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Today November 20th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman Emperor.
762 – Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire.
1194 – Palermo is conquered by Emperor Henry VI.
1407 – A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans is agreed under the auspices of John, Duke of Berry. Orléans would be assassinated three days later by Burgundy.
1695 – Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed.
1700 – Great Northern War: Battle of Narva – King Charles XII of Sweden defeats the army of Tsar Peter the Great at Narva.
1789 – New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1820 – An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville s 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this story).
1861 – American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky s Confederate government.
1910 – Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero issues the Plan de San Luis Potosi, denouncing President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins – British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back.
1917 – Ukraine is declared a republic.
1923 – Rentenmark replaces the Papiermark as the official currency of Germany at the exchange rate of one Rentenmark to One Trillion (One Billion on the long scale) Papiermark
1936 – Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange, is killed by a republican execution squad.
1940 – World War II: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.
1943 – World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) begins – United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
1945 – Nuremberg Trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.
1947 – The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London.
1952 – Slánský trials – a series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
1968 – Vietnam War: Eleven men comprising a Long Range Patrol team from F Company, 58th Infantry, 101st Airborne are surrounded and nearly wiped out by North Vietnamese army regulars from the 4th and 5th Regiment. The seven wounded survivors are rescued after several hours by an impromptu force made up of other men from their unit.
1969 – Vietnam War: The Cleveland Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
1974 – The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the break up of AT&T and its Bell System.
1975 – Francisco Franco, Caudillo of Spain, dies after 36 years in power.
1979 – Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from French special forces to put down the uprising.
1984 – The SETI Institute is founded.
1985 – Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
1989 – Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
1992 – In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
1993 – Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his dealings with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
1994 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war (localized fighting resumes the next year).
1998 – A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden a man without a sin in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
1998 – The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
2001 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicates the United States Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday.
2003 – After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate.
Births
270 – Maximinus, Roman Emperor (d. 313)
1602 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist (d. 1686)
1620 – Peregrine White, first English child born in the Plymouth Colony (d. 1704)
1621 – Avvakum, Russian priest and writer (d. 1682)
1625 – Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (d. 1654)
1660 – Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German theologian (d. 1741)
1750 – Tipu Sultan, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
1761 – Pope Pius VIII (d. 1830)
1762 – Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist (d. 1833)
1765 – Sir Thomas Fremantle, British naval captain (d. 1819)
1781 – Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German jurist (d. 1854)
1839 – Christian Wilberg, German painter (d. 1882)
1841 – Victor D Hondt, Belgian mathematician (d. 1901)
1841 – Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1919)
1851 – Queen Margherita of Italy (d. 1926)
1858 – Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish author, Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
1864 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer (d. 1931)
1866 – Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American judge and baseball commissioner (d. 1944)
1869 – Clark Griffith, American baseball manager (d. 1955)
1874 – James Michael Curley, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
1880 – George McBride, American baseball player (d. 1973)
1882 – Andy Coakley, American baseball player and coach (d. 1963)
1884 – Norman Thomas, American political figure (d. 1968)
1886 – Karl von Frisch, Austrian zoologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1982)
1889 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (d. 1953)
1896 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (d. 1977)
1900 – Chester Gould, American comic strip artist (d. 1985)
1901 – Nazim Hikmet, Turkish poet (d. 1963)
1903 – Alexandra Danilova, Russian ballerina (d. 1997)
1903 – Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and educationist (d. 1981)
1905 – François, 9th duc de Noailles, French nobelman
1907 – Fran Allison, American television personality (d. 1989)
1907 – Henri-Georges Clouzot, French film director (d. 1977)
1908 – Alistair Cooke, British-born journalist (d. 2004)
1910 – Willem Jacob van Stockum, Dutch physicist (d. 1944)
1912 – Otto von Habsburg, Austrian-German nobleman
1913 – Judy Canova, American actress (d. 1983)
1914 – Emilio Pucci, Italian fashion designer (d. 1992)
1915 – Kon Ichikawa, iconic Japanese film director (d. 2008)
1916 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (d. 2008)
1917 – Robert Byrd, American politician
1917 – Bobby Locke, South African golfer (d. 1987)
1921 – Jim Garrison, American attorney and judge (d. 1992)
1921 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress
1923 – Nadine Gordimer, South African writer, Nobel laureate
1924 – Benoît Mandelbrot, Polish-born French mathematician
1925 – Robert F. Kennedy, American politician (d. 1968)
1925 – Maya Plisetskaya, Russian ballet dancer
1926 – Kaye Ballard, American comic actress
1926 – Terry Hall, English ventriloquist (d. 2007)
1926 – Andrzej W. Schally, Polish endocrinologist, Nobel laureate
1927 – Estelle Parsons, American actress
1928 – Aleksey Batalov, Russian actor
1928 – John Disley, Welsh athlete
1928 – Donald Hall, American poet, 14th U.S. poet laureate
1929 – Don January, American professional golfer
1932 – Richard Dawson, English-American actor and game show host
1936 – Don DeLillo, American author
1937 – René Kollo, German tenor
1937 – Ruth Laredo, American pianist (d. 2005)
1937 – Eero Mäntyranta, Finnish cross-country skier
1937 – Viktoriya Tokareva, Russian playwright
1939 – Dick Smothers, American comedian
1940 – Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian
1941 – Haseena Moin, Pakistani television writer and playwright
1942 – Joe Biden, American vice president-elect
1942 – Norman Greenbaum, American singer
1942 – Meredith Monk, American composer and choreographer
1942 – Paulos Faraj Rahho, Iraqi bishop (d. 2008)
1943 – Veronica Hamel, American actress
1944 – Louie Dampier, American basketball player
1945 – Rick Monday, American baseball player
1945 – Nanette Workman, American-born Canadian singer and actress
1946 – Duane Allman, American guitarist (The Allman Brothers Band) (d. 1971)
1946 – Greg Cook, American football player
1946 – Judy Woodruff, American TV anchor
1947 – Joe Walsh, American musician
1948 – John R. Bolton, American ambassador
1948 – Barbara Hendricks, American/Swedish singer
1948 – Richard Masur, American actor
1949 – Thelma Drake, American politician
1949 – Jeff Dowd, American film producer
1951 – David Walters, American politician
1952 – John Van Boxmeer, Canadian hockey player
1954 – Berit Andnor, Swedish politician
1954 – Steve Dahl, American radio personality
1956 – Bo Derek, American actress
1956 – Mark Gastineau, American football player
1957 – Stefan Bellof, German race car driver (d. 1985)
1957 – Mike Craven, English footballer
1958 – Rickson Gracie, Brazilian Mixed Martial Artist
1959 – James P. McGovern, American politician
1959 – Sean Young, American actress
1960 – Marc Labrèche, Canadian actor and television host
1961 – Tim Harvey, British racing driver
1961 – Larry Karaszewski, American screenwriter
1961 – Dave Watson, English footballer
1963 – Timothy Gowers, British mathematician
1963 – Ming-Na Wen, Macau actress
1965 – Mike D, American musician (Beastie Boys)
1965 – Sen Dog, Cuban rapper (Cypress Hill)
1965 – Yoshiki Hayashi, Japanese musician (X Japan)
1966 – Kevin Gilbert, American musician (d. 1996)
1966 – Jill Thompson, American comic book writer and artist
1967 – Chris Childs, American basketball player
1967 – Teoman, Turkish rock singer
1969 – Callie Thorne, American actor
1970 – Matt Blunt, American politician
1970 – Delia Gonzalez, American boxer
1970 – Geoffrey Keezer, American jazz pianist
1970 – Joe Zaso, American actor
1971 – Joey Galloway, American football player
1971 – Joel McHale, American actor and comedian
1971 – Kenichi Ito, Japanese guitarist and producer
1972 – Sheema Kalbasi, Iranian poet
1975 – Dierks Bentley, American singer
1975 – J. D. Drew, American baseball player
1975 – Davey Havok, American singer (AFI)
1976 – Dominique Dawes, American gymnast
1976 – Tusshar Kapoor, Indian actor
1976 – Jason Thompson, Canadian actor
1976 – Theodoros Velkos, badminton player
1977 – Rudy Charles, American professional wrestling referee
1977 – Josh Turner, American singer
1978 – Ryan Leslie, American singer/songwriter
1978 – Freya Lin, Taiwanese singer
1978 – Nadine Velazquez, American actress and model
1979 – Ericson Alexander Molano, Colombian gospel singer
1979 – Maree Bowden, New Zealand netball player (Silver Ferns)
1980 – James Chambers, English footballer
1981 – Carlos Boozer, American basketball player
1981 – Kimberley Walsh, English singer (Girls Aloud)
1982 – Margo Stilley, American actress
1984 – Tashard Choice, American football player
1984 – Ferdinando Monfardini, Italian racing driver
1985 – Juan Cruz Álvarez, Argentine racing driver
1985 – Dan Byrd, American actor
1985 – Aaron Yan, Taiwanese singer and actor
1986 – Oli Sykes, English musician
1988 – Rhys Wakefield, Australian actor
1989 – Cody Linley, American actor
1989 – Tyga, American rapper
1992 – Maiha Ishimura, Japanese pop singer
2000 – Connie Talbot, English singer
Deaths
869 – King Edmund of East Anglia (b. 841)
1022 – Bernward of Hildesheim (b. 993)
1316 – King John I of France (d. 1316)
1437 – Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham (b. 1363)
1518 – Marmaduke Constable, English soldier
1518 – Pierre de La Rue, Flemish composer
1529 – Karl von Miltitz, papal nuncio
1591 – Christopher Hatton, English politician (b. 1540)
1612 – John Harington, English writer (b. 1561)
1651 – Mikolaj Potocki, Polish soldier (b. 1595)
1662 – Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (b. 1614)
1695 – Zumbi, Brazilian runaway slave (b. 1655)
1704 – Charles Plumier, French botanist (b. 1646)
1737 – Caroline of Ansbach, Queen of George II of Great Britain (b. 1683)
1742 – Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (b. 1661)
1758 – Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (b. 1694)
1764 – Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician (b. 1690)
1778 – Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (b. 1726)
1856 – Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1775)
1894 – Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
1908 – Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (b. 1868)
1910 – Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian novelist (b. 1828)
1925 – Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (b. 1844)
1934 – Willem de Sitter, Dutch scientist (b. 1872)
1936 – Buenaventura Durruti, Spanish anarchist (b. 1896)
1936 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (b. 1903)
1938 – Enzo Matsunaga, Japanese writer (b. 1895)
1945 – Francis William Aston, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1877)
1950 – Francesco Cilea, Italian composer (b. 1866)
1951 – Thomas Quinlan (impresario) (b. 1881)
1954 – Clyde Vernon Cessna, American aviation designer (b. 1879)
1957 – Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-Lithuanian artist (d. 1875)
1973 – Allan Sherman, American comedian (b. 1924)
1975 – Francisco Franco, Head of State of Spain (1936-1975) (b. 1892)
1976 – Trofim Lysenko, Russian biologist (b. 1898)
1978 – Vasilisk Gnedov, Russian poet (b. 1890)
1980 – John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1900)
1983 – Marcel Dalio, French actor (b. 1900)
1994 – John Lucarotti, British-born Canadian screenwriter (b. 1926)
1995 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (b. 1967)
1997 – Dick Littlefield, American baseball player (b. 1926)
1998 – Galina Starovoitova, Russian politician (b. 1946)
1999 – Amintore Fanfani, Italian politician and prime minister (b. 1908)
2000 – Mike Muuss, American computer programmer (b. 1958)
2000 – Kalle Päätalo, Finnish writer (b. 1919)
2003 – Robert Addie, British actor (cancer) (b. 1960)
2003 – Loris Azzaro, French fashion designer (b. 1933)
2003 – David Dacko, Central African politician (b. 1930)
2003 – Eugene Kleiner, American entrepreneur (b. 1923)
2003 – Roger Short, British Consulate General (b. 1944)
2003 – Jim Siedow, American actor (b. 1920)
2003 – Kerem Yilmazer, Turkish actor (b. 1945)
2004 – David Grierson, Canadian radio host (b. 1955)
2004 – Jenny Ross, English musician (Section 25) (b. 1962)
2005 – Manouchehr Atashi, Iranian poet (b. 1931)
2005 – Sheldon Gardner, American psychologist (b. 1934)
2005 – James King, American singer (b. 1925)
2005 – Chris Whitley, American musician (b. 1960)
2006 – Robert Altman, American film director (b. 1925)
2006 – Zoia Ceausescu, Romanian mathematician (b. 1950)
2006 – Andre Waters, American football player (b. 1962)
2007 – Ian Smith, Rhodesian politician (b. 1919)
2008 – Sven Inge, Swedish painter and modern artist (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances
Transgender Day of Remembrance
Universal Children s Day – Also the national (official or unofficial) Children s Day in Bangladesh, Canada, Egypt and Pakistan
Argentina – Day of National Sovereignty
Brazil – Zumbi Day (since 1978)
Mexico – Anniversary of the Revolution (1910)
United Kingdom – wedding day of Queen Elizabeth II (1947), official flag day
Vietnam – Teacher s Day (since 1982)
Church of England – Edmund the Martyr
Roman Catholic – Feast of Saint Bernward of Hildesheim
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