August, 20th in History

[Spiritus Temporis]

Events

Friday 20, 2004:
Talk show host Regis Philbin breaks the record for Most Hours on Camera, with 15,188.

Thursday 20, 1998:
1998 U.S. embassy bombings: The United States military launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack.

Wednesday 20, 1997:
Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.

Friday 20, 1993:
After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords were signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the next month.

Tuesday 20, 1991:
Collapse of the Soviet Union: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev. Estonia reclaimed its indenpendence and seceded from the Soviet Union. Estonia had been occupied by the Soviets for more than 50 years.

Sunday 20, 1989:
1989- In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot and kill their wealthy parents.

Saturday 20, 1988:
Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

Wednesday 20, 1986:
In Edmond, Oklahoma, US Postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.

Friday 20, 1982:
Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.

Saturday 20, 1977:
Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Wednesday 20, 1975:
Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.

Tuesday 20, 1968:
200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization.

Saturday 20, 1960:
Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.

Saturday 20, 1955:
In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria, raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.

Tuesday 20, 1940:
Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded in Mexico City by an assassin's ice-ax. He will die the next day.

Friday 20, 1926:
Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon H?s? Ky?kai (NHK) is established.

Friday 20, 1920:
The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.

Thursday 20, 1914:
World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.

Monday 20, 1900:
Japan's primary school law is amended to provide for four years of mandatory schooling.

Sunday 20, 1882:
Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.

Tuesday 20, 1833:
Nat Turner leads his revolt against the Southern plantation owners of Southampton County, Virginia

Monday 20, 1804:
Lewis and Clark Expedition: The "Corps of Discovery", exploring the Louisiana Purchase, suffers its only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.

Wednesday 20, 1794:
American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.

Friday 20, 917:
Battle of Anchialus: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria invades Thrace and drives the Byzantines out.

Saturday 20, 636:
Battle of Yarmuk: Arab forces led by Khalid bin Walid take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/20-august/on-this-day.html


People born on August 20

1984:
Mirai Moriyama, Japanese actor (b: August 20, 1984) (Biography of Mirai Moriyama)

1974:
Maxim Vengerov, Russian violinist (b: August 20, 1974) (Biography of Maxim Vengerov)

1973:
Todd Helton, baseball player (b: August 20, 1973) (Biography of Todd Helton)

1971:
Fred Durst, American singer (Limp Bizkit) (b: August 20, 1971) (Biography of Fred Durst)

1970:
John Carmack, American computer game programmer (b: August 20, 1970) (Biography of John Carmack)

1968:
Yuri Shiratori, Japanese voice actress and singer (b: August 20, 1968) (Biography of Yuri Shiratori)

1966:
Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (Pantera and Damageplan) (b: August 20, 1966 ; d: December 8, 2004) (Biography of Dimebag Darrell)

1965:
KRS-One, American rapper (b: August 20, 1965) (Biography of KRS-One)

1962:
James Marsters, Canadian actor (b: August 20, 1962) (Biography of James Marsters)
Sophie Aldred, English actress (b: August 20, 1962) (Biography of Sophie Aldred)

1961:
Greg Egan, Australian author (b: August 20, 1961) (Biography of Greg Egan)

1956:
Joan Allen, American actress (b: August 20, 1956) (Biography of Joan Allen)

1955:
Agnes Chan, Hong Kong singer and writer (b: August 20, 1955) (Biography of Agnes Chan)

1954:
Al Roker, American television broadcaster (b: August 20, 1954) (Biography of Al Roker)

1952:
John Hiatt, American musician (b: August 20, 1952) (Biography of John Hiatt)

1951:
Greg Bear, American author (b: August 20, 1951) (Biography of Greg Bear)

1949:
Phil Lynott, English musician (b: August 20, 1949 ; d: January 4, 1986) (Biography of Phil Lynott)

1948:
Robert Plant, English singer (b: August 20, 1948) (Biography of Robert Plant)

1946:
Connie Chung, American journalist (b: August 20, 1946) (Biography of Connie Chung)
N.R. Narayana Murthy, Indian businessman (b: August 20, 1946) (Biography of N.R. Narayana Murthy)

1944:
Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (b: August 20, 1944 ; d: May 21, 1991) (Biography of Rajiv Gandhi)

1943:
Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor (b: August 20, 1943) (Biography of Sylvester McCoy)

1942:
Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor (b: August 20, 1942) (Biography of Isaac Hayes)

1941:
Slobodan Milo?evi?, President of Serbia (b: August 20, 1941) (Biography of Slobodan Milo?evi?)
Robin Oakley, British journalist (b: August 20, 1941) (Biography of Robin Oakley)

1940:
Rubén Hinojosa, American politician (b: August 20, 1940) (Biography of Rubén Hinojosa)

1936:
Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize, laureate (b: August 20, 1936) (Biography of Hideki Shirakawa)

1935:
Ron Paul, American politician (b: August 20, 1935) (Biography of Ron Paul)

1932:
Anthony Ainley, British actor (b: August 20, 1932 ; d: May 3, 2004) (Biography of Anthony Ainley)

1931:
Don King, American boxing promoter (b: August 20, 1931) (Biography of Don King)

1923:
Jim Reeves, American singer (b: August 20, 1923) (Biography of Jim Reeves)

1918:
Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (b: August 20, 1918 ; d: September 21, 1974) (Biography of Jacqueline Susann)

1910:
Eero Saarinen, Finnish architect (b: August 20, 1910) (Biography of Eero Saarinen)

1908:
Al Lopez, baseball player and manager (b: August 20, 1908) (Biography of Al Lopez)

1905:
Jack Teagarden, American musician (b: August 20, 1905 ; d: January 15, 1964) (Biography of Jack Teagarden)
Jean Gebser, German-born author, linguist, and poet (b: August 20, 1905 ; d: May 14, 1973) (Biography of Jean Gebser)

1901:
Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer (b: August 20, 1901 ; d: June 14, 1968) (Biography of Salvatore Quasimodo)

1890:
H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (b: August 20, 1890 ; d: March 15, 1937) (Biography of H. P. Lovecraft)

1881:
Edgar Guest, English poet (b: August 20, 1881 ; d: August 5, 1959) (Biography of Edgar Guest)

1847:
Boleslaw Prus, Polish writer (b: August 20, 1847 ; d: May 19, 1912) (Biography of Boleslaw Prus)

1833:
Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (b: August 20, 1833 ; d: March 13, 1901) (Biography of Benjamin Harrison)

1779:
Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (b: August 20, 1779 ; d: August 7, 1848) (Biography of Jöns Jakob Berzelius)

1632:
Louis Bourdaloue, French Jesuit preacher (b: August 20, 1632 ; d: May 13, 1704) (Biography of Louis Bourdaloue)

1625:
Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (b: August 20, 1625 ; d: December 8, 1709) (Biography of Thomas Corneille)

1601:
Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (b: August 20, 1601 ; d: January 12, 1665) (Biography of Pierre de Fermat)

1561:
Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (b: August 20, 1561 ; d: August 12, 1633) (Biography of Jacopo Peri)

1517:
Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French church leader (b: August 20, 1517 ; d: September 21, 1586) (Biography of Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle)

Source: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/20-august/births.html