From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Day of the year
August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years ) in the Gregorian calendar ; 133 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
636 - Battle of Yarmouk : Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire , marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia .917 - Battle of Anchialus : Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria invades Thrace and drives the Byzantines out.1000 - The foundation of the Hungarian state , Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary .1391 - Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order .1672 - Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis were brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague .1794 - Battle of Fallen Timbers - American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee , Mingo , Delaware , Wyandot , Miami , Ottawa , Chippewa , and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.1804 - Lewis and Clark Expedition : The "Corps of Discovery", exploring the Louisiana Purchase , suffers its only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis .1866 - President Andrew Johnson formally declared the U.S. Civil War over.1882 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 's 1812 Overture Moscow .1888 - Mutineers imprison Emin Pasha at Dufile .1900 - Japan's primary school law is amended to provide for four years of mandatory schooling.1914 - World War I : German forces occupy Brussels .1920 - The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan .1926 - Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.1938 - Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam - a record that still stands.1940 - Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded in Mexico City by an assassin's ice axe. He dies the next day.1944 - World War II : The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet offensive.1953 - The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb .1955 - In Morocco , a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.1960 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.1968 - 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring " of political liberalization.1969 - All four Beatles were together in the recording studio for the final time as they finished the Abbey Road LP.1974 - Congress votes to reduce aid to South Vietnam from $1 Billion to $700 Million. Majority of the cuts were for military supplies.1975 - Viking Program : NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars .1977 - Voyager Program : The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.1979 - The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored when the Penmanshiel Diversion opens.1982 - Lebanese Civil War : A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon .1986 - In Edmond, Oklahoma , U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide .1988 - "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park 1988 - Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty .
1988 - Iran-Iraq War : A cease-fire is agreed to after almost eight years of war.
1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union , August Coup : More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union 's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev .1991 - Estonia secedes from the Soviet Union .
1993 - After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway , the Oslo Peace Accords were signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the next month.1997 - Souhane massacre in Algeria ; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.1998 - The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.1998 - U.S. embassy bombings : The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania . The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack.
2002 - A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein took over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and giving up.
Births
1517 - Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle , French church leader (d. 1586 )1561 - Jacopo Peri , Italian composer (d. 1633 )1625 - Thomas Corneille , French dramatist (d. 1709 )1632 - Louis Bourdaloue , French Jesuit preacher (d. 1704 )1710 - Thomas Simpson , British mathematician (d. 1761 )1719 - Christian Mayer , Czech astronomer (d. 1783 )1719 - Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec , French soldier and diplomat (d. 1791 )
1776 - Bernardo O'Higgins , South American revolutionary (d. 1842 )1779 - Jöns Jakob Berzelius , Swedish chemist (d. 1848 )1833 - Benjamin Harrison , 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901 )1845 - St. Albert Chmielowski , Polish Catholic Saint (d. 1916 )1847 - Bolesław Prus , Polish writer (d. 1912 )1856 - Jakub Bart-Ćišinski , Sorbian writer (d. 1909 )1860 - Raymond Poincaré , French statesman (d. 1934 )1868 - Ellen Roosevelt , American tennis player (d. 1954 )1873 - Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen , Finnish architect (d. 1950 )1881 - Edgar Guest , English poet (d. 1959 )1890 - H. P. Lovecraft , American writer (d. 1937 )1897 - Tarjei Vesaas , Norwegian writer (d. 1970 )1898 - Vilhelm Moberg , Swedish author and historian (d. 1973 )1901 - Salvatore Quasimodo , Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968 )1905 - Jean Gebser , German-born author, linguist, and poet (d. 1973 )1905 - Jack Teagarden , American musician (d. 1964 )
1908 - Al Lopez , American baseball player and manager (d. 2005 )1910 - Eero Saarinen , Finnish architect (d. 1961 )1913 - Roger Wolcott Sperry , American neurobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1994 )1916 - Paul Felix Schmidt , Estonian–German chess player (d. 1984 )1918 - Jacqueline Susann , American novelist (d. 1974 )1923 - Jim Reeves , American singer (d. 1964 )1926 - Nobby Wirkowski , American and Canadian football player and coach1927 - Geriatric1927 , English video blogger1927 - Yootha Joyce , English actress (d. 1980 )
1930 - Mario Bernardi , Canadian conductor1932 - Anthony Ainley , British actor (d. 2004 )1932 - Vasily Aksyonov , Russian novelist
1933 - George J. Mitchell , former United States Senator1934 - Armi Kuusela , Finnish beauty queen1936 - Hideki Shirakawa , Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate1937 - Andrei Konchalovsky , Russian film director1937 - El Fary , Spanish singer and actor (d. 2007 )1937 - Jim Bowen , English comedian1938 - Alain Vivien , French politician1939 - Fernando Poe Jr. , Filipino actor and politician (d. 2004 )1940 - Rubén Hinojosa , American politician1941 - Slobodan Milošević , President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia (d. 2006 )1941 - Rich Brooks , American football coach
1941 - Robin Oakley , British journalist
1941 - Jo Ramirez , Mexican motor racing team manager and author
1942 - Isaac Hayes , American singer, songwriter, and actor1942 - Fred Norman , American baseball player
1943 - Sylvester McCoy , Scottish actor1944 - Rajiv Gandhi , Prime Minister of India (d. 1991 )1946 - Connie Chung , American journalist1946 - Ralf Hütter , German musician (Kraftwerk )
1946 - N.R. Narayana Murthy , Indian businessman
1947 - Alan Lee , English conceptual artist1948 - Robert Plant , English singer (Led Zeppelin )1948 - John Noble , Australian actor
1949 - Phil Lynott , Irish musician (d. 1986 )1949 - Nikolas Asimos , Greek composer and singer (d. 1988 )
1949 - Norman Featherstone , South African cricketer
1951 - Greg Bear , American author1952 - John Hiatt , American musician1952 - Doug Fieger , American musician (The Knack )
1952 - John Emburey , English cricketer
1954 - Tawn Mastrey , American disc jockey (d. 2007 )1954 - Al Roker , American television personality
1954 - Don Stark , American actor
1955 - Agnes Chan , Hong Kong singer and writer1956 - Joan Allen , American actress1957 - Finlay Calder , Scottish rugby player1961 - Greg Egan , Australian author1961 - Joe Pasquale , English comedian1962 - Sophie Aldred , English actress1962 - James Marsters , American actor
1962 - Dong-Wook Song , South Korean tennis player
1965 - KRS-One , American rapper1966 - Dimebag Darrell , American guitarist (Pantera and Damageplan ) (d. 2004 )1967 - Andy Benes , baseball player1967 - Colin Cunningham , American actor
1967 - Terri Poch , American yogini and former professional wrestler
1968 - Klas Ingesson , Swedish footballer1968 - Yuri Shiratori , Japanese voice actress and singer
1969 - Duke Droese , American professional wrestler1970 - John D. Carmack , American computer game programmer1970 - Fred Durst , American singer (Limp Bizkit )
1971 - Brad Avery , American musician (guitarist for Third Day )1971 - Jonathan Ke Quan , Vietnamese American actor
1971 - Steve Stone , English footballer
1971 - David Walliams , British comedian
1973 - Todd Helton , baseball player1974 - Amy Adams , American actress1974 - Big Moe , American rapper (d. 2007 )
1974 - Maxim Vengerov , Russian violinist
1975 - Marcus Mastin , American author1975 - Andy Strachan , Australian musician (The Living End )
1976 - Chris Drury , American hockey player1977 - Felipe Contepomi , Argentine rugby player1977 - Manuel Contepomi , Argentine rugby player
1977 - Ivar Ingimarsson , Icelandic footballer
1977 - Mayra Veronica , Cuban model and actress
1979 - Cory Sullivan , baseball player1980 - Rochelle Gadd , British actress1980 - Corey Carrier , American actor
1981 - Bernard Mendy , French footballer1982 - Joshua Kennedy , Australian footballer1982 - Youssouf Hersi , Ethiopian footballer
1982 - Cléber Luis Alberti , Brazilian footballer
1984 - Mirai Moriyama , Japanese actor1986 - Robert Clark , Canadian actor1987 - Cătălina Ponor , Romanian gymnast1990 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo , Dutch swimmer1990 - Mohammad Hajj Shehadeh , Lebanese singer1991 - Marko Đoković , Serbian tennis player2003 - Prince Gabriel of Belgium
Deaths
535 - Mochta of Louth , disciple of St. Patrick 984 - Pope John XIV 1384 - Geert Groote , Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life (b. 1340 )1572 - Miguel López de Legazpi , Spanish conquistador (b. 1502 )1580 - Jeronymo Osorio , Portuguese historian (b. 1506 )1611 - Tomás Luis de Victoria , Spanish composer (b. 1548 )1639 - Martin Opitz von Boberfeld , German poet (b. 1597 )1643 - Anne Hutchinson , English Puritan preacher (b. 1591 )1648 - Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury , English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (b. 1583 )1672 - Johan de Witt , Dutch politician (b. 1625 )1672 - Cornelis de Witt , Dutch politician (b. 1623 )
1680 - William Bedloe , English informer (b. 1650 )1701 - Charles Sedley , English playwright (b. 1639 )1707 - Nicolas Gigault , French organist and composer (b. 1627 )1773 - Enrique Florez , Spanish historian (b. 1701 )1811 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville , French explorer (b. 1729 )1823 - Pope Pius VII (b. 1740 )1825 - William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock , Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1753 )1887 - Jules Laforgue , French poet (b. 1860 )1904 - René Waldeck-Rousseau , French statesman (b. 1846 )1912 - William Booth , English founder of the Salvation Army (b. 1829 )1914 - Pope Pius X (b. 1835 )1915 - Paul Ehrlich , German scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1854 )1917 - Adolf von Baeyer , German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1835 )1930 - Charles Bannerman , Australian cricketer (b. 1851 )1959 - William Halsey, Jr , American admiral (b. 1882 )1961 - Percy Williams Bridgman , American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882 )1965 - Jonathan Myrick Daniels , Civil Rights Martyr (b. 1939 )1971 - Rashid Minhas , Pakistani Air Force pilot (b. 1951 )1980 - Joe Dassin , American singer (b. 1938 )1982 - Ulla Jacobsson , Swedish actress (b. 1929 )1986 - Milton Acorn , Canadian poet (b. 1923 )1989 - George Adamson , India-born English game warden and lion expert (b. 1906 )1993 - Bernard Delfgaauw , Dutch philosopher (b. 1912 )1997 - Norris Bradbury , American physicist (b. 1909 )1997 - Léon Dion , French-Canadian political scientist (b. 1922 )
1998 - Raquel Rastenni , Danish singer (b. 1915 )2001 - Sir Fred Hoyle , English astronomer and science fiction writer (b. 1915 )2001 - Kim Stanley , American actress (b. 1925 )
2005 - Thomas Herrion , American football player (b. 1981 )2005 - Krzysztof Raczkowski , Polish drummer (b. 1970 )
2006 - Claude Blanchard , French-Canadian singer, comedian and actor (b. 1932 )2006 - Joe Rosenthal , American photographer (b. 1911 )
2006 - Cpl Bryan Budd VC , British soldier (Afghanistan) (b. 1977 )2007 - Leona Helmsley , American hotel operator and real estate investor (b. 1920 )2007 - Larry Hartsell , American martial artist, bodyguard, trainer, student of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto (b. 1942 )
Holidays and observances
External links
