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This Day On History
| Date | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 20th of October 1548 | EVENT | The city of Nuestra Senora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace) is founded by Alonso de Mendoza by appointment of the king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. |
| 20th of October 1740 | EVENT | Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction and the War of the Austrian Succession begins. |
| 20th of October 1781 | EVENT | Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, is approved in Habsburg Monarchy. |
| 20th of October 1803 | EVENT | The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase. |
| 20th of October 1818 | EVENT | The Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada : United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length. |
| 20th of October 1827 | EVENT | Battle of Navarino : a combined Turkish and Egyptian armada is defeated by British, French, and Russian naval force in the port of Navarino in Pylos, Greece. |
| 20th of October 1883 | EVENT | Peru and Chile signed the Treaty of Ancon, by which the Tarapaca province is ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru's involvement in the War of the Pacific. |
| 20th of October 1910 | EVENT | 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. |
| 20th of October 1935 | EVENT | The Long March ends. |
| 20th of October 1941 | EVENT | World War II: Thousands of civilians in Kragujevac in German-occupied Serbia are killed in the Kragujevac massacre. |
| 20th of October 1943 | EVENT | The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Suda Bay, Crete, and sunk. 2,098 Italian prisoners of war drown with it. |
| 20th of October 1944 | EVENT | The Soviet Army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia |
| 20th of October 1944 | EVENT | Liquid natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130. |
| 20th of October 1944 | EVENT | 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. |
| 20th of October 1947 | EVENT | 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. |
| 20th of October 1947 | EVENT | United States of America and Pakistan establish diplomatic relations for the first time. |
| 20th of October 1951 | EVENT | The "Johnny Bright Incident" occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma |
| 20th of October 1952 | EVENT | Governor Evelyn Baring declares a state of emergency in Kenya and begins arresting hundreds of suspected leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising, including Jomo Kenyatta, the future first President of Kenya. |
| 20th of October 1967 | EVENT | A purported bigfoot is filmed by Patterson and Gimlin. |
| 20th of October 1968 | EVENT | Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. |
| 20th of October 1970 | EVENT | Siad Barre declares Somalia a socialist state. |
| 20th of October 1971 | EVENT | The Nepal Stock Exchange collapses. |
| 20th of October 1973 | EVENT | The Sydney Opera House opens. |
| 20th of October 1973 | EVENT | "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. |
| 20th of October 1976 | EVENT | The ferry George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, Louisiana. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die and only 18 people aboard the ferry survive. |
| 20th of October 1977 | EVENT | 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. |
| 20th of October 1982 | EVENT | During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster. |
| 20th of October 1991 | EVENT | The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage. |
| 20th of October 1463 | BIRTHDAY | Alessandro Achillini, Italian philosopher (d. 1512) |
| 20th of October 1496 | BIRTHDAY | Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (d. 1550) |
| 20th of October 1616 | BIRTHDAY | Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician, and theologian (d. 1680) |
| 20th of October 1620 | BIRTHDAY | Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch painter (d. 1691) |
| 20th of October 1632 | BIRTHDAY | Sir Christopher Wren, English architect (d. 1723) |
| 20th of October 1656 | BIRTHDAY | Nicolas de Largilliere, French painter (d. 1746) |
| 20th of October 1660 | BIRTHDAY | Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (d. 1723) |
| 20th of October 1677 | BIRTHDAY | Stanislaus I Leszczynski, King of Poland (d. 1766) |
| 20th of October 1700 | BIRTHDAY | Charlotte Aglae of Orleans, Duchess of Modena (d. 1761) |
| 20th of October 1711 | BIRTHDAY | Timothy Ruggles, American politician (d. 1795) |
| 20th of October 1719 | BIRTHDAY | Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (d. 1772) |
| 20th of October 1759 | BIRTHDAY | Chauncey Goodrich, American politician (d. 1815) |
| 20th of October 1780 | BIRTHDAY | Pauline Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1825) |
| 20th of October 1784 | BIRTHDAY | Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, British statesman (d. 1865) |
| 20th of October 1785 | BIRTHDAY | George Ormerod, British historian and antiquarian (d. 1873) |
| 20th of October 1801 | BIRTHDAY | Melchior Berri, Swiss architect (d. 1854) |
| 20th of October 1808 | BIRTHDAY | Karl Andree, German geographer (d. 1875) |
| 20th of October 1819 | BIRTHDAY | The Bab, Persian founder of Babism and a central figure in the Baha'i Faith (d. 1850) |
| 20th of October 1819 | BIRTHDAY | Carl Mikuli, Polish pianist (d. 1897) |
| 20th of October 1822 | BIRTHDAY | Thomas Hughes, English novelist (d. 1896) |
| 20th of October 1832 | BIRTHDAY | Constantin Lipsius, German architect (d. 1894) |
| 20th of October 1854 | BIRTHDAY | Arthur Rimbaud, French poet (d. 1891) |
| 20th of October 1858 | BIRTHDAY | John Burns, English politician (d. 1943) |
| 20th of October 1859 | BIRTHDAY | John Dewey, American philosopher (d. 1952) |
| 20th of October 1864 | BIRTHDAY | James F. Hinkle, American politician (d. 1951) |
| 20th of October 1873 | BIRTHDAY | Nellie McClung, Canadian feminist (d. 1951) |
| 20th of October 1874 | BIRTHDAY | Charles Ives, American composer (d. 1954) |
| 20th of October 1882 | BIRTHDAY | Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born American actor (d. 1956) |
| 20th of October 1889 | BIRTHDAY | Margaret Dumont, American actress (d. 1965) |
| 20th of October 1891 | BIRTHDAY | Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan politician (d. 1978) |
| 20th of October 1891 | BIRTHDAY | James Chadwick, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974) |
| 20th of October 1893 | BIRTHDAY | Charley Chase, American comedian (d. 1940) |
| 20th of October 1894 | BIRTHDAY | Olive Thomas, American actress (d. 1920) |
| 20th of October 1895 | BIRTHDAY | Rex Ingram, American actor (d. 1969) |
| 20th of October 1897 | BIRTHDAY | Crown Prince Euimin of Korea (d. 1970) |
| 20th of October 1900 | BIRTHDAY | Wayne Morse, American politician (d. 1974) |
| 20th of October 1904 | BIRTHDAY | Anna Neagle, English actress (d. 1986) |
| 20th of October 1904 | BIRTHDAY | Tommy Clement Douglas, Canadian politician (d. 1986) |
| 20th of October 1905 | BIRTHDAY | Arnold Luhaaar, Estonian weightlifter (d. 1965) |
| 20th of October 1905 | BIRTHDAY | Frederic Dannay, American novelist (d. 1982) |
| 20th of October 1907 | BIRTHDAY | Arlene Francis, American actress and television personality (d. 2001) |
| 20th of October 1909 | BIRTHDAY | Sugiyama Yasushi, Japanese painter (d. 1993) |
| 20th of October 1909 | BIRTHDAY | Carla Laemmle, American actress |
| 20th of October 1910 | BIRTHDAY | Bob Sheppard, American sports public address announcer (d. 2010) |
| 20th of October 1913 | BIRTHDAY | Grandpa Jones, American banjo player and singer (d. 1998) |
| 20th of October 1913 | BIRTHDAY | J. Michael Hagopian, Turkish-born American documentarian (d. 2010) |
| 20th of October 1914 | BIRTHDAY | Fayard Nicholas, American dancer (d. 2006) |
| 20th of October 1917 | BIRTHDAY | Jean-Pierre Melville, French director (d. 1973) |
| 20th of October 1918 | BIRTHDAY | Robert Lochner, German journalist (d. 2003) |
| 20th of October 1919 | BIRTHDAY | Tracy Hall, American inventor (d. 2008) |
| 20th of October 1922 | BIRTHDAY | John Anderson, American actor (d. 1992) |
| 20th of October 1923 | BIRTHDAY | Robert Craft, American conductor |
| 20th of October 1925 | BIRTHDAY | Art Buchwald, American humorist (d. 2007) |
| 20th of October 1925 | BIRTHDAY | Tom Dowd, American recording engineer (d. 2002) |
| 20th of October 1925 | BIRTHDAY | Roger Hanin, French actor |
| 20th of October 1927 | BIRTHDAY | Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, Indian poet (d. 2007) |
| 20th of October 1927 | BIRTHDAY | Joyce Brothers, American psychologist and advice columnist |
| 20th of October 1931 | BIRTHDAY | Mickey Mantle, American baseball player (d. 1995) |
| 20th of October 1931 | BIRTHDAY | Richard Caliguiri, American politician (d. 1988) |
| 20th of October 1932 | BIRTHDAY | Rosey Brown, American football player (d. 2004) |
| 20th of October 1932 | BIRTHDAY | William Christopher, American actor |
| 20th of October 1934 | BIRTHDAY | Bill Chase, American trumpet player (d. 1974) |
| 20th of October 1934 | BIRTHDAY | Eddie Harris, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1996) |
| 20th of October 1934 | BIRTHDAY | Empress Michiko of Japan |
| 20th of October 1935 | BIRTHDAY | Jerry Orbach, American actor (d. 2004) |
| 20th of October 1935 | BIRTHDAY | Barrie Chase, American dancer |
| 20th of October 1937 | BIRTHDAY | Juan Marichal, Dominican baseball player |
| 20th of October 1937 | BIRTHDAY | Wanda Jackson, American rock and rockabilly singer |
| 20th of October 1938 | BIRTHDAY | Iain Macmillan, Scottish photographer (d. 2006) |
| 20th of October 1940 | BIRTHDAY | Kathy Kirby, British singer |
| 20th of October 1940 | BIRTHDAY | Robert Pinsky, American poet and Poet Laureate of the United States |
| 20th of October 1942 | BIRTHDAY | Earl Hindman, American actor (d. 2003) |
| 20th of October 1942 | BIRTHDAY | Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| 20th of October 1943 | BIRTHDAY | Dunja Vejzovic, Croatian soprano |
| 20th of October 1944 | BIRTHDAY | David Mancuso, American disc jockey |
| 20th of October 1944 | BIRTHDAY | Nalin de Silva, Sri Lankan theoretical physicist and political analyst |
| 20th of October 1946 | BIRTHDAY | Lewis Grizzard, American writer and humorist (d. 1994) |
| 20th of October 1946 | BIRTHDAY | Lucien Van Impe, Belgian cyclist |
| 20th of October 1946 | BIRTHDAY | Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian writer, Nobel Prize laureate |
| 20th of October 1946 | BIRTHDAY | Richard Loncraine, British film director |
| 20th of October 1948 | BIRTHDAY | Melih Gokcek, Turkish politician |
| 20th of October 1949 | BIRTHDAY | Valeri Borzov, Ukrainian athlete |
| 20th of October 1950 | BIRTHDAY | Tom Petty, American musician |
| 20th of October 1951 | BIRTHDAY | Leif Pagrotsky, Swedish politician |
| 20th of October 1951 | BIRTHDAY | Claudio Ranieri, Italian football player and manager |
| 20th of October 1951 | BIRTHDAY | Ken Ham, Australian evangelist and businessman |
| 20th of October 1951 | BIRTHDAY | Patrick Hall, British politician |
| 20th of October 1951 | BIRTHDAY | Al Greenwood, American rock musician (Foreigner) |
| 20th of October 1953 | BIRTHDAY | Keith Hernandez, American baseball player |
| 20th of October 1953 | BIRTHDAY | Bill Nunn, American actor |
| 20th of October 1954 | BIRTHDAY | Steve Orich, American composer |
| 20th of October 1954 | BIRTHDAY | Gunter Muller, German percussionist |
| 20th of October 1955 | BIRTHDAY | Thomas Newman, American composer |
| 20th of October 1955 | BIRTHDAY | Aaron Pryor, American boxer |
| 20th of October 1955 | BIRTHDAY | Robert ten Brink, Dutch TV personality |
| 20th of October 1955 | BIRTHDAY | David Profumo, English novelist |
| 20th of October 1956 | BIRTHDAY | Danny Boyle, English film director |
| 20th of October 1957 | BIRTHDAY | Susanna Haavisto, Finnish actress and singer |
| 20th of October 1957 | BIRTHDAY | Hilda Solis, American politician |
| 20th of October 1957 | BIRTHDAY | Chris Cowdrey, English cricketer |
| 20th of October 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Lynn Flewelling, American fantasy author |
| 20th of October 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Valerie Faris, American film director |
| 20th of October 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Mark King, English musician and singer (Level 42) |
| 20th of October 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Scott Hall, American professional wrestler |
| 20th of October 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Dave Krieg, American football player |
| 20th of October 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Viggo Mortensen, American actor |
| 20th of October 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Ivo Pogorelic, Croatian pianist |
| 20th of October 1958 | BIRTHDAY | Dave Finlay, Irish professional wrestler |
| 20th of October 1959 | BIRTHDAY | Mark Little, Australian actor and comedian |
| 20th of October 1960 | BIRTHDAY | Konstantin Aseev, Russian chess player (d. 2004) |
| 20th of October 1960 | BIRTHDAY | Lepa Brena, Yugoslav singer |
| 20th of October 1961 | BIRTHDAY | Ian Rush, Welsh footballer |
| 20th of October 1961 | BIRTHDAY | Michie Tomizawa, Japanese voice actress |
| 20th of October 1962 | BIRTHDAY | David M. Evans, American screenwriter and film director |
| 20th of October 1962 | BIRTHDAY | Dave Wong, Hong Kong/Taiwanese singer-songwriter |
| 20th of October 1963 | BIRTHDAY | Julie Payette, Canadian astronaut |
| 20th of October 1963 | BIRTHDAY | Nikos Tsiantakis, Greek footballer |
| 20th of October 1965 | BIRTHDAY | Norman Blake, Scottish musician |
| 20th of October 1965 | BIRTHDAY | Jil Caplan, French singer and songwriter |
| 20th of October 1965 | BIRTHDAY | Mikhail Shtalenkov, Russian ice hockey player |
| 20th of October 1965 | BIRTHDAY | William Zabka, American actor |
| 20th of October 1966 | BIRTHDAY | Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Jordanian militant and Al-Qaeda figure (d. 2006) |
| 20th of October 1966 | BIRTHDAY | Allan Donald, South African cricketer |
| 20th of October 1966 | BIRTHDAY | Stefan Raab, German entertainer |
| 20th of October 1966 | BIRTHDAY | Fred Coury, American drummer (Cinderella) |
| 20th of October 1966 | BIRTHDAY | Patrick Volkerding, American computer operating systems developer |
| 20th of October 1967 | BIRTHDAY | Luigi Lo Cascio, Italian actor |
| 20th of October 1967 | BIRTHDAY | Luck Mervil, Quebecois actor and singer |
| 20th of October 1967 | BIRTHDAY | Marco Ngai, Hong Kong actor |
| 20th of October 1967 | BIRTHDAY | Elizabeth Carling, English actress and singer |
| 20th of October 1968 | BIRTHDAY | Susan Tully, English actress (Eastenders) |
| 20th of October 1969 | BIRTHDAY | Juan Gonzalez, Puerto Rican baseball player |
| 20th of October 1969 | BIRTHDAY | Laurie Daley, Australian rugby league footballer |
| 20th of October 1969 | BIRTHDAY | Lambros Papakostas, Greek high jumper |
| 20th of October 1970 | BIRTHDAY | Chavo Guerrero, Jr., American professional wrestler |
| 20th of October 1970 | BIRTHDAY | Michelle Malkin, American political commentator and author |
| 20th of October 1970 | BIRTHDAY | Sander Boschker, Dutch footballer |
| 20th of October 1971 | BIRTHDAY | Dannii Minogue, Australian singer |
| 20th of October 1971 | BIRTHDAY | Eddie Jones, American basketball player |
| 20th of October 1971 | BIRTHDAY | Matt Norman, Australian director/producer |
| 20th of October 1971 | BIRTHDAY | Snoop Dogg, American rapper |
| 20th of October 1972 | BIRTHDAY | Will Greenwood, England rugby union player |
| 20th of October 1976 | BIRTHDAY | Tom Wisniewski, American guitarist (MxPx) |
| 20th of October 1977 | BIRTHDAY | Matt Jansen, English footballer |
| 20th of October 1977 | BIRTHDAY | Leila Josefowicz, Canadian classical violinist |
| 20th of October 1977 | BIRTHDAY | Sam Witwer, American actor |
| 20th of October 1978 | BIRTHDAY | Paul Wilson, Scottish bass player (Snow Patrol) |
| 20th of October 1978 | BIRTHDAY | Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer |
| 20th of October 1979 | BIRTHDAY | Paul Ifill, Barbadian footballer |
| 20th of October 1979 | BIRTHDAY | John Krasinski, American actor |
| 20th of October 1979 | BIRTHDAY | Paul O'Connell, Irish rugby player |
| 20th of October 1980 | BIRTHDAY | Gary Jarman, English musician |
| 20th of October 1980 | BIRTHDAY | Jose Veras, Dominican baseball player |
| 20th of October 1980 | BIRTHDAY | Niall Matter, Canadian actor |
| 20th of October 1981 | BIRTHDAY | Willis McGahee, American football player |
| 20th of October 1981 | BIRTHDAY | Francisco Javier Rodriguez, Mexican footballer |
| 20th of October 1981 | BIRTHDAY | Dimitrios Papadopoulos, Greek footballer |
| 20th of October 1982 | BIRTHDAY | Yasser Al-Qahtani, Saudi footballer |
| 20th of October 1982 | BIRTHDAY | Becky Brewerton, Welsh golfer |
| 20th of October 1983 | BIRTHDAY | Takayuki Yamada, Japanese actor |
| 20th of October 1983 | BIRTHDAY | Luis Saritama, Ecuadorian footballer |
| 20th of October 1984 | BIRTHDAY | Florent Sinama-Pongolle, French footballer |
| 20th of October 1984 | BIRTHDAY | Andrew Trimble, Northern Irish rugby player |
| 20th of October 1985 | BIRTHDAY | Jennifer Nicole Freeman, American actress |
| 20th of October 1985 | BIRTHDAY | Alphonso Smith, American football player |
| 20th of October 1985 | BIRTHDAY | James Sutton, British racing driver |
| 20th of October 1985 | BIRTHDAY | Dominic McGuire, American basketball player |
| 20th of October 1986 | BIRTHDAY | Priyanka Sharma, Indian actress |
| 20th of October 1987 | BIRTHDAY | Raphael Hackl, German rugby player |
| 20th of October 1988 | BIRTHDAY | Candice Swanepoel, South African model |
| 20th of October 1988 | BIRTHDAY | Risa Niigaki, Japanese singer (Morning Musume) |
| 20th of October 1989 | BIRTHDAY | Colin Wilson, Hockey player |
| 20th of October 1992 | BIRTHDAY | Ksenia Semenova, Russian gymnast |
| 20th of October 1994 | BIRTHDAY | Morgan Featherstone, Australian model |
| 20th of October 1995 | BIRTHDAY | Zhenwei Wang, Chinese actor and martial artist |
| 20th of October 0460 | DEATH | Aelia Eudocia, Byzantine Empress |
| 20th of October 1139 | DEATH | Henry X, Duke of Bavaria |
| 20th of October 1570 | DEATH | Joao de Barros, Portuguese historian (Born 1496) |
| 20th of October 1631 | DEATH | Michael Maestlin, German astronomer and mathematician (Born 1550) |
| 20th of October 1640 | DEATH | John Ball, English Puritan clergyman (Born 1585) |
| 20th of October 1652 | DEATH | Antonio Coello, Spanish writer (Born 1611) |
| 20th of October 1713 | DEATH | Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (Born 1652) |
| 20th of October 1740 | DEATH | Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (Born 1685) |
| 20th of October 1842 | DEATH | Grace Darling, English heroine (Born 1815) |
| 20th of October 1865 | DEATH | Champ Ferguson, Confederate guerrilla (Born 1821) |
| 20th of October 1870 | DEATH | Michael William Balfe, Irish composer (Born 1808) |
| 20th of October 1890 | DEATH | Sir Richard Burton, British explorer and writer (Born 1821) |
| 20th of October 1900 | DEATH | Naim Frasheri, Albanian poet (Born 1846) |
| 20th of October 1907 | DEATH | Said Pasha Kurd, Kurdish statesman (Born 1834) |
| 20th of October 1910 | DEATH | David B. Hill, Governor of New York (Born 1843) |
| 20th of October 1926 | DEATH | Eugene Debs, American labor leader and Socialist presidential candidate (Born 1855) |
| 20th of October 1935 | DEATH | Arthur Henderson, Scottish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (Born 1863) |
| 20th of October 1936 | DEATH | Anne Sullivan, American teacher (Born 1866) |
| 20th of October 1940 | DEATH | Gunnar Asplund, Swedish architect (Born 1885) |
| 20th of October 1953 | DEATH | Werner Baumbach, German bomber pilot (Born 1916) |
| 20th of October 1964 | DEATH | Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States (Born 1874) |
| 20th of October 1967 | DEATH | Yoshida Shigeru, Prime Minister of Japan (Born 1878) |
| 20th of October 1968 | DEATH | Bud Flanagan, British wartime entertainer (Born 1896) |
| 20th of October 1972 | DEATH | Harlow Shapley, American astronomer (Born 1885) |
| 20th of October 1977 | DEATH | Members of the American rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd killed in a plane crash: |