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This day in history

This day in history: 21 October

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

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Key facts

418 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 21 October.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2021: A shooting occurs on the set of the film Rust, in which actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop weapon which had been loaded, killing the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injuring director Joel Souza.

Holidays and observances

Armed Forces Day (Honduras)

Birth of the Báb (2017) (Baháʼí Faith)

Christian feast day: Blessed Charles of Austria (Roman Catholic Church)

Christian feast day: Céline of Laon

Christian feast day: Fintán of Taghmon

Christian feast day: Hilarion

Christian feast day: John of Bridlington

Christian feast day: Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena

Christian feast day: Malchus of Syria

Christian feast day: October 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Pedro Calungsod

Christian feast day: Peter Yu Tae-chol

Events

2021A shooting occurs on the set of the film Rust, in which actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop weapon which had been loaded, killing the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and injuring director Joel Souza.

2019In Canada, the 2019 Canadian federal election ends, resulting in incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remaining in office, albeit with the Liberal Party in a minority government.

2019Thirty people are killed in a fiery bus crash in western Democratic Republic of the Congo.

2018A passenger train derails in Yilan County, Taiwan, killing 18 people and injuring 187.

2011Iraq War: President Barack Obama announces that the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq will be complete by the end of the year.

2007Finnish race drivers Kimi Räikkönen of Scuderia Ferrari won the Brazilian Grand Prix in Formula One. With this result, Räikkönen became world champion, surpassing McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by one point in the driver

2003Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in documenting its discovery.

1994In Seoul, South Korea, 32 people are killed when a span of the Seongsu Bridge collapses.

1994North Korea and the United States sign an Agreed Framework that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.

1989In Honduras, 131 people are killed when a Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Toncontín International Airport near the nation's capital Tegucigalpa.

1987The Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian peacekeeping forces in Sri Lanka, killing 70 Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.

1986In Lebanon, pro-Iran kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).

1984Niki Lauda claims his third and final Formula One Drivers' Championship Title by half a point ahead of McLaren team-mate Alain Prost at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

1983The metre is defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

1981Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces.

1979Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.

1978Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.

1973Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.

1971A gas explosion kills 22 people at a shopping centre near Glasgow, Scotland.

1969The 1969 Somali coup d'état establishes a Marxist–Leninist administration.

1967The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam organizes a march of fifty thousand people from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon.

1966A colliery spoil tip slips onto houses and a school in the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, 116 of whom were schoolchildren.

1965Comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers (279,617 miles) from the sun.

1959In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public.

1959President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA, including most of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.

1956The Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya is defeated.

1950Korean War: Heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces and North Koreans during the Battle of Yongju.

1945In the 1945 French legislative election French women vote for the first time.

1944World War II: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, the first German city to fall to the Allies.

1944World War II: The first kamikaze attack damages HMAS Australia as the Battle of Leyte Gulf begins.

1944World War II: The Nemmersdorf massacre against German civilians takes place.

1943World War II: The Provisional Government of Free India is formally established in Japanese-occupied Singapore.

1941World War II: The Kragujevac massacre against Serbian men and boys takes place.

1940The first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.

1931A secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.

1921President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting U.S. president against lynching in the Deep South.

1912First Balkan War: The Greek navy completes the capture of the island of Lemnos for use as a forward base against the Dardanelles.

1910HMS Niobe arrives in Halifax Harbour to become the first ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.

1907The 1907 Qaratog earthquake hits the borders of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, killing between 12,000 and 15,000 people.

1895The capitulation of Tainan completes the Japanese conquest of Taiwan.

Born on this day

1995Antoinette Guedia Mouafo, Cameroonian swimmer

1995Cameron Burgess, Scottish-Australian footballer

1995Doja Cat, American rapper, singer and songwriter

1993Kane Brown, American singer and songwriter

1992Bernard Tomic, German-Australian tennis player

1992Damion Lee, American basketball player

1992Marzia Kjellberg, Italian businessperson and former YouTuber

1992Natasha Bassett, Australian actress

1991Alexander Burmistrov, Russian ice hockey player

1991Geoffry Hairemans, Belgian footballer

1991Harry Pell, English footballer

1991Rob Keogh, English cricketer

1991Tom Eastman, English footballer

1991Vadaine Oliver, English footballer

1990Bengali-Fodé Koita, French footballer

1990Kristján Þórður Snæbjarnarson, Icelandic politician

1990Mathieu Peybernes, French footballer

1990Ricky Rubio, Spanish basketball player

1989Festus Ezeli, Nigerian-American basketball player

1989Jonathan Viera, Spanish footballer

1989Luke Murphy, English footballer

1989Mads Dahm, Norwegian footballer

1989Sam Vokes, English-Welsh footballer

1988Daniel Schorn, Austrian cyclist

1988Glen Powell, American actor

1988Ricki Olsen, Danish footballer

1987Andrey Grechin, Russian swimmer

1987Justin De Fratus, American baseball player

1987Tonje Brenna, Norwegian politician

1986Almen Abdi, Swiss footballer

1986Chibuzor Chilaka, Nigerian footballer

1986Scott Rendell, English footballer

1985Dean Collis, Australian rugby league player

1985Hadise, Belgian-Turkish singer-songwriter and dancer

1985Simone Bracalello, Italian footballer

1984Anna Bogdanova, Russian heptathlete

1984Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Canadian speed skater

1984José Lobatón, Venezuelan baseball player

1984Kenny Cooper, American soccer player

1984Kieran Richardson, English footballer

Died on this day

2025Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Portuguese politician, former Prime Minister of Portugal (born 1937)

2024Mimi Hines, Canadian singer and comedian (born 1933)

2023Bill Hayden, Australian politician, 21st Governor General of Australia (born 1933)

2023Bobby Charlton, English footballer and manager (born 1937)

2023Bobi, Portuguese dog (born 1992)

2021Bernard Haitink, Dutch conductor and violinist (born 1929)

2020Frank Bough, English television presenter (born 1933)

2015France Bučar, Slovenian lawyer and politician (born 1923)

2015Marty Ingels, American actor (born 1936)

2015Norman W. Moore, English conservationist and author (born 1923)

2015Sheldon Wolin, American philosopher, theorist, and academic (born 1922)

2014Ben Bradlee, American journalist and author (born 1921)

2014Edith Kawelohea McKinzie, Hawaiian genealogist, author, and hula expert (born 1925)

2014Gough Whitlam, Australian lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Australia (born 1916)

2014Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, Iranian cleric and politician, Prime Minister of Iran (born 1931)

2014Nelson Bunker Hunt, American businessman (born 1926)

2013Bud Adams, American businessman (born 1923)

2013Colonel Robert Morris, American singer-songwriter and drummer (born 1954)

2013Gianni Ferrio, Italian composer and conductor (born 1924)

2013Major Owens, American librarian and politician (born 1936)

2013Oscar Yanes, Venezuelan journalist and author (born 1927)

2013Rune T. Kidde, Danish author, poet, and illustrator (born 1957)

2013Tony Summers, Welsh swimmer (born 1924)

2012Alf Kumalo, South African photographer and journalist (born 1930)

2012Antoni Dobrowolski, Polish educator (born 1904)

2012George McGovern, American historian, lieutenant, and politician (born 1922)

2012Jaroslav Kozlík, Czech volleyball player and educator (born 1907)

2012Yash Chopra, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1932)

2011Hikmet Bilâ, Turkish journalist and author (born 1954)

2011Tone Pavček, Slovenian poet and author (born 1928)

Quote of the day

“The obstacle is the path.”

Zen proverb

Questions people ask

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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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