April 20

April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). There are 255 days remaining.

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Events

• 1653 – Oliver Cromwell disbands the British Parliament.
• 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.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: British troops begin siege of Boston, Massachusetts
• 1792 – France declares war on Austria.
• 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.
• 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 – Twenty 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.
• 1967 – A Swiss 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 – Pierre Trudeau succeeds Lester B. Pearson as Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood Speech.
• 1972 – Apollo 16 lands on the Moon.
• 1979 – President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a Swamp Rabbit while on vacation in Plains, Georgia.
• 1992 – An all-star concert in memory of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is held at Wembley Stadium in London.
• 1997 – The San Diego Padres face the St. Louis Cardinals in the first Major League Baseball game ever played in Hawaii.
• 1998 – An Air France Boeing 727-200 crashes into mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53.
• 1999 – Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 12 students and a teacher before turning their guns on themselves in the Columbine High School massacre.
• 2001 – Anti-globalization marches and a "People's Summit" are held to protest the Quebec City Summit of the Americas, a FTAA summit in Quebec City, Quebec.
• 2004 – Severe thunderstorms strike Chicagoland, USA. An F3 tornado touches down in Utica, Illinois, claiming eight lives.

Births

• 571 – Muhammad (Likely) (d. 634)
• 702 – Jafar Sadiq, Muslim scholar (d. 765)
• 1586 – Rose of Lima, the first saint in the Americas (d. 1617)
• 1633 – Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (d. 1654)
• 1745 – Philippe Pinel, physician (d. 1826)
• 1808 – Emperor Napoleon III of France (d. 1873)
• 1818 – Heinrich Göbel, inventor (d. 1893)
• 1832 – Ernst von Leyden, physician (d. 1910)
• 1871 – Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croat inventor, (d. 1922)
• 1879 – Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
• 1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, businessman and social activist (d. 1996)
• 1889 – Adolf Hitler, German (Austrian-born) dictator, "Führer" and Reichskanzler (d. 1945)
• 1893 – Joan Miró, painter (d. 1983)
• 1893 – Harold Lloyd, actor (d. 1971)
• 1895 – Emile Christian, jazz musician (d. 1973)
• 1896 – Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952)
• 1900 – Fred Raymond, composer (d. 1954)
• 1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
• 1905 – Stanley Marcus, American department store owner (Neiman-Marcus) (d. 2002)
• 1908 – Lionel Hampton, musician (d. 2002)
• 1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
• 1915 – Joseph Wolpe, psychotherapist (d. 1997)
• 1918 – Edward L. Beach, American naval officer, author (d. 2002)
• 1920 – John Paul Stevens, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• 1923 – Mother Angelica, Foundress of Eternal Word Television Network
• 1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch actress
• 1925 – Tito Puente, musician (d. 2000)
• 1926 – Elena Verdugo, American actress
• 1928 – Gerald S. Hawkins, astronomer (d. 2003)
• 1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway
• 1939 – Peter S. Beagle, author
• 1940 – George Takei, actor, Star Trek
• 1941 – Ryan O'Neal, actor
• 1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
• 1943 – Edie Sedgwick, actress (d. 1971)
• 1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player, coach
• 1949 – Massimo D'Alema, politician, former italian Prime Minister
• 1949 – Jessica Lange, actress
• 1950 – Veronica Cartwright, American actress
• 1950 – Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general, politician (d. 2002)
• 1951 – Luther Vandross, singer
• 1961 – Don Mattingly, baseball player
• 1962 – Hank The Angry Drunken Dwarf, radio and television personality (d. 2001)
• 1964 – Crispin Glover, actor
• 1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, figure skater
• 1964 – Andy Serkis, actor
• 1967 – Mike Portnoy, musician
• 1972 – Carmen Electra, actress
• 1976 – Joey Lawrence, actor

Deaths

• 1314 – Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
• 1534 – Elizabeth Barton, Christian prophet, executed (b. ~ 1506)
• 1769 – Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawa tribe (b. ~ 1720)
• 1912 – Bram Stoker, author (b. 1847)
• 1932 – Giuseppe Peano, mathematician (b. 1858)
• 1947 – King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
• 1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, former Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
• 1982 – Archibald MacLeish, poet and writer (b. 1892)
• 1984 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
• 1991 – Steve Marriott, British musician, actor
• 1991 – Don Siegel, American film director
• 1992 – Benny Hill, comedian (b. 1924)
• 1993 – Cantinflas, Mexican comedian, actor
• 1996 – Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne, basis for the Winnie the Pooh character Christopher Robin
• 1999 – Cassie Bernall
• 1999 – Rachel Scott
• 1999 – Lauren Townsend
• 1999 – Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist, comedian
• 1999 – Rick Rude, American professional wrestler
• 2001 – Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor, composer (b. 1946)
• 2002 – Alan Dale, singer (b. 1925)
• 2003 – Bernard Katz, biophysicist, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1911)* 2005  – Fumio Niwa, Japanese novelist

Holidays and observances

• 2003, 2014 – Easter Sunday
• April 20 (4/20) is associated with 420 (drug culture)
• Astrology: First day of sun sign Taurus

External links

• BBC: On This Day

April 19 – April 21 – March 20 – May 20 – listing of all days