July 21

Events
Up to 1900
356 BC The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus (present-day Turkey), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is destroyed in an arson attack.
230 Pope Pontian succeeds Pope Urban I.
285 Diocletian appoints Maximian as Roman Caesar and co-ruler.
365 After a magnitude 8 earthquake, and a tsunami, around 50,000 people are killed in and around Alexandria, Egypt.
1342 The St. Mary Magdalene's flood leads to several rivers in central Europe bursting their banks. It is Europe's worst flood of the second millennium.
1403 Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels in the north of the county of Shropshire.
1545 The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight, during the island's French invasion.
1645 Qing Dynasty regent Dorgon issues an edict ordering all Han Chinese men to shave their forehead and braid the rest of their hair into a queue identical to those of the Manchus.
1656 The Raid on Malaga takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
1718 The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed.
1774 The First Russo-Turkish War ends.
1795 Mungo Park becomes the first European to reach the River Niger.
1798 Battle of the Pyramids: Napoleon Bonaparte's army defeats the army of the Mamluks under the leadership of Mourad Bey.
1822 Agustin de Iturbide becomes Emperor of Mexico.
1831 The British Guyana colony is created.
1831 Leopold I, King of the Belgians becomes Belgium's first king.
1843 Antwerp Zoo is founded, becoming the first zoo in Belgium.
1847 Spain recognizes Bolivia's independence.
1861 American Civil War: The First Battle of Bull Run at Manassas ends in Confederate victory.
1865 Wild Bill Hickok shoots Davis Tutt in one of the first Western showdowns.
1873 At Adair, Iowa Jesse James and the James Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the Old American West.
1897 London's Tate Gallery opens.
1901 2000
1902 The steamer Primus sinks in the Elbe River near Hamburg, killing 101 people.
1904 Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the barrier on land. He drove a 15-litre Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium.
1907 The passenger steamer SS Columbia collides with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California. The Columbia sinks, killing 88 people.
1914 Romania, it is decided, is neutral in World War I, after a decision by the country's crown council.
1925 Tennessee high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching the theory of evolution. He is fined 100 dollars.
1925 Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to break the land barrier at Pendine Sands, Wales. He drove a Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of .
1938 In a peace deal at the end of the Chaco War, Bolivia loses part of its territory to Paraguay. That makes Paraguay twice as big.
1944 Leaders of the July 20 plot to kill Adolf Hitler are executed.
1944 World War II: The Battle of Guam begins.
1949 The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.
1951 The Dalai Lama returns to Tibet from exile.
1954 Publication of the first part of the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
1954 The Geneva Conference decides to split Vietnam into North and South.
1959 Pumpsie Green becomes the first African American to play for the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
1961 Gus Grissom becomes the second American in space.
1962 British band the Rolling Stones play their first show, at the Marquee Club in London.
1969 At 2:56 am on this day (July 20 in the US), Apollo 11 lands, leading to Neil Armstrong becoming the first person to walk on the Moon.
1970 In Egypt, the Aswan Dam is completed.
1972 The Troubles: Bloody Friday - Provisional IRA members detonate 22 bombs in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the space of 80 minutes.
1973 Lillehammer affair: The Mossad kills waiter Ahmed Bouchiki in Norway, mistakenly thinking he was terrorist leader Ali Hassan Salameh.
1974 Eddy Merckx wins his 5th Tour de France.
1977 Start of the four-day Libyan-Egyptian War.
1983 The lowest-measured temperature is recorded as at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica.
1992 Russia and Moldova enter into a peace agreement.
1994 Tony Blair becomes leader of the British Labour Party.
1994 Jacques Santer is elected President of the European Commission.
1996 Bjarne Riis becomes the first Scandinavian to win the Tour de France.
From 2001
2001 At the end of a fireworks display in Okura Beach, Akashi, Hyogo, Japan, the footbridge connecting the beach to the JR Asagiri railway station becomes crowded, with the resulting crush killing 11 people and injuring 120.
2005 Four suicide bombers fail to detonate their bombs on London's underground and bus systems.
2005 Horst Koehler dissolves the Bundestag (German Parliament) ahead of an early election.
2007 The last novel in the Harry Potter series goes on sale.
2008 Former Bosnian-Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is arrested on war crimes charges in Belgrade, after several years in disguise.
2011 The Space Shuttle program ends, as the Space Shuttle Atlantis returns safely to Earth on its last mission.
2013 King Albert II of Belgium leaves the throne to his son, who becomes King Philippe of Belgium, and is therefore the 7th King of the Belgians.
2013 British cyclist Chris Froome wins the 100th Tour de France.
2016 Donald Trump accepts the Republican Party nomination for US president.
Births
Up to 1900
1414 Pope Sixtus IV (d. 1484)
1515 Philip Neri, Italian saint (d. 1595)
1620 Jean Picard, French astronomer (d. 1682)
1664 Matthew Prior, English poet and diplomat (d. 1721)
1693 Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1768)
1766 Thomas Charles Hope, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1844)
1808 Simion Barnutiu, Romanian philosopher, liberal politician, jurist and historian (d. 1864)
1810 Henri Victor Regnault, French chemist and physicist (d. 1878)
1816 Paul Reuter, German-British journalist (d. 1899)
1821 Vasile Alecsandri, Romanian poet, dramatist and politician (d. 1890)
1843 Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal (d. 1884)
1851 Sam Bass, American train robber and outlaw (d. 1878)
1856 Wilhelm Geiger, German indologist (d. 1943)
1858 Maria Christina of Austria, Queen of Spain (d. 1929)
1858 Lovis Corinth, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1925)
1864 Frances Folsom Cleveland, First Lady of the United States (d. 1947)
1870 Emil Orlik, Czech painter and graphic artist (d. 1932)
1873 Charles Schlee, Danish-American cyclist (d. 1947)
1875 Charles Gondouin, French rugby player (d. 1947)
1879 Joseph A. A. Burnquist, Governor of Minnesota (d. 1961)
1880 Milan Rastislav Stefanik, Slovakian politician and astronomer (d. 1919)
1882 David Burliuk, Ukrainian illustrator, publicist and author (d. 1967)
1885 Jacques Feyder, Belgian actor, screenwriter and movie director (d. 1948)
1891 Julius Saaristo, Finnish javelin thrower (d. 1969)
1893 Hans Fallada, German writer (d. 1947)
1893 Margarete Sommer, German humanitarian (d. 1965)
1897 Edmund Heines, German Nazi politician (d. 1934)
1899 Hart Crane, American poet (d. 1932)
1899 Ernest Hemingway, American writer (d. 1961)
1901 1950
1903 Roy Neuberger, American financier and art collector (d. 2010)
1908 Ljerko Spiller, Argentine conductor and violinist (d. 2008)
1908 Harold "Jug" McSpaden, American golfer (d. 1996)
1911 Marshall McLuhan, Canadian writer (d. 1980)
1914 Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Italian screenwriter (d. 2010)
1919 Nuto Revelli, Italian military, resistance activist, professor and writer (d. 2004)
1920 John Horsley, English actor (d. 2014)
1920 Isaac Stern, Ukrainian violinist (d. 2001)
1920 Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (d. 2005)
1920 Mohammed Dib, Algerian journalist and writer (d. 2003)
1921 James Cooke Brown, American sociologist (d. 2000)
1922 Jay Hammond, Governor of Alaska (d. 2005)
1922 Kay Starr, American entertainer (d. 2016)
1922 Molly Sugden, British actress (d. 2009)
1923 Rudolph A. Marcus, Canadian chemist
1924 Rahimuddin Khan, Pakistani politician, 7th Governor of Balochistan
1924 Don Knotts, American actor (d. 2006)
1925 Anne Meacham, American actress (d. 2006)
1926 Norman Jewison, Canadian movie director
1926 Bill Pertwee, English actor (d. 2013)
1926 Karel Reisz, Czech-English director (d. 2002)
1930 Helen Merrill, American jazz singer
1933 John Gardner, American writer (d. 1982)
1934 Jonathan Miller, British director, actor and author
1935 Norbert Blum, German politician
1938 Janet Reno, United States Attorney General (d. 2016)
1938 Anton Kuerti, Austrian-Canadian pianist, composer and conductor
1939 Helmut Haller, German footballer (d. 2012)
1939 Kim Fowley, American record producer (d. 2015)
1941 Martin Bandier, music publisher
1943 Edward Herrmann, American actor (d. 2014)
1943 Henry McCullough, Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter (d. 2016)
1944 Buchi Emecheta, Nigerian novelist (d. 2017)
1944 John Atta Mills, President of Ghana (d. 2012)
1944 Paul Wellstone, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (d. 2002)
1945 Lydia Shum, Hong Kong actress and singer (d. 2008)
1945 John Lowe, English darts player
1945 Wendy Cope, English poet
1946 Ken Starr, American lawyer and judge
1946 Juri Tarmak, Estonian high jumper
1947 Chetan Chauan, Indian cricketer
1947 Co Adriaanse, Dutch football manager
1948 Beppe Grillo, Italian actor, comedian and political activist (Five Star Movement)
1948 Ed Hinton, sportswriter
1948 Yusuf Islam, English singer, formerly known as Cat Stevens
1948 Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
1948 Litto Nebbia, Argentine tango and rock musician
1948 Snooty, American manatee (d. 2017)
1950 Susan Kramer, English politician
1951 1975
1951 Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (d. 2014)
1953 John Salazar, American politician
1953 Jeff Fatt, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
1955 Marcelo Bielsa, Argentine footballer and manager
1955 Taco, Indonesian-born Dutch singer
1955 Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter and producer (d. 2003)
1955 Bela Tarr, Hungarian actor, director and screenwriter
1955 Dannel Malloy, American politician, 88th Governor of Connecticut
1957 Stefan Lofven, Prime Minister of Sweden
1957 Jon Lovitz, American comedian
1958 Dave Henderson, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1960 Lance Guest, American actor
1962 Mokgweetsi Masisi, 5th President of Botswana
1964 Ross Kemp, British actor
1964 Jens Weissflog, German ski jumper
1965 Gudni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer
1968 Brandi Chastain, American soccer player
1968 Lyle Odelein, hockey player
1969 Emerson Hart, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
1970 Angus MacNeil, Scottish politician
1971 Charlotte Gainsbourg, French actress
1972 Catherine Ndereba, Kenyan long-distance runner
1972 Simon Reeve, English television presenter and writer
1973 Roberto Bisconti, Belgian footballer
1973 Ali Landry, American model and actress
1973 Caroline Neron, Canadian singer, actress and fashion designer
From 1976
1977 Paul Casey, British golfer
1977 Jaime Murray, British actress
1978 Kyoko Iwasaki, Japanese swimmer
1978 Gary Teale, Scottish footballer
1978 Josh Hartnett, American actor
1978 Damian Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer
1979 David Carr, American football player
1979 Dorinel Gurbina, Romanian handball player
1979 Andriy Voronin, Ukrainian footballer
1980 CC Sabathia, American baseball player
1981 Paloma Faith, English singer-songwriter and actress
1981 Yushin Okami, Japanese mixed martial artist
1981 Joaquin Sanchez, Spanish footballer
1982 Mao Kobayashi, Japanese actress
1983 Kellen Winslow Jr., American football player
1983 Eivor Palsdottir, Faroese singer and composer
1984 Liam Ridgewell, English footballer
1985 Von Wafer, American basketball player
1986 Anthony Annan, Ghanaian footballer
1986 Livia Brito, Cuban-Mexican actress and model
1986 Rebecca Ferguson, English singer
1988 DeAndre Jordan, American basketball player
1989 Rory Culkin, American actor
1989 Ali Cobrin, American actress
1989 Juno Temple, English actress
1989 Marco Fabian, Mexican footballer
1989 Chris Gunter, Welsh footballer
1990 Chris Martin, English footballer
1992 Rachael Flatt, American figure skater
1992 Jessica Barden, English actress
1995 Baekho, South Korean singer
Deaths
Up to 1950
1403 Henry Percy, English nobleman and soldier (b. 1364)
1425 Manuel II Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1350)
1552 Antonio de Mendoza, 1st Viceroy of New Spain (b. 1495)
1793 Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, French explorer (b. 1739)
1796 Robert Burns, Scottish poet (b. 1759)
1796 Philip Carteret, English explorer (b. 1733)
1859 John Gayle, American politician (b. 1792)
1865 Davis Tutt, American gambler and salloon drinker (b. 1836)
1878 Sam Bass, American train robber and outlaw (b. 1851)
1880 Hiram Walden, American politician (b. 1800)
1889 Nelson Dewey, American politician (b. 1813)
1899 Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier and politician (b. 1833)
1907 Nicolae Grigorescu, Romanian painter (b. 1838)
1938 Owen Wister, American writer (b. 1860)
1941 Bohdan Lepky, Ukrainian writer and poet (b. 1872)
1943 Charley Paddock, American politician (b. 1900)
1944 Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, leader of the July 20 plot to kill Hitler (b. 1907)
1944 Ludwig Beck, German Chief of Staff (b. 1880)
1946 Gualberto Villarroel, 45th President of Bolivia (b. 1908)
1948 Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (b. 1904)
1951 2010
1967 Albert Lutuli, South African political activist (b. 1898)
1967 Basil Rathbone, British actor (b. 1892)
1968 Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1878)
1970 Mikhail Gerasimov, Russian anthropologist and sculptor (b. 1907)
1972 Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (b. 1928)
1972 Ralph Craig, American sprinter (b. 1889)
1973 Ahmed Bouchiki, Algerian-born victim of mistaken identity, killed by the Mossad in Norway (b. 1943)
1982 Dave Garroway, American journalist (b. 1913)
1991 Paul Warwick, English racing driver (b. 1969)
1998 Robert Young, American actor (b. 1907)
1998 Alan Shepard, the first American to travel into space (b. 1923)
2004 Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist (b. 1918)
2010 Anthony Rolfe Johnson, British operatic tenor (b. 1940)
2010 Luis Corvalan, Chilean Communist politician (b. 1916)
From 2011
2011 Kazimierz Swiatek, former Catholic Cardinal of Belarus, Gulag survivor (b. 1914)
2011 Bruce Sundlum, Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1920)
2012 Susanne Lothar, German actress (b. 1960)
2013 Denys de La Patelliere, French director (b. 1921)
2014 Kevin Skinner, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1927)
2014 John M. Coyne, American politician (b. 1916)
2014 Hans-Peter Kaul, German judge (b. 1943)
2014 Dan Borislow, American telecommunications executive (b. 1961)
2014 Harald Hove, Norwegian politician (b. 1949)
2015 Dick Nanninga, Dutch footballer (b. 1949)
2015 Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American actor (b. 1924)
2015 Robert Broberg, Swedish singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
2015 E. L. Doctorow, American writer (b. 1931)
2015 Luiz Paulo Conde, Brazilian politician and architect (b. 1934)
2017 Howard Eichenbaum, American psychologist and neuroscientist (b. 1947)
2017 John Heard, American actor (b. 1945)
2017 Yami Lester, Australian activist (b. 1942)
2017 Geoff Mack, Australian singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
2017 Deborah Watling, English actress (b. 1948)
2017 Stubbs, American cat, Honorary Mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska (b. 1997)
2017 Jon van Rood, Dutch immunologist (b. 1926)
2018 Jonathan Gold, American food critic (b. 1965)
2018 Don McCarthy, British businessman and philanthropist (b. 1955)
2018 Elmarie Wendel, American actress (b. 1928)
2018 Alene Duerk, American admiral (b. 1920)
2019 Jose Manuel Estepa Llaurens, Spanish cardinal (b. 1926)
2019 Hugo Coccaro, Argentine politician (b. 1954)
2019 Antonino Cuffaro, Italian politician (b. 1932)
2019 Francisco Grau, Spanish military officer and composer (b. 1947)
2019 Paul Krassner, American writer and political activist (b. 1932)
2019 Robert Morgenthau, American lawyer (b. 1919)
Observances
National Day of Belgium
Liberation Day in Guam
Racial Harmony Day (Singapore)
Days of the year