April 21

Events
Up to 1900
753 BC - Romulus founds Rome (traditional).
1506 - End of the three-day Lisbon massacre, in which 1,900 people were slaughtered.
1509 - Henry VIII of England becomes King of England after the death of his father, Henry VII of England.
1526 - The last ruler of the Lodi Dynasty in Northern India, Ibrahim Lodi, is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
1734 - The shorter of the two Golden Horns of Gallehus, Denmark's most famous archaeological finds, is discovered. The longer one had been discovered in 1639.
1782 - The city now known as Krung Thep, or Bangkok, is founded in Siam, present-day Thailand.
1792 - Tiradentes, a revolutionary who was leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged.
1836 - Texas Revolution: Battle of San Jacinto - Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
1863 - Baha'u'llah is proclaimed as the head of the Baha'i Faith.
1863 - Quantrill's Raiders launch a reprisal raid Lawrence, Kansas in the Battle of Lawrence, killing a number of civilians.
1889 - Giacomo Puccini's opera Edgar is first performed in Milan.
1894 - Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jorgensen rifle as the main weapon of its armed forces. It remained in service for almost 50 years.
1898 - Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
1901 2000
1908 - North Pole dispute: Frederick Cook claims to have reached the North Pole on this date, almost a year before Robert Peary claims to have reached it, on April 6, 1909.
1912 - The New York Giants and New York Yankees play an exhibition game to benefit survivors of the RMS Titanic.
1914 - Ypiranga Incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the United States Navy near Veracruz.
1918 - World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron," is shot down and killed by Allied over Vaux sur Somme in France.
1926 - Future Queen, Elizabeth II, is born in London. At the time of her birth she is not expected to become Queen.
1930 - A fire at a Columbus, Ohio, USA, penitentiary kills 320 people.
1934 - The "Surgeon's Photograph", allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, appears in the Daily Mail. It is revealed to be a hoax in 1999.
1935 - A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits Taiwan, killing 3,276 people.
1944 - Women in France receive the right to vote.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1952 - Secretaries Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
1955 - Bob Hope's radio program airs its last segment.
1956 - Elvis Presley's song "Heartbreak Hotel" becomes the "King's" first song to reach the top of the Cash Box magazine music charts.
1960 - Brasilia, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 9:30 am the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
1960 - Founding of the Orthodox Baha'i faith in Washington, DC.
1961 - Dirk Stikker succeeds Paul-Henri Spaak as Secretary-General of NATO.
1962 - The Seattle World's Fair opens. The Space Needle, now a symbol of the city, was completed just before the event.
1965 - The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 - Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
1967 - A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'etat, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
1970 - The Principality of Hutt River declares itself independent from Australia, and is one of world's most famous micronations. It is 517 kilometers (354 miles) north of Perth, Western Australia.
1971 - Siaka Stevens becomes the 1st President of Sierra Leone.
1971 - Haitian leader Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) dies. His then-19-year-old son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, takes over from him.
1975 - Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1977 - The musical Annie has its Broadway premiere.
1982 - Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher in baseball to record 300 saves.
1985 - In Brazil, President-elect Tancredo Neves dies before he can take office. Jose Sarney becomes President instead.
1985 - Ayrton Senna wins the first of 41 Formula One championship races at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril.
1986 - Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on live television and finds nothing.
1987 - The Tamil Tigers is blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, killing 106 people.
1989 - Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the late Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1989 - Nintendo releases the Game Boy, an idea of Gunpei Yokoi.
1992 - U.S. death penalty: After 13 years on death row, convicted murderer Robert Alton Harris is executed in California's gas chamber.
1994 - The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.
From 2001
2002 - French Presidential Election: In the first round Jacques Chirac comes through, along with National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.
2004 - Suicide bombers target police stations in Basra, Iraq, killing 74 people.
2005 - John Negroponte becomes the first United States Director of National Intelligence.
2010 - After a week of being shut down due to the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, UK airspace reopens.
2014 - The Boston Marathon is held for the first time since it was targeted by bombers in 2013. Rita Jeptoo wins the women's race, while Meb Keflezighi wins the men's race, becoming the first US citizen to win it in over 30 years.
2019 - Sri Lanka Easter bombings: More than 350 people are killed in bomb attacks on Easter Sunday targeting churches and hotels across Sri Lanka, most of them in or near Colombo.
2019 - Comedian Volodymyr Zelensky is elected President of Ukraine, defeating Petro Poroshenko.
Births
Up to 1900
1488 - Ulrich von Hutten, German humanist (d. 1523)
1555 - Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter (d. 1619)
1652 - Michel Rolle, French mathematician (d. 1719)
1671 - John Law, Scottish economist (d. 1729)
1673 - Wilhelmina of Brunswick, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1742)
1713 - Louis, 4th duc de Noailles, Marshal of France (d. 1793)
1730 - Antonin Kammel, Czech composer and violinist (d. 1788)
1774 - Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1862)
1782 - Friedrich Froebel, German educator (d. 1852)
1790 - Manuel Blanco Encalada, Chilean officer and politician (d. 1876)
1801 - Robert Francis Withers Allston, Governor of South Carolina (d. 1864)
1806 - George Cornewall Lewis, British statesman (d. 1863)
1809 - Robert M. T. Hunter, American politician (d. 1887)
1810 - John Putnam Chapin, 10th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1864)
1811 - Alson Sherman, 8th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1903)
1816 - Charlotte Bronte, English writer (d. 1855)
1825 - Louise Rasmussen, Danish ballet dancer (d. 1874)
1837 - Fredrik Bajer, Danish politician (d. 1922)
1838 - John Muir, Scottish conservationist, environmentalist and writer (d. 1914)
1843 - Walther Flemming, German biologist (d. 1905)
1851 - Alexander Macfarlane, Scottish logician, physicist and mathematician (d. 1913)
1864 - Max Weber, German sociologist (d. 1920)
1870 - Edwin Stanton Porter, American director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1941)
1873 - Philip Collier, 14th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1948)
1879 - Kartini, Indonesian national heroine (d. 1904)
1882 - Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist (d. 1961)
1885 - Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish athlete (d. 1967)
1887 - Joe McCarthy, American baseball player (d. 1978)
1889 - Paul Karrer, Swiss chemist (d. 1971)
1889 - Efrem Zimbalist, Russian-American violinist, composer, teacher and conductor (d. 1985)
1889 - Manuel Prado Ugarteche, President of Peru (d. 1967)
1889 - Pietro Calamandrei, Italian lawyer, professor and politician (d. 1956)
1893 - Walter Christaller, German geographer (d. 1969)
1898 - Maurice Wilson, English soldier, mystic, mountaineer and pilot (d. 1934)
1901 1950
1904 - Odilo Globocnik, Austrian SS officer (d. 1945)
1905 - Pat Brown, Governor of California (d. 1996)
1911 - Ivan Combe, American entrepreneur (d. 2000)
1912 - Marcel Camus, French movie director (d. 1982)
1912 - Eve Arnold, American photographer (d. 2012)
1913 - Norman Parkinson, English photographer (d. 1990)
1913 - Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching, English engineer and Head of British Railways (d. 1985)
1914 - Angelo Savoldi, Italian-American professional wrestler
1915 - Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (d. 2001)
1919 - Don Cornell, American singer (d. 2004)
1919 - Licio Gelli, Italian financier (d. 2015)
1920 - Bruno Maderna, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1973)
1920 - Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (d. 1991)
1922 - Alistair MacLean, Scottish writer (d. 1987)
1922 - Nazim Al-Haqqani, Turkish Cypriot spiritual leader (d. 2014)
1923 - John Mortimer, English barrister and writer (d. 2009)
1924 - Ira Louvin, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1965)
1925 - Anthony Mason, 9th Chief Justice of Australia
1925 - Alfred Kelbassa, German footballer (d. 1988)
1926 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms
1928 - Georg Kronawitter, German politician (d. 2016)
1930 - Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (d. 1989)
1930 - Jack Taylor, English football referee (d. 2012)
1930 - Mario Covas, Brazilian politician (d. 2001)
1930 - Dieter Roth, German artist (d. 1998)
1931 - Gabriel de Broglie, French historian
1931 - Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Iraqi-Syrian Orthodox Church leader (d. 2014)
1932 - Angela Mortimer, English tennis player
1932 - Elaine May, American comedienne
1935 - Charles Grodin, American actor
1935 - Thomas Kean, 48th Governor of New Jersey
1941 - David L. Boren, 21st Governor of Oklahoma
1942 - Geoffrey Palmer, 33rd Prime Minister of New Zealand
1943 - Jan de Graaff, Dutch television journalist (d. 2014)
1944 - Russell Boyd, Australian cameraman
1944 - Paul Geremia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944 - Guity Novin, Iranian-Canadian artist
1947 - Iggy Pop, American musician (The Stooges)
1947 - John Weider, English musician
1948 - Gary Condit, American politician
1951 1975
1951 - Tony Danza, American actor
1951 - David Mallett, American singer-songwriter
1951 - Michael Hartley Freedman, American mathematician
1951 - Kim Young-ae, South Korean actress (d. 2017)
1952 - Cheryl Gillan, British politician
1954 - James Morrison, American actor
1955 - Murathan Mungan, Turkish author, short story writer, playwright and poet
1956 - Peter Kosminsky, English director, producer and screenwriter
1957 - Herbert Wetterauer, German painter, sculptor and author
1958 - Yoshito Usui, Japanese manga artist (d. 2009)
1958 - Andie MacDowell, American actress
1959 - Jerry Only, American singer and musician
1959 - Robert Smith, English singer-songwriter and musician
1959 - Arno Pijpers, Dutch football coach
1960 - Julius Korir, Kenyan athlete
1961 - Carey Hayes, American screenwriter and producer
1961 - Chad Hayes, American actor, screenwriter and producer
1961 - Cathy Cavadini, American voice actress and singer
1962 - Craig Robinson, American basketball coach and brother of Michelle Obama
1962 - Sergei Zalyotin, Russian cosmonaut
1963 - Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor
1964 - Ludmila Engquist, Russian-Swedish athlete
1965 - Thomas Helmer, German footballer
1968 - Peter van Vossen, Dutch footballer
1969 - Toby Stephens, British actor
1969 - Robin Meade, American news anchor
1970 - Nicole Sullivan, American actress
1971 - Alexander Kravchenko, Russian poker player
1971 - Eric Mabius, American actor
1971 - Axl Rotten, American professional wrestler (d. 2016)
1972 - Jose Luis Munuera, Spanish comic artist
1972 - Vidar Riseth, Norwegian footballer
1973 - Steve Backshall, English television presenter
1974 - John Hasler, English actor and voice actor
From 1976
1976 - Abir Goswami, Indian actor (d. 2013)
1978 - Jukka Nevalainen, Finnish drummer
1979 - Tobias Linderoth, Swedish footballer
1979 - James McAvoy, Scottish actor
1980 - Vincent Lecavalier, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 - Tony Romo, American football player
1983 - Pawel Brozek, Polish footballer
1983 - Marco Donadel, Italian footballer
1983 - Sebastian Ingrosso, Swedish DJ and producer (Swedish House Mafia)
1986 - Alexander Edler, Swedish ice hockey player
1986 - Rodney Stuckey, American basketball player
1987 - Nadif Chowdhury, Bangladeshi cricketer
1987 - Eric Devendorf, American basketball player
1987 - Anastasia Prikhodko, Ukrainian singer
1988 - Adam Rooney, Irish footballer
1989 - Tatyana McFadden, Russian-born American Paralympic athlete
1991 - Max Chilton, British racing driver
1992 - Deng Linlin, Chinese gymnast
1992 - Isco, Spanish footballer
2007 - Princess Isabella of Denmark
Deaths
Up to 1900
43 BC - Aulus Hirtius, Roman writer and politician (b. 90 BC)
1073 - Pope Alexander II
1109 - Anselm of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1033)
1142 - Peter Abelard, French philosopher and theologian (b. 1079)
1329 - Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
1509 - King Henry VII of England (b. 1457)
1551 - Oba Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)
1557 - Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (b. 1495)
1574 - Cosimo de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519)
1699 - Jean Racine, French writer (b. 1639)
1701 - Asano Naganori, Japanese warlord (b. 1667)
1719 - Philippe de la Hire, French mathematician and historian (b. 1640)
1736 - Prince Eugene of Savoy (b. 1663)
1792 - Tiradentes, Brazilian revolutionary (b. 1746)
1852 - Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (b. 1787)
1894 - James W. Throckmorton, Governor of Texas (b. 1825)
1900 - Vikramatji Khimojiraj, Indian Maharajah (b. 1819)
1901 2000
1910 - Mark Twain, American writer (b. 1835)
1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, German fighter pilot (b. 1892)
1922 - Alessandro Moreschi, Italian castrato singer (b. 1858)
1924 - Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (b. 1858)
1932 - Friedrich Gustav Piffl, Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1864)
1938 - Muhammad Iqbal, national poet of Pakistan (b. 1877)
1941 - Fritz Manteuffel, German gymnast (b. 1875)
1946 - John Maynard Keynes, English economist (b. 1883)
1952 - Stafford Cripps, British politician (b. 1889)
1965 - Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist (b. 1892)
1971 - Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc), dictator of Haiti (b. 1907)
1973 - Arthur Fadden, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
1977 - Gummo Marx, American actor and comedian (b. 1892)
1980 - Aleksandr Oparin, Russian biochemist (b. 1894)
1983 - Walter Slezak, Austrian-born actor (b. 1902)
1984 - Marcel Janco, Romanian-Israeli artist, writer and architect (b. 1895)
1985 - Tancredo Neves, Brazilian politician, President-elect (b. 1910)
1990 - Romain de Tirtoff (Erte), Russian-born French artist (b. 1892)
1996 - Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen politician (b. 1944)
From 2001
2003 - Nina Simone, American singer (b. 1933)
2005 - Gerry Marshall, British racing driver (b. 1941)
2005 - Gwynfor Evans, Welsh politician, leader of Plaid Cymru (b. 1912)
2005 - Feroze Khan, Pakistani field hockey player (b. 1904)
2008 - Al Wilson, American singer (b. 1939)
2010 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish Olympic official (b. 1920)
2011 - Harold Garfinkel, American sociologist (b. 1917)
2012 - Charles Colson, American Watergate scandal figure (b. 1931)
2013 - Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician (b. 1929)
2013 - Leopold Engleitner, Austrian Holocaust survivor, author and educator (b. 1905)
2013 - Chrissy Amphlett, American singer and actress (b. 1959)
2014 - Alexander Lenkov, Russian actor (b. 1943)
2014 - Win Tin, Burmese journalist and former political prisoner (b. 1930)
2014 - Janet Gray Hayes, American politician, 60th Mayor of San Jose, California (b. 1926)
2014 - Herb Gray, Canadian politician and former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1931)
2014 - Arlene McQuade, American actress (b. 1936)
2014 - Mundo Earwood, American country music singer-songwriter (b. 1952)
2014 - George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (b. 1936)
2015 - Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Odisha (b. 1927)
2015 - Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi, Egyptian poet (b. 1938)
2015 - Steve Byrnes, American sports announcer (b. 1959)
2015 - Roy Mason, British politician (b. 1924)
2015 - Mary Doyle Keefe, American model (b. 1922)
2015 - Gideon Eilat, German-Israeli soldier (b. 1924)
2015 - Cindy Yang, Taiwanese model and actress (b. 1990)
2015 - Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov, Russian movie director (b. 1965)
2015 - M. H. Abrams, American literary critic (b. 1912)
2016 - Prince, American singer, songwriter and musician (b. 1958)
2016 - Hans Koschnick, German politician (b. 1929)
2016 - Marco Leto, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
2016 - Lonnie Mack, American singer and guitarist (b. 1941)
2017 - Ugo Ehiogu, English footballer (b. 1972)
2017 - Cecilia Alvear, Ecuadorean-American journalist (b. 1939)
2017 - Carl Christ, American economist (b. 1923)
2018 - Firmin Le Bourhis, French author (b. 1950)
2018 - Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Brazilian film director (b. 1928)
2018 - Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1900)
2018 - Verne Troyer, American actor (b. 1969)
2018 - Huguette Tourangeau, Canadian mezzo-soprano (b. 1940)
2019 - Peter Colotka, Slovakian academic, lawyer and politician (b. 1925)
2019 - Hannelore Elsner, German actress (b. 1942)
2019 - Steve Golin, American film producer (b. 1955)
2019 - Aminul Haque, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1943)
2019 - Ken Kercheval, American actor (b. 1935)
2019 - Shantha Mayadunne, Sri Lankan chef (b. 1968)
2019 - Amelia Vargas, Cuban actress (b. 1925)
Observances
John Muir Day (California)
San Jacinto Day (Texas)
Kartini Day (Indonesia)
National Tree Planting Day (Kenya)
First Day of Ridvan (Baha'i faith)
Grounation Day (Rastafari movement)
Tiradentes Day (Brazil)
Days of the year