September 20
is the 263rd day of the year (264th in
leap years). There are 102 days remaining.
*
451- According to some sources, this was the date of the
Battle of Chalons:
Flavius Aetius' victory over
Attila the Hun.
*
1187 -
Saladin begins the
Siege of Jerusalem.
*
1377 - Cardinal Robert of Geneva, called by some the Butcher of Cesena, is elected as
Avignon Pope Clement VII, beginning the
Papal schism.
*
1519 -
Ferdinand Magellan - set sail from
Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe.
*
1596 -
Diego de Montemayor founded the city of
Monterrey in
New Spain.
*
1737 - Runner Edward Marshall completes his journey in the
Walking Purchase forcing the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km²) of
Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the
Pennsylvania Colony.
*
1854 -
Battle of Alma:
British and
French troops defeat
Russians in the
Crimea.
*
1860 - The
Prince of Wales (later King
Edward VII of the United Kingdom) visits the
United States.
*
1863 -
American Civil War: The
Battle of Chickamauga ends.
*
1870 -
Bersaglieri corps enters
Rome through
Porta Pia and completes the
unification of Italy*
1881 -
Chester A. Arthur is inaugurated as the 21st
President of the United States.
*
1891 - The first
gasoline-powered
car debuts in
Springfield, Massachusetts,
United States.
*
1906 - Cunard Line's
RMS Mauretania is launched at the
Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in
Newcastle, England.
*
1917 -
Paraguay becomes a signatory to the
Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
*
1920 - Foundation of the
Spanish Legion*
1939 - A
German Messerschmitt Bf 109 is shot down by
Fairey Battle gunner Sgt. F. Letchard during a patrol near
Aachen. This was the
RAF's first
aerial victory of the
Second World War.
*
1940 - Genevieve Grotjan completed the decryption of the
Japanese Purple code
*
1946 - The first
Cannes Film Festival is held.
*
1954 - The first program
compiled from
FORTRAN runs.
* 1954 -
New Zealand's
Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents reports just ten days after concluding hearings.
*
1962 -
James Meredith, an
African-American, is barred from entering the
University of Mississippi.
*
1967 - The
Queen Elizabeth 2 sets sail. It it is operated by the
Cunard Cruise Line*
1973 -
Billie Jean King beats
Bobby Riggs in battle-of-sexes
tennis match. On this same day, singer
Jim Croce is killed in a plane crash.
*
1979 -
Lee Iacocca is elected president of the
Chrysler Corporation.
* 1979 - A
coup d'état in the
Central African Empire overthrows Emperor
Bokasa I* 1979 - The
Punjab wing of the
Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist-Leninist) formally splits and constitutes a parallel
UCCRI(ML).
* 1979 - Assassination of French left-wing militant
Pierre Goldman.
*
1981 - A
coup d'état in the
Central African Republic overthrows President
David Dacko.
*
1984 - A suicide bomber in a car attacks the
U.S. embassy in
Beirut,
Lebanon, killing twelve people
*
1989 -
Miss Saigon makes its world premeire in London
*
1998 -
Baseball: After playing 2,632 consecutive games for the
Baltimore Orioles,
Cal Ripken, Jr takes a day off.
*
2000 - Last performance of the musical
Cats (musical) on Broadway.
*
2001 -
George W. Bush delivers his "Freedom at War with Fear"
speech to a joint session of
Congress.
*
2002 -
Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide started.
*
2002 - The body of missing school girl
Amanda Dowler Is found in
Yateley heath in
Hampshire. Ending a six month search for the missing schoolgirl.
*
2003 - A referendum is held in
Latvia to decide the country's accession to the
European Union* 2003 -
2003 Maldives civil unrest: the death of prisoner
Hassan Evan Naseem sparks a day of rioting in
Malé.
*
1599 -
Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel, German protestant military leader (d.
1623)
*
1778 -
Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian naval officer and explorer (d.
1852)
*
1833 -
Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian pacifist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1918)
*
1842 - Sir
James Dewar, Scottish chemist (d.
1923)
*
1853 -
Chulalongkorn, Rama V,
King of Thailand (d.
1910)
*
1861 -
Herbert Putnam,
Librarian of Congress (d.
1955)
*
1873 -
Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (d.
1949)
* 1873 -
Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian-born race car driver (d.
1944)
*
1878 -
Upton Sinclair, American writer and politician (d.
1968)
*
1889 -
Charles Reidpath, American athlete (d.
1975)
*
1899 -
Leo Strauss, Jewish-American Philosopher (d.
1973)
*
1917 -
Red Auerbach, American basketball coach and executive
* 1917 -
Fernando Rey, Spanish-born actor (d.
1992)
*
1922 -
William Kapell, American pianist (d.
1953)
*
1923 -
Geraldine Clinton Little, Irish-born poet (d.
1997)
*
1924 -
Gogi Grant, American singer
*
1925 -
Ananda Mahidol, Rama VIII,
King of Thailand (d.
1946)
*
1927 -
Johnny Dankworth, English musician and composer
* 1927 -
Rachel Roberts, English actress (d.
1980)
*
1928 -
Joyce Brothers, American psychologist and advice columnist
*
1929 -
Anne Meara, American comic and actress
*
1934 -
Sophia Loren, Italian actress
*
1937 -
Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (d.
2005)
*
1939 -
Robert L. Gerry III, American businessman
*
1941 -
Dale Chihuly, American glass artist
*
1947 -
Chuck Panozzo, American musician (
Styx)
* 1947 -
Mia Martini, Italian singer (d.
1995)
* 1947 -
Bruce Pasternack, American CEO
*
1948 -
George R. R. Martin, American writer
*
1951 -
Guy Lafleur, Canadian hockey player
*
1954 -
Henry Samueli, American
NHL team owner
*
1956 -
Gary Cole, American actor
*
1964 -
Maggie Cheung, Hong Kong actress
*
1965 -
Robert Rusler, American actor
*
1966 -
Nuno Bettencourt, Portuguese-born rock musician
*
1967 -
Kristen Johnston, American actress
*
1968 -
Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress
* 1968 -
Darrell Russell, American race car driver (d.
2004)
*
1971 -
Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer
*
1975 -
Asia Argento, Italian actress
* 1975 -
Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian race car driver
*
1976 -
Yui Horie, Japanese voice actress and singer
* 1976 -
Reuben Singh, British entrepreneur
*
1977 -
Namie Amuro, Japanese singer
*
1978 -
Jason Bay, Canadian
Major League Baseball player
* 1978 -
Sarit Hadad, Israeli singer
* 1978 -
T.J. Tucker, Professional baseball player
*
1979 -
Phil Waugh, Australian
Rugby Union player
*
1980 -
Mariacarla Boscono, Italian fashion model
*
1981 -
Joanie Dodds, ANTM contestant
* 1981 -
Feliciano López, Spanish tennis player
* 1981 -
Dimitrios Papadopoulos, Greek footballer
*
1991 -
Spencer Locke, American actress
*
1246 -
Mikhail of Chernigov, ruler of Kiev
*
1384 - King
Louis I of Naples (b.
1339)
*
1460 -
Gilles Binchois, Flemish composer
*
1586 -
Chidiock Tichborne, English conspirator and poet (executed) (b.
1558)
*
1590 -
Lodovico Agostini, Italian composer (b.
1534)
*
1625 -
Heinrich Meibom, German historian and critic (b.
1555)
*
1627 -
Jan Gruter, Dutch critic (b.
1560)
*
1630 -
Claudio Saracini, Italian composer (b.
1586)
*
1639 -
Johannes Meursius, Dutch classical scholar (b.
1579)
*
1643 -
Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland, English politician and writer
*
1721 -
Thomas Doggett, Irish actor
*
1803 -
Robert Emmet, Irish patriot (b.
1780)
*
1815 -
Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist (b.
1725)
*
1852 -
Philander Chase, American university founder (b.
1775)
*
1863 -
Jacob Grimm, German folklorist (b.
1785)
*
1884 -
Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist (b.
1802)
*
1898 -
Theodor Fontane, German writer (b.
1819)
*
1908 -
Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (b.
1844)
*
1932 -
Wovoka, Paiute visionary
*
1947 -
Fiorello LaGuardia, Mayor of New York City (b.
1882)
*
1957 -
Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b.
1865)
*
1971 -
Giorgos Seferis, Greek writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1900)
*
1973 -
Jim Croce, American singer and songwriter (b.
1943)
*
1975 -
Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1887)
*
1979 -
Ludvík Svoboda,
President of Czechoslovakia (b.
1895)
*
1993 -
Erich Hartmann, German pilot (b.
1922)
*
1995 -
Orville Redenbacher, Popcorn company founder (b.
1907)
*
1996 -
Paul Erdős, Hungarian mathematician (b.
1913)
*
2000 -
Gherman Titov, cosmonaut (b.
1935)
*
2003 -
Lord Williams of Mostyn, British politician (b.
1941)
* 2003 -
Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwe politician (b.
1922)
*
2004 -
Brian Clough, English footballer and football manager (b.
1935)
* 2004 -
Townsend Hoopes, American politician (b.
1922)
*
2005 -
Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian-Polish Nazi hunter (b.
1908)
*In
ancient Greece, the seventh day of the
Eleusinian Mysteries, when the secret rites in the
Telesterion began.
*
Feast day of the following
saints in the
Roman Catholic Church:
** The
Korean Martyrs**
Eustace**
Vincent Madelgaire**
Yves Mayeuc**
Francis de Posadas**Thomas Johnson, John Davy, and companions (
martyrs).
*Feast day of the following saint(s) in the
Anglican Church:
**
John Coleridge Patteson*Also see
September 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
BBC: On This DaySeptember 19 ·
September 21 ·
August 20 ·
October 20 · more
historical anniversaries
