January 21

Events
Up to 1900
1189 - Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade.
1276 - Innocent V becomes Pope.
1525 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz's mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zurich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
1643 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga.
1720 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
1749 - The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, northern Italy, 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 for treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is guillotined.
1793 - Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
1840 - Adelie Land in Antarctica is discovered.
1853 - Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope-folding machine.
1854 - Iron clipper RMS Tayleur of the White Star Line sinks in the Irish Sea during its first voyage, killing 362 people.
1861 - American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
1864 - The Tauranga Campaign starts during the Maori Wars.
1887 - The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed.
1899 - Opel Motors opens for business.
1901 2000
1904 - Oprera Jenufa by Leos Janacek first performed.
1908 - New York City passes a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public only to be vetoed by the mayor.
1911 - The first Monte Carlo Rally.
1915 - Kiwanis International founded in Detroit, Michigan.
1917 - An earthquake in Bali kills 15,000 people.
1919 - Meeting in the Mansion House Dublin, the Sinn Fein adopts Ireland's first constitution.
1924 - Vladimir Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin begins to purge his rivals to clear way for his leadership.
1925 - Albania declares itself a republic.
1931 - Isaac Isaacs becomes the first Governor-General of Australia who was born in Australia.
1940 - Off the Mediterranean Sea coast of France, an explosion occurs on Italian passenger ship Orazio, causing a fire on board, before the ship sinks, killing 106 people.
1941 - World War II: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
1948 - The Flag of Quebec is flown over the National Assembly of Quebec for the first time.
1950 - Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
1951 - The Lamington volcano erupts on the island of New Guinea, killing 3,000 people.
1954 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, then the First Lady of the United States.
1960 - Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns while landing in Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37 people.
1961 - 435 workers are buried alive when a mine in Coalbrook, South Africa, collapses.
1968 - Simon & Garfunkel release the Original Soundtrack to The Graduate. It quickly goes to #1 on the pop charts and which will bring Simon a Grammy Award for Best Original Score.
1969 - An experimental underground nuclear reactor at Lucens Vad, Switzerland, released radiation into a cavern, which was then sealed.
1976 - The first commercial service Concorde flights take off from London and Paris.
1977 - President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.
1980 - The Great Wall of China is placed under protection.
1980 - A plane crash during a snowstorm in Tehran kills 128 people.
1985 - After being moved to this date because January 20 was a Sunday, Ronald Reagan's second inauguration as President of the United States is held indoors, because of cold and windy weather.
1994 - Lorena Bobbitt is found not-guilty by reason of temporary insanity for severing the penis of her husband John Bobbitt.
1997 - Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
1998 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit Cuba.
1999 - War on Drugs: In one of the one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard stops a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4,300 kg) of cocaine on board.
2000 - Jamil Mahuad is removed as President of Ecuador in a coup led by Lucio Gutierrez.
From 2001
2003 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes the state of Colima, Mexico.
2004 - Canada: The residence of reporter, Juliet O'Neill was searched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigating leaks concerning the deportation of Maher Arar.
2004 - NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceased communication with mission control. The problem was with Flash Memory management and fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
2005 - In Belize's capital city, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.
2008 - Black Monday on the world's stock markets, the worst day for financial markets since September 11, 2001.
2008 - Marie Smith Jones, the last-surviving speaker of the Eyak language, dies, rendering the language extinct.
2012 - 16-year-old Laura Dekker becomes the youngest person to sail around the world on her own, though this category is no longer included in the Guinness Book of Records.
2013 - Barack Obama's second public inauguration as President of the United States takes place. A private inauguration took place the previous day, which was a Sunday.
Births
Up to 1900
1277 - Galeazzo I Visconti, ruler of Milan (d. 1328)
1338 - King Charles V of France (d. 1380)
1721 - James Murray, British Governor of Quebec (d. 1794)
1735 - Johann Gottfried Eckard, German pianist and composer (d. 1809)
1738 - Ethan Allen, American freedom fighter (d. 1789)
1763 - Augustin Robespierre, French politician (d. 1794)
1784 - Andrew Stevenson, American politician (d. 1857)
1813 - John C. Fremont, American army officer, explorer and politician (d. 1890)
1815 - John Bingham, American lawyer, judge and politician (d. 1900)
1824 - Stonewall Jackson, American Confederate General (d. 1870)
1825 - Imre Madach, Hungarian writer (d. 1864)
1827 - Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician (d. 1900)
1829 - King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway (d. 1907)
1846 - Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician (d. 1923)
1846 - Nathaniel Edwin Harris, Governor of Georgia (d. 1929)
1848 - Henri Duparc, French composer (d. 1933)
1855 - John Browning, American inventor (d. 1926)
1860 - Karl Staaff, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
1864 - Paul Troje, German politician (d. 1942)
1867 - Maxime Weygand, French general (d. 1965)
1867 - Ludwig Thoma, German writer (d. 1921)
1869 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk, mystic and spiritual healer (d. 1916)
1881 - Ernst Fast, Swedish long-distance runner (d. 1959)
1882 - Pavel Florensky, Russian theologian, philosopher and mathematician (d. 1937)
1883 - Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (d. 1929)
1883 - James H. Duff, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1969)
1885 - Umberto Nobile, Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer (d. 1978)
1887 - Georges Vezina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
1895 - Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (d. 1972)
1899 - Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-born American composer (d. 1977)
1901 1950
1901 - Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (d. 1978)
1905 - Christian Dior, French fashion designer (d. 1957)
1905 - Karl Wallenda, German-born acrobat (d. 1978)
1908 - Raymond D. Gary, Governor of Oklahoma (d. 1993)
1910 - Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
1910 - Albert Rosellini, American politician (d. 2011)
1911 - Bill Graber, American pole vaulter (d. 1996)
1912 - Konrad Emil Bloch, German biochemist (d. 2000)
1915 - Orazio Mariani, Italian sprinter (d. 1981)
1915 - Bill Sefton, American pole vaulter (d. 1982)
1916 - Pietro Rava, Italian footballer (d. 2006)
1918 - Richard Winters, American paratrooper (d. 2011)
1919 - Lennie Bluett, American actor (d. 2016)
1919 - Eric Brown, Scottish test pilot (d. 2016)
1921 - Howard Unruh, American murderer (d. 2009)
1922 - Paul Scofield, British actor (d. 2008)
1922 - Telly Savalas, American actor and singer (d. 1994)
1923 - Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer and actress (d. 1995)
1924 - Benny Hill, British comedian (d. 1992)
1926 - Steve Reeves, American actor (d. 2000)
1928 - Reynaldo Bignone, Argentine general and former military leader
1929 - Denis Sanders, American movie director, producer and screenwriter
1930 - Mainza Chona, 3rd Vice President of Zambia (d. 2001)
1932 - John Chaney, American basketball coach
1933 - Joseph W. Eschbach, American physician (d. 2007)
1934 - Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
1936 - Koji Hashimoto, Japanese movie director (d. 2005)
1937 - Prince Max, Duke of Bavaria
1938 - Wolfman Jack, American DJ and actor (d. 1995)
1938 - Ken Maginnis, Northern Irish soldier, educator and politician
1939 - Friedel Lutz, German footballer
1940 - Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
1941 - Placido Domingo, Spanish opera singer and conductor
1941 - Richie Havens, American musician (d. 2013)
1942 - Mac Davis, American musician
1945 - Martin Shaw, English actor
1947 - Jonathan Meades, English journalist and author
1949 - Gennaro Contaldo, Italian chef
1950 - Billy Ocean, Trinidadian musician
1950 - Zelimkhan Yaqub, Azerbaijani poet (d. 2016)
1950 - Gary Locke, American politician
1951 1975
1951 - Eric Holder, American jurist, United States Attorney General
1953 - Paul Allen, American entrepreneur and co-founder of Microsoft
1954 - Thomas de Maiziere, German politician
1954 - Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso movie maker
1955 - Jeff Koons, American artist
1955 - Peter Fleming, American tennis player
1956 - Geena Davis, American actress
1957 - Greg Ryan, American soccer coach
1958 - Frank Ticheli, American composer
1959 - Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
1962 - Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
1962 - Tyler Cowen, American economist
1963 - Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball player
1965 - Jam Master Jay, American DJ (d. 2002)
1968 - Charlotte Ross, American actress
1969 - Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese manga artist
1969 - Karina Lombard, American actress
1969 - M. K. Hobson, American writer
1971 - Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
1971 - Doug Weight, American ice hockey player
1971 - Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skater
1972 - Yasunori Matsuda, Japanese composer
1974 - Kim Dotcom, German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and founder of Megaupload
1975 - Nicky Butt, English footballer
1975 - Ito, Spanish footballer
From 1976
1976 - Igors Stepanovs, Latvian footballer
1976 - Emma Bunton, English singer (Spice Girls)
1977 - Phil Neville, English footballer
1977 - Jerry Trainor, American actor
1977 - Bradley Carnell, South African footballer
1978 - Phil Stacey, American singer
1978 - Andrei Zyuzin, Russian ice hockey player
1979 - Brian O'Driscoll, Irish rugby player
1979 - Johann Hari, Scottish journalist
1980 - Dave Kitson, English footballer
1980 - Nana Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress
1982 - Nicolas Mahut, French tennis player
1982 - Dean Whitehead, English footballer
1982 - Simon Rolfes, German footballer
1983 - Moritz Volz, German footballer
1983 - Maryse Ouellet, Canadian professional wrestler
1984 - Raymond Gutierrez, American-Filipino actor and television host
1984 - Richard Gutierrez, American-Filipino actor
1985 - Justin Ingram, American basketball player
1985 - Adrian Lewis, English darts player
1985 - Aura Dione, Danish singer and songwriter
1986 - Jonathan Quick, American ice hockey player
1987 - Joe Ledley, Welsh footballer
1987 - Darren Helm, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 - Jacob Smith, American actor
1993 - Chiara Pierobon, Italian cyclist (d. 2015)
1994 - Laura Robson, British tennis player
1994 - Kang Seung-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
1994 - Marny Kennedy, Australian actress, singer and model
1994 - Booboo Stewart, American actor, singer and sportsman
1997 - Jeremy Shada, American actor
2001 - Jackson Brundage, American actor
2004 - Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
Deaths
Up to 1900
304 - Saint Agnes, Christian martyr (b. 291)
917 - Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (b. 880)
1118 - Pope Paschal II
1519 - Vasco Nunez 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 Protestant scholar (b. 1540)
1638 - Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (b. 1570)
1773 - Alexis Piron, French writer (b. 1689)
1774 - Mustafa III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1717)
1775 - Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel (b. 1742)
1789 - Baron d'Holbach, French-German author, philosopher and encyclopedist (b. 1723)
1793 - King Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)
1795 - Samuel Wallis, English navigator (b. 1728)
1809 - Josiah Hornblower, American engineer and politician (b. 1729)
1831 - Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (b. 1781)
1851 - Albert Lertzing, German composer (b. 1801)
1872 - Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (b. 1791)
1891 - Calixa Lavallee, Canadian composer (b. 1842)
1901 2000
1901 - Elisha Gray, American inventor (b. 1835)
1919 - Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, Ottoman general and Grand Vizier (b. 1839)
1919 - Gojong of the Korean Empire, Emperor of Korea (b. 1852)
1924 - Vladimir Lenin, Russian political leader (b. 1870)
1926 - Camillo Golgi, Italian doctor, won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)
1928 - George Goethals, American army engineer (b. 1858)
1932 - Giles Lytton Strachey, British writer (b. 1880)
1937 - Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1896)
1938 - Georges Melies, French director (b. 1861)
1940 - Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (b. 1888)
1945 - Rash Behari Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1886)
1950 - George Orwell, British writer (b. 1903)
1959 - Cecil B. DeMille, American director (b. 1881)
1961 - Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1903)
1967 - Ann Sheridan, American actress (b. 1915)
1977 - Sandro Penna, Italian poet (b. 1906)
1989 - Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
1989 - Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
1990 - Mariano Rumor, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1915)
1994 - Bassel al-Assad, brother of Bashar al-Assad (b. 1962)
1994 - Andrejs Kapmals, Latvian runner (b. 1889)
1997 - Colonel Tom Parker, American music manager (b. 1909)
1998 - Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
1999 - Charles Brown, American blues singer and musician (b. 1920)
1999 - Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)
From 2001
2001 - Byron De La Beckwith, American murderer (b. 1920)
2004 - Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer (b. 1929)
2006 - Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
2007 - Maria Cioncan, Romanian athlete (b. 1977)
2007 - U-Nee, South Korean singer, dancer and actress (b. 1981)
2008 - Marie Smith Jones, last speaker of the Eyak language (b. 1918)
2011 - Dennis Oppenheim, American artist (b. 1938)
2013 - Michael Winner, British movie director, producer and food critic (b. 1935)
2013 - Alden W. Clausen, American banker and former World Bank President (b. 1923)
2014 - Manfred Bleskin, German journalist (b. 1949)
2015 - Kemal Monteno, Bosnian singer (b. 1948)
2015 - Leon Brittan, British politician (b. 1939)
2015 - Marcus Borg, American theologian (b. 1942)
2015 - Pauline Yates, English actress (b. 1929)
2016 - Bill Johnson, American skier (b. 1960)
2016 - Robert Sassone, French cyclist (b. 1978)
2016 - Derrick Todd Lee, American serial killer (b. 1968)
2016 - Mrinalini Sarabhai, Iranian classical dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)
2020 - Terry Jones, English comedy writer (b. 1942)
Observances
Flag Day (Quebec)
Christian feast day of Saint Agnes
Errol Barrow Day (Bahamas)
National Hug Day (United States)
Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)
Days of the year