June 20

June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 194 days remaining until the end of the year.

On leap years, this day usually marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere.

Events

• 451 – Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.
• 1214 – The University of Oxford receives its charter.
• 1631 – The sack of Baltimore: the Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates.
• 1652 – Tarhoncu Ahmet Paşa appointed grand vezir of the Ottoman Empire, served until 21 March 1653.
• 1685 – Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.
• 1756 – A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
• 1782 – The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
• 1787 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the United States.
• 1789 – Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.
• 1791 – King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during The French Revolution.
• 1819 – The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. She is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.
• 1837 – Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.
• 1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
• 1862 – Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated.
• 1863 – American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
• 1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
• 1893 – Lizzie Borden is acquitted for the murders of her father and stepmother.
• 1919 – 150 die at the Teatro Yaguez fire, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.
• 1944 – Continuation war: Soviet Union demands for an unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. Finnish government declines the demand.
• 1948 – Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, makes its television debut.
• 1956 – A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.
• 1959 – A rare June hurricane struck Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.
• 1960 – Independence of Mali and Senegal.
• 1963 – The so-called "red telephone" is established between the Soviet Union and the United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• 1973 – Ezeiza massacre in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured.
• 1979 – ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder is caught on tape and sparked international outcry of the regime.
• 1982 – The Argentine base (Corbeta Uruguay) on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War.
• 1990 – Asteroid Eureka is discovered.
• 1991 – The German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin.
• 2003 – The WikiMedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Births

• 236 BC – Scipio Africanus, Roman statesman and general of the Second Punic War (d. 183 BC)
• 1005 – Ali az-Zahir, caliph (d. 1036)
• 1389 – John, Duke of Bedford, regent of England (d. 1435)
• 1469 – Gian Galeazzo Sforza, duke of Milan (d. 1494)
• 1485 – Astorre III Manfredi, lord of Faenza (d. 1502)
• 1566 – King Sigismund III Vasa of Poland (d. 1632)
• 1583 – Jacob De la Gardie, Swedish soldier and statesman (d. 1652)
• 1634 – Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy (d. 1675)
• 1642 (O.S.) – George Hickes, English minister and scholar (d. 1715)
• 1647 – John George III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1691)
• 1699 – William Gustav of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1737)
• 1717 – Jacques Saly, French sculptor (d. 1776)
• 1723 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1816)
• 1723 – Theophilus Lindsey, English theologian (d. 1808)
• 1733 – Betty Washington, sister of George Washington (d. 1797)
• 1737 – Tokugawa Ieharu, Japanese Shogun (d. 1786)
• 1754 – Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1832)
• 1756 – Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (d. 1792)
• 1761 – Jacob Hübner, German entomologist (d. 1826)
• 1763 – Wolfe Tone, Irish patriot (d. 1798)
• 1770 – Moses Waddel, American educator/minister and bestselling author (d. 1840)
• 1771 – Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, Scottish philanthropist (d. 1820)
• 1771 – Hermann von Boyen, German army officer (d. 1848)
• 1778 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac, French politician (d. 1832)
• 1786 – Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet (d. 1859)
• 1796 – Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso, Italian cardinal (d. 1878)
• 1808 – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (d. 1888)
• 1813 – Joseph Autran, French poet (d. 1877)
• 1819 – Jacques Offenbach, German-born French composer (d. 1880)
• 1855 – Sir Richard Lodge, English historian (d. 1936)
• 1858 – Charles W. Chesnutt, American writer (d. 1932)
• 1860 – Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer, footballer, and coach (d. 1937)
• 1861 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (d. 1947)
• 1862 – Marco Praga, Italian playwright (d. 1929)
• 1870 – Georges Dufrénoy, French post-impressionnist painter (d. 1943)
• 1872 – George Carpenter, the 5th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1948)
• 1875 – Reginald Punnett, British geneticist (d. 1967)
• 1884 – Johannes Heinrich Schultz, German psychiatrist, psychotherapist (d. 1970)
• 1885 – Andrzej Gawroński, Polish scholar (d. 1927)
• 1887 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and writer (d. 1948)
• 1889 – John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-South African astronomer (d. 1951)
• 1891 – John A. Costello, second Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland (d. 1976)
• 1891 – Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, Italian soprano (d. 1951)
• 1893 – Wilhelm Zaisser, German politician (d. 1958)
• 1894 – Lloyd Hall, American chemist (d. 1971)
• 1896 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian conductor (d. 1982)
• 1897 – Elisabeth Hauptmann, German writer (d. 1973)
• 1899 – Jean Moulin, French Resistance leader (d. 1943)
• 1905 – Lillian Hellman, American playwright (d. 1984)
• 1907 – Jimmy Driftwood, American songwriter and musician (d. 1998)
• 1908 – Billy Werber, American baseball player (d. 2009)
• 1909 – Errol Flynn, Australian actor (d. 1959)
• 1911 – Gail Patrick, American actress (d. 1980)
• 1912 – Anthony Buckeridge, English author (d. 2004)
• 1915 – Dick Reynolds, Australian rules footballer and coach (d. 2002)
• 1915 – Terence Young, British film director (d. 1994)
• 1916 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, premier of Quebec (d. 1973)
• 1916 – Johnny Morris, British children's presenter (d. 1999)
• 1917 – Igor Śmiałowski, Polish actor (d. 2006)
• 1918 – George Lynch, American auto racer (d. 1997)
• 1918 – Zoltán Sztáray, Hungarian writer
• 1920 – Hans Gerschwiler, Swiss figure skater
• 1921 – Byron Farwell, American military historian (d. 1999)
• 1923 – Bjørn Watt-Boolsen, Danish actor (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Chet Atkins, American guitar player and producer (d. 2001)
• 1924 – Audie Murphy, American Medal of Honor recipient and actor (d. 1971)
• 1924 – Fritz Koenig, German sculptor
• 1928 – Eric Dolphy, American jazz musician (d. 1964)
• 1928 – Jean-Marie Le Pen, French politician
• 1930 – Paul Pender, American boxer
• 1930 – Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish artist
• 1931 – Olympia Dukakis, American actress
• 1931 – Martin Landau, American actor
• 1931 – James Tolkan, American actor
• 1932 – Robert Rozhdestvensky, Russian poet (d. 1994)
• 1933 – Danny Aiello, American actor
• 1934 – Wendy Craig, English actress
• 1934 – Rossana Podestà, Italian actress
• 1934 – Yuri Vizbor, Russian poet (d. 1984)
• 1935 – Len Dawson, American football player
• 1935 – Neal Knox, American gun rights activist (d. 2005)
• 1936 – Billy Guy, American singer (The Coasters) (d. 2002)
• 1937 – Jerry Keller, American pop singer and songwriter
• 1938 – Mickie Most, British record producer (d. 2003)
• 1939 – Ramakant Desai, Indian cricketer (d. 1998)
• 1940 – Eugen Drewermann, German theologian
• 1940 – John Mahoney, English actor
• 1941 – Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut
• 1941 – Stephen Frears, English film director
• 1942 – Brian Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys)
• 1944 – Cheryl Holdridge, American actress (d. 2009)
• 1944 – David Roper, English actor
• 1945 – Anne Murray, Canadian singer
• 1946 – Bob Vila, American television host
• 1946 – Xanana Gusmão, President of East Timor
• 1946 – Andre Watts, American pianist
• 1946 – Lars Vilks, Swedish artist
• 1947 – Dolores Brooks, American singer (the Crystals)
• 1947 – Candy Clark, American actress
• 1947 – Josef Clemens, German bishop and Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity
• 1947 – Ivo Milazzo, Italian comic book artist
• 1948 – Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
• 1949 – Lionel Richie, American musician (The Commodores)
• 1949 – Alan Longmuir, Scottish bass guitarist (Bay City Rollers)
• 1950 – Nouri Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq
• 1951 – Tress MacNeille, American voice actress
• 1951 – Paul Muldoon, Northern Irish poet
• 1951 – Bill Simon, American businessman and politician
• 1952 – John Goodman, American actor
• 1952 – Vince Gotera, American poet
• 1952 – Larry Riley, American actor (d. 1992)
• 1952 – Vikram Seth, Indian poet
• 1953 – Ulrich Mühe, German actor (d. 2007)
• 1953 – Raúl Ramírez, Mexican tennis player
• 1953 – Willy Rampf, German F1 technical director (BMW, Sauber)
• 1954 – Michael Anthony, American musician (Van Halen)
• 1954 – Ilan Ramon, Israeli combat pilot and astronaut (d. 2003)
• 1954 – Allan Lamb, South African born English cricketer
• 1956 – Peter Reid, English former footballer
• 1957 – Koko B. Ware, American professional wrestler
• 1958 – Chuck Wagner, American actor
• 1958 – Ron Hornaday, American racecar driver
• 1960 – John Taylor, English musician (Duran Duran)
• 1963 – Amir Derakh, American musician (Orgy)
• 1963 – Don West, American professional wrestling announcer
• 1964 – Pierfrancesco Chili, Italian motorcycle racer
• 1964 – Silke Möller, German track and field athlete
• 1967 – Nicole Kidman, American-born Australian actress
• 1968 – Robert Rodriguez, American film director
• 1968 – Gary Speed, Welsh footballer
• 1969 – MaliVai Washington, American tennis player
• 1969 – Misha Verbitsky, Russian mathematician
• 1969 – Peter Paige, American actor
• 1970 – Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco
• 1970 – Andrea Nahles, German politician
• 1970 – Bruce Woodcock, American computer games analyst
• 1971 – Josh Lucas, American actor
• 1971 – Jeordie White, American musician (Marilyn Manson)
• 1971 – Josh Kronfeld, New Zealander rugby union footballer
• 1972 – Alexis Alexoudis, Greek footballer
• 1972 – Paul Bako, American baseball player
• 1973 – Chino Moreno, American musician (Deftones)
• 1974 – Attila Czene, Hungarian swimmer
• 1974 – Tuta, Brazilian footballer
• 1975 – Daniel Zítka, Czech footballer
• 1976 – Jerome Fontamillas, American musician (Switchfoot)
• 1976 – Carlos Lee, Panamanian baseball player
• 1976 – Rob Mackowiak, American baseball player
• 1976 – Juliano Belletti, Brazilian footballer
• 1977 – Gordan Giriček, Croatian basketball player
• 1978 – LaVar Arrington, American football player
• 1978 – Quinton Jackson, American mixed martial artist
• 1978 – Frank Lampard, English footballer
• 1978 – Jan-Paul Saeijs, Dutch footballer
• 1978 – Bobby Seay, American baseball player
• 1978 – Mike Birbiglia, comedian
• 1979 – Charlotte Hatherley, English guitarist (Ash)
• 1979 – Charles Howell III, American professional golfer
• 1979 – Cael Sanderson, American olympic freestyle wrestler
• 1980 – Carlo Festuccia, Italian rugby union footballer
• 1980 – Fabian Wegmann, German road racing cyclist
• 1980 – Tony Lovato, American singer and guitarrist (Mest)
• 1980 – Franco Semioli, Italian footballer
• 1981 – Ardian Gashi, Albanian-Norwegian footballer
• 1981 – Angerfist, Dutch musician
• 1982 – Aleksei Berezutski, Russian footballer
• 1982 – Vasili Berezutski, Russian footballer
• 1982 – George Forsyth, Peruvian footballer
• 1982 – Example (rapper), British rapper
• 1983 – Darren Sproles, American football player
• 1983 – Josh Childress, American basketball player
• 1983 – Cherrie Ying, Hong Kong actress
• 1985 – Matt Flynn, American football player
• 1985 – Souleymane Mamam, Togolese footballer
• 1985 – Darko Miličić, Serbian basketball player
• 1985 – Halil Savran, German footballer
• 1987 – Carsten Ball, Australian tennis player
• 1988 – Shefali Chowdhury, Welsh actress
• 1989 – Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor
• 1989 – Terrelle Pryor, American football player
• 1989 – Javier Pastore, Argentine footballer
• 1997 – Maria Lark, Russian-born American actress

Deaths

• 451 – Theodorid, King of the Visigoths
• 840 – Louis the Pious, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (b. 778)
• 885 – Bernard Plantapilosa, Count of Auvergne (b. 841)
• 1176 – Mikhail of Vladimir, Russian prince
• 1597 – Willem Barentsz, Dutch navigator (b. 1550)
• 1605 – Feodor II of Russia, tsar of Russia (b. 1589)
• 1668 – Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (b. 1620)
• 1776 – Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (b. 1704)
• 1787 – Carl Friedrich Abel, German composer (b. 1723)
• 1800 – Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician (b. 1719)
• 1810 – Count Axel von Fersen the Younger, Swedish statesman (b. 1755)
• 1820 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentine lawyer and politician (b. 1770)
• 1840 – Pierre Claude François Daunou, French statesman and historian (b. 1761)
• 1837 – William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1765)
• 1869 – Toshizou Hijikata, Shinsengumi vice-commander (b. 1835)
• 1870 – Jules de Goncourt, French writer (b. 1830)
• 1872 – Elie Frédéric Forey, French general (b. 1804)
• 1888 – Johannes Zukertort, German-Polish-Jewish chess master (b. 1842)
• 1906 – John Clayton Adams, British landscape artist (b. 1840)
• 1925 – Josef Breuer, Austrian psychologist (b. 1842)
• 1929 – Emmanuel Benakis, Greek merchant and politician (b. 1843)
• 1945 – Bruno Frank, German author (b. 1878)
• 1945 – Luís Fernando de Orleans y Borbón, Spanish prince (b. 1888)
• 1947 – Bugsy Siegel, American crime figure (b. 1906)
• 1952 – Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (b. 1898)
• 1958 – Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
• 1963 – Raphaël Salem, Greek mathematician (b. 1898)
• 1965 – Bernard Baruch, American presidential advisor and financier (b. 1870)
• 1972 – Howard Johnson, American businessman, originator of restaurant chain (b. 1897)
• 1974 – Horace Lindrum, Australian snooker and billiards player (b. 1912)
• 1976 – Lou Klein, American baseball player (b. 1918)
• 1978 – Mark Robson, Canadian film director and producer (b. 1913)
• 1984 – Estelle Winwood, English actress (b. 1883)
• 1995 – Emil Cioran, Romanian-born French philosopher (b. 1911)
• 1996 – Jim Ellison, singer/guitarist for (Material Issue) (b. 1964)
• 1997 – Lawrence Payton, American singer (The Four Tops) (b. 1938)
• 1998 – Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (b. 1942)
• 1999 – Clifton Fadiman, American author (b. 1902)
• 2002 – Erwin Chargaff, Austrian biochemist (b. 1905)
• 2002 – Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (b. 1916)
• 2003 – Bob Stump, American politician (b. 1927)
• 2005 – Jack Kilby, American electrical engineer, Nobel laureate (b. 1923)
• 2005 – Larry Collins, American writer (b. 1929)
• 2006 – Billy Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Trevor Henry, New Zealand justice (b. 1902)
• 2010 – Harry Blackmore Whittington, British palaeontologist (b. 1916)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Adalbert, Archbishop of Magdeburg
  • Florentina
  • Pope Silverius
  • June 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of the National Flag (Argentina)
• Earliest date for the summer solstice:
  • International Surfing Day (June 21 during leap years)
  • Litha / Midsummer celebrations in the northern hemisphere, Yule in the southern hemisphere. (Neopagan Wheel of the Year)
• Martyrs' Day (Eritrea)
• West Virginia Day (West Virginia)
• World Refugee Day (International)

External links

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