October 21 October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 71 days remaining. Events 600-1899 686 - Conon becomes Pope. 1600 - Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate, who in effect rule Japan until the mid-Nineteenth century. 1797 - In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched. 1805 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar - a British fleet led by Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain. 1824 - Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement. 1854 - Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the Crimean War. 1861 - American Civil War: Battle of Ball's Bluff - Union forces under Colonel Edward Baker are defeated by Confederate troops in the second major battle of the war. Baker, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln, is killed in the fighting. 1867 - Manifest Destiny: Medicine Lodge Treaty - Near Medicine Lodge Creek, Kansas a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate a reservation in western Oklahoma. 1879 - Using a filament of carbonized thread, Thomas Edison tests the first practical electric light bulb (it lasted 13 1/2 hours before burning out). 1895 - The Republic of Taiwan collapses as Japanese forces invade. 1900-1999 1902 - In the United States, a five month strike by United Mine Workers ends. 1941 - World War II: Germans rampage in Yugoslavia, killing thousands of civilians. 1944 - The first kamikaze attack: HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 pound) bomb off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began. 1945 - Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time. 1945 - Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón married actress Evita. 1947 - 21 die as a fire destroys an asylum in Hoff, Germany. 1957 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens. 1959 - In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. 1959 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher Von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA. 1966 - Aberfan disaster: A coal tip falls on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren 1967 - Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, DC. A peaceful rally at the Lincoln Memorial is followed by a march to The Pentagon and clashes with soldiers and United States Marshals protecting the facility (event lasts until October 23; 683 people will be arrested). Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe. 1973 - John Paul Getty III's ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; it doesn't arrive until November 8. 1980 - 1980 World Series: In 6 games, the Philadelphia Phillies win their first World Series. 1986 - In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he will be released in August 1991). 1987 - Former Miss America Bess Myerson is arrested on charges of bribery, conspiracy, and mail fraud, all involving an alimony-fixing scandal. She is later found not guilty. 1994 - North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections. 1997 - Hotel owners from the Detroit area meet to discuss Jack Kevorkian's practice of leaving corpses in hotel rooms. 1997 - The government of Singapore announces in a widely-publicized "toilet alert" that the drive for toilet cleanliness is a great success; five toilets were selected by citizens as toilet role models. 2001 - The first Toronto Special is printed in downtown Toronto. Births 1400-1899 1449 - George, Duke of Clarence 1660 - Georg Ernst Stahl, German scientist 1762 - Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch statesman 1772 - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, British poet (d. 1834) 1821 - The Monster of Glamis (d. unknown) 1833 - Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and benefactor of the Nobel Prize (d. 1896) 1895 - Edna Purviance, actress (d. 1958) 1900-1999 1912 - Sir Georg Solti, conductor (d. 1997) 1914 - Martin Gardner, American writer on mathematics and games 1917 - Dizzy Gillespie, American jazz musician (d. 1993) 1920 - Hy Averback, film and television director (d. 1997) 1921 - Malcolm Arnold, British composer 1924 - Celia Cruz, singer (d. 2003) 1928 - Whitey Ford, American baseball player 1929 - Ursula K. Le Guin, American science fiction author 1940 - Manfred Mann, musician 1941 - Steve Cropper, musician 1942 - Elvin Bishop, musician 1942 - Judge Judy Sheindlin, American judge, television host 1943 - Brian Piccolo, American football star (d. 1970) 1949 - Benjamin Netanyahu, the 9th Prime Minister of Israel 1955 - Rich Mullins, American musician (d. 1997) 1956 - Carrie Fisher, actress, writer 1972 - Felicity Andersen, actress Deaths 300-1899 310 - Pope Eusebius 1558 - Julius Caesar Scaliger, humanist scholar 1805 - Horatio Nelson, British admiral 1896 - James Henry Greathead, British engineer 1900-1999 1931 - Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian writer 1944 - Alois Kayser, German missionary, working in Nauru 1969 - Waclaw Sierpinski, Polish mathematician 1969 - Jack Kerouac, American beat novelist 1975 - Charles Reidpath, American athlete 1984 - François Truffaut, French film director 1986 - Lionel Murphy, Australian Labor Party politician and High Court judge. 1995 - Shannon Hoon, lead singer of pop band Blind Melon 2000-2099 2003 - Fred Berry, American actor 2003 - Luis A. Ferré, former governor of Puerto Rico 2003 - Louise Day Hicks, US politician 2003 - Elliott Smith, musician Holidays Overseas Chinese Day — the Republic of China Trafalgar Day — celebrated throughout much of the British Empire in the 19th and early 20th Century. FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_21