Holidays Calendar for July 21, 2020
National Day is one of twelve public holidays in Belgium. It's annually observed on July 21 to celebrate the day, when Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg swore allegiance to the new Belgian constitution and became the first King of Belgium.
Guam annually celebrates Liberation Day on July 21. The date of the holiday is connected with the start of the Second Battle of Guam in July 1944.
In the Islamic Republic of Iran, most secular holidays are celebrated according to the Iranian calendar (Solar hijra), whereas most religious observances are held according to the Islamic calendar. For example, Imamzadeh Glorification Day is celebrated on 5 Dhu al-Qidah.
No Pet Store Puppies Day is observed annually on July 21. This awareness campaign was created to raise awareness of horrible conditions at puppy mills and encourage people to adopt puppies from shelters or buy them from ethical breeders instead of shopping for puppies at the pet store.
The mass race riots, that occurred in Singapore in 1964, became the basis for creation of Racial Harmony Day. This holiday is celebrated in Singapore on July 21 to commemorate the innocent victims of the riots.
July 21 is the day when all diets go out of the window as it is National Junk Food Day. This is a perfect excuse to indulge in your guilty pleasures without pangs of conscience.
The majority of popular food-related holidays originated in the United States, but there are exception to this rule. For example, National Lamington Day, sometimes referred to as International Lamington Day or World Lamington Day, is celebrated in Australia in honor of the country’s iconic dessert.
Legal Drinking Age Day is observed in the United States on July 21. It was created to raise awareness of the benefits of the minimum legal drinking age of 21 and encourage people to drink responsibly.
National Be Someone Day is observed annually on July 21 to raise awareness of child abuse and encourage people to learn its signs and report child abuse whenever they have reasonable suspicion.
Fibroids Awareness Day, also known as Uterine Fibroids Awareness Days, is observed in Canada on July 21 every year. It was created to shine a light on benign tumors of the uterus that impact about 70% of women by the age of 50.
Festivals on July 21, 2020
- Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, United Kingdom
- Interceltic Festival of Avilés in Avilés, Spain
- Supertoon International Animation Festival in Šibenik, Croatia
- Shanghai International Film Festival in Shanghai, China
- Pula Film Festival in Pula, Croatia
- Gentse Feesten in Ghent, Belgium
- Verbier Festival in Verbier, Switzerland
- International Istanbul Film Festival in Istanbul, Turkey
- Bangkok International Motor Show in Bangkok, Thailand
- Buxton International Festival in Buxton, United Kingdom
- Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk in Vitebsk, Belarus
- Taiwan International Balloon Festival in Luye, Taiwan
- Chartres en lumières (Chartres in Lights) in Chartres, France
- Highland Renaissance Festival in Eminence, USA
- Festival d’Avignon in Avignon, France
This Day in History
- 2023 The Barbenheimer cultural phenomenon began in earnest as Warner Bros. Pictures' Barbie and Universal Pictures' Oppenheimer were released on the same day.
- 2023 Died: Tony Bennett, American jazz and traditional pop singer whose accolades included 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
- 2012 Turkish adventurer Erden Eruç became the first person in history to complete a solo human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth.
- 2011 STS-135, the final mission of the NASA Space Shuttle program, landed. NASA hosted an employee appreciation event on the occasion.
- 2007 The seventh and final novel of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was released in the UK, the US and Canada.
- 2006 Died: Ta Mok, Cambodian military chief and soldier who was a senior figure in the Khmer Rouge. He was best known as the Butcher.
- 2004 Died: Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor best known for his work in scoring. In 1976, he was awarded an Oscar for The Omen.
- 2004 Died: Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist who was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, sharing it with two scientists.
- 1998 Died: Alan Shepard, American naval officer, aviator, test pilot, NASA astronaut and businessman. He was the second person to travel into space.
- 1989 Born: Rory Culkin, American actor, the youngest brother of actors Macaulay and Kieran Culkin. His film credits include Scream 4, Lords of Chaos, and Signs.
- 1986 Born: Diane Guerrero, American actress known for her television roles in Orange is the New Black, Jane the Virgin, and Doom Patrol. She also voiced Isabela in Encanto.
- 1985 Born: Vanessa Lengies, Canadian actress, dancer and singer best known for her role as Roxanne Bojarski in American Dreams and Sugar Motta in Glee.
- 1983 The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location was recorded at the Vostok Station in Antarctica. It was −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F; 184.0 K).
- 1978 Born: Josh Hartnett, American actor and producer known for his roles as Trip Fontaine in The Virgin Suicides and Daniel Walker in Pearl Harbor.
- 1978 Born: Justin Bartha, American actor known for his roles as Riley Poole in the National Treasure franchise and Doug Billings in The Hangover trilogy.
- 1977 Died: Lee Miller, American photographer. During World War II, she was an acclaimed war correspondent, covering many major events.
- 1975 Born: David Dastmalchian, American actor, writer, and producer known for his collaborations with Denis Villeneuve and supporting roles in several superhero franchises.
- 1973 Born: Ali Landry, American actress and model. She is the winner of Miss USA 1996 and the Doritos Girl from the 1998 Super Bowl commercial.
- 1971 Born: Charlotte Gainsbourg, British-French actress and singer, the daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. She is known for her collaborations with Lars von Trier.
- 1970 The construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed. It was a key objective of the government following the 1952 Revolution.
- 1967 Died: Jimmie Foxx, American professional baseball first baseman. He was the second player in MLB to hit 500 career home runs, after Babe Ruth.
- 1966 Born: Sarah Waters, Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.
- 1961 The second U.S. human spaceflight, Mercury-Redstone 4, took place. The spacecraft was piloted by astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom.
- 1956 Born: Michael Connelly, American crime fiction writer whose best known characters are Mickey Haller and Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch.
- 1954 The Geneva accords were issued, following the Geneva Conference. These agreements temporarily separated Vietnam into two zones.
- 1951 Born: Robin Williams, American actor and comedian known for his roles in widely acclaimed films. In 1998, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
- 1948 Died: Arshile Gorky (born Vosdanig Manoug Adoian), Armenian-American painter who had a considerable influence on Abstract Expressionism.
- 1948 Born: Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist, best known for his Doonesbury comic strip, which earned him the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.
- 1944 Died: Claus von Stauffenberg, German army officer who led the failed 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich.
- 1938 Died: Owen Wister, American lawyer and writer who is widely regarded as the "father" of western fiction. His best known work is The Virginian.
- 1899 Born: Ernest Hemingway, American writer and journalist whose best known forks include The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and A Farewell to Arms.
- 1831 Leopold I became the first King of the Belgians following the independence of Belgium from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- 1822 General Agustín de Iturbide was crowned as Emperor of the First Mexican Empire. Augustine of Mexico was forced to abdicate in 1823.
- 1816 Born: Paul Reuter, German-English entrepreneur and journalist primarily remembered as the founder of the Reuters news agency.
- 1796 Died: Robert Burns, Scottish poet and lyricist who is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland. He wrote in the Scots language and in English.
- 1620 Born: Jean Picard, French astronomer who was the first person to measure the size of the Earth to a reasonable degree of accuracy.
- 365 The devastating Crete earthquake followed by a tsunami occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean, destroying nearly all towns on the island of Crete.