20 March - Definition and Overview

March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). There are 286 days remaining.

Events

• 1413 - Henry V becomes King of England.
• 1602 - The Dutch East India Company is established.
• 1739 - Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
• 1760 - The "Great Fire" of Boston destroys 349 buildings.
• 1815 - Napoleon enters Paris after escaping from Elba with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000 beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
• 1848 - King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
• 1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.
• 1883 - Signature of Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
• 1899 - At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman executed in an electric chair.
• 1904 - Aleister Crowley invokes Horus in Egypt and declares the start of the New Aeon known as the Aeon Of The Crowned And Conquering Child.
• 1913 - Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese nationalist party (KMT), is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
• 1914 - In New Haven, Connecticut the first international figure skating championship takes place.
• 1916 - Albert Einstein publishes his theory of relativity.
• 1922 - The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
• 1933 - Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed.
• 1942 - General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".
• 1952 - The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
• 1956 - Tunisia gains independence from France.
• 1964 - The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
• 1965 - In Naples, Italy, France Gall wins the tenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (Wax doll, talking doll).
• 1966 - The World Cup is stolen from Central Hall, London
• 1969 - Marriage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono
• 1974 - A failed kidnap attempt is made on Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, London.
• 1976 - Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco Bank.
• 1979 - REXX programming language created
• 1985 - Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod dog sled race.
• 1986 - Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1987 - The Food and Drug Administration approves anti-AIDS drug AZT.
• 1990 - Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
• 1993 - A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in Warrington, North West England, killing two children.
• 1995 - Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway killing 12 and wounding 1300 persons.
• 1996 - In Los Angeles, California, Erik and Lyle Menendez are found guilty of first-degree murder for the shotgun killing of their parents.
• 2000 - Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther, is captured after gun battle that left a sheriff's deputy dead.
• 2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries begin military operations in Iraq.
• 2004 - Millions worldwide protest the 2003 Iraq War under the slogan, "The World STILL Says No To War!"

Births

• 43 BC - Ovid, poet, (d. AD 17/AD 18)
• 1770 - Friedrich Hölderlin, German poet, novelist, and dramatist, (d. 1843)
• 1811 - Napoleon II of France, (d. 1832)
• 1823 - Ned Buntline, "dime novelist", publisher, writer, publicist, (d. 1886)
• 1828 - Henrik Ibsen, playwright and dramatist, (d. 1906)
• 1831 - Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (d. 1881)
• 1834 - Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, (d. 1926)
• 1856 - Frederick Winslow Taylor, inventor, efficiency expert, (d. 1915)
• 1870 - Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (d. 1964)
• 1874 - Börries von Münchhausen, poet, (d. 1945)
• 1890 - Beniamino Gigli, tenor, (d. 1957)
• 1890 - Lauritz Melchior, opera singer, (d. 1973)
• 1895 - Fredric Wertham, Psychologist (d. 1981)
• 1897 - Mother Ruby Muhammad, matriarch of Black Islam
• 1904 - B. F. Skinner, behavioral psychologist, (d. 1990)
• 1906 - Ozzie Nelson, actor, band leader, (d. 1975)
• 1908 - Sir Michael Redgrave, actor, (d. 1985)
• 1915 - Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian President, (d. 2000)
• 1915 - Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1997)
• 1917 - Dame Vera Lynn, actress, singer
• 1921 - Rudolf Noelte, film director, (d. 2002)
• 1921 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, singer, (d. 1973)
• 1922 - Carl Reiner, director, producer, actor, comedian
• 1928 - Fred Rogers, children's television host, (d. 2003)
• 1934 - Willie Brown, mayor of San Francisco, California
• 1937 - Jerry Reed, country musician
• 1939 - Brian Mulroney, eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
• 1948 - John de Lancie, actor
• 1948 - Bobby Orr, ice hockey player
• 1950 - William Hurt, American actor
• 1957 - Spike Lee, American film director, actor
• 1958 - Holly Hunter, actress
• 1962 - Stephen Sommers, film director
• 1963 - Kathy Ireland, supermodel and actress
• 1964 - Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer
• 1964 - Tracy Chapman, musician
• 1974 - Paula Garces, actress
• 1974 - Andrzej Pilipiuk, Polish writer
• 1976 - Chester Bennington, musician (Linkin Park)
• 1984 - Winta, Norwegian pop star

Deaths

• 1413 - King Henry IV of England, (b. 1367)
• 1568 - Albert of Prussia, first duke of Prussia, (b. 1490)
• 1619 - Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1727 - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist, (b. 1642)
• 1730 - Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (b. 1692)
• 1855 - Joseph Aspdin, inventor of Portland cement (b. 1788)
• 1925 - George Nathaniel Curzon (Lord Curzon), British statesman, (b. 1859)
• 1926 - Princess Louise of Sweden, (b. 1929)
• 1934 - Queen Regent Emma of the Netherlands, (b. 1858)
• 1974 - Chet Huntley, American television journalist
• 1990 - Lev Yashin, Soviet football goalkeeper, (b. 1929)
• 1997 - Tony Zale, Boxer, (b. 1913)
• 2000 - Gene Eugene, actor, singer, (b. 1961)
• 2003 - Sailor Art Thomas, professional wrestler
• 2004 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, (b. 1909)

Holidays and observances

• The vernal equinox usually occurs on this day.
• The second day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.
• New Year of Iranian Calendar: Norouz occurs on the vernal equinox.
• Feast of St. Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria

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