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April 20 is the 110th day of the year (111th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 255 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 1303 – The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
• 1453 – The last naval battle in Byzantine history occurs, as three Genoese galleys escorting a Byzantine transport fight their way through the huge Ottoman blockade fleet and into the Golden Horn.
• 1534 – Jacques Cartier begins the voyage during which he discovers Canada and Labrador.
• 1535 – The Sun Dog phenomenon observed over Stockholm and depicted in the famous painting "Vädersolstavlan"
• 1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
• 1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
• 1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
• 1689 – The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
• 1792 – France declares war on Austria, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
• 1809 – Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon I of France at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four day campaign which ended in a French victory.
• 1810 – The Governor of Caracas declares independence from Spain.
• 1818 – The case of Ashford v Thornton was concluded, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle was upheld.
• 1828 – René Caillié becomes the first non-Muslim to enter Timbouctou.
• 1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
• 1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the first pasteurization tests.
• 1871 – The Civil Rights Act of 1871 becomes law.
• 1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum Genus.
• 1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
• 1908 – Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
• 1912 – Opening day for baseball stadiums Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.
• 1914 – Forty-five men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miner's strike.
• 1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings
• 1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
• 1926 – Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film.
• 1939 – Billie Holiday records the first Civil Rights song "Strange Fruit".
• 1945 – World War II: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
• 1945 – World War II: Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
• 1961 – Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed troops against Cuba.
• 1964 – BBC Two launches with the power cut because of the fire at Battersea Power Station.
• 1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech.
• 1972 – Apollo 16 landed on the moon commanded by John Young.
• 1978 – Korean Air Flight 902 is shot down by Soviets.
• 1980 – Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested.
• 1984 – The Good Friday Massacre, an extremely violent ice hockey playoff game, is played in Montreal, Canada.
• 1985 – ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas.
• 1986 – Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performs in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years.
• 1986 – Professional basketball player Michael Jordan sets all-time record for points in an NBA playoff game with 63 against the Boston Celtics.
• 1998 – German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
• 1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colorado.
• 2007 – Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
• 2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.

Births

• 571 – Muhammad, (traditional date) Prophet and founder of Islam (d. 632)
• 702 – Jafar Sadiq, Shi'a Imam and Muslim scholar (d. 765)
• 1494 – Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (d. 1566)
• 1586 – Saint Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (d. 1617)
• 1633 – Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (d. 1654)
• 1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist (d. 1704)
• 1650 – William Bedloe, English informer (d. 1680)
• 1668 – Yuri Troubetzkoy, Governor of Belgorod (d. 1739)
• 1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
• 1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American Continental Congress delegate (d. 1781)
• 1727 – Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-born Austrian diplomat (d. 1794)
• 1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician (d. 1826)
• 1808 – Napoleon III of France, Emperor of the French (d. 1873)
• 1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-born inventor (d. 1893)
• 1826 – Dinah Craik, English author (d. 1887)
• 1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (d. 1931)
• 1851 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (d. 1875)
• 1870 – Maulvi Abdul Haq, Pakistani scholar (d. 1961)
• 1871 – Sydney Chapman, British economist and civil servant (d. 1951)
• 1879 – Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
• 1882 – Holland Smith, U.S. General (d. 1967)
• 1884 – Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
• 1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish-born businessman and activist (d. 1996)
• 1889 – Adolf Hitler, German Nazi dictator (d. 1945)
• 1890 – Maurice Duplessis, premier of Quebec (d. 1959)
• 1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor (d. 1971)
• 1893 – Edna Parker, American supercentenarian (d. 2008)
• 1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter (d. 1983)
• 1895 – Emile Christian, American musician (d. 1973)
• 1896 – Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952)
• 1896 – Henry de Montherlant, French writer (d. 1972)
• 1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
• 1904 – George Stibitz, American scientist (d. 1995)
• 1907 – Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, Haitian president (d. 1971)
• 1908 – Lionel Hampton, American musician (d. 2002)
• 1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
• 1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African–born psychotherapist (d. 1997)
• 1918 – Edward L. Beach, Jr., American naval officer, author (d. 2002)
• 1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
• 1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian pilot and author (d. 1943)
• 1920 – John Paul Stevens, American jurist
• 1920 – Ronald Speirs, WWII Veteran (d. 2007)
• 1921 – Janine Sutto, French-Canadian actress
• 1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster
• 1923 – Tito Puente, American musician (d. 2000)
• 1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor
• 1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch-born American actress (d. 2008)
• 1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
• 1927 – Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish footballer (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Gerald S. Hawkins, English astronomer (d. 2003)
• 1931 – John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, British businessman and peer
• 1936 – Pat Roberts, American politician
• 1937 – Antonios Kounadis, Greek discus thrower
• 1937 – George Takei, American actor
• 1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author
• 1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway
• 1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer
• 1941 – Ryan O'Neal, American actor
• 1942 – Arto Paasilinna, Finnish writer
• 1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
• 1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American actress (d. 1971)
• 1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor
• 1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
• 1946 – Julien Poulin, French Canadian actor
• 1946 – Gordon Smiley, American racecar driver (d. 1982)
• 1946 – Mel Winkler, American voice actor
• 1947 – Björn Skifs, Swedish singer (Blue Swede)
• 1947 – Ken Scott, English record producer and recording engineer
• 1947 – Andrew Tobias, American journalist and author
• 1947 – David Leland, British actor, director and screenwriter
• 1948 – Craig Frost, American musician (Grand Funk & Bob Seger)
• 1948 – Gregory Itzin, American actor
• 1948 – Rémy Trudel, French Canadian politician
• 1949 – Massimo D'Alema, 76th Prime Minister of Italy
• 1949 – Veronica Cartwright, American actress
• 1949 – Toller Cranston, Canadian figure skater and artist
• 1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress
• 1950 – Steve Erickson, American novelist
• 1950 – Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002)
• 1950 – Chandra Babu Naidu, Indian politician
• 1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer (d. 2005)
• 1952 – Božidar Maljković, Serbian basketball coach
• 1953 – Sebastian Faulks, British novelist
• 1954 – Gilles Lupien, French-Canadian ice hockey player
• 1955 – Don Pettit, American Astronaut and Inventor
• 1956 – Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician
• 1957 – Geraint Wyn Davies, Welsh-born Canadian actor
• 1958 – Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1959 – Clint Howard, American actor
• 1961 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player
• 1961 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
• 1961 – Barry Smolin, American radio host, writer, and musician
• 1961 – Ralph Cirella, American radio personality
• 1962 – Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr. (AKA: Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf), American radio personality (d. 2001)
• 1963 – Maurício Gugelmin, Brazilian racing driver
• 1963 – Aubrey de Grey, British biomedical gerontologist
• 1964 – Crispin Glover, American actor
• 1964 – Andy Serkis, English actor
• 1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
• 1965 – Kostas Hatzidakis, Greek politician
• 1965 – Adrian Fernández, Mexican racing driver
• 1965 – April March, American musician
• 1966 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher
• 1967 – Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
• 1967 – Mike Portnoy, American drummer (Dream Theater)
• 1967 – Lara Jill Miller, American actress
• 1968 – J. D. Roth, American game show host and television personality
• 1970 – Shemar Moore, American actor
• 1970 – Adriano Moraes, Brazilian rodeo performer
• 1971 – Tina Cousins, English singer
• 1971 – Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer
• 1971 – Allan Houston, American basketball player
• 1972 – Carmen Electra, American actress
• 1972 – Le Huynh Đuc, Vietnamese footballer
• 1972 – Željko Joksimović, Serbian singer, songwriter and producer
• 1972 – Stephen Marley, Jamaican musician
• 1973 – Geoff Lloyd, British radio presenter
• 1976 – Shay Given, Irish footballer
• 1976 – Joey Lawrence, American actor
• 1976 – Chris Mason, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
• 1977 – Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, professional wrestler
• 1978 – Mirei Kuroda, Japanese gravure idol
• 1979 – Quinn Weng, Taiwanese singer (Seraphim)
• 1979 – Nathan Marquardt, American Mixed Martial Artist
• 1980 – Jasmin Wagner, German singer
• 1980 – Chris Duffy, American baseball player
• 1981 – Matus Valent, male fitness model
• 1983 – Danny Granger, American basketball player
• 1983 – Terrence J, American television host
• 1983 – Joanne King, Irish/English Actress
• 1983 – Miranda Kerr, Australian supermodel
• 1984 – Tyson Griffin, American mixed martial artist
• 1985 – Greg Lutzka, American Skateboarder
• 1986 – Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director (d. 2003)
• 1987 – John Patrick Amedori, American actor
• 1992 – Casey Wagner, Horseshoes state champion (MI)

Deaths

• 1176 – Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English soldier (b. 1130)
• 1314 – Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
• 1521 – Zhengde, Emperor of China (b. 1491)
• 1534 – Elizabeth Barton, English nun (executed)
• 1558 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (b. 1485)
• 1643 – Christoph Demantius, German composer (b. 1567)
• 1703 – Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (b. 1632)
• 1765 – Abigail Williams, American accuser in the Salem witch trials (b. 1674)
• 1769 – Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawa
• 1831 – John Abernethy, English surgeon (b. 1764)
• 1873 – William Tite, English architect (b. 1798)
• 1874 – Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (b. 1817)
• 1887 – Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Egyptian statesman (b. 1826)
• 1899 – Joseph Wolf, German artist (b. 1820)
• 1912 – Bram Stoker, Irish author (b. 1847)
• 1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
• 1929 – Prince Albert Wilhelm Heinrich of Prussia (b. 1862)
• 1932 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (b. 1858)
• 1945 – Erwin Bumke, German jurist (b. 1874)
• 1947 – King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
• 1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
• 1964 – Eddie Dyer, American baseball player (b. 1899)
• 1977 – Sepp Herberger, German football coach (b. 1897)
• 1982 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet and Librarian of Congress (b. 1892)
• 1984 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b. 1943)
• 1986 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani activist, journalist and writer (b. 1916)

• 1989 – Doru Davidovici, Romanian writer and fighter pilot (b. 1945)

• 1991 – Steve Marriott, British singer and songwriter (Humble Pie) (b. 1947)
• 1991 – Don Siegel, American film director (b. 1912)
• 1993 – Cantinflas, Mexican comedian and actor (b. 1911)
• 1994 – Jean Carmet, French actor (b. 1920)
• 1996 – Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
• 1999 – Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist and comedian (b. 1896)
• 1999 – Eric David Harris, perpetrator of the Columbine High massacre (b. 1981)
• 1999 – Dylan Klebold, perpetrator of the Columbine High massacre (b. 1981)
• 1999 – Cassie Bernall, Columbine High School massacre victim (b. 1981)
• 1999 – Rachel Joy Scott, Columbine High School massacre victim (b. 1981)
• 2001 – Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
• 2002 – Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925)
• 2003 – Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908)
• 2003 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
• 2003 – Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
• 2005 – Fumio Niwa, Japanese novelist (b. 1904)
• 2005 – Zygfryd Blaut, Polish football player (b. 1943)
• 2006 – Anna Svidersky (b. 1988)
• 2007 – Andrew Hill, American jazz composer and pianist (b. 1931)
• 2007 – Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931).
• 2007 – Fred Fish, a computer programmer on the GNU Debugger and "Fish disks" (b. 1952)
• 2008 – VL Mike, American rapper (b. 1976)
• 2008 – Monica Lovinescu, Romanian essayist, literary critic and journalist (b. 1923)
• 2009 – Beata Asimakopoulou, Greek actress (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances

• 4/20, a counterculture holiday, where people gather to celebrate and consume cannabis.
• Christian Feast Day
  • Agnes of Montepulciano
  • Blessed Oda of Brabant
  • Theotimus
• L. Ron Hubbard Exhibition Day (Church of Scientology)
• Ridván begins at sunset (Bahá'í Faith)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

• Days of the year
• April