October 21

Events

1096 – People's Crusade: A Seljuk Turkish army successfully fight off the People's Army of the West.

1097 – First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, begin the Siege of Antioch.

1209 – Otto IV is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Innocent III.

1392 – Nanboku-chō, Japan: Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.

1512 – Martin Luther joins the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.

1520 – Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as Strait of Magellan.

1520 – João Álvares Fagundes discovers the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, bestowing them their original name of "Islands of the 11,000 Virgins".

1600 – Tokugawa Ieyasu defeats the leaders of rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marks the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate.

1774 – First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.

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 Vice Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve.

1824 – Joseph Aspdin patents Portland cement.

1854 – Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses are 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.

1867 – The Medicine Lodge Treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate to a reservation in western Oklahoma.

1879 – Thomas Edison invents the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb.

1888 – Foundation of the Swiss Social Democratic Party.

1892 – Opening ceremonies for the World's Columbian Exposition are held in Chicago, though because construction was behind schedule, the exposition did not open until May 1, 1893.

1895 – The Republic of Formosa collapses as Japanese forces invade.

1910 – HMS Niobe arrives in Halifax Harbour to become the first ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.

1912 – First Balkan War: Kardzhali is liberated by Bulgarian forces.

1921 – President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting U.S. President against lynching in the deep South.

1931 – The Sakurakai, a secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army, launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.

1940 – The first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.

1943 – The Provisional Government of Free India is formally declared by Subhas Chandra Bose.

1944 – World War II: The first kamikaze attack. A Japanese fighter plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.

1944 – World War II: Nemmersdorf massacre against the German civilians takes place.

1944 – World War II: Battle of Aachen: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, making it the first German city to fall to the Allies.

1945 – Women's suffrage: Women are allowed to vote in France for the first time.

1950 – Korean War: Heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the North Korean 239th Regiment during the Battle of Yongju.

1956 – Mau Mau Uprising: Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is captured by the British Army, signalling the ultimate defeat of the rebellion, and essentially ending the British military campaign.

1959 – In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opens to the public.

1959 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order transferring Wernher von Braun and other German scientists from the United States Army to NASA.

1965 – Comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers (279,617 miles) from the sun.

1966 – Aberfan disaster: A colliery spoil tip collapses on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.

1967 – Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, D.C.. Similar demonstrations occur simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe.

1969 – A coup d'état in Somalia brings Siad Barre to power and establishes a socialist republic in Somalia.

1971 – A gas explosion kills 22 people at a shopping center in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire, near Glasgow, Scotland.

1973 – Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.

1978 – Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes in a Cessna 182 over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.

1979 – Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.

1981 – Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces.

1983 – The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

1986 – In Lebanon, pro-Iran kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).

1987 – Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.

1994 – North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States sign an Agreed Framework that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.

1994 – In Seoul, 32 people are killed when the Seongsu Bridge collapses.

2005 – Images of the dwarf planet Eris are taken and subsequently used in documenting its discovery by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz.

Births

1328 – Hongwu Emperor of China (d. 1398)

1449 – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, Irish-English son of Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. 1478)

1527 – Louis I, Cardinal of Guise (d. 1578)

1581 – Domenichino, Italian painter (d. 1641)

1650 – Jean Bart, French admiral (d. 1702)

1675 – Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (d. 1710)

1687 – Nicolaus I Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and theorist (d. 1759)

1712 – James Steuart, Scottish economist and author (d. 1780)

1725 – Franz Moritz von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (d. 1801)

1757 – Pierre Augereau, French general (d. 1816)

1762 – Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch general, lawyer, and politician, 36th Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1818)

1772 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet, philosopher, and critic (d. 1834)

1775 – Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest, composer, and critic (d. 1844)

1790 – Alphonse de Lamartine, French poet and politician, French Head of State (d. 1869)

1811 – Filippo Colini, Italian operatic baritone (d. 1863)

1821 – Sims Reeves, English tenor and actor (d. 1900)

1833 – Alfred Nobel, Swedish chemist and engineer, invented dynamite and founded the Nobel Prize (d. 1896)

1845 – Will Carleton, American poet and journalist (d. 1912)

1847 – Giuseppe Giacosa, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1906)

1851 – George Ulyett, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1898)

1877 – Oswald Avery, Canadian-American physician and microbiologist (d. 1955)

1884 – Claire Waldoff, German singer and actress (d. 1957)

1886 – Eugene Burton Ely, American soldier and pilot (d. 1911)

1887 – Krishna Singh, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar (d. 1961)

1894 – Edogawa Ranpo, Japanese author and critic (d. 1965)

1895 – Paavo Johansson, Finnish javelin thrower and decathlete (d. 1983)

1895 – Edna Purviance, American actress (d. 1958)

1898 – Eduard Pütsep, Estonian wrestler and actor (d. 1960)

1907 – Nikos Engonopoulos, Greek painter and poet (d. 1985)

1908 – Niyazi Berkes, Cypriot-English sociologist and academic (d. 1988)

1911 – Mary Blair, American illustrator and animator (d. 1978)

1912 – Don Byas, American saxophonist and educator (d. 1972)

1912 – Alfredo Pián, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1990)

1912 – Georg Solti, Hungarian-English conductor and director (d. 1997)

1914 – Martin Gardner, American mathematician and author (d. 2010)

1917 – Dizzy Gillespie, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 1993)

1918 – Milton Himmelfarb, American sociologist and author (d. 2006)

1919 – Jim Wallwork, English-Canadian sergeant and pilot (d. 2013)

1921 – Malcolm Arnold, English composer (d. 2006)

1921 – Bruce Beeby, Australian-English actor (d. 2013)

1921 – Robert Clothier, Canadian actor (d. 1999)

1921 – Jim Shumate, American fiddler and composer (d. 2013)

1921 – Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 2015)

1922 – Liliane Bettencourt, French businesswoman and philanthropist

1923 – Samuel Khachikian, Iranian director, screenwriter, and author (d. 2001)

1924 – Joyce Randolph, American actress

1924 – Julie Wilson, American actress and singer (d. 2015)

1925 – Celia Cruz, Cuban-American singer (d. 2003)

1925 – Virginia Zeani, Romanian soprano and educator

1926 – Bob Rosburg, American golfer (d. 2009)

1926 – Leonard Rossiter, English actor (d. 1984)

1927 – Fritz Wintersteller, Austrian mountaineer

1927 – Howard Zieff, American director and photographer (d. 2009)

1928 – Whitey Ford, American baseball player and coach

1928 – Eudóxia Maria Froehlich, Brazilian zoologist (d. 2015)

1928 – Vern Mikkelsen, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)

1929 – Pierre Bellemare, French radio and television host

1929 – Fritz Hollaus, Austrian footballer (d. 1994)

1929 – Ursula K. Le Guin, American author and critic

1930 – Ivan Silayev, Russian engineer and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Russia

1931 – Shammi Kapoor, Indian actor and director (d. 2011)

1931 – Jim Parks junior, English cricketer and manager

1932 – Pál Csernai, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2013)

1933 – Maureen Duffy, English author, poet, and playwright

1935 – Derek Bell, Irish harp player, pianist, and songwriter (d. 2002)

1937 – Said Afandi al-Chirkawi, Russian spiritual leader and scholar (d. 2012)

1937 – Hank Nelson, Australian historian and academic (d. 2012)

1938 – Carl Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2001)

1940 – Jimmy Beaumont, American doo-wop singer-songwriter

1940 – Geoffrey Boycott, English cricketer and sportscaster

1940 – Frances FitzGerald, American journalist and author

1940 – Rhoda Gemignani, American actress

1940 – Manfred Mann, South African-English keyboard player and producer

1940 – Marita Petersen, Faroese educator and politician, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2001)

1941 – Steve Cropper, American guitarist, songwriter, producer, and actor

1942 – Elvin Bishop, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1942 – Allan Grice, Australian race car driver and politician

1942 – Lou Lamoriello, American ice hockey player, coach, and manager

1942 – Judith Sheindlin, American judge and television host

1942 – Christopher A. Sims, American economist and statistician, Nobel Prize laureate

1942 – John Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, English police officer and academic

1943 – Tariq Ali, Pakistani historian and author

1943 – Ron Elliott, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and composer

1944 – Mandy Rice-Davies, English model and actress (d. 2014)

1944 – Michael Tugendhat, English lawyer and judge

1945 – Michael White, English journalist

1946 – Jane Heal, English philosopher and academic

1946 – Jim Hill, American football player and sportscaster

1946 – Lux Interior, American singer-songwriter (d. 2009)

1946 – Lee Loughnane, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player

1948 – Shaye J. D. Cohen, American historian and academic

1948 – Allen Henry Vigneron, American archbishop

1949 – Michel Brière, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1971)

1949 – Mike Keenan, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

1949 – Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli captain and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Israel

1950 – Ronald McNair, American physicist and astronaut (d. 1986)

1952 – Trevor Chappell, Australian cricketer and coach

1952 – Patti Davis, American actress and author

1952 – Allen Hoey, American poet and author

1952 – Brent Mydland, German-American keyboard player (d. 1990)

1953 – Eric Faulkner, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist

1953 – Keith Green, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and minister (d. 1982)

1953 – Marc Johnson, American bassist, composer, and bandleader

1953 – Peter Mandelson, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

1954 – Brian Tobin, Canadian journalist and politician, 6th Premier of Newfoundland

1955 – Dick DeVos, American businessman

1955 – Fred Hersch, American pianist and composer

1955 – Rich Mullins, American singer-songwriter (d. 1997)

1956 – Carrie Fisher, American actress and screenwriter (d. 2016)

1956 – Mike Tully, American pole vaulter

1957 – Julian Cope, English singer-songwriter

1957 – Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

1957 – Steve Lukather, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

1958 – Andre Geim, Russian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

1959 – George Bell, Dominican baseball player

1959 – Rose McDowall, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist

1959 – Andy Picheta, English director, producer, and screenwriter

1959 – Kevin Sheedy, Welsh-Irish footballer and manager

1959 – Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor and producer

1962 – David Campese, Australian rugby player and coach

1964 – Jon Carin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

1965 – Ion Andoni Goikoetxea, Spanish footballer and manager

1965 – Horace Hogan, American wrestler

1965 – Hisashi Imai, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist

1966 – Phillip Price, Welsh golfer

1966 – Igor Prins, Estonian footballer and manager

1966 – Arne Sandstø, Norwegian footballer and manager

1967 – Georgi Dakov, Bulgarian high jumper (d. 1996)

1967 – Paul Ince, English footballer and manager

1967 – Gavin Lovegrove, New Zealand javelin thrower and graphic designer

1968 – Alexandros Alexandris, Greek footballer and manager

1968 – Kerstin Andreae, German politician

1969 – Michael Hancock, Australian rugby league player

1969 – Mo Lewis, American football player

1970 – Louis Koo, Hong Kong actor and singer

1971 – Hal Duncan, Scottish author and poet

1971 – Damien Martyn, Australian cricketer

1971 – Nick Oliveri, American singer-songwriter and bass player

1971 – Conor O'Shea, Irish rugby player and coach

1971 – Paul Telfer, Scottish footballer and coach

1971 – Thomas Ulsrud, Norwegian curler

1972 – Matthew Friedberger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1972 – Orlando Thomas, American football player (d. 2014)

1972 – Evhen Tsybulenko, Ukrainian scholar and academic

1973 – Lera Auerbach, Russian-American pianist and composer

1973 – Charlie Lowell, American pianist and songwriter

1974 – Costel Busuioc, Romanian tenor

1975 – Toby Hall, American baseball player

1975 – Henrique Hilário, Portuguese footballer

1976 – Henrik Gustavsson, Swedish footballer

1976 – Jeremy Miller, American actor and singer

1976 – Lavinia Miloșovici, Romanian gymnast

1976 – Josh Ritter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1976 – Mélanie Turgeon, Canadian skier

1978 – Joey Harrington, American football player and sportscaster

1978 – Henrik Klingenberg, Finnish singer and keyboard player

1979 – Khalil Greene, American baseball player

1979 – Gabe Gross, American baseball player

1980 – Kim Kardashian, American reality television personality, actress, model, businesswoman and socialite

1980 – Brian Pittman, American bass player

1981 – Martin Castrogiovanni, Argentinian-Italian rugby player

1981 – Nemanja Vidić, Serbian footballer

1982 – Matt Dallas, American actor

1982 – Jim Henderson, American baseball player

1982 – Antony Kay, English footballer

1982 – Hari Kondabolu, American comedian, actor, and podcaster

1982 – Ray Ventrone, American football player

1982 – Lee Chong Wei, Malaysian badminton player

1982 – James White, American basketball player

1982 – Tim Wildsmith, American singer-songwriter and pianist

1983 – Casey Fien, American baseball player

1983 – Zack Greinke, American baseball player

1983 – Gonzalo Klusener, Argentinian footballer

1983 – Andy Marte, Dominican baseball player (d. 2017)

1983 – Chris Sherrington, English-Scottish martial artist

1983 – Shelden Williams, American basketball player

1984 – Anna Bogdanova, Russian heptathlete

1984 – Tom Brandstater, American football player

1984 – Kenny Cooper, American soccer player

1984 – Anouk Leblanc-Boucher, Canadian speed skater

1984 – José Lobatón, Venezuelan baseball player

1984 – Marvin Mitchell, American football player

1984 – Kieran Richardson, English footballer

1985 – Simone Bracalello, Italian footballer

1986 – Almen Abdi, Swiss footballer

1986 – Chibuzor Chilaka, Nigerian footballer

1986 – Scott Rendell, English footballer

1987 – Justin De Fratus, American baseball player

1987 – Andrey Grechin, Russian swimmer

1988 – Ricki Olsen, Danish footballer

1988 – Daniel Schorn, Austrian cyclist

1989 – Mads Dahm, Norwegian footballer

1989 – Luke Murphy, English footballer

1989 – Jonathan Viera, Spanish footballer

1989 – Sam Vokes, English-Welsh footballer

1990 – Bengali-Fodé Koita, French footballer

1990 – Mathieu Peybernes, French footballer

1990 – Ricky Rubio, Spanish basketball player

1991 – Tom Eastman, English footballer

1991 – Geoffry Hairemans, Belgian footballer

1991 – Vadaine Oliver, English footballer

1991 – Harry Pell, English footballer

1992 – Bernard Tomic, German-Australian tennis player

1995 – Cameron Burgess, Scottish-Australian footballer

1995 – Antoinette Guedia Mouafo, Cameroonian swimmer

Deaths

645 – Zhenzhu Khan, khan of Xueyantuo

1023 – Gero, Archbishop of Magdeburg

1096 – Walter Sans Avoir, a leader of the First Crusade

1125 – Cosmas of Prague, Bohemian priest and historian (b. 1045)

1204 – Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester, English politician

1221 – Alix, Duchess of Brittany (b. 1201)

1266 – Birger Jarl, Swedish politician (b. 1210)

1314 – Geoffrey de Geneville, 1st Baron Geneville

1422 – Charles VI of France (b. 1368)

1500 – Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (b. 1442)

1505 – Paul Scriptoris, German mathematician and educator (b. 1460)

1558 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (b. 1484)

1600 – Shima Sakon, Japanese samurai (b. 1540)

1600 – Toda Katsushige, Japanese daimyo (b. 1557)

1623 – William Wade, English politician and diplomat, Lieutenant of the Tower of London (b. 1546)

1662 – Henry Lawes, English pianist and composer (b. 1595)

1687 – Edmund Waller, English poet and politician (b. 1606)

1765 – Giovanni Paolo Panini, Italian painter and architect (b. 1691)

1775 – Peyton Randolph, American lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Continental Congress (b. 1721)

1777 – Samuel Foote, English actor and playwright (b. 1720)

1805 – John Cooke, English captain (b. 1763)

1805 – George Duff, Scottish captain (b. 1764)

1805 – Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, English admiral (b. 1758)

1821 – Dorothea Ackermann, German actress (b. 1752)

1835 – Muthuswami Dikshitar, Indian poet and composer (b. 1775)

1872 – Jacques Babinet, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1794)

1873 – Johan Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian author, poet, and critic (b. 1807)

1896 – James Henry Greathead, South African-English engineer (b. 1844)

1903 – Jinmaku Kyūgorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 12th Yokozuna (b. 1829)

1904 – Isabelle Eberhardt, Swiss explorer and journalist (b. 1877)

1907 – Jules Chevalier, French priest, founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (b. 1824)

1931 – Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian author and playwright (b. 1862)

1938 – Dorothy Hale, American actress (b. 1905)

1940 – William G. Conley, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (b. 1866)

1941 – Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (b. 1852)

1944 – Alois Kayser, German-French missionary (b. 1877)

1952 – Hans Merensky, South African geologist and philanthropist (b. 1871)

1963 – Józef Franczak, Polish sergeant (b. 1918)

1965 – Bill Black, American bass player and bandleader (b. 1926)

1969 – Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet (b. 1922)

1969 – Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician and academic (b. 1882)

1971 – Minnie Evans, Potawatomi leader (b. 1888)

1973 – Nasif Estéfano, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1932)

1975 – Charles Reidpath, American runner and general (b. 1887)

1977 – Ferit Tüzün, Turkish composer (b. 1929)

1978 – Anastas Mikoyan, Armenian-Russian civil servant and politician (b. 1895)

1980 – Hans Asperger, Austrian physician and psychologist (b. 1906)

1982 – Radka Toneff, Norwegian singer-songwriter (b. 1952)

1983 – Joseph P. Lordi, American government official (b. 1919)

1984 – François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1932)

1985 – Dan White, American sergeant and politician (b. 1946)

1986 – Lionel Murphy, Australian jurist and politician, 22nd Attorney-General of Australia (b. 1922)

1989 – Jean Image, Hungarian-French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1910)

1990 – Dany Chamoun, Lebanese engineer and politician (b. 1934)

1990 – Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Indian philosopher and author (b. 1921)

1991 – Lorenc Antoni, Albanian composer, conductor, and musicologist (b. 1909)

1992 – Jim Garrison, American lawyer and judge (b. 1921)

1993 – Sam Zolotow, American journalist and critic (b. 1899)

1995 – Maxene Andrews, American singer (b. 1916)

1995 – Jesús Blasco, Spanish author and illustrator (b. 1919)

1995 – Nancy Graves, American sculptor and painter (b. 1939)

1995 – Shannon Hoon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1967)

1996 – Georgios Zoitakis, Greek general and politician (b. 1910)

1998 – Francis W. Sargent, American soldier and politician, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1915)

1999 – Lars Bo, Danish author and illustrator (b. 1924)

1999 – Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Turkish political scientist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1939)

2003 – Louise Day Hicks, American politician (b. 1916)

2003 – Luis A. Ferré, Puerto Rican engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1904)

2003 – Elliott Smith, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1969)

2006 – Sandy West, American singer-songwriter and drummer (b. 1959)

2007 – Paul Fox, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1951)

2010 – A. Ayyappan, Indian poet and translator (b. 1949)

2011 – Hikmet Bilâ, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1954)

2011 – Tone Pavček, Slovenian poet and author (b. 1928)

2012 – Yash Chopra, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1932)

2012 – Antoni Dobrowolski, Polish educator (b. 1904)

2012 – Jaroslav Kozlík, Czech volleyball player and educator (b. 1907)

2012 – Alf Kumalo, South African photographer and journalist (b. 1930)

2012 – George McGovern, American historian, lieutenant, and politician (b. 1922)

2013 – Bud Adams, American businessman (b. 1923)

2013 – Gianni Ferrio, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1924)

2013 – Rune T. Kidde, Danish author, poet, and illustrator (b. 1957)

2013 – Colonel Robert Morris, American singer-songwriter and drummer (b. 1954)

2013 – Major R. Owens, American librarian and politician (b. 1936)

2013 – Tony Summers, Welsh swimmer (b. 1924)

2013 – Oscar Yanes, Venezuelan journalist and author (b. 1927)

2014 – Ben Bradlee, American journalist and author (b. 1921)

2014 – Nelson Bunker Hunt, American businessman (b. 1926)

2014 – Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, Iranian cleric and politician, Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1931)

2014 – Gough Whitlam, Australian lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1916)

2015 – France Bučar, Slovenian lawyer and politician (b. 1923)

2015 – Marty Ingels, American actor (b. 1936)

2015 – Norman W. Moore, English conservationist and author (b. 1923)

2015 – Sheldon Wolin, American philosopher, theorist, and academic (b. 1922)

Holidays and observances

Apple Day (United Kingdom)

Armed Forces Day (Honduras)

Christian feast day:

Blessed Charles of Austria (Roman Catholic Church)

Hilarion

John of Bridlington

Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena

Leticia (one of The Korean Martyrs)

Peter Yu Tae-chol

Tuda of Lindisfarne

Ursula

October 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Egyptian Naval Day (Egypt)

Indian Police Commemoration Day (India)

International Day of the Nacho

National Nurses' Day (Thailand)

Ndadaye Day (Burundi)

Overseas Chinese Day (Republic of China)

Trafalgar Day (the British Empire in the 19th and early 20th century)