What are the important events that happened on December 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

December 20: Facts & Myths About This Day

December 20 is the 354^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 7, 2025 – a Saturday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 490,608 hours 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 ‘trihectapentacontatetragon’ day.

Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 59 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 4,747 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

December 20 Historical Events

• 1192 –
  Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third crusade.
• 1522 –
  Siege of Rhodes: Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
• 1915 –
  World War I: Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli.
• 1941 –
  World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers” in Kunming, China.
• 1960 –
  National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
• 1973 –
  The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
• 1987 –
  History’s worst peacetime sea disaster, when the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
• 1988 –
  The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna.
• 1991 –
  A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
• 2004 –
  A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, one of the largest bank robberies in UK history.

Who were born on December 20?

• 1860 –
  Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
• 1907 –
  Paul Francis Webster, songwriter (d. 1984)
• 1942 –
  Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist
• 1945 –
  Sivakant Tiwari, senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service (d. 2010)
• 1946 –
  Lloyd Mumphord, NFL football player
• 1951 –
  Gilbert Montagné, French musician
• 1957 –
  Stephen Bicknell, British organ builder (d. 2007)
• 1968 –
  Joe Cornish, British comedian
• 1976 –
  Ramon Stoppelenburg, Dutch author
• 1980 –
  Ashley Cole, English footballer

Who died on December 20?

• 860 –
  King Ethelbald of Wessex (b. 834)
• 1022 –
  Elvira Mendes, wife of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)
• 1937 –
  Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
• 1938 –
  Annie Armstrong, American missionary (b. 1850)
• 1973 –
  Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish statesman (b. 1904)
• 1988 –
  Alphonse Ouimet, Canadian television executive (b. 1908)
• 1997 –
  Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946)
• 2006 –
  Shi Yuejun, Chinese serial killer (b. 1970)
• 2009 –
  Mairoon Ali, Trinidadian comedienne and actress (b. 1954)
• 2010 –
  Steve Landesberg, American actor and comedian (b. 1936)