March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). There are 286 days remaining.
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Events
- 1413 – Henry V becomes King of England.
- 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is established.
- 1739 – Nadir Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
- 1760 – The "Great Fire" of Boston destroys 349 buildings.
- 1815 – Napoleon enters Paris after escaping from Elba with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
- 1848 – King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
- 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.
- 1883 – Signature of Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
- 1899 – At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place becomes the first woman executed in an electric chair.
- 1904 – Aleister Crowley invokes Horus in Egypt and declares the start of the New Aeon known as the Aeon Of The Crowned And Conquering Child.
- 1913 – Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese nationalist party (KMT), is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
- 1914 – In New Haven, Connecticut, the first international figure skating championship takes place.
- 1916 – Albert Einstein publishes his theory of relativity.
- 1922 – The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
- 1933 – Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed.
- 1942 – General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".
- 1952 – The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
- 1956 – Tunisia gains independence from France.
- 1964 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
- 1965 – In Naples, Italy, France Gall wins the tenth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Poup饠de cire, poup饠de son" (Wax doll, talking doll).
- 1966 – The World Cup is stolen from Central Hall, London
- 1969 – In Gibraltar, John Lennon and Yoko Ono get married.
- 1974 – A failed kidnap attempt is made on Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and her husband Captain Mark Phillips in The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, London.
- 1976 – Patty Hearst is found guilty of the armed robbery of a San Francisco, California bank.
- 1979 – REXX programming language created
- 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod dog sled race.
- 1986 – Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1987 – The Food and Drug Administration approves anti-AIDS drug AZT.
- 1990 – Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
- 1993 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in Warrington, northwest England, killing two children.
- 1995 – Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway killing 12 and wounding 1300 persons.
- 1996 – In Los Angeles, California, Erik Menendez and Lyle Menendez are found guilty of first-degree murder for the shotgun killing of their parents.
- 2000 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after a gun battle that leaves a Georgia sheriff's deputy dead.
- 2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries begin military operations in Iraq.
- 2005 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, its first major quake in over 100 years. One person is killed, hundreds are injured and evacuated.
Births
- 43 BC - Ovid, Roman poet
- 1770 - Friedrich H?rlin, German writer (d. 1843)
- 1811 - Napoleon II of France, (d. 1832)
- 1823 - Ned Buntline, publisher, writer, and publicist, (d. 1886)
- 1828 - Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer (d. 1906)
- 1831 - Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (d. 1881)
- 1834 - Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, (d. 1926)
- 1836 - Sir Edward Poynter, painter (d. 1919)
- 1856 - Frederick Winslow Taylor, inventor and efficiency expert (d. 1915)
- 1870 - Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (d. 1964)
- 1874 - B?es von M?usen, German poet (d. 1945)
- 1890 - Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (d. 1957)
- 1890 - Lauritz Melchior, opera singer (d. 1973)
- 1895 - Fredric Wertham, psychologist (d. 1981)
- 1897 - Ruby Muhammad, American matriarch of Black Islam
- 1903 - Edgar Buchanan, American actor (d. 1979)
- 1904 - B. F. Skinner, behavioral psychologist (d. 1990)
- 1906 - Ozzie Nelson, actor and band leader (d. 1975)
- 1906 - Abraham Beame, former Mayor of New York City (d. 2001)
- 1908 - Sir Michael Redgrave, actor, (d. 1985)
- 1915 - Rudolf Kirchschl䧥r, President of Austria (d. 2000)
- 1915 - Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1997)
- 1917 - Dame Vera Lynn, actress, singer
- 1918 - Jack Barry, American television host (d. 1984)
- 1918 - Marian McPartland, British jazz musician
- 1920 - Pamela Harriman, British-American socialite and diplomat (d. 1997)
- 1921 - Rudolf Noelte, film director (d. 2002)
- 1921 - Sister Rosetta Tharpe, singer (d. 1973)
- 1922 - Carl Reiner, director, producer, actor, comedian
- 1922 - Ray Goulding, American comedian (d. 1990)
- 1925 - John Ehrlichman, American political figure (d. 1999)
- 1928 - Fred Rogers, children's television host (d. 2003)
- 1931 - Hal Linden, American actor
- 1934 - Willie Brown, Mayor of San Francisco
- 1935 - Ted Bessell, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1936 - Vaughn Meader, American comedian (d. 2004)
- 1937 - Jerry Reed, country musician
- 1939 - Brian Mulroney, eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
- 1943 - Paul Junger Witt, American television producer
- 1945 - Pat Riley, American basketball player and coach
- 1948 - John de Lancie, actor
- 1948 - Bobby Orr, hockey player
- 1949 - Marcia Ball, American blues singer
- 1950 - William Hurt, American actor
- 1950 - Carl Palmer, British musician (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
- 1957 - Spike Lee, American film director and actor
- 1957 - Theresa Russell, American actress
- 1957 - Vanessa Bell Calloway, American actress
- 1958 - Holly Hunter, actress
- 1962 - Stephen Sommers, film director
- 1963 - Kathy Ireland, model and actress
- 1964 - Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer
- 1972 - Alexander Kapranos, singer and guitarist (Franz Ferdinand (band))
- 1974 - Paula Garces, actress
- 1974 - Andrzej Pilipiuk, Polish writer
- 1976 - Chester Bennington, musician (Linkin Park)
- 1979 - Bianca Lawson, American actress
- 1984 - Winta, Norwegian musician
Deaths
- 1413 - King Henry IV of England, (b. 1367)
- 1568 - Albert of Prussia, first duke of Prussia, (b. 1490)
- 1619 - Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor
- 1727 - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist, (b. 1642)
- 1730 - Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (b. 1692)
- 1855 - Joseph Aspdin, inventor of Portland cement (b. 1788)
- 1925 - George Nathaniel Curzon (Lord Curzon), British statesman, (b. 1859)
- 1926 - Princess Louise of Sweden, (b. 1929)
- 1929 - Ferdinand Foch, French commander of allied forces in World War I (b. 1851)
- 1934 - Queen Regent Emma of the Netherlands, (b. 1858)
- 1974 - Chet Huntley, American television journalist
- 1990 - Lev Yashin, Soviet football goalkeeper, (b. 1929)
- 1994 - Lewis Grizzard, American journalist, comedian, actor
- 1997 - Tony Zale, Boxer, (b. 1913)
- 2000 - Gene Eugene, actor, singer, (b. 1961)
- 2003 - Sailor Art Thomas, professional wrestler
- 2004 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, (b. 1909)
- 2005 - Armand Lohikoski, Finnish director, (b. 1912)
Holidays and observances
External links
March 19 – March 21 – February 20 – April 20 -- listing of all days
