Today in History |
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Learn about the most intriguing events and historical facts that occurred on July 21 throughout history. In the Gregorian calendar, July 21st is the 202nd day of the year. At 2:56:15 a.m. (GMT), Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, and Craig Kilborn’s “The Daily Show” starts on Comedy Central in the United States.
Cancer is the zodiac sign for July 21. Ernest Hemingway, Robin Williams, and Ken Starr all had famous birthdays. It’s National Junk Food Day today. (July 21, 1798) (July 21, 1904) (July 21, 1907) (July 21, 1925) (July 21, 2011) (Died on July 21, 2020)
Event
On this day in 1798, Napoleon's Egyptian Army utilised a new military technique, the enormous divisional square, to beat Murd Bey's Egyptian soldiers at the Battle of the Pyramids during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign.
Frenchman Louis Rigolly became the first person to breach the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brillié at Ostend, Belgium.
88 people are killed when the passenger steamship SS Columbia sinks after collision with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California.
Malcolm Campbell is the first person to achieve 150 mph on land (241 km/h). At Pendine Sands in Wales, he drives a Sunbeam 350HP with an average two-way speed of 150.33 miles per hour (242 kilometres per hour).
The orbiter Atlantis landed at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, marking the end of the US space shuttle programme after 135 missions.
Andrew Mlangeni South African political activist (b. 1925).
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