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

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

Last updated on 20 June 2026, 01:01 AM

Important Events on 20 June in History

20 Jun 2025: The first EF5 tornado in 12 years occurs in Enderlin, North Dakota. Read more
20 Jun 2019: Iran's Air Defense Forces shoot down an American surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions between the two countries. Read more
20 Jun 2011: RusAir Flight 9605 crashes in Besovets during approach to Petrozavodsk Airport, killing 47. Read more
20 Jun 2003: The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida. Read more
20 Jun 1996: Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-78 to conduct life science and microgravity research aboard the Spacelab module. Read more
20 Jun 1994: The 1994 Imam Reza shrine bomb explosion in Iran leaves at least 25 dead and 70 to 300 injured. Read more
20 Jun 1991: The German Bundestag votes to move seat of government from the former West German capital of Bonn to the present capital of Berlin. Read more
20 Jun 1990: Asteroid Eureka is discovered. Read more
20 Jun 1990: The 7.4 Mw Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000. Read more
20 Jun 1988: Haitian president Leslie Manigat is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant General Henri Namphy. Read more
20 Jun 1982: The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide opens in Tel Aviv, despite attempts by the Turkish government to cancel it, as it included presentations on the Armenian genocide. Read more
20 Jun 1982: The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War. Read more
20 Jun 1979: ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle during the Nicaraguan Revolution. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime. Read more
20 Jun 1975: The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters". Read more
20 Jun 1973: Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in what is known as the Ezeiza massacre. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured. Read more
20 Jun 1973: Aeroméxico Flight 229 crashes on approach to Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport, killing all 27 people on board. Read more
20 Jun 1972: Watergate scandal: An 18+1⁄2-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex. Read more
20 Jun 1964: A Curtiss C-46 Commando crashes in the Shengang District of Taiwan, killing 57 people. Read more
20 Jun 1963: Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called "red telephone" link between Washington, D.C., and Moscow. Read more
20 Jun 1960: The Mali Federation gains independence from France (it later splits into Mali and Senegal). Read more
20 Jun 1959: A rare June hurricane strikes Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35. Read more
20 Jun 1956: A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people. Read more
20 Jun 1948: The Deutsche Mark is introduced in Western Allied-occupied Germany. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany responded by imposing the Berlin Blockade four days later. Read more
20 Jun 1945: The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip. Read more
20 Jun 1944: World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". Read more
20 Jun 1944: World War II: During the Continuation War, the Soviet Union demands unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refuses. Read more
20 Jun 1944: The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space. Read more
20 Jun 1943: The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days. Read more
20 Jun 1943: World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Avro Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria. Read more
20 Jun 1942: The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp. Read more
20 Jun 1926: The 28th International Eucharistic Congress begins in Chicago, with over 250,000 spectators attending the opening procession. Read more
20 Jun 1921: Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, begin a four-month strike. Read more
20 Jun 1900: Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China. Read more
20 Jun 1900: Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return. Read more
20 Jun 1895: The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened. Read more
20 Jun 1893: Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother. Read more
20 Jun 1877: Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Read more
20 Jun 1863: American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state. Read more
20 Jun 1862: Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated. Read more
20 Jun 1840: Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph. Read more
20 Jun 1837: King William IV dies, and is succeeded by his niece, Victoria. Read more
20 Jun 1819: The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail. Read more

Famous Births on 20 June

20 Jun 2003: Hans Niemann, American chess player Hans Moke Niemann is an American chess grandmaster and Twitch streamer. He first entered the top 100 junior players list on March 1, 2019, and became a FIDE grandmaster on January 22, 2021. In July 2021, he won the World Open chess tournament in Philadelphia. He achieved a peak global ranking of No. 12 in May 2026. Read more
20 Jun 2003: Marc Pubill, Spanish footballer Marc Pubill Pagès is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right-back or centre-back for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Spain national team. Read more
20 Jun 2002: Hugo Ekitike, French footballer Hugo Timothée Ekitike is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Liverpool and the France national team. Read more
20 Jun 2001: Nicolas Jackson, Senegalese footballer Nicolas Jackson is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a striker and winger for Premier League club Chelsea, and the Senegal national team. Read more
20 Jun 2001: Gonçalo Ramos, Portuguese footballer Gonçalo Matias Ramos is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Portugal national team. Read more
20 Jun 1997: Bálint Kopasz, Hungarian sprint canoeist Bálint Kopasz is a Hungarian sprint canoeist. He competed in the men's K-1 1000 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He won the same event in the 2020 Summer Olympics and later claimed bronze at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Read more
20 Jun 1996: Sam Bennett, Canadian ice hockey player Samuel Hunter Bennett is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Florida Panthers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Bennett was rated by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau as the top North American prospect for the 2014 NHL entry draft, where he was selected fourth overall by the Calgary Flames. Bennett made his NHL debut in the 2014–15 season. Bennett won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Panthers in 2024 and 2025, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in the latter. Internationally, Bennett represented Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal. Read more
20 Jun 1995: Caroline Weir, Scottish footballer Caroline Elspeth Lillias Weir is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or forward for OL Lyonnes and captains the Scotland national team. She is often regarded as one of the world's best players. Read more
20 Jun 1995: Carol Zhao, Canadian tennis player Carol Zhao is a Chinese-Canadian tennis player. She reached her highest WTA singles ranking of No. 131 in June 2018, and her career-high junior rank of No. 9 in January 2013. She won the Australian Open junior doubles title in 2013. Zhao was a member of the Stanford University tennis team, ending her college career with a 76–16 overall record and leading the team to win the 2016 NCAA championship. She also was the 2015 NCAA singles runner-up. Read more
20 Jun 1994: Leonard Williams, American football player Leonard Austin Williams is an American professional football defensive tackle for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the New York Jets with the sixth overall pick in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft. He played college football for the USC Trojans. Read more
20 Jun 1993: Sead Kolašinac, Bosnian footballer Sead Kolašinac is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Atalanta. Born in Germany, he plays for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Read more
20 Jun 1991: Kalidou Koulibaly, Senegalese footballer Kalidou Koulibaly is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal. Born in France, he plays for the Senegal national team. Read more
20 Jun 1991: Rick ten Voorde, Dutch footballer Rick ten Voorde is a Dutch former footballer who played as a forward. Read more
20 Jun 1990: Ding Ning, Chinese table tennis player Ding Ning is a former Chinese table tennis player. She is the 2016 Olympic Champion in women's singles and was the winner of women's singles in the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships. Read more
20 Jun 1990: DeQuan Jones, American basketball player DeQuan Jones is an American professional basketball player for the NLEX Road Warriors of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played college basketball for the University of Miami. Read more
20 Jun 1990: Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Senegalese writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr is a Senegalese writer. Raised in Diourbel, Senegal and later studying in France, Sarr is the author of four novels as well as a number of award-winning short stories. He won the 2021 Prix Goncourt for his novel The Most Secret Memory of Men, becoming the first Sub-Saharan African to do so. Read more
20 Jun 1989: Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse is an American actor and musician, primarily known for his debut role as Fogell / McLovin in the movie Superbad (2007) and for portraying Chris D'Amico/Red Mist in the Kick-Ass franchise. Read more
20 Jun 1989: Javier Pastore, Argentinian footballer Javier Matías Pastore is an Argentine football agent and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
20 Jun 1989: Terrelle Pryor, American football player Terrelle Pryor Sr. is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). Considered the most recruited high school football-basketball athlete in southwestern Pennsylvania since Tom Clements, Pryor was widely regarded as the nation's top football prospect of 2008 and was named "Junior of the Year" by Rivals.com. Pryor had originally hoped to be a two-sport athlete, as he was also one of the nation's most recruited high school basketball players, but he later chose football. Read more
20 Jun 1987: A-fu, Taiwanese singer and songwriter Teng Fu-ju, known by her stage name A-FÜ, is a Taiwanese singer and songwriter. Prior to her solo debut in the music scene, A-FÜ was a member of Lazy Bomb, an indie band, and a demo singer. She is known for her cover version of "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B and Bruno Mars, which drew wide attention on YouTube in 2010. In May 2011, A-FÜ released her debut studio album, That's How It Is, for which she received a nomination for Best New Artist at the 23rd Golden Melody Awards. Read more
20 Jun 1987: Carsten Ball, Australian tennis player Carsten Thomas Ball is an American-Australian retired professional tennis player. Although born and based in the United States, Carsten has represented Australia on tour. Read more
20 Jun 1987: Asmir Begović, Bosnian footballer Asmir Begović is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL League One club Leicester City. Read more
20 Jun 1987: Joseph Ebuya, Kenyan runner Joseph Ebuya is a Kenyan professional runner who specialises in the 5000 metres and was the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships champion. Read more
20 Jun 1986: Jakub Štěpánek, Czech ice hockey player Jakub Štěpánek is a Czech professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for Brûleurs de Loups of the French Ligue Magnus. Read more
20 Jun 1986: Dreama Walker, American actress Dreama Elyse Walker is an American actress. She is known for her supporting role in the series Gossip Girl, her lead role in the film Compliance (2012), and her lead roles in two short-lived television series, the comedy Don't Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 and the legal drama Doubt. Read more
20 Jun 1985: Aurélien Chedjou, Cameroonian footballer Aurélien Bayard Chedjou Fongang is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a centre back for Lille, Galatasaray, Bursaspor, Adana Demirspor and the Cameroon national team. Read more
20 Jun 1985: Matt Flynn, American football player Matthew Clayton Flynn is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers and was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL draft. Flynn was a member of the Packers when they won Super Bowl XLV over the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played for the Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and New Orleans Saints. Read more
20 Jun 1985: Caroline Polachek, American singer and songwriter Caroline Elizabeth Polachek is an American singer, producer, and songwriter. Raised in Connecticut, Polachek cofounded the indie pop band Chairlift while studying at the University of Colorado Boulder. The duo emerged from the late-2000s Brooklyn music scene with the sleeper hit "Bruises". In 2014, she released her first solo project, Arcadia, as Ramona Lisa. Under CEP, she released Drawing the Target Around the Arrow in 2017. Read more
20 Jun 1984: Hassan Adams, American basketball player Hassan Olawale Adams is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats. Adams was selected in the 2006 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets and played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for two seasons with the Nets and Toronto Raptors. He also played overseas in Italy, Serbia, the Philippines, Venezuela and Singapore. Read more
20 Jun 1983: Josh Childress, American basketball player Joshua Malik Childress is an American former professional basketball player. An All-EuroLeague Second Team member in 2010, he played with the Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns, Brooklyn Nets, and New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and Olympiacos Piraeus of the Greek Basket League and EuroLeague. Read more
20 Jun 1983: Darren Sproles, American football player Darren Lee Sproles is an American professional football executive and former running back. He is currently serving as a coaching intern for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Kansas State Wildcats, earning first-team All-American honors and becoming the school's all-time leading rusher. Sproles was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL draft. He also played for the New Orleans Saints and the Eagles. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2021. Read more
20 Jun 1982: Aleksei Berezutski, Russian footballer Aleksei Vladimirovich Berezutski is a Russian football coach and a former player who played as a centre-back. Read more
20 Jun 1982: Vasili Berezutski, Russian footballer Vasili Vladimirovich Berezutski is a Russian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the manager of Russian First League club Ural Yekaterinburg. He began his professional career in 1999 at the age of 17 with Torpedo Moscow, having graduated from their famed academy. He was a Russia national football team regular, earning his 100th cap on 6 September 2016 in a friendly against Ghana. He played as a fullback or centre-back and sometimes was also deployed as wingback or midfielder. Read more
20 Jun 1982: Example, English singer/rapper Elliot John Gleave, known professionally as Example, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. He released his debut studio album, What We Made, in 2007, followed by the mixtape What We Almost Made in 2008. Example first found success in 2010 with the release of his second studio album, Won't Go Quietly, which peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart and number one on the UK Dance Chart. The album had two top 10 singles, "Won't Go Quietly" and "Kickstarts". Read more
20 Jun 1981: Brede Hangeland, Norwegian footballer Brede Paulsen Hangeland is a former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Born in the United States to an American mother and a Norwegian father, he represented the Norway internationally. Read more
20 Jun 1980: Franco Semioli, Italian footballer Franco Semioli is an Italian football coach and former player. A midfielder, he played as a right winger. Read more
20 Jun 1980: Fabian Wegmann, German cyclist Fabian Wegmann is a German former professional road racing cyclist. Born in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Wegmann currently resides in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Read more
20 Jun 1979: Charles Howell III, American golfer Charles Gordon Howell III is an American professional golfer who currently plays on LIV Golf and formerly on the PGA Tour. He has been featured in the top 15 of the Official World Golf Ranking and ranked 9th on the PGA Tour money list in 2002. Known as one of the most consistent players on tour, he has garnered over 90 top-ten finishes in his career, earning about $42 million and has three PGA Tour victories, his most recent in 2018. Read more
20 Jun 1978: Quinton Jackson, American mixed martial artist and actor Quinton Ramone Jackson is an American online streamer and former mixed martial artist, actor, kickboxer, and professional wrestler known by his ring name of Rampage Jackson. During the course of his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, Jackson won the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, the Bellator Season 10 Light Heavyweight Tournament Championship, and unified the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship with the Pride FC World Middleweight Championship belt. Due to his eccentric personality and aggressive fighting style, Jackson became a star in Japan during his tenure with Pride FC and following his move to the UFC, he helped pioneer MMA's growth into a worldwide sport. Read more
20 Jun 1978: Frank Lampard, English footballer Frank James Lampard is an English football manager and former midfielder who is the manager of Premier League club Coventry City. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Chelsea's and the Premier League’s greatest ever players, Lampard holds the record of the most Premier League goals (177) by a midfielder in its history. Read more
20 Jun 1978: Jan-Paul Saeijs, Dutch footballer Jan-Paul Frederik Daniel Saeijs is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender. Read more
20 Jun 1977: Gordan Giriček, Croatian basketball player Gordan Giriček is a Croatian former professional basketball player. Standing at 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), he played the shooting guard and small forward positions. Over eighteen years of professional basketball, he played in the NBA for several teams, including Memphis Grizzlies, Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Phoenix Suns. He also played for several European teams, including Cibona, CSKA Moscow and Fenerbahçe. Read more
20 Jun 1976: Juliano Belletti, Brazilian footballer Juliano Haus Belletti is a Brazilian football coach and former player who mostly played as a right-back. He is currently the head coach at Barcelona Atlètic. Read more
20 Jun 1976: Carlos Lee, Panamanian baseball player Carlos Noriel Lee, nicknamed "El Caballo", is a Panamanian former professional baseball left fielder and first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999 to 2012 with the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, and Miami Marlins. He had 17 career grand slams, ranking him seventh in MLB history ; his seven grand slams hit with the Astros is a club record he shares with Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman. Read more
20 Jun 1975: Joan Balcells, Spanish tennis player Joan Manel Balcells Fornaguera is a retired professional tennis player from Spain. He won one ATP Tour singles title in his career and reached the final in Scottsdale in 2002 and the semifinals in 2000 Heineken Open, losing to Michael Chang. Read more
20 Jun 1975: Daniel Zítka, Czech footballer Daniel Zítka is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played three matches for the Czech Republic. He worked as a goalkeeper coach for AC Sparta Prague. Read more
20 Jun 1973: Chino Moreno, American singer, guitarist and lyricist Camillo "Chino" Wong Moreno is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the alternative metal band Deftones. He is also a member of the side-project groups Team Sleep, Crosses, and Palms. Read more
20 Jun 1972: Alexis Alexoudis, Greek footballer Alexis Alexoudis is a Greek former footballer.
Alexoudis played most of his career for OFI and Panathinaikos. Read more
20 Jun 1971: Rodney Rogers, American basketball player and coach (died 2025) Rodney Ray Rogers Jr. was an American professional basketball player who played for several teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, earning consensus second-team All-American honors in 1993. Rogers was selected by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 1993 NBA draft with the ninth overall pick. In 2000, he was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year as a member of the Phoenix Suns. Read more
20 Jun 1971: Annik Van den Bosch, Belgian politician Annik M. F. Van den Bosch is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of the Workers' Party of Belgium, she has represented Brussels since June 2024. Read more
20 Jun 1970: Andrea Nahles, German politician, German Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Andrea Maria Nahles is a former German politician who has been the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) since 2022. Read more
20 Jun 1969: Paulo Bento, Portuguese footballer and manager Paulo Jorge Gomes Bento is a Portuguese football manager and former player. Read more
20 Jun 1969: Misha Verbitsky, Russian mathematician and academic Mikhail "Misha" Verbitsky is a Russian mathematician. He is primarily known to the general public as a controversial critic, political activist and independent music publisher. Read more
20 Jun 1969: MaliVai Washington, American tennis player and sportscaster MaliVai "Mal" Washington is an American former professional tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at Wimbledon in 1996, won four ATP titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 1992. Read more
20 Jun 1968: Mike Basham, American stock car racing driver Mike Basham is an American professional stock car racing driver who currently competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series East, driving the No. 11 Ford for Fast Track Racing. He is the son of long time ARCA Menards Series driver Darrell Basham. Read more
20 Jun 1968: Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish banker, economist, and politician Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki is a Polish economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 2017 to 2023. A member of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, he previously served in the cabinet of prime minister Beata Szydło as deputy prime minister from 2015 to 2017, Minister of Development from 2015 to 2018 and Minister of Finance from 2016 to 2018. Prior to his political appointment, Morawiecki had an extensive business career. Read more
20 Jun 1968: Robert Rodriguez, American director, producer, and screenwriter Robert Anthony Rodriguez is an American filmmaker, composer, actor, chef and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 action film El Mariachi, which was a commercial success after grossing $2.6 million against a budget of $7,000. The film spawned two sequels known collectively as the Mexico Trilogy: Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). Read more
20 Jun 1967: Nicole Kidman, American-Australian actress Nicole Mary Kidman is an Australian-American actress and producer. Known for her work in blockbusters and independent films across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses since the late 1990s. Her accolades include an Academy Award, an Actor Award, a British Academy Film Award, six Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Volpi Cup. Read more
20 Jun 1967: Dan Tyminski, American singer-songwriter Daniel John Tyminski is an American bluegrass singer-songwriter and musician. He is a former member of Alison Krauss's band Union Station, and has released four solo albums: Carry Me Across the Mountain (2000), Wheels (2008), Southern Gothic (2017), and God Fearing Heathen (2023). Read more
20 Jun 1966: Boaz Yakin, American director, producer, and screenwriter Boaz Yakin is an Israeli-American filmmaker based in New York City. He has written screenplays to films like The Rookie, Fresh, A Price Above Rubies, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Now You See Me, and has directed the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans and the 2012 Jason Statham action film Safe. As a producer he has collaborated frequently with filmmaker Eli Roth and served as executive producer for the first two entries in the Hostel franchise. Read more
20 Jun 1964: Pierfrancesco Chili, Italian motorcycle racer Pierfrancesco 'Frankie' Chili, is a former motorcycle racer who competed in the Superbike World Championship and the 250 cc and 500 cc classes in Grand Prix. In September 2020 he confirmed he was suffering from Parkinson's disease. Read more
20 Jun 1964: Silke Möller, German runner Silke Möller, née Silke Gladisch, is a German athlete, who in the 1980s competed for East Germany as one of the best female sprinters in the world. She was a member of the East German quartet that broke the world record in the 4 × 100 m relay at the World cup in Canberra on 6 October 1985. She and teammates Sabine Rieger, Marlies Göhr, and Ingrid Auerswald ran a time of 41.37 seconds, which stood as the world record until 2012. She is the 1987 World champion at both 100 metres and 200 metres. Read more
20 Jun 1963: Kirk Baptiste, American sprinter Kirk Baptiste was an American track and field athlete, who mainly competed in the 200 metres. He was born in Beaumont, Texas. He competed for the United States at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States, where he won the silver medal in the 200 metres with a time of 19.96 seconds. This was the first time anyone had broken 20 seconds and come second in the race.
In his first race following the Olympics, on 18th August 1984 in Crystal Palace, England, Bapstiste broke the world record for 300 metres. In that race, Baptiste ran 31.70 seconds, beating the record of his compatriate, Mel Lattany and finishing ahead of Carl Lewis, the 200 metres gold medalist from the Los Angeles games.
He decided to forgo his final season of eligibility at the University of Houston after his successful junior year. Read more
20 Jun 1963: Mark Ovenden, British author and broadcaster Mark Ovenden F.R.G.S. is a broadcaster and author who specialises in the subjects of graphic design, cartography and architecture in public transport, with an emphasis on underground rapid transit. Read more
20 Jun 1960: Philip M. Parker, American economist and author Philip M. Parker is an American economist and academic, and currently the INSEAD Chaired Professor of Management Science at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. He has patented a method to automatically produce a set of similar books from a template that is filled with data from databases and Internet searches. Read more
20 Jun 1960: John Taylor, English bass player and actor Nigel John Taylor is a British musician who is best known as the bass guitarist for new wave band Duran Duran, of which he was a founding member. Duran Duran was one of the most popular bands in the world during the 1980s due in part to their music videos which played in heavy rotation in the early days of MTV. Taylor played with Duran Duran from its founding in 1978 until 1997, when he left to pursue a solo recording and film career. He recorded a dozen solo releases through his private record label B5 Records over the next four years, had a lead role in the movie Sugar Town, and made appearances in a half dozen other film projects. He rejoined Duran Duran for a reunion of the original five members in 2001 and has remained with the group since. Read more
20 Jun 1959: Robert B. Weide, American screenwriter, producer and director Robert B. Weide is an American former screenwriter and television producer who served as director and executive producer of the television series Curb Your Enthusiasm from 1999 to 2004. He has also directed several documentaries, four of which are based on the lives of comedians W. C. Fields, Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, and Woody Allen; his latest, Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time (2021), explores the life and works of Kurt Vonnegut. Read more
20 Jun 1958: Kelly Johnson, English hard rock guitarist and songwriter (died 2007) Bernadette Jean "Kelly" Johnson was an English guitarist and singer, widely known in the UK in the early 1980s as the lead guitarist of the all-female rock band Girlschool. Read more
20 Jun 1956: Peter Reid, English footballer and manager Peter Reid is an English football manager, pundit and former player. Read more
20 Jun 1956: Sohn Suk-hee, South Korean newscaster Sohn Suk-hee is a South Korean journalist who served as the general director and president of JTBC and JTBC Studios from November 2020 to September 2021. He is also a former professor at Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, South Korea and visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, since April 2024. Read more
20 Jun 1955: E. Lynn Harris, American author (died 2009) E. Lynn Harris was an American author. Openly gay, he was best known for his depictions of African-American men who were on the down-low and closeted. He authored ten consecutive books that made The New York Times Best Seller list, making him among the most successful African-American or gay authors of his era. Read more
20 Jun 1954: Michael Anthony, American musician Michael Anthony Sobolewski is an American musician who was the bassist and backing vocalist for the hard rock band Van Halen from 1974 to 2006. He performed on Van Halen's first 11 albums and was their longest-tenured bassist. After he left in 2006, Anthony collaborated with fellow former Van Halen bandmate Sammy Hagar in the supergroups Chickenfoot and Sammy Hagar and the Circle. He also markets a line of hot sauces named Mad Anthony and related products. Anthony was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen in 2007. Read more
20 Jun 1954: Allan Lamb, South African-English cricketer and sportscaster Allan Joseph Lamb is a South African-born former English cricketer, who played for the first-class teams of Western Province and Northamptonshire. Making his Test debut in 1982, he was a fixture in the Test and One-Day International team for the next decade. He represented England at three World Cups. He served as captain of Northamptonshire, and also captained England in three Test matches. He was a part of the English squads which finished as runners-up at the 1987 Cricket World Cup and as runners-up at the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Read more
20 Jun 1954: Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (died 2003) Ilan Ramon was an Israeli fighter pilot and later the first Israeli astronaut. He served as a Space Shuttle payload specialist on STS-107, the fatal mission of Columbia, in which he and the six other crew members were killed when the spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry. At 48, Ramon was the oldest member of the crew. He is the only foreign recipient of the United States Congressional Space Medal of Honor, which was awarded posthumously. Read more
20 Jun 1954: Huda Zoghbi, American geneticist Huda Yahya Zoghbi is a Lebanese-born American geneticist, and a professor at the Departments of Molecular and Human Genetics, Neuroscience and Neurology at the Baylor College of Medicine. She is the director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute.
She was the editor of the Annual Review of Neuroscience from 2018 to 2024. Read more
20 Jun 1953: Robert Crais, American author and screenwriter Robert Crais is an American author of detective fiction and former screenwriter. Crais began his career writing scripts for television shows such as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice and L.A. Law. His writing is influenced by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemingway, Robert B. Parker and John Steinbeck. Crais has won numerous awards for his crime novels. Lee Child has cited him in interviews as one of his favourite American crime writers. The novels of Robert Crais have been published in 62 countries and are bestsellers around the world. Robert Crais received the Ross Macdonald Literary Award in 2006 and was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 2014. Read more
20 Jun 1953: Raúl Ramírez, Mexican tennis player Raúl Ramírez is a Mexican former professional tennis player. Ramírez was the first player to finish No. 1 in both singles and doubles Grand Prix point standings, accomplishing the feat in 1976. He was ranked as high as World No. 4 by the ATP ranking and he is one of the all-time leading doubles winners, having spent 62 weeks ranked World No. 1 in doubles, beginning 12 April 1976. Read more
20 Jun 1953: Willy Rampf, German engineer Willy Rampf is a German car engineer who is currently a technical consultant for Williams Racing and was the former technical director of the Sauber Formula One team. Read more
20 Jun 1952: John Goodman, American actor John Stephen Goodman is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received various accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Vanity Fair has called him "among our very finest actors". Read more
20 Jun 1952: Vikram Seth, Indian author and poet Vikram Seth is an Indian novelist and poet. The author of three novels and several collections of poetry, he is a recipient of the Padma Shri, a Sahitya Akademi Award, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the WH Smith Literary Award and the Crossword Book Award. Seth's collections of poetry such as Mappings and Beastly Tales are notable contributions to the Indian English language poetry canon, and he is regarded as the greatest Indian writer in English of all time. Read more
20 Jun 1951: Tress MacNeille, American voice actress Teressa Claire "Tress" MacNeille is an American voice actress. She is known for voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series Animaniacs and its revival, Babs Bunny on Tiny Toon Adventures, Daisy Duck in various Disney media since 1999, Chip and Gadget Hackwrench on Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and a variety of characters including Agnes Skinner, Brandine Spuckler, Lindsey Naegle, Dolph Shapiro, and Crazy Cat Lady in The Simpsons since 1990. She has also worked on animated series such as Disenchantment, Rugrats, and Hey Arnold! Read more
20 Jun 1951: Sheila McLean, Scottish scholar and academic Sheila Ann Manson McLean is International Bar Association Professor of Law and Ethics in Medicine and director of the Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine at the School of Law of the University of Glasgow. McLean was the Book Reviewers' Editor for Medical Law International. Read more
20 Jun 1951: Paul Muldoon, Irish poet and academic Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet, born in 1951. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he has been both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humanities and Founding Chair of the Lewis Center for the Arts. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 to 2004 and has also served as president of the Poetry Society (UK) and poetry editor at The New Yorker. Read more
20 Jun 1950: Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi politician, 76th Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki, also known as Jawad al-Maliki, is an Iraqi politician and leader of the Islamic Dawa Party since 2007. He served as the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and as the vice president from 2014 to 2015 and again from 2016 to 2018. Read more
20 Jun 1949: Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 8th president of Sri Lanka Lieutenant colonel Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan former politician and retired military officer who served as the eighth president of Sri Lanka from 18 November 2019 until his resignation on 14 July 2022. Before his presidency, he served as Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development from 2005 to 2015 during the regime of his brother, president Mahinda Rajapaksa, playing a central role in the final phase of the Sri Lankan civil war. Read more
20 Jun 1949: Lionel Richie, American singer, songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recording the hit singles "Easy", "Sail On", "Three Times a Lady", and "Still" with the group before his departure. In 1980, he wrote and produced the US Billboard Hot 100 number one single "Lady" for Kenny Rogers. Read more
20 Jun 1948: Cirilo Flores, American bishop (died 2014) Cirilo B. Flores was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of San Diego in California from 2013 until his death in 2014. He previously served as coadjutor bishop of the same diocese from 2012 until 2013 and as an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange in California from 2009 until 2012. Read more
20 Jun 1948: Alan Longmuir, Scottish bass player and songwriter (died 2018) Alan Longmuir was a Scottish musician and a founding member of the pop group the Bay City Rollers. He played the bass guitar, whilst his younger brother Derek Longmuir was drummer. Read more
20 Jun 1948: Ludwig Scotty, Nauruan politician, 10th President of Nauru (died 2026) Ludwig Derangadage Scotty was a Nauruan politician who twice served as President of Nauru and was Speaker of Parliament five times between 2000 and 2016. He served as president from 29 May 2003 to 8 August 2003 and again from 22 June 2004 until his ousting in a vote of no confidence on 19 December 2007. Read more
20 Jun 1947: Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, American pop singer Dolores Brooks, also known as Sakinah Muhammad or La La Brooks, is an American singer and actress. She is best known as the third lead singer of the girl group The Crystals and the lead vocalist on the Crystals' hits "Then He Kissed Me" and "Da Doo Ron Ron". Read more
20 Jun 1946: Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester is a Danish-born member of the British royal family. She is married to Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, a grandson of King George V. Read more
20 Jun 1946: Xanana Gusmão, Timorese soldier and politician, 1st President of East Timor José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão is an East Timorese politician. He has served as the tenth prime minister of Timor-Leste since 2023, previously serving as the sixth prime minister from 2007 to 2015. A former rebel, he also served as East Timor's first president since its re-establishment of independence from 2002 to 2007. Read more
20 Jun 1946: David Kazhdan, Russian-Israeli mathematician and academic David Kazhdan, born Dmitry Aleksandrovich Kazhdan, is a Soviet and Israeli mathematician known for work in representation theory. Kazhdan is a 1990 MacArthur Fellow. In 2012, he received the Israel Prize for Mathematics and Computer sciences. Read more
20 Jun 1946: Bob Vila, American television host Robert Joseph Vila is an American home improvement television show host known for This Old House (1979–1989), Bob Vila's Home Again (1990–2005), and Bob Vila (2005–2007). Read more
20 Jun 1946: André Watts, American pianist and educator (died 2023) André Watts was an American classical pianist. Over the six decades of his career, Watts performed as soloist with every major American orchestra and most of the world's finest orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra. Watts recorded a variety of repertoire, concentrating on Romantic era composers such as Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, but also including George Gershwin. In 2020, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. He won a Grammy Award for Best New Classical Artist in 1964. Watts was also on the faculty at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. Read more
20 Jun 1945: Anne Murray, Canadian singer and guitarist Morna Anne Murray is a Canadian retired country, pop and adult contemporary music singer who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1978. Read more
20 Jun 1942: Neil Trudinger, Australian mathematician and theorist Neil Sidney Trudinger is an Australian mathematician, known particularly for his work in the field of nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations. Read more
20 Jun 1942: Brian Wilson, American singer, songwriter and producer (died 2025) Brian Douglas Wilson was an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and significant musical figures of his era, he was distinguished for his high production values and complex harmonies, orchestrations, and vocal arrangements. In addition to his typically ingenuous or introspective lyrics, he was known for his versatile head voice and falsetto. Read more
20 Jun 1941: Stephen Frears, English actor, director, and producer Sir Stephen Arthur Frears is a British director and producer of film and television, often depicting real-life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply-drawn characters. He has received numerous accolades including three BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards. In 2008, The Daily Telegraph named Frears among the 100 most influential people in British culture. In 2009, he received the Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He received a knighthood in 2023 for his contributions to the film and television industries. Read more
20 Jun 1941: Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut Ulf Dietrich Merbold is a German physicist and astronaut who flew to space three times, becoming the first West German citizen in space and the first non-American to fly on a NASA spacecraft. Merbold flew on two Space Shuttle missions and on a Russian mission to the space station Mir, spending a total of 49 days in space. Read more
20 Jun 1941: Albert Shesternyov, Soviet footballer, captain of the Soviet Union national team and CSKA Moscow (died 1994) Albert Alekseyevich Shesternyov was a football player for CSKA Moscow and the Soviet Union. He is generally regarded as the best football defender in Soviet football history. Read more
20 Jun 1940: Eugen Drewermann, German priest and theologian Eugen Drewermann is a German church critic, theologian, peace activist and former Catholic priest. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. Read more
20 Jun 1940: John Mahoney, English-born American actor (died 2018) Charles John Mahoney was an English-born American actor. He played retired police officer Martin Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier from 1993 to 2004, receiving nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Read more
20 Jun 1939: Ramakant Desai, Indian cricketer (died 1998) Ramakant Bhikaji Desai was an Indian cricketer who represented India in Test cricket as a fast bowler from 1959 to 1968. Read more
20 Jun 1939: Budge Rogers, English rugby player and manager Derek Prior "Budge" Rogers OBE, born in Bedford on 20 June 1939 and educated at Bedford School, is a former rugby union player who captained Bedford and played at international level for both England and the British Lions. Read more
20 Jun 1938: Joan Kirner, Australian educator and politician, 42nd Premier of Victoria (died 2015) Joan Elizabeth Kirner was an Australian politician who was the 42nd Premier of Victoria, serving from 1990 to 1992. A Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria from 1982 to 1994, she was a member of the Legislative Council before later winning a seat in the Legislative Assembly. Kirner was a minister and briefly deputy premier in the government of John Cain Jr., and succeeded him as premier following his resignation. She was Australia's third female head of government and second female premier, Victoria's first, and held the position until her party was defeated in a landslide at the 1992 state election. Read more
20 Jun 1938: Mickie Most, English music producer (died 2003) Mickie Most was an English record producer behind acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate, Arrows, Racey and the Jeff Beck Group, often issued on his own RAK Records label. Read more
20 Jun 1937: Stafford Dean, English actor and singer Stafford Dean is a British bass opera singer. Read more
20 Jun 1937: Jerry Keller, American singer-songwriter Jerry Paul Keller is an American pop singer and songwriter, best known for his 1959 hit song "Here Comes Summer". Read more
20 Jun 1936: Billy Guy, American singer (died 2002) Billy Guy was an American singer, best known as a lead singer for the Coasters. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Read more
20 Jun 1936: Enn Vetemaa, Estonian author and screenwriter (died 2017) Enn Vetemaa was an Estonian writer sometimes referred to as a "forgotten classic", as well as "the unofficial master of the Estonian Modernist short novel". Read more
20 Jun 1935: Jim Barker, American politician (died 2005) Jim L. Barker was an Oklahoma politician. During his tenure he was the only state representative to be elected four times as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Read more
20 Jun 1935: Len Dawson, American football player (died 2022) Leonard Ray Dawson was an American professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs franchise. After playing college football for the Purdue Boilermakers, Dawson began his NFL career in 1957, spending three seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and two with the Cleveland Browns. He left the NFL in 1962 to sign with the AFL's Chiefs, where he spent the last 14 seasons of his career, and rejoined the NFL after the AFL–NFL merger. Read more
20 Jun 1935: Armando Picchi, Italian footballer and coach (died 1971) Armando Picchi was an Italian football player and coach. Regularly positioned as a libero, he captained the Inter Milan side known as "La Grande Inter". Read more
20 Jun 1934: Wendy Craig, English actress Wendy Craig is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms Not in Front of the Children (1967–1970), …And Mother Makes Three (1971–1973), …And Mother Makes Five (1974–1976) and Butterflies (1978–1983). She played the role of Matron in the TV series The Royal (2003–2011). Read more
20 Jun 1933: Danny Aiello, American actor (died 2019) Daniel Louis Aiello Jr. was an American actor. He appeared in numerous motion pictures, including The Godfather Part II (1974), The Front (1976), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Hide in Plain Sight (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Harlem Nights (1989), Do the Right Thing (1989), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), Ruby (1992), Léon: The Professional (1994), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), Dinner Rush (2000), and Lucky Number Slevin (2006). He played Don Domenico Clericuzio in the miniseries The Last Don (1997). Read more
20 Jun 1933: Claire Tomalin, English journalist and author Claire Tomalin is an English journalist and biographer known for her biographies of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft. Read more
20 Jun 1932: Robert Rozhdestvensky, Russian poet and author (died 1994) Robert Ivanovich Rozhdestvensky was a Soviet-Russian poet and songwriter who broke with socialist realism in the 1950s–1960s during the Khrushchev Thaw and, along with such poets as Andrei Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and Bella Akhmadulina, pioneered a newer, fresher, and freer style of poetry in the Soviet Union. Read more
20 Jun 1931: Olympia Dukakis, American actress (died 2021) Olympia Dukakis was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, in some 60 films, and in approximately 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not long after her arrival in New York City, she won an Obie Award for Best Actress in 1963 for her off-Broadway performance in Bertolt Brecht's Man Equals Man. Read more
20 Jun 1931: James Tolkan, American actor and director (died 2026) James Stewart Tolkan was an American character actor. He was best known for portraying the strict high-school vice principal Mr. Strickland in Back to the Future (1985) and Back to the Future Part II (1989), and the character's ancestor, Marshal James Strickland, in Back to the Future Part III (1990). His other notable film credits included Serpico (1973), Love and Death (1975), Prince of the City (1981), Top Gun (1986), Masters of the Universe (1987), Viper (1988), Dick Tracy (1990), and Problem Child 2 (1991). Read more
20 Jun 1930: Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish sculptor and academic (died 2017) Magdalena Abakanowicz was a Polish sculptor and fiber artist. Known for her use of textiles as a sculptural medium and for outdoor installations, Abakanowicz has been considered among the most influential Polish artists of the postwar era. She worked as a professor of studio art at the University of Fine Arts in Poznań, Poland, from 1965 to 1990, and as a visiting professor at University of California, Los Angeles in 1984. Read more
20 Jun 1930: John Waine, English bishop (died 2020) John Waine was Bishop of Chelmsford from 1986 to 1996; and previously Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich from 1978 to 1986, Bishop of Stafford, 1975–1978. He also served as Clerk of the Closet from 1989 to 1997, and in retirement served as a lay member on the Press Complaints Commission. Read more
20 Jun 1929: Edgar Bronfman, Sr., Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (died 2013) Edgar Miles Bronfman was a Canadian-American businessman. He worked for his family's distilled beverage firm, Seagram, eventually becoming president, treasurer and CEO. As president of the World Jewish Congress, Bronfman initiated diplomacy with the Soviet Union, which resulted in the Soviet government legitimizing the Hebrew language in the USSR and contributed to Soviet Jews being legally able to practice their religion and immigrate to Israel. Read more
20 Jun 1929: Anne Weale, English journalist and author (died 2007) Jay Blakeney was a British writer and newspaper reporter, well known as a romance novelist under the pen names Anne Weale and Andrea Blake. She wrote over 88 books for Mills & Boon from 1955 to 2002. She died on 24 October 2007; at the time of her death she was writing her autobiography, 88 Heroes…1 Mr Right. Read more
20 Jun 1929: Edith Windsor, American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights activist (died 2017) Edith Windsor was an American LGBT rights activist and a technology manager at IBM. She was the lead plaintiff in the 2013 Supreme Court of the United States case United States v. Windsor, which overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act and was considered a landmark legal victory for the same-sex marriage movement in the United States. The Obama administration and federal agencies extended rights, privileges and benefits to married same-sex couples because of the decision. Read more
20 Jun 1928: Eric Dolphy, American saxophonist, flute player, and composer (died 1964) Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist, Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain prominence during the same era. His use of the bass clarinet helped to establish the unconventional instrument within jazz. Dolphy extended the vocabulary and boundaries of the alto saxophone, and was among the earliest significant jazz flute soloists. Read more
20 Jun 1928: Martin Landau, American actor and producer (died 2017) Martin James Landau was an American actor. His career began in the late 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959). His career breakthrough came with leading roles in the television series Mission: Impossible (1966–1969) and Space: 1999 (1975–1977). Read more
20 Jun 1928: Jean-Marie Le Pen, French intelligence officer and politician (died 2025) Jean Louis Marie "Jean-Marie" Le Pen was a French politician who founded the far-right National Front party. He served as the party's president from 1972 to 2011 and as its honorary president from 2011 to 2015. Read more
20 Jun 1928: Asrat Woldeyes, Ethiopian surgeon and educator (died 1999) Asrat Woldeyes was an Ethiopian surgeon, a professor of medicine at Addis Ababa University, and the founder and leader of the All-Amhara People's Organization (AAPO). He was jailed by the Derg and later by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). After his death, The Guardian described him as "successively Ethiopia's most distinguished surgeon, physician and university dean, most controversial political party leader and best known political prisoner". Read more
20 Jun 1927: Simin Behbahani, Iranian poet and activist (died 2014) Simin Behbahani was an Iranian poet, lyricist, and activist. Renowned for her mastery of the ghazal, a traditional poetic form, she became an icon of modern Persian poetry. The Iranian intelligentsia and literati affectionately referred to her as the "Lioness of Iran." Read more
20 Jun 1926: Rehavam Ze'evi, Israeli general and politician, 9th Israeli Minister of Tourism (died 2001) Rehavam Ze'evi was an Israeli general and politician who founded the far-right nationalist Moledet party. He mainly advocated for complete cleansing of the Palestinian population through population transfer. Read more
20 Jun 1925: Doris Hart, American tennis player and educator (died 2015) Doris Hart was an American tennis player who was active in the 1940s and first half of the 1950s. She was ranked world No. 1 in 1951. She was the fourth player, and second woman, to win a Career Grand Slam in singles. She was the first of only three players to complete the career "Boxed Set" of Grand Slam titles, which is winning at least one title in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at all four Grand Slam events. Only she and Margaret Court achieved this during the amateur era of the sport. Read more
20 Jun 1925: Audie Murphy, American lieutenant and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1971) Audie Leon Murphy was an American soldier, actor, and songwriter. He was widely celebrated as the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, and has been described as the most highly decorated enlisted soldier in U.S. history. He received every military combat award for valor available from the United States Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at age 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, before leading a successful counterattack while wounded. Read more
20 Jun 1924: Chet Atkins, American guitarist and record producer (died 2001) Chester Burton Atkins, nicknamed "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was a fingerpicking guitar player, arranger and producer who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, created the Nashville sound, the country music style which expanded its appeal to adult pop music fans. He was primarily a guitarist, but he also played the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele, and occasionally sang. Read more
20 Jun 1924: Fritz Koenig, German sculptor and academic, designed The Sphere (died 2017) Fritz Koenig was a German sculptor, considered one of the most important international German sculptors of the 20th century. Read more
20 Jun 1923: Peter Gay, German-American historian, author, and academic (died 2015) Peter Joachim Gay was a German-American historian, educator, and author. He was a Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers (1997–2003). He received the American Historical Association's (AHA) Award for Scholarly Distinction in 2004. He authored over 25 books, including The Enlightenment: An Interpretation ; Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (1968); and the widely translated Freud: A Life for Our Time (1988). Read more
20 Jun 1923: Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor and educator (died 2013) Jerzy Nowak was a Polish film and theatre actor and teacher. Read more
20 Jun 1921: Byron Farwell, American historian and author (died 1999) Byron Edgar Farwell was an American military historian, biographer, and politician. He was the mayor of Hillsboro, Virginia, for three terms. He also worked for Chrysler, and was the author of 14 books and published articles in various national publications. Read more
20 Jun 1921: Pancho Segura, Ecuadorian tennis player (died 2017) Francisco Olegario Segura Cano, better known as Pancho "Segoo" Segura, was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but moved to the United States in 1940. Throughout his amateur career he was listed by the USTA as a "foreign" player resident in the U.S. As a professional player, he was referred to as the "Ecuadorian champ who now lives in New York City". After acquiring U.S. citizenship in 1991 at the age of seventy, Segura was a citizen of both countries. Read more
20 Jun 1921: Paul Tiulana, Iñupiat artist and dancer (died 1994) Paul Tiulana was an Iñupiaq artist and dancer from Alaska. Originally from King Island, Tiulana was drafted in World War II and injured; his leg was broken and eventually amputated. He relocated to Nome during the 1950s and Anchorage in the 1960s, where he founded a dance group specializing in Iñupiat dancing. During the 1980s, he was made a Citizen of the Year by the Alaska Federation of Natives, given a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for his work in dance and art, and wrote a book about his life in Alaska. Read more
20 Jun 1920: Danny Cedrone, American guitarist and bandleader (died 1954) Donato Joseph "Danny" Cedrone was an American guitarist and bandleader, best known for his work with Bill Haley & His Comets on their epochal "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954. Read more
20 Jun 1920: Thomas Jefferson, American trumpet player (died 1986) Thomas Jefferson was an American Dixieland jazz trumpeter, strongly influenced by Louis Armstrong. Read more
20 Jun 1918: George Lynch, American race car driver (died 1997) George John Lynch was an American racing driver. Read more
20 Jun 1918: Zoltán Sztáray, Hungarian-American author (died 2011) Zoltán Sztáray was one of the better known contemporary writers of the Hungarian emigration. He was imprisoned in the Recsk forced labor camp for many months until he escaped and moved to the United States. He was born in Magyarcsaholy, Kingdom of Hungary, and died in Portland, Oregon. Read more
20 Jun 1917: Helena Rasiowa, Austrian-Polish mathematician and academic (died 1994) Helena Rasiowa was a Polish mathematician. She worked in the foundations of mathematics and algebraic logic. Read more
20 Jun 1916: Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (died 1973) Jean-Jacques Bertrand was a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the 21st premier of Quebec, from October 2, 1968, to May 12, 1970. He led the Union Nationale party. Read more
20 Jun 1916: T. Texas Tyler, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1972) David Luke Myrick, known professionally as T. Texas Tyler, was an American country music singer and songwriter primarily known for his 1948 hit, "The Deck of Cards". Read more
20 Jun 1915: Dick Reynolds, Australian footballer and coach (died 2002) Richard Sylvannus Reynolds was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Read more
20 Jun 1915: Terence Young, Chinese-English director and screenwriter (died 1994) Stewart Terence Herbert Young was a British film director and screenwriter who worked in the United Kingdom, Europe and Hollywood. He is best known for directing three James Bond films: the first two films in the series, Dr. No (1962) and From Russia with Love (1963), and Thunderball (1965). His other films include the Audrey Hepburn thrillers Wait Until Dark (1967) and Bloodline (1979), the historical drama Mayerling (1968), the infamous Korean War epic Inchon (1981), and the Charles Bronson films Cold Sweat (1970), Red Sun (1971), and The Valachi Papers (1972). Read more
20 Jun 1914: Gordon Juckes, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1994) Gordon Wainwright Juckes was a Canadian ice hockey administrator. He served as the president and later the executive director of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), and as a council member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. Juckes became involved in hockey as newspaper publisher and team president, then served as president of the Saskatchewan Amateur Hockey Association. During World War II he was a Major in the Royal Canadian Artillery, and was honoured with the Order of the British Empire. Read more
20 Jun 1914: Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, Turkish archaeologist and academic (died 2024) Muazzez İlmiye Çığ was a Turkish archeologist, librarian, writer, and supercentenarian who specialised in the study of Hittites and Sumerian civilization. Read more
20 Jun 1912: Geoffrey Baker, English Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the British Army (died 1980) Field Marshal Sir Geoffrey Harding Baker, was Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, from 1968 to 1971. He served in the Second World War and became Director of Operations and Chief of Staff for the campaign against EOKA in Cyprus during the Cyprus Emergency and later in his career provided advice to the British Government on the deployment of troops to Northern Ireland at the start of the Troubles. Read more
20 Jun 1912: Anthony Buckeridge, English author (died 2004) Anthony Malcolm Buckeridge was an English author, best known for his Jennings and Rex Milligan series of children's books. He also wrote the 1953 children's book A Funny Thing Happened which was serialised more than once on Children's Hour. Read more
20 Jun 1912: Jack Torrance, American shot putter and football player (died 1969) John Torrance was an American shot putter and American football player. Torrance broke the shot put world record several times in 1934, his eventual best mark of 17.40 m remaining unbeaten until 1948. At the 1936 Summer Olympics he placed fifth. Read more
20 Jun 1911: Gail Patrick, American actress (died 1980) Gail Patrick was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 and 1948, notably My Man Godfrey (1936), Stage Door (1937), and My Favorite Wife (1940). Read more
20 Jun 1910: Josephine Johnson, American author and poet (died 1990) Josephine Winslow Johnson was an American novelist, poet, and essayist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1935 at age 24 for her first novel, Now in November. She is the youngest person to win the Pulitzer for Fiction. Shortly thereafter, she published Winter Orchard, a collection of short stories that had previously appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Vanity Fair, The St. Louis Review, and Hound & Horn. Of these stories, "Dark" won an O. Henry Award in 1934, and "John the Six" won an O. Henry Award third prize the following year. Johnson continued writing short stories and won three more O. Henry Awards: for "Alexander to the Park" (1942), "The Glass Pigeon" (1943), and "Night Flight" (1944). Read more
20 Jun 1909: Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor (died 1959) Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was an Australian and American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia de Havilland and reputation for his womanising and hedonistic personal life. Read more
20 Jun 1908: Billy Werber, American baseball player (died 2009) William Murray Werber was an American professional baseball third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox (1933–1936), Philadelphia Athletics (1937–1938), Cincinnati Reds (1939–1941) and New York Giants (1942). He led American League third basemen in putouts and assists once each, and also led National League third basemen in assists, double plays and fielding percentage once each. A strong baserunner, he led the AL in stolen bases three times and led the NL in runs in 1939 as the Reds won the pennant. He was born in Berwyn Heights, Maryland and batted and threw right-handed. Read more
20 Jun 1908: Gus Schilling, American actor (died 1957) August "Gus" Schilling was an American film actor who started in burlesque comedy and usually played nervous comic roles, often unbilled. A friend of Orson Welles, he appeared in five of the director's films — Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Macbeth and Touch of Evil. Read more
20 Jun 1907: Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (died 1998) James Corbitt Morris, known professionally as Jimmy Driftwood or Jimmie Driftwood, was an American folk-style songwriter and musician, most famous for his songs "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Tennessee Stud". Driftwood wrote more than 6,000 folk songs, of which more than 300 were recorded by various musicians. Read more
20 Jun 1906: Bob King, American high jumper and obstetrician (died 1965) Robert Wade King was an American athlete, who won a gold medal in the high jump at the 1928 Summer Olympics with a jump of 1.93 m. His personal best was 1.997 m, achieved earlier that year. After graduating from Stanford University, King studied in a medical school and later became a prominent obstetrician. Read more
20 Jun 1906: William Reid, Scottish mining engineer (died 1985) Sir William Reid FRSE FIME DSc DCL was a 20th-century Scottish businessman and mining engineer. He served as President of the Mining Institute of Scotland 1951/2 and as President of the Institute of Mining Engineers 1956/7. He was Chairman of the Durham Division of the National Coal Board. Read more
20 Jun 1905: Lillian Hellman, American playwright and screenwriter (died 1984) Lillian Florence Hellman was an American playwright, prose writer, memoirist, and screenwriter known for her success on Broadway as well as her communist views and political activism. She was blacklisted after her appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) at the height of the anti-communist campaigns of 1947–1952. Although she continued to work on Broadway in the 1950s, her blacklisting by the U.S. film industry caused a drop in her income. Many praised Hellman for refusing to answer HUAC's questions, but others believed, despite her denial, that she had belonged to the Communist Party. Read more
20 Jun 1903: Sam Rabin, English wrestler, sculptor, and singer (died 1991) Samuel (Sam) Rabin, originally Samuel Rabinovitch, was an English sculptor, artist, film actor, art teacher, singer, boxer, wrestler and a 1928 Olympic bronze medalist in Middleweight wrestling. Read more
20 Jun 1899: Jean Moulin, French soldier and engineer (died 1943) Jean Pierre Moulin was a French civil servant and hero of the French Resistance who succeeded in unifying the main networks of the Resistance in World War II. He served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance from 27 May 1943 until his death less than two months later. Read more
20 Jun 1897: Elisabeth Hauptmann, German author and playwright (died 1973) Elisabeth Hauptmann was a German writer who worked with fellow German playwright and director Bertolt Brecht. Read more
20 Jun 1896: Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1982) Joseph Louis Wilfrid Pelletier, was a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and arts administrator. He was instrumental in establishing the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, serving as the orchestra's first artistic director and conductor from 1935 to 1941. He had a long and fruitful partnership with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City that began with his appointment as a rehearsal accompanist in 1917; ultimately working there as one of the company's conductors in mainly the French opera repertoire from 1929 to 1950. From 1951 to 1966, he was the principal conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. He was also a featured conductor for a number of RCA Victor recordings, including an acclaimed reading of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem featuring baritone Mack Harrell and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and chorus. Read more
20 Jun 1894: Lloyd Hall, American chemist and academic (died 1971) Lloyd Augustus Hall was an American chemist, who contributed to the science of food preservation. By the end of his career, Hall had amassed 59 United States patents, and a number of his inventions were also patented in other countries. Read more
20 Jun 1893: Wilhelm Zaisser, German soldier and politician (died 1958) Wilhelm Zaisser was a German communist politician and statesman who served as the founder and first Minister for State Security of the German Democratic Republic from 1950 to 1953. Read more
20 Jun 1891: Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, Italian soprano (died 1951) Giannina Arangi-Lombardi was a spinto soprano, particularly associated with the Italian operatic repertory. Read more
20 Jun 1891: John A. Costello, Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd Taoiseach of Ireland (died 1976) John Aloysius Costello was an Irish Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 1948 to 1951 and from 1954 to 1957. He was leader of the opposition from 1951 to 1954 and from 1957 to 1959 and attorney general from 1926 to 1932. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1933 to 1943 and from 1944 to 1969. Read more
20 Jun 1889: John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-South African astronomer and academic (died 1951) John Stefanos Paraskevopoulos also known as John Paras, was a Greek and South African astronomer. He spent most of his career in the Boyden Observatory, for the establishment of which he played a crucial role. Read more
20 Jun 1887: Kurt Schwitters, German painter and illustrator (died 1948) Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters was a German artist. He was born in Hanover, Germany, but lived in exile from 1937. Read more
20 Jun 1885: Andrzej Gawroński, Polish linguist and academic (died 1927) Andrzej Gawroński was a Polish Indologist, linguist and polyglot. Professor of Jagiellonian University and Lwów University,, the author of the first Polish handbook on Sanskrit, founder of Polish Oriental Society (1922) and one of the founders of the Polish Linguistic Society (1925). Read more
20 Jun 1884: Mary R. Calvert, American astronomer and author (died 1974) Mary Ross Calvert was an American astronomical computer and astrophotographer. She started as her uncle Edward Emerson Barnard's assistant and ended publishing his work that cataloged over 300 dark objects — primarily those that extinguish the most starlight reaching the Earth lie between the bulk thus between the Local Arm and the Sagittarius Arm. She went on to publish other photographic works on astronomy. Read more
20 Jun 1884: Johannes Heinrich Schultz, German psychiatrist and psychotherapist (died 1970) Johannes Heinrich Schultz was a German psychiatrist and psychotherapist. Schultz is known for the development of autogenic training. Read more
20 Jun 1882: Daniel Sawyer, American golfer (died 1937) Daniel Edward "Ned" Sawyer was an American golfer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. Read more
20 Jun 1875: Reginald Punnett, English geneticist, statistician, and academic (died 1967) Reginald Crundall Punnett FRS was a British geneticist who co-founded, with William Bateson, the Journal of Genetics in 1910. Punnett is probably best remembered today as the creator of the Punnett square, a tool still used by biologists to predict the probability of possible genotypes of offspring. His Mendelism (1905) is sometimes said to have been the first textbook on genetics; it was probably the first popular science book to introduce genetics to the public. Read more
20 Jun 1872: George Carpenter, American 5th General of The Salvation Army (died 1948) George Lyndon Carpenter was an Australian writer who was the fifth General of The Salvation Army from 1939 to 1946. Read more
20 Jun 1870: Georges Dufrénoy, French painter and academic (died 1943) Georges Dufrénoy was a French post-Impressionist painter associated with Fauvism. Read more
20 Jun 1869: Laxmanrao Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded the Kirloskar Group (died 1956) Laxmanrao Kashinath Kirloskar was an Indian businessman. He was the founder of the Kirloskar Group. Read more
20 Jun 1867: Leon Wachholz, Polish scientist and medical examiner (died 1942) Leon Jan Wachholz (Wacholz) (June 20, 1867 – December 1, 1942) was a Polish scientist and medical examiner. He researched and taught as a professor of forensic and social medicine at the Jagiellonian University between 1896 and 1933 and published formative works on forensics. Read more
20 Jun 1866: James Burns, English cricketer (died 1957) James Burns was an English cricketer. He played for Essex between 1890 and 1896 as a right-handed middle order batter and as an occasional left-arm slow bowler, and for Marylebone Cricket Club in occasional matches up to 1901. He was also a football player who played for West Bromwich Albion and Notts County. Read more
20 Jun 1865: George Redmayne Murray, English biologist and physician (died 1939) George Redmayne Murray was an English physician who pioneered in the treatment of endocrine disorders. In 1891, he introduced the successful treatment of myxedema, with injections of sheep thyroid extract, the first instance of hormone replacement therapy. Read more
20 Jun 1861: Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1947) Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins. He also discovered the amino acid tryptophan, in 1901. He was President of the Royal Society from 1930 to 1935. Read more
20 Jun 1860: Alexander Winton, Scottish-American race car driver and engineer (died 1932) Alexander Winton was a Scottish-American bicycle, automobile, and diesel engine designer and inventor, as well as a businessman and racecar driver. Winton founded the Winton Motor Carriage Company in 1897 in Cleveland, Ohio, making the city an important hub of early automotive manufacturing. His pioneering achievements in the automotive industry included taking one of the first long-distance journeys in America by car and developing one of the first commercial diesel engines. Winton left the automotive manufacturing business when he liquidated his car company in 1924 to focus on his powertrain engineering firm, Winton Gas Engine & Mfg. Co., which he had established twelve years earlier to focus on engine development. This business was sold to General Motors in 1930 and became the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division. Winton died in 1932 and is interred in Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland. Read more
20 Jun 1860: Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer, footballer, and coach (died 1937) John Worrall was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Fitzroy Football Club in the VFA, and a Test cricketer. He was also a prominent coach in both sports and a journalist. Read more
20 Jun 1859: Christian von Ehrenfels, Austrian philosopher (died 1932) Christian von Ehrenfels was an Austrian philosopher, and is known as one of the founders and precursors of Gestalt psychology. Read more
20 Jun 1858: Charles W. Chesnutt, American novelist and short story writer (died 1932) Charles Waddell Chesnutt was an African-American author, essayist, political activist, and lawyer, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Civil War South. Two of his books were adapted as silent films in 1926 and 1927 by the African-American director and producer Oscar Micheaux. Following the Civil Rights Movement during the 20th century, interest in the works of Chesnutt was revived. Several of his books were published in new editions, and he received formal recognition. A commemorative stamp was printed in 2008. Read more
20 Jun 1855: Richard Lodge, English historian and academic (died 1936) Sir Richard Lodge was a British historian. Read more
20 Jun 1847: Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women's rights activist (died 1916) Jørgine Anna Sverdrup "Gina" Krog was a Norwegian suffragist, teacher, liberal politician, writer and editor, and a major figure in liberal feminism in Scandinavia. Read more
20 Jun 1819: Jacques Offenbach, German-French cellist and composer (died 1880) Jacques Offenbach was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Franz von Suppé, Johann Strauss II and Arthur Sullivan. His best-known works were continually revived during the 20th century, and many of his operettas continue to be staged in the 21st. The Tales of Hoffmann remains part of the standard opera repertory. Read more
20 Jun 1813: Joseph Autran, French poet and author (died 1877) Joseph Autran was a French poet. Read more
20 Jun 1809: Isaak August Dorner, German theologian and academic (died 1884) Isaak August Dorner was a German Lutheran theologian. He served as a professor of theology at various institutions, including Tübingen, Kiel, Königsberg, Bonn, Göttingen, and Berlin. He was a meditating theologian and had an international influence. His primary work has been translated into English. Read more
20 Jun 1808: Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi and scholar (died 1888) Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German Orthodox rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism. Occasionally termed neo-Orthodoxy, his philosophy, together with that of Azriel Hildesheimer, has had a considerable influence on the development of Orthodox Judaism. Read more

Notable Deaths on 20 June

20 Jun 2024: Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor and producer (born 1935) Donald McNichol Sutherland was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards as well as a BAFTA Award nomination. Considered one of the best actors never nominated for an Academy Award, he received an Academy Honorary Award in 2017. Read more
20 Jun 2024: Taylor Wily, American actor, sumo wrestler and mixed martial artist (born 1968) Taylor Tuli Wily was an American actor, sumo wrestler and mixed martial artist. He competed in UFC where he was billed as Teila Tuli and also competed in sumo wrestling. As an actor, he was known for his recurring role as Kamekona Tupuola on both Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I. Read more
20 Jun 2022: Caleb Swanigan, American basketball player (born 1997) Caleb Sylvester Swanigan was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers. He was ranked among the top prep players in the national class of 2015 by Rivals.com, Scout.com and ESPN. He completed his senior season in the 2014–15 academic year for Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who went on to win the first state championship in the school's history. Swanigan was named Indiana's Mr. Basketball and a McDonald's All-American. Read more
20 Jun 2017: Prodigy, American music artist (born 1974) Albert Johnson, known professionally as Prodigy, was an American rapper and record producer. He was best known for being one half of the rap duo Mobb Deep along with Havoc, yet Prodigy still had a solo career, regularly collaborating with producer The Alchemist. Prodigy released eight albums during his career in Mobb Deep, as well as six solo studio albums and one posthumous album. Read more
20 Jun 2015: Angelo Niculescu, Romanian footballer and manager (born 1921) Angelo Niculescu was a Romanian football player and manager. He is best remembered in Romania for being the national team's coach during the 1970 World Cup. Niculescu is also credited with inventing the "temporizare" ("delaying") tactics. This strategy involved the team maintaining possession of the ball within its own half, with players exchanging numerous short passes across the field. The goal was to disrupt opponents' patience and force them to press high. This approach is often considered an early form of tiki-taka. Using these tactics, Niculescu qualified Romania for a World Cup after more than 30 years and secured a notable win against Czechoslovakia. Read more
20 Jun 2015: Miriam Schapiro, Canadian-American painter and sculptor (born 1923) Miriam "Mimi" Schapiro was a Canadian-born artist based in the United States. She was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, and a pioneer of feminist art. She was also considered a leader of the Pattern and Decoration art movement. Her artwork blurs the line between fine art and craft. She incorporated craft elements into her paintings due to their association with women and femininity. She often used icons that are associated with women, such as hearts, floral decorations, geometric patterns, and the color pink. In the 1970s, she made the hand fan, a typically small woman's object, heroic by painting it six feet by twelve feet. "The fan-shaped canvas, a powerful icon, gave her the opportunity to experiment … Out of this emerged a surface of textured coloristic complexity and opulence that formed the basis of her new personal style. The kimono, fans, houses, and hearts were the form into which she repeatedly poured her feelings and desires, her anxieties, and hopes". Read more
20 Jun 2013: Ingvar Rydell, Swedish footballer (born 1922) Gustav Ingvar Rydell was a Swedish football forward who played for Malmö FF. He also represented Sweden in the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. and won a bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Finland. Read more
20 Jun 2012: Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States. (born 1921) Elinor Isabel "Judy" Agnew was the second lady of the United States from 1969 to 1973. She was the wife of the 39th vice president of the United States, Spiro Agnew, who had previously served as Governor of Maryland and Baltimore County Executive. Although Judy Agnew attempted to avoid political discussion during her tenure as second lady, preferring to cultivate her image primarily as a wife and mother, her dismissive remarks about the women's liberation movement were quoted by media. Read more
20 Jun 2012: LeRoy Neiman, American painter (born 1921) LeRoy Neiman was an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screenprints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events. Read more
20 Jun 2012: Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss of Köstritz (born 1919) Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss was the head of the German formerly princely House of Reuss. Read more
20 Jun 2012: Andrew Sarris, American critic (born 1928) Andrew Sarris was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Read more
20 Jun 2011: Ryan Dunn, American television personality (born 1977) Ryan Matthew Dunn was an American stunt performer, television personality, and actor. He was one of the stars of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass and its film franchise. Read more
20 Jun 2010: Roberto Rosato, Italian footballer (born 1943) Roberto Rosato was an Italian footballer, who played as a defender. Read more
20 Jun 2010: Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (born 1916) Harry Blackmore Whittington FRS was a British palaeontologist who made a major contribution to the study of fossils of the Burgess Shale and other Cambrian fauna. His works are largely responsible for the concept of Cambrian explosion, whereby modern animal body plans are explained to originate during a short span of geological period. With initial work on trilobites, his discoveries revealed that these arthropods were the most diversified of all invertebrates during the Cambrian Period. He was responsible for setting the standard for naming and describing the delicate fossils preserved in Konservat-Lagerstätten. Read more
20 Jun 2005: Larry Collins, American journalist, historian, and author (born 1929) John Lawrence Collins Jr. was an American writer and historian. Read more
20 Jun 2005: Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1923) Jack St. Clair Kilby was an American electronics engineer who took part, along with Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor, in the realization of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments in 1958. For this invention, Kilby shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics. Read more
20 Jun 2004: Jim Bacon, Australian politician, 41st Premier of Tasmania (born 1950) James Alexander Bacon, AC was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Tasmania from 1998 to 2004. Read more
20 Jun 2002: Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (born 1905) Erwin Chargaff was an Austro-Hungarian-born American biochemist, writer, and professor of biochemistry at Columbia University medical school. A Bucovinian Jew who immigrated to the United States during the Nazi regime, he penned a well-reviewed autobiography, Heraclitean Fire: Sketches from a Life Before Nature. Through careful experimentation, Chargaff discovered two rules, called Chargaff's rules, which helped lead to the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA. Read more
20 Jun 2002: Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (born 1916) Martinus Bernardus "Tinus" Osendarp was a Dutch sprint runner. Read more
20 Jun 1999: Clifton Fadiman, American game show host, author, and critic (born 1902) Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman was an American intellectual, author, editor, and radio and television personality. He began his work in radio, and switched to television later in his career. Read more
20 Jun 1997: Cahit Külebi, Turkish poet and author (born 1917) Cahit Külebi was a leading Turkish poet and author. He has an important place in contemporary Turkish poetry due to his attachment to folk poetry traditions. His poetry is enriched with simple yet ironic language, embellished with original descriptions. Read more
20 Jun 1995: Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and educator (born 1911) Emil Cioran was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. His works frequently engaged with issues of suffering, decay, and nihilism. In 1937, Cioran moved to the Latin Quarter of Paris, which became his permanent residence, wherein he lived in seclusion with his partner, Simone Boué, until his death in 1995. Read more
20 Jun 1984: Estelle Winwood, English actress (born 1883) Estelle Winwood was an English actress who moved to the United States mid-career and became celebrated for her wit and longevity, starring in film and TV roles until her nineties. Read more
20 Jun 1978: Mark Robson, Canadian-American director and producer (born 1913) Mark Robson was a Canadian-American film director, producer, and editor. Robson began his 45-year career in Hollywood as a film editor. He later began working as a director and producer. He directed 34 films during his career, including Champion (1949), Bright Victory (1951), The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), Peyton Place (1957), The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), Von Ryan's Express (1965), Valley of the Dolls (1967), and Earthquake (1974). Read more
20 Jun 1975: Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, Haitian anthropologist (born 1898) Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain was the first woman Haitian anthropologist. Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain was a student of Bronisław Malinowski who worked in 1949 with Alfred Métraux, and participated in a UNESCO project in Haiti. She married Jean Comhaire, a Belgian who headed the Anthropology Department of University of Nsukka. Subsequently, she worked in Africa. Read more
20 Jun 1974: Horace Lindrum, Australian snooker player (born 1912) Horace Lindrum was an Australian professional player of snooker and English billiards. Lindrum won the 1952 World Snooker Championship defeating New Zealander Clark McConachy. The tournament is disputed, as it had only two participants, and other players boycotted the event to play in the 1952 World Professional Match-play Championship. Lindrum won the Australian Professional Billiards Championship on multiple occasions, first winning the event in 1934. Read more
20 Jun 1969: Bishnu Prasad Rabha, Indian artist, painter, actor, dancer, writer, music composer and politician (born 1909) Bishnu Prasad Rabha was an Indian cultural figure from Assam, known for his contributions to music, dance, painting, literature, and political activism. As an advocate of the people's cultural movement, he drew heavily from various genres of classical and folk cultural traditions. Considered a doyen of the culture of Assam, the people of Assam affectionately call him Kalaguru. He is also called by Marxists Sainik Silpi for his active participation in the armed struggle led by the Revolutionary Communist Party of India (RCPI). Read more
20 Jun 1966: Georges Lemaître, Belgian priest, physicist, and astronomer (born 1894) Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître was a Belgian Catholic priest, theoretical physicist, and mathematician who made major contributions to cosmology and astrophysics. He was the first to argue that the recession of galaxies is evidence of an expanding universe and to connect the observational Hubble–Lemaître law with the solution to the Einstein field equations in the general theory of relativity for a homogenous and isotropic universe. That work led Lemaître to propose what he called the "hypothesis of the primeval atom", now regarded as the first formulation of the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe. Read more
20 Jun 1965: Bernard Baruch, American financier and politician (born 1870) Bernard Mannes Baruch was an American financier and statesman. Read more
20 Jun 1963: Raphaël Salem, Greek-French mathematician and academic (born 1898) Raphaël Salem was a Greek mathematician after whom the Salem numbers and Salem–Spencer sets are named, and whose widow founded the Salem Prize. Read more
20 Jun 1958: Kurt Alder, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902) Kurt Alder was a German chemist and Nobel laureate. Read more
20 Jun 1952: Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (born 1898) Luigi Cristiano Fagioli was an Italian racing driver, who competed in Grand Prix motor racing from 1928 to 1949, and Formula One from 1950 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Abruzzi Robber", Fagioli won the 1951 French Grand Prix with Alfa Romeo aged 53, and remains the oldest driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix. Fagioli was runner-up in the European Drivers' Championship in 1935 with Mercedes. Read more
20 Jun 1947: Bugsy Siegel, American mobster (born 1906) Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Along with his childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky, Siegel was influential within the Jewish-American mob, the Italian-American Mafia, and the largely Italian-Jewish coalition known as the National Crime Syndicate. Described as "handsome" and "charismatic," Siegel became one of the first front-page celebrity gangsters. Read more
20 Jun 1945: Bruno Frank, German author, poet, and playwright (born 1878) Bruno Frank was a German author, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and humanist. Read more
20 Jun 1929: Emmanouil Benakis, Greek merchant and politician, 35th Mayor of Athens (born 1843) Emmanouil Benakis was a Greek merchant and politician, considered a national benefactor of Greece. Read more
20 Jun 1925: Josef Breuer, Austrian physician and psychologist (born 1842) Josef Breuer was an Austrian physician who made discoveries in neurophysiology, and whose work during the 1880s with his patient Bertha Pappenheim, known as Anna O., led to the development of the "cathartic method" for psychiatric disorders. The method was a major initiatory factor for psychoanalysis, as developed by Breuer's friend and collaborator Sigmund Freud. Read more
20 Jun 1909: Friedrich Martens, Estonian-Russian historian, lawyer, and diplomat (born 1845) Friedrich Fromhold Martens, or Friedrich Fromhold von Martens, was a diplomat and jurist in service of the Russian Empire who made important contributions to the science of international law. He represented Russia at the Hague Peace Conferences and helped to settle the first cases of international arbitration, notably the dispute between France and the United Kingdom over Newfoundland. As a scholar, he is probably best remembered today for having edited 15 volumes of Russian international treaties (1874–1909). Read more
20 Jun 1906: John Clayton Adams, English painter (born 1840) John Clayton Adams or J. Clayton Adams was an English landscape artist. Read more
20 Jun 1888: Johannes Zukertort, Polish-English chess player (born 1842) Johannes Hermann Zukertort was a Polish-born British-German chess master. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, but lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886, which is generally regarded as the first World Chess Championship match. He was also defeated by Steinitz in 1872 in an unofficial championship. Read more
20 Jun 1876: John Neal, American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist (born 1793) John Neal was an American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist. Considered both eccentric and influential, he delivered speeches and published essays, novels, poems, and short stories between the 1810s and 1870s in the United States and Great Britain, championing American literary nationalism and regionalism in their earliest stages. Neal advanced the development of American art, fought for women's rights, advocated the end of slavery and racial prejudice, and helped establish the American gymnastics movement. Read more
20 Jun 1875: Joseph Meek, American police officer and politician (born 1810) Joseph Lafayette Meek was an American pioneer, mountain man, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A trapper involved in the fur trade before settling in the Tualatin Valley, Meek played a prominent role at the Champoeg Meetings of 1843, where he was elected a sheriff. He was later elected to and served in the Provisional Legislature of Oregon before being appointed as the United States Marshal for the Oregon Territory. Read more
20 Jun 1872: Élie Frédéric Forey, French general (born 1804) Élie Frédéric Forey was a Marshal of France. Read more
20 Jun 1870: Jules de Goncourt, French historian and author (born 1830) Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt was a French writer, who published books together with his brother Edmond. Jules was born and died in Paris. His death at the age of 39 was at Auteuil of a stroke brought on by syphilis. Read more
20 Jun 1869: Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (born 1835) Hijikata Toshizō was a Japanese swordsman of the Bakumatsu period and Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi. As Vice-Commander, he served the Tokugawa Shogunate and co-led his group in its resistance against the imperial rule brought about by the Meiji Restoration. He fought against the Imperial Army during the Boshin War until his death at the Battle of Hakodate, which ended the war. Read more
20 Jun 1847: Juan Larrea, Argentinian captain and politician (born 1782) Juan Larrea was a Spanish businessman and politician in Buenos Aires during the early nineteenth century. He headed a military unit during the second British invasion of the River Plate, and worked at the Buenos Aires Cabildo. He took part in the ill-fated Mutiny of Álzaga. Larrea and Domingo Matheu were the only two Spanish-born members of the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina. Read more
20 Jun 1840: Pierre Claude François Daunou, French historian and politician (born 1761) Pierre Claude François Daunou was a French statesman of the French Revolution and Empire. An author and historian, he served as the nation's archivist under both the Empire and the Restoration, contributed a volume to the Histoire littéraire de la France, and published more than twenty volumes of lectures he delivered when he held the chair of history and ethics at the Collège de France. Read more
20 Jun 1837: William IV of the United Kingdom (born 1765) William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of the United Kingdom's House of Hanover. Read more
20 Jun 1820: Manuel Belgrano, Argentinian general, economist, and politician (born 1770) Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano, usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano, was an Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He took part in the Argentine Wars of Independence and designed what became the flag of Argentina. Argentines regard him as one of the main Founding Fathers of the country. He was also a supporter of free trade. Read more
20 Jun 1815: Guillaume Philibert Duhesme, French general (born 1766) Guillaume Philibert, 1st Count Duhesme was a French Army officer, politician and writer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was a commander of the Imperial Guard, Governor of Catalonia and a Peer of France. Napoleon wrote that "he was a fearless soldier, covered with wounds and of the greatest bravery, an accomplished general, who always stood firm in good and bad fortune". Duhesme is regarded as one of the most able French infantry generals of the Napoleonic Wars. Read more
20 Jun 1810: Axel von Fersen the Younger, Swedish general and politician (born 1755) Hans Axel von Fersen, also known as Axel von Fersen the Younger and as Axel de Fersen in France, was a Swedish count, military officer, courtier, ambassador, Marshal and Lord of the Realm. He gained international renown for his close association with Queen Marie Antoinette of France and his prominent involvement in the French Revolution. Read more
20 Jun 1800: Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician and academic (born 1719) Abraham Gotthelf Kästner was a mathematician and epigrammatist from the Holy Roman Empire. Read more

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