Date·Lore

On This Day · The 21st day of the year

January 21

January 21 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1919 and 2025. A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.

♒ZodiacAquarius ◈BirthstoneGarnet ❀Birth flowerCarnation

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 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.

The shape of the day

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.

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

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

    A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.

  2. 1931

    Isaac Isaacs

    Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.

  3. 1932

    Finland

    Finland and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty.

  4. 1968

    Vietnam War

    Vietnam War, Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.

  5. 1968

    Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

    A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.

  6. 1976

    Concorde

    Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.

  7. 1997

    United States House of Representatives

    The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.

  8. 2011

    2011 Albanian opposition demonstrations

    Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people die from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office.

  9. 2017

    2017 Women's March

    Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, including in Portland, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States.

  10. 2025

    2025 Kartalkaya hotel fire

    A fire at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the Kartalkaya ski resort in Bolu Province, Turkey, results in 78 people dead and 51 injured.

Famous birthday twins

Born on January 21

Ashton Eaton

b. 1988

American decathlete

Jack Nicklaus

b. 1940

American golfer and sportscaster

Laura Robson

b. 1994

Australian-English tennis player

Konrad Emil Bloch

b. 1912

German-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Grigori Rasputin

b. 1869

Russian mystic

Ludwig Thoma

b. 1867

German paramedic and author

Oscar II

b. 1829

of Sweden

Karl Staaff

b. 1860

Swedish lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Sweden

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)

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted 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.

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