June 21

June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 193 days remaining until the end of the year.

On non-leap years (until 2039), this day marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, and is the day of the year with the most hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere and the least hours of daylight in the southern hemisphere.

Events

• 217 BC – The Romans, led by Gaius Flaminius, are ambushed and defeated by Hannibal at the Battle of Lake Trasimene.
• 524 – Godomar, King of the Burgundians defeats the Franks at the Battle of Vézeronce.
• 1307 – Külüg Khan is enthroned as Khagan of the Mongols and Wuzong of the Yuan.
• 1582 – Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga is forced to commit suicide in Honnō-ji, Kyoto.
• 1621 – Execution of 27 Czech noblemen on the Old Town Square in Prague as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain.
• 1734 – In Montreal in New France, a slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique is put to death, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of the city.
• 1749 – Halifax, Nova Scotia, is founded.
• 1768 – James Otis, Jr. offends the King and Parliament in a speech to the Massachusetts General Court.
• 1788 – New Hampshire ratifies the Constitution of the United States and is admitted as the 9th state in the United States.
• 1791 – King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.
• 1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at the Battle of Vinegar Hill.
• 1813 – Peninsular War: Battle of Vitoria.
• 1824 – Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.
• 1826 – Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas.
• 1848 – In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Christian Tell issue the Proclamation of Islaz and create a new republican government.
• 1854 – The first Victoria Cross is awarded during the bombardment of Bomarsund in the Åland Islands.
• 1864 – New Zealand Land Wars: The Tauranga Campaign ends.
• 1877 – The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants convicted of murder, are hanged at the Schuylkill County and Carbon County, Pennsylvania prisons.
• 1898 – The United States captures Guam from Spain.
• 1900 – Boxer Rebellion. China formally declared war on the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Japan, as an edict issued from the Dowager Empress Cixi.
• 1900 – Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departed Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.
• 1915 – The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down an Oklahoma law denying the right to vote to some citizens.
• 1919 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during the Winnipeg General Strike.
• 1919 – Admiral Ludwig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed are the last casualties of World War I.
• 1929 – An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico.
• 1930 – One-year conscription comes into force in France.
• 1940 – France signs an armistice with Germany at Compiègne.
• 1940 – The first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
• 1942 – World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces.
• 1942 – World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at nearby Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by the Japanese against the United States mainland.
• 1948 – Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, New York.
• 1952 – The Philippine School of Commerce, through a republic act, is converted to Philippine College of Commerce, later to be the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
• 1957 – Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first woman Cabinet Minister.
• 1964 – Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
• 1970 – Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy, largest ever US corporate bankruptcy up to this date.
• 1973 – In handing down the decision in Miller v. California 413 US 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller Test for obscenity in U.S. law.
• 1977 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP forms the new government of Turkey.
• 1982 – John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
• 2000 – Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988), outlawing the 'promotion' of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, is repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.
• 2001 – A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicts 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen.
• 2004 – SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
• 2006 – Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix & Hydra.
• 2009 – Greenland assumes self-rule.

Births

• 1002 – Pope Leo IX (d. 1054)
• 1226 – King Boleslaus V of Poland (d. 1279)
• 1528 – Maria of Spain, Holy Roman Empire Empress (d. 1603)
• 1535 – Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and botanist (d. 1596)
• 1639 – Increase Mather, New England Puritan minister (d. 1723)
• 1646 – Maria Francisca of Nemours, Queen of Portugal (d. 1683)
• 1676 – Anthony Collins, English philosopher (d. 1729)
• 1706 – John Dollond, English optician (d. 1761)
• 1710 – James Short, British mathematician (d. 1768)
• 1712 – Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen, French admiral (d. 1790)
• 1730 – Motoori Norinaga, Japanese scholar (d. 1801)
• 1732 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer (d. 1791)
• 1736 – Enoch Poor, American general in the Continental Army (d. 1780)
• 1741 – Benedetto, Duke of Chablais, Italian general in the French Revolution (d.1808)
• 1750 – Pierre-Nicolas Beauvallet, French sculptor, draftsman and printmaker (d. 1818)
• 1750 – Thomas Spence, English classical writer (d. 1814)
• 1759 – Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (d. 1817)
• 1763 – Pierre Paul Royer-Collard, French philosopher (d. 1845)
• 1764 – Sidney Smith, British Royal Navy admiral (d. 1840)
• 1774 – Daniel D. Tompkins, American politician (d. 1825)
• 1781 – Siméon Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1840)
• 1786 – Charles Edward Horn, British musician (d. 1849)
• 1788 – Princess Augusta of Bavaria (d. 1850)
• 1791 – Robert Napier, British engineer (d. 1876)
• 1792 – Ferdinand Christian Baur, German theologian (d. 1860)
• 1805 – Charles Thomas Jackson, American polymath (d. 1880)
• 1811 – Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist (d. 1868)
• 1812 – Moses Hess, French/German-born Jewish socialist and precursor of Zionism (d. 1875)
• 1823 – Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (d. 1873)
• 1825 – William Stubbs, English historian and Anglican Bishop of Oxford (d. 1901)
• 1828 – Ferdinand André Fouqué, French geologist (d. 1904)
• 1834 – Frans de Cort, Flemish writer (d. 1878)
• 1834 – Elizabeth Jane Caulfeild, Countess of Charlemont Irish Jewish noblewoman (d. 1882)
• 1839 – Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer (d. 1908)
• 1850 – Daniel Carter Beard, founder of the Boy Scouts of America (d. 1941)
• 1850 – Enrico Cecchetti, Italian ballet dancer (d. 1928)
• 1858 – Medardo Rosso, Italian sculptor (d. 1928)
• 1859 – Henry Ossawa Tanner, American painter (d. 1937)
• 1862 – Prince Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai historian (d. 1943)
• 1863 – Max Wolf, German astronomer (d. 1932)
• 1864 – Heinrich Wölfflin, Swiss art historian (d. 1945)
• 1868 – Edwin Stephen Goodrich, English zoologist (d. 1946)
• 1870 – Clara Immerwahr, German chemist (d. 1915)
• 1876 – Willem Hendrik Keesom, Dutch physicist (d. 1956)
• 1880 – Arnold Gesell, American psychologist and pediatrician (d. 1961)
• 1880 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, British civil servant, industrialist, and banker (d. 1941)
• 1882 – Rockwell Kent, American painter, printmaker and illustrator (d. 1971)
• 1882 – Lluís Companys i Jover, Spanish politician (d. 1940)
• 1883 – Fyodor Gladkov, Russian writer (d. 1958)
• 1884 – Claude Auchinleck, British field marshal (d. 1981)
• 1887 – Norman L. Bowen, Canadian petrologist (d. 1956)
• 1889 – Ralph Craig, American athlete (d. 1972)
• 1889 – Tadeusz Jan Kowalski, Polish orientalist (d. 1948)
• 1890 – Frank S. Land, American founder of the Order of DeMolay (d. 1959)
• 1891 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian architect (d. 1979)
• 1891 – Hermann Scherchen, German conductor (d. 1966)
• 1892 – Reinhold Niebuhr, Protestant theologian (d. 1971)
• 1893 – Alois Hába, Czech composer (d. 1973)
• 1894 – Milward Kennedy, British public servant and mystery writer (d. 1968)
• 1896 – Charles B. Momsen, American inventor (d. 1967)
• 1898 – Donald C. Peattie, American botanist and writer (d. 1964)
• 1899 – George Miles Watson, British racehorse breeder (d. 1968)
• 1902 – Howie Morenz, Canadian professional ice hockey player (d. 1937)
• 1903 – Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (d. 2003)
• 1905 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate (declined) (d. 1980)
• 1906 – Helene Costello, American actress (d. 1957)
• 1906 – Nusch Éluard, French performer, model, and artist (d. 1946)
• 1906 – Harold Spina, American composer (d. 1997)
• 1906 – Grete Sultan, German musician (d. 2005)
• 1908 – William Frankena, American moral philosopher (d. 1994)
• 1910 – Aleksandr Tvardovsky, Soviet poet (d. 1971)
• 1912 – Mary McCarthy, American writer (d. 1989)
• 1912 – Kazimierz Leski, Polish engineer (d. 2000)
• 1914 – William Vickrey, Canadian economist, Nobel laureate (d. 1996)
• 1916 – Joseph Cyril Bamford, English inventor and industrialist (d. 2001)
• 1916 – Buddy O'Connor, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1977)
• 1918 – Eddie Lopat, American baseball player (d. 1992)
• 1918 – James Clyde Mitchell, English sociologist and anthropologist (d. 1995)
• 1919 – Gérard Pelletier, French-Canadian journalist, politician, and diplomat (d. 1997)
• 1919 – Vladimir Simagin, Russian chess master (d. 1968)
• 1919 – Paolo Soleri, Italian-born American architect
• 1921 – Judy Holliday, American actress (d. 1965)
• 1921 – Jane Russell, American actress (d. 2011)
• 1921 – Jean de Broglie, French politician (d. 1976)
• 1921 – William Edwin Self, American actor and television producer (d. 2010)
• 1923 – Jacques Hébert, French-Canadian author, journalist and politician (d. 2007)
• 1924 – Ezzatolah Entezami, Iranian actor
• 1924 – Pontus Hultén, Swedish art collector and pioneering museum director (d. 2006)
• 1924 – Jean Laplanche, French psychoanalyst
• 1924 – Max McNab, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Giovanni Spadolini, Italian politician (d. 1994)
• 1925 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (d. 2006)
• 1926 – Conrad Hall, Tahitian-born American cinematographer (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Carl Stokes, American politician (d. 1996)
• 1929 – Abdel Halim Hafez, Egyptian singer and actor (d. 1977)
• 1929 – Alexandre Lagoya, Greek-Italian classical guitarist (d. 1999)
• 1930 – Sir Gerald Kaufman, British politician
• 1930 – Mike McCormack, American professional football player
• 1931 – Zlatko Grgić, Croatian animator (d. 1988)
• 1931 – Margaret Heckler, American politician, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
• 1931 – Jan Trąbka, Polish scientist, philosopher
• 1932 – Bernard Ingham, British journalist, former press secretary to Margaret Thatcher
• 1932 – Lalo Schifrin, Argentine pianist and composer
• 1932 – O.C. Smith, American singer (d. 2001)
• 1933 – Bernie Kopell, American actor
• 1935 – Monte Markham, American actor
• 1935 – Françoise Sagan, French writer (d. 2004)
• 1936 – Joseph Gosnell, Canadian Indian tribal leader
• 1938 – Ron Ely, American actor
• 1938 – John W. Dower, American author and historian
• 1939 – Ruben Berrios, Puerto Rican politician
• 1940 – Mariette Hartley, American actress
• 1940 – Michael Ruse, Canadian philosopher
• 1941 – Aloysius Paul D’Souza, Indian bishop
• 1941 – Joe Flaherty, American-Canadian actor
• 1941 – Lyman Ward, Canadian actor
• 1942 – Togo D. West, Jr., American attorney and public official
• 1942 – Dan Henning, American football player
• 1942 – Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, American TV reporter and Congresswoman
• 1942 – Henry S. Taylor, American writer
• 1943 – Salomé, Spanish singer
• 1944 – Ray Davies, English singer and songwriter (The Kinks)
• 1944 – Corinna Tsopei, Greek beauty pageant winner
• 1945 – Adam Zagajewski, Polish philosopher and poet
• 1945 – Philippe Sarde, French composer
• 1946 – Rob Dyson, American racing driver and race team owner
• 1946 – Brenda Holloway, American singer and songwriter
• 1946 – Trond Kirkvaag, Norwegian comedian and author
• 1946 – Maurice Saatchi, British Iraqi businessman
• 1947 – Meredith Baxter, American actress
• 1947 – Shirin Ebadi, Iranian lawyer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
• 1947 – Michael Gross, American actor
• 1947 – Joey Molland, English guitarist (Badfinger)
• 1947 – Fernando Savater, Spanish philosopher and author
• 1948 – Ian McEwan, English writer
• 1948 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
• 1948 – Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
• 1950 – Anne Carson, Canadian poet
• 1950 – Joey Kramer, American drummer and percussionist (Aerosmith)
• 1950 – Vasilis Papakonstantinou, Greek singer
• 1950 – Enn Reitel, English actor
• 1950 – Gérard Lanvin, French actor
• 1951 – Jim Douglas, American politician
• 1951 – Nils Lofgren, American guitarist, singer, songwriter (E Street Band, Crazy Horse)
• 1952 – Kôichi Mashimo, Japanese anime director
• 1953 – Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician (d. 2007)
• 1953 – Maurice Boucher, Canadian organized crime boss
• 1953 – Michael Bowen, American actor
• 1954 – Müjde Ar, Turkish actress
• 1954 – Kathy Sullivan, American attorney and politician
• 1954 – Mark Kimmitt, American Army general
• 1954 – Anne Kirkbride, English actress
• 1954 – Robert Menasse, Austrian writer
• 1954 – Robert Pastorelli, American actor (d. 2004)
• 1955 – Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
• 1955 – Leigh McCloskey, American actor
• 1955 – Aloysius Amwano, Nauruan politician
• 1955 – Jean-Pierre Mader, French singer and songwriter
• 1955 – Michel Platini, French footballer
• 1957 – Berkeley Breathed, American cartoonist and author
• 1957 – Lucien DeBlois, Canadian professional ice hockey player
• 1958 – Gennady Padalka, Russian cosmonaut
• 1959 – Tom Chambers, American basketball player
• 1959 – Marcella Detroit, American singer and songwriter (Shakespear's Sister)
• 1959 – Kathy Mattea, American country singer
• 1960 – Kevin Harlan, American sportscaster
• 1961 – Kip Winger, American singer and guitarist (Winger)
• 1961 – Manu Chao, French multi-instrumentalist (Mano Negra)
• 1961 – Sascha Konietzko, German singer and synth player (KMFDM)
• 1961 – Karen Barber, English ice dancer
• 1962 – Viktor Tsoi, Soviet guitarist, singer and songwriter (Kino) (d. 1990)
• 1962 – Takeshi Asami, Japanese racing driver
• 1963 – Lucas de Groot, Dutch type designer
• 1963 – Dario Marianelli, Italian composer
• 1964 – Sammi Davis, British actress
• 1964 – David Morrissey, British actor
• 1964 – Dimitris Papaioannou, Greek avant-garde stage director, choreographer and visual artist
• 1964 – Doug Savant, American actor
• 1965 – Larry Wachowski, American film director
• 1965 – Yang Liwei, Chinese astronaut
• 1966 – Rudi Bakhtiar, American journalist
• 1966 – Pierre Thorsson, Swedish handball player
• 1966 – Nan Woods, American actress
• 1967 – Jim Breuer, American comedian
• 1967 – Derrick Coleman, American basketball player
• 1967 – Pierre Omidyar, Iranian-American businessman
• 1967 – Carrie Preston, American actress
• 1968 – Sonique, British DJ
• 1969 – Harun Isa, Albanian footballer
• 1969 – Gabriella Paruzzi, Italian skier
• 1970 – Sindee Coxx, American pornographic actress
• 1970 – Pete Rock, American rapper and producer
• 1971 – Anette Olzon, Swedish singer (Nightwish)
• 1972 – Alon Hilu, Israeli writer
• 1972 – Neil Doak, Irish cricketer
• 1973 – Juliette Lewis, American actress
• 1974 – Natasha Desborough, British radio personality
• 1974 – Neely Jenkins, American bassist and vocalist (Park Ave., Tilly and the Wall)
• 1974 – Rob Kelly, American football player
• 1974 – Craig Lowndes, Australian racing driver
• 1976 – Antonio Cochran, American football player
• 1976 – Mike Einziger, American guitarist (Incubus)
• 1976 – Nigel Lappin, Australian rules footballer
• 1977 – Michael Gomez, Irish boxer
• 1977 – Jochen Hecht, German ice hockey player
• 1978 – Luke Kirby (actor), Canadian actor
• 1978 – Erica Durance, Canadian actress
• 1978 – Jack Guzman, American actor
• 1978 – Jean-Pascal Lacoste, French singer, actor and TV host
• 1978 – Cristiano Lupatelli, Italian footballer
• 1978 – Dejan Ognjanović, Montenegrin football player
• 1978 – Rim'K, French rapper
• 1979 – Kostas Katsouranis, Greek footballer
• 1979 – Chris Pratt, American actor
• 1980 – Luca Anania, Italian footballer
• 1980 – Richard Jefferson, American basketball player
• 1980 – Sendy Rleal, Dominican baseball player
• 1981 – David Bortolussi, French-born Italian rugby player
• 1981 – Yann Danis, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1981 – Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist (The Killers)
• 1981 – Garrett Jones, American baseball player
• 1982 – Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, second in the line of succession to the British throne
• 1982 – Rob Mills, Australian singer
• 1984 – Alicia Alighatti, American pornographic actress
• 1984 – Jujubee, American drag queen and reality TV personality
• 1984 – Franck Perera, French racing driver
• 1985 – Kris Allen, American singer
• 1985 – Anthony Morelli, American football player
• 1985 – Byron Schammer, Australian rules footballer
• 1986 – Hideaki Wakui, Japanese baseball player
• 1986 – Lana Del Rey, American singer-songwriter
• 1987 – Sebastian Prödl, Austrian footballer
• 1987 – Ryeowook, South Korean singer (Super Junior)
• 1987 – Dale Thomas, Australian rules footballer
• 1988 – Allyssa DeHaan, American collegiate basketball and volleyball player
• 1988 – Alejandro Ramírez, Costa Rican chess Grandmaster
• 1988 – Paolo Tornaghi, Italian footballer
• 1989 – Abubaker Kaki, Sudanese runner
• 1989 – Jascha Washington, American actor
• 1990 – Pietro Baccolo, Italian footballer
• 1991 – Gaël Kakuta, French footballer
• 1997 – Rebecca Black, American pop star
• 2001 – Alexandra Obolentseva, Russian chess player

Deaths

• 223 – Liu Bei, Emperor of Shu Han (b. 161)
• 1040 – Fulk III, Count of Anjou (b. 972)
• 1171 – Walter de Luci, Normand-born Abbot of Battle Abbey (b. 1103)
• 1205 – Enrico Dandolo, 42nd Doge of Venice (b. 1107)
• 1208 – Philip of Swabia, King of Germany and Duke of Swabia (b. 1177)
• 1305 – King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and Poland (b. 1271)
• 1377 – King Edward III of England (b. 1312)
• 1421 – Jean Le Maingre, Marshal of France (b. 1366)
• 1521 – Leonardo Loredan, 76th Doge of Venice (b. 1436)
• 1527 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and political author (b. 1469)
• 1529 – John Skelton, English poet
• 1547 – Sebastiano del Piombo, Italian painter (b. 1485)
• 1558 – Piero Strozzi, Italian military leader (b. 1558)
• 1582 – Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1534)
• 1591 – Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian saint (b. 1568)
• 1596 – Jean Liebault, French agronomist (b. 1535)
• 1621 – Kryštof Harant, Polish soldier, writer and composer (b. 1564)
• 1621 – Louis III, Cardinal of Guise (b. 1575)
• 1631 – John Smith, English explorer (b. c. 1580)
• 1652 – Inigo Jones, English architect (b. 1573)
• 1661 – Andrea Sacchi, Italian painter (b. 1599)
• 1737 – Matthieu Marais, French jurist (b. 1664)
• 1738 – Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, English statesman (b. 1674)
• 1796 – Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1710)
• 1824 – Étienne Aignan, French writer (b. 1773)
• 1865 – Frances Adeline Seward, wife of United States Secretary of State William H. Seward (b. 1824)
• 1874 – Anders Jonas Ångström, Swedish physicist (b. 1814)
• 1876 – Antonio López de Santa Anna, President of Mexico (b. 1794)
• 1893 – Leland Stanford, American business tycoon and founder of Stanford University (b. 1824)
• 1908 – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (b. 1844)
• 1914 – Bertha von Suttner, Austrian writer and pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1843)
• 1917 – Matthias Zurbriggen, Swiss mountaineer (b. 1856)
• 1929 – Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse, British politician (b. 1864)
• 1934 – Thorne Smith, American author (b. 1892)
• 1940 – Smedley Butler, American Marines general (b. 1881)
• 1951 – Charles Dillon Perrine, American astronomer (b. 1867)
• 1952 – Wilfrid R. "Wop" May, Canadian aviation pioneer (b. 1896)
• 1954 – Gideon Sundback, American inventor who perfected the zipper (b. 1880)
• 1957 – Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1874)
• 1957 – Claude Farrère, French writer (b. 1876)
• 1964 – James Chaney, American civil rights activist (b. 1943)
• 1964 – Andrew Goodman, American civil rights activist (b. 1943)
• 1964 – Michael Schwerner, American civil rights activist (b. 1939)
• 1969 – Maureen Connolly, American tennis player (b. 1934)
• 1970 – Sukarno, President of Indonesia (b. 1901)
• 1976 – Margaret Herrick, American director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (b. 1902)
• 1979 – Angus MacLise, American composer, drummer (Velvet Underground), mystic and shaman (b. 1938)
• 1980 – Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (b. 1923)
• 1985 – Ettore Boiardi, Italian chef, founder of Chef Boyardee (b. 1897)
• 1985 – Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1901)
• 1986 – Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer, singer (Rahbani Brothers) and producer (b. 1923)
• 1987 – Madman Muntz, American entrepreneur, businessman, electrical engineer and TV commercial actor (b. 1914)
• 1990 – Cedric Belfrage (b. 1904)
• 1992 – Li Xiannian, President of the People's Republic of China (b. 1909)
• 1992 – Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah, Bangladeshi poet (b. 1956)
• 1993 – Ticho Parly, Danish tenor (b. 1928)
• 1994 – William Wilson Morgan, American astronomer (b. 1906)
• 1997 – Shintaro Katsu, Japanese entertainer (b. 1931)
• 1997 – Fidel Velázquez Sánchez, Mexican labour leader (b. 1900)
• 1998 – Al Campanis, American baseball executive (b. 1916)
• 1998 – Anastasio Ballestrero, Italian Cardinal
• 1999 – Kami, Japanese drummer (Malice Mizer) (b. 1973)
• 2000 – Alan Hovhaness, American composer (b. 1911)
• 2001 – John Lee Hooker, American musician (b. 1916)
• 2001 – Carroll O'Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2001 – Souad Hosni, Egyptian actress (b. 1942)
• 2002 – Timothy Findley, Canadian novelist and playwright (b. 1930)
• 2003 – Roger Neilson, Canadian ice hockey coach (b. 1934)
• 2003 – Leon Uris, American writer (b. 1924)
• 2003 – Jason Moran, Australian criminal (b. 1967)
• 2004 – Leonel Brizola, Brazilian politician (b. 1922)
• 2005 – Jaime Sin, Filipino Cardinal Archbishop of Manila, prominent leader during the People Power Revolution (b. 1928)
• 2006 – Jared C. Monti, Medal Of Honor Recipient (b. 1975)
• 2007 – Bob Evans, American restaurateur (b. 1918)
• 2008 – Scott Kalitta, American drag racer (b. 1962)
• 2008 – Kermit Love, American puppeteer (b. 1916)
• 2010 – Irwin Barker, Canadian comedian (b. 1956)
• 2011 – Robert Kroetsch, Canadian author (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Alban of Mainz
  • Aloysius Gonzaga
  • Engelmund of Velsen
  • Martin of Tongres
  • June 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of the Martyrs (Togo)
• Father's Day (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Uganda)
• Go Skateboarding Day
• National Aboriginal Day (Canada)
• Solstice-related observances (also see June 20):
  • Day of Private Reflection
  • National Day (Greenland)
  • International Surfing Day
  • We Tripantu, a winter solstice festival in the southern hemisphere. (Mapuche in southern Chile)
  • World Music Day
• World Humanist Day (Humanism)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: June 21

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada