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This day in history

This day in history: 21 June

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day322 · 113

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Key facts

487 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 21 June.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: A hot air balloon catches fire mid-flight and crashes in Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil, killing 8 of the 21 on board.

Holidays and observances

Aloysius Gonzaga

Day of Private Reflection (Northern Ireland)

Day of the Martyrs (Togo)

Engelmund of Velsen

Father's Day (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Uganda, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates)

Fête de la Musique

Go Skateboarding Day

International Yoga Day (international)

June 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Martin of Tongres

Events

2025A hot air balloon catches fire mid-flight and crashes in Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil, killing 8 of the 21 on board.

2012A boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsizes in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island, killing 17 people and leaving 70 others missing.

2012An Indonesian Air Force Fokker F27 Friendship crashes near Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport, killing 11.

2009Greenland assumes self-rule.

2006A Yeti Airlines de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashes at Jumla Airport in Nepal, killing nine people.

2006Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra.

2005Edgar Ray Killen, who had previously been unsuccessfully tried for the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner, is convicted of manslaughter 41 years afterwards (the case had been reopened in 2004).

2004SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.

2001A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicts 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen.

2000Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988), outlawing the 'promotion' of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, is repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.

1993Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on STS-57 to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) satellite. It is also the first shuttle mission to carry the Spacehab module.

1989The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, that American flag-burning is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment.

1985Braathens SAFE Flight 139 is hijacked on approach to Oslo Airport, Fornebu. Special forces arrest the hijacker and there are no fatalities.

1982John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

1978The original production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Evita, based on the life of Eva Perón, opens at the Prince Edward Theatre, London.

1973In its decision in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller test for determining whether something is obscene and not protected speech under the U.S. constitution.

1973The Primer Congreso del Hombre Andino is inaugurated in Arica, Chile.

1970Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy in what was the largest U.S. corporate bankruptcy to date.

1964Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

1963Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini is elected as Pope Paul VI.

1957Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first female Cabinet Minister.

1952The Philippine School of Commerce, through a republic act, is converted to Philippine College of Commerce, later to be the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

1945World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island.

1942World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by Japan against the United States mainland.

1942World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces; 33,000 Allied troops are taken prisoner.

1941Having defeated forces of Vichy France, Allied forces capture Damascus.

1940World War II: Italy begins an unsuccessful invasion of France.

1930One-year conscription comes into force in France.

1929An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico.

1921The Irish village of Knockcroghery is burned by British forces.

1919Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet at Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.

1919The Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during the Winnipeg general strike.

1915The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down Oklahoma grandfather clause legislation which had the effect of denying the right to vote to African-Americans.

1900Boxer Rebellion: China formally declares war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan, as an edict issued from the Empress Dowager Cixi.

1898The United States captures Guam from Spain. The few warning shots fired by the U.S. naval vessels are misinterpreted as salutes by the Spanish garrison, which was unaware that the two nations were at war.

1864American Civil War: The Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road begins.

1848In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell issue the Proclamation of Islaz and create a new republican government.

1826Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas.

1824Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.

1813Peninsular War: Wellington defeats Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Vitoria.

Born on this day

2011Lil Bub, American celebrity cat

2007Nanou Philips, Belgian ASMR social media personality

2001Alexandra Obolentseva, Russian chess player

2000Dylan Brown, New Zealand rugby league player

1999Ky Rodwell, Australian rugby league player

1998Isabel Atkin, British-American freestyle skier

1997Derrius Guice, American football player

1997Rebecca Black, American singer-songwriter

1996Scottie Scheffler, American golfer

1996Tyrone May, Australian rugby league player

1994Başak Eraydın, Turkish tennis player

1993Hungrybox, Argentine-American esports player

1992Hussein El Shahat, Egyptian professional footballer

1992MAX, American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer and model

1991Gaël Kakuta, French footballer

1991Lee Min-young, South Korean singer-songwriter, actress, and entertainer

1990François Moubandje, Swiss footballer

1990Håvard Nordtveit, Norwegian footballer

1990Isabel Pires, Portuguese politician

1990Ričardas Berankis, Lithuanian tennis player

1990Sergei Matsenko, Russian chess player

1989Abubaker Kaki, Sudanese runner

1988Alejandro Ramírez, American chess player

1988Allyssa DeHaan, American basketball and volleyball player

1988Paolo Tornaghi, Italian footballer

1988Thaddeus Young, American basketball player

1987Dale Thomas, Australian footballer

1987Kim Ryeo-wook, South Korean singer

1987Pablo Barrera, Mexican footballer

1987Sebastian Prödl, Austrian footballer

1986Hideaki Wakui, Japanese baseball player

1986Kathleen O'Kelly-Kennedy, Australian wheelchair basketball player

1985Byron Schammer, Australian footballer

1985Kris Allen, American musician, singer and songwriter

1985Lana Del Rey, American singer-songwriter

1985Sentayehu Ejigu, Ethiopian runner

1983Edward Snowden, American activist and academic

1982Jussie Smollett, American actor and singer

1982Lee Dae-ho, South Korean baseball player

1982William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne

Died on this day

2024Frederick Crews, American essayist and literary critic

2023Winnie Ewing, Scottish politician

2018Charles Krauthammer, American columnist and conservative political commentator

2016Pierre Lalonde, Canadian television host and singer

2015Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, German soldier and politician

2015Darryl Hamilton, American baseball player and sportscaster

2015Gunther Schuller, American horn player, composer, and conductor

2015Remo Remotti, Italian actor, playwright, and poet

2015Veijo Meri, Finnish author and poet

2014Walter Kieber, Austrian-Liechtenstein politician, 7th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein

2014Wong Ho Leng, Malaysian lawyer and politician

2014Yozo Ishikawa, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Defense

2013Elliott Reid, American actor and screenwriter

2013James P. Gordon, American physicist and academic

2012Abid Hussain, Indian economist and diplomat, Indian Ambassador to the United States

2012Anna Schwartz, American economist and author

2012Richard Adler, American composer and producer

2012Sunil Janah, Indian photographer and journalist

2011Robert Kroetsch, Canadian author and poet

2010İlhan Selçuk, Turkish lawyer, journalist, and author

2010Irwin Barker, Canadian actor and screenwriter

2010Russell Ash, English author

2008Scott Kalitta, American race car driver

2007Bob Evans, American businessman, founded Bob Evans Restaurants

2006Jared C. Monti, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient

2005Jaime Sin, Filipino cardinal

2004Leonel Brizola, Brazilian engineer and politician, Governor of Rio de Janeiro

2004Ruth Leach Amonette, American businesswoman

2003Leon Uris, American soldier and author

2003Roger Neilson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Quote of the day

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

This day in history

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