March 20

March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). There are 286 days remaining.

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Events

• 1413 – Henry V becomes King of England.
• 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is established.
• 1739 – Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
• 1760 – The "Great Fire" of Boston destroys 349 buildings.
• 1815 – Napoleon enters Paris after escaping from Elba with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
• 1848 – King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
• 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.
• 1883 – Signature of Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
• 1899 – At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman executed in an electric chair.
• 1904 – Aleister Crowley invokes Horus in Egypt and declares the start of the New Aeon known as the Aeon Of The Crowned And Conquering Child.
• 1913 – Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese nationalist party (KMT), is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
• 1914 – In New Haven, Connecticut, the first international figure skating championship takes place.
• 1916 – Albert Einstein publishes his theory of relativity.
• 1922 – The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
• 1933 – Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed.
• 1942 – General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".
• 1952 – The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
• 1956 – Tunisia gains independence from France.
• 1964 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
• 1965 – In Naples, Italy, France Gall wins the tenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (Wax doll, talking doll).
• 1966 – The World Cup is stolen from Central Hall, London
• 1969 – In Gibraltar, John Lennon and Yoko Ono get married.
• 1974 – A failed kidnap attempt is made on Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, London.
• 1976 – Patty Hearst is found guilty of the armed robbery of a San Francisco, California bank.
• 1979 – REXX programming language created
• 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod dog sled race.
• 1986 – Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1987 – The Food and Drug Administration approves anti-AIDS drug AZT.
• 1990 – Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
• 1993 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in Warrington, northwest England, killing two children.
• 1995 – Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway killing 12 and wounding 1300 persons.
• 1996 – In Los Angeles, California, Erik Menendez and Lyle Menendez are found guilty of first-degree murder for the shotgun killing of their parents.
• 2000 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after a gun battle that leaves a Georgia sheriff's deputy dead.
• 2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries begin military operations in Iraq.
• 2005 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years. One person is killed, hundreds are injured and evacuated.

Births

• 43 BC – Ovid, poet, (d. AD 17/AD 18)
• 1770 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German poet, novelist, and dramatist, (d. 1843)
• 1811 – Napoleon II of France, (d. 1832)
• 1823 – Ned Buntline, "dime novelist", publisher, writer, publicist, (d. 1886)
• 1828 – Henrik Ibsen, playwright and dramatist, (d. 1906)
• 1831 – Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (d. 1881)
• 1834 – Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, (d. 1926)
• 1836 – Sir Edward Poynter, painter (d. [1919]])
• 1856 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, inventor, efficiency expert, (d. 1915)
• 1870 – Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (d. 1964)
• 1874 – Börries von Münchhausen, poet, (d. 1945)
• 1890 – Beniamino Gigli, tenor, (d. 1957)
• 1890 – Lauritz Melchior, opera singer, (d. 1973)
• 1895 – Fredric Wertham, Psychologist (d. 1981)
• 1897 – Mother Ruby Muhammad, matriarch of Black Islam
• 1903 – Edgar Buchanan, American actor (d. 1979)
• 1904 – B. F. Skinner, behavioral psychologist, (d. 1990)
• 1906 – Ozzie Nelson, actor, band leader, (d. 1975)
• 1906 – Abraham Beame, former Mayor of New York City (d. 2001)
• 1908 – Sir Michael Redgrave, actor, (d. 1985)
• 1915 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian President, (d. 2000)
• 1915 – Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1997)
• 1917 – Dame Vera Lynn, actress, singer
• 1918 – Jack Barry, American television host (d. 1984)
• 1918 – Marian McPartland, British jazz musician
• 1920 – Pamela Harriman, British-American socialite, diplomat (d. 1997)
• 1921 – Rudolf Noelte, film director, (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe, singer, (d. 1973)
• 1922 – Carl Reiner, director, producer, actor, comedian
• 1922 – Ray Goulding, American comedian (d. 1990)
• 1925 – John Ehrlichman, American political figure (d. 1999)
• 1928 – Fred Rogers, children's television host, (d. 2003)
• 1931 – Hal Linden, American actor
• 1934 – Willie Brown, mayor of San Francisco, California
• 1935 – Ted Bessell, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1936 – Vaughn Meader, American comedian (d. 2004)
• 1937 – Jerry Reed, country musician
• 1939 – Brian Mulroney, eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
• 1943 – Paul Junger Witt, American television producer
• 1945 – Pat Riley, American basketball player, coach
• 1948 – John de Lancie, actor
• 1948 – Bobby Orr, ice hockey player
• 1949 – Marcia Ball, American blues singer
• 1950 – William Hurt, American actor
• 1950 – Carl Palmer, British musician (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
• 1957 – Spike Lee, American film director, actor
• 1957 – Theresa Russell, American actress
• 1957 – Vanessa Bell Calloway, American actress
• 1958 – Holly Hunter, actress
• 1962 – Stephen Sommers, film director
• 1963 – Kathy Ireland, supermodel and actress
• 1964 – Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer
• 1968 – Jeff Gardiner, Nobel Prize Winning Peacekeeper, Jurat of the Order of St. Johns, CEO
• 1972 – Alexander Kapranos, singer/guitarist (Franz Ferdinand (band))
• 1974 – Paula Garces, actress
• 1974 – Andrzej Pilipiuk, Polish writer
• 1976 – Chester Bennington, musician (Linkin Park)
• 1979 – Bianca Lawson, American actress
• 1984 – Winta, Norwegian pop star

Deaths

• 1413 – King Henry IV of England, (b. 1367)
• 1568 – Albert of Prussia, first duke of Prussia, (b. 1490)
• 1619 – Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1727 – Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist, (b. 1642)
• 1730 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (b. 1692)
• 1855 – Joseph Aspdin, inventor of Portland cement (b. 1788)
• 1925 – George Nathaniel Curzon (Lord Curzon), British statesman, (b. 1859)
• 1926 – Princess Louise of Sweden, (b. 1929)
• 1929 – Ferdinand Foch, French commander of allied forces in World War I (b. 1851)
• 1934 – Queen Regent Emma of the Netherlands, (b. 1858)
• 1974 – Chet Huntley, American television journalist
• 1990 – Lev Yashin, Soviet football goalkeeper, (b. 1929)
• 1994 – Lewis Grizzard, American journalist, comedian, actor
• 1997 – Tony Zale, Boxer, (b. 1913)
• 2000 – Gene Eugene, actor, singer, (b. 1961)
• 2003 – Sailor Art Thomas, professional wrestler
• 2004 – Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, (b. 1909)
• 2005 – Armand Lohikoski, Finnish director, (b. 1912)

Holidays and observances

• The vernal equinox usually occurs on this day.
• The second day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.
• New Year of Iranian Calendar: Norouz occurs on the vernal equinox.
• Feast of St. Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria

External links

• BBC: On This Day

March 19 – March 21 – February 20 – April 20 — listing of all days