What Happened on January 21?

January 21 is Squirrel Appreciation Day, a salute to the acorn-burying heroes of your backyard. It is also the day a king lost his head, pinball got banned in New York, and the world's first nuclear submarine hit the water!

• 1793 — King Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine

  During the French Revolution, the deposed king was executed in Paris after being convicted of treason, ending more than a thousand years of French monarchy. Read the full story →

• 1908 — New York City outlaws automobiles with the Sullivan Ordinance

  Fed up with noisy, dangerous horseless carriages, New York's lawmakers voted to ban automobiles — making it illegal to drive one in the whole city. Read the full story →

• 1942 — New York City bans pinball machines — sledgehammers follow

  Mayor Fiorello La Guardia declared pinball a gambling racket, and police confiscated about 2,000 machines while the famous mayor smashed some with a sledgehammer. Read the full story →

• 1954 — USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, is launched

  First Lady Mamie Eisenhower christened the world's first atomic-powered submarine as it slid into the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut. Read the full story →

• 1976 — Concorde carries its first passengers faster than sound

  Two Concordes took off at the same moment — one from London, one from Paris — launching the first commercial supersonic passenger flights in history. Read the full story →

Famous birthdays

Jack Nicklaus (1940) · Plácido Domingo (1941) · Geena Davis (1956)

Days & observances

Squirrel Appreciation Day · National Hugging Day · National Granola Bar Day