August 20

2024 Calendar

August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 133 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

2 – Lucius Caesar, heir of Augustus Caesar (b. 17 BC)
14 – Agrippa Postumus, Roman son of Marcus Vespasianus Agrippa and Julia the Elder (b. 12 BC)
480 – Leonidas I of Sparta
768 – Eadberht of Northumbria
984 – Pope John XIV
1153 – Bernard of Clairvaux, French theologian (b. 1090)
1384 – Geert Groote, Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life (b. 1340)
1572 – Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (b.1502)
1580 – Jeronymo Osorio, Portuguese historian (b. 1506)
1611 – Tomás Luis de Victoria, Spanish composer (b. in the 1500s)
1639 – Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (b. 1597)
1643 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (b. 1591)
1648 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (b. 1583)
1672 – Johan de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1625)
1672 – Cornelius de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1623)
1680 – William Bedloe, English informer (b. 1650)
1701 – Charles Sedley, English playwright (b. in the 1600s)
1707 – Nicolas Gigault, French organist and composer (b. 1627)
1773 – Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (b. 1701)
1823 – Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
1823 – Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (b. 1772)
1854 – Shiranui Dakuemon, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1801)
1854 – Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher (b. 1775)
1887 – Jules Laforgue, French poet (b. 1860)

1901 – 2000

1912 – William Booth, English founder of the Salvation Army (b. 1829)
1914 – Pope Pius X (b. 1835)
1915 – Paul Ehrlich, German doctor, won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, (b. 1854)
1917 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
1919 – Greg MacGregor, Scottish cricketer and rugby player (b. 1869)
1930 – Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer and umpire (b. 1851)
1942 – Istvan Horthy, Hungarian admiral (b. 1904)
1947 – Albert Henderson, Canadian soccer player (b. 1881)
1961 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
1965 – Jonathan Daniels, American activist (b. 1939)
1979 – Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and writer (b. 1922)
1980 – Joe Dassin, American singer (b. 1938)
1982 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (b. 1929)
1986 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet (b. 1923)
1993 – Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher (b. 1912)
1995 – Hugo Pratt, Italian author and illustrator (b. 1927)
1996 – Rio Reiser, German rock musician (b. 1950)

From 2001

2001 – Sir Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and science fiction writer (b. 1915)
2005 – Thomas Herrion, American football player (b. 1981)
2005 – Krzysztof Raczkowski, Polish drummer (b. 1970)
2006 – Claude Blanchard, French-Canadian singer, comedian and actor (b. 1932)
2006 – Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (b. 1912)
2008 – Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the Chinese Communist party (b. 1921)
2008 – Gene Upshaw, American football player and union leader (b. 1945)
2012 – Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedienne (b. 1917)
2012 – Virginia Dwyer, American actress (b. 1919)
2012 – Dom Mintoff, former Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1916)
2012 – Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia and ex-President of Ethiopia (b. 1955)
2013 – Elmore Leonard, American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1925)
2013 – Ted Post, American director (b. 1919)
2013 – Marian McPartland, British-American jazz pianist (b. 1918)
2014 – B. K. S. Iyengar, Indian yoga teacher and author (b. 1918)
2014 – Boris Dubin, Russian sociologist and translator (b. 1946)
2014 – Anton Buslov, Russian scientist and blogger (b. 1983)
2014 – Sava Stojkov, Serbian painter (b. 1925)
2014 – Edmund Szoka, American cardinal (b. 1927)
2015 – Lev Durov, Russian actor (b. 1931)
2015 – Lina Morgan, Spanish actress and playwright (b. 1937)
2015 – Harry Volkman, American meteorologist (b. 1926)
2017 – Margot Hielscher, German singer and actress (b. 1919)
2017 – Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (b. 1926)
2017 – Colin Meads, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1936)
2017 – Nati Mistral, Spanish actress (b. 1928)
2017 – Wilhelm Killmayer, German composer and conductor (b. 1927)
2017 – Gordon M. Williams, Scottish writer (b. 1934)
2018 – John N. Abrams, American general (b. 1946)
2018 – Uri Avnery, Israeli peace activist (b. 1923)
2018 – Jimmy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1931)
2018 – Eddie Willis, American guitarist (b. 1936)
2019 – Rudolf Hundstorfer, Austrian politician (b. 1951)
2019 – John H. McArthur, Canadian-American theorist (b. 1934)
2019 – Larry Siegel, American comedy writer (b. 1925)

Births

1901 – 1950

1901 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer (d. 1968)
1905 – Jack Teagarden, jazz musician (d. 1964)
1905 – Jean Gebser, writer, linguist, and poet (d. 1973)
1906 – Vidrik Bootare, Estonian chess player (d. 1981)
1908 – Al Lopez, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1910 – Eero Saarinen, Finnish architect (d. 1961)
1913 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist (d. 1994)
1918 – Jacqueline Susann, novelist (d. 1974)
1919 – Walter Bernstein, American screenwriter and film producer
1919 – Thomas G. Morris, American politician (d. 2016)
1920 – George Zuverink, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1921 – Ursula B. Marvin, American planetary geologist (d. 2018)
1923 – Jim Reeves, American country singer (d. 1964)
1927 – Peter Oakley, English blogger (d. 2014)
1928 – Luciano De Crescenzo, Italian writer, actor and director (d. 2019)
1930 – Jan Olszewski, Polish politician (d. 2019)
1931 – Don King, American boxing promoter
1932 – Anthony Ainley, British actor (d. 2004)
1932 – Vasily Aksyonov, Russian writer (d. 2009)
1933 – George J. Mitchell, American politician and businessman
1934 – Armi Kuusela, Finnish model
1935 – Ron Paul, American politician
1936 – Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize, laureate
1937 – Stelvio Cipriani, Italian composer (d. 2018)
1937 – Andrei Konchalovsky, Russian movie director
1937 – Jim Bowen, English comedian and television personality (d. 2018)
1937 – Sky Saxon, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2009)
1939 – Javier Usabiaga Arroyo, Mexican businessman and politician (d. 2018)
1939 – Fernando Poe, Jr., Filipino movie actor and politician (d. 2004)
1940 – Rubén Hinojosa, American politician
1940 – Ronnie McKinnon, Scottish footballer
1941 – Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia and Yugoslavia (d. 2006)
1942 – Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor (d. 2008)
1943 – Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor
1944 – Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1991)
1944 – José Wilker, Brazilian television director and actor (d. 2014)
1946 – Ralf Hütter, German musician (Kraftwerk)
1946 – Ryszard Czerniawski, Polish lawyer and economist (d. 2019)
1946 – Laurent Fabius, French politician
1946 – Connie Chung, American journalist
1946 – N.R. Narayana Murthy, Indian businessman
1948 – Robert Plant, British singer (Led Zeppelin)
1948 – Kees van Kooten, Dutch footballer (d. 2015)
1949 – Phil Lynott, Irish musician (d. 1986)

1951 – 1975

1951 – Greg Bear, American science fiction writer
1952 – John Hiatt, musician
1954 – Al Roker, American television broadcaster
1954 – Don Stark, American actor
1955 – Danny Murphy, American actor (d. 2014)
1955 – Agnes Chan, singer, professor of education, essayist
1955 – Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, English politician
1956 – Joan Allen, actress
1956 – Roberto Regazzi, Italian violin maker
1958 – Nigel Dodds, Northern Irish politician of the Democratic Unionist Party
1960 – Annabelle Ewing, Scottish politician
1961 – Joe Pasquale, English comedian
1961 – Steve McMahon, English footballer
1962 – James Marsters, American actor
1962 – Sophie Aldred, English voice actress
1963 – Riccardo Ferri, Italian footballer
1964 – Giuseppe Giannini, Italian footballer and coach
1965 – KRS-One (Lawrence Krisna Parker), American rapper
1966 – Dimebag Darrell Abbott, American lead guitar player in Pantera, heavy metal band
1966 – Enrico Letta, former Prime Minister of Italy
1966 – Markus Gandler, Austrian skier
1968 – Yuri Shiratori, Japanese seiyū
1968 – Klas Ingesson, Swedish footballer (d. 2014)
1970 – John Carmack, computer game programmer
1970 – Fred Durst, American singer
1971 – Jonathan Ke Quan, American actor
1971 – David Walliams, British actor and comedian (Little Britain)
1973 – Todd Helton, American baseball player
1974 – Amy Adams, American actress
1974 – Misha Collins, American actor
1974 – Big Moe, American rapper (d. 2007)

From 1976

1976 – Chris Drury, American ice hockey player
1977 – Ivar Ingimarsson, Icelandic footballer
1977 – Stéphane Gillet, Luxembourgish footballer
1977 – Felipe Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
1977 – Manuel Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
1978 – Neco Martínez, Colombian footballer
1979 – Jamie Cullum, British musician
1979 – Cory Sullivan, American baseball player
1981 – Bernard Mendy, French footballer
1982 – Joshua Kennedy, Australian footballer
1983 – Yuri Zhirkov, Russian footballer
1983 – Andrew Garfield, British-American actor
1985 – Alvaro Negredo, Spanish footballer
1985 – Stephen Ward, Irish footballer
1988 – Jerryd Bayless, American basketball player
1990 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Dutch swimmer
1990 – Leigh Griffiths, Scottish footballer
1991 – Cory Joseph, American basketball player
1992 – Demi Lovato, American singer and actress
1995 – Liana Liberato, American actress

Deaths

Observances

Saint Stephen's Day (Hungary), commemorating the founding of the Kingdom of Hungary in the year 1000
Regaining of Independence (Estonia)
World Mosquito Day