History of Today in India – 21 May

Explore the history of today 21 May in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 21 May 2026, 09:11 AM

📜 Important Events on 21 May in World History

21 May 2024: The Greenfield tornado kills 5 and injures 35 across rural Iowa, United States. Wind speeds in excess of 480 kilometres per hour (300 mph) are estimated from measurements for the third time in history. Read more
21 May 2024: A stabbing spree on the Green line of the Taichung MRT injures four people, including the perpetrator. Read more
21 May 2017: Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Read more
21 May 2014: Random killings occurred on the Bannan Line of the Taipei MRT, killing four and injuring 24. Read more
21 May 2012: A bus accident near Himara, Albania kills 13 people and injures 21 others. Read more
21 May 2012: A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sanaa, Yemen. Read more
21 May 2011: Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date. Read more
21 May 2010: JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year. Read more
21 May 2006: The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence. Read more
21 May 2005: The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Read more
21 May 2003: The 6.8 Mw  Boumerdès earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). More than 2,200 people were killed and a moderate tsunami sank boats at the Balearic Islands. Read more
21 May 2001: French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity. Read more
21 May 2000: Nineteen people are killed in a plane crash in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Read more
21 May 1998: In Miami, five abortion clinics are attacked by a butyric acid attacker. Read more
21 May 1998: President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule. Read more
21 May 1996: The ferry MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000. Read more
21 May 1996: The seven Trappist monks of Tibhirine that were abducted on March 27 are killed under uncertain circumstances. Read more
21 May 1994: The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out. Read more
21 May 1992: After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show. Read more
21 May 1991: Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras. Read more
21 May 1991: Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end. Read more
21 May 1988: Margaret Thatcher holds her controversial Sermon on the Mound before the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Read more
21 May 1982: Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos. Read more
21 May 1981: The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries. Read more
21 May 1981: Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven's Gate. Read more
21 May 1979: White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk. Read more
21 May 1976: Twenty-nine people are killed in the Yuba City bus disaster in Martinez, California. Read more
21 May 1972: Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth. Read more
21 May 1969: Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student. Read more
21 May 1966: The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland. Read more
21 May 1961: American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out. Read more
21 May 1951: The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition: A gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School. Read more
21 May 1946: Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Read more
21 May 1939: The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Read more
21 May 1937: A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean. Read more
21 May 1936: Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her handbag. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals. Read more
21 May 1934: Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens. Read more
21 May 1932: Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Read more
21 May 1927: Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Read more
21 May 1925: The opera Doktor Faust, unfinished when composer Ferruccio Busoni died, is premiered in Dresden. Read more
21 May 1924: University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing". Read more
21 May 1917: The Imperial War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record, and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of the British Empire's military forces. Read more
21 May 1917: The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack). Read more
21 May 1911: President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution. Read more
21 May 1904: The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris. Read more
21 May 1894: The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams. Read more
21 May 1881: The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Dansville, New York. Read more
21 May 1879: War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique. Read more
21 May 1871: French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week", some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested. Read more
21 May 1871: Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi Bahnen on Mount Rigi. Read more
21 May 1864: Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning. Read more
21 May 1864: American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends. Read more
21 May 1864: The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece. Read more
21 May 1863: American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege. Read more
21 May 1856: Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces. Read more
21 May 1851: Slavery in Colombia is abolished. Read more
21 May 1809: The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 21 May in World History

21 May 2002: Elena Huelva, Spanish cancer activist and influencer (died 2023) Elena Huelva Palomo was a Spanish cancer activist, influencer, and writer. Through her regular use of social media, she divulged information about Ewing sarcoma, the type of cancer she was suffering from, to a wider audience, and demanded more investment for cancer research. She was credited with increasing the visibility of childhood bone cancer while dispelling misconceptions and myths about the disease. Read more
21 May 1997: Ivan De Santis, Italian footballer Ivan Francesco De Santis is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a defender. A centre-back, he made his professional debut on 2 November 2016, for Catania. Read more
21 May 1997: Sisca Folkertsma, Dutch footballer Sippie Catharine "Sisca" Folkertsma is a Dutch footballer who plays as a forward for Dutch Vrouwen Eredivisie club PSV and the Netherlands national team. Read more
21 May 1997: Viktoria Petryk, Ukrainian singer-songwriter Viktoria Ihorivna "Vika" Petryk is a Ukrainian singer and songwriter who represented Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008, held in Limassol, Cyprus, with the song "Matrosy" ("Sailors"). She finished in second place. Read more
21 May 1997: Kevin Quinn, American actor and singer Kevin Gerard Quinn is an American actor and musician. He is known for his starring role as Xander in the Disney Channel original series Bunk'd and for his roles in the 2016 Disney Channel Original Movie Adventures in Babysitting and the 2021 Netflix film A Week Away. Read more
21 May 1996: Josh Allen, American football player Joshua Patrick Allen is an American professional football quarterback for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). A lightly regarded high school prospect, Allen began his college football career with the Reedley Tigers before transferring to the Wyoming Cowboys. He was selected seventh overall by the Bills in the 2018 NFL draft. Read more
21 May 1996: Indy de Vroome, Dutch tennis player Indy de Vroome is a inactive Dutch tennis player. Read more
21 May 1996: Karen Khachanov, Russian tennis player Karen Abgarovich Khachanov is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 8 in singles, which he achieved on 15 July 2019, and No. 53 in doubles, attained on 29 January 2024. Khachanov has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, the most significant at the 2018 Paris Masters, an ATP 1000-level event. In doubles, he has won one title at the 2023 Madrid Open, with compatriot Andrey Rublev. Read more
21 May 1995: Diego Loyzaga, Filipino actor Carlos Diego Loyzaga Manhilot is a Filipino model, actor and video jockey. He is known as one of the members of the male group Kapamilya Cuties. Read more
21 May 1994: Tom Daley, English diver Thomas Robert Daley is an English retired diver, YouTuber and television personality. He is an Olympic champion in the men's synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics and double world champion in the FINA 10-metre platform event, winning in 2009 at the age of fifteen, and again in 2017. He is an Olympic bronze medallist in the 2012 platform event, the 2016 synchronised event, and the 2020 platform event. He won the silver medal in the men's synchronised 10-metre at the 2024 Olympics, making him the first British diver to win 5 Olympic medals. Daley also competed in team events, winning the inaugural mixed team World title in 2015, and repeating the win in 2024, his fourth World title in all. He is an Olympic champion, four-time World Champion, a two-time junior World Champion, a five-time European champion and four-time Commonwealth champion. Read more
21 May 1993: Grete Gaim, Estonian biathlete Grete Gaim is an Estonian biathlete. She competed at the Biathlon World Championships 2013, and at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, in sprint and individual. Read more
21 May 1993: Luke Garbutt, English footballer Luke Samuel Garbutt is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL League Two club Salford City. Usually a left back, he is also capable of playing as a winger. He has previously played for Everton, Cheltenham Town, Colchester United, Fulham, Wigan Athletic, Oxford United, Ipswich Town and Blackpool. Read more
21 May 1993: Matías Kranevitter, Argentine footballer Claudio Matías Kranevitter is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Read more
21 May 1993: Lynn Williams, American soccer player Lynn Biyendolo is an American professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. The NWSL's all-time leading scorer, she was drafted out of Pepperdine University by the Western New York Flash in 2015. Read more
21 May 1992: Hutch Dano, American actor Hutchings Royal Dano is an American actor and painter. He is known for playing co-lead character Zeke Falcone in the Disney XD comedy series Zeke and Luther. Read more
21 May 1992: Lisa Evans, Scottish footballer Lisa Catherine Evans is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Scottish Women's Premier League club Glasgow City and the Scotland national team. Operating as a winger or full-back, she began her senior career at Glasgow City, then played for Turbine Potsdam and FC Bayern Munich in Germany's Frauen-Bundesliga, and for Arsenal, West Ham United and Bristol City in the English FA WSL, winning the domestic league title in all three nations. Read more
21 May 1992: Philipp Grüneberg, German footballer Philipp Grüneberg is a German footballer who plays as a forward for SV Lichtenberg 47. Read more
21 May 1992: Olivia Olson, American singer and actress Olivia Olson is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and screenwriter, largely known for her voice roles as Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb and Marceline the Vampire Queen in Adventure Time. She also played the character of Joanna in the 2003 film Love Actually and its 2017 short sequel Red Nose Day Actually. Read more
21 May 1991: Guilherme, Brazilian footballer Guilherme Costa Marques, known simply as Guilherme, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série B club Atlético Goianiense. Read more
21 May 1990: Kierre Beckles, Barbadian athlete Kierre Kamille Beckles is a Barbadian athlete specializing in the 100 metres hurdles. She competed at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships failing to advance to the semi-finals on both occasions. Read more
21 May 1990: Rene Krhin, Slovenian footballer Rene Krhin is a Slovenian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He earned a total of 48 caps for the Slovenia national team. Read more
21 May 1989: Emily Robins, New Zealand actress and singer Emily Iris Robins is a British-born New Zealand actress and singer. She was born to Danny Robins and Susan Robins. She is known for her role in the popular TV2 soap opera Shortland Street as Claire Simone Solomon (2004–2007), and for her role in the popular FOX 8 teen drama, SLiDE, where she portrayed Scarlett Carlyle. She was born in London, but raised in New Zealand. She grew up in Orewa. She was involved with Centre Stage Theatre. Read more
21 May 1989: Hal Robson-Kanu, Welsh footballer Thomas Henry Alex "Hal" Robson-Kanu is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in England, he played for the Wales national team. Although he initially played primarily on the wing, he was used as a forward during Wales' run to the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016. Read more
21 May 1988: Claire Cashmore, English Paralympic swimmer Claire Cashmore is a Paralympic Swimming Champion and PTS5 classified British paratriathlete. She has been to four Paralympic Games with swimming and has won 4 bronze, 3 silver, and 1 gold medal. Cashmore also broke the world record in the SM9 100m Individual Medley in 2009. She decided to switch to competing in paratriathlon after winning gold and silver at the Paralympic Games in 2016, and became ITU World Champion in the PTS5 classification in 2019. Claire Cashmore is based in Loughborough, England. She was born in Redditch, England, without a left forearm. Read more
21 May 1988: Park Gyu-ri, South Korean singer Park Gyu-ri, better known by the mononym Gyuri, is a South Korean singer, actress, and radio personality. She is a member of South Korean girl group Kara. Read more
21 May 1988: Jonny Howson, English footballer Jonathan Mark Howson is an English professional football coach and player who plays as a defensive midfielder. He is currently the manager-player for Leeds United's Under-21 team. Read more
21 May 1988: Kaire Leibak, Estonian triple jumper Kaire Leibak is an Estonian retired triple jumper. Her personal best jump of 14.43 metres is the Estonian record. Read more
21 May 1987: Beau Falloon, Australian rugby league player Beau Falloon is a former professional rugby league footballer who last played for Leeds in the Super League. He played as a hooker and previously played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League. Read more
21 May 1986: Mario Mandžukić, Croatian footballer Mario Mandžukić is a Croatian football coach and a former player who was most recently an assistant coach for the Croatia national team. As a player, he played as a forward and became known for his aggressiveness, defensive contribution, and aerial prowess. Read more
21 May 1986: Myra, American singer and actress Mayra Ambriz, known mononymously as Myra, is an American pop singer of Mexican descent. She is the first Latina artist to sign with Hollywood Records and Walt Disney Records. She is best known for her 2001 singles "Dancing in the Street" for Recess: School's Out and "Miracles Happen " for the film The Princess Diaries, as well as her role in Max Keeble's Big Move. Read more
21 May 1986: Eder Sánchez, Mexican race walker Heraclio Eder Sánchez Terán is a Mexican race walker. He has competed at the World Championships in Athletics five times and represented his country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. He is currently serving the Mexican Army, and has won the Mexican 'Premio Nacional del Deporte'. He holds the Mexican record for walking over 5 km and 10 km. His best for the 20 km distance is 1:18:34 hours. Read more
21 May 1986: Park Sojin, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer Park So-jin, better known mononymously as Sojin, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is best known as the leader of South Korean girl group Girl's Day. Read more
21 May 1986: Greg Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player Gregory John Stewart is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger. He played 26 games in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Montreal Canadiens over three seasons from 2008 to 2009. The rest of his career, which lasted from 2006 to 2016, was mainly spent in the minor leagues. Stewart was born in Kitchener, Ontario. Read more
21 May 1986: Matt Wieters, American baseball player Matthew Richard Wieters is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, and St. Louis Cardinals. Read more
21 May 1985: Mark Cavendish, Manx cyclist Sir Mark Simon Cavendish is a Manx retired professional cyclist. As a track cyclist he specialised in the madison, points race, and scratch race disciplines; as a road racer he was a sprinter. He is widely considered the greatest road sprinter of all time, and in 2021 was called "the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour and of cycling" by Christian Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France. Read more
21 May 1985: Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (died 2012) Alexander Dale Oen was a Norwegian competitive swimmer. He was an Olympic silver medallist, World Championships gold medallist, World Championships (25m) bronze medallist, two-time European Championships gold medallist and European Short Course Championships gold medallist in the 100 metre breaststroke. Read more
21 May 1985: Isa Guha, English cricketer and sportscaster Isa Tara Guha is an English former England cricketer and now a sports television commentator and radio broadcaster. She played in the 2005 South Africa World Cup and the 2009 Australia World Cup. Read more
21 May 1985: Lucie Hradecká, Czech tennis player Lucie Hradecká is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and 26-time WTA Tour doubles titlist, she reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in October 2012. She was also an integral member of the Czech Republic's national team and helped her country to win five titles at the Fed Cup between 2011 and 2016, in addition to winning two Olympic medals in both women's doubles with Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková in 2012 and in mixed doubles with Radek Štěpánek in 2016. Hradecká also reached the top 45 in singles and was a finalist in seven tour-level singles tournaments. She announced her retirement from the sport at the end of the 2022 season. Read more
21 May 1985: Kano, English rapper, producer, and actor Kane Brett Robinson, known by the stage name Kano, is a British rapper, songwriter and actor from East Ham, London. His fifth album, Made in the Manor was shortlisted for the 2016 Mercury Prize and won Best Album at the 2016 MOBO Awards. On screen, he played the role of Sully in Top Boy (2011–2023). Read more
21 May 1985: Dušan Kuciak, Slovak footballer Dušan Kuciak is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Polish club Stoczniowiec Gdańsk. He is the younger brother of Martin Kuciak, who also played as a goalkeeper. Read more
21 May 1985: Heath L'Estrange, Australian rugby league player Heath L'Estrange, also known by the nickname of "Stranger", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He played for the Sydney Roosters, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League, and the Bradford Bulls in the Super League. In his rugby league career, he won the 2008 NRL Grand Final with the Sea Eagles. He played as hooker. Read more
21 May 1985: Andrew Miller, American baseball player Andrew Mark Miller is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Florida Marlins, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, and St. Louis Cardinals. Primarily a starting pitcher who struggled early in his MLB career, Miller found sustained success as a reliever utilizing a multi-faceted fastball and slider approach that proved deceptive for batters to hit. A left-handed batter and thrower, Miller stands 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 m) tall and weighs 205 pounds (93 kg). Internationally, Miller represented the United States. In the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC), he helped win Team USA's first gold medal in a WBC tournament. Read more
21 May 1984: Brandon Fields, American football player Brandon David Fields is an American former professional football player who was a punter for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans, earning consensus All-American honors. He was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL draft. He also played for the New Orleans Saints. Read more
21 May 1984: Sara Goller, German volleyball player Sara Goller is a former professional German beach volleyball player. Read more
21 May 1983: Līga Dekmeijere, Latvian tennis player Līga Dekmeijere is an inactive Latvian tennis player. Read more
21 May 1983: Deidson Araújo Maia, Brazilian footballer Deidson Araújo Maia, better known as Veloso, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
21 May 1981: Craig Anderson, American ice hockey player Craig Peter Anderson is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Ottawa Senators, Washington Capitals, and Buffalo Sabres, with the Senators being his longest-tenured team. Internationally, Anderson represented the United States on multiple occasions. He is one of 40 NHL goaltenders to have won over 300 games in their career. Read more
21 May 1981: Edson Buddle, American soccer player Edson Michael Buddle is an American former professional soccer player who is currently the head coach of USL League Two side Westchester Flames. He is one of only 13 players to have scored 100 goals in Major League Soccer history. Read more
21 May 1981: Josh Hamilton, American baseball player Joshua Holt Hamilton is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 2007 to 2015, most prominently as a member of the Texas Rangers teams that won consecutive American League pennants in 2010 and 2011. A five-time All-Star, Hamilton won three Silver Slugger Awards and was named the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2010. He also won an AL batting championship along with an AL RBI title. During his major league tenure, he also played for the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Read more
21 May 1981: Maximilian Mutzke, German singer-songwriter Maximilian Nepomuk Mutzke is a German singer, songwriter and television personality. He gained public interest in early 2004 when he won SSDSGPS, a talent contest hosted in Stefan Raab's late-night show TV total. Mutzke subsequently qualified for and won the national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, Germany 12 Points!, and thus represented Germany with his debut single "Can't Wait Until Tonight" that year, eventually finishing eighth in a field of 24 participants. Meanwhile, "Can't Wait Until Tonight" debuted atop the German singles chart and became a top five hit in Austria and Switzerland. His eponymous debut album, a mixture of soul and pop songs in German and English language, was released in January 2005 and also reached number one in Germany, where it was certified gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI). Read more
21 May 1981: Anna Rogowska, Polish pole vaulter Anna Rogowska is a retired Polish athlete who specialised in the pole vault. She became the World Champion in 2009 in Berlin. Read more
21 May 1980: Gotye, Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter Wouter André "Wally" De Backer is a Belgian-born Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know" topped the Billboard Hot 100, as well as several international charts, and became the best-selling song of 2012. He has won five ARIA Awards and received a nomination for an MTV EMA for Best Asia and Pacific Act. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, the song won Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, while its parent album — Making Mirrors (2012) — won Best Alternative Music Album. Read more
21 May 1979: Damián Ariel Álvarez, Argentinian-Mexican footballer Damián Ariel Álvarez, also known as "La Chilindrina", is a former professional footballer who played as a winger. Born in Argentina, he played for the Mexico national team. Read more
21 May 1979: Jamie Hepburn, Scottish politician, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health James Douglas Hepburn is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he has been Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth since 2011, having previously represented the Central Scotland region from 2007 to 2011. Read more
21 May 1979: James Clancy Phelan, Australian author and academic James Clancy Phelan (born 21 May 1979, known professionally as James Phelan, is an Australian writer of thrillers and young adult novels, including Fox Hunt, The Last 13 series for teens, and the Jed Walker and Lachlan Fox thrillers. He has also written short stories and the non-fiction book Literati. Read more
21 May 1979: Scott Smith, American mixed martial artist Scott Smith is an American retired mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 to 2016, Smith was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback, and has competed for the UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC and PFC. He is the former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion. Read more
21 May 1978: Max B, American rapper and songwriter Charley Wingate, better known by his stage name Max B, is an American rapper, singer, and convicted criminal. He is best known for his solo Public Domain and Million Dollar Baby series of mixtapes. He introduced the term "wavy" as a slang in popular lexicon. Read more
21 May 1978: Briana Banks, German-American porn actress and model Briana Banks is a German pornographic actress and model. She was the Penthouse Pet of the Month for June 2001. She is a member of the AVN Hall of Fame and XRCO Hall of Fame. Read more
21 May 1978: Jamaal Magloire, Canadian basketball player and coach Jamaal Dane Magloire is a Canadian former professional basketball player who currently serves as basketball development consultant and community ambassador for the Toronto Raptors. He played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Charlotte Hornets, New Orleans Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, and Toronto Raptors. The 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m), 265 lb center was selected out of the University of Kentucky by the Charlotte Hornets, with the 19th overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft, after withdrawing his name from the previous draft. He was voted into the NBA All-Star Game in 2004, becoming the second Canadian All-Star in NBA history. Read more
21 May 1977: Quinton Fortune, South African international footballer and coach Quinton Fortune is a South African professional soccer coach and former player, who played as a midfielder or left-back. After stints with Mallorca and Atlético Madrid, he settled with Manchester United in 1999 and spent seven years there, winning a Premier League title, FA Community Shield and Intercontinental Cup. Read more
21 May 1977: Michael Fuß, German footballer Michael Fuß is a German footballer. Read more
21 May 1977: Ricky Williams, American football player Errick Miron, known professionally as Ricky Williams, is an American former professional football player who was a running back for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Read more
21 May 1976: Stuart Bingham, English snooker player Stuart Bingham is an English professional snooker player who is a former World Champion and Masters winner. He won the 1996 World Amateur Championship but enjoyed little sustained success in the early part of his professional career. His form improved in his mid-thirties: at age 35, he won his first ranking title at the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open, which helped him enter the top 16 in the rankings for the first time. Read more
21 May 1976: Abderrahim Goumri, Moroccan runner (died 2013) Abderrahim Goumri was a Moroccan long-distance runner. He had competed in cross country, track, road running and marathon races. Read more
21 May 1976: Deron Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Deron John Miller is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band CKY, which he co-founded in 1998. Other bands Miller fronts include the progressive metal band Foreign Objects, the melodic death metal band World Under Blood, and the alternative metal band 96 Bitter Beings. Read more
21 May 1975: Anthony Mundine, Australian rugby league player and boxer Anthony Steven Mundine is an Australian former professional boxer and rugby league footballer. In boxing he competed from 2000 to 2021, and held the World Boxing Association (WBA) super-middleweight title twice between 2003 and 2008. He also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) middleweight title from 2009 to 2010, and the WBA interim super-welterweight title from 2011 to 2012. Mundine is well known for his heated rivalries with fellow Australians Danny Green and Daniel Geale. Read more
21 May 1974: Brad Arthur, Australian rugby league coach Bradley Arthur is a professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League. Read more
21 May 1974: Fairuza Balk, American actress Fairuza Balk is an American actress, musician, and visual artist. Known for her portrayals of distinctive characters—often with a dark edge and "goth-girl" persona—she has appeared in numerous independent films and blockbuster features. Read more
21 May 1974: Havoc, American rapper and producer Kejuan Waliek Muchita, known professionally as Havoc, is an American rapper and record producer. He was one half of the hip-hop duo Mobb Deep with Prodigy. Read more
21 May 1973: Stewart Cink, American golfer Stewart Ernest Cink is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He won the 2009 Open Championship, defeating Tom Watson in a four-hole aggregate playoff. He spent over 40 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking from 2004 to 2009, reaching a career best ranking of 5th in 2008. Read more
21 May 1973: Noel Fielding, English comedian, musician and television presenter Noel Fielding is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He gained prominence in the late 1990s as a member of the comedy troupe The Mighty Boosh, which he formed with Julian Barratt. Fielding has also had a successful solo career as a stand-up comedian and is known for his dark and surreal comedic style. Read more
21 May 1972: The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (died 1997) Christopher George Latore Wallace, known professionally as the Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in the East Coast hip-hop and gangsta rap traditions, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive, laidback lyrical delivery, offsetting his lyrics' often grim content. His music was semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality but also of debauchery and celebration. Read more
21 May 1971: Shane Cloete, Zimbabwean-British ex-cricketer and teacher Shane Cloete is a teacher and ex-Zimbabwean cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. He was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia. Read more
21 May 1970: Brigita Bukovec, Slovenian hurdler Brigita Bukovec is a retired Slovenian hurdler who won an Olympic silver medal in 1996. During the Olympics she set a personal best time with 12.59 seconds. Read more
21 May 1970: Dorsey Levens, American football player and sportscaster Herbert Dorsey Levens is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Green Bay Packers. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and later the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Levens was selected by Green Bay in the fifth round of the 1994 NFL draft. He helped the Packers win the Vince Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl XXXI against the New England Patriots. Read more
21 May 1970: Pauline Menczer, Australian surfer

Pauline Menczer is an Australian surfer. She was Women's World Champion for Professional Surfing in 1993. Read more
21 May 1970: Carl Veart, Australian footballer and coach Thomas Carl Veart is an Australian former footballer who is currently the head coach for Australia Under-17. Read more
21 May 1969: Pierluigi Brivio, Italian footballer Pierluigi Brivio is an Italian professional football coach and a former goalkeeper. He is a goalkeeping coach with Serbia club Red Star Belgrade. Read more
21 May 1969: Georgiy Gongadze, Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and director (died 2000) Georgiy Ruslanovych Gongadze was a Ukrainian journalist. He founded the online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda along with Olena Prytula in 2000. The same year, he was kidnapped and murdered near Kyiv. Gongadze was born to a Ukrainian mother and a Georgian father in Tbilisi, Georgia, then part of the Soviet Union. Read more
21 May 1969: Masayo Kurata, Japanese voice actress and singer Masayo Kurata is a Japanese voice actress. Some of her major roles are Koyomi from Girls Bravo, Shinobu Maehara in Love Hina, Tomoe Kashiwaba in Rozen Maiden, Karinka from Steel Angel Kurumi, and Subaru Mikage in Comic Party. In video games she voices Kurara in Purikura Daisakusen, Ai Senou in Hourglass of Summer, Chizuru Sakaki in the Rumbling Hearts / Muv-Luv visual novels, and Souffle Rossetti in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Read more
21 May 1969: George LeMieux, American lawyer and politician George Stephen LeMieux is an American former politician who was a United States senator from Florida from 2009 to 2011. He is chairman of the Florida-based law firm of Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart and was chief of staff to Governor Charlie Crist. He was the Deputy Florida Attorney General and is credited with spearheading Crist's successful campaign for governor. In 2009, Crist appointed LeMieux as U.S. Senator to replace Mel Martínez, who resigned. Read more
21 May 1969: Brian Statham, Rhodesian born English footballer and manager Brian Statham is an English retired professional footballer who made over 160 appearances in the Football League for Brentford as a right back. He also played League football for Tottenham Hotspur, Gillingham, Reading, Bournemouth and was capped by England at U21 level. Statham later managed Heybridge Swifts, Billericay Town and Welling United in non-League football. He currently serves as director of football at Welling United. Read more
21 May 1968: Ilmar Raag, Estonian director, producer, and screenwriter Ilmar Raag is an Estonian media executive, actor, screenwriter and film director, best known for his socio-critical film The Class. He was CEO of Estonian Television from 2002 to 2005. He is a well known columnist in many prestigious Estonian newspapers. He has written many scripts and directed critically acclaimed films, notably August 1991 and The Class. Read more
21 May 1968: Matthias Ungemach, German-Australian rower Matthias Ungemach is a German rower, double World Champion and Olympian. Read more
21 May 1968: Julie Vega, Filipino actress and singer (died 1985) Julie Pearl Apostol Postigo, better known by her stage name Julie Vega, was a Filipino actress, singer and commercial model. She remains very popular in her native Philippines, years after her death at the peak of her career at age 16. She won two FAMAS Awards for Best Child Actress during her brief showbiz career. Read more
21 May 1967: Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler (died 2007) Christopher Michael Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler who worked for various promotions during his 22-year career. Despite his accomplishments, he is more generally known for murdering his wife and youngest son before committing suicide. Read more
21 May 1967: Alain Yzermans, Belgian politician Alain L. J. Yzermans is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of Vooruit, he has represented Limburg since June 2024. Read more
21 May 1966: Lisa Edelstein, American actress and playwright Lisa Edelstein is an American actress and artist. She is known for playing Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the Fox medical drama series House (2004–2011). Between 2014 and 2018, Edelstein starred as Abby McCarthy in the Bravo series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce. Read more
21 May 1966: Tatyana Ledovskaya, Belarusian hurdler Tatyana Mikhailovna Ledovskaya is a retired athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres hurdles. She represented the Soviet Union and later Belarus, training in Minsk. Read more
21 May 1964: Danny Bailey, English footballer and coach Danny Stephen Bailey is an English retired professional footballer. Read more
21 May 1964: Pete Sandoval, Salvadoran-American drummer Pedro Rigoberto "Pete" Sandoval is a Salvadoran-born American drummer, best known for his work with extreme metal bands Morbid Angel, Terrorizer and I Am Morbid. Read more
21 May 1963: Richard Appel, American screenwriter and producer Richard James Appel is an American writer, producer and former attorney. Since 2012, he has served as an executive producer and co-showrunner of Family Guy on Fox. He attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School. As an undergraduate, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. Read more
21 May 1963: Patrick Grant, American musician and producer Patrick Grant is an American composer living and working in New York City. His works are a synthesis of classical, popular, and world musical styles that have found place in concert halls, film, theater, dance, and visual media over three continents. Over the last three decades, his music has moved from post-punk and classically bent post-minimal styles, through Balinese-inspired gamelan and microtonality, to ambient, electronic soundscapes involving many layers of acoustic and electronically amplified instruments. Throughout its evolution, his music has consistently contained a "…a driving and rather harsh energy redolent of rock, as well as a clean sense of melodicism…intricate cross-rhythms rarely let up…" Known as a producer and co-producer of live musical events, he has presented many concerts of his own and other composers, including a 2013 Guinness World Record-breaking performance of 175 electronic keyboards in NYC. He is the creator of International Strange Music Day and the pioneer of the electric guitar procession Tilted Axes. Read more
21 May 1963: David Lonsdale, English actor David Lonsdale is an English actor. He is best known for playing David Stockwell in the ITV period police drama series Heartbeat. Read more
21 May 1963: Dave Specter, American guitarist Dave Specter is an American Chicago blues and jazz guitarist. Read more
21 May 1963: Laurie Spina, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster Laurie Joseph Spina is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and rugby league commentator. In 1995, Spina was the inaugural captain of the North Queensland Cowboys. Read more
21 May 1962: David Crumb, American composer and educator David Crumb is an American contemporary composer born into a musical family. His father was composer George Crumb, and his sister was singer Ann Crumb. His music is not as avant-garde or experimental as his father's; it has been called "attractive, accessible, imaginative, well-crafted" by the Chicago-Sun Times, and "expressive and beautiful" by the American Record Guide: reviews listed on the Presser bio. Read more
21 May 1960: Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (died 1994) Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered seventeen men and boys between 1978 and 1991. Read more
21 May 1960: Kent Hrbek, American baseball player and sportscaster Kent Alan Hrbek, nicknamed "Herbie", is an American former Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 14-year baseball career with the Minnesota Twins (1981–1994). Hrbek batted left-handed and threw right-handed. He hit the first home run in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome on April 3, 1982, in an exhibition game against the Phillies. Fans knew Hrbek as an outstanding defensive player, perennial slugger, and charismatic hometown favorite. Former Twins pitcher Jim Kaat considered Hrbek to be the best defensive first baseman he had ever seen, despite him never winning a Gold Glove at the position. Read more
21 May 1960: Mohanlal, Indian actor Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has also occasionally worked in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada cinemas. Mohanlal has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 400 films. The Government of India honoured him with Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2019, India's fourth and third highest civilian honours, for his contributions to Indian cinema. In 2009, he became the first actor in India to be awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army. Mohanlal was named as one of "the men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema" by CNN. In 2025, the Government of India honoured him with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award in the field of Indian cinema, for his "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema." Read more
21 May 1960: Mark Ridgway, Australian cricketer Mark William Ridgway is an Australian former cricketer, who played for the Tasmanian Tigers from 1993 until 2000. Read more
21 May 1960: Vladimir Salnikov, Russian swimmer Vladimir Valeryevich Salnikov is a Russian former freestyle swimmer who set 12 world records in the 400, 800 and 1,500 metre events. Nicknamed the "Tsar of the Pool", "Monster of the Waves" and "Leningrad Express", he was the first person to swim under fifteen minutes in the 1500 m freestyle and also the first person to swim under eight minutes in the 800 m freestyle. He was named the Male World Swimmer of the Year in 1979 and 1982 by Swimming World. Read more
21 May 1959: Nick Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter Nicholas David Rowland Cassavetes is an American actor, director, and writer. He has directed such films as She's So Lovely (1997), John Q. (2002), The Notebook (2004), Alpha Dog (2006), and My Sister's Keeper (2009). His acting credits include an uncredited role in Husbands (1970)—which was directed by his father, John Cassavetes—as well as roles in the films The Wraith (1986), Face/Off (1997), and Blow (2001). Read more
21 May 1959: Abdulla Yameen, Maldivian politician, 6th President of the Maldives Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom is a Maldivian politician who served as president of the Maldives from 2013 to 2018. Read more
21 May 1958: Christian Audigier, French fashion designer (died 2015) Christian Audigier was a French fashion designer known for the Ed Hardy and Von Dutch clothing lines. Read more
21 May 1958: Muffy Calder, Canadian-Scottish computer scientist and academic Dame Muffy Calder is a Canadian-born British computer scientist, Vice-Principal and Head of College of Science and Engineering, and Professor of Formal Methods at the University of Glasgow. From 2012 to 2015 she was Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government. Read more
21 May 1958: Michael Crick, English journalist and author Michael Lawrence Crick is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He was a founding member of the Channel 4 News team in 1982 and remained there until joining the BBC in 1990. He started work on the BBC's Newsnight programme in 1992, serving as political editor from 2007 until his departure from the BBC in 2011. Crick then returned to Channel 4 News as political correspondent. In 2014 he was chosen as Specialist Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society television journalism awards. Read more
21 May 1958: Naeem Khan, Indian-American fashion designer Naeem Khan is an Indian-American fashion designer based in New York City known for his ornate and intricately detailed gowns, and for dressing First Lady Michelle Obama, Queen Noor of Jordan, and the Princess of Wales. Read more
21 May 1958: Jefery Levy, American director, producer, and screenwriter Jefery Levy is an American film and television director, producer, and writer. Read more
21 May 1957: James Bailey, American basketball player James L. Bailey is an American former professional basketball player. A 6-foot-9-inch (2.06 m) forward/center from Rutgers University, he was selected with the 6th pick of the 1979 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. Nicknamed "Jammin' James," he spent 9 seasons (1979–1988) in the National Basketball Association (NBA), playing for the Sonics as well as the New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, and Phoenix Suns. He ended his NBA career with 5,246 total points. Read more
21 May 1957: Nadine Dorries, English politician Nadine Vanessa Dorries is a British author and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2021 to 2022. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Bedfordshire from 2005 to 2023 for the Conservative Party. Since 2025, she has been a member of Reform UK. Read more
21 May 1957: Judge Reinhold, American actor and producer Edward Ernest "Judge" Reinhold Jr. is an American actor who is best known for his work in Hollywood films during the 1980s. He has starred in several popular films such as Stripes (1981), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), and Ruthless People (1986). He has co-starred in all of the films in the Beverly Hills Cop series and The Santa Clause franchises. Read more
21 May 1957: Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress Renette Pauline Soutendijk, known professionally as Renée Soutendijk, is a Dutch actress. A gymnast in her youth, Soutendijk began her acting career in the late 1970s. She was a favorite star of director Paul Verhoeven's films, and is perhaps best known for her work in his 1980 release Spetters and 1983's The Fourth Man. Her good looks and striking blond hair secured her status as a Dutch sex symbol in the 1980s. Read more
21 May 1955: Paul Barber, English field hockey player Paul Jason Barber is an English former field hockey player, who won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. Read more
21 May 1955: Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer Stanley Joseph Lynch is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994. Read more
21 May 1954: Marc Ribot, American guitarist and composer Marc Ribot is an American guitarist and composer. Read more
21 May 1953: Nora Aunor, Filipino actress and recording artist (died 2025) Nora Cabaltera Villamayor, known professionally as Nora Aunor, was a Filipino actress, producer, and singer. Known for her leading roles with patriotic, feminist and socio-political themes, she appeared in more than 170 motion pictures during a career that spanned over five decades. Regarded as the most awarded Filipino actress in history, she was known as the Philippines' "Superstar" and was conferred as a National Artist of the Philippines for Film and Broadcast Arts in 2022. Read more
21 May 1953: Jim Devine, British politician James Devine is a former Labour Party politician in Scotland. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Livingston from 2005 until 2010 and chairman of the Scottish Labour Party between 1994 and 1995. Read more
21 May 1952: Mr. T, American actor and wrestler Laurence T is an American actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III. He is also known for his distinctive hairstyle inspired by Mandinka warriors in West Africa, his copious gold jewelry, his tough-guy persona and his catchphrase "I pity the fool!", first uttered as Clubber Lang in Rocky III, then turned into a trademark used in slogans or titles, like the reality show I Pity the Fool in 2006. Read more
21 May 1951: Al Franken, American actor, screenwriter, and politician Alan Stuart Franken is an American politician, comedian, screenwriter, and actor who served from 2009 until his resignation in 2018 as a United States senator from Minnesota. A member of the Democratic Party, he worked as an entertainer, appearing on television and in films, before entering politics. Read more
21 May 1951: Adrian Hardiman, Irish lawyer and judge (died 2016) Adrian Hardiman was an Irish judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2000 to 2016. Read more
21 May 1950: Will Hutton, English economist and journalist William Nicolas Hutton is an English journalist. As of 2022, he writes a regular column for The Observer, co-chairs the Purposeful Company, and is the president-designate of the Academy of Social Sciences. He is the chair of the advisory board of the UK National Youth Corps. He was principal of Hertford College, University of Oxford from 2011 to 2020, and co-founder of the Big Innovation Centre, an initiative from the Work Foundation, having been chief executive of the Work Foundation from 2000 to 2008. He was formerly editor-in-chief of The Observer. Read more
21 May 1949: Andrew Neil, Scottish journalist and academic Andrew Ferguson Neil is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Neil attended Paisley Grammar School, before studying at the University of Glasgow. He entered journalism in 1973 as a correspondent for The Economist. Read more
21 May 1949: Denis O'Connor, British police officer Sir Denis Francis O'Connor is the former Chief Inspector of Constabulary. He was appointed on 11 May 2009 and retired on 31 July 2012. Read more
21 May 1949: Rosalind Plowright, English soprano Rosalind Anne Plowright is an English opera singer who spent much of her career as a soprano but in 1999 changed to the mezzo-soprano range. Read more
21 May 1948: Elizabeth Buchan, English author and critic Elizabeth Buchan, née Oakleigh-Walker is a British writer of non-fiction and fiction books since 1985. In 1994, her novel Consider the Lily won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association, and she was elected its eighteenth Chairman (1995–1997). Her novel, Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman (2001), has been made into a television film for CBS. Read more
21 May 1948: Joe Camilleri, Maltese-Australian singer-songwriter and saxophonist Joseph Vincent Camilleri, aka Jo Jo Zep, is a Maltese Australian singer-songwriter and musician. Camilleri has recorded as a solo artist and as a member of Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and The Black Sorrows. Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons' highest-charting single was "Hit & Run" from June 1979, which peaked at #12; Jo Jo Zep's "Taxi Mary" peaked at No. 11 in September 1982; and The Black Sorrows top single, "Chained to the Wheel", peaked at No. 9 in March 1989. Read more
21 May 1948: Jonathan Hyde, Australian-English actor Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King, known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian-British actor. He portrayed Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the comedy film Richie Rich (1994), Samuel Parrish and Van Pelt in the fantasy adventure film Jumanji (1995), J. Bruce Ismay in the epic romantic film Titanic (1997), Culverton Smith in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Warren Westridge in creature feature film Anaconda (1997), Dr. Allen Chamberlain in the adventure horror film The Mummy (1999), and Eldritch Palmer in the FX TV series The Strain. Although an Australian citizen, he has mostly lived in the United Kingdom since 1969, after his family left Australia. Read more
21 May 1948: Denis MacShane, Scottish journalist and politician, UK Minister of State for Europe Denis MacShane is a British former politician, author, commentator and convicted criminal who served as Minister of State for Europe from 2002 to 2005. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham from 1994 to his forced resignation in 2012. Read more
21 May 1948: Leo Sayer, English-Australian singer-songwriter and musician Gerard Hugh Sayer, known by his stage name Leo Sayer, is an English singer and songwriter who has been active since the early 1970s. He is best known for his 1978 Grammy Award-winning song "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing". He has been an Australian citizen since 2009, and lives in New South Wales. Read more
21 May 1947: Bill Champlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer William Bradford Champlin is an American singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He formed the band Sons of Champlin in 1965, which still performs today, and was a member of the rock band Chicago from 1981 to 2009. He performed lead vocals on three of Chicago's biggest hits of the 1980s, 1984's "Hard Habit to Break" and 1988's "Look Away" and "I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love". During live shows, he sang the songs originally performed by founding guitarist Terry Kath, who had died in 1978. He has won multiple Grammy Awards for songwriting. Read more
21 May 1947: Linda Laubenstein, American physician and academic (died 1992) Linda Jane Laubenstein was an American physician and early HIV/AIDS researcher. She was among the first doctors in the United States to recognize the AIDS epidemic of the early 1980s; she co-authored the first article linking AIDS with Kaposi's sarcoma. Read more
21 May 1947: İlber Ortaylı, Turkish historian and academic (died 2026) İlber Ortaylı was a Turkish historian and professor of history of Crimean Tatar origin at the Galatasaray University in Istanbul and at Ankara University and Bilkent University in Ankara. In 2005, he was appointed the director of the Topkapı Museum in Istanbul, until he retired in 2012. Read more
21 May 1946: Allan McKeown, English-American screenwriter and producer (died 2013) Allan McKeown was a British television, film, and stage producer. Read more
21 May 1946: Wayne Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider and coach Wayne William Roycroft, is an Australian equestrian and coach who won two bronze medals at three Olympics. He was the national eventing coach from 1988 to 2010; Australia won four team and two individual medals in the sport during his reign. Read more
21 May 1945: Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut Ernst Willi Messerschmid is a German physicist and former astronaut. Read more
21 May 1945: Richard Hatch, American actor, writer, and producer (died 2017) Richard Lawrence Hatch was an American actor and writer. He began his career as a stage actor before moving on to television work in the 1970s. Hatch is best known for his roles as Captain Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica television series and Tom Zarek in the reimagined series. Read more
21 May 1944: Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, Iranian-English academic and politician (died 2022) Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, was a British life peer in the House of Lords. She had a life-long interest in women's rights and Islamic law. She was a professor at the University of York and she wrote over a dozen scholarly books. Read more
21 May 1944: Marcie Blane, American singer Marcia Blank, known as Marcie Blane, is an American former pop singer known for her 1962 hit song, "Bobby's Girl". Read more
21 May 1944: Janet Dailey, American author and entrepreneur (died 2013) Janet Anne Haradon Dailey was an American author of numerous romance novels as Janet Dailey. Her novels have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. Read more
21 May 1944: Mary Robinson, Irish lawyer and politician, President of Ireland Mary Therese Winifred Robinson is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senator in Seanad Éireann from 1969 to 1989, and as a councillor on Dublin Corporation from 1979 to 1983. Although she had been briefly affiliated with the Labour Party during her time as a senator, she became the first independent candidate to win the presidency and the first not to have had the support of Fianna Fáil. Following her time as president, Robinson became the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002. Read more
21 May 1943: Vincent Crane, English pianist and composer (died 1989) Vincent Rodney Cheesman, known professionally as Vincent Crane, was an English keyboardist, best known as the organist for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and subsequently for Atomic Rooster. Read more
21 May 1943: John Dalton, English bass player John Dalton is a British bass guitar player, most notable as a member of the Kinks in 1966 and between 1969 and 1976, replacing original member Pete Quaife. Read more
21 May 1943: Hilton Valentine, English guitarist and songwriter (died 2021) Hilton Stewart Paterson Valentine was an English skiffle and rock and roll musician who was the original guitarist in the Animals. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and into Hollywood’s Rock Walk of Fame in 2001 with the other members of the Animals. Read more
21 May 1942: David Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales David James Fletcher Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, is a British Conservative politician who served as a member of the Cabinet during the Thatcher and Major ministries, and was appointed to the Privy Council in 1990. Read more
21 May 1942: John Konrads, Australian swimmer (died 2021) John Konrads was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won the 1500 m freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. In his career, he set 26 individual world records, and after his swimming career ended, was the Australasian director of L'Oréal, as well as campaigning for the Sydney Olympics bid. Along with his sister Ilsa, who also set multiple world records, they were known as the Konrads Kids. Read more
21 May 1942: Danny Ongais, American race car driver (died 2022) Ezekiel "Danny" Ongais was an American racing driver. Read more
21 May 1941: Martin Carthy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, as well as later artists such as Richard Thompson, since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s. Read more
21 May 1941: Bobby Cox, American baseball player and manager (died 2026) Robert Joe Cox was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played as a third baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees and managed for the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He recorded a 100-win season six times, a record matched only by Joe McCarthy. Read more
21 May 1941: Ambrose Greenway, 4th Baron Greenway, English photographer and politician Ambrose Charles Drexel Greenway, 4th Baron Greenway, is a British marine photographer and shipping consultant. He was one of the ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999, where he sat as a crossbencher. Read more
21 May 1941: Ronald Isley, American singer-songwriter and producer Ronald Isley is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Isley is the lead singer, a founding member, and last surviving original member of the family music group The Isley Brothers. Read more
21 May 1940: Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013) Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity, known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of the Beatles, one of two non-Beatles to receive label performance credit on a record with the group, and the only non-Beatle to appear as lead singer on a Beatles recording which charted as a single. Read more
21 May 1939: Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist, composer, and conductor Heinz Robert Holliger is a Swiss composer, virtuoso oboist, and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Classical pieces, but he has regularly engaged in lesser known pieces of Romantic music, as well as his own compositions. He often performed contemporary works with his wife, the harpist Ursula Holliger. Many composers have written works for him, including Messiaen, Berio, Carter, Henze, Krenek, Lutosławski, Martin, Penderecki, Stockhausen and Yun. A noted composer himself, Holliger has written works such as the opera Schneewittchen (1998). Read more
21 May 1938: Lee "Shot" Williams, American singer (died 2011) Henry Lee "Shot" Williams was an American blues singer. He got the nickname "Shot" from his mother at a young age, owing to his fondness for wearing suits and dressing up as a "big shot." Read more
21 May 1936: Günter Blobel, Polish-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Günter Blobel was a Silesian German and American biologist and 1999 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell. Read more
21 May 1935: Terry Lightfoot, English clarinet player and bandleader (died 2013) Terence John Lightfoot was a British jazz clarinettist and bandleader, and together with Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball was one of the leading members of the trad jazz generation of British jazzmen. Read more
21 May 1934: Jocasta Innes, Chinese-English journalist and author (died 2013) Jocasta Claire Traill Innes was a British writer, journalist and businesswoman. She mainly wrote about cooking, crafts and homemaking, including in her books The Pauper's Homemaking Book (1976) and The Country Kitchen (1987), and worked for publications such as Cosmopolitan. She founded and was CEO of the paint company Paint Magic in the 1980s, inspired by her 1981 book Paint Magic. Two of her children, Daisy and Jason Goodwin, are also writers. Read more
21 May 1934: Bob Northern, American horn player and bandleader (died 2020) Robert Northern, known professionally as Brother Ah, was an American jazz French hornist. Read more
21 May 1934: Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024) Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson was a Swedish biochemist. He shared with Sune K. Bergström and John R. Vane the 1982 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related substances. Read more
21 May 1933: Maurice André, French trumpet player (died 2012) Maurice André was a French trumpeter, active in the classical music field. Read more
21 May 1933: Yevgeny Minayev, Russian weightlifter (died 1993) Yevgeny Gavrilovich Minayev was a Russian weightlifter who competed for the Soviet Union. He won a silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Read more
21 May 1932: Inese Jaunzeme, Latvian javelin thrower and surgeon (died 2011) Inese Jaunzeme was a Latvian javelin thrower who won a gold medal at the 1956 Olympics. Read more
21 May 1932: Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral and intelligence chief (died 2014) Leonidas Vasilikopoulos was a Greek Navy officer, who served as Chief of the Hellenic Navy General Staff in 1986–1989 and then as head of the Greek National Intelligence Service in 1993–1996. A distinguished officer, he is also notable for his participation in resistance groups against the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, being repeatedly imprisoned and exiled as a consequence. Read more
21 May 1930: Tommy Bryant, American bassist (died 1982) Thomas Bryant was an American jazz double-bassist. Read more
21 May 1930: Keith Davis, New Zealand rugby player (died 2019) Keith Davis was a New Zealand rugby union player who played for both New Zealand and New Zealand Māori. He played for Auckland, and won the Ranfurly Shield in his first ever provincial game. After gaining All Blacks selection in 1952, Davis toured with the team to Europe and North America in 1953–54. He played extensively for New Zealand Māori between 1952 and his retirement in 1959; his time with the team included matches against both South Africa and the British Lions. Davis was awarded the Tom French Cup for Māori player of the year in 1952, 1953 and 1954. Read more
21 May 1930: Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (died 2015) John Malcolm Fraser was an Australian farmer and politician who was the 22nd prime minister of Australia, serving from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth longest-serving prime minister in Australian history. Read more
21 May 1929: Larance Marable, American drummer (died 2012) Larance Norman Marable was a jazz drummer from Los Angeles, California. Read more
21 May 1929: Robert Welch, English silversmith and industrial designer (died 2000) Robert Radford Welch MBE, RDI, was an English designer and silversmith. Read more
21 May 1928: Tom Donahue, American radio host and producer (died 1975) Tom "Big Daddy" Donahue, was an American rock and roll radio disc jockey, record producer and concert promoter. Read more
21 May 1928: Alice Drummond, American actress (died 2016) Alice Elizabeth Drummond was an American actress. A veteran Off-Broadway performer, she was nominated in 1970 for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Mrs. Lee in The Chinese by Murray Schisgal. She may be best known as Alice, the librarian, in the opening scenes of the 1984 horror-comedy Ghostbusters. Read more
21 May 1927: Kay Kendall, English actress and comedian (died 1959) Justine Kay Kendall McCarthy was an English actress and singer. She began her film career in the musical film London Town (1946), a financial failure. Kendall worked regularly until her appearance in the comedy film Genevieve (1953) brought her widespread recognition. Prolific in British films, Kendall also achieved some popularity with American audiences, and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her role in the musical-comedy film Les Girls (1957). Read more
21 May 1927: Péter Zwack, Hungarian businessman and diplomat (died 2012) Péter János Zwack was a Hungarian businessman, investor, philanthropist, diplomat and the Hungarian Ambassador to the United States from 1990 until 1991. He was the CEO and owner of the company Zwack. Read more
21 May 1926: Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (died 2005) Robert White Creeley was an American poet and author of more than 60 books. He is associated with the Black Mountain poets, although his verse aesthetic diverged from that school. Creeley was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. Read more
21 May 1924: Peggy Cass, American actress, comedian, and game show panelist (died 1999) Mary Margaret "Peggy" Cass was an American actress, comedian, game show panelist, and announcer. Read more
21 May 1923: Vernon Biever, American photographer (died 2010) Vernon Joseph Biever was an American photographer, most notably with the Green Bay Packers. Read more
21 May 1923: Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic (died 2003) Armand Borel was a Swiss mathematician, born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and was a permanent professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, United States from 1957 to 1993. He worked in algebraic topology, in the theory of Lie groups, and was one of the creators of the contemporary theory of linear algebraic groups. Read more
21 May 1923: Ara Parseghian, American football player and coach (died 2017) Ara Raoul Parseghian was an American football coach and player who coached the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for bringing Notre Dame's Fighting Irish football program back from years of futility into national prominence in 1964 and is regarded alongside Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy as a part of the "Holy Trinity" of Notre Dame head coaches. Read more
21 May 1923: Dorothy Hewett, Australian feminist poet, novelist and playwright (died 2002) Dorothy Coade Hewett was an Australian playwright, poet and author. She wrote in a number of different literary styles: modernism, socialist realism, expressionism and avant garde. She was a member of the Australian Communist Party in the 1950s and 1960s, which informed her work during that period. Read more
21 May 1923: Evelyn Ward, American actress (died 2012) Evelyn Mae Ward was an American actress and dancer known for her stage musical performances and television appearances. Her son was the actor-singer David Cassidy. Read more
21 May 1921: Sandy Douglas, English computer scientist and academic, designed OXO (died 2010) Alexander Shafto "Sandy" Douglas CBE was a British professor of computer science, credited with creating the first graphical computer game, OXO, a version of noughts and crosses, in 1952 on the EDSAC computer at University of Cambridge. Read more
21 May 1921: Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989) Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Soviet physicist and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world. Read more
21 May 1920: Bill Barber, American tuba player and educator (died 2007) John William Barber was an American jazz tubist. He is considered by many to be the first person to play tuba in modern jazz. He recorded with Miles Davis on the albums Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain, and Miles Ahead. Read more
21 May 1920: Forrest White, American businessman, co-founded the Music Man Company (died 1994)
Forrest Fred White was an American musical instruments industry executive, best known for his association with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and as co-founder of the Music Man company. Read more
21 May 1919: George P. Mitchell, American businessman and philanthropist (died 2013) George Phydias Mitchell was an American businessman, real estate developer and philanthropist from Texas credited with pioneering the economic extraction of shale gas. Read more
21 May 1917: Raymond Burr, Canadian-American actor and director (died 1993) Raymond William Stacy Burr was a Canadian actor who had a lengthy Hollywood film career and portrayed the title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. Read more
21 May 1916: Dennis Day, American singer and actor (died 1988) Dennis Day was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He was of Irish descent. Read more
21 May 1916: Tinus Osendarp, Dutch sprinter and police officer (died 2002) Martinus Bernardus "Tinus" Osendarp was a Dutch sprint runner. Read more
21 May 1916: Harold Robbins, American author and screenwriter (died 1997) Harold Robbins was an American author. One of the best-selling writers of all time, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages. Read more
21 May 1915: Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, Indian Civil Service Officer and former Under Secretary-General of the UN (died 2003) Chakravarthi Vijayaraghava Narasimhan MBE, ICS was an Indian Civil Service officer and a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, serving twenty-two years in the UN. Read more
21 May 1914: Romain Gary, French novelist, diplomat, film director, aviator (died 1980) Romain Gary, also known by the pen name Émile Ajar, was a Lithuanian-born French novelist, diplomat, film director, and military aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice. He is considered a major writer of French literature of the second half of the 20th century. Read more
21 May 1913: Gina Bachauer, Greek pianist and composer (died 1976) Gina Bachauer was a Greek classical pianist who toured extensively in the United States and Europe. Interested in piano at a young age, Bachauer graduated from the Athens Conservatory and studied under Alfred Cortot and Sergei Rachmaninoff. She is best known for playing Romantic piano concertos. She played hundreds of concerts for the Allied troops in the Middle East during World War II while she lived in Egypt. She spent a lot of time touring the United States and Europe, giving over 100 concerts each year. Bachauer also recorded extensively, both as a soloist and with orchestras. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Utah. During her career she was called the "queen of pianists". The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation was named in honor of her contributions to the musical world. In her personal life, Bachauer married music conductor Alec Sherman, who became her manager. She died at the age of 63 at the Athens Festival. Read more
21 May 1912: Chen Dayu, Chinese painter and calligrapher (died 2001) Chen Dayu, was a Chinese painter, calligrapher, seal carver and educator. Read more
21 May 1912: John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist and academic (died 1986) John Curtis Gowan was a psychologist who studied, along with E. Paul Torrance, the development of creative capabilities in children and gifted populations. Read more
21 May 1912: Monty Stratton, American baseball player and coach (died 1982) Monty Franklin Pierce Stratton was an American professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was born in Palacios, Texas and lived in Greenville, Texas, for part of his life. His major league career ended prematurely when a hunting accident in 1938 forced doctors to amputate his right leg. Wearing a prosthetic leg, Stratton played in the minor leagues from 1946 to 1953. His comeback was the subject of the 1949 film The Stratton Story, in which he was portrayed by Jimmy Stewart. Read more
21 May 1907: John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (died 1979) John C. Allen was a roller coaster designer who was responsible for the revival of wooden roller coasters which began in the 1960s. He attended Drexel University. He started working for the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1934 as a coaster operator and rose to become president of the company by 1954. He designed more than 25 coasters and made significant contributions to roller coaster technology. He once said, "You don't need a degree in engineering to design roller coasters, you need a degree in psychology." Read more
21 May 1904: Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (died 1981) Robert Montgomery was an American actor, director, and producer. He began his acting career on the stage, but was soon hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Initially assigned roles in comedies, he soon proved he was able to handle dramatic ones, as well. He appeared in a wide variety of roles, such as the weak-willed prisoner Kent in The Big House (1930), the psychotic Danny in Night Must Fall (1937), and Joe, the boxer mistakenly sent to Heaven in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). The last two earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Read more
21 May 1904: Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1943) Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999, respectively. Read more
21 May 1903: Manly Wade Wellman, American author (died 1986) Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer. While his science fiction and fantasy stories appeared in such pulps as Astounding Stories, Startling Stories, Unknown and Strange Stories, Wellman is best remembered as one of the most popular contributors to the legendary Weird Tales and for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains, which draw on the native folklore of that region. Karl Edward Wagner referred to him as "the dean of fantasy writers." Wellman also wrote in a wide variety of other genres, including historical fiction, detective fiction, western fiction, juvenile fiction, and non-fiction. Read more
21 May 1902: Earl Averill, American baseball player (died 1983) Howard Earl Averill was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1929 to 1941, including 11 seasons for the Cleveland Indians. He was a six-time All-Star (1933–1938) and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. Read more
21 May 1902: Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-American architect and academic, designed the Ameritrust Tower (died 1981) Marcel Lajos Breuer was a Hungarian-American modernist architect and furniture designer. He moved to the United States in 1937 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1944. Read more
21 May 1902: Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1974) Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak OBE, commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Russian-American filmmaker. Read more
21 May 1901: Regina M. Anderson, Multiracial playwright and librarian (died 1993) Regina M. Anderson was an American playwright and librarian. Influenced by Ida B. Wells and the lack of Black history teachings in school, Anderson became a key member of the Harlem Renaissance. Read more
21 May 1901: Horace Heidt, American pianist, bandleader, and radio host (died 1986) Horace Heidt was an American pianist, big band leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, toured vaudeville and performed on radio and television during the 1930s and 1940s. Read more
21 May 1901: Sam Jaffe, American film producer and agent (died 2000) Sam Jaffe was, at different points in his career in the motion picture industry, an agent, a producer, and a studio executive. Read more
21 May 1901: Suzanne Lilar, Belgian author and playwright (died 1992) Baroness Suzanne Lilar was a Flemish Belgian essayist, novelist, and playwright writing in French. She was the wife of the Belgian Minister of Justice Albert Lilar and mother of the writer Françoise Mallet-Joris and the art historian Marie Fredericq-Lilar. Read more
21 May 1898: Armand Hammer, American physician and businessman, founded Occidental Petroleum (died 1990) Armand Hammer was an American oil tycoon, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Read more
21 May 1898: Charles Léon Hammes, Luxembourgian lawyer and judge (died 1967) Charles-Léon Hammes was a Luxembourgish lawyer, judge and the third president of the European Court of Justice. Read more
21 May 1898: Carl Johnson, American long jumper (died 1932) Carl Johnson was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump. He competed for the United States in the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium in the long jump, where he won the silver medal. Read more
21 May 1898: John McLaughlin, American painter and translator (died 1976) John Dwyer McLaughlin was an American abstract painter. Based primarily in California, he was a pioneer in minimalism and hard-edge painting. Considered one of the most significant Californian postwar artists, McLaughlin painted a focused body of geometric works that are completely devoid of any connection to everyday experience and objects, inspired by the Japanese notion of the void. He aimed to create paintings devoid of any object hood including but not limited to a gestures, representations and figuration. This led him to the rectangle. Leveraging a technique of layering rectangular bars on adjacent planes, McLaughlin creates works that provoke introspection and, consequently, a greater understanding of one's relationship to nature. Read more
21 May 1895: Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexican general, president (1934–1940) and father of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (died 1970) Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was a Mexican revolutionary, army officer, and politician who served as the 51st president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940. Previously, he served as a general in the Constitutional Army during the Mexican Revolution and as Governor of Michoacán and President of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. He later served as the Secretary of National Defence. During his presidency, which is considered the end of the Maximato, he implemented massive land reform programs, led the expropriation of the country's oil industry, and implemented many key social reforms. Read more
21 May 1893: Arthur Carr, English cricketer (died 1963) Arthur William Carr was an English cricketer. He played for the Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club and the English cricket team, captaining both sides. Read more
21 May 1893: Giles Chippindall, Australian public servant (died 1969) Sir Giles Tatlock Chippindall was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Supply and Shipping between 1945 and 1946 and Director-General of the Postmaster-General's Department between 1949 and 1958. Read more
21 May 1885: Princess Sophie of Albania, (Princess Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg) (died 1936) Sophie was Princess of Albania from 7 March to 3 September 1914 as the wife of Prince Wilhelm. In 1906, she married Wilhelm, second son of the Prince of Wied. When her husband became prince of Albania, Sophie became princess consort. However, in Albania, she was referred to as Mbretëreshë, or Queen. Read more
21 May 1884: Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet and publisher (died 1920) Manuel Pérez y Curis was a Uruguayan poet, born in Montevideo, Uruguay. Read more
21 May 1880: Tudor Arghezi, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (died 1967) Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer and political figure, widely considered one of his country's greatest poets. An illegitimate, part-Hungarian child who was purposely vague about his roots, he had a troubled youth during which he held a variety of jobs—including a stint as a hierodeacon of the Romanian Orthodox Church, from which he gathered his extreme anti-clericalism. He debuted in the 1890s as an affiliate of the Symbolist movement, being welcomed as an outstanding poet. Arghezi renounced this career to study theology in Switzerland, but never graduated, training instead as a watchmaker and typographer. From 1910, his social poetry and leftist journalism became widely read, allowing him to return as a professional writer and art columnist. He soon became highly controversial for his apparent corruption and his mordant satire, as well as for his political positions during World War I—when, as editor of Seara and Cronica, he favored the Central Powers. Arghezi stayed behind in occupied Bucharest after the Romanian Debacle of 1916, collaborating with the German Empire in a manner that was judged as treasonous. In postwar Greater Romania, he was initially punished with imprisonment at Văcărești, but amnestied within months. Read more
21 May 1878: Glenn Curtiss, American cyclist and engineer (died 1930) Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early as 1904, he began to manufacture engines for airships, and with his V8 engine in the Curtiss V-8 motorcycle set an unofficial world speed record, for all kinds of vehicles, that was not broken until 1911. Read more
21 May 1873: Hans Berger, German neurologist and academic (died 1941) Hans Berger was a German psychiatrist. He is best known as the inventor of electroencephalography (EEG) in 1924, which is a method used for recording the electrical activity of the brain, commonly described in terms of brainwaves, and as the discoverer of the alpha wave rhythm which is a type of brainwave. Alpha waves have been eponymously referred to as the "Berger wave". Read more
21 May 1867: Anne Walter Fearn, American physician (died 1939) Anne Walter Fearn was an American physician who went to Shanghai, China, on a temporary posting in 1893, and remained there for 40 years. Read more
21 May 1864: Princess Stéphanie of Belgium (died 1945) Princess Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte of Belgium was a Belgian princess who became Crown Princess of Austria through marriage to Crown Prince Rudolf, heir-apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Read more
21 May 1863: Archduke Eugen of Austria (died 1954) Archduke Eugen Ferdinand Pius Bernhard Felix Maria of Austria-Teschen was an Archduke of Austria and a Prince of Hungary and Bohemia. He was the last Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from the Habsburg dynasty. Read more
21 May 1861: Abel Ayerza, Argentinian physician and academic (died 1918) Abel Ayerza was an Argentine doctor who gave his name to the cardiological condition Ayerza’s disease. Read more
21 May 1860: Willem Einthoven, Indonesian-Dutch physician, physiologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1927) Willem Einthoven was a Dutch medical doctor and physiologist. He invented the first practical electrocardiograph in 1895 and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1924 for it. Read more
21 May 1858: Édouard Goursat, French mathematician (died 1936) Édouard Jean-Baptiste Goursat was a French mathematician, now remembered principally as an expositor for his Cours d'analyse mathématique, which appeared in the first decade of the twentieth century. It set a standard for the high-level teaching of mathematical analysis, especially complex analysis. This text was reviewed by William Fogg Osgood for the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. This led to its translation into English by Earle Raymond Hedrick published by Ginn and Company. Goursat also published texts on partial differential equations and hypergeometric series. Read more
21 May 1856: José Batlle y Ordóñez, Uruguayan journalist and politician, President of Uruguay (died 1929) José Pablo Torcuato Batlle y Ordóñez, nicknamed Don Pepe, was a prominent Uruguayan politician who served two terms as President of Uruguay for the Colorado Party. The son of a former president, he introduced his political system, Batllism, to South America and modernized Uruguay through his creation of extensive welfare state reforms. Read more
21 May 1855: Ella Stewart Udall, American telegraphist (died 1937) Eliza Luella "Ella" Stewart Udall was an American telegraphist and entrepreneur. Recruited by Brigham Young in 1870 and stationed at the Deseret Telegraph Company office in Pipe Spring in 1871, Udall was the first telegraph operator in Arizona Territory. Read more
21 May 1853: Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (died 1905) Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, known as Godefroy Cavaignac, was a French politician. Read more
21 May 1851: Léon Bourgeois, French police officer and politician, 64th Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1925) Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois was a French statesman. His ideas influenced the Radical Party regarding a wide range of issues. Read more
21 May 1850: Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian priest and volcanologist (died 1914) Giuseppe Mercalli was an Italian volcanologist and Catholic priest. He is known best for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquake intensity. Read more
21 May 1849: Édouard-Henri Avril, French painter (died 1928) Édouard-Henri Avril was a French painter and commercial artist. Under the pseudonym Paul Avril, he was an illustrator of erotic literature. Avril was a soldier before starting his career in art; he was awarded the Legion of Honour for his actions in the Franco-Prussian War. Read more
21 May 1844: Henri Rousseau, French painter (died 1910) Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier, a humorous description of his occupation as a toll and tax collector. He started painting seriously in his early forties; by age 49, he retired from his job to work on his art full-time. Read more
21 May 1843: Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss lawyer and politician, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1914) Charles Albert Gobat was a Swiss lawyer, educational administrator, and politician who jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize with Élie Ducommun in 1902 for their leadership of the Permanent International Peace Bureau. Read more
21 May 1843: Louis Renault, French jurist, educator, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1918) Louis Renault was a French jurist and educator, and the co-winner in 1907 of the Nobel Peace Prize. Read more
21 May 1837: Itagaki Taisuke, Japanese soldier and politician (died 1919) Count Itagaki Taisuke was a Japanese samurai, politician, and leader of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, which evolved into Japan's first political party, the Liberal Party (Jiyūtō). His activism in favour of a parliamentary democracy was a pivotal influence on the political development of Meiji Japan. Read more
21 May 1835: František Chvostek, Czech-Austrian physician and academic (died 1884) František Chvostek was a Czech-Austrian military physician and lecturer in internal medicine. He published articles on a wide variety of medical disorders but is most notable for having described Chvostek's sign which he described in 1876. Read more
21 May 1828: Rudolf Koller, Swiss painter (died 1905) Rudolf Koller was a Swiss painter. He is associated with a realist and classicist style, and also with the essentially romantic Düsseldorf school of painting. Koller's style is similar to that of the realist painters Gustave Courbet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Considered Switzerland's finest animal painter, Koller is rated alongside George Stubbs, Rosa Bonheur and Théodore Géricault.
While his reputation was based on his paintings of animals, he was a sensitive and innovative artist whose well-composed works in the "plein air" tradition, including Swiss mountain landscapes, are just as finely executed. Read more
21 May 1827: William P. Sprague, American banker and politician (died 1899) William Peter Sprague was a businessman, banker, politician, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio, serving from 1871 to 1875. Read more
21 May 1808: David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (died 1890) David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo was a Dutch Talmudist and communal worker. He was sent at an early age to the bet ha-midrash 'Etz Chayyim, studied under Rabbi Berenstein at The Hague, and received his diploma of "Morenu" in 1839. Read more
21 May 1806: Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, English duchess (died 1868) Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, styled The Honourable Harriet Howard before her marriage, was an English courtier and abolitionist from the Howard family. Read more
21 May 1801: Princess Sophie of Sweden, Swedish princess (died 1865) Sophie of Sweden was, by marriage, Grand Duchess of Baden as the wife of sovereign Grand Duke of Baden, Leopold. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 21 May in World History

21 May 2025: Gerry Connolly, American politician, U.S. Representative from Virginia's 11th congressional district (born 1950) Gerald Edward Connolly was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district from 2009 until his death in 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected in 2008 to replace retiring Republican incumbent Tom Davis, who did not seek re-election and later resigned shortly after the election. The 11th district is situated in the suburbs of Northern Virginia. It is anchored in the affluent Fairfax County, where Connolly served on the county's board of supervisors before his election to Congress, and also includes the entirety of Fairfax City. Read more
21 May 2024: Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Polish composer (born 1953) Jan Andrzej Paweł Kaczmarek was a Polish composer. He wrote scores for more than 70 feature films and documentaries, including Finding Neverland (2004), for which he won an Oscar and a National Board of Review Award. Other notable scores were for Hachi: A Dog's Tale, Unfaithful, Evening, The Visitor, and Washington Square. Read more
21 May 2020: Alan Merten, fifth President of George Mason University (born 1941) Alan Gilbert Merten was the fifth president of George Mason University. Read more
21 May 2019: Rik Kuypers, Belgian film director (born 1925) Rik Kuypers was a Belgian film director. He directed 29 films between 1947 and 1981. He co-directed the film Seagulls Die in the Harbour, which was entered into the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. Read more
21 May 2019: Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (born 1971) Kenneth Binyavanga Wainaina was a Kenyan author, journalist and 2002 winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing. In 2003, he became the founding editor of Kwani? literary magazine, launched in Kenya, East Africa. In April 2014, Time magazine included Wainaina in its annual Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World". Read more
21 May 2016: Nick Menza, American drummer and songwriter (born 1964) Nicholas Menza was an American musician who was the drummer of the thrash metal band Megadeth from 1989 to 1998. He played drums on four of Megadeth's albums: Rust in Peace (1990), Countdown to Extinction (1992), Youthanasia (1994), and Cryptic Writings (1997). Read more
21 May 2015: Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker (born 1969) Annarita Sidoti was an Italian race walker. Read more
21 May 2015: Twinkle, English singer-songwriter (born 1948) Lynn Annette Ripley, better known by the stage name Twinkle, was an English singer-songwriter. She had chart success in the 1960s with her songs "Terry" and "Golden Lights". Read more
21 May 2015: Jassem Al-Kharafi, Kuwaiti businessman and politician, 8th Kuwaiti Speaker of the National Assembly (born 1940) Jassem Al-Kharafi, was a Kuwaiti oligarch who was the speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly from 1999 to 2011. In his capacity as Speaker in 2006, Al-Kharafi played a critical role in the ascension of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to the emirship of Kuwait by coordinating a no-confidence vote of the incumbent emir, Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah. During the reign of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, his family conglomerate, M.A. Kharafi & Sons, dominated several sectors of the Kuwaiti economy, including construction, telecommunications and investment. Read more
21 May 2015: Fred Gladding, American baseball player and coach (born 1936) Fred Earl Gladding was an American professional baseball player and coach. He was a right-handed pitcher for all or parts of 13 seasons (1961–1973) with the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros. He was born in Flat Rock, Michigan, and attended Flat Rock Community High School. He was listed at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 220 pounds (100 kg). Read more
21 May 2015: Louis Johnson, American bass player and producer (born 1955) Louis Johnson was an American bass guitarist. Johnson was best known for his work with the group the Brothers Johnson and his session playing on several hit albums of the 1970s and 1980s, including the best-selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's Thriller. Read more
21 May 2014: Tunku Annuar, Malaysian son of Badlishah of Kedah (born 1939) Tunku Annuar ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah was a member of the Kedah royal family and the Chairman of the Regency Council of the Malaysian state of Kedah from December 2011 until his death in May 2014. He was the son of Sultan Badlishah and the half-brother of Sultan Abdul Halim. Read more
21 May 2014: Johnny Gray, American baseball player (born 1926) John Leonard Gray was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics / Kansas City Athletics, Cleveland Indians, and Philadelphia Phillies in all or part of four baseball seasons. Listed at 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), 226 lb (103 kg), he batted and threw right handed. Read more
21 May 2014: Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (born 1924) Jaime Ramón Lusinchi was the president of Venezuela from 1984 to 1989. His term was characterized by an economic crisis, growth of the external debt, populist policies, currency depreciation, inflation and corruption that exacerbated the crisis of the political system established in 1958. Read more
21 May 2014: Alireza Soleimani, Iranian wrestler (born 1956) Alireza Soleimani Karbalaei was an Iranian heavyweight freestyle wrestler. He was the first Iranian to win the world superheavyweight title, which he achieved in 1989. He served as the flag bearer for Iran at the 1992 Summer Olympics, where he placed sixth. Read more
21 May 2013: Count Christian of Rosenborg, member of the Danish royal family (born 1942) Count Christian of Rosenborg was a member of the Danish royal family. Born Prince Christian of Denmark, from 1947 he was third in the line of line of succession until the constitution was changed in 1953 to allow females to inherit the crown, placing his branch of the dynasty behind that of his cousin Margrethe and her two younger sisters. He later gave up his princely rank and his rights to the throne in order to marry a commoner. Read more
21 May 2013: Frank Comstock, American trombonist, composer, and conductor (born 1922) Frank G. Comstock was an American composer, arranger, conductor, and trombonist. For television, Comstock wrote and arranged music for major situation comedies and variety shows. His theme and incidental music for Rocky and His Friends (1959–1964) are probably his best-remembered works. Additionally, his music for Adam-12 earned him a 1971 Emmy nomination. Read more
21 May 2013: Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (born 1923) Ellis Ferguson "Cot" Deal was an American pitcher and coach in Major League Baseball. Listed at 5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m), 185 lb (84 kg), Deal was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. A native of Arapaho, Oklahoma, he grew up in Oklahoma City and was nicknamed "Cot" for his cotton-top hair color. Read more
21 May 2013: Leonard Marsh, American businessman, co-founded Snapple (born 1933) Leonard Marsh was an American businessman who co-founded the Snapple Beverage Corporation in 1972. Marsh co-founded Snapple, which was originally known as Unadulterated Food Products, with his brother-in-law, Hyman Golden, and childhood friend, Arnold Greenberg. Read more
21 May 2013: Bob Thompson, American pianist and composer (born 1924) Robert Lamar Thompson was a composer, arranger, and orchestra leader from the 1950s through the 1980s. Active in Los Angeles, Thompson was a recording artist for RCA Victor and Dot Records, scored film and television soundtracks, and wrote musical accompaniments for commercials. He composed, arranged, and conducted the orchestra for such wide-ranging artists as Rosemary Clooney, Mae West, Julie London, Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters, Chet Atkins, Duane Eddy, Judy Garland, Jerry Lewis, and Phil Ochs. Read more
21 May 2013: Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (born 1935) Dominique Venner was a French journalist and essayist. Venner was a member of the Organisation armée secrète and later became a European nationalist, founding the neo-fascist Europe-Action, before withdrawing from politics to focus on a career as a historian. He specialized in military and political history. At the time of his death, he was the editor of the La Nouvelle Revue d'Histoire, a bimonthly history magazine. Read more
21 May 2012: Eddie Blazonczyk, American singer-songwriter (born 1941) Eddie Blazonczyk, Sr. was an American polka musician and founder of the band The Versatones. He was inducted into the International Polka Hall of Fame in 1970, and was a 1998 National Heritage Fellowship recipient. He has been called "one of the most important figures in the creation of the contemporary Polish-American polka sound." He released more than 60 albums. Read more
21 May 2012: Otis Clark, American butler and preacher, survivor of the Tulsa race riot (born 1903) Otis Clark was an American butler who was one of the last survivors of the May 31, 1921, Tulsa race massacre, considered to be the worst racial massacre in American history. He had worked for movie stars such as Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, and Joan Crawford. Clark's wife lived at the Crawford residence working as the cook for Joan Crawford. Read more
21 May 2012: Constantine of Irinoupolis, Metropolitan of Irinoupolis and Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (born 1936) Metropolitan Constantine was the Metropolitan of Irinoupolis, and Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA and of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Diaspora, which are jurisdictions of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the United States and the Ukrainian diaspora. The primatial cathedral is in Parma, Ohio, and the Church's head offices and Consistory are based in South Bound Brook, New Jersey. Read more
21 May 2012: Roman Dumbadze, Georgian commander (born 1964) Roman Dumbadze was a Georgian military commander, who led a mutiny during the 2004 crisis in Adjara. From 2008, he resided in Russia, where he was shot dead in 2012. Read more
21 May 2012: Douglas Rodríguez, Cuban boxer (born 1950) Douglas Rodríguez was an amateur boxer from Cuba, who represented his native country in the Men's Flyweight category at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. Read more
21 May 2012: Bill Stewart, American football player and coach (born 1952) William L. Stewart, nicknamed "Stew", was an American football coach. He was named interim head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers after Rich Rodriguez left for Michigan in December 2007. After leading the Mountaineers to a 48–28 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl, he was named the school's 32nd head football coach on January 3, 2008. Stewart resigned in the summer of 2011.
He was previously the head coach of Virginia Military Institute for three seasons. Read more
21 May 2012: Alan Thorne, Australian anthropologist and academic (born 1939)

Alan Gordon Thorne was an Australian born anatomist who is considered an authority on interpretations of Aboriginal Australian origins and the human genome. Thorne first became interested in archaeology and human evolution as a lecturer in human anatomy at the University of Sydney and later joined the Australian National University (ANU) as a professor, where he taught biology and human anatomy. Over time, through many excavations such as Lake Mungo and Kow Swamp, Thorne made arguments that contradict traditionally accepted theories explaining the early dispersion of human beings. Read more
21 May 2006: Spencer Clark, American race car driver (born 1987) Spencer Clark was an American stock car racing driver. Read more
21 May 2006: Katherine Dunham, American dancer, choreographer, and author (born 1909) Katherine Mary Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. One of the most renowned modern dance artists of the 20th century, she has been called the "matriarch and queen mother of black dance." Read more
21 May 2006: Cherd Songsri, Thai director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1931) Cherd Songsri was a Thai film director, screenwriter and film producer. A maker of period films that sought to introduce international audiences to his vision of Thai culture, his best-known work is the 1977 romance film Plae Kao, which earned more box-office receipts than any Thai film before it. It won a prize at the 1981 Three Continents Festival in Nantes, France. Read more
21 May 2006: Billy Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1929) William Marvin Walker was an American country music singer and guitarist best known for his 1962 hit, "Charlie's Shoes". Nicknamed The Tall Texan, Walker had more than 30 charting records during a nearly 60-year career, and was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry. Read more
21 May 2005: Deborah Berger, American outsider artist (born 1956) Deborah Berger was an American artist noted for her oeuvre of brightly colored textile works created in knitting and crochet. She is considered an outsider artist and a prodigy. Read more
21 May 2005: Stephen Elliott, American actor (born 1918) Elliott Pershing Stitzel, better known by his stage name Stephen Elliott, was an American actor. His best known roles were that of the prospective father-in-law, Burt Johnson, in the hit 1981 film Arthur and as Chief Hubbard in the 1984 blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop. Read more
21 May 2005: Howard Morris, American actor and director (born 1919) Howard Jerome Morris was an American actor, comedian, and director. He was best known for his role in The Andy Griffith Show as Ernest T. Bass, and as "Uncle Goopy" in a celebrated comedy sketch on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows (1954). He did voices for television shows such as The Flintstones (1962–1965), The Jetsons (1962–1987), The Atom Ant Show (1965–1966), Garfield and Friends (1988–1994), and Cow and Chicken (1997–1999). Read more
21 May 2003: Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (born 1928) Alejandro de Tomaso was an Argentine racing driver and businessman. His name is sometimes seen in an Italianised form as Alessandro de Tomaso. He participated in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 13 January 1957, but scored no championship points. He later founded the Italian sports car company De Tomaso Automobili in 1959. Read more
21 May 2003: Frank D. White, American captain, banker, and politician, 41st Governor of Arkansas (born 1933) Frank Durward White was an American banker and politician who served as the 41st governor of Arkansas. He served a single two-year term from 1981 to 1983. Read more
21 May 2002: Niki de Saint Phalle, French-American sculptor and painter (born 1930) Niki de Saint Phalle was a French American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monumental sculptors, Saint Phalle was also known for her social commitment and work. Read more
21 May 2000: Barbara Cartland, English author (born 1901) Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland was an English writer who published both contemporary and historical romance novels, the latter set primarily during the Victorian or Edwardian period. Cartland is one of the best-selling authors worldwide of the 20th century. Read more
21 May 2000: John Gielgud, English actor (born 1904) Sir Arthur John Gielgud was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31. Read more
21 May 2000: Mark R. Hughes, American businessman, founded Herbalife (born 1956) Mark R. Hughes was an American entrepreneur who was the founder, chairman, and CEO of Herbalife, a multi-level marketing company. Read more
21 May 1998: Robert Gist, American actor and director (born 1917) Robert Marion Gist was an American actor and film director. Read more
21 May 1996: Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1957) Paul Delph was a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer, engineer, and studio musician whose catalog includes work with many well-known recording artists from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s. Delph died from complications of HIV/AIDS at his parents' home in Cincinnati, Ohio. His ashes are interred at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. A panel in Delph's name is part of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Read more
21 May 1996: Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (born 1917) Alfred "Lash" LaRue was a Western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s. Read more
21 May 1996: Villem Raam, Estonian art historian, art critic and conservator (born 1910) Villem Raam was an Estonian art historian, art critic and conservator-restorer. His work in documenting and preserving the cultural heritage of Estonia, not least during the Soviet occupation of Estonia, contributed significantly to the understanding of art history and cultural heritage in Estonia. Read more
21 May 1995: Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defense (born 1938) Leslie Aspin Jr. was an American Democratic Party politician and economist who served as the U.S. representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district from 1971 to 1993 and as the 18th United States Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1994. Read more
21 May 1991: Rajiv Gandhi, Indian politician, 6th Prime Minister of India (born 1944) Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was an Indian politician and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989 for two terms. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become the youngest Indian prime minister at the age of 40. He served until his defeat at the 1989 election, and then became Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, resigning in December 1990, six months before his own assassination. Read more
21 May 1988: Sammy Davis Sr., American actor and dancer (born 1900) Samuel George Davis Sr. was an American dancer and the father of entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. Read more
21 May 1984: Ann Little, American actress (born 1891) Ann Little, also known as Anna Little, was an American film actress whose career was most prolific during the silent film era of the early 1910s through the early 1920s. Today, most of her films are lost, with only 12 known to survive. Read more
21 May 1983: Kenneth Clark, English historian and author (born 1903) Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, Baron Clark was a British art historian, museum director and broadcaster. His expertise covered a wide range of artists and periods, but he is particularly associated with Italian Renaissance art, most of all that of Leonardo da Vinci. After running two art galleries in the 1930s and 1940s, he came to wider public notice on television, presenting a succession of programmes on the arts from the 1950s to the 1970s, the largest and best known being the Civilisation series in 1969. Read more
21 May 1981: Raymond McCreesh, PIRA volunteer and Hunger Striker (born 1957) Raymond McCreesh was an Irish volunteer in the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1976, he and two other IRA volunteers were captured while attempting to ambush a British Army observation post. McCreesh was one of the ten Irish republicans who died during the 1981 Irish hunger strike in the Maze Prison. McCreesh was one of 22 Irish republicans who died on hunger-strike. Read more
21 May 1981: Patsy O'Hara, INLA volunteer and Hunger Striker (born 1957) Patsy O'Hara was an Irish republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). O'Hara was one of 10 Irish republicans who died in the 1981 hunger strike. Read more
21 May 1973: Vaughn Monroe, American singer, trumpet player, bandleader, and actor (born 1911) Vaughn Wilton Monroe was an American baritone singer, trumpeter and big band leader who was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for recording and another for radio performance. Read more
21 May 1973: Ivan Konev, Soviet Marshal and general (born 1897) Ivan Stepanovich Konev was a Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union who led Red Army forces on the Eastern Front during World War II, responsible for taking much of Axis-occupied Eastern Europe. Read more
21 May 1970: E. L. Grant Watson, English-Australian biologist and author (born 1885) Elliot Lovegood Grant Watson was a writer and biologist. Among some 40 books and many essays and short stories he wrote six 'Australian' novels and several scientific-philosophical works that challenge Darwinism, or the mechanism of evolutionary theory, as an entire explanation for the development of life on earth. Read more
21 May 1968: Doris Lloyd, English actress (born 1896) Hessy Doris Lloyd was a British actress. She appeared in The Time Machine (1960) and The Sound of Music (1965). Read more
21 May 1965: Marguerite Bise, French chef (born 1898) Marguerite Valentine Bise was a French chef and restaurateur at her restaurant Auberge du Père Bise in Talloires, Haute-Savoie, France. In 1951, she became the third woman to win three Michelin stars. Read more
21 May 1965: Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, designed the de Havilland Mosquito (born 1882) Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer who founded the aircraft company de Havilland. The company produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built, and his Comet was the first jet airliner to go into production. Read more
21 May 1964: James Franck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1882) James Franck was a German–American atomic physicist who shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Hertz "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom." Read more
21 May 1957: Alexander Vertinsky, Ukrainian-Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (born 1889) Alexander Nikolayevich Vertinsky was a Russian and Soviet artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing. Read more
21 May 1956: Harry Bensley, English businessman and adventurer (born 1877)

Harry Bensley was an English rake and adventurer, best remembered as the subject of an extraordinary wager between John Pierpont Morgan and Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale. How much of his story is based on fact is unclear. Read more
21 May 1952: John Garfield, American actor (born 1913) John Garfield was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of the Group Theatre. In 1937, he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner Bros.' stars. He received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Four Daughters (1938) and Body and Soul (1947). Read more
21 May 1949: Klaus Mann, German-American novelist, playwright, and critic (born 1906) Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann was a German writer and anti-fascist activist. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann and Golo Mann. Read more
21 May 1940: Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (born 1888) William James Minter, was a footballer, trainer, manager and assistant secretary at Tottenham Hotspur. He scored 101 goals for Tottenham, and was for a time the top scorer for the club. He also managed the club for three years, and after he resigned as manager he stayed at the club until his death in 1940. Read more
21 May 1935: Jane Addams, American activist and author, co-founded Hull House, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1860) Laura Jane Addams was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage. In 1889, Addams co-founded Hull House, one of America's most famous settlement houses, in Chicago, Illinois, providing extensive social services to poor, largely immigrant families. Philosophically a "radical pragmatist", she was arguably the first woman public philosopher in the United States. In the Progressive Era, when even presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and might be seen as social activists, Addams was one of the most prominent reformers. Read more
21 May 1935: Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist and geneticist (born 1848) Hugo Marie de Vries was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He is known chiefly for suggesting the concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of heredity in the 1890s while apparently unaware of Gregor Mendel's work, for introducing the term "mutation", and for developing a mutation theory of evolution. Read more
21 May 1932: Marcel Boulenger, French fencer and author (born 1873) Marcel Jacques Amand Romain Boulenger was a French novelist and fiction writer. He was awarded the Prix Nee of the Académie Française in 1918 and the Prix Stendhal in 1919. He was also a fencer of international standard, competing in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. Read more
21 May 1929: Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1847) Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of his father in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl of Rosebery, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny. Read more
21 May 1926: Ronald Firbank, English-Italian author (born 1886) Arthur Annesley Ronald Firbank was an innovative English novelist. His eight short novels, partly inspired by the London aesthetes of the 1890s, especially Oscar Wilde, consist largely of dialogue, with references to religion, social-climbing, and sexuality. Read more
21 May 1925: Hidesaburō Ueno, Japanese agriculturalist, guardian of Hachikō (born 1871) Hidesaburō Ueno was a Japanese agricultural scientist, well-known as the guardian of Hachikō, a devoted Akita dog. Read more
21 May 1920: Venustiano Carranza, Mexican politician, 54th President of Mexico (born 1859) José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza, known as Venustiano Carranza, was a Mexican land owner, revolutionary, and politician who served as the 44th President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Revolution. He was previously Mexico's de facto head of state as Primer Jefe of the Constitutionalist faction from 1914 to 1917, and previously served as a senator and governor for Coahuila. He played the leading role in drafting the Constitution of 1917 and maintained Mexican neutrality in World War I. Read more
21 May 1919: Evgraf Fedorov, Russian mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist (born 1853) Evgraf Stepanovich Fedorov was a Russian mathematician, crystallographer and mineralogist. Read more
21 May 1915: Leonid Gobyato, Russian general and engineer (born 1875) Leonid Nikolaevich Gobyato was a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Russian Army and designer of the modern, man-portable mortar. Read more
21 May 1911: Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (born 1857) Williamina Paton Stevens Fleming was a Scottish astronomer. At the Harvard College Observatory, she contributed to the photographic classification of stellar spectra, helping to develop a common designation system for stars. Fleming cataloged more than ten thousand stars, 59 gaseous nebulae, over 310 variable stars, and 10 novae, among other astronomical phenomena. She is credited with the discovery of the Horsehead Nebula in 1888, and she was a vocal supporter of women's representation in her field. Read more
21 May 1901: Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (born 1874) Joseph Adolphe Théophile Olivier was a French rugby union player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was a member of the French rugby union team, which won the gold medal. Read more
21 May 1895: Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (born 1819) Franz von Suppé, born Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo de Suppé was an Austrian composer of light operas and other theatre music. He came from the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. A composer and conductor of the Romantic period, he is notable for his four dozen operettas, including the first operetta to a German libretto. Some of them remain in the repertory, particularly in German-speaking countries, and he composed a substantial quantity of church music, but he is now chiefly known for his overtures, which remain popular in the concert hall and on record. Among the best-known are Poet and Peasant, Light Cavalry, Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna and Pique Dame. Read more
21 May 1894: Émile Henry, French anarchist (born 1872) Émile Henry, nicknamed 'the Saint-Just of Anarchy', was an individualist and illegalist anarchist militant and terrorist. He is best known for his terrorist actions and is considered one of the main founders of modern terrorism. Read more
21 May 1894: August Kundt, German physicist and academic (born 1839) August Adolf Eduard Eberhard Kundt was a German physicist known for developing Kundt's tube, an appartus used to measure the speed of sound in gases and solids. Read more
21 May 1879: Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and commander (born 1848) Agustín Arturo Prat Chacón was a Chilean Navy officer and lawyer. He was killed in the Battle of Iquique, during the War of the Pacific. During his career, Prat had taken part in several naval engagements, including battles at Papudo (1865), and at the Abtao (1866). Following his death, his name became a rallying cry for Chilean forces, and Arturo Prat has since been considered a national hero. Read more
21 May 1862: John Drew, Irish-American actor and manager (born 1827) John Drew was an Irish-American stage actor and theatre manager. Drew is a part of the multi-generational Drew acting family and the great-great-grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore. Read more
21 May 1858: José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (born 1783) José Mariano de la Cruz de la Riva Agüero y Sánchez Boquete was a Peruvian soldier and politician who was the first president of Peru and the second president of North Peru, a constituent country of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation. A leading figure of the Peruvian War of Independence, he was president of Peru in 1823, being the first head of state to serve as President of the Republic and to wear the two-color presidential sash as a symbol of the power he exercised. Although this power was de facto, that is, born from a coup d'état and not by popular will expressed in elections, since it was imposed by the Peruvian Army through the so-called Balconcillo mutiny, which ordered Congress to dismiss the Supreme Governing Junta headed by José de La Mar. He governed for four months before being replaced by the Marquis of Torre Tagle. He was a supporter of liberalism. Read more
21 May 1844: Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest and composer (born 1775) Abbate Giuseppe Baini was an Italian priest, music critic, conductor, and composer of church music. Read more
21 May 1829: Sikandar Jah, 3rd Nizam (born 1768) Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III Mir Akbar Ali Khan Siddiqi, was the 3rd Nizam of Hyderabad, India from 1803 to 1829. He was born in Chowmahalla Palace in the Khilwath, the second son of Asaf Jah II and Tahniat un-nisa Begum. Read more
21 May 1810: Chevalier d'Eon, French diplomat and spy (born 1728) Charlotte d'Éon de Beaumont, usually known as the Chevalière d'Éon or the Chevalier d'Éon, was a French diplomat, spy, and soldier. D'Éon fought in the Seven Years' War, and spied for France while in Russia and England. Assigned male at birth, D'Éon had androgynous physical characteristics and natural abilities as a mimic and spy. She appeared publicly as a man and pursued masculine occupations for the first half of her life, except for when she successfully infiltrated the court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia by presenting as a woman. Starting in 1777, d'Éon lived as a woman and was officially recognised as such by King Louis XVI. Read more

Why is 21 May Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 21 May, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

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What happened on 21 May in World history?

On 21 May, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

Is History of Today important for competitive exams?

Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.