See what makes April 20 special at Famous Daily.
History, birthdays, holiday, and a quote!
What happened on April 20
- April 20, 1303 The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
- April 20, 1534 "Jacques Cartier begins his voyage, in which he will discover Canada and Labrador."
- April 20, 1653 Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
- April 20, 1657 Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
- April 20, 1657 Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
- April 20, 1689 "The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry."
- April 20, 1769 "In Cahokia Illinois, Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawas, murdered by an Illinois Indian; six years earlier he helped lead the Ottawa, Hurons (Wyandots), Potawatomis and Ojibwas in a rising against the British garrisons on the Great Lakes."
- April 20, 1770 Capt Cook arrives in New South Wales
- April 20, 1775 British begin siege of Boston
- April 20, 1777 New York adopts new constitution as an independent state
- April 20, 1792 "France declares war on Austria, Prussia & Sardinia"
- April 20, 1809 "Napolean I defeats Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria"
- April 20, 1810 The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from Spain.
- April 20, 1828 Ren Cailli is first non-Muslim to enter in Timbouctou.
- April 20, 1832 "Hot Springs National Park, the first national park in the U.S., was established by an act of Congress"
- April 20, 1836 Territory of Wisconsin created
- April 20, 1836 U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
- April 20, 1841 "First detective story (Poe's ""Murders in the Rue Morgue"") published"
- April 20, 1861 Robert E Lee resigns from Union army
- April 20, 1862 The first pasteurization test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.*1871 - Civil Rights Act of 1871
- April 20, 1865 Safety matches were first advertised this day.
- April 20, 1871 3rd Enforcement Act (President can suspend writ of habeas corpus)
- April 20, 1872 SF Bar Association organized
- April 20, 1879 The first mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London & Cyprus
- April 20, 1884 "Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical, Humanum Genus."
- April 20, 1888 "246 reported killed by hail in Moradabad, India"
- April 20, 1889 Adolf Hitler's birthday
- April 20, 1898 "US Assay Office in Deadwood, South Dakota opens"
- April 20, 1902 Marie & Pierre Curie isolate radioactive element radium
- April 20, 1902 Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
- April 20, 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St Louis
- April 20, 1906 Australian wombat dies in London Zoo at 26; oldest known marsupial
- April 20, 1908 Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
- April 20, 1910 Halley's Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km
- April 20, 1912 "Bram Stoker died in London, England. Author of the Gothic horror novel Dracula in 1897"
- April 20, 1912 "Opening day for baseball stadiums Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts."
- April 20, 1912 Tiger Stadium in Detroit opens
- April 20, 1914 "33 killed by soldiers during mine strike in Ludlow, Colo"
- April 20, 1914 "F Kaiser discovers asteroid #786 Bredichina,and G Neujmin discovers asteroid #787 Moskva"
- April 20, 1914 "Forty-five men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a bitter Colorado coal-miner's strike."
- April 20, 1914 "In Boston, Mass., James Duffy of Canada wins the 18th Boston Marathon in 2:25:01.2."
- April 20, 1916 Wrigley Field in Chicago opens
- April 20, 1917 "SS Ballochbuie, torpedoed and sunk by German UC41 off the Firth of Forth Isle of May. In passage from Aberdeen to Sunderland."
- April 20, 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."
- April 20, 1919 "Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from Soviet Army"
- April 20, 1920 7th modern Olympic games opens in Antwerp
- April 20, 1920 Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama & Mississippi
- April 20, 1926 First check sent by radio facsimile transmission across the Atlantic
- April 20, 1926 "Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film."
- April 20, 1931 "Louis Armstrong recorded the classic, " When It’ s Sleepy Time Down South" , for Okeh Records"
- April 20, 1934 "One of America’ s most beloved child stars made her debut. Shirley Temple debuted in " Stand Up and Cheer", which opened in New York City. Moviegoers would rave about her song and dance routine, " Baby, Take a Bow", for many years."
- April 20, 1935 "On the island of Formosa a 7.1 quake causes 3,280 deaths. One of the world's deadliest earthquakes"
- April 20, 1939 New York World's Fair opens
- April 20, 1939 Ted Williams' first hit (off of Yankee Red Ruffing) a double
- April 20, 1940 "Electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pa"
- April 20, 1945 Hitler commits suicide after U.S. troops occupy Munich.
- April 20, 1945 "Mayor of Leipzig, Germany, killed himself along with his wife and daughter"
- April 20, 1945 Soviet troops enter Berlin
- April 20, 1945 US 7th army captured German city of Nuremberg
- April 20, 1945 "World War II: U.S. B-29 bombers destroy the Musashi Aircraft plants, halting production of the Nakajima Ki-84 fighter planes."
- April 20, 1945 "World War II: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union."
- April 20, 1946 "The first baseball broadcast in Chicago, Cards vs Cubs"
- April 20, 1947 "Comedian Fred Allen of " Allen’ s Alley"" fame didn’ t find things so funny when censors cut him off the air during his radio broadcast."
- April 20, 1948 Walter P Reuther UAW pres shot & wounded at his home in Detroit
- April 20, 1949 "Dr. Arthur Compton of the University of Washington made a surprising statement in Boston, MA. He said,""College athletic coaches are responsible for the failure of efforts to reform sports and make sports an important part of education"""
- April 20, 1949 "Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his first race, in Albany, California"
- April 20, 1949 "Willie Shoemaker won his first race as a jockey aboard Shafter V at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, CA, not far from San Francisco."
- April 20, 1950 R C Cameron discovers asteroid #1575 Winifred
- April 20, 1957 "John Kelley, the first American since 1945, wins the Boston Marathon"
- April 20, 1958 Buses replace Key System trains at 3 AM
- April 20, 1959 """Desilu Playhouse"" on CBS-TV presented a two-part show titled, ""The Untouchables"" starting this night. Robert Stack starred in the program and became a major television star when "The Untouchables" become a weekly network series in the fall of 1959."
- April 20, 1961 Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US troops against Cuba.
- April 20, 1961 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave approval for FM stereo broadcasting
- April 20, 1962 "First production of Bentlage brand cigars, Habana, Cuba."
- April 20, 1962 "Jesse G Vincent engineer designed first V-12 engine, dies at 82"
- April 20, 1962 New Orleans Citizens Co gives free 1-way ride to blacks to move North
- April 20, 1964 86% of black students boycott Cleveland schools
- April 20, 1964 BBC Two launches with the power cut because of the fire at Battersea Power Station.
- April 20, 1965 "Richard Wessell actor (Carney-Riverboat), dies at 54"
- April 20, 1967 "A Swiss Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126."
- April 20, 1967 US planes bomb Haiphong for first time during the Vietnam War
- April 20, 1967 US Surveyor 3 lands on Moon
- April 20, 1968 "A South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes during takeoff at Windhoek, South-West Africa, killing 122."
- April 20, 1968 English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech.
- April 20, 1968 Pierre Elliott Trudeau sworn-in as Canada's PM
- April 20, 1969 "Ken Harrelson just about quit major-league baseball this day. Harrelson was being traded from the Boston Red Sox, an American League contender, to the Cleveland Indians, a perennial American League non-contender"
- April 20, 1971 US Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation
- April 20, 1972 Apollo 16 lands on the Moon.
- April 20, 1972 Apollo 16's Young & Duke land on Moon with Boeing Lunar Rover #2
- April 20, 1973 Canadian ANIK A2 becomes first commercial satellite in orbit
- April 20, 1974 "Agnes Moorehead actress (Endora-Bewitched), dies at 67"
- April 20, 1976 George Harrison sings the lumberjack song with Monty Python
- April 20, 1977 A R Klemola discovers asteroid #2261
- April 20, 1977 Ottawa starts $41 million program to upgrade the East Coast fishery.
- April 20, 1977 "Supreme Court rules ""Live Free or Die"" may be covered on NH licenses"
- April 20, 1977 "Woody Allen's film ""Annie Hall"" premiers"
- April 20, 1978 Korean Air Flight 902 shot down by Soviets.
- April 20, 1979 "Johnny Carson was said to be leaving ""The Tonight Show"". Newspapers around the country gave details about why the comedian and late-night host was said to be unhappy after 17 years on the show"
- April 20, 1980 Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested.
- April 20, 1981 "Final performance of TV show ""Soap"" airs"
- April 20, 1981 Rocker Papa John Phillips arrested for drug possession
- April 20, 1982 Businessman Peter Pocklington held hostage in his home for almost 12 hours by a gunman demanding $1 million
- April 20, 1983 Soyuz T-8 launched; mission aborted when capsule fails to dock
- April 20, 1985 "ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas."
- April 20, 1985 Karyn Marshall of NYC lifted 303 lbs in a clean-and-jerk lift
- April 20, 1985 Number one hit on UK music charts - USA For Africa - We Are The World
- April 20, 1986 Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performed in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years.
- April 20, 1986 Professional basketball player Michael Jordan sets all-time record for points in a NBA playoff game with 63 against the Boston Celtics.
- April 20, 1986 Vladimir Horowitz performs in his Russian homeland
- April 20, 1987 """Starlight Express""posted the largest week’ s gross in Broadway history. The roller-skating musical earned $606,081 at the box office"
- April 20, 1987 Rosa Mota wins the women's division of the Boston Marathon
- April 20, 1990 "Pete Rose pleads guilty to hiding $300,000 in income"
- April 20, 1991 "Raghib ""Rocket"" Ismael signs with Toronto Argonauts for $26.2 million"
- April 20, 1992 "100th episode of ""Murphy Brown"" airs"
- April 20, 1992 Expo '92 opens in Seville Spain
- April 20, 1998 German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
- April 20, 1998 "TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogot, Colombia, killing 53."
- April 20, 1999 """A bug's Life"" is the first DVD to be transfered directly from the digital source making it the first 100 percent digital DVD"
- April 20, 1999 "The Columbine High School massacre leaves 15 people (including the two gunmen) dead and 24 wounded in Jefferson County, Colorado."
- April 20, 2004 "In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92."
- April 20, 2007 Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a hand gun barricades himself in NASA's Johnson Space Center before killing a male hostage and himself.
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