Historical Events on April 20

Calendar Highlights Events Birthdays Deaths Weddings & Divorces 

• HIGHLIGHTS
• EVENTS
• BIRTHDAYS
• DEATHS
• WEDDINGS & DIVORCES

• 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
• 1505 Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg
• 1551 John Dudley becomes Earl Marshal of England

Event of Interest

1611 First known performance of Shakespeare‘s tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre, London, recorded by Simon Forman

• 1650 Dutch East India Company (VOC) management sets new guidelines

Event of Interest

1653 Oliver Cromwell routes English parliament to house

• 1657 Battle in Santa Cruz Bay, Tenerife: English fleet under Robert Blake sinks Spanish silver fleet
• 1689 The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry
• 1702 Comet C/1702 H1 approaches within 0.0437 AUs of Earth

Theater Premiere

1715 Nicholas Rowe’s play “The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey” premieres in London

Historic Expedition

1736 French mathematician Pierre Louis Maupertuis begins Lapland expedition to measure latitude and shape of the earth, joined by fellow scientists Anders Celsius, Charles Etienne Louis Camus, Alexis Clairaut, and Pierre-Charles Le Monnier

Event of Interest

1759 George Frideric Handel is buried in Westminster Abbey, London

Event of Interest

1770 Captain James Cook arrives in New South Wales

• 1777 New York adopts new constitution as an independent state

Event of Interest

1785 Thomas Warton appointed British Poet Laureate by King George III

Declaration of War

1792 Amidst the French Revolution, France declares war on Austria and Prussia, beginning the French Revolutionary Wars

• 1799 Friedrich von Schiller’s “Wallensteins Tod” premieres in Weimar

Victory in Battle

1809 Napoleon I and French forces defeat Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria

• 1810 The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from Spain
• 1818 Napoleon Bonaparte bids emotional farewell to his old guard at Palace of Fontainebleau
• 1828 Frenchman René Caillié is the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, returns to win 10,000 franc prize from Société de Géographie
• 1836 Territory of Wisconsin created

Event of Interest

1862 First pasteurization test completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard

• 1865 Crosby Opera House opens in Chicago, Illinois; destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871
• 1871 US 3rd Enforcement Act (President can suspend writ of habeas corpus)
• 1879 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London & Cyprus

Catholic Encyclical

1884 Pope Leo XIII encyclical “On Freemasonry”

World’s First Motor Race

1887 Georges Bouton wins the world’s 1st motor race on a steam-powered quadricycle, a ‘test’ organised by French newspaper Le VelocipedeRead Article

• 1894 136,000 mine workers strike in Ohio for pay increase

Film Premier

1896 1st public film showing in US John Philip Sousa‘s “El Capitan” premieres in NYC

• 1898 US Assay Office in Deadwood, South Dakota opens

Appointment of Interest

1899 David Beatty is appointed executive officer of the HMS Barfleur, a small battleship and flagship of the China Station

Event of Interest

1902 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride

• 1903 7th Boston Marathon won by Irishman John Lorden in 2:41:29.8
• 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St Louis
• 1908 12th Boston Marathon won by Tom Morrissey in 2:25:43.2
• 1908 Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
• 1910 Cleveland Naps Addie Joss 2nd no-hitter, beats Chicago, 1-0
• 1910 Halley’s Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km
• 1912 Fenway Park officially opens, Red Sox beat NY Highlanders 7-6 in 11
• 1912 Tiger Stadium in Detroit opens, Tigers beat Cleveland Indians 6-5
• 1914 18th Boston Marathon won by Canadian James Duffy in 2:25:01.2
• 1914 33 killed by soldiers during mine strike in Ludlow, Colo
• 1914 US President W Wilson, having dispatched more naval ships to Mexico, asks a joint session of Congress to approve armed force if necessary; Congress approves
• 1915 The Armenians rise and seize the Turkish town of Van, which they hold until Russians relieve them on 19 May; thousands of Armenians are killed
• 1916 German-British sea battle off Belgian coast
• 1916 Chicago Cubs play their 1st game at Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) and beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6

Event of Interest

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
• 1919 King Nicholas of Montenegro abdicates under duress

Event of Interest

1920 Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a British Mandate

• 1920 Big Show ends 2 year run on NBC radio
• 1920 Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama & Mississippi
• 1920 Phillies manager Gravvy Cravath puts himself in as pinch hitter, his 3- run homer beats NY Giants 3-0
• 1925 29th Boston Marathon won by Charles Mellor in 2:33:00.6
• 1926 1st check sent by radio facsimile transmission across Atlantic
• 1931 35th Boston Marathon won by Jim Henigan in 2:46:45.8
• 1931 British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday

Event of Interest

1934 Heinrich Himmler becomes inspector Prussian secret state police

• 1935 “Your Hit Parade” begins broadcasting (becomes #1 quickly)
• 1936 40th Boston Marathon won by Ellison Brown in 2:33:40.8
• 1936 Jews repel an Arab attack in Petach Tikvah Palestine

Event of Interest

1939 Ted Williams‘ 1st hit (off of Yankee Red Ruffing) a double

• 1940 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pa
• 1941 100 German bombers attack Athens
• 1941 Dodgers start to wear liners in their caps
• 1942 46th Boston Marathon won by Joe Smith in 2:26:51.2
• 1942 German occupiers forbids Dutch access to their beach

Event of Interest

1943 Braves manager Casey Stengel is struck by a taxi, fractures a leg

• 1944 Dutch Communist Party resistance fighter John Postma sentence to death
• 1944 NFL legalizes coaching from bench
• 1945 Cleveland Browns organization formed by Arthur “Mickey” McBride
• 1945 German occupiers flood Beemster & Fencer
• 1945 Soviet artillery begins shelling Berlin
• 1945 US 7th army captured German city of Nuremberg
• 1945 US forces conquer Motobu peninsula on Okinawa
• 1946 1st baseball broadcast in Chicago, Cards vs Cubs
• 1947 Frederik IX becomes King of Denmark
• 1948 NYC hikes subway fare from 5 cents to 10 cents
• 1948 Walter P. Reuther UAW President shot & wounded at his home in Detroit
• 1949 Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 1st race, in Albany, California
• 1950 Balt’s Memorial Stadium opens – Orioles of International League
• 1951 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
• 1951 Velsen city council demands investigation of police collaborators
• 1951 4th Cannes Film Festival: “Miss Julie” directed by Alf Sjoberg and “Miracle in Milan” directed by Vittorio De Sica jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
• 1953 57th Boston Marathon won by Keizo Yamada of Japan in 2:18:51
• 1954 “Golden Apple” opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 125 performances
• 1955 “Saint of Bleecker St” closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 92 performances
• 1957 Yankee Bill Skowron becomes 3rd player to hit a ball out of Fenway
• 1958 Stanley Cup Final, Boston Garden, Boston, MA: Montreal Canadiens’ 3-peat; beat Boston Bruins, 5-3 for a 4-2 for series win
• 1958 Morocco demands departure of Spanish troops
• 1959 63rd Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland in 2:22:42
• 1960 “From A to Z” opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 21 performances
• 1961 American Harold Graham makes 1st rocket belt flight

Event of Interest

1962 NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 63,250 m

• 1962 New Orleans Citizens Co gives free 1-way ride to blacks to move North
• 1962 OAS-leader ex-general Salan arrested in Algiers
• 1963 “Sophie” closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 8 performances
• 1963 -30] All Africa Conferences of Churches opens in Kampala Uganda
• 1963 10th National Film Awards (India): “Dada Thakur” wins the Golden Lotus
• 1964 68th Boston Marathon won for second straight year by Aurele Vandendriessche of Belgium in 2:19:59
• 1964 86% of black students boycott Cleveland schools
• 1965 People’s Republic China offers North Vietnam military aid
• 1966 WDCA TV channel 20 in Washington, D.C. (IND) begins broadcasting
• 1967 French author Régis Debray caught in Bolivia
• 1967 US Surveyor 3 lands on Moon
• 1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

Event of Interest

1967 NY Met pitcher Tom Seaver wins his 1st game, helps beat Cubs, 6-1

• 1967 A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126.
• 1968 South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes at Windhoek, 122 killed

Event of Interest

1968 British politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech

Event of Interest

1968 Pierre Trudeau sworn in as Canada’s 15th Prime Minister

• 1969 23rd Tony Awards: Great White Hope & 1776 win
• 1969 Bombs planted by Loyalists members of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Protestant Volunteers explode at Silent Valley reservoir in County Down and at an electricity pylon at Kilmore, County Armagh
• 1970 74th Boston Marathon: Englishman Ron Hill wins in 2:10:30 (US record): American Sara Mae Berman 1st woman for 2nd straight year in 3:05:07 (unsanctioned)
• 1970 Bruno Kreisky becomes 1st socialist chancellor of Austria

Music Recording

1971 Barbra Streisand records “We’ve Only Just Begun”

• 1971 US Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation
• 1972 Apollo 16’s Young & Duke land on Moon with Boeing Lunar Rover #2
• 1972 Kallicharran scores his 2nd Test century in his 2nd Test Cricket

Music Premiere

1972 Virgil Thomson’s final opera, “Lord Byron“, with libretto by Jack Larson, first performance at Lincoln Center, New York City

• 1973 Mass murderer Ed Kemper attempts to dispose of his mother’s vocal chords in a domestic waste disposal unit
• 1973 Canadian ANIK A2 becomes 1st commercial satellite in orbit

Music Single

1974 Paul McCartney & Wings release single “Band on the Run” in the US

• 1974 ‘The Troubles’, the Northern Ireland conflict between republican and loyalist paramilitaries, British security forces, and civil rights groups, claims its 1000th victim
• 1975 29th Tony Awards: Equus & Wiz win

Event of Interest

1976 George Harrison sings “The Lumberjack Song” with Monty Python in NYC

• 1977 Supreme Court rules “Live Free or Die” may be covered on NH licenses

Film Release

1977 “Annie Hall”, directed by Woody Allen and starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, is released (Academy Awards Best Picture 1978)

Jimmy Carter Attacked by a Rabbit

1979 President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a swamp rabbit which swam up to his fishing boat in Plains, GeorgiaLearn More

• 1980 Cubans begin to arrive in US from Mariel boatlift
• 1980 Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria sees hundreds of Berber political activists arrested

Event of Interest

1980 Cuban President Fidel Castro announces he is opening the Mariel Port for Cubans to leave, about 125,00 leave in next 5-6 months

• 1981 85th Boston Marathon: Toshihiko Seko of Japan wins men’s race in 2:09:26; Allison Roe of New Zealand takes women’s title in 2:26:46
• 1981 Final performance of TV show “Soap” airs
• 1981 Rocker Papa John Phillips arrested for drug possession
• 1981 “Fire and Smoke” single released by Earl Thomas Conley (Billboard Song of the Year 1981)
• 1982 Atlanta Braves become 1st team to win 1st 12 games of the season
• 1982 The Provisional Irish Republican Army explode bombs in Belfast, Derry, Armagh, Ballymena, Bessbrook and Magherafelt; 2 civilians are killed and 12 injured

Event of Interest

1983 President Reagan signs a $165B bail out for Social Security

• 1983 Soyuz T-8 launched; mission aborted when capsule fails to dock (lands 2 days later)
• 1984 Russian offensive in Panshirvallei Afghanistan
• 1985 Carlos Lopes runs world record marathon (2:07:12)
• 1985 Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Mark Williams
• 1985 Karyn Marshall of NYC lifted 303 lbs in a clean & jerk lift
• 1985 ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas
• 1986 “Jerry’s Girls” closes at St James Theater NYC after 139 performances

NBA Record

1986 Michael Jordan sets NBA playoff record with 63 points in a game

• 1986 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1986 Vladimir Horowitz performs in his Russian homeland
• 1987 91st Boston Marathon: Toshihiko Seko of Japan wins 2nd title in 2:11:50; Rosa Mota of Portugal claims women’s event in 2:25:21; her first of 3 race victories
• 1987 Sri Lankan Civil War: Tamils shoot 122 Sinhalese dead
• 1987 US deports Karl Linnas to USSR, charged with Nazi war crimes
• 1988 Baltimore Orioles set worst record to start a season 0-14 (will go 0-21)
• 1988 NJ Devils 1st playoff hat trick-Eric Broten
• 1988 US accuses Renamo of killing 100,000 Mozambiquians
• 1988 Yanks HR 9,999 (D Winfield) 10,000 (C Washington) 10,001 (J Clarke)

Event of Interest

1990 Pete Rose pleads guilty to hiding $300,000 in income

• 1990 8 2/3 inning perfect game pitched by Brian Holman of Oakland A’s is spoiled by a home run hit by Ken Philips
• 1991 “Les Miserables” opens at Odense Teater, Odense
• 1991 1st non stop flight Schiphol-Flamingo airport Bonaire
• 1991 Mark Lenzi is 1st diver to score 100 pts on a dive (101.85)
• 1991 Raghib “Rocket” Ismael signs with Toronto Argonauts for $26.2 million
• 1992 100th episode of American sitcom “Murphy Brown” airs
• 1992 96th Boston Marathon: Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya repeats in 2:08:14 for his 3rd title; Olga Markova first Russian women’s champion in 2:23:43

Music Concert

1992 All-star concert in memory of Freddie Mercury held at Wembley Stadium, London

• 1992 Expo ’92 opens in Seville Spain
• 1992 Joan Lunden, breaks her left shoulder after being thrown from a horse

Event of Interest

1992 Madonna signs $60-million deal with Time Warner

• 1993 Uranus passes Neptune (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 Sohail & Inzamam make world record ODI partnership of 263
• 1994 Space shuttle STS-59 (Endeavour 6), lands
• 1996 Chicago Bulls win record 72 games in a season
• 1996 1996 NFL Draft: Keyshawn Johnson from USC first pick by New York Jets
• 1997 “Gin Game” opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 144 performances
• 1997 “Present Laughter” closes at Walter Kerr Theater NYC
• 1997 1st baseball game in Hawaii, Cards beat Padres in doubleheader
• 1997 27th Easter Seal Telethon raises $47,392,682

Event of Interest

1997 PGA Seniors’ Championship Men’s Golf, PGA National GC: Defending champion Hale Irwin wins his second of 3 straight Senior PGA C’ships by streeting runners-up Dale Douglass and Jack Nicklaus by 12 strokes

• 1997 Cubs beat NY Mets ending NL worst opening, lost 14 straight games

Event of Interest

1997 Mark McGwire is 4th to HR on Detroit Tiger left field roof (others are Frank Howard, Harmon Killibrew, & Cecil Fielder)

• 1998 TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53.
• 1998 German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
• 1998 102nd Boston Marathon: Moses Tanui of Kenya wins men’s title in 2:07:34; Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia wins back-to-back women’s events in 2:23:21
• 1999 Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School, Colorado
• 2002 NFL Draft: Fresno State quarterback David Carr first pick by Houston Texans
• 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.
• 2008 Danica Patrick driving for Andretti Green Racing wins the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi; first female driver in history to win an IndyCar Series race
• 2008 54th British Academy Television Awards: “Fonejacker” Best Comedy, “The Street” best Drama
• 2009 113th Boston Marathon: Deriba Merga of Ethiopia wins men’s event in 2:08:42; Salina Kosgei of Kenya women’s champion in 2:32:16
• 2010 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental disaster
• 2012 Plane crash near Islamabad, Pakistan, kills 127 people
• 2012 40 people are killed and 27 injured after a tractor trailer collided with a bus in Alamo, Mexico

Event of Interest

2012 People magazine name Eva Mendes as one of 2012’s Most Beautiful at Every Age

• 2013 193 people are killed and 11,826 are injured after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes Lushan County, China

Historical Events on April 20 (Part 2)

Calendar Highlights Events Birthdays Deaths Weddings & Divorces 

• HIGHLIGHTS
• EVENTS
• BIRTHDAYS
• DEATHS
• WEDDINGS & DIVORCES

• 2013 5 snowboarders are killed by an avalanche in Loveland Pass, Colorado
• 2013 Giorgio Napolitano is re-elected President of Italy

• 2015 Pulitzer Prize awarded to Anthony Doerr’s for his novel “All the Light We Cannot See” and to Elizabeth Kolbert for “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History”
• 2015 119th Boston Marathon: Lelisa Desisa Benti of Ethiopia wins men’s race in 2:09:17; Caroline Rotich of Kenya women’s champion in 2:24:55
• 2017 Terrorist attack on police van on Champs Élysées, Paris 1 police officer killed, 2 injured

Event of Interest

2018 Mexican court bars sales of controversial Frida Kahlo Barbie doll

• 2018 Arsène Wenger announces he will leave London EPL club Arsenal after 22 years as manager

Event of Interest

2018 Commonwealth countries decide Prince Charles will succeed Queen Elizabeth as the next head of the Commonwealth

• 2018 Actress Allison Mack arrested on charges of sex trafficking in relation to sex cult NXIVM in New York
• 2020 Three US states, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina the 1st to announce end to some COVID-19 restrictions
• 2020 Price of US oil turns negative for the 1st time in history – West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for US oil, falls as low as minus $37.63 a barrel as worldwide demand falls
• 2020 The last three cruise ships still afloat amid Covid pandemic, finally dock at the ports of Marseille, France; Barcelona, Spain; and Los Angeles California