It happened today – this day in history – April 21
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753BC: Traditional date for when Romulus and Remus founded Rome.
1536: Thomas Cromwell begins to plan Anne Boleyn’s downfall while feigning illness.
1689: William III and Mary Stuart are proclaimed King and Queen of England.
1789: John Adams is sworn in as the first Vice President of the USA.
1796: The French, led by Napoleon, defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Mondovi.
1816: Birth of novelist Charlotte Bronte in Thornton, West Yorkshire.
1836: Texas wins independence from Mexico at the Battle of San Jacinto.
1894: George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms & the Man” premieres in London.
1910: Death of author Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) aged 74.
1913: The German passenger ship Imperator runs aground.
1916: The Aud, carrying a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans in staging what would become the 1916 Rising, is captured by the British Navy and forced to sail towards Cork Harbour.
1918: German fighter ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen – the “Red Baron” – is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme, France.
1925: Noel Coward’s “Fallen Angels” premieres in London.
1930: Fire at Ohio State Penitentiary kills 322.
1935: King Boris of Bulgaria forbids all political parties.
1941: Greece surrenders to Nazi-Germany.
1945: The Russian Army enters the outskirts of Berlin.
1954: Georgi Malenkov becomes premier of the USSR.
1955: National newspapers in Britain are published for the first time in nearly a month following the end of a strike by maintenance workers.
1960: Brasilia becomes capital of Brazil.
1961: The French army revolts in Algeria.
1966: Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie visits Kingston, Jamaica.
1967: Working at EMI Studios in Abbey Road, The Beatles completed the recording of the album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The final recordings were a short section of gibberish and noise which would follow A Day in the Life in the run-out groove. They record assorted noises and voices, which engineer Geoff Emerick cuts up and randomly re-assembles and edits backwards. At John Lennon’s suggestion, they also add a high-pitched 15 kilocycle whistle audible only to dogs. On the same day, Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Allilueva arrives in New York after defecting to the US.
1969: The Ministry of Defence announces that British troops would be used in Northern Ireland to guard key public installations following a series of bombings.
1975: The President of South Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu, steps down accusing the United States of betrayal.
1977: Zia ur-Rahman is appointed president of Bangladesh.
1978: Singer Sandy Denny dies aged 31 of a traumatic mid-brain haemorrhage four days after collapsing at a friend’s home.
1982: The Clash frontman Joe Strummer disappears, causing the cancellation of a tour. He is found three weeks later living rough in Paris.
1983: The £1 coin is introduced.
1985: Ingrid Kristiansen wins the London Marathon in a record 2:21:06.
1987: A bomb planted by extremist Tamil Tigers explodes in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo killing 100 people.
1990: Paul McCartney plays to 184,000 fans at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Jnaeiro, creating a new world record for the largest crowd attending a rock concert.
1991: Singles chart:
- The One And Only – Chesney Hawkes
- The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) – Cher
- Sit Down – James
- The Whole Of The Moon – The Waterboys
- Rescue Me – Madonna
- The Size Of A Cow – The Wonder Stuff
- Deep Deep Trouble – The Simpsons
- Sailing On The Seven Seas – OMD
- Senza Una Donna – Zuchero ft Paul Young
- Human Nature – Gary Clail On U-Sound System
Album chart:
- Greatest Hits – Eurythmics
- Real Life – Simple Minds
- Joyride – Roxette
- Out Of Time – REM
- Vagabond Heart – Rod Stewart
- Greatest Hits 1977-1990 – The Stranglers
- Into The Light – Gloria Estefan
- Auberge – Chris Rea
- The Simpsons Sing The Blues – The Simpsons
- The Complete Picture – Blondie and Debbie Harry
1994: One of the Guildford Four, Paul Hill, wins an appeal against his conviction for the IRA murder of former soldier Brian Shaw in 1974 after it is declared unsafe.
1995: The FBI arrests Timothy McVeigh and charge him with the Oklahoma City bombing of two days earlier.
1997: The ashes of Timothy Leary and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry are launched into orbit.
2000: Neal Matthews of Elvis’ backing singers The Jordanaires dies of a heart attack.
2001: REM guitarist Peter Buck is charged by police at Heathrow airport with being drunk on an aircraft and assaulting British Airways crew.
2002: Cold Feet wins best drama at the BAFTA Television Awards.
2003: Death of singer Nina Simone (Eunice Waymon) aged 70.
2004: Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan is attacked in The Joiner’s Arms pub in central London and suffers a fractured cheekbone after being kicked, punched and hit with a metal bar.
2008: Soul singer-songwriter Al Wilson dies of kidney failure at the age of 68.
2012: Actress Carey Mulligan marries “Mumford & Sons” lead singer Marcus Mumford in Somerset.
2013: Liverpool’s Luis Suárez is sent off and banned for 10 matches after biting Branislav Ivanović’s arm in the Liverpool v Chelsea Premier League match at Anfield.
2016: Prince is found dead in a lift at his home in Minnesota at the age of 57. On the same day, country singer-guitarist Lonnie Mack diesof natural causes in hospital near his log cabin home, 70 miles east of Nashville.
2018: Death of actor Verne Troyer aged 49.
2019: Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at a Extinction Rebellion protest in London amid city-wide climate protests where Waterloo Bridge was occupied over four days.
2020: Health Secretary Matt Hancock comes under criticism for the lack of personal protective equipment and testing for COVID-19 – despite a pledge to test 100,000 a day, only 19,000 done April 20).
BIRTHDAYS: Queen Elizabeth II, 95; Iggy Pop (James Osterberg), singer-songwriter, 74; Tony Danza (Iadanza), actor, 70; Mike Barson, keyboardist/songwriter (Madness) 63; Andie (Rosalie) MacDowell, actress, 63; Robert Smith, singer-songwriter/guitarist (The Cure) 62; John Maher, drummer (The Buzzcocks) 61; Johnny McElhone, guitarist/songwriter (Altered Images/Texas) 58; Toby Stephens, actor, 52; James McAvoy, actor, 42; Robbie Amell, actor, 33.
