What happened on December 20? There are more than 273 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About December 20
December 20 is the 355th day of the year 2024. There are 11 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday. This day falls under the 51st week of the year 2024.
On this day in Albuquerque, New Mexico 87197 sunrise will occur at 07:07 AM and sunset will occur at 04:58 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Sagittarius. The modern birthstone for this month is Turquoise while the mystical birthstone is Onyx.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 40 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 27 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For December 20
- 69Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of emperor.
- 217The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed by the theologian Hippolytus who accuses him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.
- 1192Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third crusade.
- 1522Siege of Rhodes: Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
- 1606The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
- 1803The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
- 1808Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
- 1860South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.
- 1915World War I: Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli.
- 1917Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, is founded.
- 1924Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison
- 1941World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers” in Kunming, China.
- 1942World War II: Bombing of Calcutta by the Japanese.
- 1946The popular Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.
- 1951The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
- 1952United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
- 1955Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
- 1959The Walker family murders are committed.
- 1960National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
- 1968The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
- 1971Zulfikar Ali Bhutto takes over as the fourth President of Pakistan.
- 1973The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
- 1977Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
- 1984The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines.
- 1987History’s worst peacetime sea disaster, when the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
- 1988The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna.
- 1989United States invasion of Panama: The United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega. This is also the first combat use of purpose-designed stealth aircraft.
- 1991A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
- 1995American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
- 1995NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
- 1996NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
- 1999Macau is handed over to the People’s Republic of China by Portugal.
- 2004A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, one of the largest bank robberies in UK history.
- 2005In Durrës, Albania was founded Aleksander Moisiu University.
- 2005US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of “intelligent design” in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
- 2007Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
- 2007The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café by the major Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.
Who Were Born On December 20?
- 1494Oronce Finé, French mathematician (d. 1555)
- 1537King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
- 1566Edward Wightman, English Baptist preacher (d. 1612)
- 1579(baptized) John Fletcher, English playwright (d. 1625)
- 1626Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (d. 1692)
- 1629Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (d. 1684)
- 1717Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (d. 1787)
- 1740Arthur Lee, American diplomat (d. 1792)
- 1786Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
- 1792Nicolas Charlet, French painter (d. 1845)
- 1833Dr Samuel A. Mudd, American physician (d. 1883)
- 1838Edwin Abbott Abbott, English schoolmaster, theologian, and author (d. 1926)
- 1841Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1932)
- 1860Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
- 1861Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)
- 1865Elsie de Wolfe, American socialite and interior decorator (d. 1950)
- 1868Harvey Firestone, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
- 1869Charles Grapewin, American actor (d. 1956)
- 1873Kanichi Asakawa, Japanese historian (d. 1948)
- 1881Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
- 1886Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player (d. 1974)
- 1888Fred Merkle, American baseball figure (d. 1958)
- 1888Yitzhak Baer, German-born Israeli historian (d. 1980)
- 1890Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
- 1890Yvonne Arnaud, French-born actress (d. 1958)
- 1894Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
- 1898Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1898Konstantinos Dovas, Greek Greek general and interim Prime Minister (d. 1973)
- 1901Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and inventor (d. 1967)
- 1902George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
- 1902Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
- 1904Spud Davis, baseball player (d. 1984)
- 1904Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (d. 1977)
- 1905Bill O'Reilly, Australian cricket player (d. 1992)
- 1907Paul Francis Webster, songwriter (d. 1984)
- 1908Dennis Morgan, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1909Vakkom Majeed, Indian politician (d. 2000)
- 1911Hortense Calisher, American author (d. 2009)
- 1914Harry F. Byrd Jr, American politician
- 1916Michel Chartrand, Quebec union leader (d. 2010)
- 1917David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
- 1918Audrey Totter, American actress
- 1918Jean Marchand, Canadian trade unionist and politician (d. 1988)
- 1922Beverly Pepper, American sculptor and painter
- 1922George Roy Hill, American film director (d. 2002)
- 1924Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician and broadcaster (d. 1980)
- 1925Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer (d. 2007)
- 1926Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician
- 1926Sir Geoffrey Howe, British politician
- 1927Charlie Callas, American comedian (d. 2011)
- 1927Kim Young-sam, 14th President of South Korea
- 1931Mala Powers, American film actress (d. 2007)
- 1931Terry Sanders, American filmmaker
- 1932John Hillerman, American actor (Magnum, P.I.)
- 1933Jean Carnahan, U.S. Senator
- 1933Rik van Looy, Belgian cyclist
- 1935Khalid Ibadulla, Pakistani cricket player
- 1938John Harbison, American composer
- 1940Pat Chapman, English Author, Founder The Curry Club
- 1941Tommy Cole, American makeup artist, actor and singer
- 1942Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist
- 1942Rana Bhagwandas, Former Pakistani Chief Justice
- 1944Bobby Colomby, American musician (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
- 1944Jean Fergusson, English actress
- 1945Peter Criss, American drummer and singer (Kiss)
- 1945Sivakant Tiwari, senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service (d. 2010)
- 1946Dick Wolf, American television series creator
- 1946John Spencer, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1946Lesley Judd, English TV presenter and dancer
- 1946Lloyd Mumphord, NFL football player
- 1946Sonny Perdue, American politician, governor of Georgia
- 1946Uri Geller, Israeli mentalist
- 1947Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer
- 1948Alan Parsons, British music producer and artist
- 1948Stevie Wright, English-born Australian musician and songwriter
- 1949Cecil Cooper, American baseball player
- 1949Oscar Gamble, American baseball player
- 1949Soumaïla Cissé, Malian politician
- 1950Arturo Marquez, Mexican composer
- 1951Gilbert Montagné, French musician
- 1951Peter May, Scottish novelist and scriptwriter
- 1952Jenny Agutter, English actress
- 1952Sky Gilbert, Canadian writer
- 1954Michael Badalucco, American actor
- 1954Sandra Cisneros, American writer
- 1955David Breashears, American mountaineer
- 1955Ed Kuepper, German-born Australian musician (The Saints, Laughing Clowns)
- 1955Rory Markas, American sportscaster (d. 2010)
- 1956Blanche Baker, American actress
- 1956Guy Babylon, American keyboardist
- 1956Junji Hirata, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1957Anna Vissi, Greek-Cypriot singer
- 1957Billy Bragg, English singer and songwriter
- 1957Joyce Hyser, American actress
- 1957Mike Watt, American bassist
- 1957Stephen Bicknell, British organ builder (d. 2007)
- 1958James Thomson, American biologist
- 1959Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Polish politician
- 1959Trent Tucker, American basketball player
- 1960Kim Ki-duk, Korean filmmaker
- 1960Nalo Hopkinson, Canadian writer
- 1961Mike Keneally, American musician
- 1961Mohammad Fouad, Arab singer and actor
- 1963Infanta Elena of Spain
- 1963Joel Gretsch, American actor
- 1964Mark Coleman, American mixed martial artist
- 1965Jim Carr (US), Digital Strategist
- 1965Rich Gannon, American football player
- 1965Robert Cavanah, Scottish actor
- 1966Chris Robinson, American singer (Black Crowes)
- 1966Matt Neal, British Race Driver
- 1966Myrra Malmberg, Swedish singer
- 1968Joe Cornish, British comedian
- 1968Karl Wendlinger, Austrian racing driver
- 1969Bobby Phills, American basketball player (d. 2000)
- 1970Alister McRae, Scottish rally driver
- 1970Grant Flower, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1970Nicole DeBoer, Canadian actress
- 1971Roger J. Beaujard, American musician
- 1972Anders Odden, Norwegian musician
- 1973Cory Stillman, National Hockey League forward
- 1974Die, Japanese musician (Dir en grey)
- 1975Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer
- 1975Jaydy Michel, Mexican model
- 1976Adam Powell, British businessman
- 1976Aubrey Huff, American baseball player
- 1976Jang Hyuk, Korean actor
- 1976Ramon Stoppelenburg, Dutch author
- 1977Saukrates, Canadian rapper
- 1978Andrei Markov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1978Geremi Njitap, Cameroon footballer
- 1978Tony Moore, American comic book artist
- 1979David DeJesus, American baseball player
- 1979George Lamb, English radio and TV presenter
- 1979Michael Rogers, Australian cyclist
- 1979Ramon Rodriguez (actor), Puerto-Rican American Actor
- 1980Ashley Cole, English footballer
- 1980Fitz Hall, English footballer
- 1980Martín Demichelis, Argentine footballer
- 1980Tony, French-born Portuguese footballer
- 1981James Shields, American baseball player
- 1981Roy Williams, American football player
- 1981Royal Ivey, American basketball player
- 1982David Cook, American singer
- 1982David Tavaré, Spanish singer
- 1982David Wright, American baseball player
- 1982Kasper Klausen, Danish footballer
- 1982Keny Arkana, French rapper & singer
- 1982Mohammed Asif, Pakistani cricket player
- 1983Adrián Varela, Mexican singer
- 1983Chelsea Johnson, American pole vaulter
- 1983Darren Sammy, St. Lucian cricketer
- 1983Jonah Hill, American actor
- 1983Lara Stone, Dutch model
- 1983Lucy Pinder, British model
- 1984Nikolaos Karabelas, Greek footballer
- 1986Anoop Desai, American singer
- 1986Benjamin Brierley, English-born German rugby player
- 1987Tariel Zintiridis, Greek judoka
- 1988Andrés Bottiglieri Italian–Argentine footballer
- 1990JoJo, American singer
- 1991Hunter Gomez, American actor
- 1992Ksenia Makarova, Russian-American figure skater
Who Died On December 20?
- 217Pope Zephyrinus
- 860King Ethelbald of Wessex (b. 834)
- 910Alfonso III of Leon (b. 848)
- 1022Elvira Mendes, wife of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)
- 1355Stefan Dušan, Emperor of Serbia (b. 1308)
- 1494Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet (b. 1434)
- 1524Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician (b. 1460)
- 1539Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. 1506)
- 1590Ambroise Paré, French physician (b. 1510)
- 1695John Bowne, English-born American pioneer of religious liberty (b. 1627)
- 1722Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
- 1723Augustus Quirinus Rivinus (b. 1652)
- 1740Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English military officer and statesman (b. 1675)
- 1765Louis, Dauphin of France, son of Louis XV; father of Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X (b. 1729)
- 1768Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)
- 1783Antonio Soler, Spanish composer (b. 1729)
- 1786Hannah Ocuish, Native American convicted murderer (b. 1774)
- 1812Sacagawea, Native American member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (b. 1788)
- 1856Francesco Bentivegna, Italian revolutionary (b. 1820)
- 1862Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
- 1915Upendrakishore Ray, Indian writer, painter and composer (b. 1863)
- 1917Lucien Petit-Breton, French racing cyclist (b. 1882)
- 1921Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (b. 1850)
- 1927Roshan Singh, Indian nationalist (date of birth unknown)
- 1929Émile Loubet, French statesman (b. 1838)
- 1935Martin O'Meara, Australian soldier (b. 1882)
- 1937Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
- 1938Annie Armstrong, American missionary (b. 1850)
- 1941Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
- 1954James Hilton, British author (b. 1900)
- 1956Ramon Carrillo, Argentine neuroscientist (b. 1906)
- 1961Earle Page, Australian politician (b. 1880)
- 1961Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)
- 1968John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1971Roy O. Disney, American entertainment industry executive (b. 1893)
- 1973Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
- 1973Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish statesman (b. 1904)
- 1974André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
- 1976Richard J. Daley, American politician (b. 1902)
- 1981Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (b. 1899)
- 1982Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born American pianist (b. 1887)
- 1984Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan baseball player (b. 1946)
- 1986Joe DeSa, American baseball player (b. 1959)
- 1988Alphonse Ouimet, Canadian television executive (b. 1908)
- 1989Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
- 1991Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (b. 1942)
- 1991Simone Beck, French chef (b. 1904)
- 1994Dean Rusk, American diplomat (b. 1909)
- 1996Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)
- 1997Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946)
- 1997Denise Levertov, English-born American poet (b. 1923)
- 1997Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
- 1998Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1916)
- 1998C. P. Lyons, Canadian naturalist and author (b. 1915)
- 1998Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1909)
- 1999Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)
- 1999Riccardo Freda, Italian film director (b. 1909)
- 2000Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Bangladeshi statesman and philanthropist (b. 1920)
- 2001Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
- 2001Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese politician (b. 1906)
- 2002Bernard King, Australian chef and television personality (b. 1934)
- 2005Maniam Moorthy, Malaysian climber
- 2006Anne Rogers Clark, American dog breeder and trainer (b. 1929)
- 2006Piergiorgio Welby, Italian poet and activist (b.1945)
- 2006Shi Yuejun, Chinese serial killer (b. 1970)
- 2007Nataline Sarkisyan, American medical patient (b. 1990)
- 2009Arnold Stang, American comic actor (b. 1918)
- 2009Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
- 2009Jack Hixon, English football talent scout (b. 1921)
- 2009Mairoon Ali, Trinidadian comedienne and actress (b. 1954)
- 2010Brian Hanrahan, British journalist (b. 1949)
- 2010James R. Mann, American attorney and politician (b. 1920)
- 2010Steve Landesberg, American actor and comedian (b. 1936)
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