Today In History

Today is Thursday, Oct. 21, the 294th day of 2021. There are 71 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1966: One hundred forty-four people, 116 of them children, were killed when a coal waste landslide engulfed a school and some 20 houses in Aberfan, Wales.

ON THIS DATE

› 1797: The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as “Old Ironsides,” was christened in Boston’s harbor.

› 1879: Thomas Edison perfected a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

› 1945: Women in France were allowed to vote in parliamentary elections for the first time.

› 1971: President Richard Nixon nominated Lewis F. Powell and William H. Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Both nominees were confirmed.)

› 2014: North Korea abruptly freed Jeffrey Fowle, an American, nearly six months after he was arrested for leaving a Bible in a nightclub.

› 2015: Vice President Joe Biden announced he would not be a candidate in the 2016 White House campaign, solidifying

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s status as the Democratic front-runner.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Actor Joyce Randolph is 97. Rock singer Manfred Mann is 81. Musician Steve Cropper (Booker T. & the MG’s) is 80. Singer Elvin Bishop is 79. TV’s Judge Judy Sheindlin is

79. Actor Everett McGill is 76. Musician Lee Loughnane (Chicago) is 75. Actor Dick Christie is 73. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is 72. Actor LaTanya Richardson Jackson is 72. Musician Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go’s) is 68. Movie director Catherine Hardwicke is 66. Singer Julian Cope is 64. Rock musician Steve Lukather (Toto) is 64. Actor Ken Watanabe is 62. Actor Melora Walters is 61. Rock singer-musician Nick Oliveri (Mondo Generator) is 50. Christian rock musician Charlie Lowell (Jars of Clay) is 48. Actor Jeremy Miller is 45. Country singer Matthew Ramsey (Old Dominion) is 44. Actor Will Estes is 43. Actor Michael McMillian is 43. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West is 41. Actor Matt Dallas is 39. Actor Charlotte Sullivan is 38. Actor Aaron Tveit is 38. Actor Glenn Powell is

33. Country singer Kane Brown is 28.