August 21
August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 132 days remaining.
Events
- 1192 - Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: July 12, 1192)
- 1680 - Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt
- 1770 - James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
- 1772 - King Gustav III completes his coup d'etat by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing him as an enlightened despot.
- 1831 - Nat Turner leads slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia
- 1841 - The venetian blind is first patented in the United States by John Hampson.
- 1842 - The city of Hobart, Tasmania, is founded.
- 1852 - Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory
- 1856 - America's first consul to Japan, Townsend Harris, arrives in Shimoda. (Traditional Japanese date: July 21, 1856)
- 1858 - The Lincoln-Douglas debates begin
- 1862 - The Vienna Stadtpark opens its gates.
- 1863 - Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by Confederate guerillas Quantrill's Raiders in the Lawrence Massacre.
- 1878 - The American Bar Association is founded
- 1879 - The Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist reportedly appear to the people of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.
- 1888 - The first successful adding machine in the United States was patented by William Seward Burroughs.
- 1911 - The Mona Lisa was stolen by a Louvre employee.
- 1944 - Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.
- 1959 - President Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.
- 1968 - Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia.
- 1971 - Black Panther George Jackson is shot and killed in the prison yard at California's San Quentin prison.
- 1976 - Operation Paul Bunyan at Panmunjeom, Korea
- 1986 - Toxic gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing over 1700 people.
- 1987 - Hard rock band Guns 'N Roses release their classic debut Appetite for Destruction.
- 1991 - Latvia declares its full independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1991 - Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.
- 1993 - NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
- 1997 - The British Rock Group Oasis release album, Be Here Now.
- 1998 - The United States destroys a pharmaceutical plant (erroneously believed to be a chemical weapons plant) in Sudan.
- 2001 - NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
- 2001 - A sixth-century temple is discovered in central Mexico.
- 2001 - The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
- 2002 - Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada, announces that he will not seek re-election and would resign within eighteen months.
- 2004 - A grenade attack on Bangladesh Awamee League, the bigest political party in Bangladesh kills 22 and injures more than a thousand, including party president Sheikh Hasina.
- 2005 - Pope Benedict XVI concludes World Youth Day with a mass. Over 800,000 people attended the closing liturgy.
Births
- 1165 - King Philip II of France (d. 1223)
- 1535 - Shimazu Yoshihiro, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1619)
- 1567 - Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and saint (d. 1622)
- 1597 - Roger Twysden, English antiquarian and royalist (d. 1672)
- 1660 - Hubert Gautier, French scientist and civil engineer (d. 1737)
- 1665 - Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (d. 1729)
- 1670 - James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, French military leader (d. 1734)
- 1754 - William Murdoch, Scottish inventor (d. 1839)
- 1765 - William IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1837)
- 1789 - Augustin Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (d. 1857)
- 1801 - Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch politician (d. 1876)
- 1811 - William Kelly, American inventor (d. 1888)
- 1813 - Jean Stas, Belgian chemist (d. 1891)
- 1816 - Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist (d. 1856)
- 1826 - Karl Gegenbaur, German anatomist (d. 1903)
- 1872 - Aubrey Beardsley, English illustrator (d. 1898)
- 1904 - William "Count" Basie, American bandleader (d. 1984)
- 1906 - Friz Freleng, American movie animator (d. 1995)
- 1908 - M. M. Kaye, British writer (d. 2004)
- 1923 - Shimon Peres, Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1924 - Chris Schenkel, American sports journalist
- 1924 - Jack Weston, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1925 - Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (d. 2003)
- 1928 - Art Farmer, American trumpet player (d. 1999)
- 1930 - Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (d. 2002)
- 1932 - Melvin Van Peebles, American actor and screenwriter
- 1933 - Janet Baker, English opera singer (mezzo-soprano)
- 1936 - Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (d. 1999)
- 1938 - Kenny Rogers, American singer and actor
- 1939 - James Burton, American guitarist
- 1939 - Clarence Williams III, American actor
- 1944 - Jackie DeShannon, American singer
- 1944 - Peter Weir, Australian film director
- 1952 - Joe Strummer, British musician and singer (The Clash) (d. 2002)
- 1954 - Ivan Stang, American writer
- 1956 - Kim Cattrall, English-born actress
- 1959 - Jim McMahon, American football player
- 1962 - Jeff Stryker, American adult film actor
- 1963 - Mohammed VI of Morocco
- 1964 - Trinity Loren, American porn star, model and stripper (d. 1998)
- 1967 - Carrie-Anne Moss, Canadian actress
- 1967 - Serj Tankian, Lebanese-born singer (System of a Down)
- 1969 - Josée Chouinard, Canadian figure skater
- 1971 - Liam Howlett, British Musician (Keyboardist for (The Prodigy)
- 1974 - Robbie Overholt, Canadian musician and songwriter
- 1978 - Reuben Droughns, American football player
- 1978 - Jason Marquis, American baseball player
- 1984 - Alizée, French singer
Deaths
- 1157 - King Alfonso VII of Castile
- 1153 - Bernard of Clairvaux, French theologian (b. 1090)
- 1271 - Alphonse of Toulouse, son of Louis VIII of France (b. 1220)
- 1581 - Sakuma Nobumori, Japanese retainer and samurai (b. 1527)
- 1614 - Elizabeth Báthory, Hungarian serial killer (b. 1560)
- 1627 - Jacques Mauduit, French composer (b. 1557)
- 1673 - Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford, English soldier
- 1689 - William Cleland, Scottish poet and soldier
- 1762 - Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (b. 1689)
- 1763 - Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, British statesman (b. 1710)
- 1796 - John McKinly, American physician and President of Delaware (b. 1721)
- 1814 - Benjamin Thompson, American physicist and inventor (b. 1753)
- 1838 - Adelbert von Chamisso, German writer (b. 1781)
- 1940 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)
- 1940 - Ernest Lawrence Thayer, American poet (b. 1863)
- 1943 - Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer, Nobel Prize (b. 1857)
- 1947 - Ettore Bugatti, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1881)
- 1951 - Constant Lambert, British composer and conductor (b. 1905)
- 1957 - Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, Norwegian meteorologist and oceanographer (b. 1888)
- 1960 - David Barnard Steinman, American civil engineer and bridge designer (b. 1886)
- 1978 - Charles Eames, American designer and architect (b. 1907)
- 1982 - Sobhuza II, King of Swaziland (b. 1899)
- 1983 - Benigno S. Aquino Jr., Philippine opposition leader (b. 1932)
- 1995 - Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-born astrophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- 1997 - Norris Bradbury, physicist (b. 1909)
- 2000 - Daniel Lisulo, Zambian prime minister (b. 1930)
- 2003 - Kathy Wilkes, English philosopher and aid worker (b. 1946)
- 2003 - Wesley Willis, American musician (b. 1963)
- 2005 - Bob Moog, American pioneer of electronic music (b. 1934)
- 2005 - Dalia Rabikovich, Israeli poet (b. 1936)
Holidays and observances
- Roman festivals - Consualia, in honor of Consus, is held
- RC saints - pope Pius X
- Orthodox - Thaddaeus
- USA - Lawyer's Day, celebrating the founding of the American Bar Association in 1878
External links
August 20 - August 22 - July 21 - September 21 -- listing of all days