20 April - Definition and Overview

April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). There are 255 days remaining.

Events

600-1899

• 636 - Battle of Yarmuk: Arabs take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire.
• 1653 - Oliver Cromwell disbands 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
• 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.
• 1889 - Adolf Hitler is born.

1900-1999

• 1902 - Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride (not fully purified to the isolated element). They thought they had isolated it.
• 1908 - Opening day of competition of the New_South_Wales_Rugby_League
• 1914 - Ludlow Massacre of striking Colorado coal miners.
• 1926 - Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film
• 1967 - A Swiss 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 - The Liberal Party of Canada led by Pierre Trudeau wins the Canadian Federal Election
• 1968 - English politician Enoch Powell makes controversial Rivers of Blood Speech
• 1972 - Apollo 16 lands on the Moon
• 1979 - President of the United States Of America, Jimmy Carter, is 'attacked' by a fluffy Rabbit
• 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
• 1999 - Columbine High School massacre
• 1999 - Madejczyk Massacre Averted, Bridgman, Michigan school shooting plot

2000-2099

• 2001 - The anti-globalization movement holds a People's Summit and large protest marches, some of which are forcibly put down by police, against the FTAA summit in Quebec City, Quebec
• 2004 - Severe thunderstorms strike Chicagoland, USA. An F3 tornado touches down in Utica, Illinois, claiming 8 lives.

Births

500-1899

• 571 - Muhammad (Likely) (d. 634)
• 702 - Jafar Sadiq, Muslim scholar (d. 765)
• 1633 - Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (d. 1654)
• 1745 - Philippe Pinel, physician (d. 1826)
• 1808 - Emperor Napoleon III of France (d. 1873)
• 1818 - Heinrich Goebel, inventor (d. 1893)
• 1832 - Ernst von Leyden, physician (d. 1910)
• 1871 - Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croat inventor, (d. 1922)
• 1879 - Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
• 1889 - Albert Jean Amateau, businessman and social activist (d. 1996)
• 1889 - Adolf Hitler, German (Austrian-born) dictator, "Führer" and Reichskanzler (d. 1945)
• 1893 - Joan Miró, painter (d. 1983)
• 1893 - Harold Lloyd, actor (d. 1971)
• 1895 - Emile Christian, jazz musician (d. 1973)
• 1896 - Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952)

1900-1999

• 1900 - Fred Raymond, composer (d. 1954
• 1908 - Lionel Hampton, musician (d. 2002)
• 1915 - Joseph Wolpe, psychotherapist (d. 1997)
• 1920 - John Paul Stevens, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• 1923 - Rita Frances Rizzo, in Canton, Ohio. She became Mother Angelica, Foundress of Eternal Word Television Network
• 1925 - Tito Puente, musician (d. 2000)
• 1928 - Gerald S. Hawkins, astronomer (d. 2003)
• 1939 - Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway
• 1939 - Peter S. Beagle, author
• 1940 - George Takei, actor, Star Trek
• 1941 - Ryan O'Neal, actor
• 1943 - John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
• 1943 - Edie Sedgwick, actress (d. 1971)
• 1949 - Jessica Lange, actress
• 1951 - Luther Vandross, singer
• 1961 - Don Mattingly, baseball player
• 1964 - Crispin Glover, actor
• 1964 - Rosalynn Sumners, figure skater
• 1964 - Andy Serkis, actor
• 1972 - Hank The Angry Drunken Dwarf, radio and television personality (d. 2001)
• 1976 - Joey Lawrence, actor
• 2000 - Funny Cide, winner of the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes

Deaths

1300-1899

• 1314 - Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
• 1534 - Elizabeth Barton, Christian prophet, executed (b. ~ 1506)
• 1769 - Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawa tribe (b. ~ 1720)

1900-1999

• 1912 - Bram Stoker, author (b. 1847)
• 1932 - Giuseppe Peano, mathematician (b. 1858)
• 1947 - King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
• 1951 - Ivanoe Bonomi, former Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
• 1982 - Archibald MacLeish, poet and writer (b. 1892)
• 1984 - Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer
• 1992 - Benny Hill, comedian (b. 1924)
• 1996 - Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne, basis for the Winnie the Pooh character Christopher Robin

2000-2099

• 2001 - Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor, composer (b. 1946)
• 2002 - Alan Dale, singer (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances

• In Canada and the United States, April 20th is a ceremonial day to "smoke up" (smoke marijuana). See: 420 (drug culture)
• 2003, 2014 - Easter Sunday

April 19 - April 21 - March 20 - May 20 -- listing of all days