356 BC Alexander the Great was born on the sixth day of the ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion, which is thought to correspond to July 20, 356 BC, in Pella, the capital of the Kingdom of Macedon.
Alexander's father was Philip II, King of Macedon and his mother was Olympias, the hot tempered princess of Epirus. Between the ages of 13 and 16, Alexander came under the tuition of the philosopher Aristotle. From him he learnt rhetoric, medicine, geometry, art, literature and music.
1307 Edward II became heir to the English throne when he was just a few months old, upon the death of his elder brother Alfonso. His father, Edward I, a notable military leader, made a point of training young Edward in warfare and statecraft starting in his childhood. Edward I died at Burgh by Sands while on his way to another campaign against Scotland. Prince Edward traveled from London immediately after the news reached him, and on July 20, 1307 he was proclaimed king.
1524 Louis XII of France, having fallen ill, ordered that his daughter Claude and her cousin Francis be married immediately. The marriage took place on May 18, 1514 and Francis was crowned Francis I the next year. Claude spent almost all her marriage in an endless round of annual pregnancies and produced seven children. Francis had many mistresses, but was usually relatively discreet. Claude died on July 20, 1524 at the Château de Blois, aged 24; the cause of her death is unknown.
1727 American theologian Jonathan Edwards was first attracted to Sarah Pierpoint because he saw in her an extraordinary cheerfulness and an almost nun-like love of God. Many smooth and handsome young men courted Sarah, but it was Jonathan, with his prayerful ways and deep love of God, who won her. They married on July 20, 1727 when she was 17, he was 23. Sarah was a practical housekeeper, a model wife and the mother of three sons and eight daughters.
1807 Nicéphore Niépce was awarded a patent by Napoleon on July 20, 1807 for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. He conceived, created, and developed the engine with his older brother Claude.
1810 Bogotá was the center of their civilization before the Spanish conquest, and sustained a large population. It was made the capital of the vice-royalty of New Granada, and the city soon became one of the centers of Spanish colonial power and civilization in South America. Bogotá citizens declared independence from Spain on July 20, 1810 and set up a government of their own, but had to contend with Spanish military loyalists, who controlled the city until 1819, when Simón Bolívar captured Bogotá after his victory at Boyacá. Bogotá was then made the capital of Gran Colombia.
1871 On July 20, 1871, in the offices of The Sportsman newspaper, C. W. Alcock proposed to The Football Association committee that "it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete". The proposition was carried and the inaugural FA Cup tournament, the oldest association football competition in the world, kicked off in November 1871.
1937 Guglielmo Marconi, radio pioneer, died in Rome on July 20, 1937 at age 63, following a series of heart attacks. The Italian nation held a state funeral for him. When he died all Radio Stations went off the air for two minutes, the first ever airwave silence since Marconi established the wireless.
Marconi's remains are housed in the Villa Griffone at Sasso Marconi, Emilia-Romagna, which assumed that name in his honor in 1938.
1944 On July 20, 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, perpetrated by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. Hitler's position had not seriously been challenged until the unsuccessful July 20, 1944 bomb plot, which singed the Fuehrer's trousers and left him with a perforated eardrum. Hitler ordered savage reprisals resulting in the execution of more than 4,900 people.
1945 Ziona Chana (July 20, 1945-June 13, 2021) of Baktawng village, Mizoram, India was the leader of the "Chana" sect, which allows polygamy. He lives in a 100-room mansion with his jumbo sized family, which consists of 39 wives, 94 children, 14-daughters-in-laws and 33 grandchildren, setting the world record for the "world's largest existing family."
1954 The Blue Moon Boys made their live debut on July 20, 1954 appearing on the back of a flatbed truck outside a new drug store in Memphis. The band line up was Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black. The name was taken from a song they had recorded as the b-side to "That's Alright Mama.", a cover of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon Of Kentucky."
1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The first words spoken on the moon were said by Neil Armstrong: “That's one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind." The speech, as written by his wife, read "That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind." Unfortunately he forgot the a in the between for and man, thus changing the meaning.
1969 On July 20, 1969, an estimated 530 million people watched the live global broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing. This constituted around 14% of total population of the world at the time, despite the fact that the first moonwalk took place in the middle of the night in Europe.
1976 The Viking 1 lander became the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars on July 20, 1976.
Landing on Mars had been planned for July 4, 1976, the United States Bicentennial, but imaging of the primary landing site showed it was too rough for a safe landing. The landing was delayed until a safer site was found.
Alexander's father was Philip II, King of Macedon and his mother was Olympias, the hot tempered princess of Epirus. Between the ages of 13 and 16, Alexander came under the tuition of the philosopher Aristotle. From him he learnt rhetoric, medicine, geometry, art, literature and music.
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| Bust of a young Alexander the Great |
1307 Edward II became heir to the English throne when he was just a few months old, upon the death of his elder brother Alfonso. His father, Edward I, a notable military leader, made a point of training young Edward in warfare and statecraft starting in his childhood. Edward I died at Burgh by Sands while on his way to another campaign against Scotland. Prince Edward traveled from London immediately after the news reached him, and on July 20, 1307 he was proclaimed king.
1524 Louis XII of France, having fallen ill, ordered that his daughter Claude and her cousin Francis be married immediately. The marriage took place on May 18, 1514 and Francis was crowned Francis I the next year. Claude spent almost all her marriage in an endless round of annual pregnancies and produced seven children. Francis had many mistresses, but was usually relatively discreet. Claude died on July 20, 1524 at the Château de Blois, aged 24; the cause of her death is unknown.
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| Queen Claude (École française, 16th century) |
1727 American theologian Jonathan Edwards was first attracted to Sarah Pierpoint because he saw in her an extraordinary cheerfulness and an almost nun-like love of God. Many smooth and handsome young men courted Sarah, but it was Jonathan, with his prayerful ways and deep love of God, who won her. They married on July 20, 1727 when she was 17, he was 23. Sarah was a practical housekeeper, a model wife and the mother of three sons and eight daughters.
1807 Nicéphore Niépce was awarded a patent by Napoleon on July 20, 1807 for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. He conceived, created, and developed the engine with his older brother Claude.
 |
| 1806 diagram of the Pyréolophore drawn by the Niépce brothers |
1810 Bogotá was the center of their civilization before the Spanish conquest, and sustained a large population. It was made the capital of the vice-royalty of New Granada, and the city soon became one of the centers of Spanish colonial power and civilization in South America. Bogotá citizens declared independence from Spain on July 20, 1810 and set up a government of their own, but had to contend with Spanish military loyalists, who controlled the city until 1819, when Simón Bolívar captured Bogotá after his victory at Boyacá. Bogotá was then made the capital of Gran Colombia.
1871 On July 20, 1871, in the offices of The Sportsman newspaper, C. W. Alcock proposed to The Football Association committee that "it is desirable that a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association for which all clubs belonging to the Association should be invited to compete". The proposition was carried and the inaugural FA Cup tournament, the oldest association football competition in the world, kicked off in November 1871.
1937 Guglielmo Marconi, radio pioneer, died in Rome on July 20, 1937 at age 63, following a series of heart attacks. The Italian nation held a state funeral for him. When he died all Radio Stations went off the air for two minutes, the first ever airwave silence since Marconi established the wireless.
Marconi's remains are housed in the Villa Griffone at Sasso Marconi, Emilia-Romagna, which assumed that name in his honor in 1938.
1944 On July 20, 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, perpetrated by Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and other conspirators, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. Hitler's position had not seriously been challenged until the unsuccessful July 20, 1944 bomb plot, which singed the Fuehrer's trousers and left him with a perforated eardrum. Hitler ordered savage reprisals resulting in the execution of more than 4,900 people.
1945 Ziona Chana (July 20, 1945-June 13, 2021) of Baktawng village, Mizoram, India was the leader of the "Chana" sect, which allows polygamy. He lives in a 100-room mansion with his jumbo sized family, which consists of 39 wives, 94 children, 14-daughters-in-laws and 33 grandchildren, setting the world record for the "world's largest existing family."
1954 The Blue Moon Boys made their live debut on July 20, 1954 appearing on the back of a flatbed truck outside a new drug store in Memphis. The band line up was Elvis Presley, Scotty Moore and Bill Black. The name was taken from a song they had recorded as the b-side to "That's Alright Mama.", a cover of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon Of Kentucky."
1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The first words spoken on the moon were said by Neil Armstrong: “That's one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind." The speech, as written by his wife, read "That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind." Unfortunately he forgot the a in the between for and man, thus changing the meaning.
1969 On July 20, 1969, an estimated 530 million people watched the live global broadcast of the Apollo 11 moon landing. This constituted around 14% of total population of the world at the time, despite the fact that the first moonwalk took place in the middle of the night in Europe.
1976 The Viking 1 lander became the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars on July 20, 1976.
Landing on Mars had been planned for July 4, 1976, the United States Bicentennial, but imaging of the primary landing site showed it was too rough for a safe landing. The landing was delayed until a safer site was found.
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