January 21

January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 344 days remaining until the end of the year (345 in leap years).

Events

• 763 – The Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa ends in a decisive Abbasid victory.
• 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
• 1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, French Protestants are burned at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris
• 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
• 1749 – The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire. It is rebuilt in 1754.
• 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 of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
• 1840 – Jules Dumont d'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
• 1864 – The Tauranga Campaign begins during the Maori Wars.
• 1887 – 465 millimetres (18.3 in) of rain falls in Brisbane, a record for any Australian capital city.
• 1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.
• 1899 – Opel manufactures its first automobile.
• 1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
• 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.
• 1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1919 – Meeting of the First Dáil Éireann in the Mansion House Dublin. Sinn Féin adopts Ireland's first constitution. The first engagement of Irish War of Independence, Sologhead Beg, County Tipperary.
• 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic.
• 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
• 1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania, the day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews.
• 1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Quebec Flag Day.
• 1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
• 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
• 1958 – The last Fokker C.X in military service, the Finnish Air Force FK-111 target tower, crashes, killing the pilot and winch-operator.
• 1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.
• 1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37. It is the worst air disaster in Jamaica's history and the first for Avianca.
• 1961 – 435 workers are buried alive when a mine in Coalbrook, Free State collapses.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.
• 1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
• 1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.
• 1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
• 1977 – President of the United States Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all American Vietnam War draft evaders, some of whom had emigrated to Canada.
• 1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.
• 1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
• 1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.
• 2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutierrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.
• 2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.
• 2004 – NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
• 2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.

Births

• 1338 – Charles V of France, French king (d. 1380)
• 1610 – Elizabeth Fones, English-American settler (d. 1673)
• 1721 – James Murray, Scottish military officer and politician, Governor of Minorca (d. 1794)
• 1735 – Johann Gottfried Eckard, German pianist and composer (d. 1809)
• 1738 – Ethan Allen, American military leader (d. 1789)
• 1804 – Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (d. 1887)
• 1813 – John C. Frémont, American army officer, explorer, and politician, 5th Territorial Governor of Arizona (d. 1890)
• 1815 – John Bingham, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 7th United States Ambassador to Japan (d. 1900)
• 1820 – Joseph Wolf, German illustrator (d. 1899)
• 1823 – Imre Madách, Hungarian poet, lawyer, and politician (d. 1864)
• 1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (d. 1863)
• 1827 – Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician (d. 1900)
• 1829 – Oscar II of Sweden, Swedish king (d. 1907)
• 1846 – Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician (d. 1923)
• 1848 – Henri Duparc, French composer (d. 1933)
• 1860 – Karl Staaff, Swedish lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
• 1864 – Paul Troje, German politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 1942)
• 1867 – Ludwig Thoma, German author (d. 1921)
• 1867 – Maxime Weygand, French general (d. 1965)
• 1878 – Vahan Tekeyan, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1948)
• 1879 – Joseph Roffo, French rugby player (d. 1933)
• 1881 – Arch McCarthy, American baseball player
• 1882 – Pavel Florensky, Russian theologian and mathematician (d. 1937)
• 1882 – Francis Gailey, Australian-American swimmer (d. 1972)
• 1883 – Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (d. 1929)
• 1883 – Eulogio Rodriguez, Filipino politician, 7th President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 1964)
• 1884 – Roger Nash Baldwin, American author and activist, co-founded the American Civil Liberties Union (d. 1981)
• 1885 – Ernst Gustav Kühnert, Baltic German architect and art historian (d. 1961)
• 1885 – Umberto Nobile, Italian engineer (d. 1978)
• 1887 – Maude Farris-Luse, American super-centenarian (d. 2002)
• 1887 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
• 1895 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer, founded Balenciaga (d. 1972)
• 1897 – René Iché, French sculptor (d. 1954)
• 1898 – Avery Claflin, American composer (d. 1979)
• 1899 – Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-American pianist and composer (d. 1977)
• 1901 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (d. 1978)
• 1904 – Puck van Heel, Dutch footballer (d. 1984)
• 1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (d. 1957)
• 1905 – Karl Wallenda, German acrobat (d. 1978)
• 1906 – Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer (d. 2007)
• 1907 – Friedrich Karm, Estonian footballer (d. 1980)
• 1909 – Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer and conductor (d. 2004)
• 1910 – Albert Rosellini, American politician, 15th Governor of Washington (d. 2011)
• 1910 – Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
• 1912 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
• 1913 – William Ungar, Polish-American author and philanthropist, founded the National Envelope Corporation (d. 2013)
• 1914 – Lally Bowers, English actress (d. 1984)
• 1918 – Chichay, Filipino actress (d. 1993)
• 1918 – Richard Winters, American army officer (d. 2011)
• 1919 – Eric Brown, Scottish navy officer and pilot
• 1921 – Lincoln Alexander, Canadian politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (d. 2012)
• 1921 – Howard Unruh, American murderer (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1922 – Paul Scofield, English actor (d. 2008)
• 1923 – Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer, and actress (d. 1995)
• 1924 – Benny Hill, English comedian (d. 1992)
• 1925 – Eva Ibbotson, Austrian-English author (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Brian Brockless, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
• 1926 – Steve Reeves, American actor (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Clive Churchill, Australian rugby player (d. 1985)
• 1928 – Gene Sharp, American political scientist and academic
• 1930 – Mainza Chona, Zambian politician, 3rd Vice President of Zambia (d. 2001)
• 1932 – Bill Bell, English businessman (d. 2013)
• 1932 – John Chaney, American basketball coach
• 1933 – Joseph W. Eschbach, American doctor (d. 2007)
• 1933 – Norman Willis, English former trade unionist
• 1934 – Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
• 1935 – Masamichi Noro, Japanese-French martial artist (d. 2013)
• 1935 – Ann Wedgeworth, American actress
• 1936 – Koji Hashimoto, Japanese director (d. 2005)
• 1937 – Nushiravan Keihanizadeh, Iranian-American journalist and historian
• 1937 – Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria
• 1937 – Ursula Owen, English publisher and campaigner
• 1937 – Nicholas Philips, English former judge
• 1938 – Sandy Barr, American wrestler and referee (d. 2007)
• 1938 – Ken Maginnis, British politician
• 1938 – John Savident, English actor
• 1938 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host and actor (d. 1995)
• 1939 – Abdul Jolil, Bangladeshi politician (d. 2013)
• 1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
• 1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor and conductor
• 1941 – Stathis Giallelis, Greek actor
• 1941 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
• 1941 – Mike Medavoy, Chinese-American film producer, co-founded Orion Pictures
• 1941 – Ivan Putski, Polish-American wrestler
• 1941 – Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian prince (d. 2013)
• 1941 – Elaine Showalter, American author and literary critic
• 1942 – Mac Davis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1942 – George Foulkes, English politician
• 1942 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
• 1943 – Rosemary Butler, Welsh politician
• 1943 – Dimitris Poulikakos, Greek singer-songwriter and actor
• 1945 – Martin Shaw, English actor
• 1945 – Andrew Turnbull, British civil servant
• 1946 – Johnny Oates, American baseball player and manager (d. 2004)
• 1947 – Jill Eikenberry, American actress
• 1947 – Pye Hastings, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Caravan)
• 1947 – Michel Jonasz, French singer-songwriter and actor
• 1947 – Jonathan Meades, English cultural writer and broadcaster
• 1950 – Gary Locke, American politician and diplomat, 21st Governor of Washington
• 1950 – Billy Ocean, Trinidadian-English singer-songwriter
• 1950 – Seona Reid, British arts administrator
• 1950 – Agnes van Ardenne, Dutch politician and diplomat
• 1951 – Eric Holder, American jurist, 82nd United States Attorney General
• 1952 – Marco Camenisch, Swiss activist
• 1952 – Cyril Hellier, American soprano
• 1952 – Libbye Hellier, American soprano
• 1952 – Louis Menand, American author and academic
• 1953 – Paul Allen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Microsoft
• 1953 – Glenn Kaiser, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Resurrection Band)
• 1954 – Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkinabé director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1954 – Phil Thompson, English footballer and coach
• 1955 – Jeff Koons, American sculptor
• 1956 – Robby Benson, American actor
• 1956 – Geena Davis, American actress
• 1957 – Greg Ryan, German-American soccer player and coach
• 1958 – Gareth Branwyn, American technology writer
• 1958 – Frank Ticheli, American composer
• 1958 – Michael Wincott, Canadian actor
• 1959 – Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
• 1960 – Toxey Haas, American businessman, founded Haas Outdoors, Inc.
• 1962 – Tyler Cowen, American economist
• 1962 – Brian Hildebrand, American wrestler, referee, and manager (d. 1999)
• 1962 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
• 1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball player
• 1963 – Detlef Schrempf, German basketball player
• 1965 – Jam Master Jay, American rapper and DJ (Run–D.M.C.) (d. 2002)
• 1966 – Robert Del Naja, English singer-songwriter and DJ (Massive Attack and The Wild Bunch)
• 1967 – Artashes Minasian, Armenian chess player
• 1968 – Sundar C., Indian actor and director
• 1968 – Charlotte Ross, American actress
• 1969 – Eduard Hämäläinen, Finnish-Belarusian decathlete
• 1969 – M. K. Hobson, American author
• 1969 – Karina Lombard, American actress
• 1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese illustrator
• 1970 – Ken Leung, American actor
• 1971 – Adia Chan, Hong Kongsinger and actress
• 1971 – Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skater
• 1971 – Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
• 1971 – Tweet, American singer-songwriter
• 1971 – Doug Weight, American ice hockey player
• 1972 – Alan Benes, American baseball player
• 1972 – Rickard Falkvinge, Swedish politician
• 1972 – Yasunori Mitsuda, Japanese composer
• 1972 – Cat Power, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1973 – Rob Hayles, English cyclist
• 1974 – Malena Alterio, Argentine-Spanish actress
• 1974 – Rove McManus, Australian comedian, television host, and producer
• 1974 – Alex Sperafico, Brazilian race car driver
• 1975 – Nicky Butt, English footballer
• 1975 – Thomas Castaignede, French rugby player
• 1975 – Yuji Ide, Japanese race car driver
• 1975 – Ito, Spanish footballer
• 1975 – Willem Korsten, Dutch footballer
• 1976 – Emma Bunton, English singer-songwriter and actress (Spice Girls)
• 1976 – Patrick de Lange, Dutch baseball player
• 1977 – Al Baxter, Australian rugby player
• 1977 – Phil Neville, English footballer
• 1977 – Matt Perry, English rugby player
• 1977 – Jerry Trainor, American actor
• 1978 – Faris al-Sultan, German-Iraqi triathlete
• 1978 – Bryan Gilmore, American football player
• 1978 – Nokio the N-Tity, American singer-songwriter and producer (Dru Hill)
• 1978 – Phil Stacey, American singer
• 1978 – Andrei Zyuzin, Russian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Byung-Hyun Kim, South Korean baseball player
• 1979 – Spider Loc, American rapper and actor
• 1979 – Brian O'Driscoll, Irish rugby player
• 1980 – Dave Kitson, English footballer
• 1980 – Nana Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress
• 1980 – Mari Possa, Salvadorian-American porn actress
• 1980 – Brie Rippner, American tennis player
• 1980 – N. Santhanam, Indian actor
• 1981 – Gillian Chung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress (Twins)
• 1981 – Jamie Dalrymple, English cricketer
• 1981 – Ivan Ergić, Serbian footballer
• 1981 – Dany Heatley, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1981 – Andy Lee, South Korean singer and actor (Shinhwa)
• 1981 – Izabella Miko, Polish actress and model
• 1981 – Michel Teló, Brazilian singer-songwriter
• 1982 – Nicolas Mahut, French tennis player
• 1982 – Simon Rolfes, German footballer
• 1982 – Go Shiozaki, Japanese wrestler
• 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
• 1983 – Alex Acker, American basketball player
• 1983 – Niels de Ruiter, Dutch dart player
• 1983 – Maryse Ouellet, Canadian wrestler and model
• 1983 – Peter Philipakos, American-Greek soccer player
• 1983 – Moritz Volz, German footballer
• 1984 – Raymond Gutierrez, American Filipino actor and television host
• 1984 – Richard Gutierrez, American-Filipino actor
• 1984 – Alex Koslov, Russian-American wrestler
• 1984 – Robert Ray, American baseball player
• 1985 – Salvatore Giunta, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient
• 1985 – Justin Ingram, American basketball player
• 1985 – Adrian Lewis, English darts player
• 1985 – Álex Pérez, Spanish footballer
• 1985 – Sasha Pivovarova, Russian model
• 1985 – Matt Unicomb, Australian basketball player
• 1986 – Peyton Hillis, American football player
• 1986 – Jonathan Quick, American ice hockey player
• 1986 – Sushant Singh Rajput, Indian actor
• 1987 – Brandon Crawford, American baseball player
• 1987 – Henrico Drost, Dutch footballer
• 1987 – Darren Helm, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 – Ashton Eaton, American decathlete
• 1988 – Vanessa Hessler, Italian-American model
• 1988 – William C. Woxlin, Swedish author and composer
• 1989 – Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenian footballer
• 1990 – Jacob Smith, American actor
• 1991 – Martin Dorbek, Estonian basketball player
• 1993 – John Cofie, English footballer
• 1994 – Laura Robson, Australian-English tennis player
• 1994 – Booboo Stewart, American actor, singer, and dancer (T-Squad)
• 1994 – Simone Pasa, Italian footballer
• 1997 – Jeremy Shada, American actor
• 2001 – Jackson Brundage, American actor
• 2004 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway

Deaths

• 496 – Epiphanius of Pavia, Italian bishop (b. 438)
• 917 – Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (b. 880)
• 1118 – Pope Paschal II
• 1519 – Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)
• 1527 – Juan de Grijalva, Spanish conquistador (b. 1489)
• 1546 – Azai Sukemasa, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1491)
• 1609 – Joseph Justus Scaliger, French scholar (b. 1540)
• 1638 – Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (b. 1570)
• 1683 – Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician (b. 1621)
• 1699 – Obadiah Walker, English academic (b. 1616)
• 1706 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (b. 1649)
• 1710 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (b. 1638)
• 1722 – Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, English politician (b. 1661)
• 1731 – Ignjat Đurđević, Croatian poet and translator (b. 1675)
• 1766 – James Quin, English actor (b. 1693)
• 1773 – Alexis Piron, French playwright (b. 1689)
• 1774 – Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1717)
• 1775 – Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel (b. 1742)
• 1793 – Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)
• 1795 – Samuel Wallis, English navigator (b. 1728)
• 1809 – Josiah Hornblower, American engineer and politician (b. 1729)
• 1814 – Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, French botanist and author (b. 1737)
• 1823 – Cayetano José Rodríguez, Argentine cleric, journalist, and poet (b. 1761)
• 1831 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (b. 1781)
• 1836 – Ferenc Novák Hungarian-Slovene priest (b. 1791)
• 1851 – Albert Lortzing, German composer and actor (b. 1801)
• 1862 – Božena Němcová, Czech author (b. 1820)
• 1870 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher (b. 1812)
• 1872 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian playwright (b. 1791)
• 1881 – Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss politician (b. 1802)
• 1891 – Calixa Lavallée, Canadian-American composer (b. 1842)
• 1901 – Elisha Gray, American engineer, co-founded Western Electric (b. 1835)
• 1914 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter (b. 1857)
• 1919 – Gojong of the Korean Empire (b. 1852)
• 1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian politician and theorist (b. 1870)
• 1926 – Camillo Golgi, Italian physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1843)
• 1928 – George Washington Goethals, American army officer and engineer (b. 1858)
• 1931 – Felix Blumenfeld, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1863)
• 1932 – Lytton Strachey, English author and critic (b. 1880)
• 1933 – George Moore, Irish author (b. 1852)
• 1937 – Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1898)
• 1938 – Georges Méliès, French director (b. 1861)
• 1940 – John Duha, American gymnast (b. 1875)
• 1945 – Rash Behari Bose, Indian activist (b. 1886)
• 1948 – Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
• 1950 – George Orwell, Indian-English journalist and author (b. 1903)
• 1955 – Archie Hahn, German-American runner (b. 1880)
• 1956 – Sam Langford, Canadian boxer (b. 1883)
• 1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director (b. 1881)
• 1959 – Carl Switzer, American actor (b. 1927)
• 1961 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss author and poet (b. 1887)
• 1963 – Acharya Shivpujan Sahay, Indian author (b. 1893)
• 1965 – Gwynne Evans, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1880)
• 1967 – Ann Sheridan, American actress (b. 1915)
• 1968 – Will Lang, Jr., American journalist (b. 1914)
• 1977 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet (b. 1906)
• 1978 – Freda Utley, English scholar and author (b. 1898)
• 1984 – Giannis Skarimpas, Greek playwright and poet (b. 1893)
• 1983 – Lamar Williams, American musician, most known as the bassist for The Allman Brothers Band and Seal Level (b. 1949)
• 1984 – Jackie Wilson, American singer-songwriter (Billy Ward and His Dominoes) (b. 1934)
• 1985 – James Beard, American chef and author (b. 1903)
• 1985 – Eddie Graham, American wrestler and promoter (b. 1930)
• 1987 – Charles Goodell, American politician (b. 1926)
• 1989 – Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
• 1989 – Billy Tipton, American pianist (b. 1914)
• 1993 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player (b. 1903)
• 1994 – Bassel al-Assad, Syrian army officer (b. 1962)
• 1994 – Andrejs Kapmals, Latvian runner (b. 1889)
• 1996 – René Marc Jalbert, Canadian soldier (b. 1921)
• 1997 – Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-American talent manager (b. 1909)
• 1998 – Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Charles Brown, American singer and pianist (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)
• 2001 – Byron De La Beckwith, American assassin of Medgar Evers (b. 1921)
• 2002 – Peggy Lee, American singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1920)
• 2003 – Paul Haines, American-Canadian poet (b. 1933)
• 2003 – Paul Kuusberg, Estonian author (b. 1916)
• 2004 – Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian playwright (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Theun de Vries, Dutch poet (b. 1907)
• 2005 – John L. Hess, American journalist (b. 1917)
• 2005 – Kaljo Raid, Estonian composer, cellist and clergyman (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Bedanand Jha, Nepalese politician
• 2006 – Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo politician, 1st President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
• 2007 – U-Nee, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress (b. 1981)
• 2007 – Maria Cioncan, Romanian runner (b. 1977)
• 2008 – Pam Barrett, Canadian politician (b. 1953)
• 2008 – Marie Smith Jones, American speaker of the Eyak language (b. 1918)
• 2008 – Kenneth Parnell, American sex offender (b. 1931)
• 2009 – Krista Kilvet, Estonian radio journalist, politician and diplomat (b. 1946)
• 2009 – Veatrice Rice, American nurse and security guard (b. 1949)
• 2010 – Paul Quarrington, Canadian author, playwright, guitarist, and composer (b. 1953)
• 2011 – Dennis Oppenheim, American sculptor and photographer (b. 1938)
• 2011 – E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Indian director, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1958)
• 2013 – Kamal Basu, Bengali-Indian politician (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Alden W. Clausen, American banker (b. 1923)
• 2013 – David Coe, Australian businessman, founded Allco Finance Group (b. 1954)
• 2013 – Riccardo Garrone, Italian businessman (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Jean Giambrone, American journalist (b. 1921)
• 2013 – Zina Harman, English-Israeli politician (b. 1914)
• 2013 – Donald Hornig, American chemist (b. 1920)
• 2013 – Ahmet Mete Işıkara, Turkish geophysicist (b. 1941)
• 2013 – Inez McCormack, Irish union leader and activist (b. 1941)
• 2013 – Jake McNiece, American army officer (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Hinton Mitchem, American politician (b. 1938)
• 2013 – Chumpol Silpa-archa, Thai politician (b. 1940)
• 2013 – Michael Winner, English director and producer (b. 1935)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Agnes
  • Fructuosus
  • Meinrad of Einsiedeln
  • January 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Errol Barrow Day (Barbados)
• Flag Day (Quebec)
• Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)
• National Hug Day (United States)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to January 21.

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On this day in Canada