January 20

is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 345 days remaining (346 in leap years). In astrology, it is the cusp day between Capricorn and Aquarius.  

Events

• 1156 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland.
• 1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the "Houses of Parliament".
• 1320 - Dante - Quaestio de Aqua et Terra.
• 1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
• 1356 - Edward Balliol resigns as King of Scotland.
• 1523 - Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
• 1576 - The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
• 1649 - Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes"
• 1667 - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kyiv, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to Imperial Russia in the treaty of Andrusiv.
• 1783 - The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War.
• 1801 - John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance.
• 1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
• 1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
• 1841 - Hong Kong Island occupied by the British Empire.
• 1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
• 1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
• 1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
• 1920 - American Civil Liberties Union founded.
• 1921 - The first Constitution of Turkey was adopted, which made fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
• 1929 - In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking film filmed outdoors, is released.
• 1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
• 1937 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4.
• 1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide the "final solution to the Jewish problem".
• 1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
• 1945 - Hungary drops out of the Second World War, agreeing an armistice with the Allies.
• 1952 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
• 1960 - Hendrik Verwoerd announced a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
• 1964 - Meet the Beatles, the first Beatles album in the United States, is released.
• 1969 - The first pulsar is discovered, in the Crab Nebula.
• 1977 - Jimmy Carter becomes the 39th president of the United States.
• 1981 - Iran releases 52 American hostages twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President.
• 1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr, day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
• 1986 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
• 1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
• 1989 - George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States.
• 1990 - Black January - bloody crackdown of Azerbaijani peaceful pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.
• 1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
• 1996 - Yasser Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian Authority.
• 1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet bars.
• 2001 - Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in the EDSA II Revolution, succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
• 2005 - Ireland completes metrication.

Births

• 225 - Gordian III, Roman Emperor (d. 244)
• 1358 - Eleanor of Aragon, wife of John I of Castile (d. 1382)
• 1435 - Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (d. 1490)
• 1554 - King Sebastian of Portugal (d. 1578)
• 1586 - Johann Schein, German composer (d. 1630)
• 1664 - Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian writer and jurist (d. 1718)
• 1716 - King Charles III of Spain (d. 1788)
• 1716 - Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French writer and numismatist (d. 1795)
• 1775 - Andre Marie Ampere, French physicist (d. 1836)
• 1798 - Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas (d. 1858)
• 1804 - Eugène Sue, French novelist (d. 1857)
• 1812 - Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
• 1837 - David Josiah Brewer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1910)
• 1855 - Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
• 1867 - Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (d. 1944)
• 1873 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate (d. 1950)
• 1876 - Józef Hofmann, Polish pianist (d. 1967)
• 1878 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d. 1968)
• 1880 - Walter W. Bacon, Governor of Delaware (d. 1962)
• 1889 - Leadbelly, American musician (d. 1949)
• 1891 - Mischa Elman, Ukrainian born violinist (d. 1967)
• 1894 - Walter Piston, American composer (d. 1976)
• 1896 - George Burns, American actor, comedian (d. 1996)
• 1898 - U Razak, Burmese politician (d. 1947)
• 1900 - Colin Clive, British actor (d. 1937)
• 1906 - Aristotle Onassis, Greek industrialist (d. 1975)
• 1910 - Joy Adamson, Austrian naturalist and writer (d. 1980)
• 1915 - Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of Pakistan
• 1918 - Juan Garcia Esquivel, Mexican musician (d. 2002)
• 1920 - Federico Fellini, Italian film director (d. 1993)
• 1920 - DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
• 1920 - John Cardinal O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal (d. 2000)
• 1920 - Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian author and ski jumper (d. 2006)
• 1923 - Nora Brockstedt, Norwegian singer
• 1924 - Slim Whitman, American singer
• 1925 - Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan theologian and author and politician
• 1926 - Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, essayist and columnist
• 1926 - Patricia Neal, American actress
• 1926 - David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
• 1929 - Jimmy Cobb, American jazz drummer
• 1929 - Bob Denard, French mercenary
• 1929 - Arte Johnson, American actor
• 1929 - Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, American race car driver (d. 1964)
• 1930 - Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr, astronaut
• 1931 - David Lee, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate
• 1934 - Tom Baker, British actor
• 1938 - William Berger, Austrian actor (d. 1993)
• 1938 - Derek Dougan, Northern Irish footballer
• 1939 - Paul Coverdell, American politician (d. 2000)
• 1940 - Carol Heiss, American figure skater
• 1945 - Christopher Martin-Jenkins, cricket commentator and chief cricket correspondent of The Times
• 1946 - David Lynch, American film director
• 1947 - Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist and directuer sportif
• 1948 - Natan Sharansky, Russian-born physicist and politician
• 1949 - Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden
• 1950 - Mahamane Ousmane, President of Niger
• 1950 - Liza Goddard, actress
• 1951 - Ian Hill, British musician (Judas Priest)
• 1951 - Ivan Fischer, Hungarian conductor
• 1952 - Paul Stanley, American musician (KISS)
• 1955 - Wyatt Knight, American actor
• 1956 - Bill Maher, American actor, comedian, and political analyst
• 1958 - Lorenzo Lamas, American actor
• 1960 - Will Wright, American computer game designer
• 1960 - Scott Thunes, American musician (Frank Zappa)
• 1963 - James Denton, American actor
• 1965 - Greg Kriesel, American bassist (The Offspring)
• 1965 - Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
• 1965 - John Michael Montgomery, American singer
• 1968 - Melissa Rivers, American reporter and actress
• 1969 - Patrick K. Kroupa, American writer, hacker
• 1969 - Skeet Ulrich, American actor
• 1970 - Mitch Benn, UK comedian, songwriter, actor
• 1971 - Brian Giles, Major League Baseball player
• 1971 - Derrick Green, American singer (Sepultura)
• 1971 - Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson American Drummer (The Roots)
• 1975 - David Eckstein, baseball player
• 1976 - Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
• 1979 - Rob Bourdon, American musician (Linkin Park)
• 1979 - Will Young, British singer
• 1981 - Owen Hargreaves, English international footballer
• 1981 - Crystal Lowe, Canadian actress

Deaths

• 1156 - Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland
• 1479 - King John II of Aragon (b. 1397)
• 1568 - Myles Coverdale, English Bible translator
• 1612 - Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
• 1666 - Anna of Austria, wife of Louis XIII of France and regent (b. 1601)
• 1707 - Humphrey Hody, English theologian (b. 1659)
• 1709 - François de la Chaise, French confessor of Louis XIV of France (b. 1624)
• 1745 - Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1697)
• 1751 - John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (b. 1665)
• 1770 - Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)
• 1779 - David Garrick, English actor (b. 1717)
• 1810 - Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (b. 1722)
• 1819 - King Charles IV of Spain (b. 1748)
• 1848 - Christian VIII of Denmark (b. 1786)
• 1850 - Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet (b. 1779)
• 1873 - The Venerable Father Basil Anthony Marie Moreau, Founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)
• 1891 - David Kalakaua, King of Hawaii (b. 1836)
• 1900 - John Ruskin, art critic (b. 1819)
• 1901 - Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (b. 1826)
• 1907 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist (b. 1834)
• 1920 - Georg Lurich, Estonian wrestler (b. 1876)
• 1936 - King George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
• 1944 - James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (b. 1860)
• 1947 - Josh Gibson, African-American baseball player (b. 1911)
• 1962 - Robinson Jeffers, American poet (b. 1887)*1962
• 1965 - Alan Freed, American disk jockey (b. 1922)
• 1979 - Gustav Winckler, Danish singer (b. 1925)
• 1971 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, American actor, director, writer, and producer (b. 1880)
• 1973 - Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (b. 1885)
• 1983 - Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
• 1984 - Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (b. 1904)
• 1988 - Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pashtun Nationalist & non-violent freedom fighter (b. 1890)
• 1990 - Hayedeh, Persian singer (b. 1942)
• 1990 - Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
• 1993 - Audrey Hepburn, Anglo-Dutch actress (b. 1929)
• 1994 - Matt Busby, Scottish football manager (b. 1909)
• 1996 - Gerry Mulligan, American musician (b. 1927)
• 1997 - Curt Flood, baseball player (b. 1938)
• 1998 - Bobo Brazil, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
• 2003 - Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (b. 1903)
• 2003 - Nedra Volz, American actress (b. 1908)
• 2003 - Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (b. 1947)
• 2004 - Guinn Smith, American athlete (b. 1920)
• 2005 - Per Borten, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
• 2005 - Roland Frye, American literary critic and theologian
• 2005 - Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Polish journalist, writer, and politician (b. 1913)
• 2005 - Miriam Rothschild, British zoologist, entomologist, and author (b. 1908)

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Sebastian
  • Saint Fabian
  • Euthymus
  • Desiderius
  • Meinrad
  • Epiphanius of Pavia
• The Eve of St. Agnes.
• Presidential Inauguration Day in the United States.
• Astrology: First day of sun sign Aquarius.

External links

• On this day in Canada
• NY Times: On this day
• BBC: On This Day