20 January
Notable Births
J. J. McCarthy
b. 2003
American football player (born 2003)
Antonia Ružić
b. 2003
Croatian tennis player (born 2003)
Arnaud Kalimuendo
b. 2002
French footballer (born 2002)
Tyler Herro
b. 2000
American basketball player (born 2000)
Joey Badass
b. 1995
American rapper and actor (born 1995)
Calum Chambers
b. 1995
English association football player
José María Giménez
b. 1995
Uruguayan footballer (born 1995)
Sergi Samper
b. 1995
Spanish footballer (born 1995)
Kim So-hee (singer, born 1995)
b. 1995
South Korean singer (born 1995)
Hampus Lindholm
b. 1994
Swedish ice hockey player (born 1994)
Lucas Piazon
b. 1994
Brazilian footballer (born 1994)
Lorenzo Crisetig
b. 1993
Italian footballer (born 1993)
Cat Janice
b. 1993
American musician (1993–2024)
DeVante Parker
b. 1993
American football player (born 1993)
Tom Cairney
b. 1991
Scottish footballer (born 1991)
Ciara Hanna
b. 1991
American actress and model
Polona Hercog
b. 1991
Slovenian tennis player (born 1991)
Jumpol Adulkittiporn
b. 1991
Thai actor, model and host (born 1991)
Nick Foles
b. 1989
American football player (born 1989)
Alex Grant (ice hockey)
b. 1989
Canadian ice hockey player (born 1989)
Notable Deaths
Lynn Ban
d. 2025
Singaporean jewelry designer (1972–2025)
Cecile Richards
d. 2025
American activist (1957–2025)
Norman Jewison
d. 2024
Canadian filmmaker (1926–2024)
Meat Loaf
d. 2022
American singer and actor (1947–2022)
Sibusiso Moyo (politician)
d. 2021
Zimbabwean politician (1960–2021)
Mira Furlan
d. 2021
Croatian-American actress and singer (1955–2021)
Jaroslav Kubera
d. 2020
Czech politician (1947–2020)
Tom Railsback
d. 2020
American politician and lawyer (1932–2020)
Paul Bocuse
d. 2018
French chef (1926–2018)
Naomi Parker Fraley
d. 2018
American war worker (1921–2018)
Mykolas Burokevičius
d. 2016
Lithuanian communist politician (1927–2016)
Edmonde Charles-Roux
d. 2016
French writer (1920–2016)
Claudio Abbado
d. 2014
Italian conductor (1933–2014)
Otis G. Pike
d. 2014
Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives (1921–2014)
Jonas Trinkūnas
d. 2014
Lithuanian ethnologist (1939–2014)
Etta James
d. 2012
American blues singer (1938–2012)
John Levy (musician)
d. 2012
American jazz bassist and manager (1912–2012)
Stéphanos II Ghattas
d. 2009
Head of the Coptic Catholic Church from 1986 to 2006
Per Borten
d. 2005
Norwegian politician (1913–2005)
Audrey Hepburn
d. 1993
British actress (1929–1993)
On This Day in History
All 40 ›
2018
A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.
2018 Inter-Continental Hotel Kabul attack
2018
Syrian civil war: The Government of Turkey announces the initiation of the Afrin offensive and begins shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Afrin Region.
Syrian civil war
2009
A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.
Iceland
2001
President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent four-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
President of the Philippines
1992
Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board.
Air Inter Flight 148
1991
Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
Sudan
1990
Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Black January
1986
In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
1986
Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Lesotho, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by General Justin Lekhanya.
Leabua Jonathan
1981
Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
Ronald Reagan
1974
China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam.
Paracel Islands
1973
Amílcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is assassinated in Conakry, Guinea.
Amílcar Cabral
1972
Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction
1954
In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
National Negro Network
1945
World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.
Béla Miklós
1945
World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
Nazi Germany
1942
World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question".
World War II
1941
A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.
Bucharest
1921
The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die.
HMS K5
1921
The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
Turkish Constitution of 1921