April 20 is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 255 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 1303 - The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
- 1534 - Jacques Cartier begins his voyage, in which he will discover Canada and Labrador.
- 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 - Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
- 1689 - The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
- 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.
- 1810 - The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from Spain.
- 1828 - René Caillié is first non-Muslim to enter Timbouctou.
- 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.
- 1871 - Civil Rights Act of 1871
- 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 - Forty-five men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miner's strike.
- 1916 - Chicago Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings
- 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 - World War II: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
- 1945 - World War II: Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
- 1961 - Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US troops against Cuba.
- 1964 - BBC Two launches with the power cut because of the fire at Battersea Power Station.
- 1967 - A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, 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.
- 1980 - Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested.
- 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.
- 1986 - Professional basketball player Michael Jordan sets all-time record for points in an NBA playoff game with 63 against the Boston Celtics.
- 1998 - TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53.
- 1998 - German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
- 1999 - Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School located in Jefferson County, Colorado.
- 2004 - In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
- 2007 - Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
- 2008 - Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
Births
- 570 - possible date of Muhammad, Islamic prophet (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)
- 1646 - Charles Plumier, French botanist (d. 1704)
- 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 Continental Congress delegate (d. 1781)
- 1727 - Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-born Austrian diplomat (d. 1794)
- 1745 - Philippe Pinel, French physician (d. 1826)
- 1808 - Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (d. 1873)
- 1818 - Heinrich Göbel, German-born inventor (d. 1893)
- 1826 - Dinah Craik, English author (d. 1887)
- 1850 - Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (d. 1931)
- 1851 - Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (d. 1875)
- 1870 - Maulvi Abdul Haq, Pakistani scholar (d. 1961)
- 1879 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
- 1882 - Holland Smith, U.S. General (d. 1967)
- 1884 - Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
- 1889 - Adolf Hitler, Reichskanzler of Germany (d. 1945)
- 1889 - Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish-born businessman and activist (d. 1996)
- 1890 - Maurice Duplessis, premier of Québec (d. 1959)
- 1893 - Harold Lloyd, American actor (d. 1971)
- 1893 - Edna Parker, American supercentenarian (d. 2008)
- 1893 - Joan Miró, Spanish painter (d. 1983)
- 1895 - Emile Christian, American musician (d. 1973)
- 1896 - Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952)
- 1896 - Henry de Montherlant, French writer (d. 1972)
- 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 (d. 2007)
- 1919 - Richard Hillary, Australian pilot and author (d. 1943)
- 1920 - John Paul Stevens, American jurist
- 1920 - Ronald Speirs, WWII Veteran (d. 2007)
- 1921 - Janine Sutto, French-Canadian actress
- 1923 - Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster
- 1923 - Tito Puente, American musician (d. 2000)
- 1924 - Leslie Phillips, English actor
- 1925 - Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (d. 2006)
- 1927 - Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
- 1927 - Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1928 - Johnny Gavin, Irish footballer (d. 2007)
- 1928 - Gerald S. Hawkins, English astronomer (d. 2003)
- 1936 - Pat Roberts, American politician
- 1937 - George Takei, American actor
- 1939 - Peter S. Beagle, American author
- 1939 - Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway
- 1939 - Johnny Tillotson, American singer
- 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
- 1946 - Julien Poulin, French Canadian actor
- 1946 - Gordon Smiley, American racecar driver (d. 1982)
- 1946 - Mel Winkler, American voice actor
- 1947 - Björn Skifs, Swedish singer (Blue Swede)
- 1947 - Andrew Tobias, American journalist and author
- 1947 - David Leland, British actor, director and screenwriter
- 1948 - Craig Frost, American musician (Grand Funk & Bob Seger)
- 1948 - Gregory Itzin, American actor
- 1948 - Rémy Trudel, French Canadian politician
- 1949 - Massimo D'Alema, Prime Minister of Italy
- 1949 - Veronica Cartwright, American actress
- 1949 - Toller Cranston, Canadian figure skater and artist
- 1949 - Jessica Lange, American actress
- 1950 - Steve Erickson, American novelist
- 1950 - Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002)
- 1950 - Chandra Babu Naidu, Indian politician
- 1951 - Luther Vandross, American singer (d. 2005)
- 1952 - Božidar Maljković, Serbian basketball coach
- 1953 - Sebastian Faulks, British novelist
- 1954 - Gilles Lupien, French-Canadian ice hockey player
- 1956 - Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician
- 1957 - Geraint Wyn Davies, Welsh-born Canadian actor
- 1958 - Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1959 - Clint Howard, American actor
- 1961 - Don Mattingly, American baseball player
- 1961 - Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
- 1963 - Mauricio Gugelmin, Brazilian racing driver
- 1963 - Aubrey de Grey, British biomedical gerontologist
- 1964 - Crispin Glover, American actor
- 1964 - Andy Serkis, English actor
- 1964 - Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
- 1965 - Ralph Cirella, American radio personality
- 1965 - Kostas Hatzidakis, Greek politician
- 1965 - Adrian Fernández, Mexican racing driver
- 1966 - David Chalmers, Australian philosopher
- 1967 - Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
- 1967 - Mike Portnoy, American drummer (Dream Theater)
- 1967 - Lara Jill Miller, American actress
- 1968 - J. D. Roth, American game show host and television personality
- 1969 - Chris Jarvis, English TV personality
- 1970 - Shemar Moore, American actor
- 1970 - Adriano Moraes, Brazilian rodeo performer
- 1971 - Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer
- 1971 - Allan Houston, American basketball player
- 1971 - Tina Cousins, English singer
- 1972 - Carmen Electra, American actress
- 1972 - Le Huynh Đuc, Vietnamese footballer
- 1972 - Stephen Marley, Jamaican musician
- 1973 - Geoff Lloyd, British radio presenter
- 1976 - Joey Lawrence, American actor
- 1976 - Shay Given, Irish footballer
- 1977 - Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, professional wrestler
- 1978 - Mirei Kuroda, Japanese gravure idol
- 1980 - Jasmin Wagner, German singer
- 1981 - Matus Valent, male fitness model
- 1983 - Terrence J, American television host
- 1983 - Miranda Kerr, Australian supermodel
- 1984 - Tyson Griffin, American mixed martial artist
- 1986 - Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director (d. 2003)
- 1987 - John Patrick Amedori, American actor
Deaths
- 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)
- 1873 - William Tite, English architect (b. 1798)
- 1874 - Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (b. 1817)
- 1887 - Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Egyptian statesman (b. 1826)
- 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)
- 1945 - Erwin Bumke, German jurist (b. 1874)
- 1947 - King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
- 1951 - Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
- 1964 - Eddie Dyer, baseball player (b. 1899)
- 1977 - Sepp Herberger, German football coach (b. 1897)
- 1982 - Archibald MacLeish, American poet and Librarian of Congress (b. 1892)
- 1984 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b. 1943)
- 1986 - Sibte Hassan, Pakistani activist, journalist and writer (b. 1916)
- 1989 - Doru Davidovici, Romanian writer and fighter pilot (b. 1945)
- 1991 - Steve Marriott, British singer and songwriter (Humble Pie) (b. 1947)
- 1991 - Don Siegel, American film director (b. 1912)
- 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 and shooters 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 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
- 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 (b. 1988)
- 2007 - Andrew Hill, American jazz composer and pianist (b. 1931)
- 2007 - Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931).
- 2008 - VL Mike, American Rapper (b. 1976)
- 2008 - Monica Lovinescu, Romanian essayist, literary critic and journalist (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances
External links
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