What happened this day in history December 20

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 355th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 7, 2024 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 28,910,880 minutes 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 ‘trihectapentacontapentagon’ 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 40 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 4,382 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

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December 20 Historical Events

  • 1860
    South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.
  • 1915
    World War I: Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli.
  • 1917
    Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, is founded.
  • 1941
    World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers” in Kunming, China.
  • 1952
    United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
  • 1977
    Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
  • 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).
  • 1995
    NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
  • 1999
    Macau is handed over to the People’s Republic of China by Portugal.
  • 2007
    The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café by the major Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.

Who were born on December 20?

  • 1833
    Dr Samuel A. Mudd, American physician (d. 1883)
  • 1902
    Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
  • 1944
    Jean Fergusson, English actress
  • 1946
    Lesley Judd, English TV presenter and dancer
  • 1948
    Stevie Wright, English-born Australian musician and songwriter
  • 1957
    Anna Vissi, Greek-Cypriot singer
  • 1966
    Myrra Malmberg, Swedish singer
  • 1976
    Ramon Stoppelenburg, Dutch author
  • 1979
    George Lamb, English radio and TV presenter
  • 1982
    David Tavaré, Spanish singer

Who died on December 20?

  • 860
    King Ethelbald of Wessex (b. 834)
  • 1768
    Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)
  • 1783
    Antonio Soler, Spanish composer (b. 1729)
  • 1927
    Roshan Singh, Indian nationalist (date of birth unknown)
  • 1971
    Roy O. Disney, American entertainment industry executive (b. 1893)
  • 1973
    Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish statesman (b. 1904)
  • 1989
    Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
  • 1997
    Denise Levertov, English-born American poet (b. 1923)
  • 1997
    Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
  • 1999
    Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)

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