August 21

August 21 is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 132 days remaining.

Table of contents

4 Holidays and observances

Events

1680 - Pueblo Indians captured Santa Fe from Spanish
1831 - Nat Turner leads slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia
1852 - Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory
1858 - Lincoln-Douglas debates begin
1959 - Hawaii is admitted as the 50th U.S. state.
1863 - Lawrence, Kansas destroyed by William Quantrill, Jesse and Frank James, the Younger Brothers, et. al.
1911 - The Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre
1944 - Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations
1986 - Toxic gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing over 1700 people
1991 - Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses
1998 - The United States destroys a pharmaceutical plant (erroneously believed to be a chemical weapons plant) in Sudan
2001 - NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
2001 - A sixth-century temple is discovered in central Mexico
2001 - The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

Births

1165 - Philip II of France
1765 - William IV of the United Kingdom (+ 1837)
1811 - William Kelly, iron manufacturer, inventor (+ 1888)
1872 - Aubrey Beardsley, illustrator (+ 1898)
1904 - Count Basie (William Allen Basie), bandleader (+ 1984)
1906 - Fritz Freleng, movie animator
1920 - Christopher Robin Milne, propotype of the Christopher Robin in the Winnie the Pooh stories
1923 - Shimon Peres, Prime Minister of Israel
1924 - Jack Weston, actor (+ 1996)
1924 - Chris Scheknel, sports journalist
1928 - Art Farmer, trumpet player
1930 - Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (+ 2002)
1932 - Melvin Van Peebles, actor, screenwriter
1936 - Wilt Chamberlain, Basketball Hall of Famer (+ 1999)
1938 - Kenny Rogers, singer, actor
1939 - Clarence Williams III, actor
1944 - Jackie DeShannon, singer
1956 - Kim Cattrall, actress
1959 - Jim McMahon, National Football League quarterback
1963 - Mohammed VI of Morocco
1967 - Carrie-Anne Moss, actress
1969 - Joseé Chouinard, Canadian figure skater

Deaths

1153 - Bernard of Clairvaux, Christian theologian
1614 - Elizabeth Bathory, serial killer
1940 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary
1940 - Ernest Lawrence Thayer, poet
1947 - Ettore Bugatti, automobile manufacturer
1978 - Charles Eames, American designer and architect
1983 - Benigno S. Aquino Jr., Philippine opposition leader
1988 - Ray Eames, American designer
1997 - Norris Bradbury, physicist

Holidays and observances

Roman Empire - Consualia, in honor of Consus, is held

See Also:

August 20 - August 22 - July 21 - September 21 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December