On this day in history

October 21

9 births · 6 deaths · 1 events

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Anniversary highlights

Event anniversary

220

Battle of Trafalgar

220 years ago

Born this day

1833

Alfred Nobel

Would be 192

Oldest record

603rd

Charles VI of France

death anniversary

Famous births9

1772 · 253 yrs

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( KOH-lə-rij; 21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth.

LiteratureWould be 253

Photo: Samuel Cousins / After Washington Allston · Public domain

1790 · 235 yrs

Alphonse de Lamartine

Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (French:; 21 October 1790 – 28 February 1869) was a French author, poet, and statesman. Initially a moderate royalist, he became one of the leading critics of the July Monarchy of Louis-Philippe, aligning more with the Republican Left and Social Catholicism.

LiteratureWould be 235

Photo: Adrien Tournachon · Public domain

1833 · 192 yrs

Alfred Nobel

Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( noh-BEL; Swedish:; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer, and businessman. Nobel is known for inventing dynamite, as well as having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel Prizes.

ScienceWould be 192

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

1929 · 96 yrs

Ursula K. Le Guin

Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( KROH-bər lə GWIN; née Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the Earthsea fantasy series.

LiteratureWould be 96

Photo: Marian Wood Kolisch, Oregon State University Restored by Adam Cuerden · CC BY-SA 2.0

1929 · 96 yrs

Lev Yashin

Lev Ivanovich Yashin (Russian: Лев Иванович Яшин; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990) was a Soviet professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of the sport, he is the only player in his position to win the Ballon d'Or.

SportsWould be 96

Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

1949 · 76 yrs

Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician and diplomat who has served as Prime Minister of Israel since 2022. Having previously held office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021, Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving prime minister.

PoliticsAge 76

Photo: Avi Ohayon · CC BY-SA 3.0

1956 · 69 yrs

Carrie Fisher

Carrie Frances Fisher (October 21, 1956 – December 27, 2016) was an American actress and writer.

FilmWould be 69

Photo: By Riccardo Ghilardi - Crop of File:Actress Carrie Fisher © Riccardo Ghilardi photographer.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://co · CC BY-SA 3.0

1980 · 45 yrs

Kim Kardashian

Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention in 2007 following the unauthorized release of a sex tape with American singer Ray J. Afterwards, she and her family began to appear on the E!

BusinessAge 45

Photo: Eva Rinaldi · CC BY-SA 2.0

1981 · 44 yrs

Nemanja Vidić

Nemanja Vidić (Serbian Cyrillic: Немања Видић, Serbian pronunciation:; born 21 October 1981) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

SportsAge 44

Photo: Austin Osuide · CC BY 2.0

Famous deaths6

1422 · 603 yrs

Charles VI of France

Charles VI (3 December 1368 – 21 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé) and in the 19th century, the Mad (French: le Fol or le Fou), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422.

RoyaltyWould be 657

Photo: Gillot Saint-Evre · Public domain

1931 · 94 yrs

Arthur Schnitzler

Arthur Schnitzler (German:; 15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist. He is considered one of the most significant representatives of Viennese Modernism.

LiteratureWould be 164

Photo: Ferdinand Schmutzer · Public domain

1969 · 56 yrs

Jack Kerouac

Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian parentage, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts.

LiteratureWould be 104

Photo: Tom Palumbo from New York, NY, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0

1984 · 41 yrs

François Truffaut

François Roland Truffaut (UK: TROO-foh, TRUU-, US: troo-FOH; French:; 6 February 1932 – 21 October 1984) was a French filmmaker, actor, and critic.

FilmWould be 94

Photo: Jack de Nijs for Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

1986 · 39 yrs

Albert Szent-Györgyi

Albert Imre Szent-Györgyi de Nagyrápolt (Hungarian: nagyrápolti Szent-Györgyi Albert Imre; September 16, 1893 – October 22, 1986) was a Hungarian biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937.

ScienceWould be 133

Photo: J.W. McGuire · Public domain

2023 · 2 yrs

Bobby Charlton

Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup, the year he also won the Ballon d'Or.

SportsWould be 88

Photo: Panini · Public domain

Events1

1805 · 220 yrs

Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar was a fleet action which took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French and Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition.

War

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