The Birthday Gazette

Born on July 21

July 21 birthdays & history

If you were born on July 21, you share a birthday with Ernest Hemingway, Robin Williams and Erling Haaland. July 21 babies are Cancer, with ruby as their birthstone and the larkspur as their birth flower. July 21 is the 203rd day of the year in leap years (202nd in other years).

Famous people born on July 21

  • 1899Ernest Hemingway, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1951Robin Williams, American actor and comedian
  • 2000Erling Haaland, Norwegian footballer
  • 1911Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and theorist
  • 1414Pope Sixtus IV, Head of the Catholic Church from 1471 to 1484
  • 1957Stefan Löfven, Swedish trade union leader and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Sweden
  • 1948Cat Stevens, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1971Charlotte Gainsbourg, English-French actress and singer
  • 1978Josh Hartnett, American actor
  • 1924Don Knotts, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter

What happened on July 21

  • 230Pope Pontian began his pontificate, succeeding Urban I.
  • 1831Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians.
  • 1832Signing of the treaty of Constantinople between Britain, France, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which outlines the borders of the new kingdom of Greece.
  • 1904Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brillié in Ostend, Belgium.
  • 1925Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to exceed 150 mph (241 km/h) on land. At Pendine Sands in Wales, he drives Sunbeam 350HP built by Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h).
  • 1949The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.
  • 1951Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505 disappears while flying from Vancouver to Tokyo. The aircraft and its 37 occupants are never found.
  • 1959The inaugural International Mathematical Olympiad, the leading mathematical competition for pre-university students, began in Romania.
  • 1959Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
  • 1960Sirimavo Bandaranaike was sworn in as prime minister of Ceylon, becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of government.
  • 1961Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
  • 1969Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed 19 minutes later by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

Also observed on July 21

  • Liberation Day in 1944 (Guam)
  • Belgian National Day (Belgium)
  • Racial Harmony Day (Singapore)
  • Summer Kazanskaya (Russia)

Questions, answered

What star sign is July 21?

People born on July 21 are Cancer. Their birthstone is ruby and their birth flower is the larkspur.

Which famous people were born on July 21?

Ernest Hemingway (1899), Robin Williams (1951), Erling Haaland (2000), Marshall McLuhan (1911), Pope Sixtus IV (1414), Stefan Löfven (1957) were all born on July 21.

What happened on July 21 in history?

Among other things: in 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike was sworn in as prime minister of Ceylon, becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of government; in 1961, Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission); in 1969, Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed 19 minutes later by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.

Can I get a newspaper front page from July 21?

Yes. The Birthday Gazette makes a personalised vintage-style front page for any July 21 birth year, with their name in the headline, events, famous birthdays and typical US prices. The preview is free and the print files cost $9.

Events, birthdays and observances are adapted from Wikipedia contributors, “July 21”, English Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0 (shortened and filtered). Ranking uses Wikidata (CC0). Sources.