What are the important events that happened on January 21? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

January 21: Facts & Myths About This Day

January 21 is the 21^st day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 345 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is January 8, 2024 – a Sunday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,705,795,200 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘icosihenagon’ day.

Aquarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Garnet is the modern birthstone for this month. Emerald is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 20 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,048 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

January 21 Historical Events

• 1749 –
  The Verona Philharmonic Theatre is destroyed by fire. It is rebuilt in 1754.
• 1789 –
  The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, is printed in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1861 –
  American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
• 1925 –
  Albania declares itself a republic.
• 1960 –
  Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37. It is the worst air disaster in Jamaica’s history and the first for Avianca.
• 1966 –
  New Year’s Day in Chinese calendar. Start of the year of the Fire Horse in Chinese astrology.
• 1968 –
  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.
• 1976 –
  Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
• 2003 –
  A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.
• 2004 –
  NASA’s MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.

Who were born on January 21?

• 1864 –
  Paul Troje, German politician (d. 1942)
• 1899 –
  Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian born American composer (d. 1977)
• 1926 –
  Brian Brockless, English organist (d. 1995)
• 1954 –
  Phil Thompson, English footballer and coach
• 1958 –
  Frank Ticheli, American composer
• 1969 –
  Eduard Hämäläinen, Finnish-Belarusian decathlete
• 1970 –
  Ken Leung, American actor
• 1974 –
  Rove McManus, Australian television host and comedian
• 1977 –
  Phil Neville, English footballer
• 1982 –
  Go Shiozaki, Japanese professional wrestler

Who died on January 21?

• 1731 –
  Ignjat Đurđević, baroque poet and translator from the Republic of Ragusa (b. 1675)
• 1731 –
  Thomas Woolston, English theologian (b. 1669)
• 1773 –
  Alexis Piron, French writer (b. 1689)
• 1948 –
  Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
• 1950 –
  George Orwell, British writer (b. 1903)
• 1959 –
  Carl Switzer, American actor (b. 1927)
• 1994 –
  Bassel al-Assad, son of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad (b. 1962)
• 1997 –
  Colonel Tom Parker, American manager of Elvis Presley (b. 1909)
• 2003 –
  Paul Haines, American-born Canadian poet (b. 1933)
• 2011 –
  Dennis Oppenheim, American conceptual artist (b. 1938)