On this day January 17-23, 2021 (week 03)

January 17, 2021 - January 23, 2021 - Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries for each day of the week. This week features Operation Desert Storm, British pirate Henry Morgan, Indira Gandhi, U.S. President, John F. Kennedy, Concorde and the Mogul Emperor of India who built the Taj Mahal.

EDITORS: The On This Day series of graphics started almost 25 years ago in 1996. It offers a print graphic for every day of the year in English, Spanish or Arabic. A digital version is also available that auto-updates providing a fresh image for your website every day of the year (English only - see link below).

The print graphics for each week are downloadable together as a set, and made available two weeks at a time, a week before the first day of the first set.

The digital version GN40881 includes data for every day of the year but may be updated as and if necessary during the year.

If you want to search for alternative events or anniversaries you can use the On This Day database (see links below or via the online Menu).

January 17, 1991: The U.S. and allies launched Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. The aerial and naval bombardment continued for five weeks

January 18, 1671: Swashbuckling British pirate Henry Morgan defeated the Spanish at Panama and proceeded to sack the city, leaving with 175 mule-loads of booty

January 19, 1966: Indira Gandhi was elected as India’s first woman prime minister. She succeeded Lal Shastri, who had in turn succeeded Gandhi’s father, Jawaharlal Nehru

January 20, 1961: At his inauguration as the 35th U.S. President, John F. Kennedy declared, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”

January 21, 1976: Supersonic passenger travel began as the first scheduled flights on Concorde took off simultaneously from Paris to Rio de Janeiro and London to Bahrain

January 22, 1666: Shah Jehan, the Mogul Emperor of India who built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his beloved wife, died in Agra Fort where his son had imprisoned him for eight years

January 23, 2020: Wuhan and other Chinese cities were placed under quarantine as a new strain of coronavirus spread widely. More than 80 people had died as infections soared