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Today October 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
1740 – Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.
1781 – Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, was approved in Habsburg Monarchy.
1803 – The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
1818 – The Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the US-Canada border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.
1827 – Battle of Navarino – a combined Turkish and Egyptian armada is destroyed by an allied British, French, and Russian naval force in the port of Navarino in Pylos, Greece. The most important result of this battle is the end of the Greek Liberation War and the affirmation of independence of modern Greece.
1883 – Peru and Chile signed the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province was ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru s involvement in the War of the Pacific.
1910 – The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.
1935 – The Long March ends
1941 – World War II: Thousands of civilians in Kragujevac in German-occupied Serbia are killed in the Kragujevac massacre.
1944 – The Soviet army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia
1944 – Liquid natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130.
1944 – General Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese during the Second World War.
1947 – The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.
1951 – The Johnny Bright Incident occurred in Stillwater, Oklahoma
1952 – Governor Evelyn Baring declared a state of emergency in Kenya and began arresting hundreds of suspected leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising, including Jomo Kenyatta, the future first President of Kenya.
1955 – Publication of The Return of the King, being the last part of The Lord of the Rings.
1967 – A purported bigfoot is filmed by Patterson and Gimlin.
1968 – Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
1970 – Siad Barre declares Somalia a socialist state.
1971 – The Nepal stock exchange collapses.
1973 – The Saturday Night Massacre: President Nixon fires Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork.
1973 – The Sydney Opera House opens.
1976 – The ferry George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, LA. Seventy-eight passengers and crew died; only 18 people aboard the ferry survived.
1977 – A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, the road manager, pilot, and co-pilot.
1979 – The John F Kennedy library is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
1982 – During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.
1984 – The Monterey Bay Aquarium opens in Monterey Bay, California.
1991 – The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage.
Births
1463 – Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (d. 1512)
1496 – Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (d. 1550)
1616 – Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (d. 1680)
1620 – Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch painter (d. 1691)
1632 – Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (d. 1723)
1656 – Nicolas de Largillière, French painter (d. 1746)
1660 – Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (d. 1723)
1677 – Stanislaus I Leszczynski, King of Poland (d. 1766)
1700 – Charlotte Aglaé of Orléans, Duchess of Modena (d. 1761)
1711 – Timothy Ruggles, American-born Tory politician (d. 1795)
1719 – Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (d. 1772)
1759 – Chauncey Goodrich, U.S. Senator from Connecticut (d. 1815)
1780 – Pauline Bonaparte, princess Borghese, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1825)
1784 – Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1865)
1785 – George Ormerod, English historian and antiquarian (d. 1873)
1808 – Karl Andree, German geographer (d. 1875)
1819 – The Báb, Persian founder of the Bábí Faith (d. 1850)
1819 – Carl Mikuli, Polish pianist (d. 1897)
1822 – Thomas Hughes, English novelist (d. 1896)
1832 – Constantin Lipsius, German architect (d. 1894)
1854 – Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (d. 1891)
1858 – John Burns, English politician (d. 1943)
1859 – John Dewey, American philosopher (d. 1952)
1864 – James F. Hinkle, American politician, sixth Governor of New Mexico (d. 1951)
1874 – Charles Ives, American composer (d. 1954)
1882 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born actor (d. 1956)
1889 – Margaret Dumont, American actress (d. 1965)
1890 – Jelly Roll Morton, American composer (d. 1941)
1891 – James Chadwick, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
1891 – Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya (d. 1978)
1893 – Charley Chase, American comedian (d. 1940)
1894 – Olive Thomas, American actress (d. 1920)
1895 – Rex Ingram, American actor (d. 1969)
1897 – Crown Prince Eun of Korea (d. 1970)
1900 – Wayne Morse, U.S. Senator from Oregon (d. 1974)
1904 – Anna Neagle, English actress (d. 1986)
1904 – Tommy Clement Douglas, Canadian politician (d. 1986)
1905 – Ellery Queen, pseudonym of two American writers (d. 1982)
1907 – Arlene Francis, American television personality (d. 2001)
1909 – Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese painter (d. 1993)
1913 – Grandpa Jones, American banjo player and singer (d. 1998)
1914 – Fayard Nicholas, American dancer (d. 2006)
1917 – Jean-Pierre Melville, French director (d. 1973)
1918 – Robert Lochner, German journalist (d. 2003)
1919 – Tracy Hall, American inventor (d. 2008)
1922 – John Anderson, American actor (d. 1992)
1923 – Robert Craft, American conductor
1925 – Art Buchwald, American humorist (d. 2007)
1925 – Tom Dowd, American recording engineer (d. 2002)
1925 – Roger Hanin, French actor
1931 – Richard Caliguiri, American politician (d. 1988)
1931 – Mickey Mantle, American baseball player (d. 1995)
1932 – Rosey Brown, American football player (d. 2004)
1932 – William Christopher, American actor (M*A*S*H)
1934 – Eddie Harris, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1996)
1934 – Michiko, empress of Japan
1935 – Jerry Orbach, American actor (d. 2004)
1937 – Juan Marichal, Dominican baseball player
1937 – Wanda Jackson, American rock and rockabilly singer
1938 – Iain Macmillan, Abbey Road photographer (d. 2006)
1940 – Kathy Kirby, British singer
1940 – Robert Pinsky, American poet and Poet Laureate of the United States
1942 – Earl Hindman, American actor (d. 2003)
1942 – Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
1943 – Dunja Vejzovic, Croatian soprano
1944 – David Mancuso, American disc jockey
1946 – Lewis Grizzard, American writer and humorist (d. 1994)
1946 – Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
1946 – Lucien Van Impe, Belgian cyclist
1948 – Melih Gökçek, Turkish politician
1949 – Valeri Borzov, Ukrainian athlete
1950 – Tom Petty, American musician
1951 – Patrick Hall, British politician
1951 – Leif Pagrotsky, Swedish politician
1951 – Claudio Ranieri, Italian football player and manager
1951 – Ken Ham, Australian evangelist and businessman
1953 – Keith Hernandez, American baseball player
1953 – Bill Nunn, American actor
1954 – Steve Orich, orchestrator
1954 – Günter Müller, German sound artist, improvisor and percussionist
1955 – Thomas Newman, American composer
1955 – David Profumo, English novelist
1955 – Aaron Pryor, American boxer
1956 – Danny Boyle, English film director
1957 – Susanna Haavisto, Finnish actress and singer
1957 – Hilda Solis, American politician
1958 – Valerie Faris, American film director
1958 – Lynn Flewelling, American fantasy author
1958 – Scott Hall, American professional wrestler
1958 – Mark King, English musician and singer (Level 42)
1958 – Dave Krieg, American football player
1958 – Viggo Mortensen, American actor
1958 – Ivo Pogorelic, Croatian pianist
1958 – Dave Finlay, Irish professional wrestler
1960 – Konstantin Aseev, Russian chess player (d. 2004)
1960 – Lepa Brena, famous Yugoslav singer
1961 – Ian Rush, Welsh footballer
1961 – Michie Tomizawa, Japanese voice actress
1962 – David M. Evans, American screenwriter and film director
1962 – Dave Wong, Hong Kong/Taiwanese singer-songwriter
1963 – Julie Payette, Canadian astronaut
1963 – Nikos Tsiantakis, Greek footballer
1965 – Norman Blake, Scottish musician
1965 – Jil Caplan, French singer and songwriter
1965 – Mikhail Shtalenkov, Russian ice hockey player
1965 – William Zabka, American actor
1966 – Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda leader (d. 2006)
1966 – Allan Donald, former South African cricketer
1966 – Fred Coury, American drummer (Cinderella)
1966 – Stefan Raab, German entertainer
1966 – Patrick J. Volkerding, Founder and maintainer of the Slackware Linux distribution
1967 – Luigi Lo Cascio, Italian actor
1967 – Luck Mervil, Québécois actor and singer
1967 – Marco Ngai, Hong Kong actor
1969 – Juan González, Puerto Rican baseball player
1969 – Laurie Daley, Australian rugby league footballer
1969 – Lambros Papakostas, Greek high jumper
1970 – Chavo Guerrero, Jr., American professional wrestler
1970 – Michelle Malkin, American political commentator and author
1971 – Dannii Minogue, Australian singer
1972 – Snoop Dogg, American rapper
1972 – Will Greenwood, England rugby union player
1976 – Tom Wisniewski, American guitarist (MxPx)
1977 – Matt Jansen, English footballer
1977 – Leila Josefowicz, Canadian classical violinist
1977 – Sam Witwer, American actor
1978 – Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer
1978 – Paul Wilson, Irish bass player (Snow Patrol)
1979 – Paul Ifill, Barbadian footballer
1979 – John Krasinski, American actor
1979 – Paul O Connell, Irish rugby player
1980 – Gary Jarman, English musician
1980 – Jose Veras, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Willis McGahee, American football player
1981 – Dimitrios Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
1981 – Francisco Javier Rodríguez, Mexican footballer
1982 – Yasser Al-Qahtani, Saudi footballer
1982 – Becky Brewerton, Welsh golfer
1983 – Alex Nackman, musician
1983 – Luis Saritama, Ecuadorian footballer
1983 – Takayuki Yamada, Japanese actor
1984 – Florent Sinama-Pongolle, French footballer
1984 – Andrew Trimble, Northern Irish rugby player for Irish rugby team
1985 – Jennifer Nicole Freeman, American actress
1985 – Dominic McGuire, American basketball player
1985 – James Sutton, British racing driver
1986 – Priyanka Sharma, Indian actress
1988 – Candice Swanepoel, South African model
1988 – Risa Niigaki, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
1992 – Ksenia Semenova, Russian Olympic gymnast.
1994 – Morgan Featherstone, Australian model
Deaths
460 – Aelia Eudocia, Byzantine Empress
1139 – Henry X, Duke of Bavaria
1570 – João de Barros, Portuguese historian (b. 1496)
1631 – Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1550)
1640 – John Ball, English Puritan clergyman (b. 1585)
1652 – Antonio Coello, Spanish writer (b. 1611)
1713 – Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (b. 1652)
1740 – Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1685)
1842 – Grace Darling, English heroine (b. 1815)
1865 – Champ Ferguson, Confederate guerrilla (b. 1821)
1890 – Sir Richard Burton, British explorer and writer (b. 1821)
1900 – Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet (b. 1846)
1907 – Said Pasha Kurd, Kurdish statesman (b. 1834)
1910 – David B. Hill, Governor of New York (b. 1843)
1926 – Eugene Debs, American labor leader and Socialist presidential candidate (b. 1855)
1935 – Arthur Henderson, Scottish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1863)
1936 – Anne Sullivan, American teacher (b. 1866)
1940 – Gunnar Asplund, Swedish architect (b. 1885)
1953 – Werner Baumbach, German bomber pilot (b. 1916)
1964 – Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States (b. 1874)
1967 – Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)
1968 – Bud Flanagan, British wartime entertainer (b. 1896)
1972 – Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (b. 1885)
1977 – Members of the American rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd killed in a plane crash:
Cassie Gaines (b. 1948)
Steve Gaines (b. 1949)
Ronnie Van Zant (b. 1948)
1978 – Gunnar Nilsson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1948)
1983 – Peter Dudley, British actor (b. 1935)
1983 – Yves Thériault, French Canadian author (b. 1915)
1984 – Carl Ferdinand Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
1984 – Paul Dirac, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1987 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1903)
1988 – Sheila Scott, English aviatrix (b. 1922)
1989 – Anthony Quayle, English actor (b. 1913)
1990 – Joel McCrea, American actor (b. 1905)
1992 – Werner Torkanowsky, German conductor (b. 1926)
1993 – Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese painter (b. 1909)
1994 – Burt Lancaster, American actor (b. 1913)
1995 – Christopher Stone, American actor (b. 1942)
1999 – Calvin Griffith, Former owner of Washington Senators (b. 1911)
2001 – Ted Ammon, American financier (b. 1949)
2002 – Barbara Berjer, American actress (b. 1920)
2002 – Bernard Fresson, French actor (b. 1931)
2003 – Jack Elam, American actor (b. 1918)
2003 – Miodrag Petrovic, Serbian actor (b. 1924)
2004 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (b. 1923)
2004 – Chuck Hiller, American baseball player (b. 1934)
2005 – Shirley Horn, American singer (b. 1934)
2005 – Endon Mahmood, First Lady of Malaysia (b. 1941)
2005 – Eva Svankmajerova, Czech artist (b. 1940)
2006 – Jane Wyatt, American actress (b. 1910)
2007 – Max McGee, American football player (b. 1932)
2007 – Paul Raven, British bass-player (Killing Joke, Ministry) (b. 1961)
2008 – Gene Hickerson, American football Hall of Famer (b. 1935)
Holidays and observances
Christianity – the feast day of martyr Andrew of Crete, Caprasius of Agen
October 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Bahá í Faith – Holy Day – Birth of the Báb
French Republican Calendar – Orge (Barley) Day, twenty-ninth day in the Month of Vendémiaire
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