On This Day: What happened on 21 January?
We look back on this day in history and remember the people and events that shaped the world we live in today. Every day is worth remembering.
Here’s a look at what happened on this day, 21 January, throughout history. We remember the news, events, and people that influenced the course of history forever.
ON THIS DAY: 21 JANUARY
1960 | More than 400 miners were killed in the worst mining disaster in South Africa when a section of the Clydesdale Colliery caved in, at the Coalbrook mine near Sasolburg, Orange Free State.
1987 | More than a dozen people are killed, in the KwaMakhutha township massacre.
2013 | Henry Okah, Nigerian terrorist, is found guilty of organizing two car bombs that killed thirteen people and more than forty injured in Abuja.
2017 | Former president of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh announced on state television that he was stepping down. On the same day, he left the country travelling to Guinea.
READ: On this Day: What happened on 20 January?
DEATHS
1974 | South African cricket player, Ken Viljoen (64)
2015 | Chief Justice of Liberia, Johnnie Lewis (69)
BIRTHDAYS
1930 | 1st Prime Minister of Zambia, Mainza Chona
1933 | Former Senegalese Prime Minister, Habib Thiam
1942 | Former Prime Minister of Guinea, Eugène Camara
1963 | Nigerian-American basketball player, Hakeem Olajuwon
1987 | Congolese football player, Mulopo Kudimbana
1987 | Zimbabwean football player, Nyasha Mushekwi
SPORT
2011 | The Proteas beat India by 48 runs in their 4th ODI in Port Elizabeth.
ENTERTAINMENT
1982 | The first Hong Kong movie filmed in China ‘Shaolin Temple’ starring Jet Li in his debut role is released.
1993 | Nigerian singer, Fela Kuti is arrested on murder suspicion.
AFRICA FACT
The giraffe is found in over 20 African nations but is now extinct in seven nations, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal.