This day in history

► Today is Thursday, July 21, the 202d day of 2011. There are 163 days left in the year. ► Today’s birthdays: Singer Kay Starr is 89. Director Norman Jewison is 85. Former Attorney General Janet Reno is 73. Actress Patricia Elliott is 69. Actor David Downing is 68. Actor Edward Herrmann is 68. Actor Leigh Lawson is 66. Actor Wendell Burton is 64. Actor Art Hindle is 63. Singer Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) is 63. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau is 63. Actor Robin Williams is 60. Actor Jamey Sheridan is 60. Rock singer-musician Eric Bazilian (The Hooters) is 58. Comedian Jon Lovitz is 54. Actor Lance Guest is 51. Actor Matt Mulhern is 51. Comedian Greg Behrendt is 48. Rock musician Koen Lieckens (K’s Choice) is 45. Rock singer Emerson Hart is 42. Country singer Paul Brandt is 39. Actress Ali Landry is 38. Actor Justin Bartha is 33. Actor Josh Hartnett is 33. Christian singer Brandon Heath is 33. Actress Sprague Grayden is 33. Reggae singer Damian Marley is 33. Country singer Brad Mates (Emerson Drive) is 33. New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia is 31. Singer Blake Lewis is 30. Rock musician Johan Carlsson (Carolina Liar) is 27. Actress Vanessa Lengies is 26. Actor Jamie Waylett (“Harry Potter’’ films) is 22. ► In 1861, the first Battle of Bull Run was fought at Manassas, Va., with the Confederates victorious. ► In 1899, author Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Ill.; poet Hart Crane was born in Garrettsville, Ohio. ► In 1911, Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan was born in Edmonton. ► In 1925, the so-called “Monkey Trial’’ ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. (The conviction was later overturned on a technicality.) ► In 1930, President Hoover signed an executive order establishing the Veterans Administration (later the US Department of Veterans Affairs). ► In 1944, American forces landed on Guam. ► In 1949, the US Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty. ► In 1961, Captain Virgil “Gus’’ Grissom became the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth, flying aboard the Liberty Bell 7. ► In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz’’ Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the ascent stage of the lunar module for docking with the command module. ► In 1980, draft registration began in the United States for 19- and 20-year-old men.