January 21

Events

• 1189 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade
• 1276 - Innocent V becomes Pope
• 1643 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga
• 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
• 1853 - Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope folding machine.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate
• 1887 - The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed
• 1899 - Opel Motors opens for business
• 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 motor rally
• 1915 - Kiwanis International founded in Detroit, Michigan
• 1919 - Meeting in Dublin, the Sinn Fein 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
• 1941 - World War II: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya
• 1950 - Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury
• 1954 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut.
• 1968 - Simon & Garfunkel release the Original Soundtrack to The Graduate, which quickly goes to #1 on the pop charts and which will bring Simon a Grammy for Best Original Score.
• 1969 - A coolant malfunction from an experimental underground nuclear reactor at Lucens Vad, Switzerland, released a large amount of radiation into a cavern, which was then sealed.
• 1976 - The first commercial service Concorde flight took off.
• 1977 - President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.
• 1994 - Lorena Bobbitt is found not-guilty by reason of temporary insanity for severing the penis of her husband John.
• 1995 - Would have been the date which Phase I of Project Bojinka, an Al Qaeda plan, would have been implemented. If the plan hadn't been exposed in Manila, Philippines, 11 jetliners would have exploded over the Pacific Ocean on a 48-hour period spanning that day and the subsequent day, January 22.
• 1997 - Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
• 1999 - War on Drugs: In one of the one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 9,500 pounds of cocaine aboard. The ship was headed to Houston, Texas.
• 2003 - The terms of Kevin Mitnick's parole allow him to use a computer again.
• 2004 - Canada: In a move condemned by journalists worldwide and later disapproved of by the Prime Minister, the residence of Ottawa Citizen reporter, Juliet O'Neill was searched by the RCMP for the purpose of investigating leaks concerning the deportation of Maher Arar

Births

• 1738 - Ethan Allen, American patriot, (d. 1789)
• 1824 - Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederate Army general, (d. 1863)
• 1829 - Oscar II, King of Sweden and Norway, (d. 1907)
• 1850 - Paul Vinzenz Busch, ringmaster, (d. 1927)
• 1855 - John Moses Browning, inventor, (d. 1926)
• 1867 - Ludwig Thoma, narrator, dramatist and lyricist, (d. 1921)
• 1867 - Maxime Weygand, French General, (d. 1965)
• 1884 - Roger Baldwin, ACLU president, social activist, (d. 1981)
• 1885 - Umberto Nobile, politician and airship designer, (d. 1978)
• 1895 - Cristobal Balenciaga, couturier, (d. 1972)
• 1922 - Paul Scofield, actor
• 1924 - Telly Savalas, actor, (d. 1994)
• 1925 - Benny Hill, comedian, actor, (d. 1992)
• 1926 - Steve Reeves, actor, (d. 2000)
• 1939 - Wolfman Jack, disk jockey, actor, (d. 1995)
• 1941 - Richie Havens, musician
• 1941 - Placido Domingo, opera singer
• 1950 - Billy Ocean, musician
• 1953 - Paul Allen, entrepreneur
• 1956 - Geena Davis, actress
• 1963 - Hakeem Olajuwon, basketball player
• 2004 - Ingrid Alexandra, Princess of Norway

Deaths

• 1519 - Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, Spanish explorer, (b. ca.1475)
• 1609 - Joseph Justus Scaliger, protestant scholar, (b. 1540)
• 1793 - King Louis XVI of France, executed, (b. 1754)
• 1891 - Calixa Lavallée, composer, (b. 1842)
• 1924 - Vladimir Lenin, first leader of the USSR, (b. 1870)
• 1932 - Lytton Strachey, writer, (b. 1880)
• 1933 - George A. Moore, novelist, (b. 1852)
• 1948 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, composer, (b. 1876)
• 1950 - George Orwell, writer, (b. 1903)
• 1959 - Cecil B. DeMille, director, (b. 1881)
• 1961 - Blaise Cendrars, writer, (b. 1887)
• 1997 - Colonel Tom Parker, celebrity manager
• 1998 - Jack Lord, actor, (b. 1920)
• 1999 - Susan Strasberg, actress
• 2002 - Peggy Lee, singer, (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of Saint Agnes.

January 20 - January 22 - December 21 - February 21 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By