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 293^rd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 72 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.

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

When this day started, 1,760,918,400 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 ‘dihectaenneacontatrigon’ 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 120 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 4,686 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

October 20 Historical Events

• 1781 –
  Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, is approved in Habsburg Monarchy.
• 1910 –
  The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• 1917 –
  The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, in charge of preparation and carrying out the Russian Revolution, holds its first meeting.
• 1935 –
  The Long March ends.
• 1947 –
  The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.
• 1951 –
  The “Johnny Bright Incident” occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma
• 1967 –
  A purported bigfoot is filmed by Patterson and Gimlin.
• 1977 –
  A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, the road manager, pilot, and co-pilot.
• 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.
• 1982 –
  During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.

Who were born on October 20?

• 1719 –
  Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (d. 1772)
• 1858 –
  John Burns, English politician (d. 1943)
• 1931 –
  Richard Caliguiri, American politician (d. 1988)
• 1957 –
  Chris Cowdrey, English cricketer
• 1958 –
  Lynn Flewelling, American fantasy author
• 1960 –
  Lepa Brena, Yugoslav singer
• 1962 –
  David M. Evans, American screenwriter and film director
• 1966 –
  Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Jordanian militant and Al-Qaeda figure (d. 2006)
• 1970 –
  Michelle Malkin, American political commentator and author
• 1977 –
  Sam Witwer, American actor

Who died on October 20?

• 1900 –
  Naim Frashëri, Albanian poet (b. 1846)
• 1968 –
  Bud Flanagan, British wartime entertainer (b. 1896)
• 1978 –
  Gunnar Nilsson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1948)
• 1984 –
  Carl Ferdinand Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
• 1990 –
  Joel McCrea, American actor (b. 1905)
• 1993 –
  Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese painter (b. 1909)
• 2003 –
  Jack Elam, American actor (b. 1918)
• 2003 –
  Miodrag Petrović, Serbian actor (b. 1924)
• 2005 –
  Endon Mahmood, First Lady of Malaysia (b. 1941)
• 2010 –
  Parthasarathy Sharma, Indian cricketer (b. 1948)