On this day in history

March 21

29 births · 9 deaths · 5 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

Eurovision Song Contest 1964

62 years ago

Born this day

1685

Johann Sebastian Bach

Died aged 65

Photo (modified): Elias Gottlob Haussmann · Public domain

Oldest record

800th

Charles I of Naples

birth anniversary

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Famous births29

1226 · 800 yrs

Charles I of Naples

Charles I (Italian: Carlo; early 1226/1227 – 7 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou or Charles d'Anjou, was King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285. He was a member of the Capetian dynasty and the founder of the House of Anjou-Sicily.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

RoyaltyDied aged 58

View profile Photo (modified): sailko · CC BY-SA 3.0

1626 · 400 yrs

Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur

Peter of Saint Joseph de Betancur (or Betancourt) y Gonzáles, OFB (Spanish: Pedro de San José de Betancur y Gonzáles, 21 March 1626– 25 April 1667), also called Hermano Pedro de San José Betancurt (Brother Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur) or more simply Peter de Betancurt, Hermano Pedro (Brother Peter), Santo Hermano…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 41

View profile Photo (modified): Polylerus at English Wikipedia · Public domain

1675 · 351 yrs

Benedict XIV

Pope Benedict XIV (Latin: Benedictus XIV; Italian: Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and leader of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death on 3 May 1758.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 83

View profile Photo (modified): Pierre Subleyras · Public domain

1685 · 341 yrs

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 65

View profile Photo (modified): Elias Gottlob Haussmann · Public domain

1763 · 263 yrs

Jean Paul

Jean Paul (German:; born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, 21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825) was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Heinrich Pfenninger (1749-c.1815) · Public domain

1768 · 258 yrs

Joseph Fourier

Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier (French:; 21 March 1768 – 16 May 1830) was a French mathematician and physicist born in Auxerre, Burgundy and best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series, which eventually developed into Fourier analysis and harmonic analysis, and their applications to problems of heat…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 62

View profile Photo (modified): Julien-Léopold Boilly · Public domain

1920 · 106 yrs

Éric Rohmer

Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (French:; 21 March 1920 – 11 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher. Rohmer was the last of the post-World War II French New Wave directors to become established.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 106

View profile Photo (modified): Smdl · CC BY-SA 3.0

1925 · 101 yrs

Peter Brook

Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director.

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FilmWould be 101

View profile Photo (modified): John Thaxter · CC0

1927 · 99 yrs

Hans-Dietrich Genscher

Hans-Dietrich Genscher (German:; 21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 1974 to 1992 (except for a…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 99

View profile Photo (modified): Ralf Roletschek · CC BY 3.0

1932 · 94 yrs

Walter Gilbert

Walter Gilbert (born March 21, 1932) is an American biochemist, physicist, molecular biology pioneer, and Nobel laureate.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceAge 94

View profile Photo (modified): Douglas A. Lockard · CC BY-SA 3.0

1941 · 85 yrs

Fausto Cercignani

Fausto Cercignani (Italian pronunciation:; born March 21, 1941) is an Italian scholar, essayist and poet.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureAge 85

View profile Photo (modified): Pierre Abbé · CC BY-SA 3.0

1944 · 82 yrs

Timothy Dalton

Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett (born 21 March 1946) is a British actor. He gained international prominence as the fourth actor to portray fictional secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, starring in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmAge 82

View profile Photo (modified): Molendijk, Bart / Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

Showing 12 of 29

Famous deaths9

1556 · 470 yrs

Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was an English theologian who was a leader of the English Reformation and served as Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a martyr in the Church of England.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ReligionDied aged 66

View profile Photo (modified): Gerlach Flicke · Public domain

1762 · 264 yrs

Nicolas Louis de Lacaille

Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (French:; 15 March 1713 – 21 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the 88 constellations. From 1750 to 1754, he studied the sky at the Cape of Good Hope in present-day South Africa.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceDied aged 49

View profile Photo (modified): Melle Le Jeuneux · Public domain

1843 · 183 yrs

Robert Southey

Robert Southey (12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureDied aged 68

View profile Photo (modified): John James Masquerier · Public domain

1915 · 111 yrs

Frederick Winslow Taylor

Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

TechnologyDied aged 59

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

1936 · 90 yrs

Alexander Glazounov

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov (10 August 1865 – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

MusicDied aged 70

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · Public domain

2010 · 16 yrs

James Black

Sir James Whyte Black born (14 June 1924 – Died 22 March 2010) was a Scottish physician and pharmacologist. Together with Gertrude B. Elion and George H.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 102

View profile Photo (modified): Unknown author · CC BY 4.0

2013 · 13 yrs

Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe (born Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 95

View profile Photo (modified): Carlo Bavagnoli · Public domain

2021 · 5 yrs

Nawal El Saadawi

Nawal El Saadawi (Arabic: نوال السعداوي, ALA-LC: Nawāl as-Saʿdāwī; 27 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist, physician, and psychiatrist.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 94

View profile Photo (modified): Gigi Ibrahim · CC BY 2.0

2025 · 1 yrs

George Foreman

George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SportsWould be 77

View profile Photo (modified): Bert Verhoeff, Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Rijksfotoarchief: Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Fotopersbureau (ANEFO), · CC0

Events5

1960 · 66 yrs

Sharpeville massacre

The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, when police opened fire on a crowd of people who had assembled outside the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng) to protest against the apartheid system and its pass…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tragedy

1964 · 62 yrs

Eurovision Song Contest 1964

The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the 9th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 21 March 1964 at Tivolis Koncertsal in Copenhagen, Denmark, and presented by Lotte Wæver.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

1989 · 37 yrs

Basel Convention

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, usually known as the Basel Convention, is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to restrict the transfer of hazardous waste from…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Politics

1999 · 27 yrs

71st Academy Awards

The 71st Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best of 1998 in film and took place on March 21, 1999, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Culture

2019 · 7 yrs

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be played across Europe in June and July 2020 before the tournament was delayed by…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sports

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