APRIL 21

• 753 BC - Romulus founds Rome (traditional)
• 43 BC - Mark Antony is defeated in battle by consul Hirtius in the Battle of Mutina, who is killed.
• 1836 - Battle of San Jacinto: Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat and capture Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
• 1863 - Bahá'u'lláh is proclaimed as the head of the Baha'i Faith
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States Congress, on April 25, recognized that a state of war had existed between the United States and Spain as of this date
• 1912 - The New York Giants and New York Yankees play an exhibition game to benefit survivors of the Titanic.
• 1953 - Roy Cohn and David Schine, two of Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief aides, recommend the removal of 30,000 books from the libraries of the United States Information Service posts in Europe, including works by Dashiell Hammett, W. E. B. Du Bois, Herman Melville, John Steinbeck and Henry David Thoreau, calling them "pro-Communist"
• 1970 - Hutt River Province secedes from the Commonwealth of Australia
• 1975 - Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls
• 1994 - The first discovery of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.

Births

• 1729 - Tsarina Catherine II of Russia (+ 1796)
• 1816 - Charlotte Brontë, author (+ 1855)
• 1838 - John Muir, environmentalist (+ 1914)
• 1851 - Charles Barrois, geologist (+ 1939)
• 1864 - Max Weber, economist and sociologist (+ 1920)
• 1912 - Marcel Camus, film director
• 1914 - Anthony Quinn, actor (+ 2001)
• 1924 - Clara Ward, gospel music singer (+ 1973)
• 1926 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
• 1929 - Martin Kruse, theologian
• 1930 - Silvana Mangano, actress (+ 1989)
• 1932 - Elaine May, comedienne
• 1947 - Iggy Pop
• 1951 - Michael Hartley Freedman, mathematician.
• 1958 - Andie MacDowell, actress
• 1959 - Robert Smith, musician

Deaths

• 1699 - Jean Racine, dramatist (* 1639)
• 1793 - John Michell, seismologist (* 1724)
• 1910 - Mark Twain, author, humorist (* 1835)
• 1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, pilot (* 1892)
• 1946 - John Maynard Keynes, economist (* 1883)
• 1956 - Charles MacArthur, writer (* 1895)
• 1978 - Thomas Wyatt Turner, civil rights advocate and agricultural engineer (* 1877)
• 1980 - Aleksandr Oparin, biochemist (* 1894)
• 1985 - Rudi Gernreich, fashion designer
• 1999 - Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, actor, musician
• 2001 - Jack Haley Jr, producer
• 2003 - Nina Simone, singer and pianist (* 1933)

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire - the Parilia was held in honor of Pales
• Bahá'í Faith: First day of the festival of Ridván

April 20 - April 22 - March 21 - May 21 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December