September 21

September 21 in recent years

2024 (Saturday)

2023 (Thursday)

2022 (Wednesday)

2021 (Tuesday)

2020 (Monday)

2019 (Saturday)

2018 (Friday)

2017 (Thursday)

2016 (Wednesday)

2015 (Monday)

September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 101 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

• 1217 – Livonian Crusade: Estonian tribal leader Lembitu and Livonian tribal leader Kaupo are killed in the Battle of St. Matthew's Day.
• 1327 – After rejecting the throne, King Edward II of England is murdered in Berkeley, Gloucester.
• 1435 – An agreement between Charles VII of France and Philip the Good ends the partnership between the English and Burgundy in the Hundred Years' War.
• 1745 – A Hanoverian army is defeated at the Battle of Prestonpans by the Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart.
• 1776 – Parts of New York City are burned shortly after being occupied by British forces.
• 1780 – Benedict Arnold gives the British the plans to West Point.
• 1792 – The National Convention in France abolishes the monarchy.
• 1843 – John Williams Wilson takes control of the Strait of Magellan, representing the newly independent Chilean government.
• 1846 – Mexican-American War: The Battle of Monterrey begins.
• 1860 – In the Second Opium War, an Anglo–French force defeats Chinese troops at the Battle of Palikao.
• 1896 – A British force under Horatio Kitchener takes Dongola, Sudan.
• 1898 – Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.

1901 – 2000

• 1921 – A storage silo in Oppau, Germany, explodes, killing 561 people.
• 1934 – A large typhoon hits western Honshu, Japan, killing 3,036 people.
• 1937 – J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is published.
• 1938 – The Great Hurricane of 1938 makes landfall on Long Island, killing between 500 and 700 people.
• 1939 – Romanian Prime Minister Armand Calinescu is killed by ultranationalist members of the Iron Guard.
• 1942 – In Dunaivtski, Ukraine, the Nazis murder 2,588 Jews.
• 1949 – The People's Republic of China established in Beijing.
• 1960 – The Flag of Panama is flown next to the Flag of the United States at the Panama Canal for the first time.
• 1961 – First flight of the CH–47 Chinook transportation helicopter.
• 1964 – Malta becomes independent.
• 1965 – Gambia, the Maldives and Singapore join the UN.
• 1971 – Bahrain, Bhutan and Qatar join the UN.
• 1972 – Ferdinand Marcos declares Martial Law in the Philippines.
• 1976 – The Seychelles join the UN.
• 1981 – Belize is granted independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1984 – Sandra Day O'Connor is unanimously approved by the United States Senate to become the first female Justice on the United States Supreme Court.
• 1984 – Brunei joins the UN.
• 1989 – Hurricane Hugo hits the US state of South Carolina.
• 1991 – Armenia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
• 1993 – The Russian Constitutional Crisis of 1993 begins, as President Boris Yeltsin suspends parliament and scraps the then–functioning constitution.
• 1993 – A Tupolev Tu–134 aircraft is shot down by Abkhazian separatists near Sokhumi, Georgia.
• 1999 – An earthquake in Taiwan leaves 2,400 people dead.

From 2001

• 2001 – 31 people are killed in a chemical explosion in Toulouse, France.
• 2003 – The Galileo mission is ended by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes.
• 2004 – In Dubai, building work begins on what would become the Burj Khalifa. It was opened on January 4, 2010 as the world's tallest building, at a height of 828 metres.
• 2013 – Westgate shopping mall shooting: A shooting attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, kills at least 68 people, and many people are taken hostage. Somali militant group Al-Shabaab claims responsibility.
• 2013 – An attack at a funeral in Sadr City, Iraq, kills at least 60 people.
• 2016 – A boat estimated to be carrying hundreds of people sinks off Alexandria, Egypt, and is believed to have killed most of those on board.

Births

Up to 1800

• 1051 – Bertha of Savoy, German queen and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1087)
• 1154 – Sancha of Castile, Queen of Aragon (d. 1208)
• 1328 – Hongwu, Emperor of China (d. 1398)
• 1371 – Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1440)
• 1411 – Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, pretender to the English throne (d. 1460)
• 1415 – Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1493)
• 1428 – Jingtai, Emperor of China (d. 1457)
• 1452 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian philosopher and priest (d. 1498)
• 1457 – Hedwig Jagiellon, Duchess of Bavaria (d. 1502)
• 1559 – Cigoli, Florentine painter, architect and sculptor (d. 1613)
• 1629 – Philip Howard, English cardinal (d. 1594)
• 1640 – Philippe I, Duke of Orléans (d. 1701)
• 1645 – Louis Jolliet, French–Canadian explorer (d. 1700)
• 1705 – Dick Turpin, English outlaw (d. 1739)
• 1706 – Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg, Queen of Sardinia (d. 1735)
• 1752 – Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, wife of Charles Eduard Stuart (d. 1824)
• 1756 – John Loudon McAdam, Scottish engineer and road builder (d. 1836)
• 1757 – James Jackson, American politician, Governor of Georgia (d. 1806)
• 1758 – Christopher Gore, 8th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1827)
• 1760 – Ivan Dimitriev, Russian statesman (d. 1837)
• 1788 – Margaret Taylor, First Lady of the United States (d. 1852)
• 1791 – Istvan Szechenyi, Hungarian entrepreneur and state reformer (d. 1860)
• 1792 – Johann Peter Eckermann, German poet (d. 1854)

1801 – 1900

• 1801 – Moritz Hermann von Jacobi, German–Russian physicist and engineer (d. 1874)
• 1817 – John Allan Broun, Scottish scientist (d. 1879)
• 1819 – Princess Louise Marie Thérèse of France (d. 1864)
• 1840 – Murad V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1904)
• 1842 – Abd-ul-Hamid, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1918)
• 1845 – Prince Ernest Augustus, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale (d. 1923)
• 1846 – Mihaly Kolossa, Hungarian–Slovenian writer (d. 1906)
• 1849 – Maurice Barrymore, Indian–American actor (d. 1905)
• 1853 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1913 (d. 1926)
• 1859 – Francesc Macia i Llussa, Catalan army officer and politician (d. 1933)
• 1863 – John Bunny, American movie comedian (d. 1915)
• 1864 – Elena Vacarescu, Romanian writer (d. 1947)
• 1866 – H. G. Wells, English writer (d. 1946)
• 1866 – Charles Nicolle, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1928 (d. 1936)
• 1867 – Henry L. Stimson, American politician (d. 1950)
• 1869 – Carlo Airoldi, Italian marathon runner (d. 1929)
• 1872 – Henry Tingle Wilde, British chief officer of the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
• 1873 – Papa Jack Laine, American musician (d. 1966)
• 1874 – Gustav Holst, English composer (d. 1934)
• 1890 – Max Immelmann, German fighter pilot (d. 1918)
• 1896 – Walter Breuning, American supercentenarian (d. 2011)
• 1899 – Frederick Coutts, 8th General of the Salvation Army (d. 1986)

1901 – 1950

• 1902 – Luis Cernuda, Spanish poet (d. 1963)
• 1902 – E. E. Evans-Pritchard, British ethnologist (d. 1973)
• 1902 – Toyen, Czech painter (d. 1980)
• 1909 – Kwame Nkrumah, 1st President of Ghana (d. 1972)
• 1912 – Chuck Jones, American animator (d. 2002)
• 1912 – Gyorgy Sandor, Hungarian pianist (d. 2005)
• 1916 – Françoise Giroud, French feminist journalist and writer (d. 2003)
• 1918 – John Gofman, American scientist (d. 2007)
• 1919 – Mario Bunge, Argentine philosopher and physicist
• 1924 – Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1957)
• 1926 – Donald A. Glaser, American physicist (d. 2013)
• 1926 – Don Dunstan, 35th Premier of South Australia (d. 1999)
• 1926 – Noor Jehan, Pakistani singer and actress (d. 2000)
• 1928 – Edouard Glissant, French writer (d. 2011)
• 1929 – Sándor Kocsis, Hungarian footballer (d. 1979)
• 1929 – Bernard Williams, English philosopher (d. 2003)
• 1931 – Larry Hagman, American actor (d. 2012)
• 1932 – Don Preston, American musician and movie score composer
• 1932 – Shirley Conran, English journalist and writer
• 1934 – Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer, musician, poet and writer (d. 2016)
• 1934 – David J. Thouless, Scottish–American physicist (d. 2019)
• 1935 – Jimmy Armfield, English footballer (d. 2018)
• 1936 – Sunny Murray, American jazz drummer (d. 2017)
• 1936 – Yury Luzhkov, Russian politician, former Mayor of Moscow
• 1939 – Agnivesh, Indian activist and politician
• 1940 – Rick May, Canadian–American actor and voice actor (d. 2020)
• 1941 – R. James Woolsey, Jr., American 16th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• 1944 – Fannie Flagg, American actress, comedienne and author
• 1944 – Steve Beshear, American politician, Governor of Kentucky
• 1945 – Bjarni Tryggvason, Iceland–born Canadian engineer and astronaut
• 1945 – Jerry Bruckheimer, American movie and television producer
• 1945 – Shaw Clifton, 18th General of the Salvation Army
• 1946 – Moritz Leuenberger, Swiss Federal Councillor
• 1946 – Mart Siimann, former Prime Minister of Estonia
• 1947 – Stephen King, American writer
• 1947 – Don Felder, American rock music guitarist
• 1947 – Nick Castle, American actor
• 1947 – Ed Nimmervoll, Austrian–Australian rock musician, journalist, author and historian (d. 2014)
• 1947 – Keith Harris, English ventriloquist (d. 2015)
• 1947 – Rói Patursson, Faroese writer and philosopher
• 1949 – Odilo Scherer, Brazilian cardinal
• 1950 – Charles Clarke, British politician
• 1950 – Bill Murray, American actor

1951 – 1975

• 1951 – Bruce Arena, American soccer coach
• 1951 – Aslan Maskhadov, President of Chechnya (d. 2005)
• 1952 – Anneliese Michel, German exorcism victim (d. 1976)
• 1953 – Reinhard Marx, German archbishop and cardinal
• 1954 – Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
• 1954 – Phil Taylor, British musician (Motorhead) (d. 2015)
• 1955 – Richard Hieb, American astronaut
• 1955 – Mika Kaurismaki, Finnish director
• 1957 – Ethan Coen, American movie director
• 1957 – Sidney Moncrief, American basketball player
• 1957 – Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia
• 1958 – Rick Mahorn, American basketball player
• 1959 – Crin Antonescu, Romanian politician
• 1959 – Dave Coullier, American actor
• 1961 – Nancy Travis, American actress
• 1961 – Dan Borislow, American entrepreneur, sports team owner and inventor (d. 2014)
• 1962 – Rob Morrow, American actor
• 1963 – Curtly Ambrose, Antiguan-Barbudan cricketer
• 1964 – Carlos Aguilera, Uruguayan footballer
• 1965 – Cheryl Hines, American actress
• 1965 – David Wenham, Australian actor
• 1967 – Faith Hill, American singer
• 1967 – Suman Pokhrel, Nepalese poet
• 1967 – Tyler Stewart, Canadian drummer (Barenaked Ladies)
• 1968 – Ricki Lake, American actress and talk show hostess
• 1970 – Rob Benedict, American actor
• 1970 – Samantha Power, Irish–born 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
• 1971 – Alfonso Ribeiro, American actor
• 1971 – Luke Wilson, American actor
• 1972 – David Silveria, American musician
• 1972 – Liam Gallagher, English singer (Oasis)
• 1973 – Oswaldo Sánchez, Mexican footballer
• 1974 – Henning Fritz, German handball player
• 1975 – Ronny Deila, Norwegian football manager

From 1976

• 1978 – Doug Howlett, New Zealand rugby player
• 1978 – Mario Miranda, Brazilian mixed martial artist
• 1979 – Chris Gayle, Jamaican cricketer
• 1979 – Richard Dunne, Irish footballer
• 1979 – James Allan, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1980 – Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
• 1980 – Autumn Reeser, American actress
• 1980 – Tomas Scheckter, South African racing driver
• 1980 – Nyree Kindred, Welsh swimmer
• 1981 – Rimi Sen, Indian actress
• 1981 – Nicole Richie, American socialite
• 1982 – Marat Izmailov, Russian footballer
• 1983 – Anna Meares, Australian cyclist
• 1983 – Fernando Cavenaghi, Argentine footballer
• 1983 – Maggie Grace, American actress
• 1983 – Greg Jennings, American football player
• 1987 – Ryan Guzman, American actor
• 1987 – Ashley Paris, American basketball player
• 1987 – Courtney Paris, American basketball player
• 1988 – Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistani politician
• 1989 – Jason Derulo, American singer
• 1989 – Emma Watkins, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
• 1990 – Al-Farouq Aminu, Nigerian–American basketball player
• 1990 – Christian Serratos, American actress
• 1990 – Allison Scagliotti, American actress
• 1992 – Chen, South Korean singer
• 1994 – Ben Proud, English swimmer

Deaths

Up to 1900

• 19 BC – Virgil, Roman poet (b. 70 BC)
• 454 – Flavius Aetius, Roman general (b. 396)
• 687 – Pope Conon (b. 630)
• 1217 – Lembitu, Estonian tribal leader
• 1217 – Kaupo, Livonian tribal leader
• 1327 – King Edward II of England (b. 1284)
• 1558 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1500)
• 1576 – Gerolamo Cardano, Italian doctor, philosopher and mathematician (b. 1501)
• 1643 – Huang Taiji, Chinese Emperor (b. 1592)
• 1743 – Jai Singh II, Indian King (b. 1688)
• 1798 – George Read, Signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1733)
• 1810 – Mir Taqi Mir, Urdu poet (b. 1723)
• 1832 – Walter Scott, Scottish writer (b. 1771)
• 1852 – William Badger, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1779)
• 1860 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (b. 1788)
• 1880 – Manuel Montt, 6th President of Chile (b. 1809)
• 1895 – Viktor Rydberg, Swedish writer (b. 1828)

1901 – 2000

• 1904 – Chief Joseph, Nez Perce leader (b. 1840)
• 1906 – Samuel Arnold, American conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1838)
• 1926 – Léon Charles Thévenin, French engineer (b. 1857)
• 1929 – Nathaniel Edwin Harris, American politician (b. 1846)
• 1933 – Kenji Miyazawa, Japanese author and poet (b. 1896)
• 1939 – Armand Calinescu, Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1893)
• 1943 – Kingsley Wood, British politician (b. 1881)
• 1947 – Harry Carey, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1846)
• 1953 – Necmettin Sadak, Turkish politician (b. 1890)
• 1954 – Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese inventor (b. 1858)
• 1957 – Haakon VII, King of Norway (b. 1872)
• 1963 – Paulino Masip, Spanish author, playwright and screenwriter (b. 1899)
• 1966 – Paul Reynaud, Prime Minister of France (b. 1878)
• 1971 – Bernardo Houssay, Argentinian doctor, won the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, (b. 1887)
• 1974 – Walter Brennan, American actor (b. 1894)
• 1976 – Orlando Letelier, Chilean economist, politician and diplomat (b. 1932)
• 1982 – Hovhannes Bagramyan, Soviet general (b. 1897)
• 1985 – Gu Long, Chinese author and screenwriter (b. 1937)
• 1987 – Jaco Pastorius, American musician (b. 1951)
• 1990 – Takis Kanellopoulos, Greek movie director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
• 1995 – Rudy Perpich, American politician (b. 1928)
• 1997 – Jennifer Holt, American actress (b. 1920)
• 1998 – Florence Griffith-Joyner, American athlete (b. 1959)

From 2001

• 2007 – Hallgeir Brenden, Norwegian skier (b. 1929)
• 2011 – Paulette Dubost, French actress (b. 1910)
• 2011 – Troy Davis, American high–profile death row inmate (b. 1968)
• 2012 – Henry Bauchau, Belgian psychoanalyst and author (b. 1913)
• 2012 – Sven Hassel, Danish–German soldier and author (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Michael Rye, American actor (b. 1918)
• 2014 – Linda Griffiths, Canadian actress and playwright (b. 1953)
• 2014 – Caldwell Jones, American basketball player (b. 1950)
• 2014 – Cecilia Cenci, Argentine actress (b. 1942)
• 2014 – Frieda Szwillus, German supercentenarian (b. 1902)
• 2014 – Mike Harari, Israeli intelligence officer (b. 1927)
• 2015 – Armen Movsisyan, Armenian politician (b. 1962)
• 2015 – Yoram Gross, Polish–born Australian animation producer and director (b. 1926)
• 2017 – Liliane Bettencourt, French businesswoman, socialite and heiress (b. 1922)
• 2017 – William G. Stewart, British game show host (b. 1933)
• 2018 – Vitaliy Masol, former Prime minister of Ukraine (b. 1928)
• 2018 – Tran Dai Quang, President of Vietnam (b. 1956)
• 2019 – Aron Eisenberg, American actor (b. 1969)
• 2019 – Sid Haig, American actor (b. 1939)
• 2019 – Sigmund Jaehn, German cosmonaut (b. 1937)
• 2019 – Günter Kunert, German writer (b. 1929)
• 2019 – Carl Ruiz, American chef and television personality (b. 1975)
• 2019 – Jevan Snead, American football player (b. 1987)
• 2019 – Woo Hye-mi, South Korean pop singer (b. 1988)

Observances

• Independence Day (Belize and Malta)
• International Day of Peace
• Spring day in some South American countries