Vintage News · Odd history for April 20

What Happened On April 20

Q: What happened on April 20?

1861: Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, attempting to display the value of balloons, makes record journey, flying 900 miles from Cincinnati to South Carolina. 2023: SpaceX's Starship launched for the first time before exploding four minutes into flight. 1939: Billie Holiday (pictured) recorded the song "Strange Fruit", which later became an emblem of the civil rights movement. 2023: SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes four minutes into flight. 2010: The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that lasted six months. 1828: French explorer René Caillié reached Timbuktu in present-day Mali, and later received a 9,000-franc prize from the Société de Géographie for being the first European to return with a description of the city. 1535: Sun dogs were observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring Vädersolstavlan, the oldest coloured depiction of the city. 1828: René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing. He would also be the first to return alive. 1809: Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory. 2008: American racing driver Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar auto race.

49 events and 163 births, refreshed daily. OddlyTrue's own archive for 20 April →

April 19 April 21

10 odd things that happened on April 20

1861 Oddly true
Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, attempting to display the value of balloons, makes record journey, flying 900 miles from Cincinnati to South Carolina.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
2023 First ever
SpaceX's Starship launched for the first time before exploding four minutes into flight.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1939 Weird
Billie Holiday (pictured) recorded the song "Strange Fruit", which later became an emblem of the civil rights movement.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
2023 First ever
SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes four minutes into flight.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
2010 Oddly true
The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that lasted six months.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1828 First ever
French explorer René Caillié reached Timbuktu in present-day Mali, and later received a 9,000-franc prize from the Société de Géographie for being the first European to return with a description of the city.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1535 Oddly true
Sun dogs were observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring Vädersolstavlan, the oldest coloured depiction of the city.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1828 First ever
René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing. He would also be the first to return alive.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1809 First ever
Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
2008 First ever
American racing driver Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar auto race.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Observed today

2023SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes four minutes into flight. Wikipedia →
2021State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin: Derek Chauvin is found guilty of all charges in the murder of George Floyd by the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota. Wikipedia →
2020For the first time in history, oil prices drop below zero, an effect of the 2020 Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war. Wikipedia →
2015Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland. Wikipedia →
2013A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya'an, in China's Sichuan province, killing at least 193 people and injuring thousands. Wikipedia →
2012One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan. Wikipedia →
2010The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that lasted six months. Wikipedia →
2008Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race. Wikipedia →
2007Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips barricades himself with a handgun in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, before killing a male hostage and himself. Wikipedia →
2004The Nicoll Highway in Singapore collapses, killing four workers. Wikipedia →
1999Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 14 people and injure 23 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. Wikipedia →
1998Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board. Wikipedia →
1985University of California, Riverside 1985 laboratory raid: Animal Liberation Front rescues 467 animals being tested in a lab at University of California, Riverside in Riverside, California, causing $700,000 in damages to the laboratory, in advocacy for animal rights. Wikipedia →
1972Apollo program: The Apollo 16 Lunar Module Orion, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the Moon. Wikipedia →
1968English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech. Wikipedia →
1968South African Airways Flight 228 crashes near J.G. Strijdom Airport in South West Africa (now Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia), killing 123 people. Wikipedia →
1961Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba. Wikipedia →
1949Amethyst incident: The People's Liberation Army attacks HMS Amethyst (F116) travelling to the British embassy in Nanjing during the Chinese Civil War. Wikipedia →
1946The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations. Wikipedia →
1945World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union. Wikipedia →
1945World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth. Wikipedia →
1945Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school. Wikipedia →
1922The Soviet government creates the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the Georgian SSR. Wikipedia →
1918World War I: Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day. Wikipedia →
1914Nineteen men, women, and children participating in a strike are killed in the Ludlow Massacre during the Colorado Coalfield War. Wikipedia →
1908Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League. Wikipedia →
1902Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride. Wikipedia →
1898U.S. President William McKinley signs a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War. Wikipedia →
1884Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus, condemning Freemasonry. Wikipedia →
1876The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War. Wikipedia →
1865Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX's yacht, the L'Immaculata Concezion. Wikipedia →
1862Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation. Wikipedia →
1861American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia. Wikipedia →
1861Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, attempting to display the value of balloons, makes record journey, flying 900 miles from Cincinnati to South Carolina. Wikipedia →
1836U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory. Wikipedia →
1828René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing. He would also be the first to return alive. Wikipedia →
1809Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory. Wikipedia →
1800The Septinsular Republic is established. Wikipedia →
1792France declares war against the "King of Hungary and Bohemia", the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars. Wikipedia →
1789George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration. Wikipedia →
1770The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza. Wikipedia →
1752Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57). Wikipedia →
1657English Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet, under heavy fire from the shore, at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Wikipedia →
1657Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City). Wikipedia →
1653Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament. Wikipedia →
1535A complex halo display is observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring the Vädersolstavlan ("The Sundog painting"), the earliest depiction of such an event, and the oldest colour depiction of the city. Wikipedia →
1303The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. Wikipedia →
1303The Bahri Mamluks defeat the Ilkhanate in the battle of Marj al-Saffar, marking the end of the Mongol incursions into Syria. Wikipedia →
1152After an eight-year conflict, Baldwin III of Jerusalem wins sole control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his mother Melisende. Wikipedia →

From The Guardian Archives — On This Day

2021The Guardian
New Zealand announces radical shake-up of health system
District boards scrapped in favour of centralised body to tackle ‘postcode lottery’ and Māori Health Authority establ…
Read on The Guardian →
2012The Guardian
I have zero sympathy for Simon Cowell
Deborah Orr: Often it seems unfair when a public figure's private business is hung out to dry in the media. But not w…
Read on The Guardian →
1975The New York Times · Front page
Some Notes (Mostly Sour) On Singing Songs
What the world needs is a Society for the Promotion of Last Performances. This organization would dispense prizes to…
Read on NYTimes.com →

Headlines via The Guardian Open Platform · Historic front pages via the NYT Archive API

Facts from Wikipedia On This Day API (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia. Thumbnails CC BY-SA. Headlines via The Guardian Open Platform and the NYT Archive API. Historic pages via Library of Congress Chronicling America. Curated by OddlyTrue.