Jan 21 in History
1793 — Louis XVI, 38, last of the French Bourbon dynasty (he ruled from 1774 to 1791), is executed by guillotine. The vote in the National Convention for execution for treason won by a margin of one vote. The Great Terror follows his execution.
1815 — Horace Wells, dentist, is born in Hartford, Vermont. He pioneers the use of anaesthesia in dentistry, especially nitrous oxide (laughing gas). 1905 — Christian Dior, fashion designer, is born in Granville, France.
1924 — Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin), 53, head of government of Soviet Russia (1917-24) and the Soviet Union (1922-24), dies in Gorki.
1940 — Jack Nicklaus, golfer (18-time Major winner), is born in Columbus, Ohio.
1942 — Bronx magistrate Ambrose J Haddock rules all pinball machines illegal, “even if they reward the player with nothing more substantial than amusement”, when New York cops decide it is too much trouble to make a distinction between bingos and pinballs. The ban remains until 1976. 1950 — George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair), 46, author, dies in London. His books include “Animal Farm” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four”.
1959 — Cecil B DeMille, 77, filmmaker, dies in Hollywood. “The 10 Commandments” (1956) was his last film.
1994 — Bassel al-Assad, 31, eldest son of Syria’s President Hafez al-Assad, is killed in a car accident. Bassel was trained as a civil engineer, held a PhD in military sciences, was politically savvy and expected to succeed his father. Hafez, 69, (president since 1971) dies of a heart attack on June 10 2000. His second son, Bashar, 34, (in London for postgraduate training in ophthalmology) is elected president on July 10. 1998 — Jack Lord, 77, TV star (“Hawaii Five-O”), dies in Honolulu.
2004 — The recording industry sues 532 computer users for illegally distributing songs over the internet.
2005 — A two-day strike in Belize to protest a budget proposal for tax hikes (eg 100% on rum), opposed by a majority of the country’s 250 000 (387 879 in 2017) people, ends.
2006 — Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines avenges his defeat 10 months ago and hands Erik Morales of Mexico the worst beating of his career before stopping him in the 10th round of their showdown in Las Vegas.
2014 — Petra Diamonds announces a 29.6-carat blue diamond has been found at the Cullinan mine, source of some of the most famous diamonds.