Date·Lore

On This Day · The 21st day of the year

January 21

50 years on from Concorde, January 21 is a date with an anniversary worth pausing on. Most of the weight falls in the 20th century, where politics and nation-building recur.

♒ZodiacAquarius ◈BirthstoneGarnet ❀Birth flowerCarnation

Aquarius is the sign for January 21 — read more on the Aquarius page, or see January's birthstone & birth flower.

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed September 6, 2026

What happened on January 21?

January 21 is the 21st day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1919 and 2025. Famous people born on January 21 include Ashton Eaton, Jack Nicklaus and Laura Robson.

Released on January 21

Movies, games, albums & shows

2026

  • Movie Return to Silent Hill

2025

  • Game Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders
  • Game Somber Echoes

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1919

    1st Dáil

  2. 1931

    Isaac Isaacs

  3. 1932

    Finland

  4. 1968

    Vietnam War

  5. 1968

    Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

  6. 1976

    Concorde

  7. 1997

    United States House of Representatives

  8. 2011

    2011 Albanian opposition demonstrations

  9. 2017

    2017 Women's March

  10. 2025

    2025 Kartalkaya hotel fire

Famous birthday twins

Born on January 21

Ashton Eaton

b. 1988

Jack Nicklaus

b. 1940

Laura Robson

b. 1994

Konrad Emil Bloch

b. 1912

Grigori Rasputin

b. 1869

Ludwig Thoma

b. 1867

Oscar II

b. 1829

Karl Staaff

b. 1860

Deaths

  • 2019Emiliano Sala
  • 1950George Orwell
  • 1924Vladimir Lenin
  • 1793Louis XVI
  • 1789Baron d'Holbach
  • 1527Juan de Grijalva

Holidays & observances

  • —Babinden (Bulgaria, Serbia)
  • —Christian feast day: Agnes
  • —Christian feast day: Demiana (Coptic Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Fructuosus
  • —Christian feast day: John Yi Yun-il (one of The Korean Martyrs)
  • —Christian feast day: Meinrad of Einsiedeln
  • —Christian feast day: January 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Errol Barrow Day (Barbados)

The factual record above — event titles, dates, names, and observances — is drawn from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

Born on this day?

Make your birthday card.

Drop in your birth year and we'll work out your exact age, the day of the week you were born, your Chinese zodiac, your generation, and the countdown to your next candle.