20th
April, on this day
295 8th recorded
perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
850 Guntherus becomes bishop of Cologne
1139 2nd Lateran Council (10th ecumenical council) opens in Rome
1303 The University
of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope
Boniface VIII.
1505 Jews are expelled from Orange Burgundy by Philibert of Luxembourg
1534 Elizabeth Barton, the Maid of Kent, is executed along with five
of her associates after being found guilty of treason
1534 Jacques
Cartier begins his voyage, in which he will discover Canada and
Labrador.
1551 John Dudley becomes English Earl Marshal
1650 VOC-management sets new guidelines
1653 Oliver
Cromwell dissolves the Rump
Parliament.
1657 The Spanish Fleet is destroyed in the Battle
at Santa Cruz by an English Fleet commanded by Admiral Blake
1657 Freedom
of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New
York City).
1689 The former
King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
1715 Nicholas
Rowe's "Tragedy of Lady Jane Gray", premieres in London
1770 Captain James Cook discovers New South Wales in Australia
1775 British begin siege
of Boston
1777 New York adopts new constitution as an independent state
1792 France declares war on Austria, Prussia and Sardinia. The beginning
of French
Revolutionary Wars.
1799 Napoleon issues a decree calling for establishing Jerusalem for
Jews
1809 Napoleon I defeats Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria
1810 The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from
Spain.
1821 Edgar Allan Poe's book, 'Murders In The Rue Morgue, considered
to be the world's first modern detective story, is published in America
1828 René
Caillié is first non-Muslim to enter in Timbouctou.
1836 Territory of Wisconsin created
1841 1st detective story (Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue")
published
1853 Harriet
Tubman starts Underground Railroad
1861 Battle of Norfolk, VA
1861 Colonel
Robert E Lee resigns from Union army
1862 The first pasteurization test completed by Louis
Pasteur and Claude
Bernard.
1871 Civil
Rights Act of 1871
1879 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London and
Cyprus
1884 Pope
Leo XIII encyclical "On
Freemasonry"
1887 In France, the world's first motor race takes place along the
banks of the River Seine from the centre of Paris to Neuilly
1902 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate radioactive element radium
1904 George Bernard Shaw's "Candida",
premieres in London
1910 Halley's Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million
km
1914
33 killed by soldiers during mine strike in Ludlow CO
1916 German-British sea battle off Belgian coast
1917 Pravda (Lenin names Russia "Free land of world")
1918 Manfred
von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th
victims marking his final victories before his death the following
day.
1919 Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from Soviet Army
1920 Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama and Mississippi
1920 7th modern Olympic games open in Antwerp, Belgium
1920 Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a British Mandate
1926 1st check sent by radio facsimile transmission across the Atlantic
1926 Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone,
a process to add sound to film.
1931 British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday
1934 Heinrich Himmler becomes inspector Prussian secret state police
1936 Jews repel an Arab attack in Petach Tikvah Palestine
1939 New York World's Fair opens
1940 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia PA
1941 100 German bombers attack Athens
1942 Heavy German assault on Malta
1944 Dutch Communist Party-resistance fighter John Postma sentence
to death
1945 Soviet troops enter Berlin
1945 US 7th Army and allies forces capture Nuremberg and Stuttgart
in Germany
1945 US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city
to the Soviet Union.
1945 Mayor of Leipzig, Germany, killed himself along with his wife
and daughter
1945 Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface
to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1945 German occupiers flood Beemster and Fencer
1945 B-29 bombers destroy the Musashi Aircraft plants, halting production
of the Nakajima Ki-84 fighter planes.
1945 US forces conquer Motobu peninsula on Okinawa
1947 Frederik IX becomes King of Denmark
1951 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak Atoll
1951 Velsen city council demands investigation of police collaborators
1958 Buses replace Key System trains in San Francisco area at 3 AM
1958 Morocco demands departure of Spanish troops
1961 American Harold Graham makes 1st rocket belt flight
1961 Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US troops against Cuba.
1962 First production of Bentlage brand cigars, Habana, Cuba.
1962 NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to an altitude
of 63,250 meters
1962 OAS-leader ex-General Salan arrested in Algiers
1963 All Africa Conferences of Churches opens in Kampala, Uganda
1964 86% of black students boycott Cleveland schools
1964 BBC
Two launches with the power cut because of the fire at Battersea
Power Station.
1965 People's Republic China offers North Vietnam military aid
1967 US planes bomb Haiphong for 1st time during the Vietnam War
1967 US Surveyor 3 lands on Moon
1967 French author Régis
Debray caught in Bolivia
1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk
USSR
1967 A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus,
killing 126.
1968 A South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes during takeoff at
Windhoek, South-West Africa, killing 122.
1968 English politician Enoch
Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.
1968 Pierre
Elliott Trudeau sworn-in as Canada's PM
1970 US President Richard Nixon announces that 150,000 American troops
are to be withdrawn from the fighting in Vietnam
1970 Bruno Kreisky becomes 1st socialist chancellor of Austria
1971 US Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation
1972 Apollo
16's Young and Duke land on Moon with Boeing Lunar Rover number
2
1973 Canadian ANIK A2 becomes 1st commercial satellite in orbit
1974 Paul McCartney releases "Band
on the Run"
1976 George Harrison sings the lumberjack song with Monty Python
1978 Korean
Air Flight 902 shot down by Soviets.
1980 Climax of Berber
Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are
arrested.
1980 Cubans begin to arrive in US from Mariel
boatlift
1981 Rocker Papa
John Phillips arrested for drug possession
1983 Soyuz T-8 launched; mission aborted when capsule fails to dock
1984 Russian offensive in Panshirvallei, Afghánistán
1985 ATF
raid on The
Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern
Arkansas.
1986
Vladimir Horowitz performs in his Russian homeland for the first
time in 61 years
1986 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1987 Sri Lanka Tamils shoot 122 Singalezen dead
1987 US deports Karl
Linnas, charged with nazi war crimes, to USSR
1987 Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader, Yasser Arafat calls
for a sovereign Palestinian state "with Jerusalem as its capital".
1988 US accuses Renamo of killing 100,000 Mozambiquians
1989 Scientists say the Earth has narrowly missed being struck by
a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons
1990 In Poland, Lech Walessa is re-elected chairman of the worker's
union, Solidarity
1992 Expo '92 opens in Seville Spain
1992 All star concert in memory of Freddie Mercury held at Wembley
Stadium London
1992 Madonna signs $60-million deal with Time Warner
1993 Uranus passes Neptune (this occurs once every 171 years)
1994 Danny
Harold Rolling, sentenced to death in Florida, for killing 5
1994 Serbian army bombs hospital in Goradze Bosnia, 47 killed
1994 Space shuttle STS-59 (Endeavour 6), lands
1994 Israeli and PLO negotiators draw up an agreement to transfer
civilian government powers to Palestinians in Gaza and Jericho
1998 An Air France flight from Eldorado International Airport of Bogotá,
Colombia to Quito, Ecuador, using an aircraft leased from TAME and
flown with Ecuadorian crew, crashed into a mountain near Bogotá.
All 43 passengers and 10 crew died
1998 German terrorist group Red
Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
1999 Deadliest
school shooting in US history at Columbine High School, Littleton
CO, 13 killed, 23 wounded
2004 In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu
Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding
92.
2007 Johnson
Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself
in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a
male hostage and himself.
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Birthdates which
occurred on 20th April :
0121 Marcus Aurelius
16th Roman emperor (161-80), philosopher
1442 Edward IV King (England, 1461-83)
1494 John Agricola [Schneider] German theologist/prime minister
1592 John Eliot St Germans Cornwall, English MP/author
1594 Matthaus Apelles von Lowenstern composer
1705 Balthasar Schmid composer
1725 Johann Friedrich Kloffler composer
1726 Jozef de Ferraris French/Austrian earl/General/cartographer
1745 Philippe Pinel physician, founder of psychiatry
1748 Georg Michael Telemann composer
1748 Guillaume Albert Teniers composer
1761 Johann Gottlieb Karl Spazier composer
1808 Louis-Napoleon [Napoleon III] emperor of France (1852-71)
1809 John Smith Preston Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died
in 1881
1824 Alfred Holt Colquitt Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died
in 1894
1826 Dina M Craik writer
1827 John Gibbon Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1896
1839 Carol I King of Romania (1881-1914)
1840 Odilon Redon French painter/author (La nuit, Rêves)
1850 Daniel Chester French/American sculptor (The Minute Man)
1857 Charles LP "Philip" Zilcken painter/author (HW Knife
Day)
1857 Hermann Bang writer
1858 Auguste Chapuis composer
1860 Charles Gordon Curtis US attorney/inventor (Curtis Turbine)
1860 Pieter Jelles Troelstra Dutch MP (SDAP)
1865 Max HHR Nettlau Austrian historian (Le Première Internationale)
1866 Victor Hollaender composer
1870 Simeon Roncal composer
1871 William Henry Davies Wales, poet (Autobiography of a Super Tramp)
1876 Gerard J Arbous actor/publicist (Prince William of Orange)
1879 Robert Lynd Irish writer/critic (Pleasures of Ignorance)
1881 Nikolai Miaskovsky Novogeorievsk Poland, composer (Kirov is With
Us)
1881 Sem Dresden composer/conductor
1889 Adolf Hitler Braunau Austria, dictator of Nazi Germany (1936-45)
1890 Adolf Schärf President of Austria (1957-65)
1893 Harold Lloyd Burchard NE, silent comic (Why Worry, Safety Last)
1893 Joan Miró Spain, painter/sculptor (Dog Barking at the
Moon)
1893 Hermann Ungar writer
1894 Martinus Nijhoff poet/interpreter/linguistic (spelling)
1896 Senor Wences ventriloquist (Close the Door)
1897 Bernard Verhoeven poet/literature (About the Laugh)
1897 Gregory Ratoff Petrograd Russia, actor/director (Corsican Brothers)
1900 Fred Raymond composer
1900 Kees Verwey painter/water colors painter/cartoonist
1901 Michel Leiris French cultural anthropologist
1902 Donald Wolfit England, actor (Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, Accursed)
1902 Vesselin Stoyanov composer
1903 Dagmar Edqvist Swedish author (Kamrathustru-Wife & Comrade)
1904 Bruce Cabot Carlsbad NM, actor (Diamonds are Forever, King Kong)
1907 William Dollar St Louis, ballet dancer/choreographer
1907 Alan Reed actor/voice (Fred Allen Show, Fred Flintstone)
1907 Miran Bux cricketer (his one season of Test & 1st-class play
1954-55)
1908 Wilhelmus M Bekkers bishop of Hertogenbosch
1909 Guido Alberti literary patron/businessman
1909 Lionel Hampton orchestra leader/vibraphone improviser (Depths
Below)
1909 Richard Stubbs publicity adviser
1911 Kukrit Pramoj politician
1912 David Townsend cricketer (3 Tests England vs West Indies 1935)
1912 Ed Jones (Representative-Democrat-TN, 1969- )
1912 Frederick Craig Riddle violist
1912 Soewarsil Djojopoespito Indonesia, writer (Toe the Line)
1913 Dick Wessel Wisconsin, actor (Dick Tracy vs Cueball, Beware of
Blondie)
1920 John Paul Stevens Chicago IL, 103rd Supreme Court Justice (1975-
)
1921 Donald Gunn MacRae sociologist
1923 Tito Puente Puerto Rico, bandleader (Dance Mania)
1924 Nina Foch Leiden Netherlands, actress (American in Paris)
1924 Gerhard Samuel composer
1924 Paul M Van Buren US theologist (Theological Explorations)
1925 Ernie Stautner NFL defensive tackle (Pittsburgh Steelers)/WLAF
head coach (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1925 Richard Hoffmann composer
1926 Harriett Elizabeth Byrd politician (Wyoming House of Representatives)
1927 Karl Müller Switzerland, superconductivity physicist (Nobel
1987)
1929 Bob Braun Ludlow KY, singer (Dotty Mack Show)
1930 Alan Oakman cricketer (England batsman against Australia 1956)
1931 Lee H Hamilton Daytona Beach FL, (Representative-Democrat-IN,
1965- )
1934 Lindsay Oliver John Boynton furniture historian
1936 Pat Roberts (Representative-Republican-KS, 1981- )
1938 Bernard Malivoire France, cox pair (Olympics-gold-1952)
1938 Betty Cuthbert Australia 100 meter/200 meter/400 meter dash (Olympics-gold-1956,
64)
1938 Johnny Tillotson Jacksonville FL, singer (Gidget, Poetry in Motion)
1939 Gro Harlem Brundtland Norwegian premier (1981-82, 86-89, 90-
)
1940 George Takei Los Angeles CA, actor (Sulu-Star Trek, Green Berets)
1940 James Gammon Newman IL, actor (Cool Hand Luke, Nick-Nash Bridges)
1940 Jan Cremer Dutch writer/sculptor (I, John Cremer)
1940 Pilar Miro director (Wether, Beltenebros)
1941 Joni Evans New York NY, publisher (Simon & Schuster, Random
House)
1941 Ryan O'Neal Los Angeles CA, actor (Peyton Place, Paper Moon,
Love Story)
1943 Michael Greer Galesburg IL, actor (Bobby Gentry Show)
1943 Edie Sedgwick Santa Barbara CA, actor (Ciao Manhattan)
1943 Ian Watson UK, sci-fi author (Book of Being, Whores of Babylon)
1945 Jimmy Winston London England, organist (Small Facres-Itchycoo
Park)
1947 David Leland Cambridge England, actor/director (Nothing But Trouble)
1948 Craig Frost keyboardist (Grand Funk Railroad-Some Kind of Wonderful)
1949 Jessica Lange Cloquet MN, actress (King Kong, Tootsie)
1949 Michal Israel, rocker (Sky with Stars)
1950 Itumeleng J Mosala South Africa President (Azanian People's Organization)
1951 Luther Vandross Bronx NY, rock vocalist (Here and Now, Never
Too Much)
1951 Geraint Wyn Davies Wales, actor (Bury Me in Niagara, High Hopes)
1952 Tamara Sergeyevna Zakharova Russian cosmonaut
1952 Toine van Benthem dentist/playwright/cabaret performer (Purper)
1954 Peter Toohey cricketer (New South Wales & Australian batsman
1977-80)
1955 Donald R Pettit Silverton OR, PhD/astronaut
1957 Graeme Fowler cricketer (England left-handed opener early 80s)
1957 Richenel [Hubertus R Baars] singer/performer (Dance Around The
World)
1958 Viacheslav Fetisov Moscow, NHL defenseman (Team Russia, Detroit)
1959 Clint Howard Burbank CA, actor (Gentle Ben)
1960 Rodney Holman NFL tight end (Detroit Lions)
1961 Don "Hitman" Mattingly Evansville IN, New York Yankee
1st baseman (MVP 1985)
1961 Marci Bozarth Lampasas TX, LPGA golfer (1994 Lady Keystone Open-37th)
1963 Brett Edward Garsed Victoria Australia, heavy metal artist (Nelson)
1963 Kal Swan heavy metal rocker
1964 John Carney NFL kicker (San Diego Chargers)
1964 Paul Nobes cricketer (prolific opening batsman for Victoria &
SA)
1965 Jim Terrell Cincinnati OH, sprint canoe (Olympics-96)
1967 J D Roth Beverly Hills CA, TV host (Fun House)
1967 Lara Jill Miller Allentown PA, actress (Samantha-Gimme a Break)
1967 Miroslav Stefanovic soccer player (FC Volendam)
1967 Townsend Saunders White Sands NM, freestyle wrestler (Olympics-silver-92,
96)
1968 LeShundra Nathan Birmingham AL, heptathlete
1969 John van Halst soccer player (FC Twente)
1969 Takayuki Kobori hockey defenseman (Team Japan 1998)
1970 Ben Weir Rock Island IL, Canadian Tour golfer (1993 Bogey Hills-2nd)
1970 Shemar Moore Oakland CA, actor (Malcolm-Young & Restless)
1971 Chris Penn NFL wide receiver (Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Bears)
1971 Grant Smith Australian field hockey forward (Olympics-96)
1971 John Senden Brisbane Queensland, Australasia golfer
1971 Terry Smith NFL wide receiver (Indianapolis Colts)
1971 Yonel Jourdain NFL running back/kick returner (Buffalo Bills)
1973 Itula Mili tight end (Seattle Seahawks)
1973 Lamond Murray NBA forward (Los Angeles Clippers)
1973 Todd Hollandsworth Dayton OH, outfielder (Los Angeles Dodgers)
1974 Ben[jamin] Lincoln Holbrook Hartland WI, rower (Olympics-1996)
1974 Kevin Sullivan Brantford Ontario Canada, 1.5k runner (Olympics-96)
1974 Paul Bradford cornerback (San Diego Chargers)
1975 Joey [Joseph Mignogna Jr] Lawrence Philadelphia PA, actor (Brotherly
Love, Joey-Gimme a Break, Blossom)
1976 Lenka Nemeckova Brno Czechoslovakia, tennis star (1993 Futures-Maribor-SLO)
1977 Lisa Ervin figure skater (US Nationals-4th-1992)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deaths which occurred
on April 20th:
1164 Victor IV [Ottaviano Montecello] Italian antipope (1159-64),
dies
1314 Clement V [Bertrand Got] pope (1305-14) move papacy to Avignon,
dies
1317 Agnes van Montepulciano Italian mystic/saint, dies
1534 Elizabeth Barton [Nun of Kent] British prophet, is executed
1632 Nicolas Antione converted to Judiasm, burned at the stake
1643 Christoph Demantius composer, dies at 75
1662 Gerard Terborch the elder, painter, dies
1695 Georg Caspar Weckler composer, dies at 63
1759 Georg Friedrich Händel buried in Westminster Abbey
1768 Giovanni AC Canaletto Italian painter/cartoonist (Rialto), dies
at 70
1769 Pontiac Indian chief to Ottawa, murdered
1786 John Goodricke English deaf & dumb astronomer, dies at 21
1812 George Clinton 4th US Vice President, dies at 73 1st Vice President
to die in office
1820 Arthur Young author (Annals of Agriculture), dies
1821 Franz K Achard German physicist/chemist, dies at 67
1836 Johan I Jozef monarch of Liechtenstein/fieldmarshal, dies at
75
1839 Giuseppe Rossini father of Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini,
dies
1869 Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe composer, dies at 72
1869 Piotr Studzinski composer, dies at 42
1872 Ljudwit Gaj Croatian writer/poet (Pjesma iz Zagorja), dies at
62
1899 Edouard Pailleron French attorney/comedian (voice où),
dies at 64
1900 Mabel Mercer popular British singer, dies
1906 Australian wombat oldest known marsupial, dies in London Zoo
at 26
1908 Henry Chadwick sports reporter (baseball), dies at 85
1912 Bram Stoker Irish theater manager/writer (Dracula), dies
1918 Reginald Harry Mybirgh Hands cricketer (1 Test for South Africa),
dies
1932 Giuseppe Peano mathematician, dies
1935 Juliaan de Vriendt Flemish painter, dies at 92
1941 Barend ter Haar Dutch lawyer, dies in Buchenwald at 49
1947 Christian X King of Denmark (1912-47), dies at 76
1953 Erich Weinert writer, dies at 62
1956 Jaap Vranken organist/composer (Stabat mater), dies
1956 Lieven Duvosel Flemish music composer (Levensschets), dies at
78
1962 Jesse G Vincent engineer designed 1st V-12 engine, dies at 82
1962 Arthur Harmat composer, dies at 76
1965 Richard Wessell actor (Carney-Riverboat), dies of heart attack
on 52nd birthday
1968 Marion Weeks singer/actress, dies of stroke at 81
1971 Cecil Parker actor (Court Jester, Operation Snafu), dies at 73
1973 Robert Armstrong actor (Fall Guy, Exposed), dies at 82
1974 Mohammed Ayub Khan premier/President (Pakistan), dies
1977 Bryan Foy director/writer, dies at 80
1977 Len Johnson cricketer (one Test for Australia, 3-66 & 3-8),
dies
1979 Peter Donald host (Masquerade Party), dies at 60
1982 Andrew Sandham cricketer (325 England 1930, 879 runs in 14 Tests),
dies
1982 Archibald MacLeish US, lawyer/writer (Conquistador), dies at
89
1982 Mimi Boesnach actress (Wedding of Kloris & Roses), dies at
82
1983 Jerzy Andrezjewski writer, dies
1984 Mabel Mercer English/US singer (Fly me to the moon), dies at
84
1990 Horst Sinderman RDA 1st minister (1973-76), dies
1991 Don[ald] Siegel US director (Coogan's Bluff/Dirty Harry), dies
at 78
1991 Jumjaagiyn Tsedenbal Mongolian politician, dies
1991 Sean O'Faolain [J Whelan] Irish writer (Nest of Simple), dies
at 91
1991 Steve Marriott English guitarist (Small Faces), dies in a fire
at 44
1991 Yumzhagin Tsendenbal PM of Mongolia (1952-74), dies
1992 Benny [Alfred Hawthorn] Hill comedian (Benny Hill Show), dies
of a heart attack at 67
1992 Johnny Shines Delta blues singer/guitarist, dies at 76
1993 Cantinflas [Mario Moreno] Mexican actor (Pepe), dies at 81
1994 Jean Carmet French actor (Merci la Vie, Le Sucre), dies at 72
1995 Milovan Djilas Yugoslavian politician (1945-54), dies
1995 R E S Wyatt cricketer (England captain 16 times), dies
1995 Sunil Jayasinghe Sri Lankan wicketkeeper (1979 World Cup), suicide
1995 Tessie O'Shea entertainer, dies at 81
1996 Cecilia Grace Hunt Reeves Gillie BBC Executive, dies at 88
1996 Christopher Robin Milne bookseller/son of writer A A Milne (Winnie
the Pooh), dies at 75
1996 Tran Van Tra soldier, dies at 77
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