Events for July 20
792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae.
1981 – Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people.
1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.
1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.
2021 – American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.
1982 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.
1950 – After a month-long campaign, the majority of North Korea's Air Force was destroyed by anti-communist forces.
1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
1230 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations.
1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War".
1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster.
1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
2019 – Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
1705 – A fire in Oulu, Finland almost completely destroyed the fourth district, which covered the southern part of the city and was by far the largest of the city districts.
1906 – In Finland, a new electoral law is ratified, guaranteeing the country the first and equal right to vote in the world. Finnish women are the first in Europe to receive the right to vote.
2013 – Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn ends with the expulsion of Islamist forces from the city by the People's Protection Units (YPG).
Notable Births & Deaths for July 20
2013 – Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist and businessman, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (born 1926)
2025 – Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor (born 1970)
2014 – Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (born 1923)
2013 – Khurshed Alam Khan, Indian politician, 2nd Governor of Goa (born 1919)
2024 – Jerry Miller, American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist (born 1943)
1985 – John Francis Daley, American actor and screenwriter
1991 – Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015
2011 – Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (born 1922)
2013 – Helen Thomas, American journalist and author (born 1920)
2014 – Klaus Schmidt, German archaeologist and academic (born 1953)
2020 – Michael Brooks, political commentator (born 1983)
1987 – Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist
2008 – Dinko Šakić, Croatian concentration camp commander (born 1921)
2014 – Bob McNamara, American football player (born 1931)
1996 – Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player
1995 – Moses Leota, New Zealand rugby league player
1993 – Steven Adams, New Zealand basketball player
2009 – Vedat Okyar, Turkish footballer (born 1945)
1987 – Niall McGinn, Irish footballer
1988 – Shahram Mahmoudi, Iranian volleyball player
2012 – José Hermano Saraiva, Portuguese historian, jurist, and politician, Portuguese Minister of Education (born 1919)
2016 – Radu Beligan, Romanian actor, director, and essayist (born 1918)
1985 – David Mundy, Australian footballer
1993 – Nick Cousins, Canadian ice hockey player
2012 – Alastair Burnet, English journalist (born 1928)
1985 – Harley Morenstein, Canadian actor and YouTube personality
2013 – Augustus Rowe, Canadian physician and politician (born 1920)
2009 – Mark Rosenzweig, American psychologist and academic (born 1922)
1988 – Stephen Strasburg, American baseball player
2012 – Jack Davis, American hurdler (born 1930)
1990 – Lars Unnerstall, German footballer
1988 – Julianne Hough, American singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
1991 – Philipp Reiter, German mountaineer and runner
2024 – Jill Schary Robinson, American novelist (born 1936)
1989 – Javier Cortés, Mexican footballer
1991 – Ryan James, Australian rugby league player
2015 – Wayne Carson, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1943)
1991 – Tawan Vihokratana, Thai actor, host, and model
2001 – Álex Baena, Spanish footballer
1989 – Cristian Pasquato, Italian footballer
2014 – Constantin Lucaci, Romanian sculptor and educator (born 1923)
2015 – Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (born 1944)
2017 – Chester Bennington, American singer (born 1976)
1986 – Osric Chau, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
2015 – Fred Else, English footballer and manager (born 1933)
1991 – Chiyoshōma Fujio, Mongolian sumo wrestler
1984 – Matt Gilroy, American ice hockey player
Quick Start
Our API is incredibly easy to use, check out the code samples below to get started:
Fetch Historical Events
All you need to do is send a request to https://today.zenquotes.io/api/[month]/[day]/[key] in order to generate a JSON array of historical events, including notable births and deaths. API data pulled from WikiPedia.
*[key] not required but recommended.
Sample Requests
https://today.zenquotes.io/api - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for current server time (UTC).
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/1/1 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for January 1.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/5/5 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for May 5.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/12/25 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for December 25.
Response
The result data is formatted as a JSON array, grouped by event type.
{ "info":"OnThisDay API", "date":"April_20", "updated":"1615972324",
"data":{
"Events":[
{
"text":"1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.[1]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1303\" title=\"1303\">1303</a> – The <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapienza_University_of_Rome\" title=\"Sapienza University of Rome\">Sapienza University of Rome</a> is instituted by a <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_bull\" title=\"Papal bull\">bull</a> of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII\" title=\"Pope Boniface VIII\">Pope Boniface VIII</a>."
},
//.. MORE DATA ..//
],
"Births":[
{
"text":"1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)[8]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1494\" title=\"1494\">1494</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Agricola\" title=\"Johannes Agricola\">Johannes Agricola</a>, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)"
},
//.. MORE DATA ..//
],
"Deaths":[
{
"text":"689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)[21]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/689\" title=\"689\">689</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dwalla_of_Wessex\" title=\"Cædwalla of Wessex\">Cædwalla</a>, king of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex\" title=\"Wessex\">Wessex</a> (b. 659)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
}
]
} }Usage Limits and Attribution
Requests are restricted to 5 per 30 second period, an API key or registered IP is required for unlimited access and to enable Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers. We require that you show attribution with a link back to https://today.zenquotes.io/ when using the free version of this API. Contact support@zenquotes.io to chat with our friendly dev team and get registered.
Historical event data provided by <a href="https://today.zenquotes.io/" target="_blank">ZenQuotes.io</a>