April 21 historic events
1898 Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
1918 World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as “The Red Baron”, is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France.
1934 Moe Berg, Senators catcher, plays AL record 117th cons errorless game.
1952 Secretary’s Day (now Administrative Professionals’ Day) is first celebrated.
Political correctness strikes again! Anyway, have a happy one.
1963 Beatles meet Rolling Stones for 1st time.
Rolling Stones meet Beatles. Crunch, crunch, crunch.
1964 A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.
Fortunately, no harm was done. The discovery of a three-eyed rabbit colony nearby was purely coincidental.
1965 The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair opens for its second and final season.
1975 Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1980 Rosie Ruiz, the first woman to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon, was disqualified when officials discovered she had jumped into the race about a mile from the finish.
1983 1 pound coin introduced in United Kingdom
1987 Brewers lose, ending AL season-opening winning streak at 13 games.
Incredibly, after setting the record with 13 straight wins to open the season, they then proceeded to lose twelve straight.
1989 Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1994 The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.
Mighty fine telescope you’ve got there, Alex.