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This day in history

This day in history: 20 October

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

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Born on this day · Died on this day246 · 115

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Key facts

399 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 20 October.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2022: Liz Truss steps down as British Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party amid the country's political crisis, serving for the least time of any British Prime Minister (49 days).

Holidays and observances

Arbor Day (Czech Republic)

Christian feast days: Acca of Hexham

Christian feast days: Aderald

Christian feast days: Artemius

Christian feast days: Caprasius of Agen

Christian feast days: Hedwig (in Canada, moved from Oct. 16)

Christian feast days: Irene of Tomar

Christian feast days: Magdalene of Nagasaki

Christian feast days: Margaret Marie Alacoque (in Canada, moved from Oct. 16)

Christian feast days: Maria Bertilla Boscardin

Christian feast days: Mater Admirabilis

Christian feast days: October 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Events

2022Liz Truss steps down as British Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party amid the country's political crisis, serving for the least time of any British Prime Minister (49 days).

2017Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declare victory in the Raqqa campaign.

2011Libyan Crisis: Rebel forces capture Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim in his hometown of Sirte and kill them shortly thereafter, ending the first Libyan civil war.

2005The general conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passes the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

2003The Sloan Great Wall, once the largest cosmic structures known to humanity, is discovered by students at Princeton University.

2002Top Gear, the revived popular British TV motoring magazine, premieres on BBC.

1995Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-73.

1991A 6.8 Mw earthquake strikes the Uttarkashi region of India, killing more than 1,000 people.

1991A massive firestorm breaks out in the hills of Oakland and Berkeley, California killing 25 people and destroying more than 3,000 homes, apartments and condominiums.

1986Aeroflot Flight 6502 crashes while landing at Kuibyshev Airport (now Kuromoch International Airport) in Kuibyshev (now present-day Samara, Russia), killing 70 people.

1982During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.

1981Two police officers and a Brink's armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground in Nanuet, New York.

1977A plane carrying the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in woodland in Mississippi, United States. Six people, including three band members, are killed.

1976The Luling–Destrehan Ferry MV George Prince is struck by the Norwegian freighter SS Frosta while crossing the Mississippi River in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die, and only 18 people aboard the ferry sur

1973The Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II after 14 years of construction.

1973Watergate scandal: "Saturday Night Massacre": United States President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, wh

1962China launches simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line, igniting the Sino-Indian War.

1961The Soviet Navy performs the first armed test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, launching an R-13 from a Golf-class submarine.

1952The Governor of Kenya Evelyn Baring declares a state of emergency and begins arresting hundreds of suspected leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising.

1951The "Johnny Bright incident" occurs during a football game between the Drake Bulldogs and Oklahoma A&M Aggies.

1948A KLM Lockheed L-049 Constellation crashes on approach to Glasgow Prestwick Airport, killing 40.

1947Cold War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of the Hollywood film industry, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.

1944Liquefied natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland and then explodes, leveling 30 blocks and killing 130 people.

1944World War II: American general Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he comes ashore during the Battle of Leyte.

1944World War II: The Soviet Red Army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade.

1941World War II: Thousands of civilians in German-occupied Serbia are murdered in the Kragujevac massacre.

1935The Long March, a mammoth retreat undertaken by the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party a year prior, ends.

1910British ocean liner RMS Olympic is launched.

1904Chile and Bolivia sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, delimiting the border between the two countries.

1883Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province is ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru's involvement in the War of the Pacific.

1827Greek War of Independence: In the Battle of Navarino, a combined Turkish and Egyptian fleet is defeated by British, French and Russian naval forces in the last significant battle fought with wooden sailing ships.

1818The Convention of 1818 is signed between the United States and the United Kingdom, which settles the Canada–United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.

1803The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.

1781The Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, is approved in Austria.

1774American Revolution: The Continental Association, a nonconsumption and nonimportation agreement against the British Isles and the British West Indies, is adopted by the First Continental Congress.

1740France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction, and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.

1572Eighty Years' War: Three thousand Spanish soldiers wade through fifteen miles of water in one night to effect the relief of Goes.

1568The Spanish Duke of Alba defeats a Dutch rebel force under William the Silent.

Born on this day

2003Carney Chukwuemeka, English footballer

2002Yéremy Pino, Spanish footballer

2001Paige Bueckers, American basketball player

2000Kenneth Walker III, American football player

1999Chuu, South Korean singer and television personality

1999YoungBoy Never Broke Again, American rapper

1998Jordan Ridley, Australian rules footballer

1997Ademola Lookman, Nigerian footballer

1997Andrey Rublev, Russian tennis player

1997Daizen Maeda, Japanese footballer

1997Nguyễn Tiến Linh, Vietnamese footballer

1996Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Indonesian badminton player

1995Humberto Carrillo, Mexican wrestler

1994Festus Talam, Kenyan long-distance runner

1992Ksenia Semyonova, Russian gymnast

1992Kyle Wiltjer, Canadian-American basketball player

1992Mattia De Sciglio, Italian footballer

1991Phupoom Pongpanupak, Thai actor

1990Sam Mataora, Cook Islands rugby league player

1989Jamie Collins, American football player

1989Jess Glynne, English singer-songwriter

1988ASAP Ferg, American rapper

1988Candice Swanepoel, South African supermodel and philanthropist

1988Rui Pinto, Portuguese activist and whistleblower

1987Marie Sophie Hingst, German historian and blogger who falsely claimed to be descended from Holocaust survivors (died 2019)

1986Elyse Taylor, Australian model

1985James Sutton, English race car driver

1984Andrew Trimble, Irish rugby player

1984Mitch Lucker, American singer-songwriter (died 2012)

1983Alona Tal, Israeli actress

1983Michel Vorm, Dutch footballer

1982Becky Brewerton, Welsh golfer

1982Lawrence Roberts, American basketball player

1982Preeti Barameeanant, Thai singer

1981Dimitrios Papadopoulos, Greek footballer

1979John Krasinski, American actor, director, and producer

1979Paul Ifill, English footballer

1979Paul O'Connell, Irish rugby player

1978Paul Wilson, Scottish bass player and songwriter

1978Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer

Died on this day

2024Barbara Dane, American folk, blues and jazz singer (born 1927)

2024Fethullah Gülen, Turkish preacher and theologian (born 1941)

2024Janusz Olejniczak, Polish classical pianist and actor (born 1952)

2024Paul White, Baron Hanningfield, British life peer (born 1940)

2024Walter Jacob, American Reform rabbi (born 1930)

2022Lucy Simon, American composer and songwriter (born 1940)

2020James Randi, Canadian-American stage magician and author (born 1928)

2018Wim Kok, Dutch prime minister (born 1938)

2016Junko Tabei, Japanese mountaineer (born 1939)

2016Michael Massee, American actor (born 1952)

2016Robert E. Kramek, former United States Coast Guard admiral (born 1939)

2015Arno Gruen, German-Swiss psychologist and psychoanalyst (born 1923)

2015Ian Steel, Scottish cyclist and manager (born 1928)

2015Kazimierz Łaski, Polish-Austrian economist and academic (born 1921)

2015Makis Dendrinos, Greek basketball player and coach (born 1950)

2015Michael Meacher, English academic and politician, Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (born 1939)

2014Christophe de Margerie, French businessman (born 1951)

2014Oscar de la Renta, Dominican-American fashion designer (born 1932)

2014René Burri, Swiss photographer and journalist (born 1933)

2013Don James, American football player and coach (born 1932)

2013Joginder Singh, Kenyan race car driver (born 1932)

2013Jovanka Broz, Croatian-Serbian colonel (born 1924)

2013Larri Thomas, American actress and dancer (born 1932)

2013Lawrence Klein, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920)

2013Sid Yudain, American journalist, founded Roll Call (born 1923)

2012Dave May, American baseball player (born 1943)

2012E. Donnall Thomas, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920)

2012John McConnell, American activist, created Earth Day (born 1915)

2012Paul Kurtz, American philosopher and academic (born 1925)

2012Przemysław Gintrowski, Polish poet and composer (born 1951)

Quote of the day

“When walking, walk. When eating, eat.”

Zen proverb

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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