April 20
is the 110th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (111th in
leap years). There are 255 days remaining.
*
1653 -
Oliver Cromwell dissolves the
Rump Parliament.
*
1657 -
Admiral Robert Blake destroys a
Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at
Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
* 1657 -
Jews of
New Amsterdam (later
New York City) granted
freedom of religion.
*
1689 - The former
King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to
Derry.
*
1770 -
Lieutenant James Cook's expedition (first voyage) makes first sighting of eastern
Australian coastline, naming the spot
Cape Hicks. His logbook recorded the date as
April 19, but the 20th was the actual calendar date.
*
1775 -
American Revolutionary War: the
siege of Boston begins, which followed the first battles at
Lexington and Concord.
*
1792 -
France declares war on
Austria, the beginning of
French Revolutionary Wars.
*
1836 -
U.S. Congress passes an act creating the
Wisconsin Territory.
*
1861 -
American Civil War:
Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the
United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of
Virginia.
*
1862 - The first
pasteurization test completed by
Louis Pasteur and
Claude Bernard.
*
1876 - The
April Uprising breaks out in
Bulgaria.
*
1884 -
Pope Leo XIII publishes the
encyclical,
Humanum Genus.
*
1902 -
Pierre and
Marie Curie refine
radium chloride.
*
1908 - Opening day of competition of the
New South Wales Rugby League.
*
1912 - Opening day for
baseball stadiums
Tiger Stadium in
Detroit,
Michigan, and
Fenway Park in
Boston,
Massachusetts.
*
1914 - Seventeen men, women, and children die in the
Ludlow Massacre during a bitter
Colorado coal-miner's strike.
*
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.
*
1926 -
Western Electric and
Warner Bros. announce
Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film.
*
1945 -
US troops capture
Leipzig,
Germany, only to later cede the city to the
Soviet Union.
*
1953 -
Project BLUEBIRD turns into
Project MKULTRA.
*
1967 - A
Swiss Britannia turboprop crashes at
Toronto,
Canada, killing 126.
*
1968 - A
South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes during takeoff at
Windhoek,
South-West Africa, killing 122.
* 1968 -
English politician
Enoch Powell makes his controversial
Rivers of Blood speech.
*
1972 -
Apollo 16 lands on the
Moon.
*
1978 -
Korean Air Flight 902 shot down by
Soviets.
*
1985 -
ATF raid on
The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern
Arkansas.
*
1986 Pianist
Vladimir Horowitz performed in his native
Russia for the first time in 61 years. The concert was viewed by millions on television.
*
1998 - An
Air France Boeing 727-200 crashes into mountain after takeoff from
Bogotá,
Colombia, killing 53.
* 1998 -
German terrorist group
Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
*
1999 -
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 12 students and a teacher before killing themselves in the
Columbine High School massacre.
* 1999 - Largest bombing of
Kosovo by the
United States in the
Kosovo War.
* 2004 - In
Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on
Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
*
570 -
Muhammad (possible date of birth), Founder of Islam (d.
632)
*
702 -
Jafar Sadiq, Muslim scholar (d.
765)
*
1494 -
Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (d.
1566)
*
1586 -
Saint Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (d.
1617)
*
1633 -
Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (d.
1654)
*
1650 -
William Bedloe, English informer (d.
1680)
*
1668 -
Yuri Troubetzkoy, Governor of Belgorod (d.
1739)
*
1718 -
David Brainerd, American missionary (d.
1747)
*
1723 -
Cornelius Harnett, American delegate to the Continental Congress (d.
1781)
*
1745 -
Philippe Pinel, French physician (d.
1826)
*
1802 -
Alan Campbell Palmer, Maine Legislator (d.
1852)
*
1808 - Emperor
Napoleon III of France (d.
1873)
*
1818 -
Heinrich Göbel, German-born inventor (d.
1893)
*
1850 -
Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (d.
1931)
*
1879 -
Paul Poiret, French couturier (d.
1944)
*
1882 -
Holland Smith, U.S. General (d.
1967)
*
1889 -
Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish-born businessman and social activist (d.
1996)
* 1889 -
Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German dictator (d.
1945)
*
1891 -
Caresse Crosby, American poet (d.
1970)
*
1893 -
Harold Lloyd, American actor (d.
1971)
* 1893 -
Joan Miró, Catalan painter (d.
1983)
*
1895 -
Emile Christian, American musician (d.
1973)
*
1896 -
Wop May, Canadian aviator (d.
1952)
*
1904 -
Bruce Cabot, American actor (d.
1972)
* 1904 -
George Stibitz, American scientist (d.
1995)
*
1908 -
Lionel Hampton, American musician (d.
2002)
*
1914 -
Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d.
1999)
*
1915 -
Joseph Wolpe, South African-born psychotherapist (d.
1997)
*
1918 -
Edward L. Beach, Jr., American naval officer, author (d.
2002)
* 1918 -
Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
1920 -
John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
*
1923 -
Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster
* 1923 -
Tito Puente, American musician (d.
2000)
*
1925 -
Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (d.
2006)
*
1927 -
Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
*
1928 -
Gerald S. Hawkins, English astronomer (d.
2003)
*
1939 -
Peter S. Beagle, American author
* 1939 -
Gro Harlem Brundtland,
Prime Minister of Norway*
1940 -
George Takei, American actor
*
1941 -
Ryan O'Neal, American actor
*
1943 -
John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
* 1943 -
Edie Sedgwick, American actress (d.
1971)
*
1945 -
Michael Brandon, American Actor
* 1945 -
Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
*
1947 -
Björn Skifs, Swedish singer (
Blue Swede)
*
1948 -
Craig Frost, American musician (
Grand Funk &
Bob Seger)
*
1949 -
Massimo D'Alema,
Prime Minister of Italy* 1949 -
Toller Cranston, Canadian figure skater and artist
* 1949 -
Jessica Lange, American actress
*
1950 -
Veronica Cartwright, American actress
* 1950 -
Steve Erickson, American novelist
* 1950 -
Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general, politician (d.
2002)
*
1951 -
Luther Vandross, American singer (d.
2005)
*
1957 -
Geraint Wyn Davies, American actor
*
1961 -
Don Mattingly, baseball player
*
1964 -
Crispin Glover, American actor
* 1964 -
Andy Serkis, English actor
* 1964 -
Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
*
1967 -
Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
* 1967 -
Mike Portnoy, American drummer (
Dream Theater)
*
1971 -
Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer
*
1972 -
Carmen Electra, American actress
*
1976 -
Joey Lawrence, American actor
* 1976 -
Shay Given, Irish footballer
*
1980 -
Jasmin Wagner, German singer
* 1980 -
Channing Tatum, American actor and model
*
1176 -
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English soldier (b.
1130)
*
1314 -
Pope Clement V (b.
1264)
*
1521 -
Zhengde, Emperor of China (b.
1491)
*
1534 -
Elizabeth Barton, English nun (executed)
*
1558 -
Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (b.
1485)
*
1643 -
Christoph Demantius, German composer (b.
1567)
*
1703 -
Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (b.
1632)
*
1765 -
Abigail Williams, American accuser in the Salem witch trials (b.
1674)
*
1769 -
Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawa
*
1831 -
John Abernethy, English surgeon (b.
1764)
*
1887 -
Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Egyptian statesman (b.
1826)
*
1873 -
William Tite, English architect (b.
1798)
*
1899 -
Joseph Wolf, German artist (b.
1820)
*
1912 -
Bram Stoker, Irish author (b.
1847)
*
1918 -
Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1850)
*
1932 -
Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (b.
1858)
*
1947 - King
Christian X of Denmark (b.
1870)
*
1951 -
Ivanoe Bonomi,
Prime Minister of Italy (b.
1873)
*
1964 -
Eddie Dyer, baseball player (b.
1899)
*
1982 -
Archibald MacLeish, American poet and
Librarian of Congress (b.
1892)
*
1984 -
Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b.
1943)
*
1991 -
Steve Marriott, British musician and actor (b.
1945)
* 1991 -
Don Siegel, American film director (b.
1912)
*
1992 -
Benny Hill, British comedian (b.
1924)
*
1993 -
Cantinflas, Mexican comedian and actor (b.
1911)
*
1994 -
Jean Carmet, French actor (b.
1920)
*
1996 -
Christopher Robin Milne, son of
A.A. Milne (b.
1920)
*
1999 -
Victims of the
Columbine High School massacre* 1999 -
Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b.
1958)
* 1999 -
Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist and comedian (b.
1896)
*
2001 -
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b.
1946)
*
2002 -
Alan Dale, American singer (b.
1925)
*
2003 -
Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b.
1908)
* 2003 -
Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1911)
*
2005 -
Fumio Niwa, Japanese novelist (b.
1904)
* 2005 -
Zygfryd Blaut, Polish football player (b.
1943)
*
2006 -
Anna Svidersky, Vancouver murder victim (b.
1988)
*
April 20 (4/20) is associated with
420 (cannabis culture).
*
Islam -
Muhammad's Birthday observed in (
2004)
*
Astrology: First day of
sun sign Taurus.
*
Festival of Matsu,
Southeast Asia (
2006).
*
Ridván begins at sunset (
Bahá'í Faith).
*
USA- National High Five DayLiturgical feasts
*
Saint Marcellinus*
Saint Theotimus (died 407)
*
Saint Victor (d.303)
*
Blessed Oda (d. 1158)
*
BBC: On This Day*
Epic Idiot: On This DayApril 19 -
April 21 -
March 20 -
May 20 –
listing of all days
