October 21 in history — What Happened Today in History

Niki Lauda claims his third and final Formula One Drivers' Championship Title by half a point ahead of McLaren team-mate Alain Prost at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

The metre is defined as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.

Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces.

Moshe Dayan resigns from the Israeli government because of strong disagreements with Prime Minister Menachem Begin over policy towards the Arabs.

Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanishes over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.

Fred Dryer of the Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.

A gas explosion kills 22 people at a shopping centre near Glasgow, Scotland.

The 1969 Somali coup d'état establishes a Marxist–Leninist administration.

The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam organizes a march of fifty thousand people from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon.

A colliery spoil tip slips onto houses and a school in the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, 116 of whom were schoolchildren.

Comet Ikeya–Seki approaches perihelion, passing 450,000 kilometers (279,617 miles) from the sun.

In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA, including most of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.

The Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya is defeated.

Korean War: Heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces and North Koreans during the Battle of Yongju.

In the 1945 French legislative election French women vote for the first time.

World War II: The first kamikaze attack damages HMAS Australia as the Battle of Leyte Gulf begins.

World War II: The Nemmersdorf massacre against German civilians takes place.

World War II: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, the first German city to fall to the Allies.

World War II: The Provisional Government of Free India is formally established in Japanese-occupied Singapore.

World War II: The Kragujevac massacre against Serbian men and boys takes place.

The first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published.

A secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.

President Warren G. Harding delivers the first speech by a sitting U.S. president against lynching in the Deep South.

First Balkan War: The Greek navy completes the capture of the island of Lemnos for use as a forward base against the Dardanelles.

HMS Niobe arrives in Halifax Harbour to become the first ship of the Royal Canadian Navy.

The 1907 Qaratog earthquake hits the borders of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, killing between 12,000 and 15,000 people.

The capitulation of Tainan completes the Japanese conquest of Taiwan.

Tom Eastman, English footballer

Geoffry Hairemans, Belgian footballer

Rob Keogh, English cricketer

Vadaine Oliver, English footballer

Harry Pell, English footballer

Bengali-Fodé Koita, French footballer

Mathieu Peybernes, French footballer

Ricky Rubio, Spanish basketball player

Kristján Þórður Snæbjarnarson, Icelandic politician

Mads Dahm, Norwegian footballer

Festus Ezeli, Nigerian-American basketball player

Luke Murphy, English footballer

Jonathan Viera, Spanish footballer

Nelson Bunker Hunt, American businessman (born 1926)

Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, Iranian cleric and politician, Prime Minister of Iran (born 1931)

Edith Kawelohea McKinzie, Hawaiian genealogist, author, and hula expert (born 1925)

Gough Whitlam, Australian lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Australia (born 1916)

Bud Adams, American businessman (born 1923)

Gianni Ferrio, Italian composer and conductor (born 1924)

Rune T. Kidde, Danish author, poet, and illustrator (born 1957)

Colonel Robert Morris, American singer-songwriter and drummer (born 1954)

Major Owens, American librarian and politician (born 1936)

Tony Summers, Welsh swimmer (born 1924)

Oscar Yanes, Venezuelan journalist and author (born 1927)

Yash Chopra, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1932)

Antoni Dobrowolski, Polish educator (born 1904)