1600 Battle of Sekigahara sets Tokugawa clan as Japan's rulers (shoguns)
1714 Coronation of King George I of England
1740 Maria Theresa became ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia
1781 Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, was approved in Habsburg Monarchy.
1803 US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase
1813 German Kingdom of Westphalia abolished
1817 1st Mississippi showboat leaves Nashville on maiden voyage
1818 The 49th Parallel is established by USA and Britain as the official boundary between Canada and the Unted States of America
1818 US and Britain agree to joint control of Oregon country
1822 In Britain, the first edition of the Sunday Times newspaper is published
1827 The Battle of Navarino, off the coast of Greece, ends with the combined fleets of the British, French and Russian navies destroying the Egyptian and Turkish fleets
1847 Little William Nelman poisons his grandpa
1883 Treaty of Ancon, Peru cedes Tarapaca to Chile
1903 US wins disputed boundary between the District of Alaska and Canada
1905 Great General Strike in Russia begins; lasts 11 days
1906 Dr Lee DeForest demonstrates his radio tube
1910 The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Ireland.
1911 Roald Amundsen sets out on race to South Pole
1922 Fascist Party leader BenitoMussolini siezes power in Italy
1930 British White Paper restricts Jews from buying Arab land
1935 The end of Mao Tse-Tung's 'Long March' - when thousands of Communist Party supporters march from south China to the north of the country
1941 Thousands of civilians in Kragujevac in German-occupied Serbia are killed in the Kragujevac massacre.
1942 "Durham Manifesto" calls for fundamental changes in race relations
1944 The Soviet army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia
1944 Liquid natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130.
1944 Revolution by workers and students in Guatemala
1944 US 1st army wins battle of Aachen
1944 During World War II, American General MacArthur returns to the Philippines as their liberator - fulfilling the promise he made when his forces retreated from the Japanese
1946 'Muffin the Mule' -a wooden puppet operated by Annette Mills (sister of actor Sir John Mills) first appears in a children's televsion programme on BBC TV
1947 House Un-American Activities Committee opens hearings into alleged Communist influence in Hollywood
1951 The "Johnny Bright Incident" occurred in Stillwater, Oklahoma
1952 Start of the 'Mau Mau' terrorist rebellion by members of the Kikuyu tribe throughout Kenya in east Africa
1955 Publication of The Return of the King, being the last part of The Lord of the Rings.
1956 58F (15C), Esperanza Station, Antarctica (Antarctic record high)
1956 Hannes Lindemann begins journey across Atlantic in a 17' craft
1959 Women's colleges at Oxford University are given equal rights to those of the men's colleges
1960 1st fully mechanized post office opened, Providence, RI
1960 In Britain, D.H Lawrence's controversial novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' put Penguin Books in the dock at the Old Bailey, London, accused of publishing obscene material. Penquin Books is eventually found not guilty
1963 S Africa begins trial of Nelson Mandela and 8 others on conspiracy
1964 Riot at Rolling Stones show in Paris (150 arrested)
1967 A purported bigfoot is filmed by Patterson and Gimlin.
1967 7 men are convicted of civil rights violations in Meridan, Miss
1967 All white fed jury convicts 7 in murder of 3 civil rights workers
1968 Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis
1970 Siad Barre declares Somalia a socialist state.
1971 The Nepal stock exchange collapses.
1973 OPEC oil embargo begins
1973 President Nixon proclaims Jim Thorpe greatest athlete of the century
1973 William Shatner marries Marcy Lafferty
1973 Saturday Night Massacre, Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox dismissed by Solicitor Gen Bork, ELRichardson and Deputy AG Ruckelshaus resigned
1973 In Australia, Queen Elizabeth II opens the new Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect John Utzon
1976 The ferry George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River between Destrehan and Luling, LA. Seventy-eight passengers and crew died; only 18 people aboard the ferry survived.
1977 3 members of rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd die in charter plane crash
1979 The John F Kennedy library is opened in Boston, Massachusetts.
1981 3 members of Weather Underground arrested for armored truck robbery
1982 During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.
1983 IBM-PC DOS Version 2.1 released
1987 10 die as Air Force jet crashed into a Ramada Inn near Indianapolis
1987 Subway gunman Bernhard Goetz sentenced to 6 months in jail
1988 Britain ends suspects right to remain silent in crackdown on IRA
1988 Man armed with explosives blows self up in 125 St subway station (NYC)
1990 3 members of 2 Live Crew acquitted on obscenity charges in Florida
1990 Anti-war protest marches begin in 20 US cities (US-Iraq)
1991 The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage.
1996 Oscar winners 'Wallace and Gromit' disappear after being left in a taxi in New York. Both the lifesize plastic models from Britain's award winning animation film are later found safe and well!
1997 'Brown Monday' on the London Stock Exchange with £10 billion being wiped off the value of shares after British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown fails to clarify his Government's stance on the European single currency

October 20th 2005

Quake 'is UN's worst nightmare'

U.S. troops 'burnt Taliban bodies'

Troops deployed in Lebanon cities

October 20th 2006

EU to press Putin for energy deal

Nigerian leaders 'stole' $380bn

Anger as new 9/11 remains found

October 20th 2007

Iran's nuclear negotiator resigns

Mexico finds 24 'migrant' bodies

Airmen punished for nuclear error

October 20th 2008

Afghan suicide blast kills seven

Six die in S Korea knife frenzy

Mexico jail riot 'leaves 15 dead'

October 20th 2009

Afghan election goes to run-off

Blasts rock Pakistan university

German doctor tried for 13 deaths

Birthdates which occurred on October 20th:

1435 Andrea Della Robbia Florence, sculptor, nephew of Luca
1632 Sir Christopher Wren England, astronomer/great architect
1812 Austin Flint 19th century heart research pioneer
1819 Mirza Ali Mohammad [The B b], forerunner of Bah 'u'll h
1823 Thomas Hughes England, author (Tom Brown's School Days)
1854 Arthur Rimbaud France, poet/adventurer (Illuminations)
1859 John Dewey philosopher, educational theorist/writer (Learn by doing)
1874 Charles Edward Ives Danbury Ct, composer (Holliday Quick Step)
1874 Viscount Palmerston (Whig) British PM (1855-65)
1887 Addison Richards Zanesville Ohio, actor (Col-Pentagon)
1889 Margaret Dumont actress-Marx Brothers' foil
1896 Nat Holman basketball coach (CCNY)
19-- Brandon Williams Paramount Calif, actor (Greatest American Hero)
19-- Gwyda Donhowe Oak Park Ill, actress (Astrid-Executive Suite)
19-- Jeff MacKay Dallas Tx, actor (Mac-Magnum PI)
19-- William Zabka actor (Back to School, Karate Kid II)
1900 Wayne Morse (Sen-R/D-Ore)
1905 Frederic Dannay « of Ellery Queen & Barnaby Ross (Cat of Many Tales)
1908 Arlene Francis Boston Mass, radio/TV hostess (What's My Line?)
1911 Will Rogers Jr actor (Down to Earth)
1913 Barney Phillips St Louis Mo, actor (Dragnet, Felony Squad)
1917 Jean-Pierre Melville Paris France, director (Un Flic)
1918 Anton Diffring Koblenz Germany, actor (Assignment Vienna)
1921 Pierre Laporte Canada, journalist/statesman (Revolution Script)
1922 John Anderson Clayton Ill, actor (Virgil-Legend of Wyatt Earp)
1923 Herschel Bernardi NYC, actor (Peter Gunn, Arnie, Voice of Charlie the Tuna, The Front)
1923 Robert Craft Kingston, NY, conductor, Stravinsky-follower
1925 Art Buchwald Mt Vernon NY, columnist/author (Have I Ever Lied to You)
1926 Ursula Happe Germany, 200m backstroke swimmer (Olympic-gold-1956)
1930 "Grandpa" Louis M Jones Niagra Ky, country singer/banjoist (Hee Haw)
1931 Mickey Mantle NY Yankee, home run slugger (1956 Triple Crown)
1932 Roosevelt Brown Virginia, NFL hall of fame tackle (NY Giants)
1932 William Christopher Evanstown Ill, actor (Father Mulcahy-M*A*S*H)
1934 Martin Landau actor (Mission Impossible, Space 1999, Tucker)
1934 Timothy West Yorkshire England, actor (Masada)
1935 Jerry Orbach actor (Promises! Promises!, Dirty Dancing)
1937 Juan Marichal baseball pitcher (SF Giants)
1937 Wanda Jackson Maud Okla, country singer (Let's Have a Party)
1946 Connie Chung Washington DC, news anchor (NBC, CBS)
1948 Andrei Suraikin USSR, pairs figure skater (Olympic-silver-1972)
1949 Valery Borzov USSR, 100m/200m dash (Olympic-gold-1972)
1949 Wayne Collett US, 400m runner (Olympic-silver-1972)
1950 Finola Hughes London, actress (Anna Devane-General Hospital)
1952 Melanie Mayron Phila, actress (30 Something, Car Wash, Missing)
1953 Keith Hernandez SF Calif, NY Met 1st baseman (9 golden gloves)
1953 Tom Petty Gainesville Fla, singer (Heartbreakers-Refugee)
1958 Eric Scott Hollywood Calif, actor (Ben-Waltons)
1958 Ivo Pogorelich Belgrade Yugoslavia, pianist (1978 Casagrande winner)
1958 Mark King bass/vocalist (Level 42-Standing in the Light)
1966 Fred Coury Johnston NY, rocker (Cinderella-Heartbreak Station)
1967 Susan Tulley British actress (Michelle-EastEnders)
1970 Tiffany [Renee Darwisch], rocker (I Think We are Alone Now)

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Deaths which occurred on October 20th:
1906 William "Buck" Ewing hall of fame catcher (NY Giants), dies at 67
1954 Willie Shaw race car driver (Indy 500-1937, 39, 40), dies at 51
1964 Herbert Hoover 31st president of US, dies in NY at 90
1968 Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux TV preacher, dies at 84
1972 Harlow Shapley discoverer of the Sun's position in the galaxy, dies

Golden Link 1 On this day 20th October

Golden Link 2 On this day 20th October

Golden Link 3 On this day 20th October