April 20

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, leader of Nazi 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
* 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 - Layne Staley, American grunge singer of Alice in Chains
*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

*Ridván begins at sunset (Bahá'í Faith).
*Saint Agnes of Montepulciano
*Saint Theotimus (d. 407)
*Blessed Oda (d. 1158)
*420 (cannabis culture)

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/20 BBC: On This Day]
*NYT On this day|month=04|day=20
* [http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Apr&day=20 On This Day in Canada] ----