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Historical Events

20 Apr 1139
2nd Lateran Council (10th ecumenical council) opens in Rome
20 Apr 1505
Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg
20 Apr 1650
Dutch East India Company (VOC) management sets new guidelines
20 Apr 1657
Battle in Santa Cruz Bay Tenerife English fleet under Robert Blake sinks Spanish silver fleet
20 Apr 1689
The former King James II of England now deposed lays siege to Derry
20 Apr 1702
Comet C H1 approaches within 0.0437 AUs of Earth
20 Apr 1715
Nicholas Rowes play The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey premieres in London
20 Apr 1777
New York adopts new constitution as an independent state
20 Apr 1785
Thomas Warton appointed British Poet Laureate by King George III
20 Apr 1799
Friedrich von Schillers Wallensteins Tod premieres in Weimar
20 Apr 1810
The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from Spain
20 Apr 1818
Napoleon Bonaparte bids emotional farewell to his old guard at Palace of Fontainebleau
20 Apr 1828
Frenchman Ren Cailli is the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu returns to win 10000 franc prize from Socit de Gographie
20 Apr 1871
US 3rd Enforcement Act (President can suspend writ of habeas corpus)
20 Apr 1879
1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London & Cyprus
20 Apr 1894
136000 mine workers strike in Ohio for pay increase
20 Apr 1898
US Assay Office in Deadwood South Dakota opens
20 Apr 1902
Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive element radium chloride
20 Apr 1903
7th Boston Marathon won by Irishman John Lorden in 24129.8
20 Apr 1904
Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St Louis
20 Apr 1908
12th Boston Marathon won by Tom Morrissey in 22543.2
20 Apr 1908
Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
20 Apr 1910
Cleveland Indians Addie Joss 2nd no-hitter beats Chicago 1-0
20 Apr 1910
Halleys Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km
20 Apr 1912
Fenway Park officially opens Red Sox beat NY Highlanders 7-6 in 11
20 Apr 1912
Tiger Stadium in Detroit opens Tigers beat Cleveland Indians 6-5
20 Apr 1914
18th Boston Marathon won by Canadian James Duffy in 22501.2
20 Apr 1914
33 killed by soldiers during mine strike in Ludlow Colo
20 Apr 1914
US President W Wilson having dispatched more naval ships to Mexico asks a joint session of Congress to approve armed force if necessary Congress approves
20 Apr 1915
The Armenians rise and seize the Turkish town of Van which they hold until Russians relieve them on 19 May thousands of Armenians are killed
20 Apr 1916
Weeghman Park (Wrigley Field) in Chicago opens Cubs beat Cincinnati Reds 7-6
20 Apr 1916
Chicago Cubs play their 1st game at Weeghman Park (now known as Wrigley Field) and beat the Cincinnati Reds
20 Apr 1919
Polish Army captures Vilno Lithuania from Soviet Army
20 Apr 1919
King Nicholas of Montenegro abdicates under duress
20 Apr 1920
Phillies manager Gravvy Cravath puts himself in as pinch hitter his 3- run homer beats NY Giants 3-0
20 Apr 1925
29th Boston Marathon won by Charles Mellor in 23300.6
20 Apr 1926
1st check sent by radio facsimile transmission across Atlantic
20 Apr 1931
35th Boston Marathon won by Jim Henigan in 24645.8
20 Apr 1931
British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday
20 Apr 1935
Your Hit Parade begins broadcasting (becomes 1 quickly)
20 Apr 1936
40th Boston Marathon won by Ellison Brown in 23340.8
20 Apr 1936
Jews repel an Arab attack in Petach Tikvah Palestine
20 Apr 1940
1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA) Philadelphia Pa
20 Apr 1942
46th Boston Marathon won by Joe Smith in 22651.2
20 Apr 1942
German occupiers forbids Dutch access to their beach
20 Apr 1943
Braves manager Casey Stengel is struck by a taxi fractures a leg
20 Apr 1944
Dutch Communist Party resistance fighter John Postma sentence to death
20 Apr 1945
Cleveland Browns organization formed by Arthur Mickey McBride
20 Apr 1946
1st baseball broadcast in Chicago Cards vs Cubs
20 Apr 1948
NYC hikes subway fare from 5 cents to 10 cents
20 Apr 1948
Walter P. Reuther UAW President shot & wounded at his home in Detroit
20 Apr 1949
Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 1st race in Albany California
20 Apr 1950
Balts Memorial Stadium opens - Orioles of International League
20 Apr 1951
Velsen city council demands investigation of police collaborators
20 Apr 1951
4th Cannes Film Festival Miss Julie directed by Alf Sjoberg and Miracle in Milan directed by Vittorio De Sica jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
20 Apr 1953
57th Boston Marathon won by Keizo Yamada of Japan in 21851
20 Apr 1954
Golden Apple opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 125 performances
20 Apr 1955
Saint of Bleecker St closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 92 performances
20 Apr 1957
Yankee Bill Skowron becomes 3rd player to hit a ball out of Fenway
20 Apr 1958
Stanley Cup Final Boston Garden Boston MA Montreal Canadiens 3-peat beat Boston Bruins 5-3 for a 4-2 for series win
20 Apr 1959
63rd Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland in 22242
20 Apr 1960
From A to Z opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 21 performances
20 Apr 1961
American Harold Graham makes 1st rocket belt flight
20 Apr 1962
New Orleans Citizens Co gives free 1-way ride to blacks to move North
20 Apr 1962
OAS-leader ex-general Salan arrested in Algiers
20 Apr 1963
Sophie closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 8 performances
20 Apr 1963
-30] All Africa Conferences of Churches opens in Kampala Uganda
20 Apr 1963
10th National Film Awards (India) Dada Thakur wins the Golden Lotus
20 Apr 1964
68th Boston Marathon won for second straight year by Aurele Vandendriessche of Belgium in 21959
20 Apr 1964
86% of black students boycott Cleveland schools
20 Apr 1965
Peoples Republic China offers North Vietnam military aid
20 Apr 1966
WDCA TV channel 20 in Washington D.C. (IND) begins broadcasting
20 Apr 1967
French author Rgis Debray caught in Bolivia
20 Apr 1967
NY Met Tom Seavers 1st victory beats Cubs 6-1
20 Apr 1967
A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia Cyprus killing 126.
20 Apr 1968
South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes at Windhoek 122 killed
20 Apr 1968
British politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech
20 Apr 1969
Bombs planted by Loyalists members of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Protestant Volunteers explode at Silent Valley reservoir in County Down and at an electricity pylon at Kilmore County Armagh
20 Apr 1970
74th Boston Marathon Englishman Ron Hill wins in 21030 (US record) American Sara Mae Berman 1st woman for 2nd straight year in 30507 (unsanctioned)
20 Apr 1970
Bruno Kreisky becomes 1st socialist chancellor of Austria
20 Apr 1971
US Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation
20 Apr 1972
Apollo 16s Young & Duke land on Moon with Boeing Lunar Rover 2
20 Apr 1972
Kallicharran scores his 2nd Test century in his 2nd Test Cricket
20 Apr 1973
Mass murderer Ed Kemper attempts to dispose of his mothers vocal chords in a domestic waste disposal unit
20 Apr 1973
Canadian ANIK A2 becomes 1st commercial satellite in orbit
20 Apr 1974
The Troubles the Northern Ireland conflict between republican and loyalist paramilitaries British security forces and civil rights groups claims its 1000th victim
20 Apr 1977
Supreme Court rules Live Free or Die may be covered on NH licenses
20 Apr 1980
Cubans begin to arrive in US from Mariel boatlift
20 Apr 1980
Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria sees hundreds of Berber political activists arrested
20 Apr 1981
85th Boston Marathon Toshihiko Seko of Japan wins mens race in 20926 Allison Roe of New Zealand takes womens title in 22646
20 Apr 1981
Rocker Papa John Phillips arrested for drug possession
20 Apr 1981
Fire and Smoke single released by Earl Thomas Conley (Billboard Song of the Year )
20 Apr 1982
Atlanta Braves become 1st team to win 1st 12 games of the season
20 Apr 1982
The Provisional Irish Republican Army explode bombs in Belfast Derry Armagh Ballymena Bessbrook and Magherafelt 2 civilians are killed and 12 injured
20 Apr 1983
Soyuz T-8 launched mission aborted when capsule fails to dock (lands 2 days later)
20 Apr 1984
Russian offensive in Panshirvallei Afghanistan
20 Apr 1985
Carlos Lopes runs world record marathon (20712)
20 Apr 1985
Firestone World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by Mark Williams
20 Apr 1985
Karyn Marshall of NYC lifted 303 lbs in a clean & jerk lift
20 Apr 1985
ATF raid on The Covenant The Sword and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas
20 Apr 1986
Jerrys Girls closes at St James Theater NYC after 139 performances
20 Apr 1986
Vladimir Horowitz performs in his Russian homeland
20 Apr 1987
91st Boston Marathon Toshihiko Seko of Japan wins 2nd title in 21150 Rosa Mota of Portugal claims womens event in 22521 her first of 3 race victories
20 Apr 1987
Sri Lankan Civil War Tamils shoot 122 Sinhalese dead
20 Apr 1987
US deports Karl Linnas to USSR charged with Nazi war crimes
20 Apr 1988
Baltimore Orioles set worst record to start a season 0-14 (will go 0-21)
20 Apr 1988
US accuses Renamo of killing 100000 Mozambiquians
20 Apr 1988
Yanks HR 9999 (D Winfield) 10000 (C Washington) 10001 (J Clarke)
20 Apr 1990
8 23 inning perfect game pitched by Brian Holman of Oakland As is spoiled by a home run hit by Ken Philips
20 Apr 1991
Les Miserables opens at Odense Teater Odense
20 Apr 1991
1st non stop flight Schiphol-Flamingo airport Bonaire
20 Apr 1991
Mark Lenzi is 1st diver to score 100 pts on a dive (101.85)
20 Apr 1991
Raghib Rocket Ismael signs with Toronto Argonauts for 26.2 million
20 Apr 1992
100th episode of American sitcom Murphy Brown airs
20 Apr 1992
96th Boston Marathon Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya repeats in 20814 for his 3rd title Olga Markova first Russian womens champion in 22343
20 Apr 1992
Joan Lunden breaks her left shoulder after being thrown from a horse
20 Apr 1994
Danny Harold Rolling sentenced to death in Florida for killing 5
20 Apr 1994
Serbian army bombs hospital in Goradze Bosnia 47 killed
20 Apr 1994
Sohail & Inzamam make world record ODI partnership of 263
20 Apr 1996
NFL Draft Keyshawn Johnson from USC first pick by New York Jets
20 Apr 1997
Gin Game opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 144 performances
20 Apr 1997
Present Laughter closes at Walter Kerr Theater NYC
20 Apr 1997
1st baseball game in Hawaii Cards beat Padres in doubleheader
20 Apr 1997
58th PGA Seniors Golf Championship Hale Irwin
20 Apr 1997
Cubs beat NY Mets ending NL worst opening lost 14 straight games
20 Apr 1998
TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogot Colombia killing 53.
20 Apr 1998
German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
20 Apr 1998
102nd Boston Marathon Moses Tanui of Kenya wins mens title in 20734 Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia wins back-to-back womens events in 22321
20 Apr 1999
Columbine High School massacre Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School Colorado
20 Apr 2002
NFL Draft Fresno State quarterback David Carr first pick by Houston Texans
20 Apr 2004
In Iraq 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
20 Apr 2007
Johnson Space Center Shooting A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
20 Apr 2008
Danica Patrick driving for Andretti Green Racing wins the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi first female driver in history to win an IndyCar Series race
20 Apr 2008
54th British Academy Television Awards Fonejacker Best Comedy The Street best Drama
20 Apr 2009
113th Boston Marathon Deriba Merga of Ethiopia wins mens event in 20842 Salina Kosgei of Kenya womens champion in 23216
20 Apr 2010
The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes killing 11 and causing the rig to sink causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental diaster
20 Apr 2012
Plane crash near Islamabad Pakistan kills 127 people
20 Apr 2012
40 people are killed and 27 injured after a tractor trailer collided with a bus in Alamo Mexico
20 Apr 1910
Cleveland Naps Addie Joss 2nd no-hitter beats Chicago 1-0
20 Apr 1916
Chicago Cubs play their 1st game at Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) and beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6
20 Apr 2010
The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes killing 11 and causing the rig to sink causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental disaster
20 Apr 2013
193 people are killed and 11826 are injured after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes Lushan County China
20 Apr 1865
Crosby Opera House opens in Chicago Illinois destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871
20 Apr 1940
1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA) Philadelphia Pennsylvania [1]
20 Apr 1986
Vladimir Horowitz performs in Moscow Russia his first appearance in his Russian homeland since 1925
20 Apr 2002
NFL Draft Fresno State quarterback David Carr 1 pick by Houston Texans
20 Apr 1950
Baltimore Marylands Memorial Stadium opens - Orioles of International League
20 Apr 1968
British rock band billed as Roundabout debuts in Kastrup Denmark after a brief tour of Scandinavia they change their name to Deep Purple
20 Apr 1969
23rd Tony Awards The Great White Hope (play) & 1776 (musical) win
20 Apr 1975
29th Tony Awards Equus (play) & The Wiz (musical) win
20 Apr 1980
Climax of the Berber Spring in Algeria sees hundreds of Berber political activists arrested
20 Apr 1914
Ludlow Massacre Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) security team and Colorado National Guard soldiers kill 21 workers women and children during mine strike in Ludlow Colorado
20 Apr 1942
Nazi German occupiers forbid Dutch access to their beach
20 Apr 1972
NASA Apollo 16s John Young & Charles Duke land on the moon with Boeing Lunar Rover 2
20 Apr 1977
Al Pacino wins a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
20 Apr 1998
TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogot Colombia killing 53
20 Apr 2013
5 snowboarders are killed by an avalanche in Loveland Pass Colorado
20 Apr 2013
Giorgio Napolitano is re-elected President of Italy
20 Apr 2015
Pulitzer Prize awarded to Anthony Doerrs for his novel All the Light We Cannot See and to Elizabeth Kolbert for The Sixth Extinction An Unnatural History
20 Apr 2017
Terrorist attack on police van on Champs lyses Paris 1 police officer killed 2 injured
20 Apr 2018
Actress Allison Mack arrested on charges of sex trafficking in relation to sex cult NXIVM in New York
20 Apr 2018
Arsne Wenger announces he will leave London EPL club Arsenal after 22 years as manager
20 Apr 2020
Price of US oil turns negative for the 1st time in history - West Texas Intermediate the benchmark for US oil falls as low as minus 37.63 a barrel as worldwide demand falls
20 Apr 2020
The last three cruise ships still afloat amid COVID pandemic finally dock at the ports of Marseille France Barcelona Spain and Los Angeles California
20 Apr 2020
Three US states Georgia Tennessee and South Carolina the 1st to announce end to some COVID-19 restrictions
20 Apr 2021
All six EPL clubs withdraw from the controversial European Super League just 3 days after it was announced - Chelsea Manchester City Liverpool Arsenal Manchester United and Tottenham
20 Apr 2021
Record number of new COVID-19 cases reported (5.24 million) in one week around the world according to WHO with a third in India [1]
20 Apr 2022
Online streaming service Netflix suffers its first subscriber loss in a decade losing 200000 customers Jan-Mar [1]
20 Apr 2023
136 people massacred in village of Karma Burkina Faso one of the country worst attacks on civilians blamed on the countrys security forces [1]
20 Apr 2023
Total solar eclipse in Exeter Western Australia blocks out the sun for 58 seconds [1]
20 Apr 1139
Second Lateran Council (10th ecumenical council) opens in Rome
20 Apr 1611
First known performance of Shakespeares tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre London recorded by Simon Forman
20 Apr 1657
Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife English fleet under Robert Blake sinks Spanish silver fleet
20 Apr 1828
Frenchman Ren Cailli is the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu and returns to win a 10000 franc prize from the Socit de Gographie
20 Apr 1871
US 3rd Enforcement Act confirms ability of President to suspend writ of habeas corpus
20 Apr 1879
First mobile home (horse-drawn) used in a journey from London to Cyprus
20 Apr 1904
Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St. Louis
20 Apr 1908
Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League
20 Apr 1912
Fenway Park in Boston Massachusetts officially opens Red Sox beat visitibg New York Highlanders 7-6 in 11 innings
20 Apr 1912
Tiger Stadium in Detroit Michigan opens Tigers beat visiting Cleveland Indians 6-5
20 Apr 1915
Ottoman soldiers lay siege to the Armenian city of Van during World War I
20 Apr 1946
First baseball broadcast in Chicago Cardinals vs. Cubs
20 Apr 1967
Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes in Nicosia Cyprus killing 126
20 Apr 1991
First non-stop flight from Schiphol to Flamingo Airport Bonaire in the Caribbean
20 Apr 1994
Pakistani cricket batsmen Sohail & Inzamam make world record ODI partnership of 263 against NZ in Sharjah
20 Apr 1994
Serbian army bombs hospital in Goradze Bosnia 47 killed
20 Apr 1997
Cubs beat NY Mets ending the NLs worst opening losing streak of 14 straight games
20 Apr 1997
First baseball game in Hawaii Cardinals beat Padres in doubleheader
20 Apr 1998
German terrorist group Red Army Faction also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group disbands after 28 years
20 Apr 2004
Twelve mortar rounds are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq by insurgents killing 22 detainees and wounding 92
20 Apr 2007
A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston Texas before killing a male hostage and then himself
20 Apr 2024
US House passes a bipartisan 95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine Israel and Taiwan and a bill against TikTok [1]
20 Apr 1505
Jews are expelled from Orange Burgundy by Philibert of Luxembourg
20 Apr 1702
Comet C H1 passes within 0.0437 AU of Earth
20 Apr 1777
New York adopts a new constitution as an independent state
20 Apr 1785
Thomas Warton is appointed the eighth British Poet Laureate by King George III
20 Apr 1799
Friedrich von Schillers play Wallensteins Tod premieres in Weimar
20 Apr 1894
136000 miners in Ohio strike for higher wages
20 Apr 1898
The US Assay Office opens in Deadwood Dakota Territory
20 Apr 1899
David Beatty is appointed executive officer of the HMSBarfleur a small battleship and flagship of theChina Station
20 Apr 1910
Halleys Comet reaches its 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km from the Sun
20 Apr 1916
German-British naval battle off the Belgian coast
20 Apr 1919
Polish forces capture Vilnius in Lithuania from the Soviet Army
20 Apr 1920
Tornadoes kill 219 people in Alabama and Mississippi
20 Apr 1926
First check sent by radio facsimile transmission across the Atlantic
20 Apr 1931
British House of Commons agrees to allow sports to be played on Sunday
20 Apr 1939
Ted Williams first MLB hit comes off of NY Yankees fellow future HOFer Red Ruffing in Bostons 2-0 opening day defeat at Yankee Stadium NYC
20 Apr 1949
American jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 1st race in Albany California
20 Apr 1967
NY Met pitcher Tom Seaver wins his 1st game helps beat Cubs 6-1
20 Apr 1971
Barbra Streisand records Weve Only Just Begun
20 Apr 1972
NASA Apollo 16s John Young and Charles Duke land on the Moon with Boeing Lunar Rover 2
20 Apr 1972
Virgil Thomsons final opera Lord Byron with a libretto by Jack Larson is first performed at Lincoln Center in New York City
20 Apr 1973
Canadian ANIK A2 becomes the first commercial satellite in orbit
20 Apr 1978
Korean Air Lines Flight 902 veers off course into Soviet airspace and is fired upon by Soviet jet fighters crash lands on the frozen Korpijrvi Lake
20 Apr 1980
Cubans begin arriving in the US from the Mariel boatlift
20 Apr 1982
Atlanta Braves become the first team in MLB history to win the first 12 games of a season
20 Apr 1984
Renmark Rowing Club sets a world record for a marathon rowed in 24 hours covering 132 miles
20 Apr 1986
Chicago Bulls forward Michael Jordan sets NBA playoff record with 63 points in a game
20 Apr 1986
Double-decker ferry sinks in stormy weather in Bangladesh killing 200 people
20 Apr 1988
Aaron Broten scores the first playoff hat trick in NJ Devils history
20 Apr 1988
MLB New York Yankees HR 9999 (D Winfield) 10000 (C Washington) 10001 (J Clarke)
20 Apr 1990
Brian Holman of the Oakland Athletics pitches 8 23 perfect innings before Ken Phelps spoils the bid with a home run
20 Apr 1990
Former MLB baseball player and manager Pete Rose pleads guilty to hiding 300000 in income
20 Apr 1991
Mark Lenzi becomes the first diver to score more than 100 points on a single dive earning 101.85 points
20 Apr 1992
Joan Lunden breaks her left shoulder after being thrown from a horse
20 Apr 1993
Uranus passes Neptune in its orbit an event that occurs about once every 171 years
20 Apr 1997
Mark McGwire is 4th to HR on Detroit Tiger left field roof (others are Frank Howard Harmon Killibrew & Cecil Fielder)
20 Apr 2020
Price of US oil turns negative for the first time in history West Texas Intermediate the benchmark for US oil falls as low as minus 37.63 a barrel as worldwide demand decreases
20 Apr 2020
Three US states Georgia Tennessee and South Carolina are the first to announce the end of some COVID-19 restrictions
20 Apr 2022
Online streaming service Netflix reports its first subscriber loss in more than a decade losing 200000 subscribers from January through March [1]
20 Apr 2023
Total solar eclipse in Exeter Western Australia blocks out the sun for 58 seconds [1]
20 Apr 2024
Jukebox musical Hells Kitchen with music and lyrics by Alicia Keys debuts on Broadway starring Maleah Joi Moon Shoshana Bean and Kecia Lewis