September 21 birthdays & history

Famous people born on September 21

• 1866H. G. Wells, English novelist, historian, and critic
• 1954Shinzo Abe, Japanese lawyer and politician, 90th Prime Minister of Japan
• 1947Stephen King, American author and screenwriter
• 1934Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer-songwriter and poet
• 1980Kareena Kapoor, Indian actress
• 1853Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1950Bill Murray, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
• 1452Girolamo Savonarola, Italian priest and philosopher
• 1926Donald A. Glaser, American physicist and neurobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1866Charles Nicolle, French-Tunisian microbiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

What happened on September 21

• 1897In response to a letter written by eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon, The New York Sun published an editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church stating, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus".
• 1898Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days' Reform in China.
• 1933Salvador Lutteroth establishes Mexican professional wrestling.
• 1934Chandrashekhar Agashe established the Brihan Maharashtra Sugar Syndicate Ltd., one of the oldest companies in India.
• 1937J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy children's novel The Hobbit, which later served as a prelude to The Lord of the Rings, was first published.
• 1965Portugal accepted a diplomatic mission from Southern Rhodesia despite objections by Britain, which had required the colony to implement black majority rule as a condition of independence.
• 1965The Gambia, Maldives and Singapore are admitted as members of the United Nations.
• 1968The Soviet Union's Zond 5 landed in the Indian Ocean, becoming the first spacecraft to safely return to Earth after travelling around the Moon.
• 1971Bahrain, Bhutan and Qatar join the United Nations.
• 1976Seychelles joins the United Nations.
• 1999The first chapter of Naruto, later one of the best-selling manga series, was published.
• 2004American rock band Green Day released their seventh studio album, American Idiot.

Also observed on September 21

• Arbor Day (Brazil)
• Customs Service Day (Poland)
• Founder's Day and National Volunteer Day (Ghana)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Armenia from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Belize from the United Kingdom in 1981.
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Malta from the United Kingdom in 1964.