What Happened On
Barry Nelson as the First 007
Barry Nelson as the First 007
First James Bond Movie
October 21, 1954
A live broadcast of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale on the TV show Climax! It starred Barry Nelson, making him the first 007. It also starred Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre.
Photo Credit: Alkivar
Photo Credit: Alkivar
Incandescent Light
October 21, 1879
Thomas Edison succeeds in making his electric light. It had taken about 1,200 experiments and cost more than $40,000 (about $850,000 in today's money). It operated for 13 hours. Although incandescent lights had been around for about 40 years, Edison's was the first practical one.
Fastest Woman
October 21, 1979
Norwegian runner Grete Waitz becomes the first woman to run a marathon in under 2½ hours (NYC, 2:27:32.6).
My Ding-a-Ling
October 21, 1972
Chuck Berry's cover of the audience participation song My Ding-a-Ling hits #1. Despite that many radio stations refused to play it due to its double entendre, it was Berry's biggest hit and his only #1 Billboard Hot 100 single in the United States. Berry had recorded it during a live performance the previous February.
The song was originally written and recorded by Dave Bartholomew twenty years earlier in 1952.
World War II - Rickenbacker's Plane Goes Down
October 21, 1942
U.S. Navy pilot Eddie Rickenbacker's plane goes down in the South Pacific. He and two of his crew drifted on a raft for three weeks before they were rescued.
First Transatlantic Transmission of Speech
October 21, 1915
AT&T transmits from Arlington, Virginia to Paris.
Battle of Trafalgar
October 21, 1805
The British Royal Navy defeats the Spanish and French fleets ending Napoleon Bonaparte's threat of invading England.
Birthdays
The Library that Wouldn't Serve Him Because He Was Black, Is Now a Museum Named in His Honor
Ronald Erwin McNair
Born October 21, 1950 d. 1986
American astronaut, physicist. When McNair was eight years old, he visited the segregated Lake City, South Carolina public library, but they only served white patrons and wouldn't allow him to check out any books. When he refused to leave, the police and his mother were called. The library begrudgingly relented when the officer asked, "Why don't you just give him the books?" That library has since been converted into a museum named "Ronald McNair Life History Center" in his honor. McNair also went on to earn a Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
McNair was killed in the Challenger Disaster, when the space shuttle disintegrated shortly after takeoff.
Photo Credit: Roland Godefroy
Photo Credit: Roland Godefroy
Dizzy Gillespie (John Birks Gillespie)
Born October 21, 1917 d. 1993
American jazz trumpeter. Gillespie and Charlie Parker were major figures in the development of bebop and modern jazz.
In 1963, he ran for U.S. president and promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed the Blues House, and his cabinet would be composed of Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis (Director of the CIA), Max Roach (Secretary of Defense), Charles Mingus (Secretary of Peace), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), Louis Armstrong (Secretary of Agriculture), Mary Lou Williams (Ambassador to the Vatican), Thelonious Monk (Traveling Ambassador), and Malcolm X (Attorney General), while his running mate would be Phyllis Diller.
Ely takes off from the USS Birmingham
Ely takes off from the USS Birmingham
First to Fly a Plane From the Deck of a Ship
Eugene Ely
Born October 21, 1886 d. 1911
American aviator. He was the first person to fly a plane from the deck of a ship (1910) and the first to land a plane on a ship (1911).
Ely died during an exhibition when his plane was late pulling out of a dive and crashed. Ely managed to jump clear of the wrecked aircraft, but his neck was broken, and he died a few minutes later.
Carrie Fisher
Born October 21, 1956 d. 2016
American actress. Film: Star Wars (Princess Leia) and When Harry Met Sally… (1989, Marie). She is the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher and is the author of Postcards From the Edge.
Charlotte Caffey
Born October 21, 1953
American guitarist. With the Go-Go's. Music: We Got the Beat (1981) and Vacation (1982).
Elvin Bishop
Born October 21, 1942
American blues guitarist. Music: Fooled Around And Fell In Love (1976).
Manfred Mann (Michael Lubowitz)
Born October 21, 1940
British rock musician. Music: Do Wah Diddy Diddy (1964, #1) and Blinded By the Light (1976).
Carl Baugh
Born October 21, 1936
American young Earth creationist. He claims to have found human and dinosaur footprints together near the Paluxy River in Texas.
Georgia Brown (Lillian Klot)
Born October 21, 1933 d. 1992
English singer, actress. Best known for her portrayal of Nancy in Oliver! (1960).
Martin Gardner
Born October 21, 1914 d. 2010
American mathematician, magician. His Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (1957) is considered a classic in the field of scientific skepticism. He also wrote the "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel
Born October 21, 1833 d. 1896
Swedish chemist, inventor of dynamite. The terms of his will established Nobel prizes.
Samuel Francis Smith
Born October 21, 1808 d. 1895
American poet, songwriter. Music: My Country, 'Tis of Thee (1832) which served as the U.S. national anthem prior to the adoption of The Star-Spangled Banner.
William Shippen, Jr.
Born October 21, 1736 d. 1808
American physician. He was the first systematic teacher of anatomy, surgery, and obstetrics in the United States and one of the first to use cadavers in the teaching of anatomy (1762). He gave the First anatomy lecture in America.
Deaths
George McGovern
Died October 21, 2012 b. 1922
American politician, U.S. Representative (1957-61, South Dakota), U.S. Senator (1963-81, South Dakota), 1972 Presidential candidate, losing in a landslide to Richard Nixon.
Maxene Andrews
Died October 21, 1995 b. 1916
American singer, with the Andrews Sisters.
Jim Garrison (Earling Carothers Garrison)
Died October 21, 1992 b. 1921
American lawyer, New Orleans district attorney. His investigation into the Kennedy assassination was the basis of Oliver Stone's film JFK (1991).
Twinkie Murderer
Daniel James White
Died October 21, 1985 b. 1946
American assassin. In 1978, he killed Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. At his trial, White claimed diminished capacity due to depression caused by a diet of junk food and sugary drinks. This has become known as the "Twinkie Defense". Even though he avoided metal detectors, which would have detected his gun and 10 rounds of ammunition, by entering the building through a side window and later stated he intended to kill two other people as well, he was only convicted of voluntary manslaughter rather than first-degree murder and sentenced to seven years in prison. He served five years in prison before being paroled, but committed suicide less than two years later.
White had resigned from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, but then applied for reappointment. White was angry because Moscone and Milk had opposed his reappointment.
John Thomas Scopes
Died October 21, 1970 b. 1900
American educator. His arrest for teaching evolution in Tennessee led to the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925). He was convicted and fined $100, although it was overturned on a technicality.
Jack Kerouac
Died October 21, 1969 b. 1922
American author, On the Road (1957). He was one of the founders of the beatnik movement of the late 1950s and is known as the godfather of the '60s hippie movement.
Alfred T. Ringling
Died October 21, 1919 b. 1861
American circus operator, with Ringling Brothers Circus.
Horatio Nelson
Died October 21, 1805 b. 1758
British naval commander. He died while leading the British fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar in which he defeated the Spanish and French fleets ending Napoleon Bonaparte's threat of invading England.