November 21: Day of the year

November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 40 days remaining until the end of the year.

Up to 1900

• 235 - Antenus succeeds Pontian as Pope.
• 1386 - Timur of Samarkand captures and sacks the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi.
• 1620 – The Pilgrim Fathers sign the Mayflower Compact near Cape Cod.
• 1694 – French philosopher Voltaire is born.
• 1710 - The Fourth Russo-Turkish War begins.
• 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers make the first hot-air balloon flight.
• 1789 – North Carolina becomes the 12th State of the US.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin as Secretary of War.
• 1877 - Thomas Edison announces that he has invented the phonograph.
• 1894 - First Sino-Japanese War: Port Arthur, Manchuria, falls to the Japanese.

1901 – 2000

• 1905 - Albert Einstein's paper Does the Inertia of a Body depend on Its Energy Content ? is published in the journal Annalen der Physik.
• 1916 – A mine explodes and sinks the British hospital ship HMHS Britannic in the Aegean Sea, killing 30 people.
• 1916 - Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria dies aged 86. His nephew, Charles I of Austria, becomes the last Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• 1918 – The Flag of Estonia is formally adopted.
• 1920 - Irish War of Independence: In Dublin, 31 people are killed in what becomes known as "Bloody Sunday". They are 14 British informants, 14 Irish civilians and 3 Irish Republican Army prisoners.
• 1922 - Rebecca Latimer Felton becomes the first female United States Senator, though she has to leave office a day later. She is also the oldest US Senator to take office (at age 87), the shortest-serving US Senator ever, and the last US Senator to have owned slaves.
• 1942 - The completion of the Alaska Highway is celebrated.
• 1945 - The United Auto Workers strike at 92 General Motors plants in 50 cities to back up worker demands for a 30% pay rise.
• 1950 - Two Canadian National Railway trains collide in Northeastern British Columbia, killing 21 people.
• 1953 – The British History Museum announces that the Piltdown Man skull is a hoax.
• 1962 - The Chinese People's Liberation Army declares a unilateral ceasfire in the Sino-Indian War.
• 1963 - John F. Kennedy arrives in Dallas, Texas, a day before his assassination in the city.
• 1964 – The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is opened to traffic over the Hudson River.
• 1969 – President of the United States Richard Nixon and Prime Minister of Japan Eisaku Sato agree to the return of Okinawa to Japan in 1972. The United States keeps its right to have military bases on the island, as long as they are nuclear-free.
• 1972 - South Korean voters support a new constitution
• 1974 – In the United Kingdom, the Birmingham Pub Bombings kill 21 people.
• 1979 - The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, is attacked by a mob, and set on fire, killing four people.
• 1980 - In the TV series Dallas, the episode to find out who shot JR Ewing is first broadcast, setting the record-high for a US TV audience.
• 1980 - Fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada, kills 87 people.
• 1986 - Oliver North starts shredding documents relating to his and Ronald Reagan's roles in the Iran-Contra Affair.
• 1995 - The Dayton Peace Agreement is signed in Dayton, Ohio, ending ​3 ¹⁄₂ years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1999 - China's first spacecraft, Shenzhou 1, lands safely back on Earth.

From 2001

• 2002 – NATO invites Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to become members.
• 2004 – In Ukraine's Presidential election, Viktor Yanukovych is declared as the winner, leading to the Orange Revolution, after suspicions of vote-rigging. Many people protest in favour of the defeated candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who wins the re-run of the election on December 26.
• 2004 - The Caribbean islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe are hit by a strong earthquake.
• 2005 – Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon founds a new political party, the Kadima Party.
• 2006 - Anti-Syrian Lebanese politician Pierre Amine Gemayel is murdered in downtown Beirut.
• 2009 – A mine explosion in Heilongjiang province in northern China kills 108 people.
• 2010 - Eurozone Debt Crisis: It is announced that the Republic of Ireland requires a bail-out from the Eurozone.
• 2012 - The only surviving perpetrator of the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks, Ajmal Kasab, is executed.
• 2012 - After a week of war between Israel and Gaza, an agreement is reached on a truce.
• 2013 - The roof of a supermarket collapses in Riga, Latvia, killing 54 people, including three firefighters.
• 2013 - Euromaidan: Protests begin in Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych abandons a deal with the EU over closer relations with Russia.
• 2017 - A bomb attack on a mosque in Mubi, Adamawa State, North-eastern Nigeria, kills 50 people.
• 2017 - Robert Mugabe resigns as President of Zimbabwe, after an impeachment process was started against him. He had been in power for 37 years (Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and President since 1987).

Up to 1900

• 1495 - John Bale, English churchman (d. 1563)
• 1567 - Anne de Xainctonge, French saint (d. 1621)
• 1582 - François Maynard, French poet (d. 1646)
• 1643 - René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle, French explorer (d. 1687)
• 1692 - Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (d. 1768)
• 1694 – François-Marie Arouet (later known as Voltaire), French philosopher (d. 1778)
• 1718 - Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, German music critic, music theorist and composer (d. 1795)
• 1729 – Josiah Bartlett, American politician (d. 1795)
• 1761 – Dorothy Jordan, British actress and royal mistress (d. 1816)
• 1768 – Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher, German theologian and philosopher (d. 1834)
• 1787 – Samuel Cunard, shipping magnate (d. 1865)
• 1811 – Zeng Guofan, Chinese military leader (d. 1872)
• 1818 - Lewis Henry Morgan, American lawyer, anthropologist and writer (d. 1881)
• 1835 – Hetty Green, American businesswoman (d. 1916)
• 1840 – Victoria, Princess Royal (d. 1901)
• 1845 - Otto Warth, German architect (d. 1918)
• 1852 – Francisco Tárrega, Spanish guitarist and composer (d. 1909)
• 1853 - Hussein Kamel, Sultan of Egypt (d. 1917)
• 1854 – Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922)
• 1866 - Konishiki Yasokichi I, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1914)
• 1868 - Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg (d. 1924)
• 1870 – Sigfrid Edström, Swedish sports official (d. 1964)
• 1870 - Alexander Berkman, American activist and author (d. 1936)
• 1870 - Joe Darling, Australian cricketer (d. 1946)
• 1876 - Olav Duun, Norwegian writer (d. 1939)
• 1878 – Gustav Radbruch, German law professor (d. 1949)
• 1878 - Ibra Charles Blackwood, Governor of South Carolina (d. 1936)
• 1882 – Paul Niehans, physicist (d.1971)
• 1882 - Harold Lowe, Welsh 5th Officer of the RMS Titanic (d. 1944)
• 1898 – René Magritte, Belgian painter (d. 1967)
• 1899 - Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Odisha (d. 1987)

1901 – 1950

• 1902 – Foster Hewitt, Canadian radio pioneer (d. 1985)
• 1902 – Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born writer (d. 1991)
• 1902 - Ferenc Hirzer, Hungarian footballer (d. 1957)
• 1902 - Mikhail Suslov, Soviet statesman (d. 1982)
• 1904 – Coleman Hawkins, American jazz musician (d. 1969)
• 1912 – Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (d. 1983)
• 1913 - Tomie Ohtake, Japanese-Brazilian artist (d. 2015)
• 1913 – Roy Boulting, English movie director and producer (d. 2001)
• 1913 - John Boulting, English director (d. 1985)
• 1913 - Gunnar Kangro, Estonian mathematician (d. 1975)
• 1914 - Henri Laborit, French physician and philosopher (d. 1995)
• 1916 – Sid Luckman, American football player (d. 1998)
• 1920 – Ralph Meeker, actor (d. 1988)
• 1920 – Stan Musial, American baseball player (d. 2013)
• 1921 – Vivian Blaine, actress (d. 1995)
• 1922 – María Casarès, Spanish-born actress (d. 1996)
• 1922 - Abe Lemons, American basketball player and coach (d. 2002)
• 1923 - Margaret Lyons, Canadian radio executive (d. 2019)
• 1924 - Joseph Campanella, American actor (d. 2018)
• 1924 – Milka Planinc, Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (d. 2010)
• 1924 - Christopher Tolkien, British writer
• 1925 - Xie Jin, Chinese movie director (d. 2008)
• 1926 - William Wakefield Baum, American cardinal (d. 2015)
• 1930 - Bryn Meredith, Welsh rugby player
• 1931 - Revaz Dogonadze, Georgian scientist (d. 1985)
• 1931 – Malcolm Williamson, composer (d. 2003)
• 1932 – Beryl Bainbridge, British writer (d. 2010)
• 1933 - Henry Hartsfield, American colonel, pilot and astronaut (d. 2014)
• 1935 - Fairuz, Lebanese singer
• 1936 – Victor Chang, Australian doctor, heart transplant pioneer (d. 1991)
• 1937 - Ingrid Pitt, British actress (d. 2010)
• 1937 – Marlo Thomas, American actress
• 1939 - R. Budd Dwyer, American politician (d. 1987)
• 1940 – Dr. John, American musician (d. 2019)
• 1941 – Juliet Mills, American actress
• 1941 - Julio Anguita, Spanish politician
• 1942 - Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, German politician
• 1942 - Afa Anoa'i, Samoan-American wrestler and manager
• 1943 - Jacques Laffite, French racing driver
• 1943 – Phil Bredesen, American politician, 48th Governor of Tennessee
• 1944 – Earl Monroe, American basketball player
• 1944 - Dick Durbin, American politician, United States Senator for Illinois
• 1944 – Harold Ramis, American actor, comedian, screenwriter, director and producer (d. 2014)
• 1945 – Goldie Hawn, American singer and actress
• 1946 - Emma Cohen, Spanish actress, director, producer and writer (d. 2016)
• 1948 - Michel Suleiman, 16th President of Lebanon
• 1948 - Alphonse Mouzon, American musician, composer and producer
• 1950 - Tommy Craig, Scottish footballer
• 1950 – Alberto Juantorena, Cuban athlete

1951 – 1975

• 1952 - Pedro Lemebel, Chilean writer (d. 2015)
• 1952 – Lorna Luft, American singer and actress
• 1952 – Deborah Shelton, actress
• 1955 - Cedric Maxwell, American basketball player
• 1956 - John Holt, Scottish footballer
• 1956 - Cherry Jones, American actress
• 1959 - Sergei Ratnikov, Estonian footballer and manager
• 1960 - Brian McNamara, American actor
• 1962 - Sabine Busch, German athlete
• 1962 - Stephen Curtis Chapman, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
• 1963 - Andrew Fairlie, Scottish chef (d. 2019)
• 1963 – Nicollette Sheridan, British actress
• 1964 - Troy Aikman, American football player
• 1964 - Shane Douglas, American professional wrestler
• 1964 - Charles Dunstone, English businessman, founder of Carphone Warehouse
• 1964 - Liza Tarbuck, English actress
• 1965 – Björk, Icelandic singer, songwriter, musician and actress
• 1965 – Alexander Siddig, British actor
• 1965 - Reggie Lewis, American basketball player (d. 1993)
• 1966 - Troy Aikman, American football player
• 1966 - Evgeny Bareev, Russian chess player
• 1967 - Toshihiko Koga, Japanese judoka
• 1968 – Alex James, British musician (Blur)
• 1969 – Ken Griffey, Jr., American baseball player
• 1970 - Justin Langer, Australian cricketer
• 1970 - Dante Washington, American soccer player
• 1971 - Michael Strahan, American football player
• 1972 - Rain Phoenix, American actress and singer
• 1972 - David Tua, Samoan boxer
• 1973 – Brook Kerr, American actress
• 1973 - Marko Lelov, Estonian footballer and manager

From 1976

• 1977 – Jonas Jennings, American football player
• 1977 – Bruno Berner, Swiss footballer
• 1978 – Sara Tanaka, American actress
• 1978 - Lucía Jiménez, Spanish actress and singer
• 1979 – Vincenzo Iaquinta, Italian footballer
• 1979 – Alex Tanguay, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Kim Dong-wan, South Korean entertainer
• 1979 – Stromile Swift, American basketball player
• 1980 – Hank Blalock, American baseball player
• 1982 – Georgios Kalogiannidis, Greek archer
• 1983 – Brie Bella, American professional wrestler
• 1983 – Nikki Bella, American professional wrestler
• 1984 – Jena Malone, American actress
• 1985 – Jesús Navas, Spanish footballer
• 1985 – Carly Rae Jepsen, Canadian singer
• 1985 – Nicola Silvestri, Italian footballer
• 1985 – Michael Hamlin, American football player
• 1986 – Ben Bishop, American ice hockey player
• 1986 – Kristof Goddaert, Belgian cyclist (d. 2014)
• 1988 – Eric Frenzel, German skier
• 1988 – Larry Sanders, American basketball player
• 1989 – Fabian Delph, English footballer
• 1990 – Dani Lang, English cyclist
• 1990 – Georgie Twigg, English field hockey player
• 1991 – Woohee, South Korean singer-songwriter, actress and model
• 1992 – Rino Sashihara, Japanese singer (AKB48)
• 1992 – Conor Maynard, British singer
• 1999 – Isaiah Firebrace, Australian singer

Up to 1900

• 496 – Pope Gelasius I
• 615 - Columbianus, Irish missionary (b. 543)
• 1011 - Emperor Reizei of Japan (b. 950)
• 1361 – Philip I, Duke of Burgundy (plague) (b. 1346)
• 1555 – Georg Agricola, German scientist (b. 1490)
• 1652 - Jan Brozek, Polish mathematician, physician and astronomer (b. 1585)
• 1695 – Henry Purcell, English composer (b. 1659)
• 1782 - Jacques de Vaucanson, French engineer (b. 1709)
• 1811 – Heinrich von Kleist, German writer (b. 1777)
• 1844 - Ivan Krylov, Russian mathematician (b. 1769)
• 1870 - Karel Jaromir Erben, Czech historian and poet (b. 1811)
• 1874 - Mariano Fortuny, Spanish painter (b. 1838)
• 1875 - Friedrich Albert Lange, German philosopher (b. 1828)
• 1899 – Garret Hobart, Vice President of the United States (b. 1844)

1901 – 2000

• 1908 - Carl Friedrich Schmidt, Baltic German geologist and botanist (b. 1832)
• 1909 - Peder Severin Kroyer, Norwegian-Danish painter (b. 1851)
• 1916 – Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (b. 1830)
• 1924 – Florence Harding, First Lady of the United States (b. 1860)
• 1928 - Heinrich XXVII, Prince Reuss Younger Line, German aristocrat (b. 1858)
• 1938 - Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1870)
• 1942 - Leopold Graf Berchtold, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister (b. 1863)
• 1942 - J. B. M. Hertzog, South African politician (b. 1866)
• 1945 – Robert Benchley, writer and actor (b. 1889)
• 1953 – Larry Shields, American jazz musician (b. 1893)
• 1957 – Francis Burton Harrison, American political figure (b. 1873)
• 1958 - Mel Ott, American baseball player, manager and sportscaster (b. 1909)
• 1959 – Max Baer, American boxer (b. 1909)
• 1963 - Artur Lemba, Estonian composer and educator (b. 1885)
• 1963 - Robert Stroud, American criminal and ornithologist, known as the "Birdman of Alcatraz" (b. 1890)
• 1969 – Mutesa II of Buganda, President of Uganda (b. 1924)
• 1970 – C. V. Raman, Indian physicist (b. 1888)
• 1970 - Newsy Lalonde, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)
• 1974 – John B. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (b. 1897)
• 1974 – Frank Martin, Swiss composer (b. 1890)
• 1975 – Gunnar Gunnarsson, Icelandic writer (b. 1889)
• 1986 - Jerry Colonna, American comedian and singer (b. 1904)
• 1988 – Carl Hubbell, American baseball player (b. 1903)
• 1992 - Kaysone Phomvihane, President of Laos (b. 1920)
• 1993 – Bill Bixby, American actor and director (b. 1934)
• 1995 – Noel Jones, British diplomat (b. 1940)
• 1996 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani physicist (b. 1926)
• 1999 – Quentin Crisp, British writer, satirist, actor (b. 1908)
• 2000 – Emil Zátopek, Czech athlete (b. 1922)

From 2001

• 2001 – Salahuddin of Malaysia, King of Malaysia (b. 1926)
• 2002 - Hadda Brooks, American singer, pianist and composer (b. 1916)
• 2005 – Alfred Anderson, Scottish World War I veteran (b. 1896)
• 2006 – Hassan Gouled Aptidon, first President of Djibouti (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Pierre Amine Gemayel, Lebanese politician (b. 1972)
• 2007 - Fernando Fernán Gómez, Spanish actor, movie director, theatre director, and playwright (b. 1921)
• 2009 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
• 2010 - David Nolan, American activist (b. 1943)
• 2011 – Greg Halman, Dutch baseball player (b. 1987)
• 2011 - Anne McCaffrey, American writer (b. 1926)
• 2012 - Ajmal Kasab, Pakistani terrorist (b. 1987)
• 2012 - Deborah Raffin, American actress (b. 1953)
• 2013 - Maurice Vachon, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1929)
• 2013 - Vern Mikkelsen, American basketball player (b. 1928)
• 2014 - John H. Land, American politician, Mayor of Apopka, Florida (b. 1920)
• 2015 - Ameen Faheem, Pakistani politician (b. 1939)
• 2015 - Linda Haglund, Swedish sprinter (b. 1956)
• 2015 - Bob Foster, American boxer (b. 1938)
• 2016 - René Vignal, French footballer (b. 1926)
• 2017 - Rodney Bewes, English actor (b. 1937)
• 2017 - Wayne Cochran, American soul singer-songwriter (b. 1939)
• 2017 - David Cassidy, American actor and singer (b. 1950)
• 2017 - Milein Cosman, German-British artist (b. 1921)
• 2017 - Luis Garisto, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1945)
• 2017 - Valentin Huot, French cyclist (b. 1929)
• 2018 - Meena Alexander, Indian-American writer and scholar (b. 1951)
• 2018 - Michele Carey, American actress (b. 1943)
• 2018 - Olivia Hooker, American psychologist and military personnel (b. 1915)
• 2018 - Igor Korobov, Russian intelligence officer (b. 1956)
• 2018 - M. I. Shanavas, Indian politician (b. 1951)
• 2018 - Lau Nai-keung, Hong Kong businessman and politician (b. 1947)
• 2019 - Jean Douchet, French film director, actor and critic (b. 1929)
• 2019 - Bengt-Erik Grahn, Swedish skier (b. 1941)
• 2019 - Val Heim, American baseball player (b. 1920)
• 2019 - Andrée Lachapelle, Canadian actress (b. 1931)
• 2019 - Michael J. Pollard, American actor (b. 1939)
• 2019 - Gahan Wilson, American cartoonist (b. 1930)

• Armed Forces Day (Bangladesh, Greece)
• World Hello Day
• World Television Day