January 21: Day of the year

January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 344 days remaining until the end of the year (345 in leap years).

Up to 1900

• 1189 – Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade.
• 1276 – Innocent V becomes Pope.
• 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz's mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
• 1643 – Abel Tasman discovers Tonga.
• 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
• 1749 - The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, northern Italy, is destroyed by fire. It is rebuilt in 1754.
• 1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, is printed in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1793 – After being found guilty for treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is guillotined.
• 1793 – Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
• 1840 - Adelie Land in Antarctica is discovered.
• 1853 – Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope-folding machine.
• 1854 - Iron clipper RMS Tayleur of the White Star Line sinks in the Irish Sea during its first voyage, killing 362 people.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
• 1864 – The Tauranga Campaign starts during the Maori Wars.
• 1887 – The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed.
• 1899 – Opel Motors opens for business.

1901 – 2000

• 1904 - Oprera Jenůfa by Leoš Janáček first performed.
• 1908 – New York City passes a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public only to be vetoed by the mayor.
• 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally.
• 1915 – Kiwanis International founded in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1917 - An earthquake in Bali kills 15,000 people.
• 1919 – Meeting in the Mansion House Dublin, the Sinn Féin adopts Ireland's first constitution.
• 1924 – Vladimir Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin begins to purge his rivals to clear way for his leadership.
• 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic.
• 1931 - Isaac Isaacs becomes the first Governor-General of Australia who was born in Australia.
• 1940 - Off the Mediterranean Sea coast of France, an explosion occurs on Italian passenger ship Orazio, causing a fire on board, before the ship sinks, killing 106 people.
• 1941 – World War II: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
• 1948 - The Flag of Quebec is flown over the National Assembly of Quebec for the first time.
• 1950 – Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
• 1951 - The Lamington volcano erupts on the island of New Guinea, killing 3,000 people.
• 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, then the First Lady of the United States.
• 1960 - Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns while landing in Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37 people.
• 1961 - 435 workers are buried alive when a mine in Coalbrook, South Africa, collapses.
• 1968 – Simon & Garfunkel release the Original Soundtrack to The Graduate. It quickly goes to #1 on the pop charts and which will bring Simon a Grammy Award for Best Original Score.
• 1969 – An experimental underground nuclear reactor at Lucens Vad, Switzerland, released radiation into a cavern, which was then sealed.
• 1976 – The first commercial service Concorde flights take off from London and Paris.
• 1977 – President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.
• 1980 - The Great Wall of China is placed under protection.
• 1980 - A plane crash during a snowstorm in Tehran kills 128 people.
• 1985 - After being moved to this date because January 20 was a Sunday, Ronald Reagan's second inauguration as President of the United States is held indoors, because of cold and windy weather.
• 1994 – Lorena Bobbitt is found not-guilty by reason of temporary insanity for severing the penis of her husband John Bobbitt.
• 1997 – Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
• 1998 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit Cuba.
• 1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard stops a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg) of cocaine on board.
• 2000 - Jamil Mahuad is removed as President of Ecuador in a coup led by Lucio Gutiérrez.

From 2001

• 2003 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes the state of Colima, Mexico.
• 2004 – Canada: The residence of reporter, Juliet O'Neill was searched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigating leaks concerning the deportation of Maher Arar.
• 2004 – NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceased communication with mission control. The problem was with Flash Memory management and fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
• 2005 – In Belize's capital city, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.
• 2008 – Black Monday on the world's stock markets, the worst day for financial markets since September 11, 2001.
• 2008 – Marie Smith Jones, the last-surviving speaker of the Eyak language, dies, rendering the language extinct.
• 2012 - 16-year-old Laura Dekker becomes the youngest person to sail around the world on her own, though this category is no longer included in the Guinness Book of Records.
• 2013 - Barack Obama's second public inauguration as President of the United States takes place. A private inauguration took place the previous day, which was a Sunday.

Up to 1900

• 1277 - Galeazzo I Visconti, ruler of Milan (d. 1328)
• 1338 – King Charles V of France (d. 1380)
• 1721 - James Murray, British Governor of Quebec (d. 1794)
• 1735 - Johann Gottfried Eckard, German pianist and composer (d. 1809)
• 1738 – Ethan Allen, American freedom fighter (d. 1789)
• 1763 - Augustin Robespierre, French politician (d. 1794)
• 1784 - Andrew Stevenson, American politician (d. 1857)
• 1813 - John C. Frémont, American army officer, explorer and politician (d. 1890)
• 1815 - John Bingham, American lawyer, judge and politician (d. 1900)
• 1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American Confederate General (d. 1870)
• 1825 - Imre Madach, Hungarian writer (d. 1864)
• 1827 – Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician (d. 1900)
• 1829 – King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway (d. 1907)
• 1846 - Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician (d. 1923)
• 1846 - Nathaniel Edwin Harris, Governor of Georgia (d. 1929)
• 1848 – Henri Duparc, French composer (d. 1933)
• 1855 - John Browning, American inventor (d. 1926)
• 1860 – Karl Staaff, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
• 1864 - Paul Troje, German politician (d. 1942)
• 1867 - Maxime Weygand, French general (d. 1965)
• 1867 – Ludwig Thoma, German writer (d. 1921)
• 1869 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk, mystic and spiritual healer (d. 1916)
• 1881 - Ernst Fast, Swedish long-distance runner (d. 1959)
• 1882 – Pavel Florensky, Russian theologian, philosopher and mathematician (d. 1937)
• 1883 – Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (d. 1929)
• 1883 - James H. Duff, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1969)
• 1885 – Umberto Nobile, Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer (d. 1978)
• 1887 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
• 1895 - Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (d. 1972)
• 1899 – Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-born American composer (d. 1977)

1901 – 1950

• 1901 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (d. 1978)
• 1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer (d. 1957)
• 1905 – Karl Wallenda, German-born acrobat (d. 1978)
• 1908 - Raymond D. Gary, Governor of Oklahoma (d. 1993)
• 1910 - Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
• 1910 – Albert Rosellini, American politician (d. 2011)
• 1911 - Bill Graber, American pole vaulter (d. 1996)
• 1912 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German biochemist (d. 2000)
• 1915 - Orazio Mariani, Italian sprinter (d. 1981)
• 1915 - Bill Sefton, American pole vaulter (d. 1982)
• 1916 – Pietro Rava, Italian footballer (d. 2006)
• 1918 – Richard Winters, American paratrooper (d. 2011)
• 1919 - Lennie Bluett, American actor (d. 2016)
• 1919 - Eric Brown, Scottish test pilot (d. 2016)
• 1921 - Howard Unruh, American murderer (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Paul Scofield, British actor (d. 2008)
• 1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor and singer (d. 1994)
• 1923 - Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer and actress (d. 1995)
• 1924 – Benny Hill, British comedian (d. 1992)
• 1926 - Steve Reeves, American actor (d. 2000)
• 1928 - Reynaldo Bignone, Argentine general and former military leader
• 1929 - Denis Sanders, American movie director, producer and screenwriter
• 1930 - Mainza Chona, 3rd Vice President of Zambia (d. 2001)
• 1932 - John Chaney, American basketball coach
• 1933 - Joseph W. Eschbach, American physician (d. 2007)
• 1934 - Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
• 1936 - Koji Hashimoto, Japanese movie director (d. 2005)
• 1937 - Prince Max, Duke of Bavaria
• 1938 - Wolfman Jack, American DJ and actor (d. 1995)
• 1938 - Ken Maginnis, Northern Irish soldier, educator and politician
• 1939 – Friedel Lutz, German footballer
• 1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
• 1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish opera singer and conductor
• 1941 – Richie Havens, American musician (d. 2013)
• 1942 - Mac Davis, American musician
• 1945 – Martin Shaw, English actor
• 1947 - Jonathan Meades, English journalist and writer
• 1949 - Gennaro Contaldo, Italian chef
• 1950 – Billy Ocean, Trinidadian musician
• 1950 - Zelimkhan Yaqub, Azerbaijani poet (d. 2016)
• 1950 – Gary Locke, American politician

1951 – 1975

• 1951 – Eric Holder, American jurist, United States Attorney General
• 1953 – Paul Allen, American entrepreneur and co-founder of Microsoft
• 1954 – Thomas de Maizière, German politician
• 1954 – Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso movie maker
• 1955 – Jeff Koons, American artist
• 1955 – Peter Fleming, American tennis player
• 1956 – Geena Davis, American actress
• 1957 – Greg Ryan, American soccer coach
• 1958 – Frank Ticheli, American composer
• 1959 – Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
• 1962 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
• 1962 – Tyler Cowen, American economist
• 1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball player
• 1965 – Jam Master Jay, American DJ (d. 2002)
• 1968 – Charlotte Ross, American actress
• 1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese manga artist
• 1969 – Karina Lombard, American actress
• 1969 – M. K. Hobson, American writer
• 1971 – Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
• 1971 – Doug Weight, American ice hockey player
• 1971 – Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skater
• 1972 – Yasunori Matsuda, Japanese composer
• 1974 – Kim Dotcom, German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and founder of Megaupload
• 1975 – Nicky Butt, English footballer
• 1975 – Ito, Spanish footballer

From 1976

• 1976 – Igors Stepanovs, Latvian footballer
• 1976 – Emma Bunton, English singer (Spice Girls)
• 1977 – Phil Neville, English footballer
• 1977 - Jerry Trainor, American actor
• 1977 - Bradley Carnell, South African footballer
• 1978 - Phil Stacey, American singer
• 1978 - Andrei Zyuzin, Russian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Brian O'Driscoll, Irish rugby player
• 1979 - Johann Hari, Scottish journalist
• 1980 – Dave Kitson, English footballer
• 1980 - Nana Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress
• 1982 – Nicolas Mahut, French tennis player
• 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
• 1982 – Simon Rolfes, German footballer
• 1983 – Moritz Volz, German footballer
• 1983 – Maryse Ouellet, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1984 - Raymond Gutierrez, American-Filipino actor and television host
• 1984 - Richard Gutierrez, American-Filipino actor
• 1985 - Justin Ingram, American basketball player
• 1985 - Adrian Lewis, English darts player
• 1985 - Aura Dione, Danish singer and songwriter
• 1986 - Jonathan Quick, American ice hockey player
• 1987 – Joe Ledley, Welsh footballer
• 1987 - Darren Helm, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1990 - Jacob Smith, American actor
• 1993 - Chiara Pierobon, Italian cyclist (d. 2015)
• 1994 – Laura Robson, British tennis player
• 1994 - Kang Seung-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
• 1994 - Marny Kennedy, Australian actress, singer and model
• 1994 - Booboo Stewart, American actor, singer and sportsman
• 1997 - Jeremy Shada, American actor
• 2001 – Jackson Brundage, American actor
• 2004 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway

Up to 1900

• 304 – Saint Agnes, Christian martyr (b. 291)
• 917 - Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (b. 880)
• 1118 – Pope Paschal II
• 1519 – Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)
• 1527 - Juan de Grijalva, Spanish conquistador (b. 1489)
• 1546 - Azai Sukemasa, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1491)
• 1609 - Joseph Justus Scaliger, French Protestant scholar (b. 1540)
• 1638 - Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (b. 1570)
• 1773 – Alexis Piron, French writer (b. 1689)
• 1774 – Mustafa III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1717)
• 1775 - Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel (b. 1742)
• 1789 - Baron d'Holbach, French-German writer, philosopher and encyclopedist (b. 1723)
• 1793 – King Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)
• 1795 - Samuel Wallis, English navigator (b. 1728)
• 1809 - Josiah Hornblower, American engineer and politician (b. 1729)
• 1831 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (b. 1781)
• 1851 – Albert Lertzing, German composer (b. 1801)
• 1872 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (b. 1791)
• 1891 – Calixa Lavallée, Canadian composer (b. 1842)

1901 – 2000

• 1901 – Elisha Gray, American inventor (b. 1835)
• 1919 - Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, Ottoman general and Grand Vizier (b. 1839)
• 1919 – Gojong of the Korean Empire, Emperor of Korea (b. 1852)
• 1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian political leader (b. 1870)
• 1926 – Camillo Golgi, Italian doctor, won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)
• 1928 - George Goethals, American army engineer (b. 1858)
• 1932 – Giles Lytton Strachey, British writer (b. 1880)
• 1937 - Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1896)
• 1938 - Georges Méliès, French director (b. 1861)
• 1940 - Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (b. 1888)
• 1945 - Rash Behari Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1886)
• 1950 – George Orwell, British writer (b. 1903)
• 1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director (b. 1881)
• 1961 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1903)
• 1967 - Ann Sheridan, American actress (b. 1915)
• 1977 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet (b. 1906)
• 1989 – Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
• 1989 - Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
• 1990 - Mariano Rumor, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1915)
• 1994 - Bassel al-Assad, brother of Bashar al-Assad (b. 1962)
• 1994 - Andrejs Kapmals, Latvian runner (b. 1889)
• 1997 – Colonel Tom Parker, American music manager (b. 1909)
• 1998 - Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
• 1999 - Charles Brown, American blues singer and musician (b. 1920)
• 1999 - Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)

From 2001

• 2001 - Byron De La Beckwith, American murderer (b. 1920)
• 2004 - Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer (b. 1929)
• 2006 – Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
• 2007 - Maria Cioncan, Romanian athlete (b. 1977)
• 2007 - U-Nee, South Korean singer, dancer and actress (b. 1981)
• 2008 – Marie Smith Jones, last speaker of the Eyak language (b. 1918)
• 2011 – Dennis Oppenheim, American artist (b. 1938)
• 2013 - Michael Winner, British movie director, producer and food critic (b. 1935)
• 2013 - Alden W. Clausen, American banker and former World Bank President (b. 1923)
• 2014 - Manfred Bleskin, German journalist (b. 1949)
• 2015 - Kemal Monteno, Bosnian singer (b. 1948)
• 2015 - Leon Brittan, British politician (b. 1939)
• 2015 - Marcus Borg, American theologian (b. 1942)
• 2015 - Pauline Yates, English actress (b. 1929)
• 2016 - Bill Johnson, American skier (b. 1960)
• 2016 - Robert Sassone, French cyclist (b. 1978)
• 2016 - Derrick Todd Lee, American serial killer (b. 1968)
• 2016 - Mrinalini Sarabhai, Iranian classical dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)
• 2020 - Terry Jones, English comedy writer (b. 1942)

• Flag Day (Quebec)
• Christian feast day of Saint Agnes
• Errol Barrow Day (Bahamas)
• National Hug Day (United States)
• Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)