April 21

Birthdays:

1996 ~ Tavi Gevinson, American writer, actress and blogger.  She was born in Chicago, Illinois.

1958 ~ Andie MacDowell (née Rosalie Anderson MacDowell), American model and actress.  She was born in Gaffney, South Carolina.

1949 ~ Patti LuPone (née Patti Ann LuPone), American actress and singer.  She was born in Northport, New York.

1939 ~ Sister Helen Prejean, American Catholic nun and social activist.  She is a strong advocate against the death penalty.  She was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

1936 ~ Stan Brock (né Stanley Edmunde Brock; d. Aug. 29, 2018), British-born cowboy who became a health care-activist.  When he was 17 years old, he was badly injured while working as a cowboy in the Amazon basin.  The nearest doctor was a 26-day trek away, so he stayed and recovered among the Wapishana Indians.  Recognizing the importance of medical care, he founded the charity Remote Area Medical in 1985.  He was born in Preston, Lancashire, England.  He died at age 82 in Rockford, Tennessee.

1935 ~ Charles Grodin, American actor.  He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1935 ~ Thomas Kean, Sr. (né Thomas Howard Kean), 48th Governor of New Jersey.  He was Governor from January 1982 until January 1990.  He was born in New York, New York.

1932 ~ Elaine May (née Elaine Iva Berlin), American actress.  She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1930 ~ Don Tyson (né Donald John Tyson, d. Jan. 6, 2011), American chicken farmer who built a food empire.  He was the founder of Tyson chicken.  He was born in Olathe, Kansas.  He died of cancer at age 80 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

1929 ~ Edgar R. Fiedler (né Edgar Russell Fiedler; d. Mar. 15, 2003), American economist.  He died at age 73.

1926 ~ Queen Elizabeth II (née Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) of the United Kingdom.  She celebrates her official birthday, however, on June 9 of each year.

1915 ~ Anthony Quinn (né Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca; d. June 3, 2001), Mexican-American actor.  He died of throat cancer and respiratory failure in Boston, Massachusetts at age 86.

1915 ~ Werner Groebili (b. Apr. 14, 2008), Swiss skater who was half of the skating team, Frick and Frack.  He was born in Basel, Switzerland.  He died 7 days before his 93rd birthday in Zurich, Switzerland.

1912 ~ Eve Arnold (née Eve Cohen; d. Jan. 4, 2012), American photojournalist.  She was the master photographer of telling portraits.  She died at age 99.

1911 ~ Ivan Combe (né Ivan DeBlois Combe; d. Jan. 11, 2000), American businessman and developer of Clearasil.  He died at age 88.

1905 ~ Pat Brown (né Edmund Gerald Brown, Sr.; d. Feb. 16, 1996), 32nd Governor of California.  He served as Governor from January 1959 until January 1967.  He died at age 90.

1889 ~ Paul Karrer (d. June 18, 1971), Swiss organic chemist and recipient of the 1937 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on vitamins.  He died at age 82.

1889 ~ Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. (d. Feb. 22, 1985), Russian-American violinist, composer and conductor.  He died in Reno, Nevada at age 95.

1882 ~ Percy Williams Bridgman (d. Aug. 20, 1961), American physicist and recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures.  He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and died in Randolph, New Hampshire.  He suffered from cancer and died by suicide at age 79.

1838 ~ John Muir (d. Dec. 24, 1914), Scottish-American environmentalist.  He was the founder of the Sierra Club.  He died of pneumonia at age 76.

1837 ~ Fredrik Bajer (d. Jan. 22, 1922), Danish politician and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died at age 84.

1818 ~ Josh Billings (né Henry Wheeler Shaw; d. Oct. 14, 1885), American humorist and writer.  He was born in Lanesborough, Massachusetts.  He died at age 67 in Monterey, California.

1816 ~ Charlotte Brontë (d. Mar. 31, 1855), English author.  She is best known for her novel Jane Eyre.  She died 3 weeks before her 39th birthday.

1811 ~ Alson Sherman (d. Sept. 27, 1903), 8th Mayor of Chicago.  He was in office from 1844 to 1945.  He was born in Barre, Vermont.  He died at age 92.

1810 ~ John Putnam Chapin (d. July 27, 1864), 10th Mayor of Chicago.  He was in office from 1846 to 1847.  He was born in Bradford, Vermont.  He died at age 54 in Chicago.

1790 ~ Manuel Blanco Encalada (d. Sept. 5, 1876), 1st President of Chile.  He served as President for two months, from July 1826 until September 1826.  He died at age 86.

1782 ~ Friedrich Fröbel (né Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel; d. June 21, 1852), German founder of the Kindergarten system.  He died at age 70.

1774 ~ Jean-Baptiste Biot (d. Feb. 3, 1862), French physicist, mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 87.

1652 ~ Michel Rolle (d. Nov. 8, 1719), French mathematician.  He died at age 67.

1642 ~ Simon de la Loubère (d. Mar. 26, 1729), French diplomat and mathematician.  He died less than a month before his 87th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2019 ~ Easter Sunday.  Bomb blasts exploded in numerous Christian churches during Easter Services in Sri Lanka.  A series of bomb blasts also struck in many luxury hotels frequented by foreign tourists.  Over 200 people were killed in these terrorist attacks.

1989 ~ In Beijing, China, over 100,000 students gathered in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Hu Yaobang (1915 ~ 1989), who had died a few days earlier.  Hu was a Chinese political reform leader.  Chinese troops, armed with automatic weapons and tanks, killed numerous of the student protesters.

1977 ~ The musical Annie opened on Broadway.

1965 ~ The 1964/1965 New York World’s Fair opened for its second year.

1962 ~ The World’s Fair opened in Seattle, Washington.  It was the first World’s Fair to be held in the United States since World War II.

1952 ~ Secretary’s Day (now known as Administrative Professionals’ Day) was first celebrated.

1934 ~ The infamous “Surgeon’s Photograph” of the Loch Ness Monster, which was taken by gynecologist Robert Wilson (1899 ~ 1969), was first published.  It was revealed to be a hoax in 1999.

1898 ~ The Spanish-American War began when the United States Navy began a blockade of Cuban ports.  Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, 1898.

1836 ~ The Texans, under the leadership of Sam Houston (1793 ~ 1863), defeated the Mexicans, under the leadership of General Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794 ~ 1876) in the Battle of San Jacinto.

1509 ~ King Henry VIII (1491 ~ 1547) of England ascended to the throne following the death of his father, King Henry VII (1457 ~ 1509).

1506 ~ The Lisbon Massacre, which had begun 3-days earlier, ended with the murder of over 1,900 individuals who were accused of being Jews.  This massacre occurred thirty years before the formal establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal, but only 9 years after the Jews were forced to convert to Roman Catholicism during the reign of King Manuel I.  Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, many Spanish Jews had fled to Portugal where they thought they would be safe.

753 BCE ~ Traditional date that Rome was founded by Romulus and Remus.

Good-Byes:

2019 ~ Ken Kercheval (b. July 15, 1935), American actor best known for his role as Cliff Barnes on the television drama Dallas.  He died of lung cancer at age 83.

2018 ~ Verne Troyer (né Verne Jay Troyer; b. Jan 1, 1969), American actor best known for his role as Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies.  He died at age 49 of a possible suicide.

2016 ~ Prince (né Prince Rogers Nelson, b. June 7, 1958), American singer-songwriter and actor.  He died of an accidental drug overdose at age 57.

2015 ~ Mary Doyle Keefe (née Mary Doyle; b. July 3, 1922), American petite model who became “Rosie the Riveter.”  She became a dental hygienist.  She was born in Bennington, Vermont.  She was 92 years old in Simsbury, Connecticut.

2013 ~ Shakuntala Devi (b. Nov. 4, 1929), Indian mathematician.  She was known as the Human Calculator.  She died at age 83.

2012 ~ Charles Colson (né Charles Wendell Colson; b. Oct. 16, 1931), American attorney.  He served as the Director of the Office of Public Liaison during the Nixon administration.  He is best known as being the “hatchet man” during the Watergate scandal.  He was the Nixon henchman who was born again.  He pled guilty of obstruction of justice and spent several months in federal prison, where he became an evangelist.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died of a brain hemorrhage at age 80.

2012 ~ Charles Higham (b. Feb. 18, 1931), British celebrity biographer.  He died at age 81.

2005 ~ William Kruskal (né William Henry Kruskal; b. Oct. 10, 1919), American mathematician and statistician.  He was a professor at the University of Chicago.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died in Chicago, Illinois at age 85.

2003 ~ Nina Simone (née Eunice Kathleen Waymon; b. Feb. 21, 1933), African-American singer and activist.  She died at age 70.

1990 ~ Erté (né Romain de Tirtoff, b. Nov. 23, 1892), Russian-born French artist known for his art deco style.  He was known by the pseudonym, which is the French pronunciation of his initials, R.T.  He died at age 97.

1977 ~ Gummo Marx (né Milton Marx; b. Oct. 23, 1893), fourth of the Marx brothers, and American actor and comedian.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 84.

1971 ~ François Duvalier (b. Apr. 14, 1907), Haitian President known as Papa Doc.  His rule was dictatorial.  He died of heart disease and diabetes a week after his 64th birthday.

1965 ~ Sir Edward Victor Appleton (b. Sept. 6, 1892), English physicist and recipient of the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 72.

1954 ~ Emil Leon Post (b. Feb. 11, 1897), Polish-born American mathematician.  He died of a heart attack at age 57.

1946 ~ John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes (b. June 5, 1883), English economist.  He died of a heart attack at age 62.

1918 ~ Manfred von Richthofen (b. May 2, 1892), German pilot known as the Red Baron.  He was killed at 11 days before his 26th birthday while in an air battle during World War I.

1910 ~ Mark Twain (né Samuel Langhorne Clemens; b. Nov. 30, 1835), American novelist.  He died at age 74.

1844 ~ Henry Baldwin (b. Jan. 14, 1780), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Andrew Jackson.  He replaced Bushrod Washington on the Court.  He served on the Court from January 1830 until his death 14 years later.  Prior to joining the High Court, he served as a representative in the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.  He was born in New Haven, Connecticut.  He died at age 64 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1825 ~ Johann Friedrich Pfaff (b. Dec. 22, 1765), German mathematician.  He died at age 59.

1718 ~ Philippe de La Hire (b. Mar. 18, 1640), French mathematician and astronomer.  The Mons La Hire, a mountain on the moon, is named in his honor.  He died at age 78.

1699 ~ Jean Racine (né Jean-Baptiste Racine, b. Dec. 22, 1639), French dramatist.  He died at age 59.

1561 ~ Lucrezia de’ Medici (b. Feb. 14, 1545), Duchess consort of Ferrara (b. Feb. 14, 1545).  She was the first wife of Alfonso II d’Este.  She was born in Florence, Italy.  She died at age 16, probably of tuberculosis in Ferrara, Italy.

1547 ~ Cosimo I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. June 12, 1519).  He died at age 54.

1557 ~ Petrus Apianus (b. Apr. 16, 1495), German mathematician.  He died a week after his 62nd birthday.

1509 ~ King Henry VII of England (b. Jan. 28, 1457).  He reigned from August 1485 until his death 24 years later.  He died at age 52 and was succeeded by King Henry VIII.

1142 ~ Peter Abelard (b. 1079), French philosopher and theologian.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.  He is believed to be about 62-63 at the time of his death.

1073 ~ Pope Alexander II (né Anselmo da Baggio).  He was Pope from September 1061 until his death nearly 12 years later.  The date of his birth is unknown.

234 ~ Emperor Xian of Han (b. Apr. 2, 181), 14th and last emperor of the Han Dynasty.  He reigned from September 189 until November 220.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is believed to have been on April 2, 181.  He died 19 days before his 53rd birthday.