20 August

Notable Births

Prince Gabriel of Belgium

b. 2003

Belgian prince (born 2003)

Lieke Klaver

b. 1998

Dutch sprinter (born 1998)

Kaho Minagawa

b. 1997

Japanese rhythmic gymnast

Daniel Vladař

b. 1997

Czech ice hockey player (born 1997)

Bunty Afoa

b. 1996

Samoan international rugby league footballer

Liana Liberato

b. 1995

American actress (born 1995)

Mitchell Trubisky

b. 1994

American football player (born 1994)

Matt Eisenhuth

b. 1992

Australian rugby league footballer

Demi Lovato

b. 1992

American singer (born 1992)

Alex Newell

b. 1992

American actor and singer (born 1992)

Deniss Rakels

b. 1992

Latvian footballer

Callum Skinner

b. 1992

Scottish track cyclist

Jyrki Jokipakka

b. 1991

Finnish ice hockey player (born 1991)

Cory Joseph

b. 1991

Canadian basketball player (born 1991)

Macauley Chrisantus

b. 1990

Nigerian footballer

Leigh Griffiths

b. 1990

Scottish footballer (born 1990)

Bradley Klahn

b. 1990

American tennis player

Ranomi Kromowidjojo

b. 1990

Dutch swimmer

Kirko Bangz

b. 1989

American rapper (born 1989)

Silas Kiplagat

b. 1989

Kenyan middle-distance runner

Notable Deaths

Al Attles

d. 2024

American basketball player and coach (1936–2024)

Darya Dugina

d. 2022

Russian journalist and activist (1992–2022)

Igor Vovkovinskiy

d. 2021

Ukrainian-American known for being America's tallest person

Uri Avnery

d. 2018

Israeli politician, journalist and author (1923–2018)

Jerry Lewis

d. 2017

American comedian, actor and filmmaker (1926–2017)

Egon Bahr

d. 2015

German politician

Frank Wilkes

d. 2015

Australian politician

Anton Buslov

d. 2014

Russian blogger and writer (1983–2014)

Boris Dubin

d. 2014

Russian sociologist

B. K. S. Iyengar

d. 2014

Indian yoga teacher and author (1918–2014)

Sava Stojkov

d. 2014

Edmund Szoka

d. 2014

American Roman Catholic priest and cardinal

Narendra Dabholkar

d. 2013

Indian physician and author (1945–2013)

Don Hassler

d. 2013

Musical artist

Elmore Leonard

d. 2013

American novelist and screenwriter (1925–2013)

Marian McPartland

d. 2013

English-American jazz pianist and radio host (1918–2013)

John W. Morris

d. 2013

United States Army general

Phyllis Diller

d. 2012

American comedian and actress (1917–2012)

Dom Mintoff

d. 2012

Maltese politician (1916–2012)

Mika Yamamoto

d. 2012

Japanese journalist (1967–2012)

On This Day in History

All 61 ›

2020

Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech virtually for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Joe Biden

2016

Fifty-four people are killed when a suicide bomber detonates himself at a Kurdish wedding party in Gaziantep, Turkey.

August 2016 Gaziantep bombing

2014

Seventy-two people are killed in Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture by a series of landslides caused by a month's worth of rain that fell in one day.

Hiroshima Prefecture

📅

2012

A prison riot in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, kills at least 20 people.

2012 Yare prison riot

2011

First Air Flight 6560 crashes 1 mile from the Resolute Bay runway, killing 12 of the 15 aboard.

First Air Flight 6560

2008

Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash.

Spanair Flight 5022

2007

China Airlines Flight 120 catches fire and explodes after landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan.

China Airlines Flight 120

2006

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai.

Sri Lankan civil war

2002

A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.

Saddam Hussein

1998

The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.

Supreme Court of Canada

1998

U.S. embassy bombings: The United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

1998 United States embassy bombings

📅

1997

Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped.

Souhane massacre

📅

1995

The Firozabad rail disaster kills 358 people in Firozabad, India.

Firozabad rail collision

1992

In India, Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language) was included in the scheduled languages' list and made one of the official languages of the Indian Government.

Meitei language

1991

Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

1991

Estonia, occupied by and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of legal continuity of its pre-occupation statehood.

Estonia