Tuesday, 20th January 2026 in Lisbon
Welcome to your daily snapshot of Lissabon! It's World Religion Day and Penguin Awareness Day. Explore 40 historical events, birthdays, deaths, and milestones that shaped this day in Lissabon. From remarkable moments in local and world history to the people who left their mark — find out what makes today special. Today's weather in Lissabon brings drizzly with temperatures between 7°C and 14°C. Tonight's moon is in its full moon phase, and the zodiac sign of the day is Aquarius. If you're curious about the history of a day — this page brings together everything worth knowing about this Tuesday, 20th January in Lissabon, PT.
Lisbon, Portugal's capital city situated on the Tagus estuary, enjoys a temperate maritime climate. On this date, the weather is drizzly with temperatures typical of a Portuguese winter. Astrologically, 20 January falls under Aquarius, and the moon is full, creating ideal conditions for observation of the night sky between rain showers.
On this day
On 20 January 1945, Germany began the evacuation of at least 1.8 million people from East Prussia as the Soviet Red Army advanced across Eastern Europe. This operation, which took nearly two months to complete, represented one of the largest forced migrations during the Second World War and highlighted the desperation of Nazi Germany in the final stages of the conflict.
Sixty-four years later, on 20 January 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African-American president of the United States. The same day saw thousands of Icelanders protesting at parliament in Reykjavík as the country confronted a severe financial crisis that would reshape its economy. These two events, separated by decades, both reflected significant turning points in their respective societies.
World Religion Day
World Religion Day is observed on the third Sunday in January to promote interfaith understanding and the study of comparative religion. The day was established in 1950 by the Bahá'í Faith to encourage dialogue and cooperation among different religious traditions. It aims to recognise the common threads that unite humanity across spiritual beliefs and practices.
Penguin Awareness Day
Penguin Awareness Day falls on 20 January each year to highlight the conservation needs of penguin species across the Southern Hemisphere. The day was created to educate the public about threats to penguin populations, including climate change, overfishing, and habitat loss. It encourages individuals and organisations to support penguin conservation efforts globally.
DayAtlas provides weather data, historical events, and notable births and deaths for any specified date and location, enabling users to understand what shaped a particular day across history.
Find out what's happening today in Lissabon.
What the Weather Had in Store for Lissabon on 20th January 2026
Three chords played differently yield infinite melodies.
Fortune of the Day
20th January in the Stars – Star Sign Aquarius
Personality Profile
Personality Those born on January 20th blend classic Capricorn discipline with a refined Venus influence that adds elegance and aesthetic sensibility. They appear reserved yet possess subtle charm and understated magnetism beneath their composed exterior.
Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths include endurance, pragmatism, and strategic foresight. Weaknesses surface as occasional emotional distance or perfectionism so rigid it stifles spontaneity and joy in daily life.
Love In relationships, January 20th natives prove loyal and dependable, though opening emotionally takes time. Venus softens their nature, bringing affection and sensuality – genuine intimacy develops through patience and consistency.
Caree & Finance Career defines their identity: banking, management, architecture, and design align perfectly with their talents. Financial security grows systematically through disciplined planning, ensuring lasting prosperity and material stability.
Health Health thrives with structured routines and consistent movement. Stress manifests physically – regular breaks and sensual practices like massage or yoga restore equilibrium and prevent burnout.
That night, the moon was in its full moon phase.
Chinese year of the Snake (Wood).
Fun Facts About 20th January
Name Days in Your Language: Fabia, Fabian, Fabiola, Sebastian, Sebastiana
Someone born on this day would be just 147 days old today — roughly 3,546 hours, 212,776 minutes, or 12,766,574 seconds spent on Earth so far.
It's the 20. day of the year. In 2026, 20th January falls on a Tuesday.
There are 345 days still to come.
We’re currently in Week 4 — the year marches on.
Famous Birthdays on 20th January
On this day, 206 notable people were born on 20th January — spanning from 225 to 2003. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
20/01/2003
J. J. McCarthy, American football player
Jonathan James McCarthy is an American professional football quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan Wolverines, earning Big Ten Quarterback of the Year honors after leading the Wolverines to a 15–0 record and a national championship in 2023. In his three years at Michigan, the Wolverines won three Big Ten titles and made three College Football Playoff semifinal appearances. McCarthy finished with a 27–1 record (.964) in two seasons as a starting quarterback, the highest career winning percentage in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) history. He was selected 10th overall by the Vikings in the 2024 NFL draft. After missing his entire rookie year due to injury, McCarthy became the starter in his second season.
Antonia Ružić, Croatian tennis player
Antonia Ružić is a Croatian tennis player. Ružić has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 65 by the WTA, achieved on 19 January 2026. She also has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of No. 544, reached on 27 January 2025. She is the current No. 1 Croatian singles player. Ružić has won 12 singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.
20/01/2002
Arnaud Kalimuendo, French footballer
Arnaud Kalimuendo-Muinga is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker or wide midfielder for Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt, on loan from Premier League club Nottingham Forest.
20/01/2000
Tyler Herro, American basketball player
Tyler Christopher Herro is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for one year with the Kentucky Wildcats. After being selected by the Heat in the first round of the 2019 NBA draft with the 13th overall pick, Herro was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2020. He reached the NBA Finals during his rookie season with the Heat. He was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2022 and was named to his first All-Star Game in 2025. Herro has played both point guard and shooting guard.
20/01/1995
Joey Badass, American rapper and actor
Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, known professionally as Joey Badass, is an American rapper and actor. Born in Brooklyn, he formed the regional hip-hop group Pro Era in 2011, with whom he has released three mixtapes and formed the larger collective, Beast Coast the following year.
Calum Chambers, English footballer
Calum Chambers is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or right-back for and captains EFL Championship club Cardiff City.
José María Giménez, Uruguayan footballer
José María Giménez de Vargas is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and captains the Uruguay national team.
Sergi Samper, Spanish footballer
Sergi Samper Montaña is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Ekstraklasa club Motor Lublin.
Kim So-hee, South Korean singer
Kim So-hee is a South Korean singer. She is known for having been a member of girl group Nature, a contestant of the first season of Produce 101 and a member of the project girl group I.B.I. Kim debuted as a soloist on November 8, 2017, with the EP The Fillette. After a two-year hiatus, Kim left Music Works and joined n.Ch Entertainment in July 2019.
20/01/1994
Seán Kavanagh, Irish footballer
Seán Kavanagh is an Irish football coach and former player who played as a left back for Fulham, Mansfield Town, Hartlepool United and Shamrock Rovers.
Hampus Lindholm, Swedish ice hockey player
Hampus Lindholm is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman and alternate captain for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Lindholm began his ice hockey career with Jonstorps IF and previously played with Rögle BK. He then played with the Anaheim Ducks for his first eight seasons in the NHL, before being traded to Boston.
Lucas Piazon, Brazilian footballer
Lucas Domingues Piazon is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Ekstraklasa club Wieczysta Kraków. A versatile player, he can be deployed as a winger, attacking midfielder, and as a second striker.
20/01/1993
Lorenzo Crisetig, Italian footballer
Lorenzo Crisetig is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie B club Padova.
Cat Janice, American singer-songwriter (died 2024)
Catherine Janice Ipsan, known professionally as Cat Janice, was an American singer-songwriter. Janice wrote and sang "Dance You Outta My Head", which went viral on TikTok.
DeVante Parker, American football player
DeVante Parker is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals and was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft with the 14th overall pick. He played with the New England Patriots in 2022 and 2023.
20/01/1991
Tom Cairney, Scottish footballer
Thomas Cairney is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder and captains Premier League club Fulham. Born in England, he represented the Scotland national team.
Ciara Hanna, American actress and model
Ciara Hanna is an American actress. She is known for playing the roles of Gia Moran in Power Rangers Megaforce and Nicole Parker in Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys.
Polona Hercog, Slovenian tennis player
Polona Hercog is a Slovenian professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA rankings are world No. 35 in singles and No. 56 in doubles. She has won five titles on the WTA Tour, three in singles and two in doubles. Hercog also has had success on the ITF Women's Circuit, winning 19 singles and five doubles titles.
Jumpol Adulkittiporn, Thai actor
Jumpol Adulkittiporn, nicknamed Off, is a Thai actor and host. He is known for his starring roles in Theory of Love (2019), Not Me (2021–2022), and Astrophile (2022) for which he has received Asian Academy Creative: National Winner 2022 Award in the Best Supporting Actress category. He has since starred in Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (2016–2017).
20/01/1989
Nick Foles, American football player
Nicholas Edward Foles is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. A member of six teams, he achieved his greatest success with the Philadelphia Eagles, leading them to the franchise's first Super Bowl title.
Alex Grant, Canadian ice hockey player
Alex Grant is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played under contract with Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Grant was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 4th round of the 2007 NHL entry draft.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, New Zealand rugby league player
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is a former New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who last played as a prop for Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League and New Zealand at international level.
20/01/1988
Uwa Elderson Echiéjilé, Nigerian footballer
Elderson Uwa Echiéjilé is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a left-back.
Jan Muršak, Slovenian ice hockey player
Jan Muršak is a professional Slovenian ice hockey player for Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Muršak first played hockey in Slovenia as a member of HDK Maribor before he left to spend one season in the Czech junior league. He was then selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2006 NHL entry draft and moved to the major junior Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and played for two teams, the Saginaw Spirit and Belleville Bulls. After finishing his junior career Muršak then joined the Red Wings American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2008.
20/01/1987
Evan Peters, American actor
Evan Thomas Peters is an American actor. He made his acting debut in the 2004 drama film Clipping Adam and starred in the ABC science fiction series Invasion from 2005 to 2006. Peters gained wide recognition for playing multiple roles over ten seasons in Ryan Murphy's FX anthology series American Horror Story, from 2011 to 2021.
20/01/1986
Kevin Parker, Australian singer, songwriter, musician, and producer
Kevin Richard Parker is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and DJ, best known for his psychedelic rock musical project Tame Impala, for which he writes, performs, records, and produces the music. Parker has released five Tame Impala albums: Innerspeaker (2010), Lonerism (2012), Currents (2015), The Slow Rush (2020) and Deadbeat (2025). He has won 13 ARIA Music Awards, two APRA Awards, and a Brit Award, and two Grammy Awards from five nominations.
20/01/1985
Nabil Boukili, Belgian politician
Nabil Boukili is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of the Workers' Party of Belgium, he has represented Brussels since June 2019.
20/01/1984
Toni Gonzaga, Filipino singer and television personality
Celestine "Toni" Cruz Gonzaga-Soriano is a Filipino media personality, host, actress, businesswoman, singer, and vlogger. Gonzaga was the former lead host of ABS-CBN's long-running reality show Pinoy Big Brother (2005–2022). Her own YouTube channel, Toni Gonzaga Studio (TGS), has over 8 million subscribers. Tatler magazine named her one of the most influential people in Asia in 2021 and 2022.
Bonnie McKee, American singer-songwriter
Bonnie Leigh McKee is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut studio album, Trouble, was released in 2004 by Reprise Records. After the label dropped her, she took a musical hiatus and established herself as a professional songwriter. She has written 10 singles that have reached number one in either the United States or the United Kingdom, which have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide combined. In 2013, she made a return to music with the single "American Girl". In 2015, she independently released the EP Bombastic.
20/01/1983
Geovany Soto, Puerto Rican baseball player
Geovany Soto is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball catcher. He played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most prominently as a member of the Chicago Cubs, where he appeared in the MLB All-Star Game and was named the National League Rookie of the Year in 2008. He also played for the Texas Rangers, the Oakland Athletics, the Los Angeles Angels and the Chicago White Sox.
20/01/1982
Ruchi Sanghvi, Indian computer engineer
Ruchi Sanghvi is an Indian-American computer engineer and businesswoman. She was the first female engineer hired by Facebook. In late 2010, she quit Facebook and in 2011, she started her own company Cove, with two other co-founders. The company was sold to Dropbox in 2012 and Sanghvi joined Dropbox as VP of Operations. She left Dropbox in October 2013.
Fredrik Strømstad, Norwegian footballer
Fredrik Strømstad is a Norwegian football player.
20/01/1981
Freddy Guzmán, Dominican baseball player
Freddy Antonio Guzmán is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Rays in five seasons between 2004 and 2013.
Owen Hargreaves, English footballer
Owen Lee Hargreaves is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was known as a hard-working and "solid defensive midfielder who worked tirelessly to win the ball" and provide his teammates with possession. He played with Calgary Foothills as a youth before beginning his professional football career in Germany with Bayern Munich. After seven years with the Munich side – during which time he won four German league titles and the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League – Hargreaves signed for Manchester United in 2007, winning the Premier League and UEFA Champions League in his first season. However, his time at Manchester United was thereafter plagued with injuries and he was allowed to leave the club at the end of his contract in June 2011. Hargreaves posted YouTube videos in a bid to convince potential suitors of his fitness, and in August 2011, Manchester City offered Hargreaves a one-year contract, which he accepted, but he was released at the end of the season after just four appearances for the club.
Jason Richardson, American basketball player
Jason Anthoney Richardson Sr. is an American former professional basketball player who played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Richardson was taken by the Golden State Warriors as the fifth overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft after playing college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans. Richardson has also played for the Charlotte Bobcats, Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic, and the Philadelphia 76ers.
20/01/1980
Karl Anderson, American wrestler
Chad Allegra, known by his ring name Karl Anderson, is an American professional wrestler. He is known for his tenures in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), WWE and Impact Wrestling.
Philippe Cousteau, Jr., American-French oceanographer and journalist
Philippe-Pierre Jacques-Yves Arnault Cousteau Jr. is a French-American oceanographer and environmental activist, the son of Philippe Cousteau and the grandson of Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau has continued the work of his father and grandfather by educating the public about environmental and conservation issues. In 2017, he received an Emmy nomination for hosting the syndicated science series Awesome Planet.
Philippe Gagnon, Canadian swimmer
Philippe Gagnon is a Canadian retired Paralympic swimmer and politician. Gagnon ran as a Conservative in the riding of Jonquière in the 2019 federal election.
Kim Jeong-hoon, South Korean singer and actor
Kim Jeong-hoon, also known by his stage name John Hoon, is a South Korean singer and actor. He initially rose to fame as a member of South Korean duo UN debuting with the single Voice Mail in 2000. After the duo disbanded in 2005, his fame increased as an actor starring in Princess Hours, a drama based on a manhwa.
20/01/1979
Rob Bourdon, American musician and songwriter
Robert Gregory Bourdon is an American musician, best known as a co-founding member and the former drummer of the rock band Linkin Park. He performed on the band's first seven albums until their hiatus in 2017, and was succeeded by Colin Brittain upon their reunion.
Will Young, English singer-songwriter and actor
William Robert Young is an English singer, songwriter and actor. He came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest Pop Idol, making him the first winner of the worldwide Idol franchise. His double A-sided debut single "Anything Is Possible" / "Evergreen" was released two weeks after the show's finale and became the fastest-selling debut single in the UK. Young also came in fifth place in World Idol performing the single "Light My Fire" written by the band the Doors.
20/01/1978
Sonja Kesselschläger, German heptathlete
Sonja Kesselschläger is a German heptathlete.
Allan Søgaard, Danish footballer
Allan Søgaard is a Danish former football player, spent his entire career playing for the Danish Superliga side AC Horsens. His normal position was as a defensive midfielder. He was known as a pacy player, with a major dedication to his team.
20/01/1977
Paul Adams, South African cricketer and coach
Paul Regan Adams is a former South African cricketer. A left-arm unorthodox spin bowler with a unique bowling action, Adams played for the Test and ODI teams for national team sporadically since the 1990s. Meanwhile, his first class cricket career registered 412 wickets. He was also the coach of the Cape Cobras cricket team.
Sid Wilson, American musician
Sidney George Wilson is an American DJ and keyboardist. He is the turntablist and keyboardist for the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #0.
20/01/1976
Kirsty Gallacher, Scottish television presenter
Kirsty Jane Gallacher is a Scottish television presenter and model. She began her career at Sky Sports News in 1998 and hosted Kirsty's Home Videos, RI:SE and Simply the Best before returning to Sky Sports News from 2011–2018. From June 2021 until December 2021, Gallacher co-presented The Great British Breakfast on the news channel GB News.
Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
Grietje "Greta" Smit is a Dutch former speed skater.
20/01/1975
David Eckstein, American baseball player
David Mark Eckstein is an American former professional baseball player. He was an infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) for ten seasons. He played college baseball for the University of Florida and played professionally for the Anaheim Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona Diamondbacks, and San Diego Padres. Eckstein won the 2006 World Series Most Valuable Player Award. After retiring from professional baseball, he briefly served as a special assistant in the Pittsburgh Pirates operations department. Eckstein stood at 5' 7" during his playing career, which made him the shortest active player for the years he played.
Norberto Fontana, Argentinian racing driver
Norberto Edgardo Fontana is an Argentine racing driver. He participated in four Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 29 June 1997 but scoring no championship points.
Zac Goldsmith, English journalist and politician
Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park is a British politician, life peer and journalist who served as Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment from September 2022 to June 2023. A member of the Conservative Party, he was its candidate at the 2016 London mayoral election and was Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond Park from 2010 to 2016 and 2017 to 2019. Ideologically characterised as having liberal and libertarian views, he is known for his support for environmentalism and localism.
Ira Newble, American basketball player
Ira Reynolds Newble II is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Seattle SuperSonics, and Los Angeles Lakers.
20/01/1973
Stephen Crabb, Scottish-Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales
Stephen Crabb is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Preseli Pembrokeshire from 2005 to 2024 and Chairman of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from 2020 to 2024. A member of the Welsh Conservatives, he served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from March to July 2016 under Prime Minister David Cameron. Crabb had previously been appointed a government whip, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (2012–2014) and Secretary of State for Wales (2014–2016) under Cameron. He lost his seat in the 2024 general election.
Queen Mathilde of Belgium
Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz is Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Philippe.
20/01/1972
Nikki Haley, American accountant and politician, 116th Governor of South Carolina
Nimarata Nikki Haley is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 116th governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and as the 29th U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from January 2017 to December 2018. A Republican, Haley is the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet. She came in second in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries after Donald Trump.
20/01/1971
Gary Barlow, English singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
Gary Barlow is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, pianist, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the pop group Take That.
Wakanohana Masaru, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 66th Yokozuna
Masaru Hanada is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler. As an active wrestler he was known as Wakanohana Masaru , and his rise through the ranks alongside his younger brother Takanohana Kōji saw a boom in sumo's popularity in the early 1990s. He is the elder son of the former ōzeki Takanohana Kenshi, who was also his stablemaster, and the nephew of Wakanohana Kanji I, a famous yokozuna of the 1950s. Wakanohana was a long serving ōzeki who won five tournament championships, and eventually joined his brother as the 66th yokozuna in 1998, creating the first ever sibling grand champions. After a brief and injury plagued yokozuna career he retired in 2000, becoming a television personality and restaurant owner. The death of his father in 2005 saw a very public falling out with his brother.
Questlove, American musician, record producer, and filmmaker
Ahmir Khalib Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American drummer, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman for the hip-hop band the Roots. The Roots has been the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since 2014, after having fulfilled the same role on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Questlove is also one of the producers of the 2015 cast album of the Broadway musical Hamilton. He has also co-founded the websites Okayplayer and OkayAfrica. He joined Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University as an adjunct professor in 2016, and hosted the podcast Questlove Supreme.
20/01/1970
Skeet Ulrich, American actor
Skeet Ulrich is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in popular 1990s films, including Billy Loomis in Scream (1996), Chris Hooker in The Craft (1996), and Vincent Lopiano in As Good as It Gets (1997). From 2017 to 2021, he starred as Forsythe Pendleton "F.P." Jones II on The CW's Riverdale. He reprised his Scream role in the sequels Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023). His other television roles include Johnston Jacob "Jake" Green Jr. in the television series Jericho, and LAPD Detective Rex Winters, a Marine veteran from the Law & Order franchise.
20/01/1969
Reno Wilson, American actor
Roy "Reno" Wilson is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Howard in the sitcom The Cosby Show, Officer Carl McMillan in Mike & Molly, Stan Hill in Good Girls, Wes in The Chronicle (2001–2002), and Detective Tom Selway in Blind Justice (2005). He is also known for providing character voices in the Transformers film series, and portraying Bailey in She Creature (2001) and Louis Armstrong in Bolden (2019).
Nicky Wire, Welsh singer-songwriter and bass player
Nicholas Allen Jones, known as Nicky Wire, is a Welsh musician, best known as lyricist, bassist and secondary vocalist of the Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers.
20/01/1968
Nick Anderson, American basketball player and sportscaster
Nelison "Nick" Anderson is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Orlando Magic, Sacramento Kings, and Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Junior Murray, Grenadian cricketer
Junior Randalph Murray MBE is a West Indian former cricketer. He was the first Grenadian to play Test cricket for the West Indies.
20/01/1967
Stacey Dash, American actress and television journalist
Stacey Lauretta Dash is an American actress. Dash played Dionne Marie Davenport in the 1995 feature film Clueless and its television series. She has also appeared in the films Moving, Mo' Money, Renaissance Man, and View from the Top. Other television work by Dash includes appearances in the series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Single Ladies and the reality TV show Celebrity Circus. She has also appeared in music videos for Carl Thomas' "Emotional" and Kanye West's "All Falls Down".
20/01/1966
Chris Morris, American basketball player
Christopher Vernard Morris is an American former professional basketball player. In his eleven-season (1988–1999) National Basketball Association (NBA) career, the 6'8" small forward played for the New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz, and Phoenix Suns. He is a graduate of Atlanta's Douglass High School where his jersey has been retired, and played collegiately for the Auburn Tigers. He scored 8,184 total points in his NBA career.
Rainn Wilson, American actor
Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson is an American actor. He starred as Dwight Schrute on NBC's American adaptation of The Office from 2005 to 2013, and received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the role.
20/01/1965
Colin Calderwood, Scottish footballer and manager
Colin Calderwood is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the currently interim head coach of Northampton Town.
Greg K., American musician and songwriter
Gregory David Kriesel known by his stagename Greg K., is a retired American musician and the founding bassist of the rock band the Offspring. He is also the co-founder of the record label Nitro Records.
John Michael Montgomery, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
John Michael Montgomery is an American country music singer. He has had more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. This total includes seven number-one singles: "I Love the Way You Love Me", "I Swear", "Be My Baby Tonight", "If You've Got Love", "I Can Love You Like That", "Sold ", and "The Little Girl". "I Swear" and "Sold" were ranked as the number-one songs on the Billboard Year-End charts for country music in 1994 and 1995, respectively.
Heather Small, English singer-songwriter
Heather Marguerita Small is an English soul singer and lead vocalist of the band M People. Her subsequent debut solo studio album, Proud, was released in 2000. Her second and third studio albums, Close to a Miracle and Colour My Life, were released in 2006 and 2022, respectively.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, is a member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, the youngest sibling of King Charles III.
Anton Weissenbacher, Romanian footballer
Anton Weissenbacher is a former Romanian football right back who was part of Steaua București's squad that won the European Cup in 1986, also playing in the Intercontinental Cup final of the same year. When he left Romania, during the early 1990s he went to play in Germany in an amateur league and there he finished his career. Afterwards he coached several amateur teams in Germany, including SV Mehring.
20/01/1964
Ozzie Guillén, Venezuelan-American baseball player and manager
Oswaldo José Guillén Barrios is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player and current manager of the Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan League. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from 1985 to 2000, most prominently as a member of the Chicago White Sox, where he won the American League Rookie of the Year Award as well as a Gold Glove Award. A three-time All-Star player, Guillén was considered one of the best defensive shortstops of his era. He later managed the Chicago White Sox from 2004 to 2011, winning the World Series in 2005 and then moving to the Miami Marlins in 2012.
Ron Harper, American basketball player and coach
Ronald Harper Sr. is an American former professional basketball player. He played for four teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 1986 and 2001 and is a five-time NBA champion.
Kazushige Nojima, Japanese screenwriter and songwriter
Kazushige Nojima is a Japanese video game writer. He is best known for writing several installments of Square Enix's Final Fantasy franchise—namely Final Fantasy VII and its spin-offs Advent Children and Crisis Core, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy X and X-2—in addition to the Kingdom Hearts series, the Glory of Heracles series, and the story to the Subspace Emissary mode in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Nojima also wrote the original lyrics of "Liberi Fatali" for Final Fantasy VIII and both "Suteki da Ne" and the "Hymn of the Fayth" for Final Fantasy X, as well as "No Promises to Keep" for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. He is also the founder of Stellavista Ltd.
Aquilino Pimentel III, Filipino lawyer and politician
Aquilino Martin "Koko" de la Llana Pimentel III is a Filipino politician and lawyer who served as a senator of the Philippines from 2011 to 2025. During his tenure, he served as Senate president from 2016 to 2018 and Senate minority leader from 2022 to 2025.
Fareed Zakaria, Indian-American journalist and author
Fareed Rafiq Zakaria is an Indian-born American journalist, political commentator, and author. He is the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS and writes a weekly column for The Washington Post. He has been a columnist for Newsweek, editor of Newsweek International, and an editor at large of Time.
20/01/1963
James Denton, American actor
James Denton is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing Mike Delfino on ABC's comedy drama series Desperate Housewives (2004–2012) and Dr. Sam Radford on Hallmark Channel's fantasy series Good Witch (2015–2021).
Mark Ryden, American painter and illustrator
Mark Ryden is an American painter who is considered to be part of the Lowbrow art movement. He was dubbed "the god-father of pop surrealism" by Interview magazine. In 2015, Artnet named Ryden and his wife, painter Marion Peck, the king and queen of Pop Surrealism.
20/01/1961
Janey Godley, Scottish actor, writer and comedian (died 2024)
Jane Godley Currie, known professionally as Janey Godley, was a Scottish stand-up comedian, actress, writer and political activist. She began her stand-up career in 1994, and won various awards for her comedy in the 2000s.
Yolanda González (activist), Basque militant activist
Yolanda González Martín was a Spanish student and communist militant murdered by two members of New Force.
20/01/1959
Tami Hoag, American author
Tami Hoag is an American novelist, best known for her work in the romance and thriller genres. More than 22 million copies of her books are in print.
20/01/1958
Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, director, and producer
Lorenzo Fernando Lamas is an American actor. He is widely known for his role of Lance Cumson, the irresponsible grandson of Angela Channing—played by Jane Wyman—in the soap opera Falcon Crest (1981–1990), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.
20/01/1957
Andy Sheppard, English saxophonist and composer
Andy Sheppard is a British jazz saxophonist and composer. He has been awarded several prizes at the British Jazz Awards, and has worked with some notable figures in contemporary jazz, including Gil Evans, Carla Bley, George Russell and Steve Swallow. In 2019 he was presented the degree of Doctor of Music honoris causa by the University of Bristol.
20/01/1956
Maria Larsson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs
Ingrid Maria Larsson is a Swedish politician of the Christian Democrats who served as Governor of Örebro County from May 2015 to December 2022, appointed by the cabinet of Stefan Löfven. She previously served as Minister for Children and the Elderly from 2010 to 2014 and as Minister for the Elderly and Public Health from 2006 to 2010. A member of the Christian Democrats, she was an MP of the Swedish Riksdag from 1998 to 2014.
Bill Maher, American comedian, political commentator, media critic, television host, and producer
William Maher is an American television host, comedian, actor and political commentator. Known for his political satire, he is the host of the HBO political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher (2003–present) and podcast Club Random (2022–present). He previously hosted a late-night show called Politically Incorrect (1993–2002) on ABC and Comedy Central.
Richard Morecroft, English-Australian journalist and television host
Richard Morecroft is an English-born Australian radio announcer, TV newsreader and presenter, and conservationist. He presented the Adelaide News bulletin, before becoming the long-running host of the nightly bulletin of ABC News NSW from 1983 until 2002. Between 2010 and 2012, he hosted the quiz show Letters and Numbers.
John Naber, American swimmer
John Phillips Naber is an American former competitive swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in multiple events.
20/01/1955
McKeeva Bush, Caymanian politician, Premier of the Cayman Islands
William McKeeva Bush, is a Caymanian politician, former Speaker of the Parliament of the Cayman Islands and former Premier of the Cayman Islands. Bush, the former leader of the Cayman Democratic Party, served as the elected member for the constituency of West Bay West from 1984 to 2025. He was the territory's longest ever serving political figure with service spanning over 40 years, previously serving his tenth term in the Parliament of the Cayman Islands. In the 2025 general election, his continuous 40 year career was toppled after being unseated by newcomer Julie Hunter, who ran with the Cayman Islands National Party.
20/01/1954
Mohammad Dawran, Afghan aviator and military officer
Mohammad Dawran is an Afghan former military officer as well as the former Commander of the Afghan Air Force, enlisting in 1973. He was promoted to the post in 2005 by Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and the Commander-in-Chief Bismillah Khan Mohammadi. His permanent post was in Bagram Air Base, the largest air base in Afghanistan and one of the largest air bases in the region. The new commander of the Afghan Air Force, Amanuddin Mansoor, was appointed in December 2021.
Ken Page, American actor and cabaret singer (died 2024)
Kenneth Page was an American actor and cabaret singer who created the part of Ken in the original Broadway production of Ain't Misbehavin' and played Old Deuteronomy in the original Broadway and filmed stage adaptation of Cats. He voiced Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas and Kingdom Hearts franchises, and played in the original Broadway production of The Wiz as The Lion and the first Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls as Nicely-Nicely Johnson.
20/01/1953
Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and convicted sex offender (died 2019)
Jeffrey Edward Epstein was an American financier and child sex offender. He began his career as a math teacher at the Dalton School, before entering the banking and finance sector. Over several decades, he made much of his fortune providing tax and estate services to billionaires, and cultivated an elite social circle of prominent individuals. In 2008, he was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution, and was indicted in 2019 for sex trafficking minors in the 2000s. He died in custody awaiting his trial; his death was ruled a suicide.
20/01/1952
Nikos Sideris, Greek psychiatrist and poet
Nikos Sideris, is a Greek psychiatrist, translator, poet and writer.
Paul Stanley, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Paul Stanley is an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and a founding member of the hard rock band Kiss, which was active from 1973 to 2023. He was the writer or co-writer of many of the band's most popular songs. Stanley established the Starchild character as his Kiss persona.
John Witherow, South African-English journalist and author
John Witherow is a former editor of British newspaper The Times. A former journalist with Reuters, he joined News International in 1980 and was appointed editor of The Sunday Times in 1994 and editor of The Times in 2013.
20/01/1951
Iván Fischer, Hungarian conductor and composer
Iván Fischer is a Hungarian conductor and composer.
20/01/1950
William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (died 2014)
William Augustao Mgimwa was a Tanzanian CCM politician and Member of Parliament for Kalenga constituency from 2010 to 2014. He also served as Tanzania's Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2014.
Mahamane Ousmane, Nigerien politician, President of Niger
Mahamane Ousmane is a Nigerien politician. Elected as the fourth President of Niger at 43 years old, he is the youngest elected president in Africa. He was also the first democratically elected president of his country, serving from 16 April 1993 until he was deposed in a military coup d'état on 27 January 1996. He has continued to run for president in each election since his ouster, and he was president of the National Assembly from December 1999 to May 2009. Since April 2020, he is the president of the Democratic and Republican Renewal, a major political party that is currently in opposition. RDR Tchanji formed an alliance with Ousmane's other political vehicle, MNRD Hankuri, on 16 December 2018.
20/01/1949
Göran Persson, Swedish lawyer and politician, 31st Prime Minister of Sweden
Hans Göran Persson is a Swedish former politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and as Leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Since 2019, he has served as chairman of the banking group Swedbank.
20/01/1948
Nancy Kress, American author and academic
Nancy Anne Kress is an American science fiction writer. She began writing in 1976 but has achieved her greatest notice since the publication of her Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella Beggars in Spain (1991), which became a novel in 1993. She also won the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 2013 for After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, and in 2015 for Yesterday's Kin. In addition to her novels, Kress has written numerous short stories and is a regular columnist for Writer's Digest. She is a regular at Clarion Workshops. During the winter of 2008/09, Nancy Kress was the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the University of Leipzig's Institute for American Studies in Leipzig, Germany.
Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
Natan Sharansky is a Ukrainian-born, Israeli politician, professional chess player and author. He served as Chairman of the Executive for the Jewish Agency from June 2009 to August 2018, and currently serves as Chairman for the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), an American non-partisan organization. A former Soviet dissident, he spent nine years imprisoned as a refusenik during the 1970s and 1980s.
20/01/1947
Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist and sportscaster
Cyrille Guimard is a French former professional road racing cyclist who became a directeur sportif and television commentator. Three of his riders, Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Lucien Van Impe, won the Tour de France. Another of his protégés, Greg LeMond, described him as "the best (coach) in the world" and "the best coach I ever had". He has been described by cycling journalist William Fotheringham as the greatest directeur sportif in the history of the Tour.
20/01/1946
David Lynch, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2025)
David Keith Lynch was an American filmmaker, producer, actor, painter, and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, with his films often characterized by a distinctive surrealist sensibility that gave rise to the adjective "Lynchian". He is often credited with bringing surrealism and experimentalism to mainstream media in the late 20th century. In a career spanning more than five decades, he received numerous accolades, including an Academy Honorary Award, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival, a Palme d'Or and Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival, two César Awards, and a (posthumous) Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and nine Primetime Emmy Awards.
Vladimír Merta, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and journalist
Vladimír Merta is a Czech folk singer-songwriter. He was also journalist, writer, photographer, architect, filmmaker and author of film music. He has recorded many solo albums. In 2011 he released the album Ponorná řeka with rock band Etc…. In the summer of 1976 and 1977 he performed at the Koncert mladosti festival in Pezinok, Slovakia.
20/01/1945
Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist and sportscaster (died 2013)
Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, MBE, also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of MCC. He was also the longest serving commentator for Test Match Special (TMS) on BBC Radio, from 1973 until diagnosed with terminal cancer in March 2012.
Eric Stewart, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Eric Michael Stewart is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known as a founding member of the rock groups the Mindbenders with whom he played from 1963 to 1968, and likewise of 10cc from 1972 to 1995. Stewart co-owned Strawberry Studios in Stockport, England, from 1968 to the early 1980s, where he recorded albums with 10cc and artists including Neil Sedaka and Paul McCartney. Stewart collaborated with McCartney extensively in the 1980s, playing on or co-writing songs for McCartney's solo albums Tug of War (1982), Pipes of Peace (1983), Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984), and Press to Play (1986). Since 1980, Stewart has released four solo studio albums.
20/01/1944
José Luis Garci, Spanish director and producer
José Luis García Muñoz, known professionally as José Luis Garci, is a Spanish film director, producer, critic, TV presenter, screenwriter and author. One of the most influential film personalities in the history of film in Spain, he earned worldwide acclaim and his country's first Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for Begin the Beguine (1982). Four of his films, including also Sesión continua (1984), Asignatura aprobada (1987) and El abuelo (1998), have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, more than any other Spanish director. His films are characterized for his classical style and the underlying sentimentality of their plots.
Farhad Mehrad, Iranian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2002)
Farhad Mehrad was a popular Iranian singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. He was a versatile musician who released the first English rock and roll album in Iran. Farhad gained fame among the Iranian rock, pop and folk musicians before the Islamic Revolution of 1979. He was prohibited from singing for several years in Iran after the revolution. Farhad's first concert after the Islamic Revolution was held in 1990. He is still recognized as one of the most influential and respected contemporary Iranian singers. Farhad was also the founding member of the popular Iranian band Black Cats.
Pat Parker, American poet (died 1989)
Pat Parker was an African American poet and activist. Both her poetry and her activism drew from her experiences as a Black lesbian feminist. Her poetry spoke about her tough childhood growing up in poverty, dealing with sexual assault, and the murder of a sister. At eighteen, Parker was in an abusive relationship and had a miscarriage after being pushed down a flight of stairs. After two divorces, she came out as a lesbian, "embracing her sexuality" and said she was liberated and "knew no limits when it came to expressing the innermost parts of herself".
20/01/1942
Linda Moulton Howe, American journalist and producer
Linda Moulton Howe is an American investigative journalist and documentary film maker best known for her work as a ufologist and advocate of a variety of conspiracy theories, including her investigation of cattle mutilations and conclusion that they are performed by extraterrestrials. She is also noted for her speculations that the U.S. government is working with aliens.
20/01/1940
Carol Heiss, American figure skater and actress
Carol Elizabeth Heiss Jenkins is an American former figure skater and actress. Competing in ladies' singles, she became the 1960 Olympic champion, the 1956 Olympic silver medalist, and a five-time World champion (1956–1960).
Krishnam Raju, Indian actor and politician (died 2022)
Uppalapati Venkata Krishnam Raju was an Indian actor and politician. He was known for his works in Telugu cinema and was widely known as "Rebel Star" for his rebellious acting style. He was also the winner of the inaugural Nandi Award for Best Actor. Krishnam Raju starred in more than 183 feature films in his career. He made his film debut with the 1966 film Chilaka Gorinka produced and directed by K. Pratyagatma. Krishnam Raju had won five Filmfare Awards South and four state Nandi Awards. Krishnam Raju was also an active politician.
Mandé Sidibé, Malian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (died 2009)
Mandé Sidibé was Prime Minister of Mali from 2000 to 2002 and chairman of the Board of Directors of Ecobank from 2006 to 2009. He was also Director of the Malian branch of the Central Bank of West African States from 1992 to 1995.
20/01/1939
Paul Coverdell, American captain and politician (died 2000)
Paul Douglas Coverdell was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 1993 until his death in 2000. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the director of the Peace Corps from 1989 to 1991 under President George H. W. Bush.
Chandra Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan-English mathematician, astronomer, and biologist
Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe is a Sri Lankan-born British mathematician and astronomer. His research interests include the interstellar medium, infrared astronomy, light scattering theory, applications of solid-state physics to astronomy, the early Solar System, comets, astrochemistry, the origin of life and astrobiology. A student and collaborator of Fred Hoyle, the pair worked jointly for over 40 years as the most famous proponents of a non-mainstream version of panspermia, the proposal that life was seeded on Earth through space-based processes. In 1974 they proposed that some dust in interstellar space matched the spectral characteristics of freeze-dried bacteria, which was largely ignored at its publishing while the ubiquity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons explains the apparent match.
20/01/1938
Derek Dougan, Irish-English footballer and journalist (died 2007)
Alexander Derek Dougan was a Northern Ireland international footballer, football manager, football chairman, pundit, and writer. He was also known by his nickname, "The Doog". He was capped by Northern Ireland at schoolboy, youth, Amateur, and 'B' team level, before he won 43 caps in a 15-year career for the senior team from 1958 to 1973, scoring eight international goals and featuring in the 1958 FIFA World Cup. He also played in the Shamrock Rovers XI v Brazil exhibition match in July 1973, which he also helped to organise.
20/01/1937
Bailey Howell, American basketball player
Bailey E. Howell is an American former professional basketball player. After playing college basketball at Mississippi State, Howell played 12 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A six-time NBA All-Star and two-time NBA champion, Howell was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1997. Known as "Buckshot" because of his lethal ability to score in the paint area, he thrived on second-effort plays close to the basket.
20/01/1935
Dorothy Provine, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2010)
Dorothy Michelle Provine was an American singer, dancer and actress. Born in 1935 in Deadwood, South Dakota, she grew up in Seattle, Washington, and was hired in 1958 by Warner Bros., after which she first starred in The Bonnie Parker Story and played many roles in TV series. During the 1960s, Provine starred in series such as The Alaskans and The Roaring Twenties, and her major film roles included It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Good Neighbor Sam (1964), The Great Race (1965), That Darn Cat! (1965), Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966), Who's Minding the Mint? (1967), and Never a Dull Moment (1968).
20/01/1934
Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (died 2014)
Hennie Aucamp was a South African Afrikaans poet, short story writer, cabaretist and academic. He grew up on a farm in the Stormberg highlands and matriculated at Jamestown, Eastern Cape before continuing his higher education at the University of Stellenbosch. He died in Cape Town at age 80 on 20 March 2014 after suffering a stroke.
Tom Baker, English actor
Thomas Stewart Baker is an English actor and writer. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who from 1974 to 1981, making him the longest-serving actor in the role.
20/01/1932
Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2016)
Louis Joseph "Leapin' Louie" Fontinato was a Canadian defenceman in the National Hockey League with the New York Rangers from 1954 to 1961 and the Montreal Canadiens from 1961 to 1963.
20/01/1931
David Lee, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
David Morris Lee is an American physicist who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics with Robert C. Richardson and Douglas Osheroff "for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3." Lee is professor emeritus of physics at Cornell University and distinguished professor of physics at Texas A&M University.
Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese pianist and composer (died 1992)
Hachidai Nakamura was a Japanese songwriter and jazz pianist.
20/01/1930
Buzz Aldrin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
Buzz Aldrin is an American former astronaut, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. He was the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. Following the deaths of Armstrong in 2012 and pilot Michael Collins in 2021, he is the last surviving Apollo 11 crew member. Following Jim Lovell's death in 2025, Aldrin became the oldest living astronaut.
20/01/1929
Arte Johnson, American actor and comedian (died 2019)
Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson was an American actor and comedian, who was best known for his work as a regular, portraying himself, in the NBC sketch comedy series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967–1971).
Masaharu Kawakatsu, Japanese biologist
Masaharu Kawakatsu is a Japanese zoologist known for his studies on the taxonomy and ecology of planarians.
Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (died 1964)
Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr. was an American stock car racer.
20/01/1928
Antonio de Almeida, French conductor and musicologist (died 1997)
Antonio de Almeida was a French conductor and musicologist.
20/01/1927
Qurratulain Hyder, Indian-Pakistani journalist and academic (died 2007)
Qurratulain Hyder was an Indian Urdu novelist and short story writer, academic, and journalist. One of the most outstanding and influential literary names in Urdu literature, she is best known for her magnum opus, Aag Ka Darya, a novel first published in Urdu in 1959, from Lahore, Pakistan, that stretches from the fourth century BC to post partition of India.
20/01/1926
Patricia Neal, American actress (died 2010)
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She is well known for, among other roles, playing World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), radio journalist Marcia Jeffries in A Face in the Crowd (1957), wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and the worn-out housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud (1963). She also featured as the matriarch in the television film The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971); her role as Olivia Walton was re-cast for the series it inspired, The Waltons. A major star of the 1950s and 1960s, she was the recipient of an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and two British Academy Film Awards, and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
David Tudor, American pianist and composer (died 1996)
David Eugene Tudor was an American pianist and composer of experimental music. After playing the U.S. premiere of the Piano Sonata No. 2 by Pierre Boulez in 1950, he premiered works by New York School composers including Morton Feldman and especially John Cage written for him; Karlheinz Stockhausen dedicated a work to him, reflecting his similar degree of integration with the Darmstadt School. He turned to composing, including many projects for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. After Cage's death in 1992, he succeeded him as music director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
20/01/1925
Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, playwright, and critic (died 2015)
Nawabzada Mirza Jamiluddin Ahmed Khan PP, HI, also known as Jamiluddin Aali or Aaliji, was a Pakistani poet, critic, playwright, essayist, columnist, and scholar.
Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, poet, and politician (died 2020)
Ernesto Cardenal Martínez was a Nicaraguan Catholic priest, revolutionary, poet, and politician. He was a liberation theologian and the founder of the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived for more than ten years (1965–1977). A former member of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, he was Nicaragua's minister of culture from 1979 to 1987. He was prohibited from administering the sacraments in 1984 by Pope John Paul II, but rehabilitated by Pope Francis in 2019.
20/01/1924
Yvonne Loriod, French pianist and composer (died 2010)
Yvonne Louise Georgette Loriod-Messiaen was a French pianist, teacher, and composer, and the second wife of composer Olivier Messiaen. Her sister was the Ondes Martenot player Jeanne Loriod.
20/01/1923
Slim Whitman, American country and western singer-songwriter and musician (died 2013)
Ottis Dewey "Slim" Whitman Jr. was an American country music singer and guitarist known for his yodeling abilities and his use of falsetto. Recorded figures show 70 million sales, during a career that spanned more than seven decades. His prolific output included more than 100 albums and around 500 recorded songs; these consisted of country music, contemporary gospel, Broadway show tunes, love songs, and standards. Soon after being signed, in the 1950s Whitman toured with Elvis Presley.
20/01/1922
Ray Anthony, American trumpeter and bandleader
Ray Anthony is an American retired bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his tenure as a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, from 1940 to 1941, and later for successfully leading his own big band.
Don Mankiewicz, American author and screenwriter (died 2015)
Don Martin Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter and novelist best known for his novel Trial.
20/01/1921
Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (died 2006)
Pedro Telmo Zarraonandía Montoya, known as Telmo Zarra, was a Spanish football forward. He spent the majority of his career at Athletic Bilbao, from 1940 to 1955, for whom he remains the top scorer in competitive matches with 335 goals.
20/01/1920
Federico Fellini, Italian director and screenwriter (died 1993)
Federico Fellini was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style that blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. Recognized as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films rank highly in critical polls such as that of Cahiers du Cinéma and Sight & Sound, which lists his 1963 8½ as the 10th-greatest film of all time.
DeForest Kelley, American actor (died 1999)
Jackson DeForest Kelley was an American actor, screenwriter, poet, and singer. He was known for his roles in film and television Westerns and achieved international fame as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the USS Enterprise in the television and film series Star Trek (1966–1991).
Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (died 2006)
Thorleif Schjelderup was a Norwegian ski jumper, author and environmentalist.
20/01/1918
Juan García Esquivel, Mexican pianist, composer, and bandleader (died 2002)
Juan García Esquivel, often known mononymously as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin flavors. Esquivel is sometimes called "The King of Space Age Pop" and "The Busby Berkeley of Cocktail Music", and is considered one of the foremost exponents of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop that became known as "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music".
Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (died 2013)
Nevin Stewart Scrimshaw was an American food scientist and Institute Professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Scrimshaw was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During the course of his long career he developed nutritional supplements for alleviating protein, iodine, and iron deficiencies in the developing world. His pioneering and extensive publications in the area of human nutrition and food science include over 20 books and monographs and hundreds of scholarly articles. Scrimshaw also founded the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama, and the Nevin Scrimshaw International Nutrition Foundation. He was awarded the Bolton L. Corson Medal in 1976 and the World Food Prize in 1991. Scrimshaw spent the last years of his life on a farm in Thornton, New Hampshire, where he died at 95.
20/01/1915
Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Pakistani businessman and politician, 7th President of Pakistan (died 2006)
Ghulam Ishaq Khan, commonly known by his initials GIK, was a Pakistani bureaucrat, politician, and statesman who served as the seventh president of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. He previously served as chairman of the Senate from 1985 to 1988 under president Zia-ul-Haq, and assumed the presidency in accordance with the constitutional line of succession following Zia's death.
20/01/1910
Joy Adamson, Austria-Kenyan painter and conservationist (died 1980)
Friederike Victoria "Joy" Adamson was a naturalist, artist and author. Her book, Born Free, describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa. Born Free was printed in several languages and made into an Academy Award–winning movie of the same name. In 1977, she was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art.
20/01/1909
Gōgen Yamaguchi, Japanese martial artist (died 1989)
Jitsumi Gōgen Yamaguchi, also known as Gōgen Yamaguchi, was a Japanese martial artist and student of Gōjū-ryū Karate under Chōjun Miyagi. He was one of the most well-known karate-dō masters from Japan and he founded the International Karate-dō Gōjū Kai Association.
20/01/1907
Paula Wessely, Austrian actress and producer (died 2000)
Paula Anna Maria Wessely was an Austrian theatre and film actor. Die Wessely, as she was called by her admirers and fans, was Austria's foremost popular postwar actress.
20/01/1906
Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (died 1975)
Aristotle Socrates Onassis was a Greek and Argentine business magnate. He amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was married to Athina Mary Livanos, had a long-standing affair with opera singer Maria Callas, and in his final years was married to American former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
20/01/1902
Leon Ames, American actor (died 1993)
Leon Ames was an American film and television actor. He is best remembered for playing father figures in such films as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Little Women (1949), On Moonlight Bay (1951), and By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953). His best-known dramatic role may have been in the crime film The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946).
Kevin Barry, Irish Republican Army volunteer (died 1920)
Kevin Gerard Barry was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier and medical student who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence. He was sentenced to death for his part in an attack upon a British Army supply lorry which resulted in the death of a British soldier.
20/01/1900
Dorothy Annan, English painter, potter, and muralist (died 1983)
Dorothy Annan was an English painter, potter and muralist who was born in Brazil to British parents and was educated in France and Germany. Her works were frequently shown at the Leicester Galleries in London and she had her first solo show there in 1945.
Colin Clive, English actor (died 1937)
Colin Glenn Clive was a British theatre and film actor. Known for portraying individualistic, tumultuous characters which often mirrored his personal life, he is most famous for his role as Dr. Henry Frankenstein in the 1931 film Frankenstein and its 1935 sequel, Bride of Frankenstein. Clive’s maniacal delivery of the words, "It's alive, it's alive!" when Dr. Frankenstein confirms his creature is moving, was listed by American Film Institute (AFI) as one of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time.
20/01/1899
Clarice Cliff, English potter (died 1972)
Clarice Cliff was an English ceramic artist and designer. Active from 1922 to 1963, Cliff became the head of the Newport Pottery factory creative department.
Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese engineer (died 1990)
Kenjiro Takayanagi was a Japanese engineer and a pioneer in the development of television and video tape recorders. Although he failed to gain much recognition in the West, he built the world's first all-electronic television receiver, and is referred to as "the father of Japanese television".
20/01/1898
U Razak, Burmese educator and politician (died 1947)
U Razak was a Burmese politician and an educationalist. Of mixed Bamar-Indian ancestry, he was a cabinet minister in Aung San's pre-independence interim government, and was assassinated on 19 July 1947 along Sung San and six other cabinet ministers. July 19 is commemorated each year as Martyrs' Day in Myanmar. Razak was Minister of Education and National Planning, and was chairman of the Burma Muslim Congress.
20/01/1896
George Burns, American actor, comedian, and producer (died 1996)
George Burns was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film, and television. His arched eyebrow and cigar-smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks. He and his wife Gracie Allen appeared on radio, television and film as the comedy duo Burns and Allen.
20/01/1895
Gábor Szegő, Hungarian mathematician and academic (died 1985)
Gábor Szegő was a Hungarian-American mathematician. He was one of the foremost mathematical analysts of his generation and made fundamental contributions to the theory of orthogonal polynomials and Toeplitz matrices building on the work of his contemporary Otto Toeplitz.
20/01/1894
Harold Gray, American cartoonist, created Little Orphan Annie (died 1968)
Harold Lincoln Gray was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the newspaper comic strip Little Orphan Annie.
Walter Piston, American composer, theorist, and academic (died 1976)
Walter Hamor Piston, Jr., was an American composer of classical music, music theorist, and professor of music at Harvard University.
20/01/1893
Georg Åberg, Swedish triple jumper (died 1946)
Nils Georg Åberg was a Swedish athlete who competed at the 1912 Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the long jump and placed second in the triple jump, in which Sweden collected all three medals. He won the long jump event at the Swedish Games in 1916 and at the national championships in 1912, 1913 and 1915. After retiring from competitions he directed his own firm.
20/01/1891
Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (died 1967)
Mischa Elman was a Russian-American violinist famed for his passionate style, beautiful tone, and impeccable artistry and musicality.
20/01/1889
Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer and businessman, founded the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company (died 1969)
Allan Haines Lockheed was an American aviation engineer and businessman. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead, which became Lockheed Corporation.
20/01/1888
Lead Belly, American folk/blues musician and songwriter (died 1949)
Huddie William Ledbetter, better known by the stage name Lead Belly, was an American folk and blues singer notable for his strong vocals, virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the folk standards he introduced, including his renditions of "In the Pines", "Pick a Bale of Cotton", "Goodnight, Irene", "Black Betty", "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", and "Boll Weevil".
20/01/1883
Enoch L. Johnson, American mob boss (died 1968)
Enoch Lewis "Nucky" Johnson was an American politician from the Republican Party who served as an Atlantic City political boss, sheriff of Atlantic County, businessman, and crime boss who was the leader of the political machine that controlled Atlantic City and the Atlantic County government from the 1910s until his conviction and imprisonment in 1941. His rule encompassed the Roaring Twenties when Atlantic City was at the height of its popularity as a refuge from Prohibition. In addition to bootlegging, the criminal aspect of his organization was also involved in gambling and prostitution. The HBO series Boardwalk Empire was loosely based on Johnson, portrayed by Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson.
Forrest Wilson, American journalist and author (died 1942)
Robert Forrest Wilson was an American author and journalist. He won the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for his biography, Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe.
20/01/1882
Johnny Torrio, Italian-American mob boss (died 1957)
John Donato Torrio was an Italian-born mobster who helped build the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s later inherited by his protégé Al Capone. Torrio proposed a National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s and later became an adviser to Lucky Luciano and his Luciano crime family.
20/01/1880
Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (died 1962)
Walter Wolfkiel Bacon was an American politician and accountant from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a member of the Republican Party who served three terms as Mayor of Wilmington and two terms as Governor of Delaware. He is the only mayor of a Delaware city to have been elected Governor of Delaware.
20/01/1879
Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and educator (died 1968)
Ruth St. Denis was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Genevieve Stebbins. St. Denis was the co-founder in 1915 of the American Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts. She taught notable performers including Martha Graham and Doris Humphrey. In 1938, she founded the pioneering dance program at Adelphi University. She published several articles on spiritual dance and the mysticism of the body.
20/01/1878
Finlay Currie, Scottish-English actor (died 1968)
William Finlay Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television. He received great acclaim for his roles as Abel Magwitch in the British film Great Expectations (1946), as Saint Peter in Quo Vadis (1951) and as Balthazar in the American film Ben-Hur (1959).
20/01/1876
Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (died 1957)
Josef Casimir Hofmann was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.
20/01/1874
Steve Bloomer, English footballer and coach (died 1938)
Stephen Bloomer was an England international footballer and manager who played for Derby County – becoming their record goalscorer – and Middlesbrough. The anthem "Steve Bloomer's Watchin'" is played at every Derby home game and there is a bust of him at the Pride Park Stadium. He is also listed in the Football League 100 Legends and English Football Hall of Fame.
20/01/1873
Johannes V. Jensen, Danish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1950)
Johannes Vilhelm Jensen was a Danish author, known as one of the great Danish writers of the first half of 20th century. He was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the rare strength and fertility of his poetic imagination with which is combined an intellectual curiosity of wide scope and a bold, freshly creative style". One of his sisters, Thit Jensen, was also a well-known writer and a very vocal, and occasionally controversial, early feminist.
20/01/1870
Guillaume Lekeu, Belgian pianist and composer (died 1894)
Jean Joseph Nicolas Guillaume Lekeu was a Belgian composer.
20/01/1865
Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (died 1944)
Yvette Guilbert was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque.
Wilhelm Ramsay, Finnish geologist and professor (died 1928)
Wilhelm Ramsay was a Finnish geologist. He became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1914 and in 1915 was accepted into the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund. He coined the terms Fennoscandia (1900) and Postjotnian (1909). Ramsay also coined the term ijolite.
20/01/1856
Harriot Stanton Blatch, American suffragist and organizer (died 1940)
Harriot Eaton Blatch was an American writer and suffragist. She was the daughter of pioneering women's rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
20/01/1855
Ernest Chausson, French composer (died 1899)
Amédée-Ernest Chausson was a French Romantic composer.
20/01/1834
George D. Robinson, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1896)
George Dexter Robinson was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Chicopee, Massachusetts. After serving in the Massachusetts General Court and United States House of Representatives, Robinson served three one-year terms as Governor of Massachusetts, notably defeating Benjamin Franklin Butler in the 1883 election.
20/01/1819
Göran Fredrik Göransson, Swedish merchant, ironmaster and industrialist (died 1900)
Göran Fredrik Göransson was a Swedish merchant, ironmaster and industrialist. He was the founder of the company Sandvikens Jernverks AB and was the first person to implement the Bessemer process successfully on an industrial scale and pioneered ingot steel in the Swedish iron and steel industry.
20/01/1814
David Wilmot, American politician, sponsor of Wilmot Proviso (died 1868)
David Wilmot was an American politician and judge from Pennsylvania who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, and as a judge of the Court of Claims. He is best known for being the prime sponsor and eponym of the Wilmot Proviso, a failed legislative proposal to ban the expansion of slavery into western territories gained in the Mexican Cession. A northern Democrat when he introduced and supported the Proviso, he subsequently became a notable member of the anti-slavery Free Soil Party. Later, Wilmot was instrumental in establishing the Pennsylvania Republican Party.
20/01/1812
William Fox, English-New Zealand politician, 2nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1893)
Sir William Fox was a New Zealand politician who was the second premier of New Zealand in 1856, from 1861 to 1862, from 1869 to 1872, and in 1873. Serving while New Zealand was still a British colony, he was known for his confiscation of Māori land rights, his contributions to the education system, and his work to increase New Zealand's autonomy from Britain.
Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (died 1896)
Thomas Meik was a 19th-century Scottish engineer.
20/01/1799
Anson Jones, American physician and politician, 5th President of the Republic of Texas (died 1858)
Anson Jones was an American medical doctor, businessman, and politician, who was the fourth and last president of the Republic of Texas.
20/01/1783
Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (died 1860)
Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer was a German cellist and composer.
20/01/1781
Joseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg, Austrian-German historian and politician (died 1848)
Joseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg was an Austrian and German statesman and historian.
20/01/1775
André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (died 1836)
André-Marie Ampère was a French physicist and mathematician who was one of the founders of the science of classical electromagnetism, which he referred to as electrodynamics. He made also important contributions in chemistry and philosophy. He is also the inventor of numerous applications, such as the solenoid and the electrical telegraph. As an autodidact, Ampère was a member of the French Academy of Sciences and professor at the École polytechnique and the Collège de France.
20/01/1762
Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny, Belgian-French composer and theorist (died 1842)
Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny was a Belgian/French composer and music-theorist.
20/01/1755
Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, English admiral (died 1824)
Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, was a long-serving and at the time controversial officer of the Royal Navy who saw extensive service in his career, but also courted controversy with several of his actions.
20/01/1741
Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Swedish botanist and author (died 1783)
Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Carolus Linnaeus the Younger, Carl von Linné den yngre, or Linnaeus filius was a Swedish naturalist. His names distinguish him from his father, the pioneering taxonomist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778).
20/01/1732
Richard Henry Lee, American lawyer and politician, President of the Continental Congress (died 1794)
Richard Henry Lee was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain leading to the United States Declaration of Independence, which he signed. Lee also served a one-year term as the president of the Continental Congress, proposed and was a signatory to the Continental Association, signed the Articles of Confederation, and was a United States senator from Virginia from 1789 to 1792, serving part of that time as the second president pro tempore of the upper house. He was a member of the Lee family, a historically influential family in Virginia politics.
20/01/1716
Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and numismatist (died 1795)
Jean-Jacques Barthélemy was a French Catholic clergyman, archaeologist, numismatologist and scholar who became the first person to decipher an extinct language. He deciphered the Palmyrene alphabet in 1754 and the Phoenician alphabet in 1758.
Charles III of Spain (died 1788)
Charles III was King of Spain from 1759 until his death in 1788. He was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza as Charles I (1731–1735), King of Naples as Charles VII and King of Sicily as Charles III (1735–1759). He was the fourth son of Philip V of Spain and the eldest son of Philip's second wife, Elisabeth Farnese. During his reign, Charles was a proponent of enlightened absolutism and regalism in Europe.
20/01/1703
Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Flemish violinist and composer (died 1741)
Joseph-Hector Fiocco, born in Brussels, was a composer and harpsichordist of the late Baroque period.
20/01/1664
Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian lawyer and jurist (died 1718)
Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina was an Italian man of letters and jurist. He was the adoptive father of the poet Metastasio. Gravina was one of the foremost Italian jurists of the late 17th century. His views exerted considerable influence outside his own country, particularly upon Montesquieu.
20/01/1586
Johann Hermann Schein, German composer (died 1630)
Johann Hermann Schein was a German composer of the early Baroque era. He was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1615 to 1630. He was one of the first to import the early Italian stylistic innovations into German music, and was one of the most polished composers of the period.
20/01/1573
Simon Marius, German astronomer and academic (died 1624)
Simon Marius was a German astronomer. He was born in Gunzenhausen, near Nuremberg, but spent most of his life in the city of Ansbach. He is best known for being among the first observers of the four largest moons of Jupiter, and his publication of his discovery led to charges of plagiarism.
20/01/1569
Heribert Rosweyde, Jesuit hagiographer (died 1629)
Heribert Rosweyde was a Jesuit hagiographer. His work, quite unfinished, was taken up by Jean Bolland who systematized it, while broadening its perspective. This is the beginning of the association of the Bollandists.
20/01/1554
Sebastian, King of Portugal (died 1578)
Sebastian was King of Portugal from 11 June 1557 to 4 August 1578 and the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz.
20/01/1526
Rafael Bombelli, Italian mathematician (died 1572)
Rafael Bombelli was an Italian mathematician. Born in Bologna, he is the author of a treatise on algebra and is a central figure in the understanding of imaginary numbers.
20/01/1502
Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish-Mexican rancher and missionary (died 1600)
Sebastián de Aparicio y del Pardo was a Spanish colonist in Mexico shortly after its conquest by Spain, who after a lifetime as a rancher and road builder entered the Order of Friars Minor as a lay brother. He spent the next 26 years of his long life as a beggar for the Order and died with a great reputation for holiness. He has been beatified by the Catholic Church.
20/01/1500
Jean Quintin, French priest, knight and writer (died 1561)
Jean Quintin or Quentin was a French priest, knight of the Order of St John and writer. His writings include Insulae Melitae Descriptio (1536), the earliest known detailed description of the Maltese Islands, which also contains the earliest known printed map of the archipelago.
20/01/1499
Sebastian Franck, German humanist (probable; (died 1543)
Sebastian Franck was a 16th-century German freethinker, humanist, and radical reformer.
20/01/1488
Sebastian Münster, German scholar, cartographer, and cosmographer (died 1552)
Sebastian Münster was a German cartographer and cosmographer. He also was a Christian Hebraist scholar who taught as a professor at the University of Basel. His well-known work, the highly accurate world map, Cosmographia, sold well and went through 24 editions. Its influence was widely spread by a production of woodcuts created of it by a variety of artists.
20/01/1436
Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (died 1490)
Ashikaga Yoshimasa was a Japanese samurai, daimyo and the eighth shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1443 to 1473 during the Muromachi period of Japan. His actions led to the Ōnin War (1467–1477), which triggered the Sengoku period. His reign saw a cultural flourishing in the arts, the development of tea ceremony, Zen Buddhism and wabi-sabi aesthetics.
20/01/1292
Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (died 1330)
Elizabeth of Bohemia was a princess of the Bohemian Přemyslid dynasty who became Queen of Bohemia as the first wife of King John the Blind. She was the mother of Emperor Charles IV, King of Bohemia, and a daughter of Judith of Habsburg, member of the House of Habsburg.
20/01/1029
Alp Arslan, Seljuk sultan (probable; (died 1072)
Alp Arslan was the second sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty and the empire. He reigned from 1063 until his assassination in 1072.
20/01/0225
Gordian III, Roman emperor (died 244)
Gordian III was Roman emperor from 238 to 244. At the age of 13, he became the second-youngest sole emperor of the united Roman Empire. Gordian was the son of Maecia Faustina and her husband Junius Balbus, who died before 238. Their names are mentioned in the unreliable Historia Augusta. Maecia was the daughter of Emperor Gordian I and sister of Emperor Gordian II. Very little is known of his early life before his acclamation.
Lives Remembered on 20th January
On 20th January, 104 remarkable people passed away — from 640 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.
20/01/2025
Lynn Ban, Singaporean jewelry designer (born 1972)
Lynn Ban was a Singaporean jewelry designer who was noted for her unconventional designs. She starred in Bling Empire: New York, a reality show on Netflix. Her clients included Rihanna and Beyoncé. Other musical artists who wore her statement pieces included Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Doja Cat, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Megan Thee Stallion, Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, and many others.
Cecile Richards, American activist and former Planned Parenthood president (born 1957)
Cecile Richards was an American activist who served as the president of both the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliated Planned Parenthood Action Fund from 2006 to 2018. In 2010, Richards was elected to the Ford Foundation board of trustees. In spring 2019, Richards co-founded Supermajority, a women's political action group.
20/01/2024
Norman Jewison, Canadian actor, director, and producer (born 1926)
Norman Frederick Jewison was a Canadian filmmaker. He is known for directing films which addressed topical social and political issues, often making controversial or complicated subjects accessible to mainstream audiences. Among numerous other accolades, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director three times in three separate decades, for In the Heat of the Night (1967), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Moonstruck (1987). He was nominated for an additional four Oscars, three Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, and won a BAFTA Award. He received the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences's Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1999.
20/01/2022
Meat Loaf, American singer and actor (born 1947)
Michael Lee Aday, known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor. He was known for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. His Bat Out of Hell album trilogy—Bat Out of Hell (1977), Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993), and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006)—has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The first album stayed on the charts for over nine years and is one of the best-selling albums in history, still selling an estimated 200,000 copies annually as of 2016.
20/01/2021
Sibusiso Moyo, Zimbabwean politician, army general (born 1960)
Sibusiso Busi Moyo was a Zimbabwean politician and army Lieutenant general. He was noted for announcing the ousting of Robert Mugabe on national television during the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. He went on to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in the cabinet of Emmerson Mnangagwa from November 2017 until his death.
Mira Furlan, Croatian actress and singer (born 1955)
Mira Furlan was a Croatian-American actress and singer. Internationally, she was best known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn in the science fiction television series Babylon 5 (1993–1998), and as Danielle Rousseau in Lost (2004–2010), and also appeared in multiple award-winning films such as When Father Was Away on Business (1985) and The Abandoned (2010).
20/01/2020
Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (born 1947)
Jaroslav Kubera was a Czech politician for the Civic Democratic Party, who served in the Czech Senate representing Teplice from 2000 and the Senate President from 2018 until his death in 2020. He previously served as mayor of Teplice from 1994 to 2018.
Tom Fisher Railsback, American politician, member of the Illinois and U.S. House of Representatives (born 1932)
Thomas Fisher Railsback was an American politician and lawyer who served eight terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983 for Illinois's 19th congressional district. A member of the Republican Party, he sat on the House Judiciary Committee, which in 1974, voted to refer articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon to the full House.
20/01/2018
Paul Bocuse, French chef (born 1926)
Paul François Pierre Bocuse was a French chef based in Lyon known for the quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine. Dubbed "the pope of gastronomy", he was affectionately nicknamed Monsieur Paul. The Bocuse d'Or, a biennial world chef championship, bears his name.
Naomi Parker Fraley, American naval machiner, considered the model for the "We Can Do It!" posters of World War II (born 1921)
Naomi Fern Parker Fraley was an American war worker who is considered the most likely model for the iconic "We Can Do It!" poster. During World War II, she worked on aircraft assembly at the Naval Air Station Alameda.
20/01/2016
Mykolas Burokevičius, Lithuanian carpenter and politician (born 1927)
Mykolas Burokevičius was a communist political leader in Lithuania. After the Communist Party of Lithuania separated from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), he established alternative pro-CPSU Communist Party of Lithuania in early 1990, and led it as the First Secretary of Central Committee until its ban in 1991. He was the only Lithuanian to serve in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, and did so from 1990 until its ban in 1991.
Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (born 1920)
Edmonde Charles-Roux was a French writer.
20/01/2014
Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (born 1933)
Claudio Abbado was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera, founder and director of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, founder and director of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, founding artistic director of the Orchestra Mozart and music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra. He was recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize and Senator for life in Italy.
Otis G. Pike, American judge and politician (born 1921)
Otis Grey Pike was an American lawyer and politician who served nine terms as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York, from 1961 to 1979.
Jonas Trinkūnas, Lithuanian ethnologist and academic (born 1939)
Jonas Trinkūnas was the founder of Lithuania's pagan revival Romuva, as well as being an ethnologist and folklorist.
20/01/2013
Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (born 1933)
Pavlos Matesis was a Greek novelist, playwright and translator. He was born in Divri, a village in the Peloponnese and had a peripatetic youth. He studied acting, music and languages, and taught drama at the Stavrakou School in Athens (1963–64). He also worked as a writer at the National Theatre during 1971–73. He wrote scripts for two television series broadcast on the state channel (1974–76).
Toyo Shibata, Japanese poet and author (born 1911)
Toyo Shibata was a bestselling Japanese poet.
20/01/2012
Etta James, American singer-songwriter (born 1938)
Jamesetta Hawkins, known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer and songwriter. Starting her career in 1954, James frequently performed in Nashville's R&B clubs, collectively known in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as the Chitlin' Circuit. She sang in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll and soul and gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower" (1955), "At Last" (1960), "Something's Got a Hold on Me" (1962), "Tell Mama" and "I'd Rather Go Blind". She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch (1988).
John Levy, American bassist and manager (born 1912)
John Levy was an American jazz double-bassist and businessman.
Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior (born 1933)
Ioannis Kefalogiannis was a Greek politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 1958 to 1964, and again from 1974 to 2004. During this time he was briefly Minister of Public Order, Minister for Tourism, and Minister of the Interior. His daughter is the Cabinet Minister Olga Kefalogianni.
Alejandro Rodriguez, Venezuelan-American pediatrician and psychiatrist (born 1918)
Alejandro Rodriguez was a Venezuelan-American pediatrician and psychiatrist, known for his pioneering work in child psychiatry. He was the director of the division of child psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and conducted pivotal studies on autism and other developmental disorders in children.
20/01/2009
Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian patriarch (born 1920)
Stéphanos II Ghattas was an Egyptian Catholic prelate who served as the Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria from 1986 to 2006. He was a member of the Congregation of the Mission and was made a cardinal in 2001. His cause for canonization was initiated after his death.
20/01/2005
Per Borten, Norwegian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (born 1913)
was a Norwegian politician from the Centre Party and the prime minister of Norway from 1965 to 1971. Per Borten is credited for leading the modernization of what was then named Bondepartiet into today's Centre Party. He was an active opponent of Norway joining the European Union.
Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Polish journalist and politician (born 1914)
Jan Nowak-Jeziorański was a Polish journalist, writer, politician, social worker and patriot. He served during the Second World War as one of the most notable resistance fighters of the Home Army. He is best remembered for his work as an emissary shuttling between the commanders of the Home Army and the Polish Government in Exile in London and other Allied governments which gained him the nickname "Courier from Warsaw", and for his participation in the Warsaw Uprising. After the war he worked as the head of the Polish section of Radio Free Europe, and later as a security advisor to the US presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. In 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded him with America's highest civilian award the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Miriam Rothschild, English zoologist, entomologist, and author (born 1908)
Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild was a British natural scientist and author with contributions to zoology, entomology, and botany.
20/01/2004
Alan Brown, English racing driver (born 1919)
Alan Everest Brown was a British racing driver from England. He took up motor racing in a Cooper, later forming the Ecurie Richmond team with Eric Brandon. He participated in nine World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 18 May 1952 and numerous non-Championship Formula One races. He scored two championship points. He was the first driver to score championship points for Cooper and also gave the first Vanwall its race debut. After he retired, he fielded two drivers in the 1959 British Grand Prix under the team name Alan Brown Equipe.
T. Nadaraja, Sri Lankan lawyer and academic (born 1917)
Thambiah Nadaraja was a Sri Lankan academic, lawyer and author. He was dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ceylon and chancellor of the University of Jaffna.
20/01/2003
Al Hirschfeld, American painter and illustrator (born 1903)
Albert Hirschfeld was an American caricaturist best known for his black-and-white portraits of celebrities and Broadway stars.
Nedra Volz, American actress (born 1908)
Nedra Volz was an American actress. On television, she portrayed Aunt Iola on All in the Family, Adelaide Brubaker on Diff'rent Strokes, Emma Tisdale on The Dukes of Hazzard, Pearl Sperling on The Fall Guy, and Winona Beck on Filthy Rich. Her film roles include Big Ed in Lust in the Dust (1985), Loretta Houk in Moving Violations (1985), and Lana in Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).
20/01/2002
Carrie Hamilton, American actress and singer (born 1963)
Carrie Louise Hamilton was an American actress, playwright and singer. Hamilton was a daughter of comedian Carol Burnett and producer Joe Hamilton. She was the elder sister of actress Jody Hamilton and singer-producer Erin Hamilton.
20/01/1998
Bobo Brazil, American professional wrestler (born 1924)
Houston Harris was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Bobo Brazil. Credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling, Harris is considered one of the first black professional wrestlers to be a marquee name in North America.
20/01/1996
Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist and composer (born 1927)
Gerald Joseph Mulligan, also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz—Mulligan was also a significant arranger working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others. His piano-less quartet of the early 1950s with trumpeter Chet Baker is still regarded as one of the best cool jazz ensembles. Mulligan was also a skilled pianist and played several other reed instruments. Several of his compositions, including "Walkin' Shoes" and "Five Brothers", have become standards.
20/01/1994
Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and coach (born 1909)
Sir Alexander Matthew Busby was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an English team to win the European Cup and is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, first Kenyan Vice-President (born 1911)
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was a Kenyan politician who became a prominent figure in Kenya's struggle for independence. He served as the Kenya's first vice-president, and thereafter as an opposition leader. Jaramogi’s son CGH Raila Odinga (1945–2025) was the second Prime Minister of Kenya, and his other son, Oburu Odinga, is a former assistant minister in the Ministry of Finance, and Current ODM Party Leader after the death of Raila Odinga (2025)
20/01/1993
Audrey Hepburn, British actress and humanitarian activist (born 1929)
Audrey Kathleen Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Hollywood cinema. She was inducted into the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame and is one of only a few entertainers who have won competitive Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards.
20/01/1990
Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (born 1907)
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career, she was known for her strong, realistic screen presence and versatility. She was a favorite of directors, including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang, and Frank Capra, and made 86 films in 38 years before turning to television. She received numerous accolades, including three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, and was nominated for four Academy Awards.
20/01/1989
Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1938)
Alamgir Kabir was a Bangladeshi film director and cultural activist. Three of his feature films are featured in the "Top 10 Bangladeshi Films" list by British Film Institute.
20/01/1988
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (born 1890)
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Bacha Khan and Badshah Khan, was an Indian independence activist from the North-West Frontier Province, and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar resistance movement against British rule in colonial India. After the partition occurred, he became a Pakistani politician and led the Azad Party.
Dora Stratou, Greek dancer and choreographer (born 1903)
Dora Stratou was a Greek actress and choreographer, with significant contributions to Greek Folk Dancing and Greek Folk Music. She issued one of the largest series of folk music in the world, with 50 records, and is the founder of the Greek Dances Theatre "Dora Stratou".
20/01/1984
Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (born 1904)
Johnny Weissmuller was a Hungarian-born German American Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor. He has one of the best competitive-swimming records of the 20th century. He set world records alongside winning five gold medals in the Olympics. He won the 100m freestyle and the 4 × 200 m relay team event in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Weissmuller also won gold in the 400m freestyle, as well as a bronze medal in the water polo competition in Paris.
20/01/1983
Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (born 1933)
Manuel Francisco dos Santos, nicknamed Mané Garrincha, best known as simply Garrincha, was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a right winger. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and by many, one of the greatest dribblers ever.
20/01/1980
William Roberts, English soldier and painter (born 1895)
William Patrick Roberts was a British artist.
20/01/1977
Dimitrios Kiousopoulos, Greek jurist and politician, 151st Prime Minister of Greece (born 1892)
Dimitrios Kiousopoulos was an important Greek jurist, politician, and the caretaker Prime Minister of Greece in 1952. He was born on November 17, 1892, in the town of Andritsaina, Elis, Peloponnese.
20/01/1973
Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician and surgeon (born 1885)
Lorenz Böhler was an Austrian physician and surgeon.
Amílcar Cabral, Guinea Bissauan-Cape Verdian engineer and politician (born 1924)
Amílcar Lopes Cabral was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, political organizer, diplomat, and half-brother of Luís Cabral. He was widely remembered as one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. He was also a pan-Africanist and intellectual nationalist revolutionary poet.
20/01/1971
Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1880)
Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson was an American actor, writer, film director, and film producer, who was the first star of the Western film genre. He was a founder and star for Essanay studios. In 1958, he received a special Academy Award for being a pioneer of the film industry.
Minanogawa Tōzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 34th Yokozuna (born 1903)
Minanogawa Tōzō , also known as Asashio Kyojiro , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tsukuba, Ibaraki. He was the sport's 34th yokozuna.
20/01/1965
Alan Freed, American radio host (born 1922)
Albert James "Alan" Freed was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout North America, including popularizing the term "rock and roll".
20/01/1962
Robinson Jeffers, American poet and philosopher (born 1887)
John Robinson Jeffers was an American poet known for his work about the central Californian coast. Much of his poetry was written in narrative and epic form; however, he is also known for his shorter verse and is considered an icon of the environmental movement.
20/01/1955
Robert P. T. Coffin, American author and poet (born 1892)
Robert Peter Tristram Coffin was an American poet, educator, writer, editor and literary critic. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1936, he was the poetry editor for Yankee magazine.
20/01/1954
Warren Bardsley, Australian cricketer (born 1882)
Warren "Curly" Bardsley was an Australian Test cricketer. An opening batsman, Bardsley played 41 Tests between 1909 and 1926 and over 200 first-class games for New South Wales. He was Wisden's Cricketer of the Year in 1910.
Fred Root, English cricketer and umpire (born 1890)
Charles Frederick Root was an English cricketer who played for England in 1926 and for Derbyshire between 1910 and 1920 and for Worcestershire between 1921 and 1932.
20/01/1947
Josh Gibson, American baseball player (born 1911)
Joshua Gibson was an American baseball catcher who played primarily in the Negro leagues. In 1972, he became the second Negro league player to be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, after Satchel Paige.
Andrew Volstead, American member of the United States House of Representatives (born 1860)
Andrew John Volstead was an American member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota, 1903–1923, and a member of the Republican Party. His name is closely associated with the National Prohibition Act of 1919, usually called the Volstead Act. The act was the enabling legislation for the enforcement of Prohibition in the United States beginning in 1920.
20/01/1944
James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist and academic (born 1860)
James McKeen Cattell was the first professor of psychology in the United States, teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He was a long-time editor and publisher of scientific journals and publications, including Science, and served on the board of trustees for Science Service, now known as Society for Science from 1921 to 1944.
20/01/1940
Omar Bundy, American general (born 1861)
Major General Omar Bundy was a career United States Army officer who was a veteran of the American Indian Wars, Spanish–American War, Philippine–American War, Pancho Villa Expedition, and World War I.
20/01/1936
George V of the United Kingdom (born 1865)
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
20/01/1931
Margrethe Munthe, Norwegian songwriter (born 1860)
Margrethe Aabel Munthe was a Norwegian teacher, children's writer, songwriter and playwright.
20/01/1924
Henry "Ivo" Crapp, Australian footballer and umpire (born 1872)
Henry "Harry" Crapp, commonly known as Ivo Crapp, was a leading Australian rules football field umpire in the Victorian Football League (VFL) at its formation in the 1890s, and with the West Australian Football League across the late 1900s and early 1910s.
20/01/1921
Mary Watson Whitney, American astronomer and academic (born 1847)
Mary Watson Whitney was an American astronomer and was the head of the Vassar College Observatory for 22 years, where 102 scientific papers were published under her guidance.
20/01/1920
Georg Lurich, Estonian-Russian wrestler and strongman (born 1876)
Georg Lurich was an Estonian Greco-Roman wrestler and strongman of the early 20th century. Lurich was also the trainer of Estonian wrestlers and weightlifters Georg Hackenschmidt and Aleksander Aberg.
20/01/1915
Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, Irish businessman, philanthropist, and politician (born 1840)
Arthur Edward Guinness, Baron Ardilaun,, styled Sir Arthur Guinness, Bt, between 1868 and 1880, was an Anglo-Irish businessman, politician and philanthropist. He is perhaps best known for giving St Stephen's Green to the Dublin Corporation for public use.
20/01/1913
José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican engraver and illustrator (born 1852)
José Guadalupe Posada Aguilar was a Mexican political printmaker who used relief printing to produce popular illustrations. His work has influenced numerous Latin American artists and cartoonists because of its satirical acuteness and social engagement. He used skulls, calaveras, and bones to show political and cultural critiques. Among his most enduring works is La Calavera Catrina.
20/01/1908
John Ordronaux, American surgeon and academic (born 1830)
John Ordronaux was an American Civil War army surgeon, a professor of medical jurisprudence, a pioneering mental health commissioner and a generous patron of university endowments. Between 1859 and 1901 Ordronaux published at least fifteen books and articles about subjects as diverse as heroes of the American Revolution of 1776, military medicine, medical jurisprudence, mental health, United States constitutional law and historical treatises. He left an estate worth $2,757,000 much of which he gave in endowments to several US universities and other institutions.
20/01/1907
Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (born 1842)
Agnes Mary Clerke was an Irish astronomer and writer. She was born in Skibbereen, County Cork, Ireland, and died in London.Brück, Mary T. (2014). "Clerke, Agnes Mary". In Hockey, Thomas; Trimble, Virginia; Williams, Thomas R. (eds.). Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer Publishing. pp. 440–442. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_290. ISBN 978-1-4419-9917-7.
20/01/1901
Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer, invented the Gramme machine (born 1826)
Zénobe Théophile Gramme was a Belgian electrical engineer. He was born at Jehay-Bodegnée on 4 April 1826, the sixth child of Mathieu-Joseph Gramme, and died at Bois-Colombes on 20 January 1901. He invented the Gramme machine, a type of direct current dynamo capable of generating smoother and much higher voltages than the dynamos known to that point.
20/01/1900
John Ruskin, English painter and critic (born 1819)
John Ruskin was an English polymath – a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, political economy, education, museology, geology, botany, ornithology, literature, history, and myth.
20/01/1891
Kalākaua, king of Hawaii (born 1836)
Kalākaua, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, reigning from February 12, 1874, until his death in 1891. Succeeding Lunalilo, he was elected to the vacant throne of Hawaiʻi against Queen Emma. Kalākaua was known as the Merrie Monarch for his convivial personality – he enjoyed entertaining guests with his singing and ukulele playing. At his coronation and his birthday jubilee, the hula, which had hitherto been banned in public in the kingdom, became a celebration of Hawaiian culture.
20/01/1875
Jean-François Millet, French painter and educator (born 1814)
Jean-François Millet was a French painter and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France. Millet is noted for his paintings of peasant farmers and can be categorized as part of the Realism art movement. Toward the end of his career, he became increasingly interested in painting pure landscapes. He is known best for his oil paintings but is also noted for his pastels, Conté crayon drawings, and etchings.
20/01/1873
Basil Moreau, French priest, founded the Congregation of Holy Cross (born 1799)
Basile-Antoine Marie Moreau, C.S.C. was the French priest who founded the Congregation of Holy Cross from which two additional congregations were founded, namely the Marianites of Holy Cross and the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Moreau was beatified on September 15, 2007 in Le Mans, France.
20/01/1859
Bettina von Arnim, German author, illustrator, and composer (born 1785)
Bettina von Arnim was a German writer, composer, and novelist.
20/01/1852
Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 6th Yokozuna (born 1794)
Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke was a Japanese sumo wrestler from Noto Province. He was the sport's 6th yokozuna. He trained ōzeki Tsurugizan Taniemon.
20/01/1850
Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (born 1779)
Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature. He wrote the lyrics to the song Der er et yndigt land, which is one of the national anthems of Denmark.
20/01/1848
Christian VIII, Danish king (born 1786)
Christian VIII was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814.
20/01/1841
Jørgen Jørgensen, Danish explorer (born 1780)
Jørgen Jørgensen was a Danish adventurer during the Age of Revolution. During the action of 2 March 1808, his ship was captured by the British. In 1809 he sailed to Iceland, declared the country independent from Denmark–Norway and pronounced himself its ruler. He intended to found a new republic, following the examples of the United States and the French First Republic. He was also a prolific writer of letters, papers, pamphlets and newspaper articles covering a wide variety of subjects, and for a period was an associate of the famous botanists Joseph Banks and William Jackson Hooker. He left over a hundred written autographs and drawings, most of which are collected in the British Library. Marcus Clarke referred to Jørgensen as "a singularly accomplished fortune wooer—one of the most interesting human comets recorded in history".
Minh Mạng, Vietnamese emperor (born 1791)
Minh Mạng, also known as Minh Mệnh, was the second emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam, reigning from 14 February 1820 until his death, on 20 January 1841. He was the fourth son of Emperor Gia Long, whose eldest son, Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh, had died in 1801. He was well known for his opposition to French involvement in Vietnam, completing the final Vietnamese conquest of Champa, temporary annexation of Cambodia, and his rigid Confucian orthodoxy.
20/01/1837
John Soane, English architect, designed the Bank of England (born 1753)
Sir John Soane was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to the top of his profession, becoming professor of architecture at the Royal Academy and an official architect to the Office of Works. He received a knighthood in 1831.
20/01/1819
Charles IV, Spanish king (born 1748)
Charles IV was King of Spain and ruler of the Spanish Empire from 1788 to 1808.
20/01/1810
Benjamin Chew, American lawyer and judge (born 1721)
Benjamin Chew was an American lawyer and judge who served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania and later the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Born into a Quaker family, Chew was known for precision and brevity in his legal arguments and his excellent memory, judgment, and knowledge of statutory law. His primary allegiance was to the supremacy of law and the constitution.
20/01/1779
David Garrick, English actor, producer, playwright, and manager (born 1717)
David Garrick was an English actor who wrote, produced and influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Samuel Johnson. He appeared in several amateur theatricals, and with his appearance in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard III, audiences and managers began to take notice.
20/01/1770
Charles Yorke, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (born 1722)
Charles Yorke PC was a British lawyer and politician who briefly served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. His father was also Lord Chancellor, and he began his career as a Member of Parliament. He served successively as Solicitor-General and Attorney-General for several governments, during which he was best known for writing what became the Quebec Act. He was appointed Lord Chancellor over his objections, but he committed suicide only three days after taking the post.
20/01/1751
John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (born 1665)
John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol was an English Whig politician.
20/01/1709
François de la Chaise, French priest (born 1624)
François de la Chaise, also known as Père Lachaise, was a French Jesuit priest, the father confessor of King Louis XIV of France.
20/01/1707
Humphrey Hody, English scholar and theologian (born 1659)
Humphrey Hody was an English scholar and theologian.
20/01/1666
Anne of Austria, Queen and regent of France (born 1601)
Anne of Austria was Queen of France from 1615 to 1643 by marriage to King Louis XIII. She was also Queen of Navarre until the kingdom's annexation into the French crown in 1620. After her husband's death, Anne was regent to her son Louis XIV during his minority until 1651.
20/01/1663
Isaac Ambrose, English minister and author (born 1604)
Isaac Ambrose was an English Puritan divine. He graduated with a BA from Brasenose College, Oxford, on 1624. He obtained the curacy of St Edmund’s Church, Castleton, Derbyshire, in 1627. He was one of king's four preachers in Lancashire in 1631. He was twice imprisoned by commissioners of array. He worked for the establishment of Presbyterianism; successively at Leeds, Preston, and Garstang, whence he was ejected for nonconformity in 1662. He also published religious works.
20/01/1612
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1552)
Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia, King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the House of Habsburg.
20/01/1568
Myles Coverdale, English bishop and translator (born 1488)
Myles Coverdale, first name also spelt Miles, was an English ecclesiastical reformer chiefly known as a Bible translator, preacher, hymnist and, briefly, Bishop of Exeter (1551–1553). In 1535, Coverdale produced the first printed translation of the full Bible into Early Modern English, completing the translations of William Tyndale.
20/01/1479
John II, king of Sicily (born 1398)
John II, called the Great or the Faithless, was King of Aragon from 1458 until his death in 1479. As the husband of Queen Blanche I of Navarre, he was King of Navarre from 1425 to 1479. John was also King of Sicily from 1458 to 1468.
20/01/1343
Robert, king of Naples (born 1275)
Robert of Anjou, known as Robert the Wise, was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Italian politics of his time. He was the third son of King Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, and during his father's lifetime he was styled Duke of Calabria (1296–1309).
20/01/1336
John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford (born 1306)
John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford was born in St Clement's, Oxford to Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, a daughter of Edward I of England.
20/01/1265
John Maunsell, English Lord Chancellor
John Mansel, Provost of Beverley Minster, was a king's clerk and a judge. He was the leading administrator and councillor to King Henry III.
20/01/1191
Frederick VI, duke of Swabia (born 1167)
Frederick VI of Hohenstaufen was Duke of Swabia from 1170 until his death at the siege of Acre.
Theobald V, count of Blois (born 1130)
Theobald V of Blois, also known as Theobald the Good, was Count of Blois from 1151 to 1191.
20/01/1189
Shi Zong, Chinese emperor of Jin (born 1123)
Emperor Shizong of Jin, personal name Wulu, sinicised name Wanyan Yong, was the fifth emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. Ruling from 1161 to 1189 under the era name "Dading", Emperor Shizong's reign was the longest and most stable among the Jin emperors.
20/01/1156
Henry, English bishop and saint
Henry was a medieval English clergyman. He came to Sweden with Cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare in 1153 and was most likely designated to be the new Archbishop of Uppsala, but the independent church province of Sweden could only be established in 1164 after the civil war, and Henry would have been sent to organize the Church in Finland, where Christians had already existed for two centuries.
20/01/1095
Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester
Wulfstan was an English Benedictine monk who served as Bishop of Worcester from 1062 to 1095. He was the last surviving pre-Norman Conquest bishop. Wulfstan is revered as a saint in the Catholic and Anglican churches.
20/01/1029
Heonae, Korean queen and regent (born 964)
Queen Heonae of the Hwangju Hwangbo clan, or formally called Grand Queen Dowager Heonae, was a Goryeo royal family member as the second and oldest daughter of Wang Uk, and younger sister of King Seongjong who became a queen consort through her marriage with her half first cousin, King Gyeongjong as his third wife. After his death, she served as a regent from 997 to 1009 as regent of her son, King Mokjong. From this marriage, Queen Heonae became the third Goryeo queen who adopted her maternal clan's surname after Queen Heonui, her half first cousin. She is better known as Queen Dowager Cheonchu.
20/01/0928
Zhao Guangfeng, Chinese official and chancellor
Zhao Guangfeng (趙光逢), courtesy name Yanji (延吉), formally the Duke of Qi (齊公), was an official in the late Chinese dynasty Tang dynasty and the succeeding Later Liang of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, serving as a chancellor during Later Liang.
20/01/0924
Li Jitao, Chinese general of Later Tang
Li Jitao, nickname Liude (留得), was a Chinese military general and politician of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period states Jin, Later Liang, and Jin's successor state Later Tang. His father Li Sizhao, as an adoptive cousin of Jin's prince Li Cunxu, was an honored major general for Jin, but after Li Sizhao's death, Li Jitao took over Li Sizhao's territory and turned his allegiance to Jin's archrival Later Liang. After Later Tang conquered Later Liang, Emperor Zhuangzong was initially inclined to spare Li Jitao, but later found that he was still plotting against imperial governance, and therefore had him executed.
20/01/0882
Louis the Younger, king of the East Frankish Kingdom
Louis the Younger, sometimes called Louis the Saxon or Louis III, was the second of three sons of king Louis the German and queen Hemma, with his brothers being the elder Carloman and younger Charles. They all succeeded their father as kings in Eastern Francia on 28 August 876, in accordance with the prearranged partition, with Carloman ruling over Bavaria and the Pannonian March, Louis over Franconia, Saxony and Thuringia, and Charles over Alamannia. Louis and Charles also jointly ruled over eastern parts of Lotharingia. In 879-880, Louis acquired the western part of Lotharingia. In 880, Carloman died and his realm was inherited by Louis. By 881, the youngest brother Charles secured rule over Italy, and was crowned as emperor. Louis died in 882, without legitimate descendants, and was succeeded in all his territories, which encompassed most of East Francia, by his brother Charles.
20/01/0842
Theophilos, Byzantine emperor (born 813)
Theophilos was Byzantine Emperor from 829 until his death in 842. He was the second emperor of the Amorian dynasty and the last emperor to support iconoclasm.
20/01/0820
Al-Shafi‘i, Arab scholar and jurist (born 767)
Al-Shafi'i was a Muslim scholar, jurist, muhaddith, traditionist, theologian, ascetic, and eponym of the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence. He is known to be the first to write a book upon the principles of Islamic jurisprudence, having authored one of the earliest work on the subject: al-Risala. His legacy and teaching on the matter provided it with a systematic form, thereby "fundamentally influencing the succeeding generations which are under his direct and obvious impact," and "beginning a new phase of the development of legal theory."
20/01/0640
Eadbald, king of Kent
Eadbald was King of Kent from 616 until his death in 640. He was the son of King Æthelberht and his wife Bertha, a daughter of the Merovingian king Charibert. Æthelberht made Kent the dominant force in England during his reign and became the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to Christianity from Anglo-Saxon paganism. Eadbald's accession was a significant setback for the growth of the church, since he retained his people's paganism and did not convert to Christianity for at least a year, and perhaps for as many as eight years. He was ultimately converted by either Laurentius or Justus, and separated from his first wife, who had been his stepmother, at the insistence of the church. Eadbald's second wife was Emma, who may have been a Frankish princess. They had two sons, Eormenred and Eorcenberht, and a daughter, Eanswith.
Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 20th January
Armed Forces Day (Mali)
This is a list of public holidays in Mali.
Army Day (Laos)
An Armed Forces Day, alongside its branch-specific variants often referred to as Army or Soldier's Day, Navy or Sailor's Day, and Air Force or Aviator's Day, is a holiday dedicated to honoring the armed forces, or one of their branches, of a sovereign state, including their personnel, history, achievements, and sacrifices. It's often patriotic or nationalistic in nature, carrying information value outside of the conventional boundaries of a military's subculture and into the wider civilian society. Many nations around the world observe this day. It is usually distinct from a Veterans or Memorial Day, as the former is dedicated to those who previously served and the latter is dedicated to those who perished in the fulfillment of their duties.
Christian feast day: Abadios
Jacobite Arab Synaxarium or Synaxaire Arabe-Jacobite is a volume containing biographies of several saints and it utilized by the Syriac Orthodox Church. It was initially published into French in 1904 in the Patrologia Orientalis by René Basset. This is not to be confused with the Coptic Synaxarium, as some of the hagiographies noted appear identical and they both utilize the Egyptian Calendar. Variations have been found with additional Nubian Church material in them, albeit in fragmentary form. Some of these saints include:Abadios, a martyr of the Christian church. He was born at Bilgai in Egypt. He was a native soldier of the army who professed his faith in Jesus Christ during the reign of Diocletian at Khalakhis. He was martyred by being thrown into a rock. His feast day is on January 20.Abakuh, another martyr of the Christian church. He was born at Bamujeh in the Al Fayyum area of Egypt. He was a zealous Christian who was martyred for his Christianity with eight companions. His feast day is January 23. He is referenced in the Synaxaire Arabe-Jacobite.
Christian feast day: Blessed Basil Moreau
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".
Christian feast day: Eustochia Smeralda Calafato
Eustochia Smeralda Calafato is a Franciscan Italian saint belonging to the Order of the Poor Clares. She is co-patroness of Messina, which is also the centre of her cultus.
Christian feast day: Euthymius the Great
Euthymius the Great was an abbot in Palestine. He is venerated in both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Christian feast day: Fabian
Pope Fabian was the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church from 10 January 236 until his death on 20 January 250, succeeding Anterus. A dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit's unexpected choice to become the next pope. He was succeeded by Cornelius.
Christian feast day: Manchán of Lemanaghan
Saint Manchán mac Silláin, Manchianus in Latin sources, is the name of an early Irish saint, patron of Liath Mancháin, now Lemanaghan, in County Offaly. He is not to be confused with the scholar Manchán or Manchéne, abbot of Min Droichit . There are variant traditions concerning the saint's pedigree, possibly owing to confusion with one of several churchmen named Manchán or Mainchín. The most reliable genealogy makes him a son of Sillán son of Conall, who is said be a descendant of Rudraige Mór of Ulster, and names his mother Mella.
Christian feast day: Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando
Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando, born Adelaida Brando, was an Italian saint, nun and the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters, Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, an international teaching institute. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 27 April 2003, and canonized by Pope Francis on 17 May 2015.
Christian feast day: Richard Rolle (Church of England)
Richard Rolle was an English hermit, mystic, and religious writer. He is also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since at the end of his life he lived near a Cistercian nunnery in Hampole, now in South Yorkshire. In many ways, he can be considered the first English author due to the reported influence of his vernacular works starting soon after his death and continuing for centuries. Indeed, until the nineteenth century northern English medieval religious texts were regularly mis-attributed to him because of his ongoing authority.
Christian feast day: Sebastian
Sebastian was an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Diocletianic Persecution of Christians. He was initially tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, though this did not kill him. He was, according to tradition, rescued and healed by Irene of Rome, which became a popular subject in 17th-century painting. In all versions of the story, shortly after his recovery he went to Diocletian to warn him about his sins, and as a result he was clubbed to death. He is venerated in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church as the patron saint of athletics, archery, and plagues.
Christian feast day: Stephen Min Kuk-ka (one of The Korean Martyrs)
Stephen Min Kuk-ka was a Korean Roman Catholic saint. He was martyred by strangulation after refusing to deny his faith. His feast day is January 20, and he is also venerated along with the rest of the 103 Korean martyrs on September 20.
Christian feast day: January 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
January 19 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - January 21.
Heroes' Day (Cape Verde)
This is a list of holidays in Cape Verde.
Martyrs' Day (Azerbaijan)
There are several public holidays in Azerbaijan. Public holidays were regulated in the constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR for the first time on 19 May 1921. They are now regulated by the Constitution of Azerbaijan.
Presidential inaugurations (United States)
Between seventy-three and seventy-nine days after the presidential election, the president-elect of the United States is inaugurated as president by taking the presidential oath of office. The inauguration takes place for each new presidential term, even if the president is continuing in office for another term.
What Happened on 20th January?
40 significant events took place on Thursday, 20th January — stretching from 250 to 2018. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.
20/01/2018
A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.
On 20 January 2018, a group of four or five gunmen attacked the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack left 40 people dead including 14 foreigners, while 14 others were injured.
Syrian civil war: The Government of Turkey announces the initiation of the Afrin offensive and begins shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Afrin Region.
The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring. The Assad regime responded to the protests with lethal force, which led to a series of defections, the emergence of armed opposition groups, and the civilian uprising descending into a civil war. The war lasted almost 14 years and culminated in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Many sources regard this as the end of the civil war even though clashes have continued into 2026.
20/01/2009
A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.
Iceland is a Nordic island country between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Europe and North America. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the region's westernmost and most sparsely populated country. Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which is home to about 35% of the country's roughly 395,000 residents. The official language of the country is Icelandic. Iceland is on a rift between tectonic plates, and its geologic activity includes geysers and frequent volcanic eruptions. The interior consists of a volcanic plateau with sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, and many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a temperate climate, despite being at a latitude just south of the Arctic Circle. Its latitude and marine influence keep summers chilly, and most of its islands have a polar climate.
20/01/2001
President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent four-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
President of the Philippines is the title of the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
20/01/1992
Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board.
Air Inter Flight 148 was a scheduled passenger flight from Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport to Strasbourg Airport in France. On 20 January 1992, the Airbus A320 operating the flight crashed into the slopes of the Vosges Mountains in Eastern France, near Mont Sainte-Odile, while on a non-precision approach to Strasbourg Airport. A total of 87 of the 96 people on board were killed, while the remaining 9 were all injured.
20/01/1991
Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 51.8 million people as of 2025 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it Africa's third-largest country by area. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum.
20/01/1990
Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Black January, also known as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent crackdown on anti-Soviet and anti-Armenian sentiments, Azerbaijani nationalism, and irredentism in Baku on the 19th and 20th of January, 1990, as part of a state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
20/01/1986
In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday in the United States observed on the third Monday of January each year. King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which protested legalized racial discrimination in federal and state law and civil society. The movement led to several groundbreaking legislative reforms in the United States.
Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Lesotho, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by General Justin Lekhanya.
Joseph Leabua Jonathan was the first prime minister of Lesotho. He succeeded Chief Sekhonyana Nehemia Maseribane following a by-election and held that post from 1965 to 1986.
20/01/1981
Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he became an important figure in the American conservative movement. The period encompassing his presidency is known as the Reagan era.
20/01/1974
China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam.
The Paracel Islands, also known as the Xisha Islands and the Hoàng Sa Archipelago, are an archipelago in the South China Sea, under the control of the People's Republic of China, but its sovereignty in whole or in part is disputed.
20/01/1973
Amílcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is assassinated in Conakry, Guinea.
Amílcar Lopes Cabral was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, political organizer, diplomat, and half-brother of Luís Cabral. He was widely remembered as one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders. He was also a pan-Africanist and intellectual nationalist revolutionary poet.
20/01/1972
Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
Pakistan is one of nine states that possess nuclear weapons. Pakistan is not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Pakistan's arsenal is estimated at 170 nuclear weapons as of 2025. Pakistan carried out two nuclear tests, Chagai-I and Chagai-II, both in 1998 and underground.
20/01/1954
In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
The National Negro Network was a black-oriented radio programming service in the United States founded on January 20, 1954 by Chicago advertiser W. Leonard Evans, Jr. It was the first black-owned radio network in the country, and its programming was broadcast on up to 45 affiliates. An article in the trade publication Broadcasting said that the network was expected "to reach approximately 12 million of the 15 million Negroes in America."
20/01/1945
World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.
Béla Miklós de Dálnok, Vitéz of Dálnok was a Hungarian military officer and politician who served as acting Prime Minister of Hungary, at first in opposition, and then officially, from 1944 to 1945. He was the last Prime Minister of war-time Hungary.
World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
Nazi Germany, officially the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and the German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945, after 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin, ending World War II in Europe.
20/01/1942
World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question".
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
20/01/1941
A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.
Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.71 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 2.31 million residents, which makes Bucharest the 9th most-populous city by population within city limits in the European Union. The city has an area of 240 km2 (93 sq mi), while the metropolitan area covers 1,811 km2 (699 sq mi). The city proper is administratively known as the "Municipality of Bucharest", and has the same administrative level as that of a national county, being further subdivided into six sectors, each governed by a local mayor. Bucharest is a major cultural, political and economic hub, the country's seat of government, and the capital of the Muntenia region. It is an enclave completely surrounded by Ilfov County.
20/01/1921
The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die.
HMS K5 was one of the K-class submarines that served in the Royal Navy from 1917–1921. She was lost with all hands when she sank en route to a mock battle in the Bay of Biscay.
The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
The Constitution of 1921 was the fundamental law of Turkey for a brief period from 1921 to 1924. The first constitution of the modern Turkish state, it was ratified by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in January 1921. It was a simple document consisting of only 23 short articles. In October 1923 the constitution was amended to declare Turkey to be a republic. In April the following year the constitution was replaced by an entirely new document, the Constitution of 1924.
20/01/1909
Newly formed automaker General Motors (GM) buys into the Oakland Motor Car Company, which later becomes GM's long-running Pontiac division.
General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing four automobile brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac, each a separate division of GM. By total sales, it has continuously been the largest automaker in the United States, and was the largest in the world for 77 years before losing the title to Toyota in 2008.
20/01/1887
The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, and the U.S. House of Representatives is the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the Constitution to make and pass or defeat federal legislation.
20/01/1877
The last day of the Constantinople Conference results in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
The 1876–77 Constantinople Conference of the Great Powers was held in Constantinople from 23 December 1876 until 20 January 1877. Following the beginning of the Herzegovinian Uprising in 1875 and the April Uprising in April 1876, the Great Powers agreed on a project for political reforms in Bosnia and in the Ottoman territories with a majority-Bulgarian population. The Ottoman Empire refused the proposed reforms, leading to the Russo-Turkish War a few months later.
20/01/1874
The Treaty of Pangkor is signed between the British and Sultan Abdullah of Perak, paving the way for further British colonization of Malaya.
The Pangkor Treaty of 1874 was a treaty signed between Great Britain and the Sultan of Perak on 20 January 1874, on the Colonial Steamer Pluto, off the coast of Perak. The treaty is significant in the history of the Malay states as it legitimised British control of the Malay rulers and paved the way for British imperialism in Malaya. It was the result of a multi-day conference organised by Andrew Clarke, the Governor of the Straits Settlements, to solve two problems: the Larut War, and Sultanship in Perak.
20/01/1841
Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British during the First Opium War.
Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, has a land area of approximately 78.59 square kilometres (30.34 sq mi) and a population of 1,289,500 with a population density of 16,390 per square kilometre (42,400/sq mi), as of 2023. It is the second largest island in Hong Kong, with the largest being Lantau Island. Hong Kong Island forms one of the three areas of Hong Kong, with the other two being Kowloon and the New Territories.
20/01/1839
In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.
The Battle of Yungay was the final battle of the War of the Confederation, fought on January 20, 1839, near Yungay, Peru. The United Restoration Army, led by Chilean General Manuel Bulnes, consisting mainly of Chileans and 600 North Peruvian dissidents, attacked the Peru-Bolivian Confederation forces led by Andrés de Santa Cruz in northern Peru, 200 kilometers (120 mi) north of Lima.
20/01/1788
The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, beginning the British colonization of Australia. Arthur Phillip decides that Port Jackson is a more suitable location for a colony.
The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessels, three storeships and six convict transports under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. On 13 May 1787, the ships, with over 1,400 convicts, marines, sailors, colonial officials, and free settlers onboard, left Portsmouth and travelled over 24,000 kilometres and over 250 days before arriving in Botany Bay, New South Wales, on 18 January 1788. Governor Arthur Phillip rejected Botany Bay, choosing instead Port Jackson to the north as the site for the new colony; the Fleet arrived there on 26 January 1788. The Fleet established the Colony of New South Wales as a penal colony; the first British settlement in Australia.
20/01/1785
Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
The Rattanakosin Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Siam after 1855, refers to the Siamese kingdom between 1782 and 1932. It was founded in 1782 with the establishment of Rattanakosin (Bangkok), which replaced the city of Thonburi as the capital of Siam. This article covers the period until the Siamese revolution of 1932.
20/01/1783
The Kingdom of Great Britain signs preliminary articles of peace with the Kingdom of France, setting the stage for the official end of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War later that year.
Great Britain, officially the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The unitary state was governed by a single parliament at the Palace of Westminster, but the distinct legal systems—English law and Scots law—remained in use, as did distinct educational systems and religious institutions, namely the Church of England and the Church of Scotland remaining as the national churches of England and Scotland respectively.
20/01/1726
J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen (My sighs, my tears), BWV 13, for the second Sunday after Epiphany.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers of classical music.
20/01/1649
The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings.
The trial of Charles I took place in January 1649, marking the first time a reigning monarch was tried and executed by his own subjects. Following years of conflict during the English Civil War, which pitted the Royalists loyal to Charles I against the Parliamentarians seeking to limit his powers, the king was captured by Parliamentary forces in 1646.
20/01/1576
The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
León, officially León de Los Aldama, is the most populous city and municipal seat of the municipality of León in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. In the 2020 census, INEGI reported 1,579,803 people living in the city of León and 1,721,215 in the municipality, making it the fourth-most populous city and third-most populous municipality in Mexico. The metropolitan area of León recorded a population of 2,140,094 in the 2020 state census, making it the seventh most populous metropolitan area in Mexico. León is part of the macroregion of the Bajío within the Mexican Plateau, located roughly in the center of the country.
20/01/1567
Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.
The Battle of Rio de Janeiro or the Battle of Guanabara Bay took place on 20 January 1567 at Rio de Janeiro that ended with the definitive defeat of the French. Specifically, the battle was an attack on the fortification of Uruçú-mirim. The Portuguese commander, Estácio de Sá, was hit by an arrow which perforated his eye, and died on 20 February.
20/01/1523
Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
Christian II, a monarch under the Kalmar Union, reigned as King of Denmark and Norway from 1513 until 1523. He was briefly King of Sweden from 1520 until 1521. As king of Denmark and Norway, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig and Holstein in joint rule with his uncle Frederick.
20/01/1401
The Taula de canvi (Catalan: "Table of change"), described as Europe's first-ever public bank, began operations inside Barcelona's Llotja de Mar.
The Taula de canvi of Barcelona, created in 1401 and still extant in diminished form in the 19th century, was a municipal bank in Barcelona that has been described as the first-ever central bank. A Taula de canvi, also Taula de cambi or simply Taula, was a type of municipal public bank that existed in the Crown of Aragon in the late Middle Ages and early modern period.
20/01/1356
Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension.
Edward Balliol or Edward de Balliol was a claimant to the Scottish throne during the Second War of Scottish Independence. With English help, he ruled parts of the kingdom from 1332 to 1356.
20/01/1320
Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
Władysław I Łokietek, in English known as the "Elbow-high" or Ladislaus the Short, was King of Poland from 1320 to 1333, and duke of several of the provinces and principalities in the preceding years. He was a member of the royal Piast dynasty, the son of Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia, and great-grandson of High-Duke Casimir II the Just.
20/01/1265
The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament".
Simon de Montfort's Parliament was an English parliament held from 20 January 1265 until mid-March of the same year, called by Simon de Montfort, a baronial rebel leader.
20/01/1156
Finnish peasant Lalli kills English clergyman Henry, the Bishop of Turku, on the ice of Lake Köyliö.
Lalli is an apocryphal character from Finnish history and one of the most well-known figures in Finnish medieval legend. According to tradition, he was a prosperous yeoman farmer who killed Bishop Henry, who was spreading Christianity to then pagan Finland, on the ice of lake Köyliönjärvi on 20 January in the late 1150s.
20/01/0250
Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
Pope Fabian was the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church from 10 January 236 until his death on 20 January 250, succeeding Anterus. A dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit's unexpected choice to become the next pope. He was succeeded by Cornelius.