History of Today 20 July: Important Events, Births and Deaths

Welcome to History of Today 20 July. On this page, you can read important historical events, famous births, notable deaths and general knowledge facts related to 20 July. This information is useful for UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, State PSC and other competitive exams.

Last updated on 20 July 2026, 01:00 AM

Important Events on 20 July in History

20 Jul 2021: American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin. Read more
20 Jul 2019: Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Read more
20 Jul 2017: O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas. Read more
20 Jul 2015: A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100. Read more
20 Jul 2015: The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades. Read more
20 Jul 2013: Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca. Read more
20 Jul 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). Read more
20 Jul 2012: James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others. Read more
20 Jul 2012: Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and Efrîn without resistance. Read more
20 Jul 2005: The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada. Read more
20 Jul 1999: The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide. Read more
20 Jul 1997: The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years. Read more
20 Jul 1992: Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. Read more
20 Jul 1992: A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes during takeoff from Tbilisi International Airport, killing all 24 aboard and four more people on the ground. Read more
20 Jul 1989: Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. Read more
20 Jul 1985: The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. Read more
20 Jul 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. Read more
20 Jul 1981: Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people. Read more
20 Jul 1977: The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments. Read more
20 Jul 1977: The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages. Read more
20 Jul 1977: Aeroflot Flight B-2 crashes after takeoff from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic, killing 39. Read more
20 Jul 1976: The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. Read more
20 Jul 1974: Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. Read more
20 Jul 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. Read more
20 Jul 1969: A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War". Read more
20 Jul 1968: The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. Read more
20 Jul 1964: Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children). Read more
20 Jul 1961: French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. Read more
20 Jul 1960: The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. Read more
20 Jul 1954: Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany. Read more
20 Jul 1951: King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. Read more
20 Jul 1950: Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs. Read more
20 Jul 1950: After a month-long campaign, the majority of North Korea's Air Force was destroyed by anti-communist forces. Read more
20 Jul 1949: The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Read more
20 Jul 1944: World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Read more
20 Jul 1941: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief. Read more
20 Jul 1940: Denmark leaves the League of Nations. Read more
20 Jul 1940: California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. Read more
20 Jul 1938: The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948. Read more
20 Jul 1936: The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. Read more
20 Jul 1935: Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen. Read more
20 Jul 1934: Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven. Read more
20 Jul 1934: West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks. Read more
20 Jul 1932: In the Preußenschlag, German President Hindenburg places Prussia directly under the rule of the national government. Read more
20 Jul 1922: The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom. Read more
20 Jul 1920: The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. Read more
20 Jul 1917: World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. Read more
20 Jul 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. Read more
20 Jul 1903: The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile. Read more
20 Jul 1885: The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association. Read more
20 Jul 1871: British Columbia joins the Canadian Confederation. Read more
20 Jul 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. Read more
20 Jul 1864: American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman. Read more
20 Jul 1848: The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes. Read more
20 Jul 1831: Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River. Read more
20 Jul 1810: Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain. Read more
20 Jul 1807: Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. Read more

Famous Births on 20 July

20 Jul 2001: Álex Baena, Spanish footballer Alejandro "Álex" Baena Rodríguez is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left midfielder or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Spain national team. Read more
20 Jul 1999: Pop Smoke, American rapper and singer (died 2020) Bashar Barakah Jackson, known professionally as Pop Smoke, was an American rapper. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, he rose to fame with the release of his 2019 singles "Welcome to the Party" and "Dior". He frequently collaborated with UK drill artists and producers, who employed more minimal and aggressive instrumentation than American drill artists from Chicago, reintroducing the sound as Brooklyn drill. Read more
20 Jul 1999: Goga Bitadze, Georgian basketball player Goga Bitadze is a Georgian professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) and 250 pounds (110 kg), he plays the center position. He was drafted 18th overall by the Indiana Pacers in the 2019 NBA draft. Read more
20 Jul 1998: Morgan Geekie, Canadian ice hockey player Morgan Geekie is a Canadian ice hockey player who is a centre for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Geekie was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes in the third round, 67th overall, of the 2017 NHL entry draft. Read more
20 Jul 1996: Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player Benjamin David Simmons is an Australian professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for one season with the LSU Tigers, after which he was named a consensus first-team All-American and the USBWA National Freshman of the Year. Simmons was selected with the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. After sitting out a year due to an injured right foot, he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2018 and was selected three times to the NBA All-Star Game. After a holdout from the 76ers following the 2020–21 season, Simmons was traded to the Brooklyn Nets. His contract was bought out by the Nets in February 2025, and Simmons subsequently signed with the Clippers. Read more
20 Jul 1995: Moses Leota, New Zealand rugby league player Moses Leota is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop and lock for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL. He has played for both Samoa and New Zealand at international level. He won the 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 NRL Grand Finals with the Penrith Panthers. Read more
20 Jul 1994: Maia Shibutani, American ice dancer Maia Harumi Shibutani is an American ice dancer. Partnered with her brother Alex Shibutani, she is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist (2018), a three-time World medalist, the 2016 Four Continents champion, and a two-time U.S. national champion. The siblings have won six titles on the Grand Prix series and stood on the podium at 14 consecutive U.S. Championships, at five levels including eight as seniors. At the junior level, they are 2009 World Junior silver and 2009–10 JGP Final bronze medalists. They are two-time members of the US Olympic team, competing at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. In 2018, the siblings became the first ice dancers who are both of Asian descent to medal at the Olympics. They are the second sibling duo to ever share an ice dancing Olympic medal, and the first from the United States. The Shibutani siblings are often referred to by their nickname the Shib Sibs. Read more
20 Jul 1993: Steven Adams, New Zealand basketball player Steven Funaki Paea He Ofa Ki Loa Adams is a New Zealand professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A center, Adams has played for four NBA teams since making his NBA debut in 2013. Read more
20 Jul 1993: Nick Cousins, Canadian ice hockey player Brian Nicholas Cousins is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a centre for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the third round, 68th overall, by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2011 NHL entry draft. Cousins has also previously played for the Florida Panthers, Arizona Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights, and Nashville Predators. Cousins won the Stanley Cup with the Panthers in 2024. Read more
20 Jul 1993: Alycia Debnam-Carey, Australian actress Alycia Jasmin Debnam-Carey is an Australian actress. She made her film debut in 2003 in Rachel Ward's Australian short drama film Martha's New Coat, and her feature film debut in the American disaster film Into the Storm (2014). From 2014 to 2016, she portrayed Lexa on the dystopian science fiction series The 100. She co-starred as Alicia Clark on the horror drama series Fear the Walking Dead (2015–2023), and made her directorial debut with the seventh season episode "Ofelia". In 2023, Debnam-Carey co-starred as Alice Hart in the Australian drama Amazon miniseries The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, for which she received an AACTA Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. Read more
20 Jul 1991: Chiyoshōma Fujio, Mongolian sumo wrestler Chiyoshōma Fujio is a professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He made his debut in July 2009 and reached the top makuuchi division in September 2016. He wrestles for Kokonoe stable. His highest rank is maegashira 2. Read more
20 Jul 1991: Ryan James, Australian rugby league player Ryan James is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played as a prop and second-row forward for the Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League (NRL). Read more
20 Jul 1991: Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015 Kira Dixon is an American beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss America 2015 on September 14, 2014. She is the third consecutive Miss America winner from New York and had won the title of Miss New York on May 24, 2014, while serving as Miss City of New York. Read more
20 Jul 1991: Philipp Reiter, German mountaineer and runner Philipp Reiter is a German ski mountaineer, mountain runner and sports photographer. He is member of the German national selection of ski mountaineering. Read more
20 Jul 1991: Tawan Vihokratana, Thai actor, host, and model Tawan Vihokratana, nicknamed Tay, is a Thai actor, television host based in Bangkok. A graduate of Chulalongkorn University, Tawan began his career in entertainment as a host on Bang Channel’s Five Live Fresh in 2014. That same year, he made his television acting debut in Room Alone 401-410 and gained notable recognition after being named one of Cleo Thailand’s 50 Most Eligible Bachelors of 2014. He is best known for Kiss: The Series (2016), Kiss Me Again (2018), and Dark Blue Kiss (2019). In 2023, he starred as Karan in the Thai adaptation of the Japanese manga Cherry Magic. Read more
20 Jul 1991: Andrew Shaw, Canadian ice hockey player Andrew Shaw is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was selected in the fifth round, 139th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 2011 NHL entry draft and is a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Blackhawks. Shaw also played for the Montreal Canadiens prior to the end of his career in 2021 due to suffering multiple concussions. Read more
20 Jul 1991: Alec Burks, American basketball player Alec Burks is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Utah Jazz as the 12th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. Burks primarily plays the shooting guard position. Read more
20 Jul 1991: Dwight Powell, Canadian basketball player Dwight Harlan Powell is a Canadian professional basketball player who last played for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Stanford Cardinal and is a member of the Canadian national team. Read more
20 Jul 1990: Lars Unnerstall, German footballer Lars Unnerstall is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Eredivisie club Twente. Read more
20 Jul 1989: Javier Cortés, Mexican footballer Javier Cortés Granados is a former Mexican professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is an Olympic gold medalist. Read more
20 Jul 1989: Cristian Pasquato, Italian footballer Cristian Pasquato is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie D Group C club Campodarsego. Read more
20 Jul 1988: Julianne Hough, American singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer Julianne Alexandra Hough is an American dancer, singer, actress and television personality. In 2007, she joined the cast of ABC's Dancing with the Stars as a professional dancer, winning two seasons with her celebrity partners. After leaving the show in 2009, she returned in 2014 to serve as a judge, a position she held until 2017. She received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her work on the series, winning once in 2015 with her brother, Derek Hough. Read more
20 Jul 1988: Stephen Strasburg, American baseball player Stephen James Strasburg is an American former professional baseball pitcher who is currently an assistant with the San Diego State Aztecs baseball program. He spent his entire 13-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Washington Nationals. He is a three-time All-Star and the World Series MVP of the Nationals team that won the 2019 World Series. Read more
20 Jul 1988: Shahram Mahmoudi, Iranian volleyball player Shahram Mahmoudi Khatounabadi is an Iranian volleyball player who plays for the Iran men's national volleyball team. He competed at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics.
Mahmoudi debuted national games in 2013 Grand Championship with invitations from Julio Velasco.
He is the younger brother of volleyball player Behnam Mahmoudi. He and his brother are originally from Mianeh, East Azerbaijan. Mahmoudi has been, three times, named Most Valuable Player in Asian Club Championship. Read more
20 Jul 1988: Sami Whitcomb, American-Australian basketball player Samantha Allison Whitcomb is an American-Australian professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is also contracted with the Perth Lynx of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). She played college basketball for the Washington Huskies before making a name for herself in Australia with the Rockingham Flames in the State Basketball League (SBL) and the Perth Lynx in the WNBL. She made her debut in the WNBA in 2017 and won championships with the Seattle Storm in 2018 and 2020. She became an Australian citizen in 2018 and made her debut for the Australian Opals. With the Bendigo Spirit in 2025, she was named WNBL Most Valuable Player and won her first WNBL championship. Read more
20 Jul 1987: Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti is a Scottish classical violinist and festival director. Her ability was recognised when she was a child, including the award of BBC Young Musician of the Year when she was 16. She works with orchestras in Europe and America as well as with Alexei Grynyuk, her regular pianist. Since 2012, she has played the Gariel Stradivarius violin. Read more
20 Jul 1987: Niall McGinn, Irish footballer Niall McGinn is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Scottish League One club Peterhead, and also serves as the club's first team coach. McGinn has also played for Dungannon Swifts, Derry City, Celtic, Brentford, Aberdeen, Gwangju, Dundee, Glentoran and Greenock Morton. He made his debut for Northern Ireland in 2008 and has gone on to make over seventy international appearances. Read more
20 Jul 1986: Osric Chau, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Osric Chau is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Kevin Tran in the CW series Supernatural, Vogel in the BBC America series Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, and Ryan Choi in the TV shows set in the Arrowverse. Read more
20 Jul 1985: John Francis Daley, American actor and screenwriter John Francis Daley is an American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for playing high school freshman Sam Weir on the NBC comedy-drama Freaks and Geeks and FBI criminal profiler Dr. Lance Sweets on the crime drama series Bones, for which he was nominated for a 2014 PRISM Award. He plays keyboards and sings for the band Dayplayer. Read more
20 Jul 1985: Harley Morenstein, Canadian actor and YouTube personality Harley Morenstein is a Canadian YouTuber. He co-created, produces, and hosts the web show Epic Meal Time and its FYI television spin-off series, Epic Meal Empire. He is one of the two remaining original members of the show along with Ameer Atari. Read more
20 Jul 1985: David Mundy, Australian footballer David Mundy is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played as a half back flanker or midfielder and was the captain of Fremantle during the 2016 AFL season. Mundy sits tenth in the VFL/AFL games records for most games played. Read more
20 Jul 1984: Alexi Casilla, Dominican baseball player Alexi Casilla Lora is a Dominican former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles. Read more
20 Jul 1984: Matt Gilroy, American ice hockey player Matthew J. Gilroy is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who last played for the SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers of the National League (NL). Gilroy played in National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Ottawa Senators and the Florida Panthers. He represented the United States in the 2018 Winter Olympics. He played NCAA hockey with Boston University of the Hockey East conference. Gilroy is a Hobey Baker Award winner and NCAA champion with the Terriers in his senior year; he is also a three-time All-American. Read more
20 Jul 1982: Antoine Vermette, Canadian ice hockey player Antoine Vermette is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played for 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL). Read more
20 Jul 1981: Viktoria Ladõnskaja, Estonian journalist and politician Viktoria Ladõnskaja-Kubits is an Estonian politician and a member of its parliament, or Riigikogu. She represents the Tallinn constituency of Kesklinn, Lasnamäe and Pirita as a member of the Isamaa party. Ladõnskaja was elected to the Riigikogu in the 2015 election with 1,393 personal votes. Before starting her career in politics, Ladõnskaja worked as a freelance journalist and writer. Read more
20 Jul 1980: Tesfaye Bramble, English-Montserratian footballer Tesfaye Walda Simeon "Tes" Bramble is a former professional footballer and convicted rapist. He made over 200 appearances in the Football League, scoring 43 goals, between 2001 and 2007. Born in England, he made one international appearance for the Montserrat national team. Read more
20 Jul 1980: Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model, fashionista, and businesswoman Gisele Caroline Bündchen is a Brazilian supermodel and activist. Since 2001, she has been one of the highest-paid models in the world. In 2007, Bündchen was the 16th-richest woman in the entertainment industry and earned the top spot on Forbes highest-paid models list from 2005 to 2016. In 2014, she was listed as the 89th most powerful woman in Media and Entertainment by Forbes. Read more
20 Jul 1979: Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (died 2004) Miklós "Miki" Fehér was a Hungarian professional footballer who played as a striker. Read more
20 Jul 1979: Charlotte Hatherley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist Charlotte Franklin Hatherley is an English singer, guitarist and songwriter. She initially came to prominence as guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Ash. Since leaving Ash in 2006, she has worked as a solo artist and acted as a touring musician for Bryan Ferry, KT Tunstall, Bat for Lashes, Cold Specks, Rosie Lowe and Birdy. Hatherley has also been a touring member of NZCA Lines and was the musical director for South African artist Nakhane. Read more
20 Jul 1979: David Ortega, Spanish swimmer David Ortega Pitarch is a freestyle and backstroke swimmer from Spain. He swam for Spain at the 2000 Summer Olympics; the World Championships in 1998, 2003, 2005, and 2007; the Mediterranean Games in 2001 and 2005; and the European Championships in 2000 and 2004. Read more
20 Jul 1978: Pavel Datsyuk, Russian ice hockey player Pavel Valeryevich Datsyuk is a Russian former professional ice hockey player, who played for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2001 to 2016. Nicknamed the "Magic Man", Datsyuk was named one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history, and was the only active player on the list outside the NHL at the time of announcement. Read more
20 Jul 1978: Will Solomon, American basketball player William James Solomon is an American former professional basketball player. Standing at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m), he plays at the point guard and shooting guard positions. He played parts of two seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and three seasons in the Israeli Basketball Premier League. Read more
20 Jul 1978: Elliott Yamin, American singer-songwriter Ephraim Elliott Yamin is an American singer known for his hit single "Wait for You" and for placing third on the fifth season of American Idol. Read more
20 Jul 1978: Ieva Zunda, Latvian runner and hurdler Ieva Zunda is a Latvian athlete. Her main event is the 400 metres hurdles, but she also competes in the 400 and 800 metres. Read more
20 Jul 1977: Kiki Musampa, Congolese footballer Kizito Musampa is a former professional footballer who played as a left winger. Read more
20 Jul 1977: Yves Niaré, French shot putter (died 2012) Yves Niaré was a shot putter from France. Read more
20 Jul 1977: Alessandro Santos, Brazilian-Japanese footballer Alessandro Santos , often known as Alex, is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Brazil, he became a Japanese citizen and made 82 appearances for the Japan national team. Read more
20 Jul 1976: Erica Hill, American journalist Erica Ruth Hill-Yount is an American journalist who, as of 2024, worked for CNN. She served as a primary substitute anchor and a correspondent. She co-anchored Weekend Today from 2012 to 2016, following work at CBS since 2008. Read more
20 Jul 1976: Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer and coach Debasish Sarbeswar Mohanty is a former Indian cricketer who played in two Test matches and 45 One Day Internationals between 1997 and 2001. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler who coupled pace to his naturally lanky frame. He found success in the limited-overs format, averaging under 30 and taking over one wicket per game. On 24 December 2020, Mohanty was appointed as the national selector of the India national cricket team. Read more
20 Jul 1976: Andrew Stockdale, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist Andrew James Stockdale is an Australian singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and only continuous member of the rock band Wolfmother. Read more
20 Jul 1976: Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver Alexander Charles Yoong Loong is a Malaysian racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One at 18 Grands Prix from 2001 to 2002. Yoong remains the only Malaysian driver to compete in Formula One. Read more
20 Jul 1975: Ray Allen, American basketball player and actor Walter Ray Allen Jr. is an American former professional basketball player. Allen played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2018. He is widely considered one of the greatest three-point shooters of all time. Allen was a ten-time NBA All-Star, and won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the 2000 United States men's basketball team. At the time of his retirement, he was the leading three-point scorer in NBA history until he was surpassed by Stephen Curry in 2021. As of 2025, he ranks third on the NBA's all-time three-pointers list. In 2021, he was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. Read more
20 Jul 1975: Judy Greer, American actress and producer Judith Therese Evans, known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress who has appeared in a wide variety of films. She rose to prominence for her supporting roles in the films Jawbreaker (1999), What Women Want (2000), 13 Going on 30 (2004), Elizabethtown (2005), 27 Dresses (2008), and Love & Other Drugs (2010). Read more
20 Jul 1975: Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer Erik Bjørnstad Hagen is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a centre-back in Norway and Russia, as well as for the Norwegian national team, earning 28 caps. Read more
20 Jul 1975: Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish journalist and politician, 5th Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs Eva Birgitta Ohlsson Klamberg is a Swedish politician who was Minister for European Union Affairs in the Swedish government from 2010 to 2014. She was a member of the Liberals, formerly the Liberal People's Party. Birgitta Ohlsson serves as the National Democratic Institute's director of political parties. Read more
20 Jul 1975: Jason Raize, American singer and actor (died 2004) Jason Raize Rothenberg was an American actor, singer, and former Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme. He was best known for his roles as the adult Simba in the Broadway stage musical version of The Lion King and the voice of Denahi in the 2003 animated Disney film Brother Bear. Read more
20 Jul 1975: Yusuf Şimşek, Turkish footballer and manager Yusuf Şimşek is a Turkish football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of TFF 2. Lig club Altınordu. Read more
20 Jul 1974: Monica Nielsen, Norwegian politician Monica Nielsen is a Norwegian politician and deputy member of the Storting. A member of the Labour Party, she has represented Finnmark since October 2025. Read more
20 Jul 1974: Bengie Molina, Puerto Rican baseball player Benjamin José Molina, nicknamed "Big Money", is a Puerto Rican sports commentator and former professional baseball catcher who is the Spanish radio color analyst for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played 13 seasons in MLB for the Anaheim Angels / Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, and Texas Rangers. He is the older brother of major league catchers José Molina and Yadier Molina. Read more
20 Jul 1974: Simon Rex, American actor and rapper Simon Rex Cutright, is an American actor and rapper. Rising to fame as an MTV VJ, Rex later became an actor known for What I Like About You, starring in three films of the Scary Movie franchise, and National Lampoon's Pledge This! (2006). He later developed a rap persona, Dirt Nasty, and had several solo albums and co-founded the hip-hop group Three Loco. In 2021, he received critical acclaim for his lead role in Sean Baker's drama film Red Rocket, winning the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. Read more
20 Jul 1973: Omar Epps, American actor Omar Hashim Epps is an American actor, rapper, and producer. He attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, prior to making his film debut alongside Tupac Shakur in the 1992 crime drama Juice. His film credits include Higher Learning (1995), Scream 2 (1997), The Wood (1999), In Too Deep (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), and Almost Christmas (2016), several of which are considered notable within Black cinema. Read more
20 Jul 1973: Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, is the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne. He is the only son and second child of King Harald V and Queen Sonja. Read more
20 Jul 1973: Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player and manager Peter Mattias Forsberg is a Swedish former professional ice hockey player and former assistant general manager of Modo Hockey. Nicknamed "Peter the Great" and "Foppa", Forsberg was known for his on-ice vision and physical play, and is considered one of the greatest players of all time. Although his career was shortened by persistent injuries, as of 2024, he stands ninth all-time in career points-per-game and fifth all-time in career assists-per-game in the NHL, behind only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Bobby Orr, and Connor McDavid. In 2017 Forsberg was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history. Read more
20 Jul 1973: Nixon McLean, Caribbean cricketer Nixon Alexei McNamara McLean is a West Indian cricketer from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He featured in the role of a right-arm fast-medium bowler who played both Tests and ODIs for the West Indies. McLean also featured for the Windward Islands, Hampshire, KwaZulu-Natal, Somerset and the Canterbury Wizards in his cricketing career. Read more
20 Jul 1973: Roberto Orci, Mexican-American screenwriter and producer (died 2025) Roberto Gaston Orcí was a Mexican film and television screenwriter and producer. He is best known for co-writing the scripts to Transformers (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) with his writing and producing partner Alex Kurtzman. Read more
20 Jul 1973: Claudio Reyna, American soccer player Claudio Alejandro Reyna is an American former professional football player and former executive. He most recently served as sporting director of Austin FC. Read more
20 Jul 1972: Jamie Ainscough, Australian rugby league player Jamie Ainscough is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australia international and New South Wales State of Origin representative three-quarter back, he played his club football for Western Suburbs, the Newcastle Knights, the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Wigan Warriors. Read more
20 Jul 1972: Jozef Stümpel, Slovak ice hockey player Jozef Stümpel is a Slovak former professional ice hockey centre. He played in the National Hockey League with the Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, and Florida Panthers between 1992 and 2008. Internationally Stümpel played for the Slovak national team at several tournaments, including the 2002, 2006, and 2010 Winter Olympics, and eight World Championships, winning a gold in 2002. Read more
20 Jul 1972: Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician Erik Jörgen Carl Ullenhag is a Swedish politician and diplomat who is currently serving as Consul General of Sweden to New York City since 2024. Read more
20 Jul 1971: Charles Johnson, American baseball player Charles Edward Johnson Jr. is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball with the Florida Marlins, the Los Angeles Dodgers (1998), the Baltimore Orioles (1999–2000), the Chicago White Sox (2000), the Colorado Rockies (2003–2004), and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2005). Read more
20 Jul 1971: Sandra Oh, Canadian actress Sandra Miju Oh is a Canadian and American actress. She is best known as Rita Wu in Arliss (1996–2002), Dr. Cristina Yang in Grey's Anatomy (2005–2014), and Eve Polastri in Killing Eve (2018–2022). She has received one Primetime Emmy Award from 14 nominations, as well as two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2019, Time magazine named Oh one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Read more
20 Jul 1971: DJ Screw, American hip hop DJ, creator of the chopped and screwed genre (died 2000) Robert Earl Davis Jr., better known by his stage name DJ Screw, was an American hip hop DJ based in Houston, Texas, and best known as the creator of the chopped and screwed DJ technique. He was a central and influential figure in the Houston hip hop community and was the leader of Houston's Screwed Up Click. Read more
20 Jul 1969: Josh Holloway, American actor Joshua Lee Holloway is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as James "Sawyer" Ford on the ABC television show Lost (2004–2010), as Will Bowman on the USA Network science fiction drama Colony (2016–2018), and as Jim Ellis in the Max crime series Duster (2025). He also had a recurring role in the third and fourth seasons of the Paramount Network western series Yellowstone (2020–2021). Read more
20 Jul 1969: Kreso Kovacec, Croatian-German footballer Kreso Kovacec is a German retired professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent three seasons in the Bundesliga with Hansa Rostock. Read more
20 Jul 1969: Giovanni Lombardi, Italian cyclist Giovanni Lombardi is an Italian former professional road bicycling racer who raced from 1992 to 2006. He started his career as a sprinter, winning multiple stages in the Giro d'Italia. He went on to ride as an important helper for the top sprinter names of Erik Zabel and Mario Cipollini. Most recently, he rode for Team CSC as a helper for Ivan Basso. Lombardi was also an active track racer during wintertime, and has participated in many six-day races, frequently as a partner of Marco Villa. He also competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1992 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal at the latter. Read more
20 Jul 1969: Joon Park, South Korean-American singer Park Joon-hyung, known professionally as Joon Park, is a South Korean-born American singer, rapper, actor and entertainer. As a singer, he is best known as the leader and rapper of the Korean pop group g.o.d. Read more
20 Jul 1969: Tobi Vail, American singer and guitarist Tobi Celeste Vail is an American independent musician, music critic and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington. She was a central figure in the riot grrl scene—she coined the spelling of "grrl"—and she started the zine Jigsaw. A drummer, guitarist and singer, she was a founding member of the band Bikini Kill. Vail has collaborated in several other bands figuring in the Olympia music scene. Vail writes for eMusic. Read more
20 Jul 1969: Vitamin C, American singer-songwriter Colleen Ann Fitzpatrick, known professionally as Vitamin C, is an American record executive, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She began her career as an Ivory soap baby and child actress, appearing in John Waters' film Hairspray (1988), and continued to appear in minor roles in films before launching a music career with the alternative rock band Eve's Plum in 1991. Read more
20 Jul 1968: Jimmy Carson, American ice hockey player James Charles Carson is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played 10 seasons in the National Hockey League with five different teams. In 1988, he set the record for most goals scored in a season by a teenager with 55 goals, which made him the second to score 50 goals in a season and first since Wayne Gretzky. Read more
20 Jul 1968: Hami Mandıralı, Turkish footballer and manager Hami Mandıralı is a Turkish football manager and former footballer. He played for Trabzonspor nearly all of his career. Read more
20 Jul 1968: Kool G Rap, American hip-hop artist Nathaniel Thomas Wilson, better known by his stage name Kool G Rap, is an American rapper. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MCs of all time, and a pioneer of mafioso rap/street/hardcore content and multisyllabic rhyming. On his album The Giancana Story, he stated that the "G" in his name stands for "Giancana", but on other occasions he has stated that it stands for "Genius". Read more
20 Jul 1967: Courtney Taylor-Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Courtney A. Taylor, known as Courtney Taylor-Taylor, is an American singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon. He is the lead singer and guitarist of alternative rock band the Dandy Warhols, a band he co-founded. Taylor-Taylor has written the majority of the band's songs. Read more
20 Jul 1966: Anton Du Beke, English dancer and presenter Anthony Paul Beke, known professionally as Anton Du Beke, is a British ballroom and Latin dancer, author, singer and television presenter, best known for being a professional dancer and a judge on the BBC One celebrity dancing show Strictly Come Dancing. His professional dance partner since 1997 has been Erin Boag. Read more
20 Jul 1966: Stone Gossard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Stone Carpenter Gossard is an American musician and songwriter who serves as the rhythm guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band. Read more
20 Jul 1966: Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican lawyer and politician, 57th President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto, commonly referred to by his initials EPN, is a Mexican former politician and lawyer who served as the 64th president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he previously was Governor of the State of Mexico from 2005 to 2011, local deputy from 2003 to 2004, and Secretary of Administration from 2000 to 2002. Read more
20 Jul 1965: Jess Walter, American journalist and author Jess Walter is an American author of fiction and non-fiction. He has won the Edgar Allan Poe Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006. Read more
20 Jul 1964: Chris Cornell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2017) Christopher John Cornell was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and primary lyricist for the rock bands Soundgarden and Audioslave. He also had a solo career and contributed to numerous movie soundtracks. Cornell was the founder and frontman of Temple of the Dog, a one-off tribute band dedicated to his late friend, musician Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Several music journalists, fan polls, and fellow musicians have regarded Cornell as one of the greatest rock singers of all time. Read more
20 Jul 1964: Terri Irwin, American-Australian zoologist and author Terri Raines Irwin is an American and Australian conservationist, naturalist, zookeeper, and television personality. The widow of conservationist Steve Irwin, she is the sole owner and chairwoman of Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland. Read more
20 Jul 1964: Sebastiano Rossi, Italian footballer Sebastiano Rossi is an Italian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
20 Jul 1964: Bernd Schneider, German race car driver Bernd Robert Schneider is a German racing driver. He is a five-time Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters champion, and a Mercedes Brand Ambassador. Read more
20 Jul 1964: Murray Craven, Canadian ice hockey player Murray Dean Craven is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League between 1982–83 and 1999–2000 and the former vice president of the Vegas Golden Knights. Read more
20 Jul 1964: Dean Winters, American actor Dean Gerard Winters is an American actor. He is known for his role as Ryan O'Reily on the HBO prison drama Oz and his roles in the TV series Millennium, Rescue Me, 30 Rock, Sex and the City, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as well as portraying "Mayhem" in a series of Allstate Insurance commercials and starring in the 2014 film John Wick. He co-starred in one season of the CBS Network cop drama series Battle Creek and had a recurring role as "The Vulture" on the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. He also appeared in the 2023 Netflix film The Out-Laws and the 2024 AMC series Monsieur Spade. Read more
20 Jul 1963: Frank Whaley, American actor, director, and screenwriter Frank Joseph Whaley is an American actor, film director and screenwriter. His roles include Brett in Pulp Fiction, Robby Krieger in The Doors, Jim Dodge in Career Opportunities, young Archie "Moonlight" Graham in Field of Dreams, and Guy in Swimming with Sharks. He has also appeared in films and TV series such as Born on the Fourth of July, The Freshman, A Midnight Clear, Swing Kids, Broken Arrow, Luke Cage, Red Dragon and World Trade Center. Read more
20 Jul 1962: Carlos Alazraqui, American actor, producer, and screenwriter Carlos Jaime Alazraqui is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, producer, screenwriter and director. His voice acting roles include the original voice of Spyro from Spyro the Dragon, the Taco Bell chihuahua in the Taco Bell commercials, Rocko on Rocko's Modern Life and Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, Denzel Crocker on The Fairly OddParents, Lazlo and Clam on Camp Lazlo, Winslow on CatDog, Puma Loco on El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, Rikochet on ¡Mucha Lucha!, Felipe on Handy Manny, Walden on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, Paco on Maya & Miguel, Scissors on Rock Paper Scissors, and the Disney character Panchito Pistoles since 2001. He is a weekly contributor on The Stephanie Miller Show. In live action, Alazraqui is known for playing Deputy James Garcia on Reno 911! Read more
20 Jul 1962: Giovanna Amati, Italian race car driver Giovanna Amati is an Italian former professional racing driver. She is the most recent female driver to have entered the Formula One World Championship. Read more
20 Jul 1962: Julie Bindel, English journalist, author, and academic Julie Bindel is an English radical feminist writer. She co-founded Justice for Women, which helps women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners. Read more
20 Jul 1961: Óscar Elías Biscet, Cuban physician and activist, founded the Lawton Foundation Óscar Elías Biscet González is a Cuban physician and an advocate for human rights and democratic freedoms in Cuba. He is also the founder of the Lawton Foundation. Read more
20 Jul 1960: Claudio Langes, Italian race car driver Claudio Langes is a former racing driver from Italy. Read more
20 Jul 1960: Prvoslav Vujčić, Serbian-Canadian poet and philosopher Prvoslav Vujcic is a Serbian Canadian writer, poet, translator, columnist and aphorist. He has been described as one of the most prominent writers of Serbian origin. Read more
20 Jul 1960: Sudesh Berry, Indian actor Sudesh Berry is an Indian actor and personality known for his works in Hindi cinema and Indian television. Read more
20 Jul 1960: Mike Witt, American baseball player Michael Atwater Witt is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1981 and 1993 for the California Angels and New York Yankees. Witt threw the 11th perfect game in MLB history in 1984 and was a two-time MLB All-Star. Read more
20 Jul 1959: Radney Foster, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Radney Muckleroy Foster is an American country music singer-songwriter, musician, and music producer. Initially a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Foster made his recording debut as part of the Foster & Lloyd duo, recording three studio albums and with nine singles on the country charts. Read more
20 Jul 1958: Mick MacNeil, Scottish keyboard player and songwriter Michael Joseph MacNeil is a Scottish songwriter and keyboardist. He is best known as a former member of the group Simple Minds. Read more
20 Jul 1958: Billy Mays, American salesman (died 2009) William Darrell Mays Jr. was an American television direct-response advertisement salesperson. Throughout his career, he promoted a wide variety of products, including OxiClean, Orange Glo, Kaboom, Zorbeez, and Mighty Mendit. His promotions aired mainly on the Home Shopping Network through his company, Mays Promotions, Inc., although they have aired on other syndicated networks. Mays's infomercials were known for his catch phrase "Hi, Billy Mays here", and his shouted delivery of lines. Read more
20 Jul 1956: Paul Cook, English drummer Paul Thomas Cook is an English musician, best known as the drummer and a founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is nicknamed "Cookie" by friends in the punk music scene. Read more
20 Jul 1956: Thomas N'Kono, Cameroonian footballer Thomas "Tommy" N'Kono is a Cameroonian former professional footballer. One of the greatest goalkeepers from the continent of Africa, he was mainly associated with Espanyol, whom he represented for almost a decade playing more than 300 official matches. Read more
20 Jul 1956: Jim Prentice, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Alberta (died 2016) Peter Eric James Prentice was a Canadian politician who served as the 16th premier of Alberta from 2014 to 2015. In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was re-elected in the 2006 federal election and appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. Prentice was appointed Minister of Industry on August 14, 2007, and after the 2008 election became Minister of Environment on October 30, 2008. On November 4, 2010, Prentice announced his resignation from cabinet and as MP for Calgary Centre-North. After retiring from federal politics he entered the private sector as vice-chairman of CIBC. Read more
20 Jul 1955: Desmond Douglas, Jamaican-English table tennis player Desmond Douglas MBE is a British table tennis player. He lived and was brought up in the area of Handsworth, Birmingham, West Midlands. He was an attacking, left-handed, player, notable for his scissor jump smash. He was famous for his use of close to the table blocks on the backhand side, mixing pace with powerful topspin from his forehand side. Read more
20 Jul 1955: René-Daniel Dubois, Canadian actor and playwright René-Daniel Dubois, OC is a Québécois playwright and actor. Read more
20 Jul 1955: Jem Finer, English banjo player and songwriter Jeremy Max Finer is an English musician, artist and composer. He is one of the founding members of the Pogues. Read more
20 Jul 1954: Moira Harris, American actress Moira Jane Sinise is a former American actress. She appeared in several films and television shows. She is married to actor-filmmaker Gary Sinise. Read more
20 Jul 1954: Jay Jay French, American guitarist and producer Jay Jay French is an American guitarist, manager, record producer and the only continuous founding member of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. He is a columnist, author and motivational speaker who oversees licensing and intellectual property rights for the Twisted Sister brand. Read more
20 Jul 1953: Dave Evans, Welsh-Australian singer-songwriter Dave Evans is a Welsh-born Australian singer. He was the original lead singer for the Australian hard rock band AC/DC in 1973–1974 and sang on their debut single shortly before being replaced by Bon Scott. Evans then went on to join the band Rabbit, who were active into the early 1980s. He resumed a solo career shortly after the year 2000. Read more
20 Jul 1953: Thomas Friedman, American journalist and author Thomas Loren Friedman is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and a weekly columnist for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global trade, the Middle East, globalization, and environmental issues. Read more
20 Jul 1953: Marcia Hines, American-Australian singer and actress Marcia Elaine Hines AM is an American-born Australian singer and TV personality. Hines made her debut, at the age of 16, in the Australian production of the stage musical Hair and followed with the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar. Read more
20 Jul 1952: Jay Jay French, American guitarist Jay Jay French is an American guitarist, manager, record producer and the only continuous founding member of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. He is a columnist, author and motivational speaker who oversees licensing and intellectual property rights for the Twisted Sister brand. Read more
20 Jul 1951: Jeff Rawle, English actor and screenwriter Jeffrey Alan Rawle is a British actor. He is known for playing Billy in Billy Liar (1973–1974), and for portraying George Dent in the news-gathering sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey (1990–1998), and Silas Blissett in Hollyoaks (2010–2022). Other credits include Minder (1993), Doc Martin (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Grantchester (2023), and Beyond Paradise (2024). Read more
20 Jul 1950: Edward Leigh, English lawyer and politician Sir Edward Julian Egerton Leigh is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gainsborough, previously Gainsborough and Horncastle, since 1983. Parliament's longest-serving male MP since 2024, Leigh is styled Father of the House. Read more
20 Jul 1950: Lucille Lemay, Canadian archer Lucille Lemay is a Canadian archer. Read more
20 Jul 1948: Muse Watson, American actor and producer Muse Watson Gravel, commonly known as Muse Watson, is an American actor. He is notable for his recurring roles of Mike Franks on NCIS and Charles Westmoreland / D.B. Cooper in Prison Break, and film roles as Hank Corrigan in Something to Talk About, and Ben Willis, the killer in I Know What You Did Last Summer and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Read more
20 Jul 1948: Francis Billy Hilly, Solomon Islands politician (died 2025) Sir Francis Billy Hilly was a Solomon Islands politician who was the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands from 18 June 1993 to 7 November 1994. He represented the Ranogga/Simbo Constituency in the National Parliament from 1976 to 1984, and represented the constituency again from 1993 onwards. Hilly was Minister of Commerce, Industry and Employment from December 2007 onwards. Read more
20 Jul 1947: Gerd Binnig, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Gerd Karl Binnig is a German physicist. He is most famous for having won the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Heinrich Rohrer in 1986 for the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope. Read more
20 Jul 1947: Carlos Santana, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán is a Mexican and American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the rock band Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States with Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured his melodic, blues-based lines set against Latin American and African rhythms played on percussion instruments not generally heard in rock, such as timbales and congas. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. Read more
20 Jul 1946: Randal Kleiser, American actor, director, and producer John Randal Kleiser is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is best known for directing the films Grease (1978), The Blue Lagoon (1980), Flight of the Navigator (1986) and White Fang (1991). Read more
20 Jul 1945: Charles Bowden, American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist (died 2014) Charles Clyde Bowden was an American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was best known for his work documenting violence on the Mexico-United States border, especially in and around Ciudad Juarez. Read more
20 Jul 1945: Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter Kimberly Carnes Ellingson is an American singer and songwriter best known for her 1981 hit single, "Bette Davis Eyes". She embarked on a solo career as a songwriter and performer in the early 1970s and also worked for several years as a session background singer with the Waters Sisters, Maxine Waters Willard and Julia Waters Tillman, who were later featured in the 2013 documentary 20 Feet from Stardom. In 1971, Carnes released her debut album, Rest on Me. Released in 1975, Carnes's self-titled second album included her first charting single, "You're a Part of Me", which reached No. 32 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The following year, Carnes released Sailin', which featured "Love Comes from Unexpected Places". The song won the American Song Festival and the award for Best Composition at the Tokyo Song Festival in 1976. Read more
20 Jul 1945: Larry Craig, American soldier and politician Lawrence Edwin Craig is an American former politician who represented Idaho in the United States Senate from 1991 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he also represented Idaho's 1st district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 to 1991. Read more
20 Jul 1945: Bo Rein, American football player and coach (died 1980) Robert Edward Rein was an American football and baseball player and football coach. He was a two-sport athlete at Ohio State University and served as the head football coach at North Carolina State University from 1976 to 1979, compiling a record of 27–18–1. Following the 1979 season, Rein had assumed the role as head coach at Louisiana State University, but was killed in an aircraft accident in January 1980 before he ever coached a game for the Tigers. Rein is the namesake of football player awards at Ohio State and NC State. Read more
20 Jul 1944: Mel Daniels, American basketball player and coach (died 2015) Melvin Joe Daniels was an American professional basketball player. He played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the Minnesota Muskies, Indiana Pacers, and Memphis Sounds, and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the New York Nets. One of the greatest players in ABA history, Daniels was a two-time ABA Most Valuable Player, three-time ABA Champion and a seven-time ABA All-Star. Daniels was the All-time ABA rebounding leader, and in 1997, he was named a unanimous selection to the ABA All-Time Team. Daniels was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. Read more
20 Jul 1944: W. Cary Edwards, American politician (died 2010) William Cary Edwards was a New Jersey politician who served as the Attorney General of New Jersey from 1986 to 1989. Read more
20 Jul 1944: Olivier de Kersauson, French sailor Olivier de Kersauson de Pennendreff is a French sailor and sailing champion. Read more
20 Jul 1944: T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer-songwriter William Neal Browder is an American country music singer, known professionally as T. G. Sheppard. He had 22 number-one hits on the US country charts between 1974 and 1986, including 14 consecutive number ones between 1980 and 1982. Read more
20 Jul 1943: Chris Amon, New Zealand race car driver (died 2016) Christopher Arthur Amon was a New Zealand racing driver and motorsport executive who competed in Formula One from 1963 to 1976. Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win a Formula One Grand Prix, Amon won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 with Ford, as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967 with Ferrari. Read more
20 Jul 1943: John Lodge, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (died 2025) John Charles Lodge was an English musician who was the bass guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and a songwriter for the longstanding progressive rock band the Moody Blues. Joining the group in 1966, he contributed to many of the Moody Blues' most acclaimed works, including "Ride My See-Saw", "Isn't Life Strange", and "I'm Just a Singer ", helping shape the band's signature symphonic rock sound. Read more
20 Jul 1943: Bob McNab, English footballer Robert McNab is an English former footballer who played as a defender. McNab featured for clubs Huddersfield Town, Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers, San Antonio Thunder, Barnet, Vancouver Whitecaps and Tacoma Stars in his playing career. He also played for England's national football team. Read more
20 Jul 1943: Adrian Păunescu, Romanian poet, journalist, and politician (died 2010) Adrian Păunescu was a Romanian writer, publisher, cultural promoter, translator, and politician. A profoundly charismatic personality, a controversial and complex figure, the artist and the man are almost impossible to separate. On the one hand he stands accused of collaboration with the Communist regime, but on the other hand he was persecuted and ostracised by the regime when he started to confront its failures, and when his influence started to be considered dangerous. Read more
20 Jul 1943: Wendy Richard, English actress (died 2009) Wendy Richard was an English actress, best known for her television roles as Miss Shirley Brahms on the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? from 1972 to 1985, and Pauline Fowler on the soap opera EastEnders from 1985 to 2006. Read more
20 Jul 1942: Pete Hamilton, American race car driver (died 2017) Peter Goodwill Hamilton was an American professional stock car racing driver. He competed in NASCAR for six years, where he won four times in his career, three times driving for Petty Enterprises. Read more
20 Jul 1942: Mickey Stanley, American baseball player Mitchell Jack "Mickey" Stanley is an American former professional baseball player. Read more
20 Jul 1941: Don Chuy, American football player (died 2014) Donald John Chuy was an American professional football player who played guard for seven seasons for the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles. Read more
20 Jul 1941: Periklis Korovesis, Greek author and journalist (died 2020) Periklis Korovesis, also published as Pericles Korovessis, was a Greek author and journalist and a member of the Hellenic Parliament. Read more
20 Jul 1941: Kurt Raab, German actor, screenwriter, and production designer (died 1988) Kurt Raab was a West German stage and film actor, as well as a screenwriter and playwright. Raab is best remembered for his work with German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with whom he collaborated on 31 film projects. Read more
20 Jul 1940: Tony Allen, Nigerian drummer who pioneered Afrobeat sound (died 2020) Tony Oladipo Allen was a Nigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter. Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti's band Africa '70 from 1968 to 1979, and was one of the founders of the Afrobeat genre. Read more
20 Jul 1939: Judy Chicago, American feminist artist Judy Chicago is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history and culture. During the 1970s, Chicago founded the first feminist art program in the United States at California State University, Fresno, which acted as a catalyst for feminist art and art education during the 1970s. Read more
20 Jul 1938: Deniz Baykal, Turkish lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (died 2023) Deniz Baykal was a Turkish politician, as well as a member of the Republican People's Party (CHP), who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 1996. Having served in numerous government positions, Baykal led the CHP from 1992 to February 1995, from September 1995 to 1999 and again from 2000 to 2010. Between 2002 and 2010, he also served as the Leader of the Opposition by virtue of leading the second largest party in the Parliament. Read more
20 Jul 1938: Roger Hunt, English footballer (died 2021) Roger Hunt was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
20 Jul 1938: Tony Oliva, Cuban-American baseball player and coach Tony Pedro Oliva Lopez is a Cuban-American former professional baseball player and coach. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a right fielder and designated hitter for the Minnesota Twins from 1962 to 1976. An eight-time All-Star player, Oliva was an integral member of the Twins teams that won the 1965 American League pennant and two consecutive American League Western Division titles in 1969 and 1970. Read more
20 Jul 1938: Diana Rigg, English actress (died 2020) Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg was an English actress of stage and screen. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969); Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones (2013–2017); and the title role in Medea in the West End in 1993 followed by Broadway a year later. Read more
20 Jul 1938: Natalie Wood, American actress (died 1981) Natalie Wood was an American actress. She began acting at age four and co-starred at age eight in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). As a teenager, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), followed by a role in John Ford's The Searchers (1956). Wood starred in the musical films West Side Story (1961) and Gypsy (1962) and received nominations for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Love with the Proper Stranger (1963). Her career continued with films such as Sex and the Single Girl (1964), The Great Race (1965), Inside Daisy Clover (1965), This Property Is Condemned, Penelope (1966), and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). Read more
20 Jul 1936: Alistair MacLeod, Canadian novelist and short story writer (died 2014) Alistair MacLeod was a Canadian novelist, short story writer and academic. His powerful and moving stories vividly evoke the beauty of Cape Breton Island's rugged landscape and the resilient character of many of its inhabitants, the descendants of Scottish immigrants, who are haunted by ancestral memories and who struggle to reconcile the past and the present. MacLeod has been praised for his verbal precision, his lyric intensity and his use of simple, direct language that seems rooted in an oral tradition. Read more
20 Jul 1936: Barbara Mikulski, American social worker and politician Barbara Ann Mikulski is an American politician and social worker who served as a United States senator from Maryland from 1987 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she also served in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987. Mikulski is the third-longest-serving female United States senator, and the longest-serving U.S. senator in Maryland history. Read more
20 Jul 1935: Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo, English businessman and art collector Peter Garth Palumbo, Baron Palumbo, is a British property developer, devotee of architecture, and art collector, who served as the last Chairman of the unified Arts Council of Great Britain, before it was divided into separate councils in 1994. Read more
20 Jul 1933: Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1999) Buddy Wayne Knox was an American singer-songwriter, best known for his 1957 rock and roll hit song, "Party Doll". Read more
20 Jul 1933: Cormac McCarthy, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter (died 2023) Cormac McCarthy was an American author who wrote twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays, and three short stories, spanning the Western, post-apocalyptic, and Southern Gothic genres. His works often include graphic depictions of violence, and his writing style is characterized by a sparse use of punctuation and attribution. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American novelists. Read more
20 Jul 1933: Rex Williams, English snooker player Desmond Rex Williams is an English retired professional billiards and snooker player. He was the second player to make an official maximum break in snooker, achieving this in an exhibition match in December 1965. Williams won the World Professional Billiards Championship from Clark McConachy in 1968, the first time that the title had been contested since 1951. Williams retained the title in several challenge matches in the 1970s and, after losing it to Fred Davis in 1980, regained it from 1982 to 1983. Read more
20 Jul 1932: Nam June Paik, American artist (died 2006) Nam June Paik was a South Korean artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super highway" to describe the future of telecommunications. Read more
20 Jul 1932: Otto Schily, German lawyer and politician, German Minister of the Interior Otto Georg Schily is a former Federal Minister of the Interior of Germany, his tenure was from 1998 to 2005, in the cabinet of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and was a founding member of the West-German Green Party. Read more
20 Jul 1931: Shakuntala Karandikar, Indian biographer, essayist and philanthropist (died 2018) Shakuntala Bhupendra Karandikar was an Indian biographer and philanthropist, best remembered for writing Vishwasta (1992), a biography of her father in Marathi, and for her advocacy and philanthropy towards women's causes in Dahanu. Read more
20 Jul 1931: Tony Marsh, English race car driver (died 2009) Anthony Ernest Marsh was a British racing driver from England. His Formula One career was short and unsuccessful, but he enjoyed great success in hillclimbing, winning the British Hill Climb Championship on a record six occasions. Read more
20 Jul 1930: Chuck Daly, American basketball player and coach (died 2009) Charles Jerome Daly was an American basketball head coach. He led the Detroit Pistons to two consecutive National Basketball Association (NBA) championships in 1989 and 1990—during the team's "Bad Boys" era—and the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team to the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Read more
20 Jul 1930: William H. Goetzmann, American historian and author (died 2010) William Harry Goetzmann was an American historian and emeritus professor in the American Studies and American Civilization Programs at the University of Texas at Austin. He attended Yale University as a graduate student and was friends with Tom Wolfe while there. His work on the American West won him the highest prizes for historians, the Parkman Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. He wrote and published extensively on American philosophy, American political history, and the American arts. An advocate for the importance of history as a public discussion, he served in various capacities in television and film production, notably for PBS. At the time of his death he was the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair Emeritus in History and American Studies. His last book was Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine to Pragmatism (2009). Read more
20 Jul 1930: Sally Ann Howes, English-American singer and actress (died 2021) Sally Ann Howes was an English actress and singer, whose career on screen, stage and television spanned six decades. She was best known as a leading lady of musical theatre, both on the West End and on Broadway. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in Brigadoon in 1963, and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for James Joyce's The Dead in 2000. She was also known for portraying Truly Scrumptious in the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Read more
20 Jul 1929: Hazel Hawke, Australian social worker and pianist, 23rd Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia (died 2013) Hazel Susan Hawke AO was the first wife of Bob Hawke, the 23rd prime minister of Australia. She married him in 1956, and supported him throughout his prime ministership (1983–1991); they divorced in 1994. She worked in social policy areas, and was an amateur pianist and a patron of the arts. After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, she made public appearances in order to raise awareness of the disease. Read more
20 Jul 1929: Mike Ilitch, American businessman, founded Little Caesars (died 2017) Michael Ilitch Sr., also known as "Mr. I", was an American entrepreneur and restaurateur. He founded Little Caesars in 1959 and later owned two Detroit professional sports franchises: the Detroit Red Wings (1982–2017) of the National Hockey League and the Detroit Tigers (1992–2017) of Major League Baseball. Read more
20 Jul 1929: Rajendra Kumar, Pakistani-Indian actor and producer (died 1999) Rajendra Kumar was an Indian actor who starred in Bollywood films. Starting his career in 1949, he worked in more than 80 films in a career spanning over four decades. Kumar is considered as one of the greatest and most successful actors in Indian cinema. He was popularly known as the Jubilee Kumar during the 1960s, when he consecutively starred in several commercially successful films. Read more
20 Jul 1929: David Tonkin, Australian politician, 38th Premier of South Australia (died 2000) David Oliver Tonkin was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of South Australia from 18 September 1979 to 10 November 1982. He was elected to the House of Assembly seat of Bragg at the 1970 election, serving until 1983. He became the leader of the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia in 1975, replacing Bruce Eastick. Initially leading the party to defeat at the 1977 election against the Don Dunstan Labor government, his party won the 1979 election against the Des Corcoran Labor government. Following the 1980 Norwood by-election the Tonkin government was reduced to a one-seat majority. His government's policy approach combined economic conservatism with social progressivism. The Tonkin Liberal government was defeated after one term at the 1982 election by Labor led by John Bannon. Read more
20 Jul 1928: Józef Czyrek, Polish economist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2013) Józef Czyrek was a Polish politician who served as the minister of foreign affairs of the People's Republic of Poland from 1980 to 1982. Read more
20 Jul 1928: Belaid Abdessalam, Prime Minister of Algeria (died 2020) Belaid Abdessalam was an Algerian politician, who served as Prime Minister from 1992 to 1993. Read more
20 Jul 1927: Barbara Bergmann, American economist and academic (died 2015) Barbara Rose Bergmann was a feminist economist. Her work covers many topics from childcare and gender issues to poverty and Social Security. Bergmann was a co-founder and president of the International Association for Feminist Economics, a trustee of the Economists for Peace and Security, and Professor Emerita of Economics at the University of Maryland and American University. Read more
20 Jul 1927: Heather Chasen, English actress (died 2020) Heather Jean Chasen was an English actress, known for her roles in soap operas; playing Valerie Pollard in the ITV soap opera, Crossroads, from 1982 to 1986 and guest roles in Doctors, Holby City and Family Affairs. Chasen also played many roles in BBC Radio 2's The Navy Lark from 1959 to 1977, and appeared in the television series Marked Personal from 1973 to 1974. She played the recurring role of Lydia Simmonds in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role which received positive reviews from critics and EastEnders crew and cast members. Furthermore, she appeared extensively in theatre productions and film; in 2012, she appeared in a film version of Les Misérables. Read more
20 Jul 1927: Michael Gielen, Austrian conductor and composer (died 2019) Michael Andreas Gielen was an Austrian conductor and composer known for promoting contemporary music in opera and concert. Principally active in Europe, his performances are characterized by precision and vivacity, aiding his ability to interpret the complex contemporary music he specialized in. Read more
20 Jul 1927: Ian P. Howard, English-Canadian psychologist and academic (died 2013) Ian Porteus Howard was a Canadian psychologist and researcher in visual perception at York University in Toronto. Read more
20 Jul 1925: Jacques Delors, French economist and politician, 8th President of the European Commission (died 2023) Jacques Lucien Jean Delors was a French politician who served as president of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995. Delors played a key role in the creation of the European single market, the euro and the evolution of the (then) European Economic Community (EEC) towards the modern European Union (EU). Read more
20 Jul 1925: Frantz Fanon, French–Algerian psychiatrist and philosopher (died 1961) Frantz Omar Fanon was a French West Indian psychiatrist and political philosopher from the French colony of Martinique. His works have become influential in the fields of post-colonial studies and critical theory. As well as being an intellectual, Fanon was a political radical and Pan-Africanist, concerned with the psychopathology of colonization and the human, social, and cultural consequences of decolonization. Read more
20 Jul 1924: Lola Albright, American actress and singer (died 2017) Lola Jean Albright was an American singer and actress, best known for playing the sultry singer Edie Hart, the girlfriend of private eye Peter Gunn, on all three seasons of the TV series Peter Gunn. Read more
20 Jul 1924: Thomas Berger, American author and playwright (died 2014) Thomas Louis Berger was an American novelist. Probably best known for his picaresque novel Little Big Man and the subsequent film by Arthur Penn, Berger explored and manipulated many genres of fiction throughout his career, including the crime novel, the hard-boiled detective story, science fiction, the utopian novel, plus re-workings of classical mythology, Arthurian legend, and the survival adventure. Read more
20 Jul 1924: Mort Garson, Canadian-American songwriter and composer (died 2008) Morton Sanford Garson was a Canadian composer, arranger, songwriter, and pioneer of electronic music. He is best known for his albums in the 1960s and 1970s, such as Mother Earth's Plantasia (1976). He also co-wrote several hit songs, including "Our Day Will Come", a hit for Ruby & the Romantics. According to Allmusic, Mort Garson boasts one of the most distinctive and outright bizarre resumés in popular music, spanning from easy listening to occult-influenced space-age electronic pop. Read more
20 Jul 1924: Robert D. Maurer, American scientist and co-inventor of optical fiber (died 2025) Robert D. Maurer was an American industrial physicist noted for his leadership in the invention of optical fiber. Read more
20 Jul 1923: Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (died 2005) Stanisław Józef Albinowski was a Polish economist, columnist and journalist on economics. Read more
20 Jul 1922: Alan Stephenson Boyd, American lawyer and politician, 1st United States Secretary of Transportation (died 2020) Alan Stephenson Boyd was an American attorney and transportation executive who led several large corporations and also served the U.S. Government in various transportation-related positions. He was the first United States Secretary of Transportation, appointed by Lyndon Johnson. Additionally, he served in executive positions with the Civil Aeronautics Board, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and was a president of Amtrak. Read more
20 Jul 1921: Henri Alleg, English-French journalist and author (died 2013) Henri Alleg, born as Harry John Salem, was a French-Algerian journalist, director of the Alger républicain newspaper, and a member of the French Communist Party. After Editions de Minuit, a French publishing house, released his memoir La Question in 1958. Alleg gained international recognition for his stance against torture, specifically within the context of the Algerian War (1954–1962). Read more
20 Jul 1920: Elliot Richardson, American lieutenant and politician, 11th United States Secretary of Defense (died 1999) Elliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinets of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1970 and 1977. A member of the Republican Party, Richardson is one of two persons to hold four cabinet positions, the other being George Shultz. As United States attorney general, Richardson played a prominent role in the Watergate scandal when he resigned in protest against President Nixon's order to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox. His resignation precipitated a crisis of confidence in Nixon which ultimately led to the president's resignation. Read more
20 Jul 1919: Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (died 2008) Sir Edmund Percival Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, he and Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, which was led by John Hunt. From 1985 to 1988, he served as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India and Bangladesh and concurrently as Ambassador to Nepal. Read more
20 Jul 1919: Jacquemine Charrott Lodwidge, English writer (died 2012) Jacquemine Francesca Anastasia Charrott Lodwidge (born Jacqueline Lodwidge) (20 July 1919 – 20 February 2012) was an English writer on crime and magic who also worked as an art director in British-made films and as a bookseller. Read more
20 Jul 1918: Cindy Walker, American singer-songwriter and dancer (died 2006) Cindy Walker was an American songwriter, country music singer, and dancer. She wrote many popular and enduring songs recorded by many artists. Read more
20 Jul 1914: Dobri Dobrev, Bulgarian philanthropist (died 2018) Dobri Dimitrov Dobrev, better known as Grandpa Dobri, Elder Dobri or The Saint of Bailovo, was a Bulgarian ascetic who walked over 20 kilometres (12 mi) each day to sit or stand in front of the Cathedral of Alexander Nevsky in Sofia to collect money for charitable causes. Dobrev donated all the money he collected to charities, orphanages, churches, and monasteries. He turned 100 in July 2014. In Bulgarian, his name translates as "good" or "kind". Read more
20 Jul 1914: Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (died 2005) Charilaos Florakis was a leader of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Read more
20 Jul 1914: Ersilio Tonini, Italian cardinal (died 2013) Ersilio Tonini was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Ravenna-Cervia from 1975 to 1990, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1994. When Cardinal Paul Augustin Mayer died on 30 April 2010, Cardinal Tonini became the oldest living cardinal. He died on 28 July 2013, a week after his 99th birthday. Read more
20 Jul 1912: John Vivian Dacie, English haematologist (discovered haemophilia B) (died 2005) Sir John Vivian Dacie, FRS was a British haematologist. Read more
20 Jul 1912: George Johnston, Australian journalist and author (died 1970) George Henry Johnston OBE was an Australian journalist, war correspondent and novelist, best known for My Brother Jack. He was the husband and literary collaborator of Charmian Clift. Read more
20 Jul 1911: Baqa Jilani, Indian cricketer (died 1941) Mohammad Baqa Khan Jilani was a bowler who represented India in Test cricket. Read more
20 Jul 1911: José Zabala-Santos, Filipino author and illustrator (died 1985) José Zabala-Santos, nicknamed as "Mang Pepe" by hometown neighbors and as "Zabala" by colleagues in the cartooning profession, was a successful cartoonist in the Philippines and was one of the pioneers of Philippine comics. He became one of the most popular cartoonists in the Philippines during the 1950s because of his cartoon characters such Popoy, Sianong Sano, and Lukas Malakas. Zabala is one of the "respected names" of artists in the Philippine cartoon and comics industry. Read more
20 Jul 1911: Loda Halama, Polish dancer and actress (died 1996) Loda Halama was a Polish dancer and actress. She was the Principal dancer of Grand Theatre, Warsaw (1934–1936). She appeared in eleven films between 1927 and 1950. Read more
20 Jul 1910: Vilém Tauský, Czech-English conductor and composer (died 2004) Vilém Tauský CBE was a Czech conductor and composer. From the advent of the Second World War, he lived and worked in the United Kingdom, and was one of a significant group of émigré composers and musicians who settled there. Read more
20 Jul 1909: Eric Rowan, South African cricketer (died 1993) Eric Alfred Burchell Rowan was a South African cricketer who played for Transvaal, Eastern Province and South Africa. Read more
20 Jul 1905: Joseph Levis, American foil fencer (died 2005) Joseph Levis was an American foil fencer. He won nine national fencing championships, and participated in three Olympic Games representing the United States. The Roll of Honor at the US Fencing Hall of Fame (USFA) credits his individual Olympic silver medal in foil (1932) as the finest accomplishment ever by an American fencer and his victory in the 1954 nationals, after a 16-year layoff from competition, as the greatest comeback in the history of American fencing. Read more
20 Jul 1902: Leonidas Berry, American gastroenterologist (died 1995) Leonidas Harris Berry was an American and pioneer in gastroscopy and endoscopy. He served as the president of the National Medical Association from 1965 to 1966. Read more
20 Jul 1901: Vehbi Koç, Turkish businessman and philanthropist, founded Koç Holding (died 1996) Ahmet Vehbi Koç was a Turkish billionaire, businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded the Koç Group, one of Turkey's largest groups of companies. During his lifetime, he came to be one of Turkey's wealthiest citizens. He was also a well-known philanthropist with interests in health, education and the arts. Read more
20 Jul 1901: Eugenio Lopez Sr., Filipino businessman and founder of the Lopez Group of Companies (died 1975) Eugenio "Eñing" Hofileña López Sr. was a leading business figure in the Philippines. He was the founder of López Group of Companies. He belonged to the prominent López family of Iloilo, one of the leading political families in the Philippines. Read more
20 Jul 1901: Heinie Manush, American baseball player and manager (died 1971) Henry Emmett Manush, nicknamed "Heinie", was an American baseball outfielder. He played professional baseball for 20 years from 1920 to 1939, including 17 years in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers (1923–1927), St. Louis Browns (1928–1930), Washington Senators (1930–1935), Boston Red Sox (1936), Brooklyn Dodgers (1937–1938), and Pittsburgh Pirates (1938–1939). After retiring as a player, Manush was a minor league manager from 1940 to 1945, a scout for the Boston Braves in the late 1940s and a coach for the Senators from 1953 to 1954. He also scouted for the expansion Senators in the early 1960s. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964. Read more
20 Jul 1901: Ida Mett, Belarusian Jewish anarchist (died 1973) Ida Mett (1901–1973) was a Belarusian anarcho-syndicalist, physician and writer. Following her experiences in the Russian Revolution, she fled into exile in France, where she collaborated with other exiled revolutionary anarchists on the Delo Truda magazine and the constitution of platformism. She then went on to participate in the anarcho-syndicalist movements in Belgium, Spain and France, before repression by the fascist Vichy regime forced her to cease her activities. She spent the final decades of her life working as a nurse and publishing history books. Read more
20 Jul 1900: Maurice Leyland, English cricketer and coach (died 1967) Maurice Leyland was an English international cricketer who played 41 Test matches between 1928 and 1938. In first-class cricket, he represented Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1920 and 1946, scoring over 1,000 runs in 17 consecutive seasons. A left-handed middle-order batsman and occasional left-arm spinner, Leyland was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1929. Read more
20 Jul 1897: Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1996) Tadeusz Reichstein, also known as Tadeus Reichstein, was a Polish-Swiss chemist and a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (1950), which was awarded for his work on the isolation of cortisone. Read more
20 Jul 1895: László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (died 1946) László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the integration of technology and industry into the arts. The art critic Peter Schjeldahl called him "relentlessly experimental" because of his pioneering work in painting, drawing, photography, collage, sculpture, film, theater, and writing. Read more
20 Jul 1893: George Llewelyn Davies, English soldier (died 1915) George Llewelyn Davies was the eldest son of Arthur and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies. Along with his four younger brothers, George was the inspiration for playwright J. M. Barrie's characters of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. The character of Mr. George Darling was named after him. He was killed in action in the First World War. He was the first cousin of the English writer Daphne du Maurier. Read more
20 Jul 1890: Verna Felton, American actress (died 1966) Verna Arline Felton was an American actress known for voicing characters in several classic Disney animated films, including the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950), the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Flora in Sleeping Beauty (1959). Read more
20 Jul 1890: Julie Vinter Hansen, Danish-Swiss astronomer and academic (died 1960) Julie Marie Vinter Hansen was a Danish astronomer. She was the first woman in Denmark to earn an academic degree in astronomy. Read more
20 Jul 1890: Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (died 1964) Giorgio Morandi was an Italian painter and printmaker widely known for his subtly muted still-life paintings of ceramic vessels, flowers, and landscapes. Read more
20 Jul 1889: John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, Scottish broadcaster, co-founded BBC (died 1971) John Charles Walsham Reith, 1st Baron Reith was a Scottish broadcasting executive who established the tradition of independent public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom. In 1922, he was employed by the BBC, then the British Broadcasting Company Ltd., as its general manager; in 1923 he became its managing director, and in 1927 he was employed as the Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation created under a royal charter. His concept of broadcasting as a way of educating the masses marked for a long time the BBC and similar organisations around the world. Read more
20 Jul 1882: Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (died 1937) Olga Hahn-Neurath was an Austrian mathematician and philosopher. She is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle. She was sister of the mathematician Hans Hahn. Read more
20 Jul 1877: Tom Crean, Irish sailor and explorer (died 1938) Thomas Crean was an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer who was awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving (AM). Read more
20 Jul 1876: Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician and academic (died 1944) Ludwig Otto Blumenthal was a German mathematician and professor at RWTH Aachen University. Read more
20 Jul 1873: Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian pilot (died 1932) Alberto Santos-Dumont was a Brazilian aeronaut, sportsman, inventor, and one of the few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air aircraft. The heir of a wealthy family of coffee producers, he dedicated himself to aeronautical study and experimentation in Paris, where he spent most of his adult life. He designed, built, and flew the first powered airships and won the Deutsch prize in 1901, when he flew around the Eiffel Tower in his airship No. 6, becoming one of the most famous people in the world in the early 20th century. Read more
20 Jul 1868: Miron Cristea, Romanian cleric and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Romania (died 1939) Miron Cristea was a Romanian cleric and politician. Read more
20 Jul 1864: Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1931) Erik Axel Karlfeldt was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously after he had been nominated by Nathan Söderblom, member of the Swedish Academy. Karlfeldt had been offered the award already in 1919 but refused to accept it, because of his position as permanent secretary to the Swedish Academy (1913–1931), which awards the prize. Read more
20 Jul 1864: Ruggero Oddi, Italian physiologist and anatomist (died 1913) Ruggero Oddi was an Italian physiologist and anatomist who was a native of Perugia. He is most well known for the sphincter of Oddi, which was named after him. Read more
20 Jul 1854: Philomène Belliveau, Canadian artist (died 1940) Philomène Belliveau was a Canadian artist of Acadian descent. Read more
20 Jul 1852: Theo Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (died 1932) Theodorus Heemskerk was a Dutch politician of the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) who served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 12 February 1908 until 29 August 1913. Read more
20 Jul 1849: Robert Anderson Van Wyck, American lawyer and politician, 91st Mayor of New York City (died 1918) Robert Anderson Van Wyck was an American politician who was the first mayor of New York City after the consolidation of the five boroughs into the City of Greater New York in 1898. Read more
20 Jul 1847: Max Liebermann, German painter and academic (died 1935) Max Liebermann was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important collection of French Impressionist works. Read more
20 Jul 1838: Augustin Daly, American playwright and manager (died 1899) John Augustin Daly was one of the most influential men in American theatre during his lifetime. Drama critic, theatre manager, playwright, and adapter, he became the first recognized stage director in America. He exercised fierce and tyrannical control over all aspects of his productions. His rules of conduct for actors and actresses imposed heavy fines for late appearances and forgotten lines and earned him the title "the autocrat of the stage." He formed a permanent company in New York and opened Daly's Theatre in New York in 1879, and a second one in London in 1893. Read more
20 Jul 1838: William Paine Lord, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Oregon (died 1911) William Paine Lord was an American Republican politician who served as the ninth governor of Oregon from 1895 to 1899. The Delaware native previously served as the 27th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, including three times as the chief justice of that court. After serving as governor he was appointed as an ambassador to Argentina and later helped to codify Oregon's laws. Read more
20 Jul 1838: Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, English civil servant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (died 1928) Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, was a British statesman and author. In a ministerial career stretching almost 30 years, he was most notably twice Secretary for Scotland under William Ewart Gladstone and the Earl of Rosebery. He broke with Gladstone over the 1886 Irish Home Rule Bill, but after modifications were made to the bill he re-joined the Liberal Party shortly afterwards. Also a writer and historian, Trevelyan wrote his novel The Competition Wallah in around 1864, and The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, his maternal uncle, in 1876. Read more
20 Jul 1830: Clements Markham, English explorer (died 1916) Sir Clements Robert Markham was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for a further 12 years. In the latter capacity he was mainly responsible for organising the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1904, and for launching the polar career of Robert Falcon Scott. Read more
20 Jul 1822: Gregor Mendel, Austro-German monk, geneticist and botanist (died 1884) Gregor Johann Mendel was an Austrian biologist, meteorologist, mathematician, Augustinian friar and abbot of St. Thomas' Abbey in Brno (Brünn), Margraviate of Moravia. Mendel was born in a German-speaking family in the Silesian part of the Austrian Empire and gained posthumous recognition as the founder of the modern science of genetics. Though farmers had known for millennia that crossbreeding of animals and plants could favor certain desirable traits, Mendel's pea plant experiments conducted between 1856 and 1863 established many of the rules of heredity, now referred to as the laws of Mendelian inheritance. Read more
20 Jul 1816: Sir William Bowman, English surgeon, histologist and anatomist. (died 1892) Sir William Bowman, 1st Baronet was an English surgeon, histologist and anatomist. He is best known for his research using microscopes to study various human organs, though during his lifetime he pursued a successful career as an ophthalmologist. Read more
20 Jul 1804: Richard Owen, English biologist, anatomist, and paleontologist (died 1892) Sir Richard Owen was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkable gift for interpreting fossils. Read more

Notable Deaths on 20 July

20 Jul 2025: Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor (born 1970) Malcolm-Jamal Warner was an American actor, musician and poet. He rose to prominence for his role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992), which earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards. He was also known for his roles as Malcolm McGee on the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie (1996–2000), Dr. Alex Reed in the sitcom Reed Between the Lines, Julius Rowe in Suits (2016–2017) and Dr. AJ Austin in the medical drama The Resident (2018–2023). Read more
20 Jul 2024: Jerry Miller, American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist (born 1943) Jerry Miller was an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performed as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He was also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which continues to perform occasionally. Rolling Stone included Miller at number 68 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time and Moby Grape's album Moby Grape at number 124 on their 2012 list of 500 greatest albums of all time. Miller's longtime guitar was a Gibson L-5 CES Florentine guitar which he called "Beulah". Read more
20 Jul 2024: Jill Schary Robinson, American novelist (born 1936) Jill Schary Robinson was an American novelist, essayist, and teacher. Based in Los Angeles, her memoirs contended with the themes of addiction, recovery, and growing up during the golden age of Hollywood. Read more
20 Jul 2020: Michael Brooks, political commentator (born 1983) Michael Jamal Brooks was an American talk show host, writer, left-wing political commentator, and comedian. While co-hosting The Majority Report with Sam Seder, he launched The Michael Brooks Show in August 2017 and provided commentary for media outlets, making regular appearances on shows such as The Young Turks. Brooks contributed to various publications, including HuffPost, The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, openDemocracy, and Jacobin. His book Against the Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right was published by Zero Books in April 2020. Read more
20 Jul 2017: Chester Bennington, American singer (born 1976) Chester Charles Bennington was an American singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various points in his career. Read more
20 Jul 2016: Radu Beligan, Romanian actor, director, and essayist (born 1918) Radu Beligan was a Romanian actor, director, and essayist, with an activity of over 70 years in theatre, film, television, and radio. On 15 December 2013, confirmed by Guinness World Records, the actor received the title of "The oldest active theatre actor" on the planet. He was elected honorary member of the Romanian Academy in 2004. Read more
20 Jul 2015: Wayne Carson, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1943) Wayne Carson, sometimes credited as Wayne Carson Thompson, was an American country musician, songwriter, and record producer. He played percussion, piano, guitar, and bass. His most famous songs as a writer include "The Letter", "Neon Rainbow", "Soul Deep", and "Always on My Mind". Read more
20 Jul 2015: Fred Else, English footballer and manager (born 1933) Fredrick Else was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. Else gained over 600 professional appearances in his career playing for three clubs, Preston North End, Blackburn Rovers and Barrow. Read more
20 Jul 2015: Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (born 1944) Dieter Moebius was a Swiss-born German electronic musician and composer, best known as a member of the influential krautrock bands Cluster and Harmonia. Read more
20 Jul 2014: Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (born 1923) Victor George Atiyeh was an American politician who served as the 32nd governor of Oregon from 1979 to 1987. He was also the first elected governor of Middle Eastern descent and of Syrian and Lebanese descent in the United States. Read more
20 Jul 2014: Constantin Lucaci, Romanian sculptor and educator (born 1923) Constantin Lucaci was a Romanian contemporary sculptor, best known for his monumentalist sculptures and his kinetic fountains most made from stainless steel, among which those from the Romanian cities of Reșița and Constanța are best known. He was born in Bocșa Română, today a part of Bocșa, Caraș-Severin County. Read more
20 Jul 2014: Bob McNamara, American football player (born 1931) John Robert McNamara was an American football all-star running back in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the American Football League (AFL). Read more
20 Jul 2014: Klaus Schmidt, German archaeologist and academic (born 1953) Klaus Schmidt was a German archaeologist and prehistorian who led the excavations at Göbekli Tepe from 1996 to 2014. Read more
20 Jul 2013: Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist and businessman, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (born 1926) Pierre Jacques Louis Fabre was a French pharmaceutical and cosmetics executive and pharmacist, who founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre in 1962. Fabre, a rugby enthusiast, was also the owner of Castres Olympique, a French rugby union club based in the city of Castres. Read more
20 Jul 2013: Khurshed Alam Khan, Indian politician, 2nd Governor of Goa (born 1919) Khurshed Alam Khan was an Indian politician and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress political party. Read more
20 Jul 2013: Augustus Rowe, Canadian physician and politician (born 1920) Augustus Taylor Rowe was a Canadian physician and politician. He served as a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly for Carbonear from 1971 to 1975. He also spent three years as the province's health minister within the cabinet of the former premier Frank Moores from January 1972 to 1975. Read more
20 Jul 2013: Helen Thomas, American journalist and author (born 1920) Helen Amelia Thomas was an American reporter and author, and a long-serving member of the White House press corps. She covered the White House during the administrations of ten U.S. presidents—from the beginning of the Kennedy administration to the second year of the Obama administration. Read more
20 Jul 2012: Alastair Burnet, English journalist (born 1928) Sir James William Alexander Burnet, known as Alastair Burnet, was a British journalist and broadcaster, who had a career working in news and current affairs programmes, including a long career with Independent Television News (ITN) as chief presenter of the flagship News at Ten; Sir Robin Day described Burnet as "the booster rocket that put ITN into orbit". Read more
20 Jul 2012: Jack Davis, American hurdler (born 1930) Jack Wells Davis was an American track and field hurdler, silver medalist in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics over 110-meter hurdles. Davis lost to Harrison Dillard in 1952 with the same time as the winner, and lost to Lee Calhoun in 1956, again with the same time as the winner. He set a new world record 13.4 in a heat at the AAU in 1956. Read more
20 Jul 2012: José Hermano Saraiva, Portuguese historian, jurist, and politician, Portuguese Minister of Education (born 1919) José Hermano Saraiva GCIH • GCIP was a Portuguese professor, historian and jurist. He was most known as a television personality in Portugal, having been the author and presenter of several documentary series of historical divulgation from 1971 to 2003 on the Portuguese television. Read more
20 Jul 2011: Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (born 1922) Lucian Michael Freud was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, who is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. Read more
20 Jul 2009: Vedat Okyar, Turkish footballer (born 1945) Vedat Okyar was a Turkish international footballer who later became a sports journalist. Read more
20 Jul 2009: Mark Rosenzweig, American psychologist and academic (born 1922) Mark Richard Rosenzweig was an American research psychologist whose research on neuroplasticity in animals indicated that the adult brain remains capable of anatomical remodelling and reorganization based on life experiences, overturning the conventional wisdom that the brain reached full maturity in childhood. Read more
20 Jul 2008: Artie Traum, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (born 1943) Arthur Roy Traum was an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. Traum's work appeared on more than 35 albums. He produced and recorded with The Band, Arlen Roth, Warren Bernhardt, Pat Alger, Tony Levin, John Sebastian, Richie Havens, Maria Muldaur, Eric Andersen, Paul Butterfield, Paul Siebel, Rory Block, James Taylor, Pete Seeger, David Grisman, Livingston Taylor, Michael Franks and Happy Traum, among others. Traum's songs were featured on PBS, BBC, ESPN, CBS, and The Weather Channel. He toured in Japan, Europe and the U.S. Read more
20 Jul 2008: Dinko Šakić, Croatian concentration camp commander (born 1921) Dinko Šakić was a Croatian Ustaše official, and convicted war criminal, who commanded the Jasenovac concentration camp in the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) from April to November 1944, during World War II. Read more
20 Jul 2007: Tammy Faye Messner, American Christian evangelist and talk show host (born 1942) Tamara Faye Messner was an American evangelist. She co-founded the televangelist program The PTL Club with her then-husband Jim Bakker in 1974. They had hosted their own puppet-show series for local programming in the early 1960s; Messner also had a career as a recording artist. In 1978, she and Bakker built Heritage USA, a Christian theme park. Read more
20 Jul 2006: Ted Grant, South African-English theorist and activist (born 1913) Edward Grant was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. He was a founding member of the group Militant and later Socialist Appeal. Read more
20 Jul 2006: Gérard Oury, French actor, director, and producer (born 1919) Gérard Oury was a French film director, actor and writer. He is best known for a number of comedies he directed and co-wrote between the 1960s and 1980s, most notably The Sucker (1965), Don't Look Now… We're Being Shot At! (1966), The Brain (1969), The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973), and Ace of Aces (1982). Read more
20 Jul 2005: James Doohan, Canadian-American actor (born 1920) James Montgomery Doohan was a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the television and film series Star Trek. Doohan's characterization of the Scottish chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise has become one of the most recognizable elements in the Star Trek franchise, and inspired many fans to pursue careers in engineering and other technical fields. He also made contributions behind the scenes, such as the initial development of the Klingon and Vulcan languages. Read more
20 Jul 2005: Finn Gustavsen, Norwegian journalist and politician (born 1926) Finn Gustavsen was a Norwegian socialist politician active from 1945 to the late 1970s. He was noted for his uncompromising style and willingness to take contrarian stands. Read more
20 Jul 2005: Kayo Hatta, American director and cinematographer (born 1958) Kayo Hatta was an American filmmaker, writer, and community activist. She directed and co-wrote the independent dramatic feature-length film Picture Bride, which won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in 1995 for Best Dramatic Film. Read more
20 Jul 2004: Lala Mara, Fijian politician (born 1931) Ro Lala, Lady Mara, maiden name Litia Cakobau Lalabalavu Katoafutoga Tuisawau was a Fijian chief, who was better known as the widow of Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, modern Fiji's founding father who served for many years as Prime Minister and President of his country. As Fiji's First Lady, Adi Lala took on a diplomatic role, frequently representing her country abroad. She was regarded as a formidable and astute woman, whose influence on her husband was said to be considerable. Read more
20 Jul 2004: Valdemaras Martinkėnas, Lithuanian footballer and coach (born 1965) Valdemaras Martinkėnas was a Soviet and Lithuanian professional footballer and coach. Read more
20 Jul 2003: Nicolas Freeling, English author (born 1927) Nicolas Freeling, was a British crime novelist, best known as the author of the "Van der Valk" series of detective novels. A television series based on the character, Van der Valk, was produced for the British ITV network by Thames Television during the 1970s and was revived in 1991–92; a remake with new cast, characters, and storylines was launched in 2020 as Van der Valk. Read more
20 Jul 2002: Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer (born 1946) Michalis Kritikopoulos was a Greek professional footballer who played as a striker. Read more
20 Jul 1999: Sandra Gould, American actress (born 1916) Sandra Gould was an American actress, known for her role as Gladys Kravitz on the sitcom Bewitched. Gould was the second actress to portray the role, debuting at the start of the third season. Read more
20 Jul 1998: June Byers, American wrestler (born 1922) DeAlva Eyvonnie Sibley, better known by her ring name June Byers, was an American women's professional wrestler famous in the 1950s and early 1960s. She held the Women's World Championship for ten years and is a member of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. She is overall a three-time women's world champion. Read more
20 Jul 1997: M. E. H. Maharoof, Sri Lankan politician (born 1939) Mohamed Ehuttar Hadjiar Maharoof was a Sri Lankan politician and Member of Parliament. Read more
20 Jul 1994: Paul Delvaux, Belgian painter (born 1897) Paul Delvaux was a Belgian painter noted for his dream-like scenes of women, classical architecture, trains and train stations, and skeletons, often in combination. He is often considered a surrealist, although he only briefly identified with the surrealist movement. He was influenced by the works of Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte, but developed his own fantastical subjects and hyper-realistic styling, combining the detailed classical beauty of academic painting with the bizarre juxtapositions of surrealism. Read more
20 Jul 1993: Vince Foster, American lawyer and political figure (born 1945) Vincent Walker Foster Jr. was an American attorney who served as deputy White House counsel during the first six months of the Clinton administration. Read more
20 Jul 1992: Bruce Conde, American US army officer, stamp collector, and royalist mercenary general in the North Yemen civil war. Bruce Conde was a US Army officer, stamp collector, royal imposter, and a general for Royalist forces during the North Yemen Civil War. Read more
20 Jul 1990: Herbert Turner Jenkins, American police officer (born 1907) Herbert Turner Jenkins was an American law enforcement official and the longest-serving police chief of Atlanta. Read more
20 Jul 1989: Forrest H. Anderson, American judge and politician, 17th Governor of Montana (born 1913) Forrest Howard Anderson was an American politician, attorney, and judge who served as the 17th Governor of Montana from 1969 to 1973. Prior to this, he served as the Attorney General of Montana from 1957 to 1969 and as a member of the Montana Supreme Court. Read more
20 Jul 1987: Richard Egan, American soldier and actor (born 1921) Richard Egan was an American actor. After beginning his career in 1949, he subsequently won a Golden Globe Award for his performances in the films The Glory Brigade (1953) and The Kid from Left Field (1953). He went on to star in many films such as Underwater! (1955), Seven Cities of Gold (1955), The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), Love Me Tender (1956), Tension at Table Rock (1956), A Summer Place (1959), Esther and the King (1960) and The 300 Spartans (1962). Read more
20 Jul 1983: Frank Reynolds, American soldier and journalist (born 1923) Frank James Reynolds was an American television journalist for CBS and ABC News. Read more
20 Jul 1981: Kostas Choumis, Greek-Romanian footballer (born 1913) Kostas Choumis was a Greek-Romanian football player who played as a striker. He is often regarded in Greece and Romania as one of the greatest strikers from the 1930s. Read more
20 Jul 1980: Maria Martinez, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) potter (born 1887) Maria Poveka Montoya Martinez was a Pueblo artist who created internationally known pottery. Martinez, her husband Julian, and other family members, including her son Popovi Da, examined traditional Pueblo pottery styles and techniques to create pieces which reflect the Pueblo people's legacy of fine artwork and crafts. The works of Maria Martinez, and especially her black ware pottery, are in the collections of many museums, including the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, and more. The Penn Museum in Philadelphia holds eight vessels – three plates and five jars – signed either "Marie" or "Marie & Julian". Read more
20 Jul 1977: Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (born 1939) Gary Kellgren was an American audio engineer and co-founder of The Record Plant recording studios, along with businessman Chris Stone. Read more
20 Jul 1976: Joseph Rochefort, American captain and cryptanalyst (born 1900) Joseph John Rochefort was an American naval officer and cryptanalyst. He was a major figure in the United States Navy's cryptographic and intelligence operations from 1925 to 1946, particularly in the Battle of Midway. His contributions and those of his team were pivotal to victory in the Pacific War. Read more
20 Jul 1974: Allen Jenkins, American actor and singer (born 1900) Allen Curtis Jenkins was an American character actor, voice actor and singer who worked on stage, film, and television. He may be best known to some audiences as the voice of Officer Charlie Dibble in the Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon series Top Cat (1961–62). Read more
20 Jul 1974: Kamal Dasgupta, Bengali music director, composer and folk artist. (born 1912) Kamal Dasgupta (later Kamal Uddin Ahmed) (28 July 1911 – 20 July 1974), was a Bangladeshi Bengali music director, lyricist, composer and folk artist active in Hindi and Bengali cinema especially in pre-partition British India. Rāga and thumri were the main elements of his music. An ardent lover of Nazrulgeeti (the music of Kazi Nazrul Islam, National Poet of Bangladesh), he was immensely successful professionally, and in the early forties, was anecdotally reputed to have paid 35,000 to 40,000 rupees as income tax. On the other hand, a true humanitarian, during the Great Bengal Famine, when ten lakh starving and dispossessed people descended upon Calcutta, he opened langarkhanas (mass kitchens) and nearly spent the vast majority of his fortune to feed the needy and destitute. While in Calcutta, he lived near Hedua (the anecdotal evidence states that he lived near Scottish Church College). Read more
20 Jul 1973: Bruce Lee, American actor and martial artist (born 1940) Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong and American martial artist, actor, and filmmaker. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy, which was formed from his experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist, and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought. With a career spanning Hong Kong and the United States, Lee is regarded as the first global Chinese film star and one of the most influential martial artists in the history of cinema. Known for his roles in five feature-length martial arts films, he is credited with helping to popularize martial arts films in the 1970s and promoting Hong Kong action cinema. Read more
20 Jul 1973: Robert Smithson, American photographer and sculptor (born 1938) Robert Smithson was an American artist known for sculpture and land art who often used drawing and photography in relation to the spatial arts. His work has been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums and is held in public collections. He was one of the founders of the land art movement whose best known work is the Spiral Jetty (1970). Read more
20 Jul 1972: Geeta Dutt, Indian singer and actress (born 1930) Geeta Dutt was an Indian classical and playback singer. She found particular prominence as a playback singer in Hindi cinema and Bengali cinema and is considered as one of the best playback singers of all time in Hindi films. She also sang many modern Bengali songs in the non-film genre. Read more
20 Jul 1970: Iain Macleod, English journalist and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1913) Iain Norman Macleod was a British Conservative Party politician. A playboy and professional bridge player in his twenties, after war service Macleod worked for the Conservative Research Department before entering Parliament in 1950. He was noted as a formidable Parliamentary debater and—later—as a platform orator. He was quickly appointed Minister of Health, later serving as Minister of Labour. He served an important term as Secretary of State for the Colonies under Harold Macmillan in the early 1960s, overseeing the independence of many African countries from British rule but earning the enmity of Conservative right-wingers, and the soubriquet that he was "too clever by half". Read more
20 Jul 1968: Bray Hammond, American historian and author (born 1886) Bray Hammond was an American financial historian and assistant secretary to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1944–1950. He won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for History for Banks and Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War (1957). He was educated at Stanford University. Read more
20 Jul 1965: Batukeshwar Dutt, Indian activist (born 1910) Batukeshwar Dutta was an Indian socialist and independence fighter in the early 1900s. He is best known for having exploded two bombs, along with Bhagat Singh, in the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi on 8 April 1929. After they were arrested, tried and imprisoned for life, he and Singh initiated a historic hunger strike protesting against the abusive treatment of Indian political prisoners, and eventually secured some rights for them. He was also a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. Read more
20 Jul 1959: William D. Leahy, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (born 1875) William Daniel Leahy was an American naval officer and was the most senior United States military officer on active duty during World War II; he held several titles and exercised considerable influence over foreign and military policy. As a fleet admiral, he was the first flag officer ever to hold a five-star rank in the U.S. Armed Forces. Read more
20 Jul 1956: James Alexander Calder, Canadian educator and politician, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence (born 1868) James Alexander Calder was a Canadian politician. Read more
20 Jul 1955: Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (born 1869) Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was an Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is credited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil. Following the "Red Line Agreement", a fixed 5% of the shares of the Turkish Petroleum Company were to be consistently owned by him, for which he earned the nickname "Mr. Five Per Cent". Gulbenkian travelled extensively and lived in a number of cities including his birth city of Constantinople and later London, Paris, and finally Lisbon. Read more
20 Jul 1953: Dumarsais Estimé, Haitian lawyer and politician, 33rd President of Haiti (born 1900) Léon Dumarsais Estimé was a Haitian politician and President of the Haitian Republic from August 16, 1946, to May 10, 1950. Read more
20 Jul 1953: Jan Struther, English author and hymn-writer (born 1901) Jan Struther was the pen name of Joyce Anstruther, later Joyce Maxtone Graham and finally Joyce Placzek, an English writer remembered for her character Mrs. Miniver and a number of hymns, such as "Lord of All Hopefulness". Read more
20 Jul 1951: Abdullah I, king of Jordan (born 1882) Abdullah I was the ruler of Jordan from 11 April 1921 until his assassination in 1951. He was the Emir of Transjordan, a British protectorate, until 25 May 1946, after which he was king of an independent Jordan. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Abdullah was a 38th-generation direct descendant of Muhammad. Read more
20 Jul 1945: Paul Valéry, French author and poet (born 1871) Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction, his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, music, and current events. Read more
20 Jul 1944: Ludwig Beck, German general (born 1880) Ludwig August Theodor Beck was a German general who served as Chief of the German General Staff from 1933 to 1938. Beck was one of the main conspirators of the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Read more
20 Jul 1944: Mildred Harris, American actress (born 1901) Mildred Harris was an American stage, film, and vaudeville actress during the early part of the 20th century. She began her career in the film industry as a child actress at age 10. She was also the first wife of Charlie Chaplin. Read more
20 Jul 1941: Lew Fields, American actor and producer (born 1867) Lew Fields was an American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager, and producer. Partnering with Joe Weber, they formed the comedy double-act of Weber and Fields. He also produced shows on his own and starred in comedy films. Read more
20 Jul 1937: Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher from the Vienna Circle (born 1882) Olga Hahn-Neurath was an Austrian mathematician and philosopher. She is best known for being a member of the Vienna Circle. She was sister of the mathematician Hans Hahn. Read more
20 Jul 1937: Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1874) Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi, was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based wireless telegraph system. This led to his being largely credited as the inventor of radio and sharing the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ferdinand Braun "in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy." Read more
20 Jul 1932: René Bazin, French author and academic (born 1853) René François Nicolas Marie Bazin was a French novelist. Read more
20 Jul 1928: Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet and author (born 1896) Kostas Karyotakis is considered one of the most representative Greek poets of the 1920s and one of the first poets to use iconoclastic themes in Greece. Read more
20 Jul 1927: Ferdinand I, king of Romania (born 1865) Ferdinand I, nicknamed the Unifier, was King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, and Infanta Antónia of Portugal. His family was part of the Swabian Catholic branch of the Prussian royal House of Hohenzollern. Read more
20 Jul 1926: Felix Dzerzhinsky, Soviet educator and politician of Belarusian origin (born 1877) Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, nicknamed Iron Felix, was a Bolshevik revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first three Soviet secret police organizations—the Cheka, the GPU and the OGPU—establishing state security organs for the new Soviet government. Read more
20 Jul 1923: Pancho Villa, Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (born 1878) Francisco "Pancho" Villa was a Mexican revolutionary, guerrilla leader, and politician. He was a key figure in the Mexican Revolution, which forced out President and dictator Porfirio Díaz, subsequently ending the Porfiriato, and brought Francisco I. Madero to power in 1911. When Madero was ousted by a coup led by General Victoriano Huerta in February 1913, Villa joined the anti-Huerta forces in the Constitutionalist Army led by Venustiano Carranza. After the defeat and exile of Huerta in July 1914, Villa broke with Carranza. Villa dominated the meeting of revolutionary generals that excluded Carranza and helped create a coalition government. Emiliano Zapata and Villa became formal allies in this period. Like Zapata, Villa was strongly in favor of land reform, but did not implement it when he had power. Villa served as provisional governor of Chihuahua from 1913 to 1914. Read more
20 Jul 1922: Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician and theorist (born 1856) Andrey Andreyevich Markov was a Russian mathematician celebrated for his pioneering work in stochastic processes. He extended foundational results—such as the law of large numbers and the central limit theorem—to sequences of dependent random variables, laying the groundwork for what would become known as Markov chains. To illustrate his methods, he analyzed the distribution of vowels and consonants in Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, treating letters purely as abstract categories and stripping away any poetic or semantic content. Read more
20 Jul 1917: Ignaz Sowinski, Galician architect (born 1858) Ignaz Stanislaus Sowinski was a Polish architect and journalist who was active in Galicia from the middle of the 1880s and until the outbreak of World War I. Read more
20 Jul 1910: Anderson Dawson, Australian politician, 14th Premier of Queensland (born 1863) Andrew Dawson, usually known as Anderson Dawson, was an Australian politician and unionist who served as the 14th premier of Queensland for one week from 1 to 7 December 1899. This short-lived premiership was the first Australian Labor Party (ALP) government in Australia and the first parliamentary labour party government anywhere in the world. Read more
20 Jul 1908: Demetrius Vikelas, Greek businessman and author, first IOC president (born 1835) Demetrios Vikelas was a Greek businessman and writer; he was the co-founder and first president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), from 1894 to 1896. Read more
20 Jul 1908: Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz, German geophysicist and seismologist (born 1881) Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz was a German geophysicist who made important contributions to seismology, in particular the formulation of the Zoeppritz equations. Read more
20 Jul 1903: Leo XIII, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1810) Pope Leo XIII was head of the Catholic Church from 1878 until his death in 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign and third-longest verified reign of any pope, behind those of St. Peter, Pius IX, and John Paul II. Read more
20 Jul 1901: William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (born 1840) William Cosmo Monkhouse was a British poet and critic. Read more
20 Jul 1897: Jean Ingelow, English poet and author (born 1820) Jean Ingelow was an English poet and novelist, who gained sudden fame in 1863. She also wrote several stories for children. Read more
20 Jul 1866: Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician and academic (born 1826) Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was a German mathematician who made profound contributions to analysis, number theory, and differential geometry. In the field of real analysis, he is mostly known for the first rigorous formulation of the integral, the Riemann integral, and his work on Fourier series. His contributions to complex analysis include most notably the introduction of Riemann surfaces, breaking new ground in a natural, geometric treatment of complex analysis. His 1859 paper on the prime-counting function, containing the original statement of the Riemann hypothesis, is regarded as a foundational paper of analytic number theory. Through his pioneering contributions to differential geometry, Riemann laid the foundations of the mathematics of general relativity. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. Read more
20 Jul 1816: Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet and politician (born 1743) Gavriil (Gavrila) Romanovich Derzhavin was one of the most highly esteemed Russian poets before Alexander Pushkin, as well as a statesman. Although his works are traditionally considered literary classicism, his best verse is rich with antitheses and conflicting sounds in a way reminiscent of John Donne and other metaphysical poets. Read more

Why is 20 July Important in History?

20 July is important because many political, cultural, scientific, educational and social events took place on this date. These facts are useful for students, exam aspirants and readers interested in daily history and general knowledge.

History of Today 20 July for Competitive Exams

Questions based on today in history, famous personalities, historical events and important dates are often asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, Defence and State PSC examinations.

👉 View complete History of Today archive

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 20 July in history?

On 20 July, many important historical events, famous births and notable deaths occurred across the world.

Why is History of Today important for exams?

History of Today helps students remember important dates, events and personalities for competitive exams like UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway and PSC.

Where can I read daily history facts?

You can read daily history facts on this History of Today section, updated regularly with important events, births and deaths.