History of Today in India – 20 March

Explore the history of today 20 March in India, including important events, famous personalities, and milestones for UPSC SSC,Banking & PSC exams.

Last updated on 20 March 2026, 04:23 AM

📜 Important Events on 20 March in World History

20 Mar 2021: La Plume noire, an anarchist bookstore in Lyon, is targeted by an attack of the far-right, provoking a shock in Lyon's far-left circles. Read more
20 Mar 2019: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is sworn in as acting president of Kazakhstan, following the resignation of long-time president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Read more
20 Mar 2015: A solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day. Read more
20 Mar 2015: Syrian civil war: The Siege of Kobanî is broken by the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Free Syrian Army (FSA), marking a turning point in the Rojava–Islamist conflict. Read more
20 Mar 2014: Four suspected Taliban members attack the Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people. Read more
20 Mar 2012: At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq. Read more
20 Mar 2010: Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland begins eruptions that would last for three months, heavily disrupting air travel in Europe. Read more
20 Mar 2006: Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby. Read more
20 Mar 2003: Iraq War: The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland begin an invasion of Iraq. Read more
20 Mar 2000: Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after murdering Georgia sheriff's deputy Ricky Kinchen and critically wounding Deputy Aldranon English. Read more
20 Mar 1999: Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US. Read more
20 Mar 1995: The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo carries out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 14 and wounding over 6,200 people. Read more
20 Mar 1993: The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb kills two children in Warrington, England. It leads to mass protests in both Britain and Ireland. Read more
20 Mar 1990: Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering. Read more
20 Mar 1988: Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet. Read more
20 Mar 1987: The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT. Read more
20 Mar 1985: Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Read more
20 Mar 1972: The Troubles: The first car bombing by the Provisional IRA in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland. Read more
20 Mar 1969: A United Arab airlines (now Egyptair) Ilyushin Il-18 crashes at Aswan international Airport, killing 100 people. Read more
20 Mar 1964: The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962. Read more
20 Mar 1956: Tunisia gains independence from France. Read more
20 Mar 1952: The US Senate ratifies the Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan. Read more
20 Mar 1951: Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded. Read more
20 Mar 1948: With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC. Read more
20 Mar 1942: World War II: General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return". Read more
20 Mar 1933: Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler orders the creation of Dachau concentration camp as Chief of Police of Munich and appoints Theodor Eicke as the camp commandant. Read more
20 Mar 1926: Chiang Kai-shek initiates a purge of communist elements within the National Revolutionary Army in Guangzhou. Read more
20 Mar 1923: The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the United States. Read more
20 Mar 1922: The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier. Read more
20 Mar 1921: The Upper Silesia plebiscite, mandated by the Versailles Treaty to determine a section of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland, is held. Read more
20 Mar 1916: Albert Einstein submits his paper, "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity", which establishes his general theory of relativity, to the journal Annalen der Physik. Read more
20 Mar 1914: In the Curragh incident, over 100 British Army officers threaten to resign if ordered to march against the Ulster Volunteers. Read more
20 Mar 1913: Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later. Read more
20 Mar 1903: The first of a series of auctions of sheep farming land in southern Patagonia takes place impacting established settlers. Read more
20 Mar 1896: With the approval of Emperor Guangxu, the Qing dynasty post office is opened, marking the beginning of a postal service in China. Read more
20 Mar 1890: Chancellor of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck is dismissed by Emperor Wilhelm II. Read more
20 Mar 1888: The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia. Read more
20 Mar 1883: The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is signed. Read more
20 Mar 1861: An earthquake destroys Mendoza, Argentina. Read more
20 Mar 1854: The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin, US. Read more
20 Mar 1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. Read more
20 Mar 1848: German revolutions of 1848–49: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates. Read more
20 Mar 1815: After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule. Read more

🎂 Important Births on 20 March in World History

20 Mar 2003: Cooper Hoffman, American actor Cooper Alexander Hoffman is an American actor. The son of late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, he made his acting debut with a leading role in Paul Thomas Anderson's coming-of-age film Licorice Pizza (2021) for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He has since portrayed Dick Ebersol in the comedy-drama Saturday Night (2024) and played the lead role in The Long Walk (2025), adapted from Stephen King's novel. He made his stage debut in an Off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's tragedy play Curse of the Starving Class (2025). Read more
20 Mar 2002: Jahmyr Gibbs, American football player Jahmyr Gibbs, nicknamed "Sonic", is an American professional football running back for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Alabama Crimson Tide. Gibbs was selected with the 12th overall pick by the Lions in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, becoming part of a rushing tandem with David Montgomery to start his career. In 2024, Gibbs set a Detroit franchise record for the most touchdowns scored in a single season (20), which also led the league. He was selected to the Pro Bowl three times in his first three NFL seasons, from 2023 to 2025. Read more
20 Mar 2001: Trevor Zegras, American ice hockey player Trevor John Zegras is an American professional ice hockey player who is a center for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected ninth overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2019 NHL entry draft. Read more
20 Mar 2000: Hyunjin, South Korean rapper Hyun-jin, also spelled Hyeon-jin or Hyon-jin, is a Korean given name. Read more
20 Mar 1995: Kei, South Korean singer Kim Ji-yeon , known professionally as Kei (케이), is a South Korean singer and musical actress. She rose to fame as a member of South Korean girl group Lovelyz in November 2014. Kei officially made her solo debut with the EP, Over and Over on October 8, 2019. On November 16, 2021, she left Woollim Entertainment, although she remains as a member of Lovelyz. She joined Palm Tree Island in January 2022 to focus on her musical career, before moving to A2Z Entertainment later that year. In 2023, Kei participated in Mnet reality competition show Queendom Puzzle, debuting with the resulting project supergroup El7z Up in September of that year. Read more
20 Mar 1995: Nick Paul, Canadian ice hockey player Nicholas Paul is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Dallas Stars in the fourth round, 101st overall, of the 2013 NHL entry draft. He has also played for the Ottawa Senators. Read more
20 Mar 1993: Fabian Fahl, German politician Fabian Fahl is a German politician and member of the Bundestag. A member of The Left, he has represented North Rhine-Westphalia since 2025. Read more
20 Mar 1993: JaKarr Sampson, American basketball player JaKarr Jordan Sampson is an American professional basketball player for Zhejiang Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the St. John's Red Storm. He is a frequent rebounder and shot-blocker, and is noted for his speed and a near 7'0" wingspan. He won a national championship with Brewster Academy in 2012 after achieving star status with his high school team. Read more
20 Mar 1992: Justin Faulk, American ice hockey player Justin Michael Faulk is an American professional ice hockey player who is a defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played for the Carolina Hurricanes for the first eight years of his career, then playing seven seasons for the St. Louis Blues. He was selected by the Hurricanes in the second round of the 2010 NHL entry draft. Read more
20 Mar 1991: Mattia Destro, Italian footballer Mattia Destro is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker. He has also featured at international level, holding eight caps for Italy. Read more
20 Mar 1991: Michał Kucharczyk, Polish footballer Michał Kucharczyk is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a winger or a striker for III liga club Świt Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. In 2025, he joined Canal+ as a pundit, becoming a part of their Ekstraklasa coverage team. Read more
20 Mar 1991: Nick Leddy, American ice hockey player Nicholas Michael Leddy is an American professional ice hockey player who is a defenseman for the San Jose Barracuda of the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted in the first round, 16th overall, by the Minnesota Wild in the 2009 NHL entry draft. He previously played for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues. He won a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2013. Read more
20 Mar 1990: Blake Ferguson, Australian rugby league player Blake Ferguson is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. Read more
20 Mar 1990: Brad Hand, American baseball player Bradley Richard Hand is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida/Miami Marlins, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians, Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, and Atlanta Braves. Read more
20 Mar 1990: Marcos Rojo, Argentine footballer Faustino Marcos Alberto Rojo is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defender for Argentine Primera División club Racing Club. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a left-back. Read more
20 Mar 1989: Xavier Dolan, Canadian actor and director Xavier Dolan-Tadros is a Canadian filmmaker and actor. He began his career as a child actor in commercials before directing several arthouse feature films. He first received international acclaim in 2009 for his feature film directorial debut, I Killed My Mother, which he also starred in, wrote, and produced, and which premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section and won three awards from the program. Read more
20 Mar 1989: Tamim Iqbal, Bangladeshi cricketer Tamim Iqbal Khan, commonly known as Tamim Iqbal, is a Bangladeshi former international cricketer as well as a commentator from Chittagong who was captain of the national team in ODI matches from 2020 to 2023. He is the first Bangladeshi cricketer to score a century in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in the 2016 edition, scoring 103*, the highest score made by a Bangladeshi at any T20 World Cup tournament. Read more
20 Mar 1987: Daniel Maa Boumsong, Cameroonian footballer Daniel Maa Boumsong is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
20 Mar 1987: Jon Brockman, American basketball player Jonathan Rodney Brockman is an American former professional basketball player. He was the starting power forward and team captain for the University of Washington men's basketball team. He is the University of Washington's all-time leading rebounder and second-all-time leading scorer in University of Washington history. He grabbed the 1,000th rebound of his career on December 30, 2008, in a win over Morgan State, and became Washington's all-time leading rebounder on January 15, 2009, in a win over Oregon, breaking Doug Smart's school record of 1,051. Read more
20 Mar 1987: Jô, Brazilian footballer João Alves de Assis Silva, known as Jô or João Alves, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
20 Mar 1987: Pedro Ken, Brazilian footballer Pedro Ken Morimoto Moreira, known as Pedro Ken, is a Brazilian former footballer. He is of Japanese descent. Read more
20 Mar 1987: Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player Sergei Olegovich Kostitsyn is a Belarusian professional ice hockey winger for Metallurg Zhlobin of the Belarusian Extraleague (BHL). He was selected in the seventh round, 200th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2005 NHL entry draft. He has also played for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL) alongside his older brother Andrei. Read more
20 Mar 1986: Dean Geyer, South African-Australian singer-songwriter and actor Dean Stanley Geyer is a South African Australian singer-songwriter, actor and martial artist who finished third in the 2006 season of the talent show television series Australian Idol, and has had a notable role in the Australian soap opera Neighbours as Ty Harper. He joined the cast of the US show Glee in the 4th season as NYADA Junior Brody Weston and appeared in Terra Nova as Mark Reynolds. Read more
20 Mar 1986: Julián Magallanes, Argentinian footballer Julián David Magallanes is an Argentine footballer who played professionally for a number of clubs in the Italian leagues. Read more
20 Mar 1986: Román Torres, Panamanian footballer Román Aureliano Torres Morcillo is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Tacoma Stars. Read more
20 Mar 1985: Morgan Amalfitano, French footballer Morgan Henri René Amalfitano is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Read more
20 Mar 1985: Ronnie Brewer, American basketball player Ronnie Brewer is an American former professional basketball player and currently an assistant coach. Brewer played collegiately at the University of Arkansas, where his father Ron Brewer was a star in the late 1970s. Brewer is known for having an unorthodox shooting technique, the result of a childhood water slide injury. Read more
20 Mar 1985: Nicolas Lombaerts, Belgian footballer Nicolas Robert Christian Lombaerts is a Belgian professional football coach and a former centre-back. Read more
20 Mar 1984: Vikram Banerjee, English cricketer Vikram Banerjee is an English former cricketer and cricket executive. A slow left-arm orthodox bowler, he played first-class and limited-overs cricket primarily for Gloucestershire between 2006 and 2011, having previously represented Cambridge University. After retiring from professional cricket, Banerjee joined the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2017, where he has held several senior roles including Head of Strategy and Director of Business Operations. He led initiatives to increase diversity and private investment in English cricket. In 2025, he was appointed Managing Director of The Hundred, overseeing the competition's commercial development and long-term strategy. Read more
20 Mar 1984: Valtteri Filppula, Finnish ice hockey player Valtteri Filppula is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. Read more
20 Mar 1984: IJustine, American YouTuber Justine Ezarik is an American YouTuber. She is best known as iJustine, with over one billion views on her YouTube channel. She gained attention as a lifecaster who communicated directly with her millions of viewers on her Justin.tv channel, ijustine.tv. She acquired notability in roles variously described as a "lifecasting star," a "new media star," or one of the Internet's most popular lifecasters. She posts videos on her main channel iJustine. Read more
20 Mar 1984: Fernando Torres, Spanish footballer Fernando José Torres Sanz is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Atlético Madrid B. Due to his consistent goalscoring as a young player, Torres came to be nicknamed El Niño, which stuck with him throughout his career. In his prime, he was regarded as one of the best strikers in the world and was known for his pace, prolific goalscoring, and technical abilities. Read more
20 Mar 1983: Carolina Padrón, Venezuelan journalist Carolina Desireé José Padrón Ríos is a Venezuelan-Mexican sportscaster, journalist and television host currently working for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Mexico. Padrón is the co-anchor of ESPN's Spanish version of SportsCenter and also has covered sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics. Read more
20 Mar 1983: Jenni Vartiainen, Finnish singer Jenni Mari Vartiainen is a Finnish pop singer. Before her professional musical endeavours, she was a figure skater in her teenage years and attended the Kuopio Senior High of Music and Dance. Vartiainen rose to publicity by winning the Finnish talent show Popstars in October 2002 with Susanna Korvala, Ushma Karnani and Jonna Pirinen. The four formed the band Gimmel that released three studio albums, sold over 160,000 records and received three Emma Awards, accolades for outstanding achievements in music, awarded by the Finnish music industry federation, Musiikkituottajat. The band broke up in October 2004. Read more
20 Mar 1982: Terrence Duffin, Zimbabwean cricketer Terrence Duffin is a former Zimbabwean international cricketer, who played Test matches and One Day Internationals, captaining the side in ODIs. Read more
20 Mar 1982: Tomasz Kuszczak, Polish footballer Tomasz Mirosław Kuszczak is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was most recently the goalkeeping coach of the Poland national team. Read more
20 Mar 1982: José Moreira, Portuguese footballer José Filipe da Silva Moreira is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Read more
20 Mar 1981: Ian Murray, Scottish footballer Ian William Murray is a Scottish football player and coach, who is the manager of Scottish Championship club Greenock Morton. Read more
20 Mar 1980: Jamal Crawford, American basketball player Aaron Jamal Crawford is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2000 to 2020. Nicknamed "J-Crossover", he is regarded as one of the best ball handlers in NBA history. Also regarded as one of the best sixth men in league's history, Crawford was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year three times, a record he shares with Lou Williams. Read more
20 Mar 1980: Robertas Javtokas, Lithuanian basketball player Robertas Javtokas is a Lithuanian professional basketball executive and former player. He most recently served as sports director of Žalgiris Kaunas. Standing at 2.11 m, he played the center position. He has been a member of the senior men's Lithuanian national team since 2004. In the 2001 NBA draft, he was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 55th overall pick. Read more
20 Mar 1980: Michelle Snow, American basketball player Donnette Jé-Michelle Snow is an American former professional basketball player who played most recently in the Turkish Women's Basketball League. Read more
20 Mar 1979: Shinnosuke Abe, Japanese baseball player Shinnosuke Abe is a Japanese former professional baseball player and current manager. He spent his entire 19-year career with Nippon Professional Baseball's Yomiuri Giants, serving as the team's captain from 2007 to 2014. He has twice been named the MVP of the Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Series, in 2007 and 2010. Currently, he serves as the manager for the Giants. Read more
20 Mar 1979: Freema Agyeman, English actress Freema Agyeman is an English actress. She rose to fame with her role as the Doctor's companion Martha Jones in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2007–2010) and its spin-off Torchwood (2008), and received further recognition for playing Crown Prosecutor Alesha Phillips in the ITV crime procedural Law & Order: UK (2009–2012), Amanita Caplan in the Netflix science fiction drama Sense8 (2015–2018) and Dr. Helen Sharpe in the NBC medical drama New Amsterdam (2018–2023). Read more
20 Mar 1979: Daniel Cormier, American mixed martial artist Daniel Ryan Cormier is an American former professional mixed martial artist, freestyle wrestler, and current color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As a former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Champion, Cormier is the second fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously and is the first fighter to have title defenses in two divisions. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. Read more
20 Mar 1979: Keven Mealamu, New Zealand rugby player Keven Filipo Mealamu is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played at hooker for the Blues in Super Rugby, Auckland in the National Provincial Championship, and the New Zealand national team. He was part of the Blues team that won the 2003 Super 12 title, the third for the franchise. He was a key member of 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup winning teams, becoming one of only 21 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions. Read more
20 Mar 1978: Kevin Betsy, English-Seychelles footballer and manager Kevin Eddie Lewis Betsy is a football coach and a former professional footballer having played at the Championship level, briefly in the Premier League, and for the Seychelles national team. Betsy is currently the first team development coach at championship club Queens Park Rangers. Read more
20 Mar 1976: Chester Bennington, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (died 2017) Chester Charles Bennington was an American singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various points in his career. Read more
20 Mar 1975: Ramin Bahrani, American director, producer, and screenwriter Ramin Bahrani is an American director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert ranked Bahrani's Chop Shop (2007) as the sixth-best film of the 2000s, calling him "the new director of the decade". Bahrani was the recipient of the 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship. Bahrani is a professor of film directing at his alma mater, the Columbia University School of the Arts. Read more
20 Mar 1975: Isolde Kostner, Italian skier Isolde Kostner is an Italian former Alpine skier who won two bronze medals at the 1994 Winter Olympics and a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics. She was the Italian flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Olympics. Read more
20 Mar 1974: Carsten Ramelow, German footballer Carsten Ramelow is a German former professional footballer who played as either a central defender or a defensive midfielder. Read more
20 Mar 1973: Nicky Boje, South African cricketer Nico Boje is a South African former cricketer who played in 43 Tests, 115 One Day Internationals and single Twenty20 International for South Africa. Boje was a member of the South Africa team that won the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy. Read more
20 Mar 1973: Natalya Khrushcheleva, Russian runner Natalya Khrushcheleva is a retired Russian middle-distance runner who won a bronze medal in 800 metres at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics. She has also been a member of the Russian 4 × 400 metres relay team. Read more
20 Mar 1973: Talal Khalifa Aljeri, Kuwaiti businessman Talal Khalifa Al Jeri is a Kuwaiti businessman. He is the chairman and CEO of Al Jeri Holding Group, chosen by Forbes in 2018 as a leading educational company. Read more
20 Mar 1972: Chilly Gonzales, Canadian-German singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer Jason Charles Beck, professionally known as Chilly Gonzales or just Gonzales, is a Canadian musician, songwriter, and producer. Currently based in Cologne, Germany, he previously lived for several years in Paris and Berlin. Gonzales' career spans numerous genres. He is known for his rap albums, his collaborations with singer and musician Feist and rapper Drake, his albums of classical piano compositions, and for his collaborations with electronic musicians Daft Punk and Boys Noize, the latter of whom he also produces under the moniker Octave Minds. In 2022, he and Plastikman released a piano rework of the latter's 1998 minimal techno classic album Consumed in collaboration with Canadian musician Tiga, titled "Consumed in Key". Read more
20 Mar 1972: Alex Kapranos, English-Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer Alexander Paul Kapranos is a Scottish musician. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the supergroups FFS and BNQT. Read more
20 Mar 1972: Greg Searle, English rower Gregory Mark Pascoe Searle is a British Olympic rower educated at Hampton School and London South Bank University. Read more
20 Mar 1972: Marco Sejna, German footballer Marco Sejna is a German former professional footballer as a goalkeeper. Read more
20 Mar 1972: Cristel Vahtra, Estonian skier Cristel Vahtra is an Estonian cross-country skier who competed from 1994 to 2001. Her best World Cup finish was 22nd in a 10 km event in Russia in 1996. Read more
20 Mar 1971: Manny Alexander, Dominican baseball player Manuel De Jesús Alexander is a Dominican former professional baseball infielder. He has played for the Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets (1997), Chicago Cubs (1997–1999), Boston Red Sox (2000), Texas Rangers (2004) and San Diego Padres (2005–2006). He bats and throws right-handed. Read more
20 Mar 1971: Touré, American journalist and author Touré is an American writer, music journalist, cultural critic, podcaster, and television personality. He was a co-host of the TV show The Cycle on MSNBC. He was also a contributor to MSNBC's The Dylan Ratigan Show, and the host of Fuse's Hiphop Shop and On the Record. He serves on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. He taught a course on the history of hip-hop at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, part of the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. Read more
20 Mar 1970: Edoardo Ballerini, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Edoardo Ballerini is an American actor, narrator, writer, and film director. On screen he is best known for his work as junkie Corky Caporale in The Sopranos and the hotheaded chef in the indie film Dinner Rush (2001). Ballerini is a two-time winner of the Audio Publishers Association's Best Male Narrator Audie Award (2013), Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter; 2019 Watchers by Dean Koontz) and is the co-author of the story "The Angel Of Rome" in the 2021 collection of stories The Angel of Rome, by Jess Walter. His directorial debut, Good Night Valentino, premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Read more
20 Mar 1970: Josephine Medina, Filipino Paralympic table tennis player (died 2021) Josephine Rebeta Medina was a Filipino table tennis player. Medina represented the Philippines at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics. Read more
20 Mar 1969: Yvette Cooper, English economist and politician, former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Yvette Cooper is a British politician who has served as Foreign Secretary since September 2025, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2024 to 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Cooper has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, previously Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, since 1997. Read more
20 Mar 1969: Fabien Galthié, French rugby player Fabien Galthié is a French rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of the France national team. Read more
20 Mar 1968: A. J. Jacobs, American journalist and author Arnold Stephen Jacobs Jr., commonly called A.J. Jacobs, is an American journalist, author, and lecturer best known for writing about his lifestyle experiments. He is an editor at large for Esquire and has worked for the Antioch Daily Ledger and Entertainment Weekly. Read more
20 Mar 1968: Paul Merson, English footballer and manager Paul Charles Merson is an English former professional footballer, manager, commentator and sports television pundit for Sky Sports. Read more
20 Mar 1968: Ultra Naté, American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter Ultra Naté is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free", "If You Could Read My Mind", and "Automatic". Read more
20 Mar 1968: Ken Ono, Japanese-American mathematician Ken Ono is an American mathematician with fields of study in number theory. Formerly the STEM Advisor to the Provost and the Marvin Rosenblum Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia, he now works in artificial intelligence at Axiom Math in Palo Alto, California. Read more
20 Mar 1967: Xavier Beauvois, French actor, director, and screenwriter Xavier Beauvois is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. Read more
20 Mar 1967: Mookie Blaylock, American basketball player Daron Oshay "Mookie" Blaylock is an American former professional basketball player. He spent 13 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the New Jersey Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and the Golden State Warriors. Read more
20 Mar 1965: William Dalrymple, Scottish historian and author William Benedict Hamilton-Dalrymple is a Scottish historian, art historian, curator, broadcaster, critic and author. Read more
20 Mar 1964: Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer-songwriter Natacha Atlas is an Egyptian-Belgian singer known for her fusion of Arabic and Western music, particularly hip-hop. She once termed her music "cha'abi moderne". Her music has been influenced by many styles including Maghrebain, hip hop, drum and bass and reggae. Read more
20 Mar 1963: Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach Paul Annacone is an American former touring professional tennis player and current tennis coach. He is the former coach of 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens. Annacone is currently a coach at ProTennisCoach.com, a commentator at Tennis Channel, and works with Taylor Fritz. Read more
20 Mar 1963: Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (died 2007) Yelena Nikolaevna Romanova was a Russian distance runner. She won an Olympic gold medal in women's 3000 metres in 1992. Read more
20 Mar 1962: Stephen Sommers, American director, producer, and screenwriter Stephen Sommers is an American film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for big-budget action films, such as The Mummy (1999), its sequel, The Mummy Returns (2001), Van Helsing (2004), and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009). He also directed The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), Disney's first live action version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1994) and the action horror film Deep Rising (1998). Read more
20 Mar 1961: Ingrid Arndt-Brauer, German politician Ingrid Arndt-Brauer is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as a member of the Bundestag from 1999 until 2021. Read more
20 Mar 1961: Jesper Olsen, Danish footballer and manager Jesper Olsen is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He is best remembered for representing Ajax of the Netherlands and Manchester United of England. He was a regular player for the Danish national team, scoring five goals in 43 matches. He represented Denmark at the Euro 1984 and 1986 World Cup tournaments. Read more
20 Mar 1961: Sara Wheeler, English author and journalist Sara Diane Wheeler is an English travel author and biographer, noted for her accounts of polar regions. Read more
20 Mar 1960: Norm Magnusson, American painter and sculptor Norm Magnusson is a New York-based artist and political activist and founder, in 1991, of the art movement funism; he began his career creating allegorical animal paintings with pointed social commentaries. Eventually became more and more interested in political art and its potential for persuasion. Read more
20 Mar 1960: Norbert Pohlmann, German computer scientist and academic Norbert Pohlmann is a computer scientist and a professor at the Westfälische Hochschule. He is also chairman of the board of the IT security association TeleTrusT. Read more
20 Mar 1960: Yuri Shargin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut Yuri Georgiyevich Shargin is a retired cosmonaut of the Russian Space Forces. Read more
20 Mar 1959: Dave Beasant, English footballer and coach David John Beasant is an English football coach and former goalkeeper. Read more
20 Mar 1959: Mary Roach, American author Mary Roach is an American author specializing in popular science and humor. She has published eight New York Times bestsellers: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003), Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005), Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (2008), Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (2010), Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (2013), Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War (2016), Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law (2021), and Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy (2025). Read more
20 Mar 1959: Sting, American wrestler Steve Borden, better known by the ring name Sting, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), with which he continues to make sporadic appearances since his retirement. Borden is best known for his lengthy runs in two major American professional wrestling promotions: World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1988 to 2001 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2003 to 2014, as well as his retirement run in AEW from 2020 to 2024. Although the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW in 2001, Borden did not sign with them at the time; he would later work in WWE from 2014 to 2020. Prior to WCW, he wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)—which became WCW in 1988—the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). Borden wore face-paint throughout his career, and in 1996, changed from the multi-colored paint of his "Surfer" persona to the monochromatic paint of the "Crow" gimmick. Read more
20 Mar 1959: Peter Truscott, Baron Truscott, British Labour Party politician and peer Peter Derek Truscott, Baron Truscott is a British petroleum and mining consultant, independent member of the House of Lords and writer. He was a Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 1999 and was elevated to the peerage in 2004. He has written on Russia, defence and energy, and works with a variety of companies in the field of non-renewable resource extraction. Read more
20 Mar 1958: Rickey Jackson, American football player Rickey Anderson Jackson is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints (1981–1993) and the San Francisco 49ers (1994–1995). He led the team's Dome Patrol linebacker corps while playing with the Saints. In 1997, Jackson was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame. Jackson won a Super Bowl ring with the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX one year before retiring. On February 7, 2010, Jackson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the same day his New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV. Read more
20 Mar 1957: David Foster, Australian woodchopper David George Foster OAM is an Australian world champion woodchopper, and Tasmanian community figure. He has held the World Woodchopping Championship title for 21 consecutive years, and is Australia's most successful athlete and first and possibly the only athlete in any sport in the world to win over 1,000 titles. Read more
20 Mar 1957: Spike Lee, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American filmmaker and actor. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee received numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Peabody Awards as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award. Read more
20 Mar 1957: Chris Wedge, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor John Christian Wedge is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He is best known for being the lead animator of the sci-fi action film Tron (1982), co-founding the now-defunct animation studio Blue Sky Studios, and directing the short film Bunny (1998) and the feature films Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005) and Epic (2013). Wedge has received two Academy Awards nominations: one for Bunny, for which he won Best Animated Short; and Ice Age, nominated for Best Animated Feature. He also created and voiced the character Scrat in the Ice Age franchise (2002–present). Read more
20 Mar 1956: Catherine Ashton, English politician, Vice-President of the European Commission Catherine Margaret Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland is a British Labour politician who served as the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and First Vice President of the European Commission in the Barroso Commission from 2009 to 2014. Read more
20 Mar 1956: Anne Donahue, American lawyer and politician Anne de la Blanchetai Donahue is an American politician from the state of Vermont. She has served as a member of the Vermont House of Representatives since 2003, representing the Washington-1 district, which includes the Washington County towns of Berlin and Northfield. Donahue represented Washington-2 until 2013, when she was redistricted. She was also editor of Counterpoint, a quarterly mental health publication distributed for free throughout Vermont, until retiring in 2023. Read more
20 Mar 1956: Naoto Takenaka, Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director Naoto Takenaka is a Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director from Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, affiliated with From First Production. He is married to idol singer and actress Midori Kinouchi. He is also known as the voice of Samuel L. Jackson in the dubbed version of the Avengers film series as Nick Fury. Read more
20 Mar 1955: Nina Kiriki Hoffman, American author Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer. Read more
20 Mar 1955: Ian Moss, Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter Ian Richard Moss is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs. He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial eleven year phase from 1973 to 1984, Moss was recorded on all five studio albums, three of which reached number one on the national Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In August 1989 he released his debut solo album, Matchbook, which peaked at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was preceded by his debut single, "Tucker's Daughter", which reached number two on the related ARIA Singles Chart in March. The track was co-written by Moss with Don Walker, also from Cold Chisel. Moss had another top ten hit with "Telephone Booth" in June 1989. Read more
20 Mar 1955: Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as the "Queen of City Pop", Takeuchi is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan with over 16 million records sold. Internationally, her 1985 song "Plastic Love" became a sleeper hit and the catalyst of the 21st century revival of city pop. Read more
20 Mar 1954: Mike Francesa, American radio talk show host and television commentator Michael Patrick Francesa is an American sports-radio talk-show host. Together with Chris Russo, he launched Mike and the Mad Dog in 1989 on WFAN in New York City, which ran until 2008 and is one of the most successful sports-talk radio programs in American history. Read more
20 Mar 1954: Liana Kanelli, Greek journalist and politician Garyfallia "Liana" Kanelli is a Greek journalist and Member of the Greek Parliament for the Communist Party of Greece since 2000. Read more
20 Mar 1954: Paul Mirabella, American baseball player Paul Thomas Mirabella is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Mirabella, who threw left-handed, played all or parts of 13 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees (1979), Toronto Blue Jays (1980–81), Baltimore Orioles (1983), Seattle Mariners (1984–86) and Milwaukee Brewers (1987–90). Read more
20 Mar 1953: Phil Judd, New Zealand singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter Philip Raymond Judd is a New Zealand singer-songwriter known for being one of the founders of the bands Split Enz and The Swingers. Read more
20 Mar 1952: Geoff Brabham, Australian race car driver Geoffrey John Brabham is an Australian racing driver. Brabham spent the majority of his racing career in the United States. Read more
20 Mar 1952: David Greenaway, English economist and academic Sir David Greenaway DL is a British economist. He is Emeritus Professor of Economics and was previously the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, having succeeded Sir Colin Campbell on 1 October 2008. Read more
20 Mar 1949: Richard Dowden, English journalist and educator Richard Dowden is an English journalist who has specialised in African issues. Since 1975, he has worked for several British media and was formerly Executive Director of the Royal African Society (2002–2017). He is the author of the book Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles, which has a foreword by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. Dowden lives and works in London. Read more
20 Mar 1948: John de Lancie, American actor John Sherwood de Lancie, Jr. is an American actor. Read more
20 Mar 1948: Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer-songwriter and producer (died 2011) Nikolaos "Nikos" Papazoglou was a Greek singer-songwriter, musician, and producer from Thessaloniki. Read more
20 Mar 1947: John Boswell, American historian, philologist, and academic (died 1994) John Eastburn Boswell was an American historian and a full professor at Yale University. Many of Boswell's studies focused on the issue of religion and homosexuality, specifically Christianity and homosexuality. Much of his work addressed the history of marginalized groups, particularly in the context of religion and sexuality. Read more
20 Mar 1946: Douglas B. Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Douglas Bruce Green, better known by his stage name Ranger Doug, is an American musician, arranger, award-winning Western music songwriter, and Grand Ole Opry member best known for his work with Western music and the group Riders in the Sky in which he plays guitar and sings lead and baritone vocals. He is also a yodeler. With the Riders, he is billed as "Ranger Doug — The Idol of American Youth" and "Governor of the Great State of Rhythm". He is also a member of The Time Jumpers. Read more
20 Mar 1946: Malcolm Simmons, English motorcycle racer (died 2014) Malcolm Simmons was a motorcycle speedway rider from England. He earned 73 international caps for the England national speedway team and five caps for the Great Britain team. Read more
20 Mar 1945: Henry Bartholomay, American soldier and pilot (died 2015) Flight leader Lieutenant Henry Adams "Black Bart" Bartholomay was a United States Naval Aviator. He was a recipient of the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Read more
20 Mar 1945: Jay Ingram, Canadian television host and author Jay Ingram CM is a Canadian author, broadcaster and science communicator. He was host of the television show Daily Planet, which aired on Discovery Channel Canada, since the channel's inception in 1995. Ingram's last episode of Daily Planet aired on June 5, 2011. Ingram announced his retirement but stated he will make guest appearances on Daily Planet. He was succeeded by Dan Riskin. His book The End of Memory: A Natural History of Aging and Alzheimer's was published by St. Martin's Press in 2015. Read more
20 Mar 1945: Pat Riley, American basketball player, coach and executive Patrick James Riley is an American professional basketball executive, former coach, and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been the team president of the Miami Heat since 1995, and he also served as the team's head coach from 1995 to 2003 and again from 2005 to 2008. Read more
20 Mar 1945: Tim Yeo, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Health Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of South Suffolk between the 1983 United Kingdom general election and that of 2015, when he was deselected by his constituency party. Read more
20 Mar 1944: John Cameron, English composer and conductor John Cameron is a British composer, arranger, conductor and musician. He is well known for his many film, TV and stage credits, and for his contributions to pop recordings, notably those by Donovan, Cilla Black and the group Hot Chocolate. Cameron's instrumental version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", became a hit for his group CCS and, for many years, a version of Cameron's arrangement was used as the theme music for the BBC TV show Top of the Pops. Read more
20 Mar 1944: Camille Cosby, American author, producer, and philanthropist Camille Olivia Cosby is an American television producer, philanthropist, and the wife of comedian Bill Cosby. The character of Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show was based on her. Cosby has avoided public life, but has been active in her husband's businesses as a manager, as well as involving herself in academia and writing. In 1990, Cosby earned a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, followed by a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in 1992. Read more
20 Mar 1944: Alan Harper, English-Irish archbishop Alan Edwin Thomas Harper, is a retired Anglican bishop. He served in the Church of Ireland as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland from 2007 to 2012. Read more
20 Mar 1943: Gerard Malanga, American poet and photographer Read more
20 Mar 1943: Douglas Tompkins, American businessman, co-founded The North Face and Esprit Holdings (died 2015) Douglas Rainsford Tompkins was an American businessman, conservationist, outdoorsman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and agriculturalist. He founded the North Face Inc, co-founded Esprit and various environmental groups, including the Foundation for Deep Ecology and Tompkins Conservation. Read more
20 Mar 1943: Paul Junger Witt, American director and producer (died 2018) Paul Junger Witt was an American film and television producer. He, with his partners Tony Thomas and Susan Harris, produced such television shows as Here Come the Brides, The Partridge Family, The Golden Girls, Soap, Benson, It's a Living, Empty Nest, and Blossom. The majority of their shows have been produced by their company, Witt/Thomas Productions, founded in 1975. Witt also produced the films Dead Poets Society, Three Kings, Insomnia, and the made-for-TV movie Brian's Song. He was a graduate of the University of Virginia. Read more
20 Mar 1941: Pat Corrales, American baseball player and manager (died 2023) Patrick Corrales was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1964 to 1973, primarily for the Cincinnati Reds as well as the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Diego Padres. He was the first major league manager of Mexican American descent. Read more
20 Mar 1941: Kenji Kimihara, Japanese runner Kenji Kimihara is a retired Japanese long-distance runner. He competed in the marathon at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and finished in eighth, second and fifth place, respectively. He won two gold medals in the marathon at the Asian Games in 1966 and 1970, and won the Boston Marathon in 1966. Read more
20 Mar 1940: Stathis Chaitas, Greek footballer and manager Stathis Chaitas is a retired Greek footballer who played as a midfielder during the 1960s and '70s. He was named the 1969 Greek Athlete of the Year. Read more
20 Mar 1940: Mary Ellen Mark, American photographer and journalist (died 2015) Mary Ellen Mark was an American photographer known for her photojournalism, documentary photography, portraiture, and advertising photography. She photographed people who were "away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes". Read more
20 Mar 1940: Giampiero Moretti, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded the Momo company (died 2012) Gianpiero Moretti was an Italian racing driver and the founder of the MOMO company in the 1960s. He was born in Milan. Read more
20 Mar 1939: Gerald Curran, American lawyer and politician (died 2013) Gerald Curran was an American politician and lawyer. Read more
20 Mar 1939: Don Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2022) Don Edwards was an American cowboy singer, guitarist, and recording artist who specialized in Western music. Two of his albums, Guitars & Saddle Songs and Songs of the Cowboy, are included in the Folklore Archives of the Library of Congress. Read more
20 Mar 1939: Walter Jakob Gehring, Swiss biologist and academic (died 2014) Walter Jakob Gehring was a Swiss developmental biologist who was a professor at the Biozentrum Basel of the University of Basel, Switzerland. He obtained his PhD at the University of Zurich in 1965 and after two years as a research assistant of Ernst Hadorn he joined Alan Garen's group at Yale University in New Haven as a postdoctoral fellow. Read more
20 Mar 1939: Brian Mulroney, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Canada (died 2024) Martin Brian Mulroney was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. He led the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1983 to 1993. Read more
20 Mar 1938: Sergei Novikov, Russian mathematician and academic, winner of the Fields Medal (died 2024) Sergei Petrovich Novikov was a Soviet and Russian mathematician, noted for work in both algebraic topology and soliton theory. He became the first Soviet mathematician to receive the Fields Medal in 1970. Read more
20 Mar 1937: Lois Lowry, American author Lois Ann Lowry is an American writer. She is the author of many books for children and young adults, including The Giver Quartet, Number the Stars, the Anastasia series, and Rabble Starkey. She is known for writing about difficult subject matters, dystopias, and complex themes in works for young audiences. Read more
20 Mar 1937: Jerry Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (died 2008) Jerry Reed Hubbard, known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country singer, guitarist, composer, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included "Guitar Man", "U.S. Male", "A Thing Called Love", "Alabama Wild Man", "Amos Moses", "When You're Hot, You're Hot", "Ko-Ko Joe", "Lord, Mr. Ford", "East Bound and Down", "The Bird", and "She Got the Goldmine ". Read more
20 Mar 1936: Lee "Scratch" Perry, Jamaican singer, songwriter, music producer, and inventor (died 2021) Lee "Scratch" Perry was a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music with his early adoption of remixing and studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing reggae tracks. He worked with and produced for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Junior Murvin, the Congos, Max Romeo, the Heptones, Adrian Sherwood, the Beastie Boys, Ari Up, the Clash, the Orb, and many others. Read more
20 Mar 1936: Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge Mark Oliver Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate, is a British judge and former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Read more
20 Mar 1935: Ted Bessell, American actor and director (died 1996) Howard Weston "Ted" Bessell Jr. was an American television actor and director widely known for his role as Donald Hollinger, the boyfriend and eventual fiancé of Marlo Thomas's character in the TV series That Girl (1966–1971). Read more
20 Mar 1935: Bettye Washington Greene, American chemist (died 1995) Bettye Washington Greene was an American industrial research chemist. She was one of the first few African American women to earn her Ph.D. in chemistry and she was the first African American female Ph.D. chemist to work in a professional position at the Dow Chemical Company. At Dow, she researched latex and polymers. Greene is considered an early African American pioneer in science. Read more
20 Mar 1934: Willie Brown, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Mayor of San Francisco Willie Lewis Brown Jr. is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004, the first African American to hold the office. Read more
20 Mar 1934: David Malouf, Australian author and playwright David George Joseph Malouf is an Australian poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, and librettist. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London in 2008, Malouf has lectured at both the University of Queensland and the University of Sydney. He also delivered the 1998 Boyer Lectures. Read more
20 Mar 1933: Lateef Adegbite, Nigerian lawyer and politician (died 2012) Lateef Adegbite was a lawyer who became Attorney General of the Western Region of Nigeria, and who later became Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. Read more
20 Mar 1933: George Altman, American baseball player George Lee Altman was an American professional baseball outfielder who had a lengthy career in both Major League Baseball (MLB) and Nippon Professional Baseball. A three-time National League (NL) All-Star, he appeared in 991 games over nine full seasons in the major leagues. Then, at age 35, he began an eight-year tenure in Japanese baseball, where he would hit 205 home runs and bat .309 with 985 hits. Read more
20 Mar 1931: Dinos Christianopoulos, Greek poet (died 2020) Konstantinos Dimitriadis, better known by his pen name Dinos Christianopoulos, was a Greek contemporary and post-war poet, novelist, folklorist, and scholar. He was also a music scholar who wrote about rebetiko. Read more
20 Mar 1931: Rein Raamat, Estonian director and screenwriter Rein Raamat is an Estonian animation film director, artist and screenwriter. He is the first internationally successful Estonian animator and along with Elbert Tuganov is regarded as the "Father of Estonian Animation". He has directed many short animated films since the early 1970s and also produced over 20 documentary films. Read more
20 Mar 1930: S. Arasaratnam, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (died 1998) Sinnappah Arasaratnam was a Sri Lankan academic, historian and author, born during British colonial rule. Known as 'Arasa', he was a lecturer at the University of Ceylon, University of Malaya and University of New England (Australia). Read more
20 Mar 1929: William Andrew MacKay, Canadian lawyer and judge (died 2013) William Andrew MacKay was a Canadian lawyer and former judge, civil servant, legal academic, and university president. Read more
20 Mar 1929: Germán Robles, Spanish-Mexican actor and director (died 2015) Germán Horacio Robles San Agustín was a Spanish actor who came to Mexico when he was 17, after the Spanish civil war. Read more
20 Mar 1928: Jerome Biffle, American long jumper and coach (died 2002) Jerome Cousins Biffle was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump, where he was the Gold Medalist at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. Read more
20 Mar 1928: James P. Gordon, American physicist and engineer (died 2013) James Power Gordon was an American physicist known for his work in the fields of optics and quantum electronics. His contributions include the design, analysis and construction of the first maser in 1954 as a doctoral student at Columbia University under the supervision of C. H. Townes, development of the quantal equivalent of Shannon's information capacity formula in 1962, development of the theory for the diffusion of atoms in an optical trap in 1980, and the discovery of what is now known as the Gordon-Haus effect in soliton transmission, together with H. A. Haus in 1986. Gordon was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. Read more
20 Mar 1928: Fred Rogers, American television host and producer (died 2003) Fred McFeely Rogers, known professionally as Mister Rogers, was an American television personality, Presbyterian minister, and author. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001. Read more
20 Mar 1927: John Joubert, South African-English composer and academic (died 2019) John Pierre Herman Joubert was a British composer of South African birth, particularly of choral works. He lived in Moseley, a suburb of Birmingham, England, for over 50 years. A music academic in the universities of Hull and Birmingham for 36 years, Joubert took early retirement in 1986 to concentrate on composing and remained active into his eighties. Though perhaps best known for his choral music, particularly the carols Torches and There is No Rose of Such Virtue and the anthem O Lorde, the Maker of Al Thing, Joubert composed over 160 works including three symphonies, four concertos and seven operas. Read more
20 Mar 1925: John Ehrlichman, American lawyer, 12th White House Counsel (died 1999) John Daniel Ehrlichman was an American political aide who served as White House Counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon. Ehrlichman was an important influence on Nixon's domestic policy, coaching him on issues and enlisting his support for environmental initiatives. Read more
20 Mar 1923: Con Martin, Irish footballer and manager (died 2013) Cornelius Joseph Martin was an Irish footballer. Martin initially played Gaelic football for the Dublin county team before switching codes and embarking on a successful soccer career, playing for, among others, Drumcondra, Glentoran, Leeds United and Aston Villa. Read more
20 Mar 1923: Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani journalist, author, and activist (died 2006) Shaukat Siddiqi was a Pakistani writer of fiction who wrote in Urdu language. He is best known for his novels Khuda Ki Basti and Jangloos, the former of which won the Adamjee Literary Award in 1960. Read more
20 Mar 1922: Larry Elgart, American saxophonist and bandleader (died 2017) Lawrence Joseph Elgart was an American jazz bandleader. With his brother Les, he recorded "Bandstand Boogie", the theme to the long-running dance show American Bandstand. Read more
20 Mar 1922: Ray Goulding, American actor and screenwriter (died 1990) Raymond Walter Goulding was an American comedian, who, together with Bob Elliott formed the comedy duo of Bob and Ray. Read more
20 Mar 1922: Carl Reiner, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2020) Carl Reiner was an American actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. His awards and honors include 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999. Read more
20 Mar 1921: Usmar Ismail, Indonesian filmmaker (died 1971) Usmar Ismail was an Indonesian film director, author, journalist and revolutionary of Minangkabau descent. He is widely regarded as the native Indonesian pioneer of the cinema of Indonesia. Read more
20 Mar 1921: Dušan Pirjevec, Slovenian historian and philosopher (died 1977) Dušan Pirjevec, known by his nom de guerre Ahac, was a Slovenian Partisan, literary historian and philosopher. He was one of the most influential public intellectuals in post–World War II Slovenia. Read more
20 Mar 1921: Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and theorist (died 1970) Alfréd Rényi was a Hungarian mathematician known for his work in probability theory, though he also made contributions in combinatorics, graph theory, and number theory. Read more
20 Mar 1920: Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France (died 1997) Pamela Beryl Harriman, also known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English political activist for the Democratic Party in the United States, diplomat, and socialite. She married three times: her first husband was Randolph Churchill, the son of prime minister Winston Churchill; her third husband was W. Averell Harriman, an American diplomat who also served as Governor of New York. Her only child, Winston Churchill, was named after his famous grandfather. She served as US ambassador to France from 1993 until her death in 1997. Read more
20 Mar 1920: Rosemary Timperley, English author and screenwriter (died 1988) Rosemary Timperley was a British novelist, short story writer and screenwriter. She wrote a wide range of fiction, publishing 66 novels in 33 years, and several hundred short stories, but is best remembered for her ghost stories which appear in many anthologies. She also edited several volumes of ghost stories. Read more
20 Mar 1919: Gerhard Barkhorn, German fighter ace (died 1983) Gerhard "Gerd" Barkhorn was a German military aviator who was a renowned wing commander in the Luftwaffe during World War II. As a fighter ace, he was the second most successful fighter pilot of all time after fellow German Erich Hartmann. Other than Hartmann, Barkhorn is the only fighter ace to ever exceed 300 claimed victories. Following World War II, he became a high-ranking officer in the German Air Force of the Federal Republic of Germany. Read more
20 Mar 1918: Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (died 1984) Jack Barry was an American game show host, television personality and executive who made a name for himself in the game show field. Barry served as host of several game shows in his career, many of which he developed along with Dan Enright as part of their joint operation Barry & Enright Productions. Read more
20 Mar 1918: Donald Featherstone, English soldier and author (died 2013) Donald F. Featherstone was a British author of more than forty books on wargaming and military history. Read more
20 Mar 1918: Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (died 2013) Margaret Marian McPartland OBE, was an English and American jazz pianist, composer, and writer. She was the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978 to 2011. Read more
20 Mar 1918: Bernd Alois Zimmermann, German composer (died 1970) Bernd Alois Zimmermann was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera Die Soldaten, which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. His eclectic music, which employs a wide range of techniques including dodecaphony and musical quotation, encompasses the styles of the avant-garde, serial, and postmodern. Read more
20 Mar 1917: Vera Lynn, English singer, songwriter and actress (died 2020) Dame Vera Margaret Lewis was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the "Forces' Sweetheart", having given outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India, and Burma during the war as part of the Entertainments National Service Association. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography wrote of Lynn, "Her reassuring voice and mastery of radio made her the forces' sweetheart in the Second World War—a connection she fostered with her ongoing commitment to veterans and memory of the war." The songs most associated with her include "We'll Meet Again", "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square". Read more
20 Mar 1917: Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel (died 1984) Yigael Yadin was an Israeli archeologist, soldier and politician. He was the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces and Deputy Prime Minister from 1977 to 1981. Read more
20 Mar 1916: Pierre Messmer, French lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 2007) Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under Louis XV – and then as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1972 to 1974. A member of the French Foreign Legion, he was considered one of the historical Gaullists, and died aged 91 in the military hospital of the Val-de-Grâce in August 2007. He was elected a member of the Académie française in 1999; his seat was taken over by Simone Veil. Read more
20 Mar 1915: Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (died 2000) Rudolf Kirchschläger was an Austrian diplomat, politician and judge. From 1974 to 1986, he served as the president of Austria. Read more
20 Mar 1915: Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist and composer (died 1997) Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet and Russian classical pianist. He is regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, and has been praised for the "depth of his interpretations, his virtuoso technique, and his vast repertoire". Read more
20 Mar 1915: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1973) Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her Gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was rooted in a pentecostal church and became the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to Rhythm and blues and Rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of rock and roll". She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians, including Tina Turner, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Read more
20 Mar 1914: Wendell Corey, American actor and politician (died 1968) Wendell Reid Corey was an American stage, film, and television actor. He was President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a board member of the Screen Actors Guild, and also served on the Santa Monica City Council. Read more
20 Mar 1913: Nikolai Stepulov, Russian-Estonian boxer (died 1968) Nikolai Stepulov was an Estonian lightweight boxer, military officer and criminal. As a boxer he won silver medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and 1937 European Championships, and fought professionally in 1938–39. During World War II, after the Soviet invasion of Estonia in 1940, Stepulov, an ethnic Russian, became a collaborant in the so-called people's self-defence (RO). Later after returning to Soviet-controlled Estonia he was arrested a few times for burglary and died in a Soviet prison hospital. Read more
20 Mar 1912: Ralph Hauenstein, American businessman and philanthropist (died 2016) Ralph Hauenstein was an American philanthropist, army officer and business leader, best known as a newspaper editor. His leadership has produced institutions such as the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies at Grand Valley State University, the Hauenstein Parkinsons and Neuroscience Centers at Saint Mary's Hospital and the Grace Hauenstein Library at Aquinas College. Read more
20 Mar 1911: Alfonso García Robles, Mexican lawyer and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1991) Alfonso García Robles was a Mexican diplomat and politician who, in conjunction with Sweden's Alva Myrdal, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. Read more
20 Mar 1910: Erwin Blask, German hammer thrower (died 1999) Erwin Blask was a German athlete who competed mainly in the hammer throw event. He won the silver medal for Germany at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Read more
20 Mar 1909: Elisabeth Geleerd, Dutch-American psychoanalyst (died 1969) Elisabeth Rozetta Geleerd Loewenstein was a Dutch-American psychoanalyst. Born to an upper-middle-class family in Rotterdam, Geleerd studied psychoanalysis in Vienna, then London, under Anna Freud. Building a career in the United States, she became one of the nation's major practitioners in child and adolescent psychoanalysis throughout the mid-20th century. Geleerd specialized in the psychoanalysis of psychosis, including schizophrenia, and was an influential writer on psychoanalysis in childhood schizophrenia. She was one of the first writers to consider the concept of borderline personality disorder in childhood. Read more
20 Mar 1908: Michael Redgrave, English actor and director (died 1985) Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave was an English actor and filmmaker. Beginning his career in theatre, he first appeared in the West End in 1937. He made his film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes in 1938. Read more
20 Mar 1907: Hugh MacLennan, Canadian author and educator (died 1990) John Hugh MacLennan was a Canadian writer and professor of English at McGill University. He won five Governor General's Awards and a Royal Bank Award. Read more
20 Mar 1906: Abraham Beame, American accountant and politician, 105th Mayor of New York City (died 2001) Abraham David Beame was an English-born American accountant, investor, and Democratic Party politician who served from 1974 to 1977 as the 105th mayor of New York City. Beame presided over the city during the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis, when the city was almost forced to declare bankruptcy. Read more
20 Mar 1906: Ozzie Nelson, American actor and bandleader (died 1975) Oswald George Nelson was an American actor, filmmaker, musician, and bandleader. He originated and starred in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, a radio and television series with his wife Harriet and two sons David and Ricky Nelson. Read more
20 Mar 1905: Jean Galia, French rugby player and boxer (died 1949) Jean Galia was a French rugby union and rugby league footballer and champion boxer. He is credited with establishing the sport of rugby league in France in 1934, where it is known as rugby à treize. Read more
20 Mar 1904: B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and author (died 1990) Burrhus Frederic Skinner was an American psychologist, behaviorist, inventor, and social philosopher. He was the Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University from 1948 until his retirement in 1974. Read more
20 Mar 1903: Edgar Buchanan, American actor (died 1979) William Edgar Buchanan II was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s. Read more
20 Mar 1900: Amelia Chopitea Villa, Bolivia's first female physician (died 1942) María Amelia Chopitea Villa was Bolivia's first female physician and writer. She was born in a time when the Bolivian society was very patriarchal. Read more
20 Mar 1899: Vladimír Mandl, Czechoslovak lawyer (died 1941) Vladimír Mandl was a Czech lawyer and university lecturer. He published works on a variety of topics in Czech, German, French and English, focusing especially on private and transportation law issues. Read more
20 Mar 1898: Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (died 1954) Eduard Wiiralt was an Estonian graphic artist. In art history, Wiiralt is considered as the most remarkable master of Estonian graphic art in the first half of his century. The best-known of his works include "Inferno", "Hell", "Cabaret", "Heads of Negroes", "Sleeping Tiger", and "Head of a Camel". Read more
20 Mar 1897: Frank Sheed, Australian-British Catholic writer and apologist (died 1981) Francis Joseph Sheed was an Australian-born lawyer, Catholic writer, publisher, speaker, and lay theologian. He and his wife Maisie Ward were the names behind the imprint Sheed & Ward and as forceful public lecturers in the Catholic Evidence Guild. Read more
20 Mar 1895: Fredric Wertham, German-American psychologist and author (died 1981) Fredric Wertham was a German–American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafargue Clinic at a time of heightened discrimination in urban mental health practice. Wertham also authored a definitive textbook on the brain, and his institutional stressor findings were cited when courts overturned multiple segregation statutes, most notably in Brown v. Board of Education. Read more
20 Mar 1894: Amalie Sara Colquhoun, Australian landscape and portrait painter (died 1974) Amalie Sara Colquhoun was an Australian landscape and portrait painter who is represented in national and state galleries. In addition to painting landscapes, portraits and still lifes, Colquhoun designed and supervised the construction of stained glass windows for three of Ballarat's churches, St Andrew's Kirk, Lydiard Street Uniting Church and Mount Pleasant Methodist Church. She studied in both Melbourne and Sydney, exhibited in England and Australia and taught in the school she started with her husband in Melbourne. Read more
20 Mar 1890: Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor and actor (died 1973) Lauritz Melchior was a Danish-American opera singer. He was the preeminent Wagnerian heldentenor of the 1920s through the 1940s and has come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type. Late in his career, Melchior appeared in movie musicals and on radio and television. He also made numerous recordings. Read more
20 Mar 1888: Amanda Clement, American baseball player, umpire, and educator (died 1971) Amanda E. Clement was an American baseball umpire who was the first woman paid to referee a game, and may have also been the first woman to referee a high school basketball game. Clement served as an umpire on a regular basis for six years, and served occasionally for several decades afterwards. An accomplished athlete in multiple disciplines, Clement competed in baseball, basketball, track, gymnastics, and tennis, and has been attributed world records in shot put, sprinting, hurdling, and baseball. Read more
20 Mar 1885: Vernon Ransford, Australian cricketer (died 1958) Vernon Seymour Ransford OBE was an Australian cricketer who played in 20 Test matches between 1907 and 1912. Read more
20 Mar 1884: Philipp Frank, Austrian-American physicist, mathematician, and philosopher (died 1966) Philipp Frank was an Austrian-American physicist, mathematician and philosopher of the early-to-mid 20th century. He was a logical positivist, and a member of the Vienna Circle. He was influenced by Mach and was one of the Machists criticised by Lenin in Materialism and Empirio-criticism. Read more
20 Mar 1884: John Jensen, Australian public servant (died 1970) Sir John Klunder Jensen was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Munitions between 1942 and 1948. Read more
20 Mar 1882: René Coty, French lawyer and politician, 17th President of France (died 1962) Gustave Jules René Coty was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president of the Fourth French Republic. Read more
20 Mar 1882: Harold Weber, American golfer (died 1933) Harold Weber was an American golfer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. Read more
20 Mar 1879: Maud Menten, Canadian physician and biochemist (died 1960) Maud Leonora Menten was a Canadian physician and chemist. As a bio-medical and medical researcher, she made significant contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry, and invented a procedure that remains in use. She is primarily known for her work with Leonor Michaelis on enzyme kinetics in 1913. The paper has been translated from its written language of German into English. Read more
20 Mar 1876: Payne Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1927) William Payne Whitney was an American businessman and member of the influential Whitney family. He inherited a fortune and enlarged it through business dealings, then devoted much of his money and efforts to a wide variety of philanthropic purposes. His will included funds to expand the New York Hospital, now called NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic was established. Read more
20 Mar 1874: Börries von Münchhausen, German poet and activist (died 1945) Börries Albrecht Conon August Heinrich Freiherr von Münchhausen was a German poet and Nazi activist. Read more
20 Mar 1870: Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (died 1964) Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck (popularly known as the Lion of Africa, was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of its forces in the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force of about 14,000, he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Indian, Belgian, and Portuguese troops. He is known for never being defeated or captured in battle. Read more
20 Mar 1856: John Lavery, Irish painter (died 1941) Sir John Lavery was an Irish painter best known for his portraits and wartime depictions. Read more
20 Mar 1856: Frederick Winslow Taylor, American tennis player and engineer (died 1915) Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up his efficiency techniques in his book The Principles of Scientific Management which, in 2001, Fellows of the Academy of Management voted the most influential management book of the twentieth century. His pioneering work in applying engineering principles to the work done on the factory floor was instrumental in the creation and development of the branch of engineering that is now known as industrial engineering. Taylor made his name, and was most proud of his work, in scientific management; as a result, scientific management is sometimes referred to as Taylorism. His main source of income came from patenting improvements to steelmaking. Read more
20 Mar 1851: Ismail Gasprinski, Crimean Tatar educator, publisher, and politician (died 1914) Ismail bey Gasprinsky was a Crimean Tatar intellectual, educator, publisher and Pan-Turkist politician who inspired the Jadidist movement in Central Asia. He was one of the first Muslim intellectuals in the Russian Empire, who realized the need for education and cultural reform and modernization of the Turkic and Islamic communities. His last name comes from the town of Gaspra in Crimea. Read more
20 Mar 1843: Ambrosio Flores, Filipino politician (died 1912) Ambrosio Flores y Flores was a Filipino general in the Philippine Revolution and the first governor of the province of Rizal. Read more
20 Mar 1840: Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (died 1894) Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov was a Russian painter, one of the founders of the Peredvizhniki artistic cooperative, which broke away from the rigors of their time and became one of the most important Russian art schools of the late 19th century. Read more
20 Mar 1836: Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American general, lawyer, and politician (died 1886) Ferris Jacobs Jr. was an American military officer, politician, and lawyer. He served in the Union Army in several roles during the American Civil War, and afterwards spent one term as United States representative from New York. Read more
20 Mar 1836: Edward Poynter, English painter, illustrator, and curator (died 1919) Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy. Read more
20 Mar 1834: Charles William Eliot, American mathematician and academic (died 1926) Charles William Eliot was an American academic who was president of Harvard University from 1869 to 1909, the longest term of any Harvard president. A member of the prominent Eliot family of Boston, he transformed Harvard from a respected provincial college into America's preeminent research university.
Theodore Roosevelt called him "the only man in the world I envy." Read more
20 Mar 1831: Patrick Jennings, Northern Irish-Australian politician, 11th Premier of New South Wales (died 1897) Sir Patrick Alfred Jennings, was an Irish-Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales. Read more
20 Mar 1831: Solomon L. Spink, American lawyer and politician (died 1881) Solomon Lewis Spink was an American lawyer who served as a delegate for the Dakota Territory in the United States House of Representatives. Read more
20 Mar 1828: Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet, playwright, and director (died 1906) Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright. He is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama". He pioneered theatrical realism but also wrote lyrical epic works. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and When We Dead Awaken. In 2014 Ibsen was considered the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Store norske leksikon describes him as "the center of the Norwegian literary canon". Read more
20 Mar 1824: Theodor von Heuglin, German explorer and ornithologist (died 1876) Martin Theodor von Heuglin, was a German explorer and ornithologist. Read more
20 Mar 1821: Ned Buntline, American journalist, author, and publisher (died 1886) Edward Zane Carroll Judson Sr., known by his pen name Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, and writer. Read more
20 Mar 1811: Napoleon II, French emperor (died 1832) Napoleon II was the disputed Emperor of the French for 2 days in 1815. He was the son of Emperor Napoleon I and Empress Marie Louise, daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria. Read more
20 Mar 1811: George Caleb Bingham, American painter and politician, State Treasurer of Missouri (died 1879) George Caleb Bingham is recognized as one of the most important American artists of the 19th century. Known in his lifetime as “the Missouri artist,” he is distinguished among the first generation of painters of the early American West for classic narrative scenes drawn from his observation and experience. [1] Read more
20 Mar 1805: Thomas Cooper, British poet (died 1892) Thomas Cooper was an English poet and a leading Chartist. His prison rhyme the Purgatory of Suicides (1845) runs to 944 stanzas. He also wrote novels and in later life religious texts. He was self-educated and worked as a shoemaker, then a preacher, a schoolmaster and a journalist, before taking up Chartism in 1840. He was seen as a passionate, determined and fiery man. Read more
20 Mar 1800: Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, President of Costa Rica (died 1845) Braulio Evaristo Carrillo Colina was the Head of State of Costa Rica during two periods: the first between 1835 and 1837, and the de facto between 1838 and 1842. Read more

🕊️ Important Deaths on 20 March in World History

20 Mar 2025: Eddie Jordan, Irish businessman, television personality and motorsport team owner (born 1948) Edmund Patrick Jordan was an Irish motorsport executive, broadcaster, racing driver and businessman. From 1991 to 2005, Jordan served as founder and team principal of Jordan in Formula One. Read more
20 Mar 2023: John Sattler, Australian rugby league player (born 1942) John William Sattler was an Australian professional rugby league footballer played as a prop in the 1960s and 1970s. He captained South Sydney to four premiership victories from 1967 to 1971 and who played four Tests for Australia – three as national captain. Known as "Satts", he was one of the hardmen of Australian rugby league and was regarded as an aggressive on field player but a softly spoken gentleman off the field – hence his other nickname "Gentleman John". His son Scott Sattler also played professionally, winning a premiership with the Penrith Panthers in 2003. Read more
20 Mar 2023: Kyle White, Australian rugby league player (born 1970) Kyle White was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Western Suburbs Magpies and the Illawarra Steelers in the NSWRL and ARL competitions. White also played for Widnes and Workington Town in England. Read more
20 Mar 2020: Kenny Rogers, American singer (born 1938) Kenneth Ray Rogers was an American singer-songwriter. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences, but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres—jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Read more
20 Mar 2019: Mary Warnock, English philosopher and writer (born 1924) Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, was an English philosopher of morality, education, and mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best known for chairing an inquiry whose report formed the basis of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. She served as Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge from 1984 to 1991. Read more
20 Mar 2018: C. K. Mann, a Ghanaian Highlife musician and producer (born 1936) Charles Kofi Amankwaa Mann, known as C. K. Mann, was a Ghanaian highlife musician and producer. His music career spanned over four decades; he won multiple awards for his songs. He was awarded the Grand Medal of Ghana by John Agyekum Kufour in 2006. Read more
20 Mar 2017: David Rockefeller, American billionaire and philanthropist (born 1915) David Rockefeller was an American economist and investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the Rockefeller family from 2004 until his death in 2017. Rockefeller was the fifth son and youngest child of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and a grandson of John D. Rockefeller and Laura Spelman Rockefeller. Read more
20 Mar 2016: Anker Jørgensen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (born 1922) Anker Henrik Jørgensen was a Danish politician who served at various times as prime minister and foreign minister of Denmark. Between 1972 and 1982 he led five cabinets as prime minister. Jørgensen was president of the Nordic Council in 1986 and 1991. Read more
20 Mar 2015: Eva Burrows, Australian 13th General of The Salvation Army (born 1929) Eva Evelyn Burrows AC OF was an Australian Salvation Army Officer who was the 13th General of the Salvation Army, serving from 1986 to 1993. She served as an Officer of the Salvation Army from 1951 until her retirement in 1993. In 1993, Henry Gariepy released her biography, General of God's Army: the Authorized Biography of General Eva Burrows. Read more
20 Mar 2015: Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (born 1930) John Malcolm Fraser was an Australian farmer and politician who was the 22nd prime minister of Australia, serving from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth longest-serving prime minister in Australian history. Read more
20 Mar 2014: Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (born 1934) Hennie Aucamp was a South African Afrikaans poet, short story writer, cabaretist and academic. He grew up on a farm in the Stormberg highlands and matriculated at Jamestown, Eastern Cape before continuing his higher education at the University of Stellenbosch. He died in Cape Town at age 80 on 20 March 2014 after suffering a stroke. Read more
20 Mar 2014: Hilderaldo Bellini, Brazilian footballer (born 1930) Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini was a Brazilian footballer of Italian origin who played as a defender and was known in Brazil as one of the nation's greatest central defenders ever. Read more
20 Mar 2014: Tonie Nathan, American politician (born 1923) Theodora Nathalia "Tonie" Nathan was an American radio producer, television producer, and political activist. She was the first woman to receive an electoral vote in a United States presidential election. She was the 1972 vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party and running mate of John Hospers, when Roger MacBride, a Republican elector from Virginia, cast the historic vote as a faithless elector. Read more
20 Mar 2014: Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (born 1915) Khushwant Singh FKC was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write Train to Pakistan in 1956, which became his most well-known novel. Read more
20 Mar 2013: James Herbert, English author (born 1943) James John Herbert, OBE was an English horror writer. A full-time writer, he also designed his own book covers and publicity. His books have sold 54 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 34 languages, including Chinese and Russian. Read more
20 Mar 2013: George Lowe, New Zealand-English mountaineer and explorer (born 1924) Wallace George Lowe, known as George Lowe, was a New Zealand-born mountaineer, explorer, film director and educator. He was the last surviving member of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition, during which his friend Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first known people to summit the world's highest peak. Read more
20 Mar 2013: Zillur Rahman, Bangladeshi lawyer and politician, 19th President of Bangladesh (born 1929) Mohammed Zillur Rahman was a Bangladeshi politician who served as President of Bangladesh from 2009 until his death in 2013. He was also a senior presidium member of the Awami League. He is the third president of Bangladesh to die in office and the first to die of natural causes, as both Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Ziaur Rahman were assassinated. Read more
20 Mar 2012: Lincoln Hall, Australian mountaineer and author (born 1955) Lincoln Ross Hall OAM was a veteran Australian mountaineer, adventurer and author. Lincoln was part of the first Australian expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1984, which successfully forged a new route. He reached the summit of Mount Everest on his second attempt in 2006, miraculously surviving the night at 8,700 m (28,543 ft) on descent, after his family had been told he had died. Read more
20 Mar 2012: Noboru Ishiguro, Japanese animator and director (born 1938) Noboru Ishiguro was a Japanese anime director, anime producer, and animator.
He was the founder and chairman of the animation studio Artland. Read more
20 Mar 2012: Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, Polish-Israeli rabbi and author (born 1910) Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg was a Polish-born, American-raised, Israeli Haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva who, from 1965, made his home in the Kiryat Mattersdorf neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel. He was the rosh yeshiva of the Torah Ore yeshiva in Kiryat Mattersdorf and Yeshivas Derech Chaim in Brooklyn. He was a posek, Gadol HaDor, and one of the last living Torah scholars to have been educated in the yeshivas of prewar Europe. He was often consulted on a range of communal and personal halachic issues. He was one of the rabbinic leaders of Kiryat Mattersdorf, together with Rabbi Yisroel Gans and Rabbi Yitzchok Yechiel Ehrenfeld. He was also a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Israel. Read more
20 Mar 2012: Jim Stynes, Irish-Australian footballer (born 1966) James Peter Stynes was an Irish footballer who converted from Gaelic football to Australian rules football and the first international player to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), he was one of the game's most prominent figures, setting the record for most consecutive games of VFL/AFL football with 244 and winning the sport's highest individual honour, the Brownlow Medal, in 1991. Off the field, he was a notable AFL administrator, philanthropist, charity worker and writer. Read more
20 Mar 2011: Johnny Pearson, English pianist, conductor, and composer (born 1925) John Valmore Pearson was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist. He led the Top of the Pops orchestra for sixteen years, wrote a catalogue of library music, and had many of his pieces used as the theme music to television series. Read more
20 Mar 2010: Ai, American poet and academic (born 1947) Florence Ai Ogawa was an American poet and educator who won the 1999 National Book Award for Poetry for Vice: New and Selected Poems. Ai is known for her mastery of the dramatic monologue as a poetic form, as well as for taking on dark, controversial topics in her work. About writing in the dramatic monologue form, she's said: "I want to take the narrative 'persona' poem as far as I can, and I've never been one to do things in halves. All the way or nothing. I won't abandon that desire." Read more
20 Mar 2010: Girija Prasad Koirala, Indian-Nepalese politician, 30th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1924) Nepal Ratna Girija Prasad Koirala, affectionately known as Girija Babu, was a Nepalese politician. He headed the Nepali Congress and served as the Prime Minister of Nepal on four occasions: from 1991 to 1994, 1998 to 1999, 2000 to 2001, and 2006 to 2008. He was the Acting Head of State of Nepal between January 2007 and July 2008 as the country transitioned from a monarchy to a republic. Read more
20 Mar 2010: Stewart Udall, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1920) Stewart Lee Udall was an American politician and environmentalist who belonged to the Democratic Party. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. A staunch liberal, he is best known for enthusiastically promoting environmentalism while in the cabinet, with success primarily under President Johnson. Read more
20 Mar 2007: Raynald Fréchette, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (born 1933) Raynald Fréchette was a Quebec lawyer, judge and political figure. Read more
20 Mar 2007: Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraqi politician, Vice President of Iraq (born 1938) Taha Yassin Ramadan al-Jazrawi was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the vice president of Iraq from March 1991 to the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 and the commander of the Popular Army. Read more
20 Mar 2007: Hawa Yakubu, Ghanaian politician (born 1948) Hawa Yakubu Ogede was a Ghanaian politician. She was a Member of Parliament in the Fourth Republic of Ghana and also served as Minister for Tourism. Read more
20 Mar 2005: Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish director and screenwriter (born 1912) Armand Uolevi Lohikoski was a Finnish movie director and writer. He is best known as a director of a number of Pekka ja Pätkä movies. Read more
20 Mar 2004: Juliana of the Netherlands (born 1909) Juliana was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Read more
20 Mar 2004: Pierre Sévigny, Canadian colonel and politician (born 1917) Joseph Pierre Albert Sévigny was a Canadian soldier, author, politician, and academic. He is best known for his involvement in the Munsinger Affair. Read more
20 Mar 2001: Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (born 1949) Luis César Alvarado Martínez was a Puerto Rican infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). From 1968 through 1977, he played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, New York Mets and Detroit Tigers. Alvarado batted and threw right-handed. Read more
20 Mar 2000: Gene Eugene, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1961) Gene Andrusco, better known as Gene Eugene, was a Canadian-born actor, record producer, engineer, composer, and musician. Eugene was best known as the leader of the alternative rock band Adam Again, a member of the Swirling Eddies, and as a founding member of the supergroup Lost Dogs. Read more
20 Mar 1999: Patrick Heron, British painter (born 1920) Patrick Heron was a British abstract and figurative artist, critic, writer, and polemicist, who lived in Zennor, Cornwall. Read more
20 Mar 1997: V. S. Pritchett, English short story writer, essayist, and critic (born 1900) Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett was a British writer and literary critic. Read more
20 Mar 1994: Lewis Grizzard, American writer and humorist (born 1946) Lewis McDonald Grizzard Jr. was an American writer and humorist, known for his Southern demeanor and commentary on the American South. Although he spent his early career as a newspaper sports writer and editor, becoming the sports editor of the Atlanta Journal at age 23, he is much better known for his humorous newspaper columns in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a popular stand-up comedian and lecturer. Read more
20 Mar 1993: Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911) Polykarp Kusch was a German-American physicist who shared the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physics with Willis Eugene Lamb for his accurate determination that the electron magnetic moment was greater than its theoretical value, thus leading to reconsideration of and innovations in quantum electrodynamics. Read more
20 Mar 1992: Georges Delerue, French composer (born 1925) Georges Delerue was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film music awards, including an Academy Award for A Little Romance (1979), three César Awards, two ASCAP Awards, and one Gemini Award for Sword of Gideon (1986). He was also nominated for four additional Academy Awards for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), The Day of the Dolphin (1973), Julia (1977), and Agnes of God (1985), four additional César Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and one Genie Award for Black Robe (1991). Read more
20 Mar 1990: Maurice Cloche, French director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1907) Maurice Cloche was a French film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. Best known for his Oscar-winning film Monsieur Vincent (1947) he won a 1948 Special Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Read more
20 Mar 1990: Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (born 1929) Lev Ivanovich Yashin was a Soviet professional footballer considered to be one of the greatest players of all time and the best goalkeeper in the history of the sport. He was the first and only goalkeeper to win a Ballon d'Or. He was known for his athleticism, positioning, imposing presence in goal, and acrobatic reflex saves. He was also deputy chairman of the Football Federation of the Soviet Union. Read more
20 Mar 1983: Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov, Russian mathematician and academic (born 1891) Ivan Matveevich Vinogradov was a Soviet mathematician, who was one of the creators of modern analytic number theory, and also a dominant figure in mathematics in the USSR. He was born in the Velikiye Luki district, Pskov Oblast. He graduated from the University of St. Petersburg, where in 1920 he became a Professor. From 1934 he was a Director of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics, a position he held for the rest of his life, except for the five-year period (1941–1946) when the institute was directed by Academician Sergei Sobolev. In 1941 he was awarded the Stalin Prize. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1942. In 1951 he became a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Letters in Kraków. Read more
20 Mar 1981: Gerry Bertier, American football player (born 1953) Gerry Bertier was a high school American football player and Paralympian. He became known for his participation on the 1971 Virginia State Champion football T. C. Williams High School team, and their portrayal in the Disney film Remember the Titans. Bertier was also the nephew of Howie Livingston. After the conclusion of the 1971 season, Bertier was involved in an automobile crash that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Despite this injury, Bertier attended Northern Virginia Community College and remained an active athlete, participating in the Paralympics. In 2006, Bertier's family started the "Bertier #42 Foundation", dedicated to raising money for research on spinal cord injuries. There is also a gymnasium at Alexandria City High School that bears his name. Read more
20 Mar 1978: Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (born 1895) Jacques Marie Stanislas Jean Brugnon, nicknamed "Toto", was a French tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was born in and died in Paris. Read more
20 Mar 1977: Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, English politician, 9th Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1909) Charles John Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham was the ninth Governor-General of New Zealand and an English cricketer from the Lyttelton family. Read more
20 Mar 1977: Terukuni Manzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 38th Yokozuna (born 1919) Terukuni Manzō was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Ogachi, Akita. He was the sport's 38th yokozuna. He was promoted to yokozuna without any top division tournament titles to his name, although he later attained two. Read more
20 Mar 1974: Chet Huntley, American journalist (born 1911) Chester Robert Huntley was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley–Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956. Read more
20 Mar 1972: Marilyn Maxwell, American actress (born 1921) Marvel Marilyn Maxwell was an American actress and singer. Read more
20 Mar 1971: Falih Rıfkı Atay, Turkish journalist and politician (born 1894) Falih Rıfkı Atay was a Turkish journalist, writer and politician between 1923 and 1950. Read more
20 Mar 1969: Henri Longchambon, French politician (born 1896) Marie François Henri Longchambon was a French scientist and politician known for his work in geology, particularly on clay minerals, and his role in the French Resistance during World War II. He was awarded the Prix Raulin in 1936 for his scientific contributions. Read more
20 Mar 1968: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (born 1889) Carl Theodor Dreyer, commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers in history, his movies are noted for emotional austerity and slow, stately pacing, frequent themes of social intolerance, the inseparability of fate and death, and the power of evil in earthly life. Read more
20 Mar 1966: Demetrios Galanis, Greek artist (born 1879) Demetrios Galanis was an early twentieth-century Greek artist and friend of Picasso. In 1920, the year he completed his Seated Nude, he exhibited alongside such major figures of modern art as Matisse and Braque, while from 1921 on he also exhibited alongside Juan Gris, Dufy, Chagall, and Picasso. Read more
20 Mar 1966: Johnny Morrison, American baseball player (born 1895) John Dewey Morrison, nicknamed "Jughandle Johnny", was an American professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of ten seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn Robins. For his career, he compiled a 103–80 record in 297 appearances, with a 3.65 earned run average and 546 strikeouts. May was a member of the 1925 World Series champion Pirates, pitching three times during their seven-game defeat of the Washington Senators. In World Series play, he recorded no decisions in 3 appearances, with a 2.89 earned run average and 7 strikeouts. Read more
20 Mar 1965: Daniel Frank, American long jumper (born 1882) Daniel Gordon Frank was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was Jewish. Read more
20 Mar 1964: Brendan Behan, Irish republican and playwright (born 1923) Brendan Francis Aidan Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican, an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. His widely acknowledged alcohol dependence, despite attempts to treat it, impacted his creative capacities and contributed to health and social problems which curtailed his artistic output and finally his life. Read more
20 Mar 1958: Adegoke Adelabu, Nigerian merchant, journalist, and politician (born 1915) Gbadamosi Adegoke Adelabu, popularly known as Adelabu Adegoke Penkelemesi, was a prominent personality in the politics of Ibadan city and subsequently that of the Western Region of Nigeria right before the country's independence in 1960. He was Nigeria's Minister of Natural Resources and Social Services from January 1955 to January 1956 and was later the opposition leader in the Western Regional Assembly until his death in 1958. He was a self-made man born into a humble family but became an influential figure in Nigerian politics. He attended Government College, Ibadan and eventually became a businessman. His successful political career was cut short when he was killed in a car crash, not long before Nigeria gained independence from Britain. Read more
20 Mar 1952: Hjalmar Väre, Finnish cyclist (born 1892) Frans Albert Hjalmar Väre was a Finnish road racing cyclist who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He was born in Vihti and died in Turku. Read more
20 Mar 1947: Sigurd Wallén, Swedish actor and director (born 1884) Sigurd Richard Engelbrekt Wallén was a Swedish actor, film director, and singer. Read more
20 Mar 1946: Amadeus William Grabau, American-Chinese geologist, paleontologist, and academic (born 1870) Amadeus William Grabau was an American geologist, teacher, stratigrapher, paleontologist, and author who worked in the United States and China. Read more
20 Mar 1945: Dorothy Campbell, Scottish-American golfer (born 1883) Dorothy Lee Campbell was a Scottish amateur golfer. Campbell was the first woman to win the American, British and Canadian Women's Amateurs. Read more
20 Mar 1945: Maria Lacerda de Moura, Brazilian teacher and anarcha-feminist (born 1887) Maria Lacerda de Moura was a Brazilian teacher, writer and anarcha-feminist. The daughter of spiritist and anti-clerical parents, she grew up in the city of Barbacena, in the interior of Minas Gerais, where she graduated as a teacher at the Escola Normal Municipal de Barbacena and participated in official efforts to tackle social inequality through national literacy campaigns and educational reforms. Read more
20 Mar 1941: Oskar Baum, Bohemian writer (born 1883) Oskar Baum was a Czech music educator and writer in the German language. Read more
20 Mar 1940: Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (born 1860) Alfred Ploetz was a German physician, biologist, Social Darwinist, and eugenicist known for coining the term racial hygiene (Rassenhygiene), a form of eugenics, and for promoting the concept in Germany. Read more
20 Mar 1933: Giuseppe Zangara, Italian-American assassin of Anton Cermak (born 1900; executed) Giuseppe Zangara was an Italian-born American who attempted to assassinate the President-elect of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, on February 15, 1933, 17 days before Roosevelt's inauguration. During a night speech by Roosevelt in Miami, Florida, Zangara fired five shots with a handgun he had purchased a couple of days before. He missed his target and instead killed Anton Cermak, the Mayor of Chicago, and injured four bystanders. Read more
20 Mar 1931: Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (born 1876) Hermann Müller was a German Social Democratic politician who served as foreign minister (1919–1920) and was twice chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic. Read more
20 Mar 1930: Arthur F. Andrews, American cyclist (born 1876) Arthur Fleming Andrews was an American cyclist who competed in the early twentieth century. Read more
20 Mar 1929: Ferdinand Foch, French field marshal (born 1851) Ferdinand Foch was a French general, Marshal of France and a member of the Académie Française and Académie des Sciences. He distinguished himself as Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front during the First World War in 1918. Read more
20 Mar 1925: George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (born 1859) George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, known as Lord Curzon, was a British statesman, Conservative politician, explorer and writer who served as Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 and Foreign Secretary from 1919 to 1924. Read more
20 Mar 1918: Lewis A. Grant, American general and lawyer (born 1828) Lewis Addison Grant was a teacher, lawyer, soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and later United States Assistant Secretary of War. He was among the leading officers from the state of Vermont, and received the Medal of Honor for "personal gallantry and intrepidity." Read more
20 Mar 1909: Friedrich Amelung, Estonian historian and businessman (born 1842) Friedrich Ludwig Balthasar Amelung was a Baltic German cultural historian, businessman and chess endgame composer. Read more
20 Mar 1899: Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and author (born 1822) Franz Ritter von Hauer, or Franz von Hauer was an Austrian geologist. Read more
20 Mar 1897: Apollon Maykov, Russian poet and playwright (born 1821) Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov was a Russian poet, best known for his lyric verse showcasing images of Russian villages, nature, and history. His love for ancient Greece and Rome, which he studied for much of his life, is also reflected in his works. Maykov spent four years translating the epic The Tale of Igor's Campaign (1870) into modern Russian. He translated the folklore of Belarus, Greece, Serbia and Spain, as well as works by Heine, Adam Mickiewicz and Goethe, among others. Several of Maykov's poems were set to music by Russian composers, among them Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. Read more
20 Mar 1894: Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian lawyer, journalist and politician (born 1802) Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman, revolutionist and governor-president of the Hungarian State during the war of independence of 1848–1849. Read more
20 Mar 1878: Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (born 1814) Julius Robert von Mayer was a German physician, chemist, and physicist and one of the founders of thermodynamics. He is best known for enunciating in 1841 one of the original statements of the conservation of energy or what is now known as one of the first versions of the first law of thermodynamics, namely that "energy can be neither created nor destroyed". In 1842, Mayer described the vital chemical process now referred to as oxidation as the primary source of energy for any living creature. He also proposed that plants convert light into chemical energy. Read more
20 Mar 1874: Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (born 1810) Hans Christian Lumbye was a Danish composer of waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and galops, among other things. Read more
20 Mar 1865: Yamanami Keisuke, Japanese samurai (born 1833) Yamanami Keisuke was a Japanese samurai. He was the General Commander of the Shinsengumi, a special police force in Kyoto during the late Edo period. Read more
20 Mar 1855: Joseph Aspdin, English businessman (born 1788) Joseph Aspdin was an English bricklayer, businessman, inventor, and stonemason who obtained the patent for Portland cement on 21 October 1824. Read more
20 Mar 1849: James Justinian Morier, Turkish-English author and diplomat (born 1780) James Justinian Morier was a British diplomat and author noted for his novels about the Qajar dynasty in Iran, most famously for the Hajji Baba series. Read more
20 Mar 1835: Louis Léopold Robert, French painter (born 1794) Louis Léopold Robert was a Swiss painter. Read more

Why is 20 March Important in World History?

Several significant political, cultural, educational, and sporting events took place on 20 March, making it an important topic for general knowledge and competitive examinations.

👉 View complete History of Today archive

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on 20 March in World history?

On 20 March, several important historical events, notable births, and major milestones occurred in World history.

Is History of Today important for competitive exams?

Yes, History of Today is frequently asked in UPSC, SSC, Banking, Railway, and State PSC exams as part of static GK and current awareness sections.