April 21

2024 Calendar

April 21 is the 111th day of the year (112th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 254 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

753 BC – Romulus founds Rome (traditional).
1506 - End of the three-day Lisbon massacre, in which 1,900 people were slaughtered.
1509 – Henry VIII of England becomes King of England after the death of his father, Henry VII of England.
1526 - The last ruler of the Lodi Dynasty in Northern India, Ibrahim Lodi, is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
1734 - The shorter of the two Golden Horns of Gallehus, Denmark's most famous archaeological finds, is discovered. The longer one had been discovered in 1639.
1782 - The city now known as Krung Thep, or Bangkok, is founded in Siam, present-day Thailand.
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.
1863 – Bahá'u'lláh is proclaimed as the head of the Bahá'í Faith.
1863 – Quantrill's Raiders launch a reprisal raid Lawrence, Kansas in the Battle of Lawrence, killing a number of civilians.
1889 – Giacomo Puccini's opera Edgar is first performed in Milan.
1894 – Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jørgensen rifle as the main weapon of its armed forces. It remained 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.

1901 – 2000

1908 – North Pole dispute: Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole on this date, almost a year before Robert Peary claims to have reached it, on April 6, 1909.
1912 – The New York Giants and New York Yankees play an exhibition game to benefit survivors of the RMS Titanic.
1914 - Ypiranga Incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the United States Navy near Veracruz.
1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron," is shot down and killed by Allied over Vaux sur Somme in France.
1926 - Future Queen, Elizabeth II, is born in London. At the time of her birth she is not expected to become Queen.
1930 – A fire at a Columbus, Ohio, USA, penitentiary kills 320 people.
1934 - The "Surgeon's Photograph", allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, appears in the Daily Mail. It is revealed to be a hoax in 1999.
1935 – A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits Taiwan, killing 3,276 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.
1952 – Secretaries Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
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 Cash Box 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.
1961 - Dirk Stikker succeeds Paul-Henri Spaak as Secretary-General of NATO.
1962 - The Seattle World's Fair opens. The Space Needle, now a symbol of the city, was completed just before the event.
1965 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 – Rastafari movement: 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.
1970 - The Principality of Hutt River declares itself independent from Australia, and is one of world's most famous micronations. It is 517 kilometers (354 miles) north of Perth, Western Australia.
1971 - Siaka Stevens becomes the 1st President of Sierra Leone.
1971 - Haitian leader François Duvalier (Papa Doc) dies. His then-19-year-old son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, takes over from him.
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.
1977 - The musical Annie has its Broadway premiere.
1982 - Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher in baseball to record 300 saves.
1985 - In Brazil, President-elect Tancredo Neves dies before he can take office. José Sarney becomes President instead.
1985 – Ayrton Senna wins the first of 41 Formula One championship races at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril.
1986 – Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on live television and finds nothing.
1987 – The Tamil Tigers is blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, killing 106 people.
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.
1989 – Nintendo releases the Game Boy, an idea of Gunpei Yokoi.
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.

From 2001

2002 – French Presidential Election: In the first round Jacques Chirac comes through, along with National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
2004 – Suicide bombers target police stations in Basra, Iraq, killing 74 people.
2005 – John Negroponte becomes the first United States Director of National Intelligence.
2010 – After a week of being shut down due to the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, UK airspace reopens.
2014 - The Boston Marathon is held for the first time since it was targeted by bombers in 2013. Rita Jeptoo wins the women's race, while Meb Keflezighi wins the men's race, becoming the first US citizen to win it in over 30 years.
2019 - Sri Lanka Easter bombings: More than 350 people are killed in bomb attacks on Easter Sunday targeting churches and hotels across Sri Lanka, most of them in or near Colombo.
2019 - Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is elected President of Ukraine, defeating Petro Poroshenko.