April 20 Events

1653 - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump 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.
1770 - Lieutenant James Cook's expedition (first voyage) makes first sighting of eastern Australian coastline, naming the spot Cape Hicks. His logbook recorded the date as April 19, but the 20th was the actual calendar date.
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 - Seventeen 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.
1953 - Project BLUEBIRD turns into Project MKULTRA.
1967 - A Swiss Britannia turboprop crashes at Toronto, Canada, 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.
1978 - Korean Air Flight 902 shot down by Soviets.
1979 - President Jimmy Carter is attacked by a Swamp Rabbit while on vacation in Plains, Georgia.
1985 - ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas
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.
1998 - German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
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.
2002 - The Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition holds its first Community Smoke-In for Human Rights in Darwin, Australia. Police arrest five activists.
2002 - The body of Alice In Chains frontman Layne Staley is found in his Seattle apartment after dying from an apparent speedball overdose on April 5.
2004 - Severe thunderstorms strike Chicagoland, USA. An F3 tornado touches down in Utica, Illinois, claiming eight lives.
2004 - In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.

April 20 Births

570 - Muhammad, Founder of Islam (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)
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 delegate to the Continental Congress (d. 1781)
1745 - Philippe Pinel, French physician (d. 1826)
1808 - Emperor Napoleon III of France (d. 1873)
1818 - Heinrich Göbel, German-born inventor (d. 1893)
1871 - Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croatian inventor, (d. 1922)
1879 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
1882 - Holland Smith, U.S. General (d. 1967)
1889 - Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish-born businessman and social activist (d. 1996)
1889 - Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German dictator (d. 1945)
1891 - Caresse Crosby, American poet (d. 1970)
1893 - Harold Lloyd, American actor (d. 1971)
1893 - Joan Miró, Catalan painter (d. 1983)
1895 - Emile Christian, American musician (d. 1973)
1896 - Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952)
1904 - Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
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, American naval officer, author (d. 2002)
1918 - Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1920 - John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
1923 - Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster
1925 - Tito Puente, American musician (d. 2000)
1925 - Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (d. 2006)
1927 - Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 - Gerald S. Hawkins, English astronomer (d. 2003)
1939 - Peter S. Beagle, American author
1939 - Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway
1940 - George Takei, American actor
1941 - Ryan O'Neal, American actor
1943 - John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
1943 - Edie Sedgwick, American actress (d. 1971)
1945 - Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
1947 - Björn Skifs, Swedish singer (Blue Swede)
1949 - Massimo D'Alema, Prime Minister of Italy
1949 - Jessica Lange, American actress
1950 - Veronica Cartwright, American actress
1950 - Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general, politician (d. 2002)
1951 - Luther Vandross, American singer (d. 2005)
1961 - Don Mattingly, baseball player
1963 - Izhar Cohen, illustrator
1964 - Crispin Glover, American actor
1964 - Andy Serkis, English actor
1964 - Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
1967 - Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
1967 - Mike Portnoy, American musician
1971 - Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer
1972 - Carmen Electra, American actress
1976 - Joey Lawrence, American actor
1976 - Shay Given, Irish footballer
1980 - Jasmin Wagner, German singer
2000 - Funny Cide, dual classic winner racehorse

April 20 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)
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)
1947 - King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
1951 - Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
1982 - Archibald MacLeish, American poet and Librarian of Congress (b. 1892)
1984 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b. 1943)
1991 - Steve Marriott, British musician and actor (b. 1945)
1991 - Don Siegel, American film director (b. 1912)
1992 - Benny Hill, British comedian (b. 1924)
1993 - Cantinflas, Mexican comedian and actor (b. 1911)
1996 - Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne (b. 1920)
1999 - Victims 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 - Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925)
2003 - Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908)
2003 - Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
2005 - Fumio Niwa, Japanese novelist (b. 1904)

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