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This day in history

This day in history: 21 July

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

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Key facts

396 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 21 July.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: A Bangladesh Air Force Chengdu FT-7BGI crashes shortly after takeoff into Milestone School campus in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 35 people and injuring 173.

Holidays and observances

Belgian National Day (Belgium)

Christian feast day: Alberic Crescitelli

Christian feast day: Albert John Luthuli (Episcopal Church)

Christian feast day: Arbogast

Christian feast day: Barhadbesciabas

Christian feast day: Carlos of Brazil (Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church)

Christian feast day: Daniel (Catholic Church)

Christian feast day: July 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Lawrence of Brindisi

Christian feast day: Praxedes

Christian feast day: Victor of Marseilles

Liberation Day in 1944 (Guam)

Events

2025A Bangladesh Air Force Chengdu FT-7BGI crashes shortly after takeoff into Milestone School campus in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 35 people and injuring 173.

2024U.S. President Joe Biden announces he will no longer seek a second term and withdraws from the 2024 election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as she launches her own presidential campaign.

2023The Barbenheimer phenomenon begins as two major motion pictures, Greta Gerwig's fantasy comedy Barbie and Christopher Nolan's epic biographical thriller Oppenheimer, are released in theaters on the same day and audiences, instead of creatin

2019Yuen Long attack or "721 incident" in Hong Kong. Triad members indiscriminately beat civilians returning from protests while police failed to take action.

2012Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.

2011NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

2010U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

2008Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first President of Nepal.

2005Four attempted bomb attacks by Islamist extremists disrupt part of London's public transport system.

2001At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, 11 people are killed and more than 120 are injured when a pedestrian footbridge connecting the beach to JR Asagiri Station becomes overcrowded and people leavi

1995Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.

1990Taiwan's military police forces mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5540 for repatriation to Fujian, causing 25 people to die from suffocation.

1983The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).

1979Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk actor, becomes the first Native American to have a star commemorated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1977The start of the four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.

1976Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.

1973In Lillehammer, Norway, Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre.

1972The Troubles: Bloody Friday: The Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing nine and injuring 130.

1970After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.

1969Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed 19 minutes later by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

1964A series of racial riots break out in Singapore. In the next six weeks, 23 die with 454 others injured.

1961Alaska Airlines Flight 779 crashes near Shemya Air Force Base in Shemya, Alaska, killing six.

1961Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).

1960Sirimavo Bandaranaike is sworn in as prime minister of Ceylon, becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of government.

1959Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

1959NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative.

1954First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

1952The 7.3 Mw Kern County earthquake strikes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.

1951Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505 disappears while flying from Vancouver to Tokyo. The aircraft and its 37 occupants are never found.

1949The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.

1944World War II: Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam, starting a battle that will end on August 10.

1944World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and four fellow conspirators are executed for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

1936Spanish Civil War: The Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia is constituted, establishing an anarcho-syndicalist economy in Catalonia.

1925Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to exceed 150 mph (241 km/h) on land. At Pendine Sands in Wales, he drives Sunbeam 350HP built by Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h).

1925Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching human evolution in class and fined $100.

1920The "Belfast Pogrom" begins two years of violence with the expulsion of thousands of Catholic shipyard, factory and linen mill workers from their jobs.

1919The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.

1907The passenger steamer SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, killing 88 people.

1904Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brillié in Ostend, Belgium.

1877After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of nine rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.

Born on this day

2006Endrick, Brazilian footballer

2005Bub Carrington, American basketball player

2000Erling Haaland, Norwegian footballer

2000Lia, South Korean singer

1999Evan McPherson, American football player

1998Maggie Lindemann, American singer-songwriter.

1998Marie Bouzkova, Czech tennis player

1996Mikael Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian footballer

1992Andrew Rayel, Moldovan DJ and producer

1992Burak Çelik, Turkish actor and model

1992Charlotte de Witte, Belgian DJ and record producer

1992Da$H, American rapper

1992Dante Marini, American soccer player

1992Dawid Dryja, Polish volleyball player

1992Giovanni De Gennaro, Italian slalom canoeist

1992Henry Owens, American baseball pitcher

1992Jessica Barden, English actress

1992Jonathon Jennings, American Canadian football player

1992Jude Adjei-Barimah, Italian-American football player

1992Julia Beljajeva, Estonian épée fencer

1992Marcus Harris, Australian cricketer

1992Miles Ukaoma, American-born Nigerian hurdler

1992Rachael Flatt, American figure skater

1992Yuka Sato, Japanese javelin thrower

1991Sara Sampaio, Portuguese model

1990Chris Martin, English footballer

1990Erislandy Savón, Cuban amateur heavyweight boxer

1990Franck Elemba, Congolese shot putter

1990Jason Roy, South African-English cricketer

1989Jamie Waylett, British actor

1989Jasmine Cephas Jones, English actress and singer

1989Juno Temple, English actress

1989Marco Fabián, Mexican footballer

1989Rory Culkin, American actor

1988Chris Mitchell, Scottish footballer (died 2016)

1988DeAndre Jordan, American basketball player

1988KB, American rapper

1987Bilel Mohsni, French footballer

1987Jesús Zavala, Mexican footballer

1987Peter Doocy, American journalist

Died on this day

2025Pau Alsina, Spanish motorcycle rider (born 2008)

2023Tony Bennett, American singer (born 1926)

2020Andrew Mlangeni, South African political activist (born 1925)

2020Annie Ross, Scottish-American singer and actress (born 1930)

2018Alene Duerk, U.S. Navy first female admiral (born 1920)

2017John Heard, American film and television actor (born 1946)

2016Dennis Green, American football player and coach (born 1949)

2015Czesław Marchaj, Polish-English sailor and academic (born 1918)

2015Dick Nanninga, Dutch footballer (born 1949)

2015E. L. Doctorow, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (born 1931)

2015Nicholas Gonzalez, American physician (born 1947)

2015Robert Broberg, Swedish singer-songwriter (born 1940)

2014Dan Borislow, American businessman, invented the magicJack (born 1961)

2014Hans-Peter Kaul, German lawyer and judge (born 1943)

2014Kevin Skinner, New Zealand rugby player and boxer (born 1927)

2014Lettice Curtis, English engineer and pilot (born 1915)

2014Louise Abeita, Isleta Pueblo (Native American) writer, poet, and educator (born 1926)

2014Rilwanu Lukman, Nigerian engineer and politician (born 1938)

2013Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (born 1988)

2013Det de Beus, Dutch field hockey player (born 1958)

2013Fred Taylor, American football player and coach (born 1920)

2013Lourembam Brojeshori Devi, Indian martial artist (born 1981)

2013Luis Fernando Rizo-Salom, Colombian-French composer and educator (born 1971)

2012Alexander Cockburn, Scottish-American journalist and author (born 1941)

2012Ali Podrimja, Albanian poet and author (born 1942)

2012Angharad Rees, English-b. Welsh actress (born 1944)

2012Don Wilson, English cricketer and coach (born 1937)

2012James D. Ramage, American admiral and pilot (born 1916)

2012Marie Kruckel, American baseball player (born 1924)

2010John E. Irving, Canadian businessman (born 1932)

Quote of the day

“Silence is a source of great strength.”

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.

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