Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/July 21

Skip to table of contents

This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/July 21.

To report an error when this list is currently on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Before making a suggestion, please read the selected anniversaries guidelines. Please remember that this list usually defers to supporting pages when there is disagreement, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
To discuss improvements to the corresponding July 21 article, see Talk:July 21 instead.

Frequently asked questions

Q1: Why is [Insert event here], an event that is "more important and significant" than all the others that are currently listed, not posted?: A1: Relative article quality along with the mix of topics already listed are often deciding factors in what gets posted. Any given day of the year can have a great many important or significant historical events. The problem is that there is generally only room on the Main Page to list about 5 events at a time, so not everything can be posted.

As stated on Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page, the items and events posted on the Main Page are chosen based more on how well they are written, not based on how much important or significant their subjects are. It is easier for admins to select a well-written, cited, verifiable article over a poor one versus trying to determine objectively how much a subject is important or significant.

Keep in mind that the quality requirements only apply to the selected bolded article, not the other links. Thus, an event may qualify for multiple dates in a year if there is an article written in a summary style and an article providing detailed content; if one of those pages have cleanup issues, the other page can be bolded as an alternate.

Another criterion is to maintain some variety of topics, and not exhibit, just for example, tech-centrism, or the belief that the world stops at the edge of the English-speaking world. Many days have a large pool of potential articles, so they will rotate in and out every year to give each one some Main Page exposure. In addition, an event is not posted if it is also the subject of this year's scheduled featured article or featured picture.

Q2: There are way too many 20th-century events listed. Why aren't there more events from the 19th century and before?

A2: The short, basic reason is the systemic bias of Wikipedia. There are not enough good, well-written articles on 19th-century and earlier events for all 365 days in the year. Currently, a majority of users seem to be generally more interested in writing articles about recent events. If you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

Q3: This page seems to be biased toward events based in [Insert country or region here]. What can be done about it?

A3: This again is attributed to the systemic bias of Wikipedia. Many users are generally more interested in working on good, well-written articles pertaining to their home country. Since this is the English Wikipedia, there will be more English-speaking users, and thus more articles pertaining to English-speaking countries. And if there are more users who are from the United States, there will probably be more well-written articles about events based in the United States. Again, if you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

Q4: Why is the birthday/death anniversary of [Insert name here] not listed?

A4: There are only four slots available for birth and death anniversaries. As with the events, article quality and diversity in time period, geography, and reason for notability are all contributing factors in whether an article gets selected for inclusion.

Q5: Are the holidays/observances listed in any particular order?

A5: Yes, there is a specified order: International observances first, then alphabetically by where observed.

Q6: Some of the holidays/observances that are listed have dates in parentheses beside them. What do they mean?

A6: There are two reasons that some holidays/observances have dates next to them:

Non-Gregorian-based holidays/observances are marked with the current year as a reminder to others that their dates do in fact vary from year to year.
National Days, Independence Days, and other holidays celebrating the nationhood of a country are generally marked by the year of the significant historic date being observed.

Today's featured article for July 21, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 21, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for July 21, 2025
The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. create

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/July 20 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/July 22 →

1579 - Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.

The Our Lady of Kazan article now says July 8, not July 21 anymore. But I guess we can mention the feast day in the Russian Orthodox Church. -- PFHLai 18:06, 19 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11

some guy's birthday as an 'on this day' top line?!?!?!?!

How on earth did the "Centennial of the birth of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan" make it onto the first line of the "On this day" on the english wikipedia main page?!?! Since when are people's birthdays put there at all? But of all the people in history, why such an obscure figure as Marshall McLuhan. Just because some guy (Tvoz) likes him? How did the editors let this one go through?!?! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 18.98.5.238 (talk) 22:11, 22 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Omitted: 365 Crete earthquake; Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout; Geneva Conference (1954); Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin; Aswan Dam (ineligible—maintenance); Bloody Friday (1972)
Included: Temple of Artemis (5th appearance, last in 2010); Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); First Battle of Bull Run (5th appearance, last in 2007); Scopes Trial (4th appearance, last in 2010); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 05:51, 20 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: Temple of Artemis; Russo-Turkish War (1768–74); First Battle of Bull Run; Scopes Trial; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Included: 365 Crete earthquake (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Queue (first appearance); Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Lillehammer affair (first appearance); Libyan–Egyptian War (2nd appearance, last in 2009)

—howcheng {chat} 03:13, 20 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11 was POTD for 2014)
New articles (unused): Erden Eruç
Omitted: 365 Crete earthquake; Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout; Lillehammer affair; Libyan–Egyptian War
Included: Belgian National Day (first appearance); Pope Pontian (first appearance); Russo-Turkish War (1768–74) (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Battle of Guam (1944) (3rd appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible; 70th anniversary); Aswan Dam (5th appearance, last in 2011; rescued from Ineligible)
Repeats: Queue (hairstyle) (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 09:29, 20 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Libyan–Egyptian War (maintenance)
Omitted: Pope Pontian; Queue (hairstyle) (ineligible—maintenance); Russo-Turkish War (1768–74); Battle of Guam (1944) (ineligible—maintenance); Aswan Dam
Included: Temple of Artemis (6th appearance, last in 2012); Leopold I of Belgium (7th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible); Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout (3rd appearance, last in 2013; 150th anniversary); Scopes Trial (5th appearance, last in 2012; 90th anniversary); Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (4th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible)

—howcheng {chat} 05:59, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

Omitted: Temple of Artemis; Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout; Scopes Trial; Third Taiwan Strait Crisis
Included: 365 Crete earthquake (3rd appearance, last in 2013); First Battle of Bull Run (6th appearance, last in 2012); Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin (both: 2nd appearance, last in 2011; rescued from Ineligible); Erden Eruç (first appearance)
Repeats: Leopold I of Belgium (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:33, 20 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Temple of Artemis (maintenance); Wild Bill Hickok – Davis Tutt shootout (maintenance); Geneva Conference (1954) (maintenance); Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (maintenance)
Omitted: Belgian National Day (ineligible—maintenance); Leopold I of Belgium (ineligible—maintenance); First Battle of Bull Run (ineligible—maintenance); Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin; Erden Eruç
Included: Pittsburgh railway riots (first appearance); Scopes Trial (6th appearance, last in 2015); Aswan Dam (6th appearance, last in 2014); Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2nd appearance, last in 2012; 10th anniversary); Simion Bărnuțiu (first appearance); Hart Crane (first appearance); Hubert Lyautey (first appearance)
Repeats: 365 Crete earthquake (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:19, 21 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

New articles (unused): Louis Vauxcelles
Omitted: 365 Crete earthquake; Pittsburgh railroad strike of 1877; Aswan Dam; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Simion Bărnuțiu; Hart Crane; Hubert Lyautey
Included: Pope Pontian (2nd appearance, last in 2014); Louis the Blind (first appearance); Lillehammer affair (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Erden Eruç (2nd appearance, last in 2016); Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon (first appearance); Russell Lee (photographer) (first appearance); Rilwanu Lukman (first appearance)
Repeats: Scopes Trial (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

—howcheng {chat} 21:30, 21 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

New articles (unused): 2013 Iranian diplomat kidnapping
Included: Buzz Aldrin, as per Wikipedia:WikiProject Space 2019/Main Page/July 21

No other changes were made this year. —howcheng {chat} 16:52, 23 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11 is TFA for 2020-07-20); Aswan Dam (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): Brandi Chastain (maintenance); Rachael Flatt (maintenance)
Omitted: Pope Pontian; Louis the Blind; Scopes Trial; Buzz Aldrin (merged back to same blurb with Armstrong); Lillehammer affair; Erden Eruç (ineligible—maintenance); Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon; Russell Lee (photographer); Rilwanu Lukman
Included: Belgian National Day (rescued from Ineligible); Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) (3rd appearance, last in 2014; rescued from Ineligible); Leopold I of Belgium (9th appearance, last in 2016; rescued from Ineligible); Attack on Orleans (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Sirimavo Bandaranaike (3rd appearance, last in 2005; 60th anniversary; rescued from Ineligible); Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident (first appearance; 30th anniversary); Henry Percy (Hotspur) (first appearance); Paul Reuter (first appearance); Fiammetta Wilson (first appearance; 100th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 20:08, 22 July 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

New articles (unused): 1952 Kern County earthquake
Omitted: Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774); Leopold I of Belgium; Attack on Orleans; Sirimavo Bandaranaike; Min Ping Yu No. 5540 incident; Henry Percy (Hotspur); Paul Reuter; Fiammetta Wilson
Included: 365 Crete earthquake (5th appearance, last in 2017); Ciompi Revolt (first appearance); Pittsburgh railroad strike of 1877 (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Egyptian–Libyan War (3rd appearance, last in 2013); 2013 Iranian diplomat kidnapping (first appearance); Simion Bărnuțiu (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Sophie Bledsoe Aberle (first appearance; 125th birthday); Louis Vauxcelles (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 07:51, 23 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2022 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) (maintenance); Leopold I of Belgium (maintenance); Hubert Lyautey (date not certain)
Omitted: 365 Crete earthquake; Pittsburgh railroad strike of 1877; 2013 Iranian diplomat kidnapping; Simion Bărnuțiu; Sophie Bledsoe Aberle
Included: 1952 Kern County earthquake (first appearance; 70th anniversary); International Mathematical Olympiad (first appearance); Sirimavo Bandaranaike (4th appearance, last in 2020); Fiammetta Wilson (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Rilwanu Lukman (3rd appearance, last in 2019)
Repeats: Ciompi Revolt (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Egyptian–Libyan War (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total); Louis Vauxcelles (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 75th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 22:10, 23 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

2023 notes

Moved to ineligible: Hubert Lyautey (date uncertain); Lillehammer affair (maintenance)
New articles (unused): 1946 La Paz riots
Omitted: Ciompi Revolt; 1952 Kern County earthquake; International Mathematical Olympiad; Sirimavo Bandaranaike; Egyptian–Libyan War; Fiammetta Wilson; Louis Vauxcelles; Rilwanu Lukman
Included: 365 Crete earthquake (6th appearance, last in 2021); Louis the Blind (3rd appearance, last in 2019); Attack on Orleans (2nd appearance, last in 2020); 2013 Iranian diplomat kidnapping (2nd appearance, last in 2021, 10th anniversary); 2019 Yuen Long attack (first appearance); Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou (first appearance); Albert Luthuli (first appearance); Ruth St. Denis (first appearance); Anthony Annan (first appearance)

Heart ^(talk) 04:44, 29 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]