What are the important events that happened on October 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
October 20: Facts & Myths About This Day
October 20 is the 294th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 72 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is October 7, 2024 – a Sunday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 1,729,382,400 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectaenneacontatetragon’ day.
Libra is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Opal is the modern birthstone for this month. Jasper is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 101 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,321 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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October 20 Historical Events
- 1720 –Caribbean pirate Calico Jack is captured by the Royal Navy.
- 1740 –Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.
- 1781 –Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, is approved in Habsburg Monarchy.
- 1827 –Battle of Navarino – a combined Turkish and Egyptian armada is defeated by British, French, and Russian naval force in the port of Navarino in Pylos, Greece.
- 1873 –Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.
- 1944 –General Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese during the Second World War.
- 1947 –United States of America and Pakistan establish diplomatic relations for the first time.
- 1976 –The ferry George Prince‘’is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die and only 18 people aboard the ferry survive.
- 1981 –Two police officers and an armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery in Rockland County, NY, carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground.
- 2011 –The former leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, and his son Moatassem Gaddafi are killed shortly after the battle of Sirte (2011) while in the custody of NTC fighters.
Who were born on October 20?
- 1700 –Charlotte Aglaé of Orléans, Duchess of Modena (d. 1761)
- 1927 –Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, Indian poet (d. 2007)
- 1932 –William Christopher, American actor
- 1935 –Barrie Chase, American dancer
- 1951 –Patrick Hall, British politician
- 1966 –Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Jordanian militant and Al-Qaeda figure (d. 2006)
- 1971 –Dannii Minogue, Australian singer
- 1980 –Jose Veras, Dominican baseball player
- 1983 –Takayuki Yamada, Japanese actor
- 1995 –Zhenwei Wang, Chinese actor and martial artist
Who died on October 20?
- 460 –Aelia Eudocia, Byzantine Empress
- 1740 –Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1685)
- 1870 –Michael William Balfe, Irish composer (b. 1808)
- 1910 –David B. Hill, Governor of New York (b. 1843)
- 1940 –Gunnar Asplund, Swedish architect (b. 1885)
- 1964 –Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States (b. 1874)
- 1984 –Carl Ferdinand Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
- 1992 –Werner Torkanowsky, German conductor (b. 1926)
- 1994 –Burt Lancaster, American actor (b. 1913)
- 2005 –Shirley Horn, American singer (b. 1934)
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