Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your February 21 shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the February 21 offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of February 21 at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a February 21? Wrong! If the February 21 is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about February 21 then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling February 21? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about February 21 and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your February 21 wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your February 21 then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the February 21 site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about February 21, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your February 21, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

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Events

• 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria.
• 1245 - Bishop Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, was granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery.
• 1440 - The Prussian Confederation is formed.
• 1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portugal troops defeated a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
• 1613 - Michael I of Russia is elected unanimously as Tsar by a Zemsky Sobor, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
• 1743 - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, "Samson (oratorio)".
• 1804 - The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Penydarren in Wales.
• 1842 - John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
• 1848 - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
• 1874 - The Oakland Tribune publishes its first newspaper.
• 1878 - The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1885 - The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
• 1893 - Thomas Edison receives two U.S. patents for a "Cut Out for Incandescent Electric Lamps" and for a "Stop Device"
• 1907 - 125 people perish when the s.s. Berlin sinks near Hoek van Holland.
• 1916 - World War I: In France the Battle of Verdun begins.
• 1918 - The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
• 1925 - The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
• 1937 - Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman Waterman Whatsit.
• 1937 - The League of Nations bans foreign national "Unlawful combatant" in the Spanish Civil War.
• 1943 - Battle of Guadalcanal ended.
• 1945 - World War II: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea (CVE-95) and damage the USS Saratoga (CV-3).
• 1947 - In New York City Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
• 1948 - NASCAR is incorporated.
• 1952 - The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes Identity Cards in the United Kingdom to "set the people free".
• 1952 - In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) police opened fire on a procession of students, who demanded the establishment Bengali language as the official language, killing four people and starting a Bengali Language Movement which led to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day was later declared as "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.
• 1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson discover the structure of the DNA molecule.
• 1960 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro nationalizes all businesses in Cuba.
• 1965 - Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.
• 1970 - Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
• 1971 - The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
• 1972 - President of the United States Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
• 1972 - The Soviet Union unmanned Spacecraft Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
• 1973 - Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Airlines jet killing 108.
• 1974 - The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal in carrying out a truce with Egypt.
• 1975 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
• 1995 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
• 2004 - The first European political party organization, the European Green Party, is established in Rome.
• 2007 - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office.

Births

• 1484 - Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
• 1556 - Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
• 1675 - Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d. 1750)
• 1688 - Queen Ulrike Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)
• 1705 - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (d. 1781)
• 1721 - John McKinly, American physician (d. 1796)
• 1723 - Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (d. 1808)
• 1728 - Tsar Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine II of Russia (d. 1762)
• 1791 - Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (d. 1857)
• 1794 - Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexican president (d. 1876)
• 1801 - John Henry Newman, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1890)
• 1817 - Jose Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish dramatist (d. 1893)
• 1821 - Charles Scribner, American publisher (d. 1871)
• 1836 - Léo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)
• 1844 - Charles-Marie Widor, French composer (d. 1937)
• 1860 - Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Czech journalist (d. 1927)
• 1865 - John Haden Badley, English school founder (d. 1967)
• 1867 - Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire (d. 1934)
• 1875 - Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian and longest-lived human on record (d. 1997)
• 1876 - Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d. 1956)
• 1878 - The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), multi-origined spiritual leader and founder of Auroville in India (d. 1973)
• 1880 - Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952)
• 1885 - Sacha Guitry, Russian dramatist (d. 1957)
• 1893 - Celia Lovsky, Russian-born actress (d. 1979)
• 1893 - Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
• 1895 - Carl Peter Henrik Dam Danish biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976)
• 1900 - Madeleine Renaud, French theater actress (d. 1994)
• 1903 - Fairfax M. Cone, American advertising executive (d. 1977)
• 1903 - Anaïs Nin, French writer (d. 1977)
• 1903 - Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (d. 1976)
• 1907 - W. H. Auden, English poet (d. 1973)
• 1910 - Douglas Bader, British pilot (d. 1982)
• 1910 - Carmine Galante, Italian-born gangster (d. 1979)
• 1910 - Eddie Waring, British sports commentator (d. 1986)
• 1913 - Roger Laurent, Belgian racing driver (d. 1997)
• 1915 - Ann Sheridan, American actress (d. 1967)
• 1917 - Lucille Bremer, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1924 - Robert Mugabe first President of Zimbabwe
• 1925 - Sam Peckinpah, American director (d. 1984)
• 1927 - Erma Bombeck, American humorist (d. 1996)
• 1927 - Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
• 1927 - Pierre Mercure, French Canadian musician and composer (d. 1966)
• 1929 - Chespirito, Mexican actor
• 1933 - Nina Simone, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1934 - Rue McClanahan, American actress
• 1935 - Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
• 1935 - Jean Pelletier, French Canadian political operative
• 1936 - Barbara Jordan, American politician (d. 1996)
• 1937 - King Harald V of Norway
• 1937 - Gary Lockwood, American actor
• 1940 - John Lewis (politician), American politician
• 1940 - Peter Gethin, British racing driver
• 1941 - Wong Jim, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
• 1942 - Margarethe von Trotta, German actress and film director
• 1943 - David Geffen, American record producer
• 1945 - Paul Newton (musician), British musician (Uriah Heep (band))
• 1945 - D'Anna Fortunato, American mezzo-soprano
• 1946 - Tyne Daly, American actress
• 1946 - Anthony Daniels, British actor
• 1946 - Alan Rickman, English actor
• 1946 - Bob Ryan, Boston sports columnist
• 1946 - Vito Rizzuto, Sicilian-born alleged mafia boss
• 1947 - Olympia Snowe, American politician
• 1947 - Victor Sokolov, Russian journalist (d. 2006)
• 1949 - Jerry Harrison, American musician (Talking Heads)
• 1949 - Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
• 1951 - Vince Welnick, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 2006)
• 1952 - Jean Jacques Burnel, British musician (The Stranglers)
• 1953 - Christine Ebersole, American actress
• 1953 - William Petersen, American actor
• 1955 - Sir Steven Fayburgh, British diplomat
• 1955 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
• 1958 - Jake Burns, Irish singer (Stiff Little Fingers}
• 1958 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
• 1958 - Jack Coleman, American actor
• 1958 - Alan Trammell, baseball player and manager
• 1959 - José María Cano, Spanish musician (Mecano)
• 1959 - Emmett McAuliffe, KMOX radio show host and lawyer
• 1960 - Steve Wynn (songwriter), American singer, songwriter and guitarist (The Dream Syndicate)
• 1961 - Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
• 1961 - Christopher Atkins, American actor
• 1961 - Martha Hackett, American actress
• 1961 - Bertha Faye, American wrestler (d. 2001)
• 1962 - Vanessa Feltz, British television presenter
• 1962 - Chuck Palahniuk, American writer
• 1962 - David Foster Wallace, American writer
• 1963 - William Baldwin, American actor
• 1964 - Mark E. Kelly, American astronaut
• 1964 - Jane Tomlinson, British cancer campaigner (d. 2007)
• 1967 - Leroy Burrell, American runner
• 1969 - James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers)
• 1969 - Tony Meola, American footballer
• 1969 - Eric Wilson, American musician (Sublime (band))
• 1970 - Michael Slater, Australian cricketer
• 1972 - Seo Taiji, Korean musician
• 1973 - Heri Joensen, Faroese musician, (Týr (band))
• 1973 - Bowie Tsang, Taiwanese singer, actress, TV host and author.
• 1974 - Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
• 1974 - Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
• 1975 - Affirmed, American race horse (d. 2001)
• 1975 - Chris (CP) Powell, American columnist
• 1976 - Ryan Smyth, Canadian hockey player
• 1977 - Steve Francis, American basketball player
• 1977 - Chad Hutchinson, baseball and football player
• 1977 - Kevin Rose, American television host and Internet entrepreneur
• 1978 - Park Eun-hye, South Korean actress
• 1978 - Kim Ha Neul, South Korean actress
• 1978 - Nicole Parker, American actress
• 1979 - Pascal Chimbonda, French footballer
• 1979 - Carly Colón, Puerto Rican professional wrestling
• 1979 - Lonnie Ford, American football player
• 1979 - Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress
• 1980 - Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 - Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer
• 1982 - Bernhard Auinger, Austrian racing driver
• 1983 - Braylon Edwards, American football player
• 1983 - Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1984 - Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby union player
• 1984 - David Odonkor, German footballer
• 1985 - Bob Burton, Jr., American speedcuber
• 1985 - Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
• 1986 - Charlotte Church, Welsh singer
• 1986 - Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
• 1987 - Ellen Page, Canadian actress
• 1987 - Anthony Walker, British murder victim (d. 2005)
• 1988 - Daniel Rose, English footballer
• 1989 - Corbin Bleu, American actor and singer
• 1989 - Kristin Herrera, American actress
• 1989 - Josh Walker, English footballer

Deaths

• 1437 - King James I of Scotland (b. 1394)
• 1471 - John of Rokycan, Czech Catholic archbishop
• 1513 - Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
• 1543 - Ahmed Gragn, Sultan of Adal
• 1554 - Hieronymus Bock, German botanist (b. 1498)
• 1595 - Robert Southwell, English Jesuit priest and poet (executed)
• 1668 - John Thurloe, English Puritan spy (b. 1616)
• 1677 - Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (b. 1632)
• 1715 - Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (b. 1637)
• 1730 - Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
• 1788 - Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
• 1821 - Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (b. 1756)
• 1824 - Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Josephine de Beauharnais (b. 1781)
• 1846 - Emperor Ninko of Japan (b. 1800)
• 1862 - Justinus Kerner, German poet (b. 1786)
• 1901 - George Francis FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
• 1920 - Jacinta Marto, witness of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima (b. 1910)
• 1926 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (b. 1853)
• 1938 - George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (b. 1868)
• 1941 - Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1891)
• 1944 - Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b. 1873)
• 1945 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b. 1902)
• 1946 - José Streel, Belgian World War II collaborator (b. 1911)
• 1949 - Tan Malaka, Indonesian nationalist activist and communist leader (b. 1894)
• 1958 - Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b. 1936)
• 1960 - Jacques Becker, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
• 1965 - Malcolm X, American black activist (b. 1925)
• 1966 - Paul Comtois, French Canadian politician (b. 1895)
• 1967 - Charles Beaumont, American writer (b. 1929)
• 1968 - Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmocologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)
• 1972 - Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian ballet dancer (b. 1891)
• 1972 - Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant, French Catholic candinal (b. 1884)
• 1974 - Tim Horton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1930)
• 1978 - Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish historian and priest (b. 1901)
• 1980 - Alfred Andersch, German writer
• 1982 - Murray the K, American impresario and disc jockey (b. 1922)
• 1984 - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate (b. 1905)
• 1985 - Louis Hayward, British actor (b. 1909)
• 1986 - Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (b. 1895)
• 1986 - Shigechiyo Izumi, Japanese sugarcane farmer, also the world's oldest man ever (b. 1865)
• 1989 - Alex Thépot, French footballer (b. 1906)
• 1991 - Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (b. 1919)
• 1996 - Morton Gould, American composer (b. 1913)
• 1999 - Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1918)
• 1999 - Wilmer David Mizell, baseball player (b. 1930)
• 2000 - Antonio Díaz-Miguel, Spanish basketball coach (b. 1933)
• 2002 - Harold Furth, Austrian-born physicist (b. 1939)
• 2002 - John Thaw, English actor (b. 1942)
• 2003 - Eddie Thomson, Scottish Football (soccer) player and coach (b. 1947)
• 2004 - John Charles, Welsh footballer (b. 1931)
• 2004 - Guido Molinari, Canadian artist (b. 1933)
• 2005 - Ara Berberian, American opera singer (b. 1930)
• 2005 - Gérard Bessette, Quebec novelist and poet (b. 1920)
• 2005 - Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban novelist (b. 1929)
• 2005 - Eugene Scott, American religious broadcaster (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances

• Language Martyrs' Day - A day celebrated by Bengali language speaking people for gaining right of mother tongue.
• International Mother Language Day (UNESCO).

Liturgical feasts

• February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

In the Roman Catholic Church:

• Saint Peter Damiani
• Saint Pepin of Landen
• Saint Randoald

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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Events

• 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria.
• 1245 - Bishop Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, was granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery.
• 1440 - The Prussian Confederation is formed.
• 1543 - Battle of Wayna Daga - A combined army of Ethiopian and Portugal troops defeated a Muslim army led by Ahmed Gragn.
• 1613 - Michael I of Russia is elected unanimously as Tsar by a Zemsky Sobor, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia.
• 1743 - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, "Samson (oratorio)".
• 1804 - The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Penydarren in Wales.
• 1842 - John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine.
• 1848 - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto.
• 1874 - The Oakland Tribune publishes its first newspaper.
• 1878 - The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1885 - The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated.
• 1893 - Thomas Edison receives two U.S. patents for a "Cut Out for Incandescent Electric Lamps" and for a "Stop Device"
• 1907 - 125 people perish when the s.s. Berlin sinks near Hoek van Holland.
• 1916 - World War I: In France the Battle of Verdun begins.
• 1918 - The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.
• 1925 - The New Yorker publishes its first issue.
• 1937 - Initial flight of the first successful flying car, Waldo Waterman Waterman Whatsit.
• 1937 - The League of Nations bans foreign national "Unlawful combatant" in the Spanish Civil War.
• 1943 - Battle of Guadalcanal ended.
• 1945 - World War II: Japanese Kamikaze planes sink escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea (CVE-95) and damage the USS Saratoga (CV-3).
• 1947 - In New York City Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America.
• 1948 - NASCAR is incorporated.
• 1952 - The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes Identity Cards in the United Kingdom to "set the people free".
• 1952 - In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) police opened fire on a procession of students, who demanded the establishment Bengali language as the official language, killing four people and starting a Bengali Language Movement which led to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day was later declared as "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.
• 1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson discover the structure of the DNA molecule.
• 1960 - Cuban leader Fidel Castro nationalizes all businesses in Cuba.
• 1965 - Malcolm X is assassinated at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City by members of the Nation of Islam.
• 1970 - Swissair Flight 330: A mid-air bomb explosion and subsequent crash kills 38 passengers and nine crew members near Zürich, Switzerland.
• 1971 - The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
• 1972 - President of the United States Richard Nixon visits the People's Republic of China to normalize Sino-American relations.
• 1972 - The Soviet Union unmanned Spacecraft Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
• 1973 - Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down a Libyan Airlines jet killing 108.
• 1974 - The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal in carrying out a truce with Egypt.
• 1975 - Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.
• 1995 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
• 2004 - The first European political party organization, the European Green Party, is established in Rome.
• 2007 - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office.

Births

• 1484 - Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg (d. 1535)
• 1556 - Sethus Calvisius, German calendar reformer (d. 1615)
• 1675 - Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (d. 1750)
• 1688 - Queen Ulrike Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)
• 1705 - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (d. 1781)
• 1721 - John McKinly, American physician (d. 1796)
• 1723 - Louis-Pierre Anquetil, French historian (d. 1808)
• 1728 - Tsar Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine II of Russia (d. 1762)
• 1791 - Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (d. 1857)
• 1794 - Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexican president (d. 1876)
• 1801 - John Henry Newman, English Catholic cardinal (d. 1890)
• 1817 - Jose Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish dramatist (d. 1893)
• 1821 - Charles Scribner, American publisher (d. 1871)
• 1836 - Léo Delibes, French composer (d. 1891)
• 1844 - Charles-Marie Widor, French composer (d. 1937)
• 1860 - Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Czech journalist (d. 1927)
• 1865 - John Haden Badley, English school founder (d. 1967)
• 1867 - Otto Hermann Kahn, German millionaire (d. 1934)
• 1875 - Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian and longest-lived human on record (d. 1997)
• 1876 - Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (d. 1956)
• 1878 - The Mother (Mirra Alfassa), multi-origined spiritual leader and founder of Auroville in India (d. 1973)
• 1880 - Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (d. 1952)
• 1885 - Sacha Guitry, Russian dramatist (d. 1957)
• 1893 - Celia Lovsky, Russian-born actress (d. 1979)
• 1893 - Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (d. 1987)
• 1895 - Carl Peter Henrik Dam Danish biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1976)
• 1900 - Madeleine Renaud, French theater actress (d. 1994)
• 1903 - Fairfax M. Cone, American advertising executive (d. 1977)
• 1903 - Anaïs Nin, French writer (d. 1977)
• 1903 - Raymond Queneau, French poet and novelist (d. 1976)
• 1907 - W. H. Auden, English poet (d. 1973)
• 1910 - Douglas Bader, British pilot (d. 1982)
• 1910 - Carmine Galante, Italian-born gangster (d. 1979)
• 1910 - Eddie Waring, British sports commentator (d. 1986)
• 1913 - Roger Laurent, Belgian racing driver (d. 1997)
• 1915 - Ann Sheridan, American actress (d. 1967)
• 1917 - Lucille Bremer, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1924 - Robert Mugabe first President of Zimbabwe
• 1925 - Sam Peckinpah, American director (d. 1984)
• 1927 - Erma Bombeck, American humorist (d. 1996)
• 1927 - Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
• 1927 - Pierre Mercure, French Canadian musician and composer (d. 1966)
• 1929 - Chespirito, Mexican actor
• 1933 - Nina Simone, American singer (d. 2003)
• 1934 - Rue McClanahan, American actress
• 1935 - Mark McManus, Scottish actor (d. 1994)
• 1935 - Jean Pelletier, French Canadian political operative
• 1936 - Barbara Jordan, American politician (d. 1996)
• 1937 - King Harald V of Norway
• 1937 - Gary Lockwood, American actor
• 1940 - John Lewis (politician), American politician
• 1940 - Peter Gethin, British racing driver
• 1941 - Wong Jim, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)
• 1942 - Margarethe von Trotta, German actress and film director
• 1943 - David Geffen, American record producer
• 1945 - Paul Newton (musician), British musician (Uriah Heep (band))
• 1945 - D'Anna Fortunato, American mezzo-soprano
• 1946 - Tyne Daly, American actress
• 1946 - Anthony Daniels, British actor
• 1946 - Alan Rickman, English actor
• 1946 - Bob Ryan, Boston sports columnist
• 1946 - Vito Rizzuto, Sicilian-born alleged mafia boss
• 1947 - Olympia Snowe, American politician
• 1947 - Victor Sokolov, Russian journalist (d. 2006)
• 1949 - Jerry Harrison, American musician (Talking Heads)
• 1949 - Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
• 1951 - Vince Welnick, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 2006)
• 1952 - Jean Jacques Burnel, British musician (The Stranglers)
• 1953 - Christine Ebersole, American actress
• 1953 - William Petersen, American actor
• 1955 - Sir Steven Fayburgh, British diplomat
• 1955 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
• 1958 - Jake Burns, Irish singer (Stiff Little Fingers}
• 1958 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer
• 1958 - Jack Coleman, American actor
• 1958 - Alan Trammell, baseball player and manager
• 1959 - José María Cano, Spanish musician (Mecano)
• 1959 - Emmett McAuliffe, KMOX radio show host and lawyer
• 1960 - Steve Wynn (songwriter), American singer, songwriter and guitarist (The Dream Syndicate)
• 1961 - Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)
• 1961 - Christopher Atkins, American actor
• 1961 - Martha Hackett, American actress
• 1961 - Bertha Faye, American wrestler (d. 2001)
• 1962 - Vanessa Feltz, British television presenter
• 1962 - Chuck Palahniuk, American writer
• 1962 - David Foster Wallace, American writer
• 1963 - William Baldwin, American actor
• 1964 - Mark E. Kelly, American astronaut
• 1964 - Jane Tomlinson, British cancer campaigner (d. 2007)
• 1967 - Leroy Burrell, American runner
• 1969 - James Dean Bradfield, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers)
• 1969 - Tony Meola, American footballer
• 1969 - Eric Wilson, American musician (Sublime (band))
• 1970 - Michael Slater, Australian cricketer
• 1972 - Seo Taiji, Korean musician
• 1973 - Heri Joensen, Faroese musician, (Týr (band))
• 1973 - Bowie Tsang, Taiwanese singer, actress, TV host and author.
• 1974 - Iván Campo, Spanish footballer
• 1974 - Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist
• 1975 - Affirmed, American race horse (d. 2001)
• 1975 - Chris (CP) Powell, American columnist
• 1976 - Ryan Smyth, Canadian hockey player
• 1977 - Steve Francis, American basketball player
• 1977 - Chad Hutchinson, baseball and football player
• 1977 - Kevin Rose, American television host and Internet entrepreneur
• 1978 - Park Eun-hye, South Korean actress
• 1978 - Kim Ha Neul, South Korean actress
• 1978 - Nicole Parker, American actress
• 1979 - Pascal Chimbonda, French footballer
• 1979 - Carly Colón, Puerto Rican professional wrestling
• 1979 - Lonnie Ford, American football player
• 1979 - Jennifer Love Hewitt, American actress
• 1980 - Brad Fast, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 - Tiziano Ferro, Italian singer
• 1982 - Bernhard Auinger, Austrian racing driver
• 1983 - Braylon Edwards, American football player
• 1983 - Franklin Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1984 - Andrew Ellis, New Zealand rugby union player
• 1984 - David Odonkor, German footballer
• 1985 - Bob Burton, Jr., American speedcuber
• 1985 - Georgios Samaras, Greek footballer
• 1986 - Charlotte Church, Welsh singer
• 1986 - Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
• 1987 - Ellen Page, Canadian actress
• 1987 - Anthony Walker, British murder victim (d. 2005)
• 1988 - Daniel Rose, English footballer
• 1989 - Corbin Bleu, American actor and singer
• 1989 - Kristin Herrera, American actress
• 1989 - Josh Walker, English footballer

Deaths

• 1437 - King James I of Scotland (b. 1394)
• 1471 - John of Rokycan, Czech Catholic archbishop
• 1513 - Pope Julius II (b. 1443)
• 1543 - Ahmed Gragn, Sultan of Adal
• 1554 - Hieronymus Bock, German botanist (b. 1498)
• 1595 - Robert Southwell, English Jesuit priest and poet (executed)
• 1668 - John Thurloe, English Puritan spy (b. 1616)
• 1677 - Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (b. 1632)
• 1715 - Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (b. 1637)
• 1730 - Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
• 1788 - Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (b. 1723)
• 1821 - Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (b. 1756)
• 1824 - Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Josephine de Beauharnais (b. 1781)
• 1846 - Emperor Ninko of Japan (b. 1800)
• 1862 - Justinus Kerner, German poet (b. 1786)
• 1901 - George Francis FitzGerald, Irish mathematician (b. 1851)
• 1920 - Jacinta Marto, witness of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima (b. 1910)
• 1926 - Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (b. 1853)
• 1938 - George Ellery Hale, American astronomer (b. 1868)
• 1941 - Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1891)
• 1944 - Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (b. 1873)
• 1945 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (b. 1902)
• 1946 - José Streel, Belgian World War II collaborator (b. 1911)
• 1949 - Tan Malaka, Indonesian nationalist activist and communist leader (b. 1894)
• 1958 - Duncan Edwards, English footballer (b. 1936)
• 1960 - Jacques Becker, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
• 1965 - Malcolm X, American black activist (b. 1925)
• 1966 - Paul Comtois, French Canadian politician (b. 1895)
• 1967 - Charles Beaumont, American writer (b. 1929)
• 1968 - Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmocologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)
• 1972 - Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian ballet dancer (b. 1891)
• 1972 - Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant, French Catholic candinal (b. 1884)
• 1974 - Tim Horton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1930)
• 1978 - Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish historian and priest (b. 1901)
• 1980 - Alfred Andersch, German writer
• 1982 - Murray the K, American impresario and disc jockey (b. 1922)
• 1984 - Michail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate (b. 1905)
• 1985 - Louis Hayward, British actor (b. 1909)
• 1986 - Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (b. 1895)
• 1986 - Shigechiyo Izumi, Japanese sugarcane farmer, also the world's oldest man ever (b. 1865)
• 1989 - Alex Thépot, French footballer (b. 1906)
• 1991 - Dame Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (b. 1919)
• 1996 - Morton Gould, American composer (b. 1913)
• 1999 - Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1918)
• 1999 - Wilmer David Mizell, baseball player (b. 1930)
• 2000 - Antonio Díaz-Miguel, Spanish basketball coach (b. 1933)
• 2002 - Harold Furth, Austrian-born physicist (b. 1939)
• 2002 - John Thaw, English actor (b. 1942)
• 2003 - Eddie Thomson, Scottish Football (soccer) player and coach (b. 1947)
• 2004 - John Charles, Welsh footballer (b. 1931)
• 2004 - Guido Molinari, Canadian artist (b. 1933)
• 2005 - Ara Berberian, American opera singer (b. 1930)
• 2005 - Gérard Bessette, Quebec novelist and poet (b. 1920)
• 2005 - Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban novelist (b. 1929)
• 2005 - Eugene Scott, American religious broadcaster (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances

• Language Martyrs' Day - A day celebrated by Bengali language speaking people for gaining right of mother tongue.
• International Mother Language Day (UNESCO).

Liturgical feasts

• February 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

In the Roman Catholic Church:

• Saint Peter Damiani
• Saint Pepin of Landen
• Saint Randoald

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

February 21 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
February 21 is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 313 days remaining until the end of the year (314 in leap years).

Total Eclipse of the Moon: 2008 February 21
Total Eclipse of the Moon, 2008 February 21 ... Total Eclipse of the Moon: 2008 February 21 Global Circumstances. The global visibility of this lunar eclipse is shown in the ...

BBC ON THIS DAY | 21
1972: Nixon makes historic visit to China. US President Richard Nixon arrives in China at the start of a week-long summit aimed at ending 20 years of frosty relations between the ...

Hermit Eclipse: Total Lunar Eclipse: February 21 2008
H_description ... The total lunar eclipse of February 21 2008 will be visible over the Americas, Europe, Africa, and western Asia.

Work - Thursday, February 21
Thursday, February 21 Work Calendar «

BBC - Press Office - 21 February 2008
Press Releases ... Press Releases: Category: Panorama: On Whose Orders? News: Desmond Lynam to present Sport Mastermind: BBC Two

Work - Saturday, February 21
Saturday, February 21 Work Calendar «

E@T News » 2008» February» 21
Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo are now integrated into many students’ lives. But are they a welcome source of support of a time-wasting distraction?

BBC - History - Battle of Verdun: 21 February 1916 - July 1916
One of the costliest battles of World War One, Verdun exemplified the 'war of attrition' pursued by both sides and which cost so many lives.

Mystical-WWW : February Day to Day
February 21 : The Day of Intimacy W.H. Auden, poet, born this day in 1907.