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.
- 1939 –Pope Pius XII publishes his first major encyclical entitled Summi Pontificatus.
- 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.
- 1944 –Liquid natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130.
- 1951 –The “Johnny Bright Incident” occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma
- 1968 –Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
- 1973 –“Saturday Night Massacre”: President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork.
- 1973 –The Sydney Opera House opens.
- 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.
- 1991 –A 6.8 Mw earthquake strikes the Uttarkashi region of India, killing more than 1,000 people.
Who were born on October 20?
- 1917 –Jean-Pierre Melville, French director (d. 1973)
- 1925 –Roger Hanin, French actor
- 1940 –Robert Pinsky, American poet and Poet Laureate of the United States
- 1946 –Lucien Van Impe, Belgian cyclist
- 1952 –Melanie Mayron, American actress
- 1958 –Lynn Flewelling, American fantasy author
- 1965 –Mikhail Shtalenkov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1970 –Chavo Guerrero, Jr., American professional wrestler
- 1980 –Jose Veras, Dominican baseball player
- 1982 –Becky Brewerton, Welsh golfer
Who died on October 20?
- 460 –Aelia Eudocia, Byzantine Empress
- 1139 –Henry X, Duke of Bavaria
- 1631 –Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1550)
- 1652 –Antonio Coello, Spanish writer (b. 1611)
- 1953 –Werner Baumbach, German bomber pilot (b. 1916)
- 1967 –Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)
- 1977 –Members of the American rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd killed in a plane crash: Steve Gaines (b. 1949)
- 2007 –Max McGee, American football player (b. 1932)
- 2008 –Gene Hickerson, American football player (b. 1935)
- 2011 –Tone Pavček, Slovenian poet and translator (b. 1928)
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