April 21st

April 21 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. If the ancient Mayans were correct, there are 244 days remaining until the end of time.

753BCE Twins Romulus and Remus found Rome after suckling.

1878 New York installs 1st firehouse pole

1894 George Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man" premieres in London

1920 John Galsworthy's "Skin Game" premieres in London

1948 1st Polaroid camera is sold in US, and boys start taking pictures of themselves in mirrors. 

1959 Alf Dean using a rod and reel hooks a 2,664lb, 16' 10" white shark, the largest fish ever caught on a rod

1960 Brasilia becomes capital of Brazil on Dia de Tiradentes (See below)

1966 Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) visits Kingston, Jamaica, an event that is considered one of the holiest occurrences in the Rastafarian canon

1983 1 pound coin introduced in United Kingdom. Heavy.

1986 Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on TV and finds nothing

1989 Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing's Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom

1997 Ashes of Timothy Leary and Gene Roddenberry are launched into orbit to create more space debris

1915 Anthony Quinn, Mexican-US actor 

1926 Queen Elizabeth II 

1947 Iggy Pop [James Newell Osterberg Jr.], US singer/songwriter 

1951 Tony Danza, US boxer/actor/cabaret performer/talk show host/teacher 

1963 John Cameron Mitchell, gay US writer/actor/director

1963 Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor (with Patrick Huard)

1968 Vidkid Timo [Timothy Paul Ritchie], gay US actor/producer/fluffer 

1969 Toby Stephens, English actor 

1973 Jorge De Silva, Mexican actor/model 

1975 Brian J. White, US actor/model 

1978 Glen Berry, English actor/starred in Beautiful Thing 

1979 James McAvoy, Scottish actor 

1979 Dominic Zamprogna, Canadian actor/L Word 

1980 Sidney Sampaio, Brazilian actor 

1981 Luis Manzano, Filipino actor 

1982 Pyotr Fyodorov, Russian actor 

1792 Tiradentes Esquartejado, de Pedro Américo, Brazilian revolutionary, goes to pieces

1910 Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens], US (MO) author, does not have a quick-witted response for once

1918 German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France by a determined beagle

1946 John Maynard Keynes, bisexual English economist (How to pay for the war?), turns from macroeconomics to nanoeconomics

1985 Rudi Gernreich, gay Austrian-born US designer (monokini, miniskirt)/co-founder Mattachine Society, consults St. Peter’s wardrobe mistress.

1989 James Kirkwood, gay US actor and writer (A Chorus Line), finds his dead cat

1990 Erté [Romain de Tirtoff], probably gay Russian art deco stylist, is now post-modern

 

2003 Nina Simone, US singer (I Put a Spell on You), is not young, but still gifted and black