1921
Years:
1918 1919 1920 - 1921(MCMXXI) - 1922 1923 1924 Decades:
1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950s Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century 1921 by topic: Arts Architecture - Art - Film - Literature - Music - Television Science and Technology Archaeology - Aviation - Rail transport - Radio - Science Countries Australia - Canada - India - Ireland - South Africa Other Births - Deaths - Sport - State leaders - Religious leaders - Video gaming
1921 was a Common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar).
Events
- January 1 - In American football, California defeats Ohio State 28-0 in the Rose Bowl.
- January 2 - The first religious Radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- January 2 - Spanish liner Santa Isabel sinks off Villa Garcia - 244 dead
- January 2 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
- January 20 - Royal Navy K-boat K5 sinks in the English Channel with all 56 hands
- February 25 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by Bolshevist Russia.
- February 28 - Russian sailors rebel in Kronstadt - On March 17 the Red Army crushes the rebellion and number of sailors flee to Finland
- March 1 - The city Kiryu, located in Gunma, Japan, is founded.
- March 6 - The Portuguese Communist Party is founded.
- March 8 - Spanish Premier Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while exiting the parliament building in Madrid.
- March 13 - Mongolia declares its independence from China
- March 17 - 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 between Poland and Soviet Union ending Polish-Soviet War. Despite the recent Polish successes, Soviets annex Ukraine and Belarus.
- 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 - government threatens to call in the army
- April 24 - Referendum in Tyrol supports joining to Germany
- May 1-May 7 - Riots in Palestine of May, 1921
- 2 May-5 July - 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 in Cairo and Alexandria
- May 19 - The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on Immigration.
- May 31 - Race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- May 24 - Elections are held for the first time for the new Northern Ireland Parliament.
- June 1 - Tulsa Race Riot of 1921: A Race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma kills 85 people.
- June 26 - In Britain, rain ends 100 days of drought
- July 1 - Coal strike ends in England
- July 11 - The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and the Irish forces.
- July 11 - Mongolia becomes independent of China
- July 14 - A Massachusetts jury finds Nichola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti guilty of first degree murder following a widely-publicized trial.
- July 18 - The first BCG vaccination against Tuberculosis
- July 22 - Irish Truce declared in Britain
- July 26 - US President Warren G. Harding receives Princess Fatima of Afghanistan - and Stanley Clifford Weyman...
- July 29 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chairman of the Nazi Party
- July 27 - Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone Insulin.
- August - The United States formally ends World War I, declaring a peace with Germany
- August 5 - First radio broadcast of baseball game; Harold Arlin announced Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA Pittsburgh
- August 11 - 35 degree 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 dead
- August 26 - Rising prices cause riots in Munich
- August 29 - Assassination of German politician Matthias Erzberger causes the government to declare martial law
- September 1 - Poplar Strike in London - 9 members of Poplar borough council are arrested
- September 7 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held.
- September 8 - 16-year-old Margaret Gorman won the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.
- September 12 - Lotta Svärd founded in Finland.
- September 21 - explosion of BASF's Nitrate factory in Oppau, Germany - 535-561 dead.
- October 10 - Teaching at the University of Szeged started in Hungary.
- October 21 - Peace conference between Irish and United Kingdom begins in London.
- October 24 - Spanish army defeats rifkabyls.
- October 29 - Construction of the Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project completed.
- November 9 - Riots in Reykjavík - most of the small police force is injured.
- November 11 - During an Armistice Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding.
- December 1 - Rising prices cause riots in Vienna.
- December 16 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty establishing the Irish Free State is signed in London. See Ireland/History.
- 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 29 - William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Canada's tenth prime minister.
- Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman to enter Canadian parliament
- Change of US presidency from Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) to Warren G. Harding (1921-1923)
- Invention of the Vibraphone.
- Abkhazia becomes an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.
Fictitious Events
1921 is a song on the album Tommy by The Who.Births
Date unknown
- Norma MacMillan, voice actress (d. 2001)
January
- January 5 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)
- January 5 - Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
- January 10 - Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d. 2004)
- January 19 - Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)
- January 27 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
- January 31 - Carol Channing, American actress
- January 31 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (d. 1959)
February
- February 4 - Betty Friedan, American feminist
- February 4 - K. R. Narayanan, President of India (d. 2005)
- February 5 - John Pritchard, English conductor (d. 1989)
- February 11 - Eva Gabor, Hungarian actress (d. 1996)
- February 11 - Lloyd Bentsen, American politician
- February 14 - Hugh Downs, American game show host and journalist
- February 22 - Wayne Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
- February 25 - Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (d. 1970)
March
- March 1 - Jack Clayton, British film director
- March 1 - Terence Cardinal Cooke, American Catholic archbishop (d. 1983)
- March 1 - Richard Wilbur, American poet
- March 2 - Robert Simpson, English composer (d. 1997)
- March 3 - Paul Guimard, French writer (d. 2004)
- March 5 - Elmer Valo, Czech Major League Baseball player (d. 1998)
- March 8 - Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer
- March 11 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (d. 2005)
- March 12 - Giovanni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (d. 2003)
- March 12 - Gordon MacRae, American singer and actor (d. 1986)
- March 13 - Al Jaffee, American cartoonist
- March 13 - 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-May
- April 1 - Beau Jack, American boxer (d. 2000)
- April 8 - Franco Corelli, Italian tenor (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 - Warren Spahn, baseball player (d. 2003)
- 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)
- May 9 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (d. 2004)
- May 11 - Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician
- May 12 - Joseph Beuys, German artist (d. 1986)
- May 12 - Farley Mowat, Canadian writer and naturalist
- 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)
- May 20 - Hal Newhouser, baseball player (d. 1998)
- May 21 - 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)
- May 25 - Jack Steinberger, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 25 - James C. Quayle, American newspaper publisher
- May 26 - Stan Mortensen, English footballer (d. 1991)
- May 28 - Heinz G. Konsalik, German author (d. 1999)
June-August
- June 1 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (d. 1985)
- June 8 - Alexis Smith, Canadian actress (d. 1993)
- June 10 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
- June 15 - Errol Garner, American jazz musician (d. 1977)
- June 25 - Celia Franca, Canadian ballet dancer
- June 26 - Violette Szabo, French World War II heroine (d. 1945)
- June 28 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (d. 2004)
- July 4 - Gerard Debreu, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- July 4 - Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
- July 10 - Harvey Ball, American designer (d. 2001)
- 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)
- July 14 - Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 15 - Robert Bruce Merrifield, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- July 17 - Hannah Szenes, Hungarian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- July 22 - William Roth, U.S. Senator (d. 2003)
- July 30 - Grant Johannesen, American concert pianist (d. 2005)
- 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 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
September-December
- September 3 - Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (d. 1971)
- September 8 - Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d. 2001)
- September 12 - Stanisław Lem, Polish science fiction writer
- 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 18 - Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator from North Carolina
- October 19 - Gunnar Nordahl, Swedish footballer (d. 1995)
- October 25 - King Michael of Romania
- November 3 - Charles Bronson, American actor (d. 2003)
- November 5 - Princess Fawzia of Egypt
- November 11 - Ron Greenwood, English football manager
- 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)
- December 3 - Phyllis Curtin, American soprano
- December 6 - Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
- December 26 - Steve Allen, American actor, composer, comedian, and author (d. 2000)
Deaths
- February 8 - Peter Kropotkin, Russian anarchist (b. 1842)
- February 26 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (b. 1840)
- February 27 - Schofield Haigh, English cricketer (b. 1871)
- March 2 - King Nicholas I of Montenegro (b. 1841)
- 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)
- June 5 - Georges Feydeau, French playwright (b. 1862)
- August 2 - Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (b. 1873)
- September 2 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (b. 1840)
- September 11 - Subramanya Bharathy, Tamil poet (b. 1882)
- September 27 - Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b. 1854)
- October 25 - Bat Masterson, American gunfighter
- November 28 - `Abdu'l-Bahá, Persian religious leader (b. 1844)
- December 16 - Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (b. 1835)
- December 31 - Boies Penrose, United States Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)
Nobel Prizes
- Physics - Albert Einstein
- Chemistry - Frederick Soddy
- Medicine - not awarded
- Literature - Anatole France
- Peace - Karl Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lous Lange