1921
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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Template:C20YearInTopicX Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1921 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. Template:C20YearTOC
Events of 1921
January
- January 1 - In American football, the University of California defeated Ohio State 28-1 in the Rose Bowl.
- January 2
- The first religious radio broadcast is heard over station (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).
- The Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia; 244 die.
- DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
- January 20 - The Royal Navy K-boat K5 sinks in the English Channel with all 56 hands on board.
- January 21
- The Italian Communist Party is founded in Livorno.
- Women are allowed to vote in Sweden.
February
- February 6 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by Bolshevist Russia during the Red Army invasion of Georgia.
- February 27 - The International Working Union of Socialist Parties is formed in Vienna.
- February 28 - Russian sailors rebel in Kronstadt.
March
- March 1 - The city Kiryu, located in Gunma, Japan, is founded.
- March 4 - Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th President of the United States.
- March 6 - The Portuguese Communist Party is founded.
- March 8
- Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
- Allied forces occupy Düsseldorf, Rurhort and Duisburg.
- March 13 - The Russian White Army captures Mongolia from China. Roman Ungern von Sternberg declares himself ruler.
- March 17
- The Red Army crushes the Kronstadt rebellion, and a number of sailors flee to Finland.
- Marie Stopes opens the first birth control clinic in London, England.
- The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
- March 18 - The second Peace of Riga ends the Polish-Soviet war. The permanent border is established between the Polish and Soviet states.
- March 23 - A plebiscite in Silesia votes for re-annexation to Germany.
April
- April 11 - The Emirate of Transjordan is created, with Abdullah I as emir.
- April 14 - In Britain, labour unions for mining, railway and transportation workers call for a strike; the government threatens to call in the army.
- April 16 - The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia is founded.
- April 20 - Ferenc Molnár's play Liliom is first produced on Broadway in English. A flop in its native Hungary when first presented there in 1909, the American production is critically acclaimed and becomes a modern classic, filmed more than once, and eclipsed only when Rodgers and Hammerstein adapt it in 1945 into a hit musical, Carousel, which becomes a stage classic in its own right.
- April 24 - A referendum in Tyrol supports joining to Germany.
May
- May 1-May 7 - Riots in Palestine of May, 1921.
- May 2-July 5 - Third Silesian Uprising: The Poles in Upper Silesia rise against the Germans.
- May 5 - Only 13 spectators attend the soccer match between Leicester City and Stockport County, the lowest attendance in The Football League's history.
- May 6 - General strike begins in Norway.
- May 8 - Death penalty abolished in Sweden.
- May 14 - May 17 - Violent anti-European riots occur in Cairo and Alexandria.
- May 19 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress, establishing national quotas on immigration.
- May 24 - Elections are held for the first time for the new Northern Ireland Parliament.
- May 31 - Tulsa Race Riot: The official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.
July
- July 1
- Official founding date for the Communist Party of China.
- A coal strike ends in England.
- July 2 - U.S. President Warren Harding signs a joint congressional resolution declaring an end to America's state of war with Germany, Austria and Hungary.
- July 4 - A new conservative government is formed in Italy by Ivanoe Bonomi.
- July 11
- The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and Irish forces.
- The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.
- July 14 - A Massachusetts jury finds Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely-publicized trial.
- July 17 - Republic of Mirdita is proclaimed near Albanian-Serbian border with Yugoslav support.
- July 18 - The first BCG vaccination against tuberculosis is given.
- July 21 - Rif War: Spanish troops are dealt a crushing defeat at the Battle of Annual against Abd el-Krim.
- July 22 - The Irish Truce is declared in Britain.
- July 26 - US President Warren G. Harding receives Princess Fatima of Afghanistan and Stanley Clifford Weyman.
- July 27 - Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
- July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of the Nazi Party.
August
- August - The United States formally ends World War I, declaring a peace with Germany.
- August 2 - Famous opera singer Enrico Caruso dies.
- August 5 - The first radio baseball game is broadcast; Harold Arlin announces the Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA, in Pittsburgh.
- August 11 - 39 degrees Celsius in Breslau - heat wave continues elsewhere in Europe as well.
- August 23 - King Faisal is crowned in Baghdad.
- August 24 - Airship ZR 2 explodes during a test flight near Hull, England; 41 are dead.
- August 26
- Rising prices cause major riots in Munich.
- The assassination of German politician Matthias Erzberger causes the government to declare martial law.
September
- September 1 - Poplar Strike in London: Nine members of the Poplar borough council are arrested.
- September 7 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held.
- September 8 - Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman wins the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dub her the first Miss America.
- September 12 - Lotta Svärd is founded in Finland.
- September 21 - The Oppau explosion occurs at BASF's nitrate factory in Oppau, Germany; 500—600 dead.
October
- October 8 - The first Sweetest Day is staged in Cleveland, Ohio.
- October 10 - Teaching at the University of Szeged starts in Hungary.
- October 19 - A massacre in Lisbon claims the lives of Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians.
- October 21 - A peace conference between Ireland and the United Kingdom begins in London.
- October 24 - The Spanish Army defeats the rifkabyls.
- October 29
- Construction of the Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project, is completed.
- Centre College's football team, led by quarterback Bo McMillin, defeats Harvard University 6-0 to snap Harvard's five-year winning streak. For decades afterward, this is called "football's upset of the century."
November-December
- November 9 - Riots in Reykjavík injure most of the small police force.
- November 9 - Albert Einstein awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with the photoelectric effect
- November 11 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by U.S. President Warren G. Harding.
- November 14 - The Spanish Communist Party is founded.
- November 7 - The Partito Nazionale Fascista (PNF), National Fascist Party, comes into existence in Italy.
- December 1 - Rising prices cause riots in Vienna.
- December 6
- The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State, an independent nation incorporating 26 of Ireland's 32 counties, is signed in London. See Ireland/History.
- Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman to be elected to the Canadian Parliament.
- December 13 - In the Four Power Treaty on Insular Possessions, Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, and France agree to recognize the status quo in the Pacific.
- December 23 - Visva-Bharati University is inaugurated.
- December 29 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Canada's tenth prime minister.
Undated
- Abkhazia becomes an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.
- Beginning of regular radio broadcasting service in Italy.
- Edward Harper, the 'father of broadcasting' in Ceylon, arrives in Colombo to take up his post as Chief Engineer of the Ceylon Telegraph Department.
- Invention of the vibraphone in its original form.
- Tau Epsilon Chi (TEX) Jewish High School Sorority is founded in Atlantic City, NJ.
Ongoing
Births
| Gregorian calendar | 1921 MCMXXI |
| Ab urbe condita | 2674 |
| Armenian calendar | 1370 ԹՎ ՌՅՀ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6671 |
| Baháʼí calendar | 77–78 |
| Balinese saka calendar | 1842–1843 |
| Bengali calendar | 1328 |
| Berber calendar | 2871 |
| British Regnal year | 11 Geo. 5 – 12 Geo. 5 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2465 |
| Burmese calendar | 1283 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7429–7430 |
| Chinese calendar | 庚申年 (Metal Monkey) 4618 or 4411 — to — 辛酉年 (Metal Rooster) 4619 or 4412 |
| Coptic calendar | 1637–1638 |
| Discordian calendar | 3087 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1913–1914 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5681–5682 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1977–1978 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1842–1843 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5021–5022 |
| Holocene calendar | 11921 |
| Igbo calendar | 921–922 |
| Iranian calendar | 1299–1300 |
| Islamic calendar | 1339–1340 |
| Japanese calendar | Taishō 10 (大正１０年) |
| Javanese calendar | 1851–1852 |
| Juche calendar | 10 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4254 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 10 民國10年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | 453 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2463–2464 |
| Tibetan calendar | 阳金猴年 (male Iron-Monkey) 2047 or 1666 or 894 — to — 阴金鸡年 (female Iron-Rooster) 2048 or 1667 or 895 |
January-February
- January 5
- Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)
- Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
- January 9
- William 'Billy Batts' Devino (d. 1970)
- Lister Sinclair, Canadian broadcaster and playwright (d. 2006)
- January 10 - Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- January 14 - Murray Bookchin, American libertarian socialist (d. 2006)
- January 19 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)
- January 27 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
- January 31
- Carol Channing, American actress
- Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (d. 1959)
- February 4
- Betty Friedan, American feminist (d. 2006)
- K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)
- February 5 - John Pritchard, English conductor (d. 1989)
- February 7 - Nexhmije Hoxha, the widow of Enver Hoxha
- February 11 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician (d. 2006)
- February 14 - Hugh Downs, American game show host and journalist
- February 16 - Vera-Ellen, American actress and dancer (d. 1981)
- February 20 - Buddy Rogers, American professional wrestler (d. 1992)
- February 22 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
- February 24 - Abe Vigoda, American actor
- February 25 - Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (d. 1970)
- February 26 - Betty Hutton, American actress (d. 2007)
- February 28 - Pierre Clostermann, French World War II pilot (d. 2006)
March-April
- March 1
- Jack Clayton, British film director (d. 1995)
- Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (d. 1983)
- Richard Wilbur, American poet
- March 2 - Robert Simpson, English composer (d. 1997)
- March 3 - Paul Guimard, French writer (d. 2004)
- March 4
- Halim El-Dabh, Egyptian-born U.S. composer, performer, ethnomusicologist and educator
- Joan Greenwood, British actress and director (d. 1987)
- Wilson Harris, Guyanese writer
- March 5 - Elmer Valo, Czech Major League Baseball player (d. 1998)
- March 8
- Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
- Alan Hale, Jr., American actor (d. 1990)
- March 11 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (d. 2005)
- March 12
- Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
- Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
- March 13
- Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
- Cyril Poole, English cricketer (d. 1996)
- March 20 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer (d. 1973)
- March 21 - Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (d. 1986)
- March 25 - Simone Signoret, French actress (d. 1985)
- March 28 - Dirk Bogarde, English actor (d. 1999)
- April 1 - Beau Jack, American boxer (d. 2000)
- April 8 - Franco Corelli, Italian opera singer (d. 2003)
- April 10 - Sheb Wooley, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
- April 14 - Thomas Schelling, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 15 - Georgi Beregovoi, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1995)
- April 16 - Peter Ustinov, English actor and director (d. 2004)
- April 23
- April 21 - Vivian Dandridge, Actress
- Warren Spahn, baseball player (d. 2003)
- Janet Blair, American actress (d. 2007)
- April 25 - Karel Appel, Dutch painter (d. 2006)
May-June
- May 2 - Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (d. 1992)
- May 5 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- May 6 - Erich Fried, Austrian author (d. 1988)
- May 9
- Sophie Scholl, resistance fighter in Nazi Germany (d. 1943)
- Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
- May 11 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
- May 12
- Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
- Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
- May 16 - Harry Carey, Jr., American actor
- May 17 - Dennis Brain, English French horn player (d. 1957)
- May 18 - Sir Michael Epstein, British medical researcher
- May 19 - Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
- May 20
- Wolfgang Borchert, German writer (d. 1947)
- Hal Newhouser, baseball player (d. 1998)
- May 21
- Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, Indian philosopher author of socio-economical theory "Progressive Utilization Theory" (d. 1990)
- Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (declined) (d. 1989)
- May 23
- James Blish, American science fiction author (d. 1975)
- Humphrey Lyttelton, British jazz musician and radio personality
- May 25
- Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- James C. Quayle, American newspaper publisher (d. 2000)
- May 26 - Stan Mortensen, English footballer (d. 1991)
- May 28 - Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d. 1999)
- June 1 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (d. 1985)
- June 3 - Forbes Carlile, Australian athlete
- June 8 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d. 1993)
- June 10 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- June 12 - Christopher Derrick, British writer (d. 2007)
- June 15 - Errol Garner, American jazz musician (d. 1977)
- June 25 - Celia Franca, Canadian ballet dancer (d. 2007)
- June 26 - Violette Szabo, French World War II heroine (d. 1945)
- June 28 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)
July-August
- July 4
- Gerard Debreu, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
- July 6 - Nancy Davis Reagan, wife of U.S President Ronald Reagan
- July 10
- Harvey Ball, American designer (d. 2001)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver, member of the Kennedy family
- July 11 - Ilse Werner, German actress (d. 2005)
- July 13 - Friedrich Peter, Austrian poltitician (d. 2005)
- July 14
- Leon Garfield, English children's author (d. 1996)
- Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- July 15 - Robert Bruce Merrifield, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
- July 17
- František Zvarík, Slovakian actor
- Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- July 18
- John Glenn, American astronaut
- Aaron T. Beck, American psychiatrist
- July 19 - Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- July 22 - William Roth, U.S. Senator (d. 2003)
- July 30 - Grant Johannesen, American concert pianist (d. 2005)
- August 3 - Richard Adler, American Broadway composer
- August 4 - Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (d. 2000)
- August 8 - John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist (d. 1979)
- August 9 - J. James Exon Governor of Nebraska and U.S. Senator (d. 2005)
- August 13 - Barney Liddell, American musician, The Lawrence Welk Show (d. 2003)
- August 18 - Zdzislaw Zygulski, Jr., Polish art historian
- August 19 - Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (d. 1991)
- August 23 - Kenneth Arrow, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- August 25
- Monty Hall, Canadian actor and game show host
- Brian Moore, Northern Irish-born writer (d. 1999)
- August 27 - Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1996)
September-October
- September 3 - Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (d. 1971)
- September 8 - Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d. 2001)
- September 12 - Stanislaw Lem, Polish science fiction writer (d. 2006)
- September 13 - Sergey Nepobedimiy, Soviet rocket weaponry designer
- September 14 - Dario Vittori, Argentinean actor (d. 2001)
- September 15 - Norma Macmillan, voice actress (d. 2001)
- September 24 - Jim McKay, American sportscaster
- September 30 - Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (d. 2007)
- October 2 - Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 2000)
- October 5 - Bill Willis, American football player
- October 13 - Yves Montand, French singer and actor (d. 1991)
- October 17 - Maria Gorokhovskaya, Soviet gymnast (d. 2001)
- October 18 - Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator from North Carolina
- October 19 - Gunnar Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d. 1995)
- October 21 - Malcolm Arnold, music composer (d. 2006)
- October 22 - Georges Brassens, French singer-songwriter (d. 1981)
- October 25 - King Michael of Romania
- October 26 - Frances Scott Fitzgerald, Daughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre. (d. 1986)
November-December
- November 3 - Charles Bronson, American actor (d. 2003)
- November 5 - Princess Fawzia of Egypt
- November 6 - James Jones, American writer (d. 1977)
- November 11 - Ron Greenwood, English football manager (d. 2006)
- November 14 - Brian Keith, American actor (d. 1997)
- November 22 - Rodney Dangerfield, American actor and comedian (d. 2004)
- November 23 - Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (d. 1960)
- November 27 - Alexander Dubcek, Slovak politician and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (d. 1992)
- November 29 - Jackie Stallone, American astrologer and mother of Sylvester Stallone
- December 3 - Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
- December 7 - Pramukhswami maharaj, Hindu spiritual leader/saint of swaminarayan.
- December 6 - Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
- December 25 - Eeyore, Disney and kids books character
- December 26 - Blaže Koneski, Macedonian poet and linguist
- December 26 - Steve Allen, American actor, composer, comedian, and author (d. 2000)
- December 28 - Stan Lee, American writer and comic book creator
Deaths
January - June
- January 1 - Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
- February 8
- Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (b. 1842)
- George Formby (Senior), English entertainer (b. 1876)
- February 26 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
- February 27 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)
- March 1 - King Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)
- April 21 - Tom O'Brien, 19th century major league baseball player (b. 1860)
- April 27 - Arthur Mold, English cricketer (b. 1863)
- May 5 - Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1864)
- May 19 - Edward Douglass White, 9th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1845)
- June 5 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (b. 1862)
- June 28 - Gjorche Petrov, Macedonian and Bulgarian revolutionary
- June 29 - Otto Seeck, German classical historian (b. 1850)
July - December
- August 2 - Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- August 19 - Georges Darien, French writer (b. 1862)
- September 2 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b. 1840)
- September 7 - Alfred William Rich, English watercolour painter (b. 1856)
- September 11 - Subramanya Bharathy, Tamil poet (b. 1882)
- September 27 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b. 1854)
- October 25 - Bat Masterson, American gunfighter (b. 1853)
- October 30 - Joel Morrison, Upright bass player (b. 1862)
- November 4 - Hara Takashi, 19th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1856)
- November 20 - Christina Nilsson, Swedish operatic soprano (b. 1843)
- November 28 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian religious leader (b. 1844)
- December 10 - George Ashlin, Irish architect (b. 1837)
- December 16 - Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (b. 1835)
- December 31 - Boies Penrose, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)
- December 31
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Albert Einstein
- Chemistry - Frederick Soddy
- Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - Anatole France
- Peace - Karl Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lous Lange
Notes
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