On this day: 20 October
Events, births and deaths on 20 October. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Edoardo Menichelli
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Junko Tabei
- Deaths · Michael Massee
100 years ago1926
- Deaths · Eugene V. Debs
- Births · Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 972 · Deaths · Kūya
- 1122 · Deaths · Ralph d'Escures
Events · 20
- 1548(Julian date)La Paz — capital city and seat of government of Bolivia
- 1568Battle of Jodoigne — 1568 battle
- 1572(Julian date)Relief of Goes — 1572 battle of the Eighty Years' War
- 1600
- 1774Continental Association — 18th century American trade boycott with England
- 1818Treaty of 1818 — formal, binding written agreement entered into by the United Kingdom and the United States in international law
- 1827Battle of Navarino — 1827 naval battle during the Greek War of Independence
- 1904Treaty of Peace and love — treaty between Chile and Bolivia
- 1941Kragujevac massacre — 1941 massacre by Nazi forces in Serbia
- 1944Philippines campaign of 1944–1945 — campaign which started on October 20, 1944 during WWII
- 19481948 KLM Constellation air disaster — 1948 aviation accident
- 1962Sino-Indian War — 1962 war between India and China
- 1973Saturday Night Massacre — October 20, 1973 exits of judiciary officials during the Watergate scandal
- 19771977 Convair CV-300 crash — 1977 plane crash, killed three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd
- 1982Stampede in Luzhniki on 20th October 1982 — Mass crush with human casualties
- 1986Aeroflot Flight 6502 — 1986 Tu-134 crash in Samara
- 19911991 Uttarkashi earthquake — October 1991 earthquake in Uttarkashi, India
- 2002Top Gear — British automotive television show, 2002-2022
- 2005Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions — UNESCO-related treaty
- 2011killing of Muammar Gaddafi — 2011 killing in Sirte, Libya
Births · 60
- 1554Bálint Balassi — Hungarian poet, writer, soldier
- 1616Thomas Bartholin — Danish physician, mathematician and theologian
- 1620Aelbert Cuyp — Dutch landscape painter (1620-1691)
- 1632(Julian date)Christopher Wren — English architect (1632–1723)
- 1677Stanisław Leszczyński — King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1677–1766)
- 1740Isabelle de Charrière — Dutch French-language writer and composer (1740-1805)
- 1780Pauline Bonaparte — French princess
- 1784Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston — British statesman and prime minister (1784–1865)
- 1819Báb — founder of Bábism and, according to the Baháʼís, predecessor of Baháʼu'lláh
- 1854Arthur Rimbaud — French poet (1854-1891)
- 1859John Dewey — American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer (1859–1952)
- 1874Charles Ives — American modernist composer (1874–1954)
- 1882Bela Lugosi — Hungarian-American actor (1882–1956)
- 1891James Chadwick — English physicist (1891-1974), who discovered the neutron in 1932
- 1901Ismail al-Azhari — President of Sudan from 1965 to 1969
- 1917Stéphane Hessel — French diplomat, ambassador, writer, concentration camp survivor (1917–2013)
- 1917Jean-Pierre Melville — French filmmaker and actor (1917–1973)
- 1920Janet Jagan — president of Guyana, prime minister of Guyana, nurse (1920-2009)
- 1923Otfried Preußler — German children's books author (1923–2013)
- 1925Art Buchwald — journalist, humorist, United States Marine (1925–2007)
- 1925Roger Hanin — French and Algerian film actor/director (1925-2015)
- 1928Li Peng — 4th Premier of the People's Republic of China (1928–2019)
- 1931Mickey Mantle — American baseball player (1931–1995)
- 1934Empress Michiko — wife of Emperor Akihito of Japan
- 1935Jerry Orbach — American actor and singer (1935-2004)
Deaths · 60
- 681 BCE(Julian date)Sennacherib — king of Assyria
- 460(Julian date)Aelia Eudocia — Greek Eastern Roman Empress by marriage to Byzantine emperor Theodosius II (c.401-460)
- 1139(Julian date)Henry X — Duke of Bavaria, Duke of Saxony and Spoleto
- 1187(Julian date)Urban III — pope (1185–1187)
- 1401Klaus Störtebeker — leader of privateers
- 1438(Julian date)Jacopo della Quercia — Italian artist (1374-1438)
- 1439(Julian date)Ambrose Traversari — Italian monk and theologian (1386–1439)
- 1524(Julian date)Thomas Linacre — English humanist scholar and physician (c.1460–1524)
- 1538(Julian date)
- 1570(Julian date)João de Barros — Portuguese historian (1496 – 1570)
- 1740Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor — 18th century Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor
- 1870Michael William Balfe — Irish composer (1808–1870)
- 1880Lydia Maria Child — American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist (1802-1880)
- 1890Richard Francis Burton — British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890)
- 1894James Anthony Froude — English historian, novelist and biographer (1818–1894)
- 1900Naim Frashëri — Albanian poet, writer and activist (1846–1900)
- 1910David B. Hill — American politician (1843-1910)
- 1926Eugene V. Debs — American labor and political leader (1855–1926)
- 1935Arthur Henderson — British politician (1863-1935)
- 1936Anne Sullivan — American teacher (1866–1936)
- 1940Gunnar Asplund — Swedish architect (1885-1940)
- 1950Henry L. Stimson — United States Secretary of War (1867-1950)
- 1964Herbert Hoover — president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 (1874–1964)
- 1967Shigeru Yoshida — Prime minister of Japan (1878–1967)
- 1972Harlow Shapley — American astronomer (1885-1972)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.