October 21 in History

1520 – Ferdinand Magellan discovered a strait now known as the Strait of Magellan in South America.

1797 – The 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution was launched in Boston Harbor. It was the third such vessel completed for the US Navy.

1854 – Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the Crimean War.

1921 – The Sheik, starring Rudolph Valentino, premiered in Los Angeles

1921 – President Warren G. Harding delivered the first speech by a sitting US President against lynching in the Deep South.

1940 – For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway was published.

1959 -The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City.

#1 Hit October 21, 1967 – November 24, 1967: Lulu – To Sir With Love

1969 – Butterflies Are Free (Broadway Play) Opened on October 21, 1969, and closed on July 2, 1972

#1 Hit October 21, 1972 – November 3, 1972: Chuck Berry – My Ding-a-ling

1973 – John Paul Getty III’s ear was cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome with a note – “This is Paul’s ear. If we don’t get some money within 10 days, then the other ear will arrive. In other words, he will arrive in little bits.”

1978 – Frederick Valenteich (flying a Cessna 182 airplane) disappeared over Melbourne, Australia, right after describing a UFO to the control tower. The last seventeen seconds of his transmission were described as ‘metallic scraping.’

1994 – North Korea and the United States signed an agreement that required North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections. On October 9, 2006, North Korea announced it had successfully conducted its first nuclear test.

1995 – Blind Melon’s Shannon Hoon died of a cocaine overdose.

2015 – (fictional) Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled forward in time from the year 1985 to the year 2015. (Back to the Future Part II, made in 1989)