Today In History. What Happened This Day In History A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history. Today in History October 20 480 BC : Greeks defeat the Persians in a naval battle at Salamis. 1587 : In France, Huguenot Henri de Navarre routs Duke de Joyeuses larger Catholic force at Coutras. 1709 : Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy take Mons in the Netherlands. 1714 : George I of England crowned. 1805 : Austrian general Karl Mac surrenders to Napoleons army at the battle of Ulm. 1818 : The United States and Britain establish the 49th Parallel as the boundary between Canada and the United States. 1870 : The Summer Palace in Beijing, China, is burnt to the ground by a Franco-British expeditionary force. 1903 : The Joint Commission, set up on January 24 by Great Britain and the United States to arbitrate the disputed Alaskan boundary, rules in favor of the United States. The deciding vote is Britains, which embitters Canada. The United States gains ports on the panhandle coast of Alaska. 1904 : Bolivia and Chile sign a treaty ending the War of the Pacific. The treaty recognizes Chiles possession of the coast, but provides for construction of a railway to link La Paz, Bolivia, to Arica, on the coast. 1924 : Baseballs first colored World Series is held in Kansas City, Mo. 1938 : Czechoslovakia, complying with Nazi policy, outlaws the Communist Party and begins persecuting Jews. 1941 : German troops reach the approaches to Moscow. 1944 : U.S. troops land on Leyte in the Philippines, keeping General MacArthurs pledge I shall return. 1945 : Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon form the Arab League to present a unified front against the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. 1947 : The House Un-American Activities Committee opens public hearings on alleged communist infiltration in Hollywood. Among those denounced as having un-American tendencies are: Katherine Hepburn, Charles Chaplin and Edward G. Robinson. Among those called to testify is Screen Actors Guild President Ronald Reagan, who denies that leftists ever controlled the Guild and refuses to label anyone a communist. 1968 : Jacqueline Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis. 1973 : Arab oil-producing nations ban oil exports to the United States, following the outbreak of Arab-Israeli war. 1977 : Charter plane crashes in Mississippi, killing three members of popular Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with their assistant road manager, the pilot and co-pilot. 1991 : Oakland Hills firestorm destroys nearly 3,500 homes and apartments and kills 25 people. 2011 : In the Libyan civil war, rebels capture deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte, killing him soon afterward. Born on October 20 1632 : Sir Christopher Wren, astronomer and architect. 1854 : Arthur Rimbaud, poet. 1874 : Charles Ives, composer. 1884 : Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born film actor famous for his portrayal of Count Dracula (1931). 1891 : Sir James Chadwick, physicist who won the Nobel Prize for discovering the neutron. 1901 : Adelaide Hall, cabaret singer. 1925 : Art Buchwald, humorist. 1931 : Mickey Mantle, baseball great who played for the New York Yankees. 1932 : Michael McClure, beat poet. 1940 : Robert Pinsky, former U.S. Poet Laureate. 1946 : Lewis Grizzard, journalist and humorist who gained popularity through his syndicated Atlanta Journal-Constitution column; he authored 25 books, including collections of his columns. 1946 : Elfriede Jelinek, Austrian playwright and novelist; awarded Nobel Prize in Literature, 2004. 1948 : Tom Petty, singer, songwriter, musician; lead singer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and a founder of the Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch bands; inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2002. 1971 : Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus, Jr.), rapper, songwriter, actor; his debut album, Doggy style, came in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot R&B / Hip-Hop charts.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:11:29 +0000
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