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This day in history

This day in history: 20 July

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Events69

Born on this day · Died on this day244 · 105

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Key facts

418 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 20 July.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2021: American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.

Holidays and observances

Birthday of Crown Prince Haakon Magnus (Norway)

Christian feast day: Ansegisus

Christian feast day: Apollinaris of Ravenna

Christian feast day: Aurelius of Carthage

Christian feast day: Elijah

Christian feast day: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman (Episcopal Church (USA))

Christian feast day: Frumentius

Christian feast day: Giuseppe Beotti

Christian feast day: John Baptist Yi (one of The Korean Martyrs)

Christian feast day: July 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Margaret the Virgin

Christian feast day: Rita Josefa Pujalte Sánchez

Events

2021American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.

2019Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

2017O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

2015A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100.

2015The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.

2013Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.

2013Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn ends with the expulsion of Islamist forces from the city by the People's Protection Units (YPG).

2012James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.

2012Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and Efrîn without resistance.

2005The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada.

1999The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.

1997The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.

1992A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes during takeoff from Tbilisi International Airport, killing all 24 aboard and four more people on the ground.

1992Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.

1989Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

1985The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.

1982Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.

1981Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people.

1977Aeroflot Flight B-2 crashes after takeoff from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic, killing 39.

1977The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.

1977The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.

1976The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.

1974Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organized by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.

1969A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War".

1969Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.

1968The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.

1964Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children).

1961French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.

1960The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.

1954Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.

1951King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.

1950After a month-long campaign, the majority of North Korea's Air Force was destroyed by anti-communist forces.

1950Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.

1949The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

1944World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

1941Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief.

1940California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

1940Denmark leaves the League of Nations.

1938The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the

1936The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.

Born on this day

2001Álex Baena, Spanish footballer

1999Goga Bitadze, Georgian basketball player

1999Pop Smoke, American rapper and singer (died 2020)

1998Morgan Geekie, Canadian ice hockey player

1996Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player

1995Moses Leota, New Zealand rugby league player

1994Maia Shibutani, American ice dancer

1993Alycia Debnam-Carey, Australian actress

1993Nick Cousins, Canadian ice hockey player

1993Steven Adams, New Zealand basketball player

1991Alec Burks, American basketball player

1991Andrew Shaw, Canadian ice hockey player

1991Chiyoshōma Fujio, Mongolian sumo wrestler

1991Dwight Powell, Canadian basketball player

1991Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015

1991Philipp Reiter, German mountaineer and runner

1991Ryan James, Australian rugby league player

1991Tawan Vihokratana, Thai actor, host, and model

1990Lars Unnerstall, German footballer

1989Cristian Pasquato, Italian footballer

1989Javier Cortés, Mexican footballer

1988Julianne Hough, American singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer

1988Sami Whitcomb, American-Australian basketball player

1988Shahram Mahmoudi, Iranian volleyball player

1988Stephen Strasburg, American baseball player

1987Niall McGinn, Irish footballer

1987Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist

1986Osric Chau, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1985David Mundy, Australian footballer

1985Harley Morenstein, Canadian actor and YouTube personality

1985John Francis Daley, American actor and screenwriter

1984Alexi Casilla, Dominican baseball player

1984Matt Gilroy, American ice hockey player

1982Antoine Vermette, Canadian ice hockey player

1981Viktoria Ladõnskaja, Estonian journalist and politician

1980Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model, fashionista, and businesswoman

1980Tesfaye Bramble, English-Montserratian footballer

1979Charlotte Hatherley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

1979David Ortega, Spanish swimmer

1979Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (died 2004)

Died on this day

2025Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor (born 1970)

2024Jerry Miller, American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist (born 1943)

2024Jill Schary Robinson, American novelist (born 1936)

2020Michael Brooks, political commentator (born 1983)

2017Chester Bennington, American singer (born 1976)

2016Radu Beligan, Romanian actor, director, and essayist (born 1918)

2015Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (born 1944)

2015Fred Else, English footballer and manager (born 1933)

2015Wayne Carson, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1943)

2014Bob McNamara, American football player (born 1931)

2014Constantin Lucaci, Romanian sculptor and educator (born 1923)

2014Klaus Schmidt, German archaeologist and academic (born 1953)

2014Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (born 1923)

2013Augustus Rowe, Canadian physician and politician (born 1920)

2013Helen Thomas, American journalist and author (born 1920)

2013Khurshed Alam Khan, Indian politician, 2nd Governor of Goa (born 1919)

2013Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist and businessman, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (born 1926)

2012Alastair Burnet, English journalist (born 1928)

2012Jack Davis, American hurdler (born 1930)

2012José Hermano Saraiva, Portuguese historian, jurist, and politician, Portuguese Minister of Education (born 1919)

2011Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (born 1922)

2009Mark Rosenzweig, American psychologist and academic (born 1922)

2009Vedat Okyar, Turkish footballer (born 1945)

2008Artie Traum, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (born 1943)

2008Dinko Šakić, Croatian concentration camp commander (born 1921)

2007Tammy Faye Messner, American Christian evangelist and talk show host (born 1942)

2006Gérard Oury, French actor, director, and producer (born 1919)

2006Ted Grant, South African-English theorist and activist (born 1913)

2005Finn Gustavsen, Norwegian journalist and politician (born 1926)

2005James Doohan, Canadian-American actor (born 1920)

Quote of the day

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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