic dress drive

Nigeria settles Paris Club debt

21st April 2007

Polls stay open late in Nigeria

Sunni chief attacks Baghdad wall

Gunman kills hostage at Nasa

21st April 2008

Clerics killed in Somali mosque

Key Indonesian militants jailed

Africa plans biggest dam project

21st April 2009

Meltdown losses of '$4 trillion'

Mass Tamil exodus from rebel area

Obama invites Middle East heads

21st April 2010

Flights resume as ash fear recedes

Oil rig blaze off Louisiana leaves at least 11 missing

Train derails in South Africa: 2 die

Birthdates which occurred on 21st April :

1488 Ulrich von Hutten German poet/humanist/patriot
1546 Arcangelo Crivelli composer
1619 John A van Riebeeck colonial director/founder (Cape Colony)
1672 Johann Philipp Kafer composer
1713 Louis Duke de Noailles marshal of France
1729 Catharina II the Great, writer/emperess of Russia (1762-96)
1730 Antonin Kammel composer
1749 Johann Michael Malzat composer
1774 Jean-Baptiste Biot French physicist/astronomer (balloonist)
1775 Alexander Anderson US, engraver/illustrator (Shakespeare)
1779 William Knyvett composer
1782 Friedrich W A Fröbel Germany, educator (founded kindergarten)
1795 Vincenzo Pallotti Italian saint
1803 Levin Minn Powell Commander (Union Navy), died in 1885
1806 Peter van Schendel Dutch painter
1809 Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter Secretary of State (Confederacy)
1814 Beni Egressy composer
1816 Charlotte Brontë Tornton England, novelist (Jane Eyre)
1816 Louis Trezevant Wigfall Confederate Army, died in 1874
1824 Anselmo Clave composer
1828 Hippolyte Taine French philosopher/historian (Voyage in Italy)
1834 William Rufus Terrill Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1837 Fredrik Bajer Denmark, politican/feminist/pacifist (Nobel 1908)
1838 John Muir US, naturalist (discovered glaciers in High Sierras)
1838 Nat Thompson cricketer (1st batsman dismissed in a Test match)
1840 Franz Xaver Haberl German priest/musicologist (Magister choralis)
1849 Oskar Hertwig Germany, embryologist, discovered fertilization
1853 Charles-Theodore Malherbe composer
1854 Eusapia Palladino Napolitanse with parergische phenomenons
1854 Wladyslaw Rzepko composer
1864 Max Weber German sociologist/economist/historian (Ancient Judaism)
1867 Benjamin A Jesurun Antillian literary
1871 Leo Blech composer
1871 Vojtech Rihovsky composer
1872 G W Bitzer [Johann Gottlob Wilhelm Bitzer] Roxbury MA
1878 Albert Weisgerber German painter/graphic artist
1881 Jules-Marie Canneel Flemish painter/caricaturist (Rocks of Oran)
1886 Charlie Naughton Glasgow Scotland, actor (Frozen Limits)
1887 Lillian Walker Brooklyn NY, entertainer
1892 ? 1st buffalo born in Golden Gate Park
1892 Jaroslav Kvapil composer
1896 Attila Hörbiger Austrian actor (Die Grosse Liebe, Die Julika)
1896 Henry M de Montherlant French stage author (La Reine Morte)
1898 Steve Owen NFL tackle, coach (New York Giants)
1899 Randall Thompson New York NY, composer (Trip to Nahant)
1899 Clement D'Hooghe composer
19-- Christopher [Chip] Mayer New York NY, actor (Vance-Dukes of Hazzard, Glitter)
1901 Julian Bautista composer
1902 Bernard J H "Ben" Stroman recensent/writer (Jomtof & Blue Beard)
1903 Hans Hedtoft premier Denmark (1947..55)
1904 Jean Hélion artist/author (They Shall Not Have Me)
1904 Gijsbert van Hall banker/mayor of Amsterdam (1957-67)
1905 Edmund G "Pat" Brown (Governor-Democrat-CA)
1906 Tom Burns editor
1907 Beatrice Kay New York NY, singer/actress (Sister Sue-Calvin & the Colonel)
1907 Antoni Szalowski composer
1908 Louis Hostin France, Light Heavyweight (Olympics-gold-1932, 36)
1909 Rollo May US, psychologist (Love & Will)
1911 Leonard Warren New York NY, baritone (Metropolitan Opera 1939-60) died on stage
1912 Feike P Asma Dutch organist
1912 Marcel Camus French director, Orfeu negro)
1912 Nell [Petronella GS] Koppen actress, Kniertje-Op Hoop van Zegen)
1913 Choh Hao Li biochemist professor (isolated growth hormones)
1913 Norman Parkinson England, fashion photographer (Harper's Bazaar)
1913 Kai-Uwe von Hassel German politician
1915 Anthony Quinn Chihuahua México, actor (Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia)
1915 Andor Kovach composer
1915 Frick [W Groebli] Swiss clown (Frick & Frack)
1916 Sidney Clute Brooklyn NY, actor (Lou Grant, Cagney & Lacey)
1917 Emanuel Vardi Jerusalem Israel, violist (San Diego Symphony 1978-82)
1919 Franc [Franklin E] Essed Suriname agricultural eng, Oper Grasshopper)
1919 John Goddard cricketer, West Indian all-rounder 1948-57)
1920 Bruno Maderna Venice Italy, conductor/composer (Hyperion)
1920 Christopher Dark New York NY, actor, (Suddenly, Tenderfoot)
1921 Jack Fletcher Forrest Hills NY, actor (Grady, Bob Crane Show)
1922 Allan Watkins cricketer, England batsman late 40s early 50s)
1923 Andrea Domburg Dutch actress, (Theo d'Or Prize, Keetje Tippel)
1924 Ira Louvin Rainsville AL, country singer (Louvin Brothers)
1924 Daniel Melnick New York NY, producer, Get Smart)
1926 Elizabeth [Alexandra Mary Windsor II] queen of England (1952- )
1927 Robert Brustein New York NY, dean (Yale School of Drama)
1930 Silvana Mangano Rome Italy, actress (Death in Venice, Barabbas)
1930 Don Tyson founder, Tyson Foods)
1930 Margaret Rose London England, Princess of York [or Aug 21]
1932 Elaine May Philadelphia PA, comedienne/writer/actress (New Leaf)
1932 Angela Mortimer English tennis player, Wimbledon)
1933 Easley Blackwood Indianapolis IN, composer (Un Voyage á Cythere)
1934 Martin Horton cricketer, England off-spin all rounder, 2 Tests 1959)
1935 Charles Grodin Pittsburgh PA, actor (Beethoven, Woman in Red, Lonely Guy, Heartbreak Kid)
1935 Robin Dixon England, 2 man bobsled (Olympics-gold-1960)
1936 Bob Cleary US, ice hockey player (Olympics-gold-1960)
1936 Anthony Joseph Gnazzo composer
1937 Charles Lee Herron Kentucky, FBI most wanted fugitive (Jan 1 1986)
1939 Ernie Maresca singer/songwriter (Runaround Sue, Wanderer)
1939 John McCabe composer
1940 Souleymane Cisse director (Waati, Yeelen, Finye, Baara)
1942 Bobby McClure US gospel singer (Don't Mess Up a Good Thing)
1946 S Venkataraghavan cricket (Indian off-spinner, Test ump, ICC referee)
1947 Iggy Pop [James Newell Osterberg] Ypsilanti MI, rocker (Zombie Birdhouse)
1947 John Weider bassist (Family-Family Entertainment)
1947 Alan Warner rocker (Foundations)
1948 Claire Denis Paris France, actress (Boom Boom, Chocolat)
1948 Gary A Condit (Representative-Democrat-CA)
1948 Lord Egremont English large landowner/multi-millionaire
1948 Paul Davis Meridian MI, country/rock vocalist (I Go Crazy)
1949 Patti LuPone Northport NY, stage/screen actress/singer (Evita, Life Goes On)
1951 Tony Danza Brooklyn, (Tony Banta-Taxi, Tony Micelli-Who's the Boss)
1951 Aleksandr Ivanovich Laveykin Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-2)
1951 Nicoel Barclay rocker
1951 Paul Carrack Sheffield England, rock vocalist (Mike + the Mechanics-All I Need Is A Miracle, Squeeze/Ace-How Long)
1953 Edward Ray Fiori Lynwood CA, PGA golfer (1979 Southern Open)
1954 Dale Eggeling Statesboro GA, LPGA golfer (1995 Oldsmobile Classic)
1956 Rick DeMont US, 400 meter swimmer, drug disqualification (1972 Olympics)
1957 Jesse Orosco Santa Barbara CA, baseball relief pitcher (New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers)
1958 Andie [Rosalie Anderson] MacDowell Gaffney SC, actress (Groundhog Day, Multiplicity, Greystoke)
1958 Kyle Stevens LPGA golfer
1959 Robert Smith Sussex England, rock guitarist/vocalist (Cure-Just Like Heaven )
1960 Julius Korir Kenya, 3K steeplechaser (Olympics-gold-1984)
1962 Sergei Viktorovich Zalyotin Russia, Major/cosmonaut
1963 John Cameron Mitchell El Paso TX, actor (Misplaced, Band of the Hand)
1963 Ken Caminiti Hanford CA, infielder (San Diego Padres)
1964 Louise Mullard Kurri Kurri New South Wales, golfer (1990 T3 Coca Cola Classic)
1965 Karen Foster Lufkin TX, playmate (October 1989)
1965 Ed Belfour Carman, NHL goalie (Chicago Blackhawks)
1965 Gary Grant NBA guard (New York Knicks)
1966 Judy Diduck ice hockey defenseman (Canada, Olympics-98)
1968 Peter van Foxes soccer player (Ajax)
1969 Conrad Clarks NFL center (Indianapolis Colts)
1969 Dwight Hollier NFL linebacker (Miami Dolphins)
1970 Israel Stanley NFL/WLAF defensive end (New Orleans Saints, Rhein Fire)
1970 Stewart Malgunas Prince George, NHL defenseman (Washington Capitals)
1971 Samantha Druce youngest woman to swim the English Channel
1971 Jennifer Reed Miss Michigan-USA (1997)
1971 Tom Cavallo NFL/WLAF linebacker (Frankfurt Galaxy, San Francisco 49ers)
1971 Tony Mcgee NFL tight end (Cincinnati Bengals)
1972 David Williams Bedford PA, outfielder (San Francisco Giants)
1972 Lori Flick Boston MA, Miss Massachusetts-America (1997)
1972 Tia Jackson WNBA forward (Phoenix Mercury)
1974 Brice Hunter wide receiver (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1975 Angela Michelle Hughes Anderson SC, Miss South Carolina-America (1997)
1975 Danyon Joseph Loader Dunedin New Zealand, 200 meter/400 meter swimmer (Olympics-2 gold-96)
1977 Karen Ann Peterson Miss Aruba-Universe (1997)
1978 Avi Phillips Ontario Canada, actor (Maniac Mansion)
1978 Aimee Delatte Miss Arkansas Teen-USA (1996)
1978 Melissa Coish Miss New Hampshire Teen-USA (1996)
1984 Ashley Peldon Staten Island NY, actress (Marah Lewis-Guilding Light, Deceived)

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Deaths which occurred on April 21st:
1073 Alexander II [Anselmo da Baggio] Pope (1061-73), dies
1109 Anselmus philosopher/archbishop of Canterbury, dies
1142 Pierre Abélard French philosopher (Sic et Non, Héloïse), dies at 62
1509 Henry VII 1st Tudor king of England (1485-1509), dies at 52
1552 Peter Apianus [Bennewitz/Bienewitz] German astronomer, dies at 50
1574 Cosimo de Medici Italian duke of Toscane, dies at about 54
1652 Pietro Della Valle composer, dies at 66
1696 Andres de Sola composer, dies at 61
1699 Jean Racine French playwright (Phèdre), dies at 59
1730 Jan Palfijn Flemish physician/inventor (forceps), dies at 79
1736 Frans Eugenius duke/prince of Savoye, dies at 72
1780 Ferdinand Zellbell composer, dies at 60
1871 Elisabeth Grube writer, dies
1878 Temistocle Solera composer, dies at 62
1898 Louis Theodore Gouvy composer, dies at 78
1899 Heinrich Kiepert German cartographer/geographer, dies at 80
1900 Heinrich Vogl composer, dies at 55
1910 Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] author(Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn), dies in Redding CT at 74
1918 "Red Baron" [Manfred von Richtofen] shot down in WWI at 25
1924 Eleanora Duse Italian actress (La Gioconda, La Locandiera), dies at 64
1930 Christine [Elizabeth C] Poolman Dutch actress (Mother), dies at 79
1930 Robert S Bridges poet laureate (Testament of beauty), dies at 85
1938 Muhammad Iqbal Brt E Indies lawyer/Pakistan national hero, dies at 65
1939 Herman Finck composer, dies at 66
1945 John Poston British Major/Montgomery's ADC, dies in battle at 25
1946 John M Keynes English economist (How to pay for the war?), dies at 62
1946 Robert Graham cricketer (3 wickets for South Africa in 2 Tests 1898-99), dies
1948 Carlos Lopez Buchardo composer, dies at 66
1952 [Richard] Stafford Cripps English minister of Plane-manufacturing, dies at 62
1952 Leslie Banks actor (Henry V, 21 Days, Eye Witness), dies at 61
1961 James Melton opera tenor (Ford Festival), dies at 57
1962 Frederick Handley Page designer of 1st big airplane (40 seats), dies
1965 Edward V Appleton English physicist (Nobel Prize 1947), dies at 72
1967 André L Danjon French astronomer, dies at 77
1968 Toby Halicki car-crash film producer 48, killed shooting stunt
1968 Norman Demuth composer, dies at 69
1971 Edmund Lowe actor (Front Page Detective), dies at 81
1971 François "Doc" Duvalier dictator of Haiti, dies at 64
1973 Ursula Jeans [McMinn] actress (Cavalcade, Over the Moon), dies at 66
1975 Jack Allan Westrup composer, dies at 70
1977 Gummo [Milton] Marx US comic (Marx Brothers), dies at 84
1978 Sandy Denny country singer, dies at 37
1981 Harry Lee cricketer (scored 18 & 1 in only Test for England), dies
1982 Joe Sawyer actor (Biff O'Hara-Adventures of Rin Tin Tin), dies at 80
1983 Walter Slezak actor (Bedtime For Bonzo), commits suicide in New York at 80
1985 Rudi Gernreich US designer (miniskirt), dies at 62
1985 Tancredo Neves President-elect of Brazil, dies at 75
1987 Edith S Green (Representative-Democrat-OR), dies at 77
1989 James Kirkwood actor/writer (Devil's Holiday), dies at 64
1990 Erté art deco stylist, dies at 97
1990 Johnny Beagley winner of two 1942 World Series games, dies
1991 Richard Bolling (Representative-Democrat-MO), dies at 74
1991 Willi Boskovsky Austrian conductor (new years concert), dies at 81
1992 Robert Harris murderer, executed in California's gas chamber at 39
1992 Vladimir K Romanov Grand Duke/Russian pretender to the throne, dies at 74
1993 Hal Schumacher baseball pitcher, dies at 82
1994 Clement Merk animal trainer, dies at 93
1995 Robert Elliott Storey Wyatt cricketer, dies at 93
1995 Stafford Heginbotham toymaker/Football Club Chairman, dies at 61
1996 A H Kardar cricketer (3 Tests for India & 23 for Pakistan 1946-58), dies
1996 Dzhokhar Dudayev President of Republic of Chechenia (1991), dies at 52
1996 Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder oddsmaker/sportscaster (CBS), dies at 76
1996 Robert Hersant press baron, dies at 76
1996 Rodney Meredith Thomas architect/painter, dies at 93
1996 Zora Arkus-Duntov engineer, dies at 86
1997 Andres Rodriguez Paraguayan President (1989-93), dies
1997 Diosdado Macapagal Philippine President (1961-65), dies

Golden Link 1/ On this day 21st April

Golden Link 2/ On this day 21st April

Golden Link 3/ On this day 21st April