What happened on April 21 ?

748 - Empress Gensho of Japan (b. 680)

1073 - Pope Alexander II

1109 - Anselm of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury

1142 - Pierre Abélard, French writer (b. 1079)

1329 - Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)

1509 - King Henry VII of England (b. 1457)

1551 - Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)

1557 - Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (b. 1495)

1574 - Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519)

1699 - Jean Racine, French dramatist (b. 1639)

1701 - Asano Naganori, Japanese warlord (b. 1667)

1719 - Philippe de la Hire, French mathematician and historian (b. 1640)

1720 - Antoine Hamilton, French writer (b. 1646)

1793 - John Michell, English seismologist (b. 1724)

1815 - Joseph Winston, U.S. Congressman from North Carolina (b. 1746)

1852 - Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (b. 1787)

1868 - Henry James O'Farrell, Australian would-be assassin of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (hanged)

1910 - Mark Twain, American author and humorist (b. 1835)

1918 - Manfred von Richthofen, German pilot (b. 1892)

1924 - Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (b. 1858)

1930 - Robert Bridges, English poet (b. 1844)

1938 - Allama Iqbal, Indian philosopher and poet (b. 1877)

1945 - Walter Model, German field marshal (b. 1891)

1946 - John Maynard Keynes, English economist (b. 1883)

1956 - Charles MacArthur, American writer (b. 1895)

1965 - Edward Victor Appleton, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)

1971 - François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, Haitian dictator (b. 1907)

1973 - Arthur Fadden, thirteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)

1977 - Gummo Marx, American actor and comedian (b. 1892)

1978 - Sandy Denny, British vocalist (b. 1947)

1978 - Thomas Wyatt Turner, American civil rights advocate and agricultural engineer

1980 - Aleksandr Oparin, Russian biochemist (b. 1894)

1983 - Walter Slezak, Austrian actor (b. 1902)

1985 - Rudi Gernreich, Austrian fashion designer (b. 1922)

1985 - Tancredo de Almeida Neves, Brazil banker and elected president (b. 1910)

1989 - Princess Dukhye of Korea (b. 1912)

1990 - Erté, French artist (b. 1892)

1991 - Willi Boskovsky, Austrian violinist and conductor (b. 1909)

1996 - Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen leader (b. 1944)

1996 - Jimmy the Greek, American bookie and sports broadcaster (b. 1919)

1999 - Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, American actor and musician (b. 1904)

2000 - Neal Matthews, Jr., American singer (b. 1929)

2003 - Nina Simone, American singer and pianist (b. 1933)

2004 - Mary McGrory, American journalist (b. 1918)

2005 - Gerry Marshall, British racing driver (b. 1941)

2006 - Telê Santana, Brazilian football manager (b. 1931)