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

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

Last updated on 20 September 2026, 01:02 AM

Important Events on 20 September in History

20 Sep 2019: Roughly four million people, mostly students, demonstrate across the world to address climate change. Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden leads the demonstration in New York City. Read more
20 Sep 2018: At least 161 people die after a ferry capsizes close to the pier on Ukara Island in Lake Victoria, Tanzania. Read more
20 Sep 2017: Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, resulting in 2,975 deaths, US$90 billion in damage, and a major humanitarian crisis. Read more
20 Sep 2011: The United States military ends its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time. Read more
20 Sep 2008: A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others. Read more
20 Sep 2007: Between 15,000 and 20,000 protesters march on Jena, Louisiana, United States, in support of six black youths who had been convicted of assaulting a white classmate. Read more
20 Sep 2003: Civil unrest in the Maldives breaks out after a prisoner is killed by guards. Read more
20 Sep 2001: In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror". Read more
20 Sep 2000: The United Kingdom's MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building is attacked by individuals using a Russian-built RPG-22 anti-tank missile. Read more
20 Sep 1990: South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia. Read more
20 Sep 1989: USAir Flight 5050 crashes into Bowery Bay during a rejected takeoff from LaGuardia Airport, killing two people. Read more
20 Sep 1988: Margaret Thatcher delivers the Bruges speech, in which she articulates her opposition to further European integration. Read more
20 Sep 1984: A suicide bomber in a car attacks the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing twenty-two people. Read more
20 Sep 1982: NFL season: American football players in the National Football League begin a 57-day strike. Read more
20 Sep 1979: A French-supported coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokassa I. Read more
20 Sep 1977: Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations. Read more
20 Sep 1973: Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match at the Houston Astrodome. Read more
20 Sep 1973: Singer Jim Croce, songwriter and musician Maury Muehleisen and four others die when their light aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from Natchitoches Regional Airport in Louisiana. Read more
20 Sep 1971: Having weakened after making landfall in Nicaragua the previous day, Hurricane Irene regains enough strength to be renamed Hurricane Olivia, making it the first known hurricane to cross from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific. Read more
20 Sep 1967: The Cunard Liner Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched in Clydebank, Scotland. Read more
20 Sep 1965: Following the Battle of Burki, the Indian Army captures Dograi in during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Read more
20 Sep 1962: James Meredith, an African American, is temporarily barred from entering the University of Mississippi. Read more
20 Sep 1961: Greek general Konstantinos Dovas becomes Prime Minister of Greece. Read more
20 Sep 1955: The Treaty on Relations between the USSR and the GDR is signed. Read more
20 Sep 1954: The Moomin comics, created by Tove Jansson and Lars Jansson, is published internationally in the London newspaper The Evening News. Read more
20 Sep 1946: The first Cannes Film Festival is held, having been delayed for seven years due to World War II. Read more
20 Sep 1946: Six days after a referendum, King Christian X of Denmark annuls the declaration of independence of the Faroe Islands. Read more
20 Sep 1941: The Holocaust in Lithuania: Lithuanian Nazis and local police begin a mass execution of 403 Jews in Nemenčinė. Read more
20 Sep 1920: Irish War of Independence: British police known as "Black and Tans" burn the town of Balbriggan and kill two local men in revenge for an IRA assassination. Read more
20 Sep 1911: The White Star Line's RMS Olympic collides with the British warship HMS Hawke. Read more
20 Sep 1893: Charles Duryea and his brother road-test the first American-made gasoline-powered automobile. Read more
20 Sep 1881: U.S. President Chester A. Arthur is sworn in upon the death of James A. Garfield the previous day. Read more
20 Sep 1871: Bishop John Coleridge Patteson, first bishop of Melanesia, is martyred on Nukapu, now in the Solomon Islands. Read more
20 Sep 1870: The Bersaglieri corps enter Rome through the Porta Pia, and complete the unification of Italy. Read more
20 Sep 1863: American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga, in northwestern Georgia, ends in a Confederate victory. Read more
20 Sep 1860: The future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom begins the first visit to North America by a Prince of Wales. Read more
20 Sep 1857: The Indian Rebellion of 1857 ends with the recapture of Delhi by troops loyal to the East India Company. Read more
20 Sep 1854: Crimean War: British and French troops defeat Russians at the Battle of Alma. Read more
20 Sep 1848: The American Association for the Advancement of Science is created. Read more
20 Sep 1835: The decade-long Ragamuffin War starts when rebels capture Porto Alegre in Brazil. Read more

Famous Births on 20 September

20 Sep 2003: Thomas Matthew Crooks, American attempted assassin of Donald Trump (died 2024) Thomas Matthew Crooks was an American man who attempted to assassinate then-former U.S. president Donald Trump, who at the time was the presumptive Republican Party nominee for the 2024 presidential election. Read more
20 Sep 1998: Trevon Diggs, American football player Trevon De'Sean Diggs is an American professional football cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft. He is the younger brother of professional wide receiver, Stefon Diggs. Read more
20 Sep 1997: Itamar Einhorn, Israeli Olympic cyclist Itamar Einhorn is an Israeli cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam NSN Cycling Team. In 2022 and 2023, he won the Israeli National Road Race Championships. Einhorn represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in cycling in the Men's individual road race at Pont d'Iéna. Read more
20 Sep 1996: Ioana Loredana Roșca, Romanian tennis player Ioana Loredana Roșca is an inactive Romanian tennis player. Read more
20 Sep 1995: Laura Dekker, Dutch sailor Laura Dekker is a Dutch sailor. In 2009, she announced her plan to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handed. A Dutch court stepped in, owing to the objections of the local authorities, and prevented Laura from departing while under shared custody of both her parents. In July 2010, a Dutch family court ended this custody arrangement, and the record-breaking attempt finally began on 21 August 2010. Dekker successfully completed the solo circumnavigation in a 12.4-metre (40 ft) two-masted ketch named Guppy, arriving in Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten, 518 days later at the age of 16. Read more
20 Sep 1995: Sammi Hanratty, American actress Samantha Lynn Hanratty is an American actress. Her first lead was in 2009, portraying Chrissa Maxwell in An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong. In 2011, she played the role Whitney Brown in the film The Greening of Whitney Brown. Hanratty is considered a Celebrity Friend for the Starlight Children's Foundation. Since 2021, she has played teenage Misty Quigley in the Showtime drama series Yellowjackets. Read more
20 Sep 1995: Rob Holding, English footballer Robert Samuel Holding is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club Colorado Rapids. Read more
20 Sep 1994: Ryan Hartman, American ice hockey player Ryan Keyes Hartman is an American professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hartman was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 2013 NHL entry draft. He made his NHL debut in 2015 for the Blackhawks. He is the first player in NHL history to be born in the state of South Carolina. Read more
20 Sep 1993: Kyle Anderson, American-Chinese basketball player Kyle Forman Anderson, also known as Li Kai'er, is an American and Chinese professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Born in the United States, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. After earning All-American honors as a sophomore in 2013–14, he declared for the 2014 NBA draft and was selected in the first round with the 30th overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs. Read more
20 Sep 1993: Julian Draxler, German footballer Julian Draxler is a German professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Qatar Stars League club Al Ahli. Read more
20 Sep 1992: Michał Żyro, Polish footballer Michał Żyro is a Polish football pundit, co-commentator and former professional player who played as a forward. Following retirement, he joined Canal+'s Ekstraklasa coverage team. Read more
20 Sep 1991: Isaac Cofie, Ghanaian footballer Isaac Cofie is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Read more
20 Sep 1990: Ken Giles, American baseball player Kenneth Robert Giles is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, and Seattle Mariners. Read more
20 Sep 1990: Carlos Hyde, American football player Carlos Hyde is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2014 NFL draft. Read more
20 Sep 1990: Donatas Motiejūnas, Lithuanian basketball player Donatas Motiejūnas is a Lithuanian professional basketball player who most recently played for Crvena zvezda of the Basketball League of Serbia (KLS), the ABA League and the EuroLeague. He was drafted 20th overall in the 2011 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves who traded his rights to the Houston Rockets. After spending four seasons with the Rockets from 2012 to 2016, Motiejūnas joined the New Orleans Pelicans in January 2017. In 2019, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs. Read more
20 Sep 1990: Phillip Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Phillip LaDon Phillips Jr. is an American singer-songwriter who rose to fame after winning the eleventh season of American Idol in 2012. His coronation song, "Home", became the best-selling coronation song in American Idol history. Read more
20 Sep 1990: John Tavares, Canadian ice hockey player John Tavares is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward and alternate captain for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). In the 2009 NHL entry draft, he was selected first overall by the New York Islanders, for whom he played nine seasons and served as captain for five seasons. He also served as the captain of the Maple Leafs from 2019 through 2024. Read more
20 Sep 1988: Sergei Bobrovsky, Russian ice hockey player Sergei Andreyevich Bobrovsky is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is a goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played in the NHL for the Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Florida Panthers. Bobrovsky is a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, winning in the 2012–13 and 2016–17 seasons while a member of the Blue Jackets. After signing with Florida in 2019, Bobrovsky backstopped the Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2024 and 2025. Read more
20 Sep 1988: Coby Fleener, American football player Jacoby Fleener is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal, earning first-team All-American honors in 2011. Fleener was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round of the 2012 NFL draft. He also played for the New Orleans Saints. Read more
20 Sep 1988: Khabib Nurmagomedov, Russian mixed martial artist Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov is a Russian former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He was the longest-reigning UFC Lightweight Champion ever, having held the title from April 2018 to March 2021. With 29 wins and no losses, he retired with an undefeated record. Nurmagomedov is widely considered to be among the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on June 30, 2022. Read more
20 Sep 1988: Ayano Ōmoto, Japanese singer and dancer Ayano Ōmoto , nicknamed Nocchi , is a Japanese singer and dancer. She is known as one of the members of the Japanese electropop group Perfume. Read more
20 Sep 1988: Ryan Simpkins, Australian rugby league player Ryan Simpkins is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Penrith Panthers and Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League. He played as a lock, second-row and hooker. Read more
20 Sep 1987: Gain, South Korean singer Son Ga-in, known mononymously as Gain, is a South Korean singer, actress and entertainer, best known as a member of the South Korean girl group Brown Eyed Girls. Having debuted with her home group earlier in 2006, Gain eventually made her solo debut in October 2010 with Step 2/4 to great commercial success, and has since released a total of six extended plays. In addition to her musical career, the singer also appeared in several native programs and series, most notably We Got Married and All My Love for You, where she co-starred alongside 2AM's Jo Kwon. Read more
20 Sep 1987: Jack Lawless, American drummer Jack Lawless is an American musician. He was the drummer for the band DNCE before their second hiatus in 2024 and currently drummer for band Ocean Grove. He is the live drummer for the pop rock group Jonas Brothers. He grew up in Middletown Township, New Jersey, part of Monmouth County. Read more
20 Sep 1987: Tito Tebaldi, Italian rugby player Tito Tebaldi was an Italian rugby union player. He played as scrum-half.
He made his debut for Italy against Australia on 13 June 2009. Read more
20 Sep 1986: Hayato Fujita, Japanese wrestler Hayato Fujita is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Fujita "Jr." Hayato (フジタ"Jr"ハヤト). Despite his small stature and physique for a professional wrestler, he is known for his toughness and hard shoot-style strikes. Read more
20 Sep 1986: Aldis Hodge, American actor Aldis Alexander Basil Hodge is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Alec Hardison in the TNT series Leverage, MC Ren in the 2015 biopic Straight Outta Compton, Levi Jackson in the 2016 film Hidden Figures, Noah in the WGN America series Underground, Matthew in Girlfriends, Jim Brown in the 2020 film One Night in Miami…, and Alex Cross in the Prime Video series Cross. He portrays Hawkman in the DC Studios film Black Adam and John Stewart / Green Lantern in the animated film Green Lantern: Beware My Power. Read more
20 Sep 1986: İbrahim Kaş, Turkish footballer İbrahim Kaş is a Turkish footballer who plays as a central defender or right back. Read more
20 Sep 1986: Jason Nightingale, New Zealand rugby league player Jason Nightingale is a former New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a winger and fullback for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL. Read more
20 Sep 1986: A. J. Ramos, American baseball player Alejandro Ramos Jr. is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies, and Los Angeles Angels. Read more
20 Sep 1985: Ian Desmond, American baseball player Ian Morgan Desmond is an American former professional baseball shortstop and outfielder. He played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals, Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies. Desmond is a three-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a two-time MLB All-Star. While primarily a shortstop early in his career, Desmond began playing primarily left field, center field, and first base starting in 2016. Read more
20 Sep 1985: Mami Yamasaki, Japanese model and actress Yamasaki Mami is a Japanese actress and former gravure idol. In addition to appearing in numerous photobooks, she has played roles in television, film, and stage productions, including Gogo Sentai Boukenger, Karate-Robo Zaborgar, the horror drama series Hitokowa, and the stage adaptation of Umimachi Diary. Read more
20 Sep 1984: Brian Joubert, French figure skater Brian Joubert is a French figure skating coach and former competitor. He is the 2007 World champion, a three-time European champion, and the 2006–07 Grand Prix Final champion. On the domestic level, he is an eight-time French National champion. Read more
20 Sep 1983: Sancho Lyttle, Vincentian-Spanish basketball player Sancho Lyttle is a Vincentian-Spanish former professional basketball player for the WNBA. Combining the WNBA and the European season, she has won six domestic leagues and four Euroleague titles with four teams in three countries. She was born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and was granted Spanish nationality in June 2010. With the Spanish basketball team she has won four medals between 2010 and 2017. Read more
20 Sep 1983: Freya Ross, Scottish runner Freya Ross is a Scottish long-distance runner who competed in the Marathon at the London 2012 Olympics. She mainly competed in road races, but was also successful on the track competing in 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, as well as cross country running. Ross represented Scotland in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. in Delhi in October 2010. Some of her best road racing results were from 2009 and 2010 when she won the Great Ireland Run in 2010 and the Great Yorkshire Run in both 2009 and 2010 setting the course record in 2009. In February 2012, Freya won the Scottish Athletics National Cross Country for the sixth time in seven years. Read more
20 Sep 1983: Ángel Sánchez, Puerto Rican baseball player Ángel Luis Sánchez is a Puerto Rican coach in Minor League Baseball, and a former professional baseball shortstop who played in Major League Baseball for the Kansas City Royals, Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox. Read more
20 Sep 1982: Jason Bacashihua, American ice hockey player Jason Bacashihua is an American former ice hockey goaltender. He played 38 games in the National Hockey League with the St. Louis Blues during the 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons. The rest of his career, which lasted from 2002 to 2022, was spent in the minor leagues and then in various leagues through Europe and Asia. Internationally Bacashihua played for the American national team at the 2006 and 2007 World Championship. Read more
20 Sep 1982: Aaron Burkart, German race car driver Aaron Nikolai Burkart is a German rally driver. He is the 2010 Junior World Rally Champion. Read more
20 Sep 1982: Brian Fortuna, American dancer and choreographer Brian Fortuna is an American professional ballroom dancer, choreographer and instructor. Read more
20 Sep 1982: Inna Osypenko-Radomska, Ukrainian-Azerbaijani sprint kayaker Inna Volodymyrivna Osypenko-Radomska is a Ukrainian-Azerbaijani sprint kayaker. Competing for Ukraine, she won four Olympic medals, including gold at the 2008 Olympics in K-1 500 m. She switched to Azerbaijan in 2014 and won a bronze medal in K-1 200 m at the 2016 Olympics. Read more
20 Sep 1982: Sexy Star, Mexican wrestler Dulce María García Rivas is a Mexican professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and professional boxer who is better known by the ring name Sexy Star. She is best known for her work in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), where she is a three-time AAA Reina de Reinas Champion, while also being a former one-time AAA World Mixed Tag Team Champion. She previously wrestled under the name Dulce Poly and held both the FILL Women's Championship and the FILL Mixed Tag Team Championship under that name. She worked for Lucha Underground, where she was a former Lucha Underground Champion and Gift of the Gods Champion. She is the first woman to win the Lucha Underground Championship. Read more
20 Sep 1982: Athanasios Tsigas, Greek footballer Thanasis Tsigas is a Greek former footballer, who played as a striker. Read more
20 Sep 1981: Feliciano López, Spanish tennis player Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016. Read more
20 Sep 1981: David McMillan, American football player (died 2013) David McMillan was an American professional football defensive end. He was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL draft. He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks. Read more
20 Sep 1981: Ryan Tandy, Australian rugby league player (died 2014) Ryan Tandy was an international rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played as a prop in the National Rugby League (NRL) for the St. George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Wests Tigers, Melbourne Storm, and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, and in the Super League for Hull Kingston Rovers. He was banned from playing professional rugby league in Australia after being found guilty of spot-fixing during a match in 2010, and in 2014 died of a suspected drug overdose. Read more
20 Sep 1981: Jordan Tata, American baseball player Jordan Arthur Tata (TAY-ta) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers from 2006 to 2007. He played college baseball at Sam Houston State. He is 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) tall and weighs 220 pounds (100 kg). Tata bats and throws right-handed. Read more
20 Sep 1980: Yung Joc, American rapper Jasiel Amon Robinson, better known by his stage name Yung Joc, is an American rapper known for his 2006 single "It's Goin' Down", which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Prior to its release, he signed with Puff Daddy's Bad Boy South, an imprint of Atlantic Records, in a joint venture with Block Entertainment; the song served as lead single for his debut studio album, New Joc City (2006). The album and its sequel, Hustlenomics (2007), both peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 despite mixed critical responses. He is also known for his guest appearance on T-Pain's 2007 single "Buy U a Drank ", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100. Read more
20 Sep 1980: Vladimir Karpets, Russian cyclist Vladimir Alexandrovich Karpets is a Russian road bicycle racer, who last rode for UCI ProTeam Movistar Team. Karpets is most notable for winning the white jersey for best young rider in the 2004 Tour de France and his victories in the overall classifications of the Volta a Catalunya and the Tour de Suisse, both in 2007. Karpets is also a two-time Olympian. Read more
20 Sep 1979: Crystle Stewart, American actress and beauty queen Crystle Stewart Sebrechts is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder. Stewart began her acting career in 2011, when she played real estate agent Leslie Morris-Jetson on the OWN/TBS comedy-drama television series For Better or Worse until 2017. Shortly after, she appeared in the 2018 film Acrimony. She also won Miss Texas USA 2008, and Miss USA 2008, she represented the United States at Miss Universe 2008, where she reached in the placed Top 10. Read more
20 Sep 1978: Jason Bay, Canadian-American baseball player Jason Raymond Bay is a Canadian-American former professional baseball left fielder who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Initially drafted by the Montreal Expos, he played for the San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Seattle Mariners. Read more
20 Sep 1978: Patrizio Buanne, Austrian-Italian singer-songwriter and producer Patrizio Franco Buanne is an Italian-Austrian baritone singer, songwriter, and producer. Buanne has recorded songs in Neapolitan, English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Polish, Afrikaans, Japanese and Mandarin. Read more
20 Sep 1978: Héctor Camacho Jr., Puerto Rican-American boxer Héctor "Machito" Camacho Herrera is an American-born Puerto Rican and Mexican professional boxer and published writer residing in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. He started boxing professionally at the age of 18. He is the son of the late three-time world champion Héctor "Macho" Camacho and the nephew of Felix "Showtime" Camacho. In 2007, 2010, 2014, and 2016, he won the World Boxing Council (WBC) Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) Light Middleweight title. His mother was born in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Read more
20 Sep 1978: Dante Hall, American football player Damieon Dante Hall is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He is nicknamed "the Human Joystick" and "the X-Factor". He played college football for the Texas A&M Aggies and was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fifth round of the 2000 NFL draft. Hall played for the Chiefs for seven years before being traded to the St. Louis Rams in 2007. Hall was ranked the 10th greatest return specialist in NFL history on NFL Network's NFL Top 10 Return Aces. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. Read more
20 Sep 1978: Sarit Hadad, Israeli singer Sarit Hadad is an Israeli singer. She is one of the most popular ethnic singers in Israel, and named as the "best female singer of the 2000s decade" by the Israeli channel 24 in October 2009. She also represented Israel in Eurovision 2002 with the song "Light a Candle". Read more
20 Sep 1978: Scott Minto, Australian rugby league player Scott Minto is a former professional rugby league footballer who played on the wing in 14 games for the North Queensland Cowboys and 39 games for the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL. Read more
20 Sep 1978: Charlie Weber, American actor Charles Alan Weber Jr. is an American actor and former model. In 2014, Weber began starring as Frank Delfino in the ABC legal drama series, How to Get Away with Murder. Read more
20 Sep 1977: The-Dream, American singer, songwriter, and producer Terius Gesteelde-Diamant, known professionally as The-Dream, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has written or co-produced songs for artists in R&B and hip-hop, often in tandem with production partner Tricky Stewart. Beginning with I Am… Sasha Fierce (2008), he is credited on each of American singer Beyoncé's subsequent albums. Read more
20 Sep 1977: Chris Mooney, American journalist and academic Christopher Cole Mooney is an American journalist, professor at the University of Virginia and author of four books including The Republican War on Science (2005). Mooney's writing focuses on subjects such as climate change denialism and creationism in public schools, and he has been described as "one of the few journalists in the country who specialize in the now dangerous intersection of science and politics." In 2020 he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles on global warming published in The Washington Post. Read more
20 Sep 1976: Jon Bernthal, American actor Jonathan Edward Bernthal is an American actor. Known for playing brash, hard-edged, ethically complex characters, he first achieved prominence for his portrayal of Shane Walsh on the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead (2010–2012). He went on to portray Frank Castle / The Punisher in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media beginning with the second season of Daredevil (2016), before starring in his own spin-off series The Punisher (2017–2019). He later starred in the first season of the revival series Daredevil: Born Again (2025), the Disney+ television special The Punisher: One Last Kill (2026) which he co-wrote, and the film Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026). Read more
20 Sep 1976: Ainsley Earhardt, American political commentator Ainsley Earhardt is an American conservative television host and author. She is a co-host of Fox & Friends. Read more
20 Sep 1975: Asia Argento, Italian actress Asia Argento is an Italian actress and filmmaker. The daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento, she has had roles in several of her father's features and achieved mainstream success with appearances in XXX (2002), Land of the Dead (2005), and Marie Antoinette (2006). Her other notable acting credits include Queen Margot (1994), Let's Not Keep in Touch (1994), Traveling Companion (1996), Last Days (2005), and Islands (2011). Argento is the recipient of several accolades, including two David di Donatello awards for Best Actress and three Italian Golden Globes. Her directorial credits include The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) and Misunderstood (2014). Read more
20 Sep 1975: Moon Bloodgood, American actress Moon Bloodgood is an American actress and model, known for her roles as Anne Glass in the TNT television series Falling Skies (2011–2015) and Vera in the 2012 film The Sessions. Read more
20 Sep 1975: Joel Gertner, American wrestling announcer Joel Gertner is an American professional wrestling announcer, color commentator, and manager. He is best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1995 to 2001. He is also currently working with Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) as a manager for Josh Bishop. Read more
20 Sep 1975: Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian race car driver Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán is a Colombian former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2001 to 2006, IndyCar between 1999 and 2022, and the NASCAR Cup Series between 2006 and 2024. Montoya won seven Formula One Grands Prix across six seasons. In American open-wheel racing, Montoya won the CART Championship Series in 1999 with Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) and is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. In endurance racing, Montoya won the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2019 with Team Penske and is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona with CGR. Read more
20 Sep 1975: Jason Robinson, American saxophonist and composer Jason Robinson is an American composer, saxophonist, flutist, scholar, and educator. His music is rooted in the jazz tradition but draws on wide-ranging influences and approaches. Read more
20 Sep 1973: Ronald McKinnon, American football player Ronald Keith McKinnon is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Arizona Cardinals out of the University of North Alabama where he won three Division II National Championships. He was the winner of 1995 Harlon Hill Trophy. He played for the Cardinals from 1996 to 2004. He also played one season for the New Orleans Saints.
In 2008, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Read more
20 Sep 1973: Jo Pavey, English runner Joanne Marie Pavey MBE is a British retired long-distance runner. A World, European and Commonwealth medallist, Pavey won the 10,000 m gold medal at the 2014 European Championships as the oldest female European champion to date. She also won bronze in the 10,000 m at the 2007 World Championships. Read more
20 Sep 1972: Enuka Okuma, Canadian actress Enuka Vanessa Okuma is a Canadian actress, writer and director, best known for her role as detective Traci Nash in the Global/ABC police drama series, Rookie Blue (2010–2015). Read more
20 Sep 1972: Victor Ponta, Romanian jurist and politician, 63rd Prime Minister of Romania Victor Viorel Ponta is a Romanian politician and jurist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from 2012 to 2015. He was president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) from 2010 to 2015, and joint leader (2012–2014) of the then-governing Social Liberal Union (USL), an alliance with the National Liberal Party (PNL). Ponta was a member of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies for Gorj County from 2004 to 2020, and was returned to a Dâmbovița County seat in 2024. Read more
20 Sep 1971: Todd Blackadder, New Zealand rugby player and coach Todd Blackadder is a retired New Zealand rugby union player and professional rugby coach. He played 12 tests for the All Blacks, and had 14 appearances as captain. Blackadder captained the Crusaders to three Super Rugby titles during his time with the franchise. He also won two National Provincial Championship titles with Canterbury. Blackadder coached the Crusaders for eight seasons from 2009 to 2016. Read more
20 Sep 1971: Masashi Hamauzu, Japanese pianist and composer Masashi Hamauzu is a Japanese composer, pianist, and lyricist. Hamauzu, who was employed at Square Enix from 1996 to 2010, was best known during that time for his work on the Final Fantasy and SaGa video game series. Born into a musical family in Germany, Hamauzu was raised in Japan. He became interested in music while in kindergarten, and took piano lessons from his parents. Read more
20 Sep 1971: Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer and manager Edward Henrik Larsson is a Swedish professional football coach and former player who played 106 times for the Swedish national team. A striker, Larsson began his career with Högaborgs BK. In 1992, he moved to Helsingborg IF where in his first campaign he helped the club win promotion to Allsvenskan after 24 seasons. He moved to Feyenoord in November 1993, staying for four years before leaving in 1997 to join Scottish Premiership club Celtic and enjoying great success there. During his time in the Dutch Eredivisie, he won two KNVB Cups with Feyenoord. He later played for Barcelona, earning the Spanish title twice and the Champions League before returning to Helsingborg. He had a loan spell at Manchester United, with whom he won the English Premier League in 2006–07, and retired in 2009. Read more
20 Sep 1971: Dominika Peczynski, Swedish singer and television host Dominika Peczynski is a Polish-Swedish singer, model and television host. Read more
20 Sep 1970: N'Bushe Wright, American actress and dancer N'Bushe Wright is an American actress and dancer. She attended and trained as a dancer at the Alvin Ailey Dance Center and the Martha Graham School of Dance. She is known mainly for her roles as the drug-addicted older sister of twelve-year-old protagonist Michael in 1994's Fresh, and as Dr. Karen Jenson in the 1998 feature film Blade. Read more
20 Sep 1969: Patrick Pentland, Irish-Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer John Patrick Thomas Pentland is an Irish-born rock guitarist and a member of the Canadian rock band Sloan. All four members of Sloan write, produce, and sing their own songs, but Pentland primarily plays lead guitar for most songs. He occasionally plays rhythm guitar, bass, keyboards in the studio, and occasionally plays drums live. Pentland is one of the band's two main singers, as he sings lead on at least a third of the band's songs, including many of their singles on their third to fifth albums, plus back-up/harmony vocals on most of their other songs. Read more
20 Sep 1969: Tim Rogers, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist Timothy Adrian Rogers is an Australian musician and actor, most notable as the frontman of the rock band You Am I. He has also recorded solo albums with backing bands. As of July 2013, Rogers has released 12 albums with You Am I and five solo albums. Read more
20 Sep 1969: Ben Shepherd, American musician and songwriter Hunter Benedict Shepherd is an American musician best known as the bassist of rock band Soundgarden, with whom he has won two Grammy Awards. Read more
20 Sep 1969: Richard Witschge, Dutch footballer and coach Richard Peter Witschge is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was known for his technique and passing ability. Read more
20 Sep 1968: Ijaz Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer and coach Ijaz Ahmed is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played 60 Test matches and 250 One Day Internationals for Pakistan from 1986 to 2001. He was a part of the Pakistani squad which won the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Read more
20 Sep 1968: Philippa Forrester, English television and radio presenter, producer and author Philippa Clare Ryan Forrester is a British television and radio presenter, producer and author. Read more
20 Sep 1968: Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress Leah Pinsent is a Canadian television and film actress. Read more
20 Sep 1968: Darrell Russell, American race car driver (died 2004) Darrell James Russell was an American National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racer. He was the 2001 NHRA Rookie Of The Year. At the time, he was the third driver to win in his Professional class debut. Read more
20 Sep 1968: Norah Vincent, American writer (died 2022) Norah Mary Vincent was an American writer. She was a weekly columnist for the Los Angeles Times and a quarterly columnist on politics and culture for the national gay news magazine The Advocate. She was a columnist for The Village Voice and Salon.com. Her writing appeared in The New Republic, The New York Times, New York Post, The Washington Post and other periodicals. She gained particular attention in 2006 for her book Self-Made Man, detailing her experiences when she lived as a man for eighteen months. Read more
20 Sep 1967: Roger Anderson, American wrestler Death & Destruction was a professional wrestling tag team composed of Frank "The Tank" Parker and "Ruthless" Roger Anderson. They competed in numerous regional and independent promotions throughout the Southern United States in the 1990s, and were arguably one of the region's top "heel" teams during this period. Read more
20 Sep 1967: Martin Harrison, American football player Martin Allen Harrison is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the San Francisco 49ers, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Seattle Seahawks. He played college football for the Washington Huskies. Harrison attended Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington and was a multiple letter winner in both football and track and field. In 1983, when he was 15 years old, he placed sixth in the national AAU Junior Olympics in the decathlon. Read more
20 Sep 1967: Kristen Johnston, American actress Kristen Angela Johnston is an American actress. Best known for her work on television sitcoms, she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Sally Solomon in 3rd Rock from the Sun. Read more
20 Sep 1967: Gunnar Nelson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Nelson is an American rock duo consisting of brothers Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. They are the twin sons of Rick Nelson and Kristin Nelson. The duo achieved success during the early 1990s with their debut album After the Rain, which included "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection". Read more
20 Sep 1967: Matthew Nelson, American singer-songwriter and bass player Nelson is an American rock duo consisting of brothers Matthew and Gunnar Nelson. They are the twin sons of Rick Nelson and Kristin Nelson. The duo achieved success during the early 1990s with their debut album After the Rain, which included "(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection". Read more
20 Sep 1966: Nuno Bettencourt, Portuguese singer-songwriter and guitarist Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt is a Portuguese-American guitarist. He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme. Bettencourt has recorded a solo album and has founded rock bands including Mourning Widows, DramaGods, and Satellite Party. Read more
20 Sep 1965: Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen, Danish badminton player Poul-Erik Høyer Larsen is a retired Danish badminton player and sports administrator. As a player, he won major international singles titles in the 1990s, culminated in the gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, and ranks among Denmark's badminton greats. In 2013, he became president of the Badminton World Federation, having served as president of the Badminton Europe for three years, and then served three four-year terms. In 2014, Høyer became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he was also a board member of the Danish Olympic Committee from 2005, from which he also retired from in 2025. Read more
20 Sep 1964: Randy Bradbury, American bass player Pennywise is an American punk rock band from Hermosa Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band took its name from the antagonist in Stephen King's horror novel It known as Pennywise. Read more
20 Sep 1963: Anil Dalpat, Pakistani cricketer Anil Dalpat Sonavaria is a Pakistani former cricketer and coach. He was a lower-order batsman and wicketkeeper, and represented Pakistan for a brief interval in the early 1980s, when Wasim Bari was injured. He is the first Hindu to ever play Test cricket for Pakistan. Read more
20 Sep 1962: Jim Al-Khalili, Iraqi-English physicist, author, and academic Jameel Sadik Al-Khalili is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist and science populariser. He is a professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. He is a regular broadcaster and presenter of science programmes on BBC radio and television and a frequent commentator about science in other British media. Read more
20 Sep 1961: Lisa Bloom, American lawyer and journalist Lisa Read Bloom is an American civil rights attorney known for representing high-profile clients in cases involving sexual harassment, discrimination, and abuse. Bloom has represented clients like Janice Dickinson against Bill Cosby, Mischa Barton in a revenge porn case, multiple women whose sexual harassment claims resulted in the firing of Bill O'Reilly from Fox News, and Blac Chyna against Rob Kardashian. She gained attention for briefly advising Harvey Weinstein in 2017, a decision she later apologized for, citing it as a mistake. Bloom also represented women accusing Donald Trump of sexual misconduct during the 2016 election. Read more
20 Sep 1961: Caroline Flint, English politician, Minister of State for Europe Caroline Louise Flint is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Don Valley from 1997 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she attended the Cabinet as Minister for Housing and Planning in 2008 and Minister for Europe from 2008 to 2009. Read more
20 Sep 1961: Erwin Koeman, Dutch retired football player and coach Erwin Koeman is a Dutch former professional football player who currently serves as an assistant coach for the Netherlands national team. Read more
20 Sep 1960: Lee Hall, English playwright and screenwriter Lee Hall is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for writing the screenplay for the film Billy Elliot (2000) and the book and lyrics for its adaptation as a stage musical of the same name. In addition, he wrote the play The Pitmen Painters (2007), and the screenplays for the films War Horse and Rocketman (2019). Read more
20 Sep 1960: Dave Hemingway, English singer-songwriter and drummer David Robert Hemingway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as a vocalist for the Hull based band The Beautiful South until they disbanded in 2007. Previously he had been a member of The Housemartins. Read more
20 Sep 1960: Deborah Roberts, American journalist Deborah Ann Roberts is an American television journalist for the ABC News division of the ABC broadcast television network. Read more
20 Sep 1959: Joseph Alessi, American trombonist and educator Joseph Norman Alessi is an American classical trombonist with the New York Philharmonic. Read more
20 Sep 1959: Joanna Domańska, Polish pianist and educator Joanna Domańska is a Polish classical pianist and music teacher from Gliwice. Read more
20 Sep 1959: Meral Okay, Turkish actress, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012) Meral Okay was a Turkish actress, film producer and screenwriter. Read more
20 Sep 1958: Arn Anderson, American wrestler and trainer Martin Anthony Lunde, better known by his ring name Arn Anderson, is an American retired professional wrestler, professional wrestling road agent, and author. Although he is widely regarded as one of the greatest tag team wrestlers in history, he also had a successful singles career and became a four-time NWA/WCW World Television Champion, which he often called his "world title". Read more
20 Sep 1957: Alannah Currie, New Zealand singer-songwriter Alannah Joy Currie is a New Zealand artist based in London. She is a musician and activist, best known as a former member of the pop band Thompson Twins. Read more
20 Sep 1957: Michael Hurst, New Zealand actor and director Michael Eric Hurst ONZM is a British-born New Zealand actor, director, and writer. He is known as a theatre actor, especially in Shakespearean roles, and more widely known for his roles in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess as Iolaus. He directed the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Ash vs Evil Dead. He plays a lead role in the 2025 Australian satirical dark comedy film Birthright. Read more
20 Sep 1957: Vladimir Tkatchenko, Russian basketball player Vladimir Petrovich Tkachenko is a retired Soviet and Russian professional basketball player. Tkachenko won two Summer Olympic Games medals and three FIBA World Cup medals with the senior men's Soviet Union national team. He was also named both the Euroscar and the Mr. Europa in 1979. His pro club career lasted 17 years. Standing at 220 cm, he played as a center. Read more
20 Sep 1956: Jennifer Tour Chayes, American mathematician and computer scientist Jennifer Tour Chayes is dean of the college of computing, data science, and society at the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining Berkeley, she was a technical fellow and managing director of Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which she founded in 2008, and Microsoft Research New York City, which she founded in 2012. Read more
20 Sep 1956: Gary Cole, American actor Gary Michael Cole is an American actor. He began his professional acting career on stage at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 1985. His breakout role was playing Jack 'Nighthawk' Killian in the NBC series Midnight Caller (1988–1991). Read more
20 Sep 1956: Steve Coleman, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Steve Coleman is an American saxophonist, composer, bandleader and music theorist. In 2014, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Read more
20 Sep 1956: John Harle, English saxophonist, composer, conductor, and producer John Crofton Harle OBE FRSA FGS FCL is an English saxophonist, composer, record producer, conductor and educator. He is an Ivor Novello Award winner, has been the recipient of two Royal Television Society awards and has contributed directly and indirectly to a number of charting songs and albums. Read more
20 Sep 1955: Betsy Brantley, American actress Betsy Brantley is an American actress. She has appeared in numerous films, plays, and television shows since the early 1980s. Her breakout role was in the 1982 film Five Days One Summer with Sean Connery. Read more
20 Sep 1955: Johnny Kidd, English wrestler John Lowing is a British retired professional wrestler best known under the ring name Johnny Kidd. Kidd was best known for his work during what was known as the Golden Era of British Wrestling. Read more
20 Sep 1955: Haim Moshe, Israeli singer Haim Moshe,
born 20 September 1955 is an Israeli singer whose musical style has crossed over from Yemenite and Mediterranean "ethnic" music to include mainstream Israeli and western pop elements. He has helped Mizrahi music achieve wide popularity
both in Israel
and in Arab countries. Read more
20 Sep 1955: José Rivero, Spanish golfer José Rivero is a Spanish professional golfer. Read more
20 Sep 1954: Anne McIntosh, Scottish lawyer and politician Anne Caroline Ballingall McIntosh, Baroness McIntosh of Pickering is a British politician who has been a life peer since 2015. Read more
20 Sep 1954: Henry Samueli, American businessman, co-founded Broadcom Corporation Henry Samueli is an American businessman and engineer. He is a co-founder of Broadcom Corporation, owner of the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL), and a prominent philanthropist in the Orange County, California, community. He is chairman of Broadcom Inc. He is also a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UCLA, and a distinguished adjunct professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at UC Irvine. Read more
20 Sep 1953: Rocky Mattioli, Italian-Australian boxer Rocky Mattioli is an Italian-born Australian former boxer at junior middleweight, and former world champion. Read more
20 Sep 1953: Steve Tom, American actor Stephen Wilson Tom is an American actor best known for hosting the HBO comedy series Funny or Die Presents. Read more
20 Sep 1951: Guy Lafleur, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2022) Guy Damien Lafleur, nicknamed "the Flower" and "Le Démon Blond", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was the first player in National Hockey League (NHL) history to score 50 goals in six consecutive seasons as well as 50 goals and 100 points in six consecutive seasons. Between 1971 and 1991, Lafleur played right wing for the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, and Quebec Nordiques in an NHL career spanning 17 seasons, and five Stanley Cup championships in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. Lafleur was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history in 2017, and was named to the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2022. Read more
20 Sep 1951: Javier Marías, Spanish journalist, author, and academic (died 2022) Javier Marías Franco was a Spanish author, translator, and columnist. Marías published fifteen novels, including A Heart So White, Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me and the Your Face Tomorrow trilogy, widely regarded as his greatest achievement. In addition to his novels, he also published three collections of short stories and various essays. As one of Spain's most celebrated novelists, his books have been translated into forty-six languages and sold close to nine million copies internationally. He received several awards for his work, such as the Rómulo Gallegos Prize (1995), the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (1997), the International Nonino Prize (2011), and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2011). Read more
20 Sep 1951: Debbi Morgan, American actress Deborah Ann "Debbi" Morgan is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Angie Baxter-Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children, for which she became the first African American to win the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1989. Read more
20 Sep 1951: Greg Valentine, American wrestler Jonathan Anthony Wisniski is an American retired professional wrestler, better known as Greg "the Hammer" Valentine. He is the son of wrestler Johnny Valentine. Read more
20 Sep 1950: Loredana Bertè, Italian singer Loredana Bertè is an Italian singer, songwriter and actress. She has worked with prominent Italian songwriters such as Pino Daniele, Ivano Fossati, Mario Lavezzi, Mango and Enrico Ruggeri, among others. She has experimented with different genres, from rock to reggae, from funk to pop. Bertè is known for the eccentric clothing she wears onstage for her performances. Read more
20 Sep 1950: Matt Blair, American football player (died 2020) Matthew Albert Blair was an American professional football linebacker who played for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) for all 12 seasons of his career from 1974 to 1985. He played college football for the Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Golden Norsemen and the Iowa State Cyclones. Read more
20 Sep 1949: Mahesh Bhatt, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter Mahesh Bhatt is a retired Indian film director, producer and screenwriter known for his works in Hindi cinema. Known for his unconventional narratives and exploration of bold themes, he was one of the most prominent filmmakers in 80s and 90s Hindi cinema. He has received a number of accolades, including five National Film Award and four Filmfare Awards. A notable film from his earlier period is Saaransh (1984), screened at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival. It became India's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for that year. The 1986 film Naam was his first piece of commercial cinema. In 1987, he turned producer with the film Kabzaa under the banner, Vishesh Films, with his younger brother Mukesh Bhatt. In 2013, he was inducted into the Bollywood Walk of Fame, at Bandra Bandstand, where his hand print was preserved. Read more
20 Sep 1949: Anthony Denison, American actor Anthony John Sarrero, also known by his stage name Anthony Denison, is an American actor. Read more
20 Sep 1948: Rey Langit, Filipino journalist and radio host Reynante "Rey" Magat Langit is a Filipino journalist. He is a longtime columnist for Philippine newspapers Tempo, Balita, People's Tonight, and Pilipino Mirror. He is also the main anchorman for the nationally-aired program over AM radio station DWAR Abante Radyo 1494 in Mega Manila. He currently hosts two weekly public affairs television programs, Kasangga Mo ang Langit and Biyaheng Langit; the former is now airing on the Bilyonaryo News Channel since 2025. Read more
20 Sep 1948: Victoria Mallory, American singer and actress (died 2014) Victoria Mallory was an American singer and actress, best known for originating the role of Anne Egerman in the Broadway musical A Little Night Music. She was also an accomplished martial artist and model. Read more
20 Sep 1948: George R. R. Martin, American novelist and short story writer George Raymond Richard Martin, also known by the initials GRRM, is an American author, screenwriter, and television producer. Martin is best known as the author of the epic fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was adapted by HBO into the Primetime Emmy Award–winning television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and its prequel series House of the Dragon (2022–present). Martin also wrote a related series of novellas, Tales of Dunk and Egg, which have been adapted by HBO as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2026–present). Outside of A Song of Ice and Fire and its related media, Martin helped create the Wild Cards anthology series and contributed worldbuilding for the video game Elden Ring (2022). Read more
20 Sep 1948: Chuck Panozzo, American bass player Charles Salvatore "Chuck" Panozzo is an American musician best known as a co-founder of the rock band Styx. He is currently a part-time bass player in the band, sharing bass duties with Terry Gowan. Panozzo is living with HIV, which played a role in limiting his full-time participation. Read more
20 Sep 1948: John Panozzo, American drummer (died 1996) John Anthony Panozzo was an American drummer best known for his work with rock band Styx. Read more
20 Sep 1947: Mia Martini, Italian singer (died 1995) Domenica Rita Adriana "Mimì" Bertè, known professionally as Mia Martini, was an Italian singer, songwriter and musician. She is considered, by many experts, one of the most important and expressive female voices of Italian music, characterised by her interpretative intensity and her soulful performance. Read more
20 Sep 1947: Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, French journalist and author Patrick Poivre d'Arvor is a French TV journalist and writer. He is a household name in France, and nicknamed "PPDA". With over 30 years and in excess of 4,500 editions of television news to his credit, he was one of the longest serving newsreaders in the world until he was fired in 2008. He presented his last newscast on TF1 on 10 July 2008.
Since 2021, a total of 45 women have accused Patrick Poivre d'Arvor of sexual assault or rape that would have allegedly happened during decades prior. Twenty-five women filed a formal complaint. Among them, eight did so for alleged rape. Read more
20 Sep 1946: Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj, Spiritual Master, Head of Science of Spirituality Rajinder Singh is the head of the international, non-profit organization Science of Spirituality (SOS), also known in India as the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission. To his disciples he is known as Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj. Singh is known for his work toward promoting inner and outer peace through spirituality and meditation on the inner Light and Sound. Read more
20 Sep 1946: Pete Coors, American businessman and politician Peter Hanson Coors is an American businessman and politician. He formerly served as the chairman of the Molson Coors Brewing Company and chairman of MillerCoors. Read more
20 Sep 1946: Markandey Katju, Indian lawyer and judge Markandey Katju is an Indian jurist and a former judge of Supreme Court of India. He also was chairman of the Press Council of India from 2011 to 2014. He is the son of politician Shiva Nath Katju and grandson of Kailash Nath Katju. He is the founder and patron of the Indian Reunification Association (IRA), an organisation that advocates for the peaceful reunification of what is now Pakistan and Bangladesh with India under a secular government. Read more
20 Sep 1944: Paul Madeley, English footballer (died 2018) Paul Edward Madeley was an English footballer, who played for Leeds United and the England national team. During his career with Leeds, Madeley played in a variety of different playing positions which led to him being described as a utility player. Madeley made more than 500 appearances for Leeds in the Football League and appeared in 24 internationals for England between 1971 and 1977. Read more
20 Sep 1942: Rose Francine Rogombé, Gabonese lawyer and politician, President of Gabon (died 2015) Rose Francine Rogombé was a Gabonese politician who was acting president of Gabon from June to October 2009, following the death of long-time President Omar Bongo. She constitutionally succeeded Bongo due to her role as president of the Senate, a post to which she was elected in February 2009. She was a lawyer by profession and a member of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG). Rogombé was the first female head of state of Gabon. After her interim presidency, she returned to her post as President of the Senate. Read more
20 Sep 1941: Dale Chihuly, American sculptor and educator Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist. He is well known in the field of blown glass, "moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture". Read more
20 Sep 1941: Sammy McMillan, Irish footballer Samuel Thomas McMillan is a Northern Irish ex-footballer who played as a left winger or centre forward for various Football League clubs in the 1960s and early 1970s, including Manchester United, Wrexham, Southend United and Stockport County. Read more
20 Sep 1940: Tarō Asō, Japanese target shooter and politician, 92nd Prime Minister of Japan Tarō Asō is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2008 to 2009. A member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), he also served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2021. He was the longest-serving Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in Japanese history, having previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2007 and as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications from 2003 to 2005. He leads the Shikōkai faction within the LDP. Read more
20 Sep 1940: William Finley, American actor (died 2012) William Franklin Finley was an American actor who appeared in the films The Funhouse, Simon, Silent Rage, Phantom of the Paradise, Sisters and The Wedding Party. Read more
20 Sep 1940: Anna Pavord, Welsh-English journalist and author Anna Pavord is a British horticultural writer. She wrote for The Observer for over twenty years and for The Independent for over thirty years. Her book The Tulip (1999) was listed as a New York Times best seller. Read more
20 Sep 1938: Eric Gale, American guitarist and producer (died 1994) Eric Gale was an American jazz and jazz fusion guitarist. Read more
20 Sep 1938: Jane Manning, English soprano and educator (died 2021) Jane Marian Manning OBE was an English concert and opera soprano, writer on music, and visiting professor at Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal College of Music. A specialist in contemporary classical music, she was described by one critic as "the irrepressible, incomparable, unstoppable Ms. Manning – life and soul of British contemporary music". Read more
20 Sep 1937: Birgitta Dahl, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister for the Environment Rut Birgitta Dahl was a Swedish politician of the Social Democratic Party. Dahl was a Member of Parliament from 1969 to 2002. She served as Minister for Energy from 1982 to 1990, as Minister for the Environment from 1986 to 1991, and as Speaker of the Parliament from 1994 to 2002. She was the chairman of the Swedish section of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) between 2005 and 2011. Read more
20 Sep 1937: Garry Johnson, English general General Sir Garry Dene Johnson, is a retired British Army officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe from 1992 to 1994. Read more
20 Sep 1937: Monica Zetterlund, Swedish actress and singer (died 2005) Monica Zetterlund was a Swedish jazz singer and actress. She represented represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 with the jazz ballad "En gång i Stockholm". Through her lifetime, she starred in over 10 Swedish film productions and recorded over 20 studio albums. She gained international fame through her collaborative album with Bill Evans, Waltz for Debby. Read more
20 Sep 1936: Andrew Davies, Welsh author, screenwriter, and producer Andrew Wynford Davies is a Welsh screenwriter and novelist. He is best known for his television adaptations of The Signalman (1976), To Serve Them All My Days (1980–1981), House of Cards (1990), Middlemarch (1994), Pride and Prejudice (1995), Bleak House (2005), Mr Selfridge (2013–2016), War & Peace (2016) and Les Misérables (2018–2019), and his original series A Very Peculiar Practice (1986–1988). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1996 and awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 2002. Read more
20 Sep 1936: Salvador Reyes Monteón, Mexican footballer and manager (died 2012) Salvador Reyes Monteón was a Mexican professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
20 Sep 1935: David Pegg, English footballer (died 1958) David Pegg was an English footballer who played as an outside-left and one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958. Read more
20 Sep 1935: Keith Roberts, English author and illustrator (died 2000) Keith John Kingston Roberts was an English science fiction author. He began publishing with two stories in the September 1964 issue of Science Fantasy magazine, "Anita" and "Escapism". Read more
20 Sep 1935: Jim Taylor, American football player and sportscaster (died 2018) James Charles Taylor was an American professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons, with the Green Bay Packers from 1958 to 1966 and with the expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967. With the Packers, Taylor was invited to five straight Pro Bowls and won four NFL championships, as well as a victory in the first Super Bowl. He was recognized as the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) after winning the rushing title in 1962, beating out Jim Brown. An aggressive player and fluent trash talker, Taylor developed several personal rivalries throughout his career, most notably with New York Giants linebacker Sam Huff. This confrontational attitude, combined with his tenacious running style, a penchant for contact, and ability to both withstand and deliver blows, earned him a reputation as one of the league's toughest players. Read more
20 Sep 1934: Hamit Kaplan, Turkish World and Olympic champion sports wrestler (died 1976) Hamit Kaplan was a Turkish World and Olympic champion sports wrestler of Circassian descent in the Heavyweight class. He won the gold, silver and bronze medal in men's freestyle wrestling at three consecutive Olympic Games in 1956, 1960 and 1964. Read more
20 Sep 1934: Sophia Loren, Italian actress Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone, known professionally as Sophia Loren, is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Read more
20 Sep 1934: David Marquand, Welsh academic and politician (died 2024) David Ian Marquand FLSW was a British academic and Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP). Read more
20 Sep 1934: Jeff Morris, American actor (died 2004) Jeff Morris was an American film and television actor. Among his roles was Bob, the owner of Bob's Country Bunker, in The Blues Brothers. He later reprised his role in Blues Brothers 2000. Read more
20 Sep 1934: Rajinder Puri, Indian cartoonist, journalist, and activist (died 2015) Rajinder Puri (1934–2015), was an Indian cartoonist, veteran columnist and political activist. He was on the staff of The Hindustan Times and The Statesman as a cartoonist and writer. Later, his column appeared in Outlook. Read more
20 Sep 1933: Dennis Viollet, English footballer and manager (died 1999) Dennis Sydney Viollet was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and Stoke City as well as the England national team. He was famous as one of the Busby Babes and survived the Munich air disaster. After his retirement as a player, he became a coach and spent most of his managerial career in the United States for various professional and school teams. Read more
20 Sep 1931: Cherd Songsri, Thai director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2006) Cherd Songsri was a Thai film director, screenwriter and film producer. A maker of period films that sought to introduce international audiences to his vision of Thai culture, his best-known work is the 1977 romance film Plae Kao, which earned more box-office receipts than any Thai film before it. It won a prize at the 1981 Three Continents Festival in Nantes, France. Read more
20 Sep 1930: Richard Montague, American mathematician and philosopher (died 1971) Richard Merritt Montague was an American mathematician and philosopher who made contributions to mathematical logic and the philosophy of language. He is known for proposing Montague grammar to formalize the semantics of natural language. As a student of Alfred Tarski, he also contributed early developments to axiomatic set theory (ZFC). For the latter half of his life, he was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles until his early death, believed to be a homicide, at age 40. Read more
20 Sep 1929: Anne Meara, American actress and playwright (died 2015) Anne Meara was an American comedian and actress. With her husband Jerry Stiller, she was half of the 1960s comedy team Stiller and Meara. In 2007, Stiller and Meara were honored with a joint star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Their son is actor, director, and producer Ben Stiller. She was also featured on stage, on television, and in numerous films and later became a playwright. During her career, Meara was nominated for four Emmy Awards and a Tony Award, and she won a Writers Guild Award as a co-writer for the television movie The Other Woman. Read more
20 Sep 1929: Vittorio Taviani, Italian film director and screenwriter (died 2018) Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, collectively referred to as the Taviani brothers, were Italian film directors and screenwriters who collaborated on numerous film productions. Read more
20 Sep 1929: Joe Temperley, Scottish saxophonist and clarinet player (died 2016) Joe Temperley was a Scottish jazz saxophonist. He performed with various instruments, but was most associated with the baritone saxophone, soprano saxophone, and bass clarinet. Read more
20 Sep 1928: Alberto de Lacerda, Mozambican-Portuguese poet and radio host (died 2007) Carlos Alberto Portugal Correia de Lacerda was a Portuguese poet and BBC Radio Presenter. Read more
20 Sep 1928: Olga Ferri, Argentinian dancer and choreographer (died 2012) Olga Ferri was an Argentine choreographer and ballet dancer. For decades she was the leading figure of the ballet at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, along with Esmeralda Agoglia, María Ruanova, Violeta Janeiro and the ill-fated Norma Fontenla, she was part of the notable group of ballerinas in Buenos Aires during the 50s-70s. Read more
20 Sep 1928: Donald Hall, American poet, editor, and critic (died 2018) Donald Andrew Hall Jr. was an American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic. He was the author of more than 50 books across multiple genres including children's literature, biography, memoirs, essays, plays, sports journalism, and fifteen volumes of verse. He was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University, and Christ Church, Oxford. Early in his career, he became the first poetry editor of The Paris Review (1953–1961), the quarterly literary journal, and was noted for interviewing poets and other authors on their craft. Read more
20 Sep 1928: Juarez Teixeira, Brazilian footballer (died 2026) Juarez Teixeira was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. Read more
20 Sep 1927: Colette Bonheur, Canadian singer (died 1966) Colette Bonheur was a singer from Montreal, Quebec. Read more
20 Sep 1927: John Dankworth, English saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (died 2010) Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, also known as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, and bandleader. With his wife, jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, he was a music educator and also her music director. The New York Times described him as "one of the leading lights of British jazz." He was also a prolific composer of film soundtracks. Read more
20 Sep 1927: Red Mitchell, American bassist, composer, and poet (died 1992) Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet. Read more
20 Sep 1927: Rachel Roberts, Welsh actress (died 1980) Rachel Roberts was a Welsh actress. She is best remembered for her screen performances as the older mistress of the central male characters in both Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and This Sporting Life (1963). For each, she won the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress. She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for This Sporting Life. Her other notable film appearances included Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Yanks (1979). Read more
20 Sep 1926: Libero Liberati, Italian motorcycle racer (died 1962) Libero Liberati was an Italian professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1952 to 1959, most prominently as a member of the Gilera factory racing team where he won the 1957 500cc world championships. Read more
20 Sep 1925: James Bernard, English composer and screenwriter (died 2001) James Michael Bernard was a British film composer, particularly associated with horror films produced by Hammer Film Productions. Beginning with The Quatermass Xperiment, he scored such films as The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula. He also occasionally scored non-Hammer films including Windom's Way (1957) and Torture Garden (1967). Read more
20 Sep 1925: Ananda Mahidol, King Rama VIII of Thailand (died 1946) Ananda Mahidol was the eighth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama VIII. At the time he was recognised as king by the National Assembly in March 1935, he went to Switzerland when he was nine years-old. He returned to Thailand in December 1945, but six months later, in June 1946, he was found shot dead in his bed. Although at first thought to have been an accident, his death was ruled a murder by medical examiners, and three royal aides were later executed following irregular trials. The mysterious circumstances surrounding his death have been the subject of much controversy. Read more
20 Sep 1925: Nelly Moretto, Argentine composer (died 1978) Nelly Moretto was an Argentine composer and pianist who is considered to be an innovator of electronic music in South America. She also served as the vice-president of the Agrupación Nueva Música from 1970. Read more
20 Sep 1924: Gogi Grant, American singer (died 2016) Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg, known professionally as Gogi Grant, was an American pop singer. She had a No. 1 hit in 1956 with "The Wayward Wind". Read more
20 Sep 1924: Hartini, wife of President Sukarno of Indonesia (died 2002) Siti Suhartini, better known as Hartini and also known as Hartini Sukarno, was the fourth wife of President Sukarno of Indonesia. Born to a forestry worker in Ponorogo, Hartini was married in her youth to a man named Suwondo, with whom she had five children. She met Sukarno in 1952, and after exchanging a series of pseudonymous love letters and receiving the blessings of his wife Fatmawati, the two were married on 7 July 1954. Their union faced outrage, including protests from pro-monogamy women's organizations and the mass media. Hartini was required to live at the Presidential Palace in Bogor rather than the main palace in Jakarta and was not recognized as first lady. Read more
20 Sep 1924: Albert Marre, American director, and producer (died 2012) Albert Marre was an American stage director and producer. He directed the stage musical Man of La Mancha in 1965, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. Read more
20 Sep 1924: Jackie Paris, American singer and guitarist (died 2004) Carlo Jackie Paris was an American jazz singer and guitarist. He is best known for his recordings of "Skylark" and "'Round Midnight" from the late 1940s to the early 1950s. Read more
20 Sep 1923: Maurice Sauvé, Canadian economist, academic, and politician (died 1992) Maurice Sauvé was a Canadian economist, politician, cabinet minister and businessman. He was the husband of Jeanne Sauvé, who served as 23rd Governor General of Canada. Read more
20 Sep 1921: Chico Hamilton, American drummer, composer, and bandleader (died 2013) Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He came to prominence as sideman for Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Count Basie, and Lena Horne. Hamilton became a bandleader, first with a quintet featuring the cello as a lead instrument, an unusual choice for a jazz band in the 1950s, and subsequently leading bands that performed cool jazz, post bop, and jazz fusion. Read more
20 Sep 1920: Jay Ward, American animator, producer, and screenwriter, founded Jay Ward Productions (died 1989) Joseph Ward Cohen Jr., known professionally as Jay Ward, was an American animator and producer. He is best known for creating The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, alongside works featuring a diverse selection of characters such as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle, Tom Slick, and Super Chicken. His own company, Jay Ward Productions, designed the trademark characters for the Cap'n Crunch, Quisp, and Quake breakfast cereals and it made TV commercials for those products. Ward produced the non-animated series Fractured Flickers (1963) that featured comedic redubbing of silent films. Read more
20 Sep 1917: Red Auerbach, American basketball player and coach (died 2006) Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach was an American professional basketball coach and executive. As head coach, he led the Boston Celtics to eight consecutive NBA championships between 1959 and 1966. On retiring in 1966, he held an NBA coaching record of 938 wins. He served as general manager of the Celtics from 1966 to 1984, and later as president and vice-chairman of the Board. He won a combined 16 NBA titles in his long career with the Celtics, the most of any individual, making him one of the most successful team officials in the history of North American professional sports. He served as president of the Celtics until his death in 2006 at the age of 89. Read more
20 Sep 1917: Olga Dahl, Swedish genealogist (died 2009) Olga Inga Birgitta Dahl was a Swedish city and family historian. She carried out solid basic research in the National Archives on Gothenburg's root division exploring with great significance the city's personal and building history during the 17th and 18th centuries. Read more
20 Sep 1917: Fernando Rey, Spanish actor (died 1994) Fernando Casado Arambillet, best known as Fernando Rey, was a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor, who worked in both Europe and the United States. A suave, international actor best known for his roles in the films of surrealist director Luis Buñuel and as the drug lord Alain Charnier in The French Connection (1971) and French Connection II (1975), he appeared in more than 150 films over half a century. Read more
20 Sep 1917: Clarice Taylor, American actress (died 2011) Clarice Taylor was an American stage, film and television actress. She is best known for playing Cousin Emma on Sanford and Son; Anna Huxtable, the mother of Cliff Huxtable, on The Cosby Show; and Mrs. Brooks in Five on the Black Hand Side (1973). Read more
20 Sep 1917: Obdulio Varela, Uruguayan footballer (died 1996) Obdulio Jacinto Muiños Varela was a Uruguayan football player. He was the captain of the Uruguay national team that won the 1950 World Cup after beating Brazil in the decisive final round match popularly known as the Maracanazo. He was nicknamed "El Negro Jefe" because of his dark skin and the influence he had on the pitch, especially during the unlikely victory over Brazil. He was of African, Spanish and Greek ancestry. Commonly regarded as one of the greatest classic holding midfielders, Varela was adept in defence and was renowned for his tenacity and leadership. He is regarded as one of the greatest captains in football history, and "he remains one of the biggest sporting heroes in Uruguay". Read more
20 Sep 1915: Malik Meraj Khalid, Pakistani politician, Prime Minister of Pakistan (died 2003) Malik Meraj Khalid was a Pakistani barrister, politician and Marxist philosopher who served as the caretaker prime minister of Pakistan from 1996 to 1997. He also served as the chief minister of Punjab from 1972 to 1973. He was one of the original philosophers and founders of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Read more
20 Sep 1914: Kenneth More, English actor (died 1982) Kenneth Gilbert More was an English actor. Read more
20 Sep 1913: Sidney Dillon Ripley, American ornithologist and academic (died 2001) Sidney Dillon Ripley II was an American ornithologist and wildlife conservationist. He served as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for 20 years, from 1964 to 1984, leading the institution through its period of greatest growth and expansion. For his leadership at the Smithsonian, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985. Read more
20 Sep 1910: Dorothy Vaughan, American mathematician (died 2008) Dorothy Jean Johnson Vaughan was an American mathematician, human computer, computer programmer and schoolteacher who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA, at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In 1949, she became acting supervisor of the West Area Computers, the first African-American woman to receive a promotion and supervise a group of staff at the center. Read more
20 Sep 1906: Jean Dréville, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1997) Jean Dréville was a French film director. He directed more than 40 films between 1928 and 1969. Read more
20 Sep 1906: Vera Faddeeva, Russian mathematician (died 1983) Vera Faddeeva was a Soviet mathematician. Faddeeva published some of the earliest work in the field of numerical linear algebra. Her 1950 work, Computational methods of linear algebra was widely acclaimed and she won a USSR State Prize for it. Between 1962 and 1975, she wrote many research papers with her husband, Dmitry Konstantinovich Faddeev. She is remembered as an important Russian mathematician, specializing in linear algebra, who worked in the 20th century. Read more
20 Sep 1902: Stevie Smith, English author and poet (died 1971) Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith, was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Stevie, a play by Hugh Whitemore based on her life, was adapted into a film starring Glenda Jackson. Read more
20 Sep 1899: Leo Strauss, German-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (died 1973) Leo Strauss was a German-American political philosopher and historian of philosophy whose work greatly influenced twentieth-century political theory in the United States and the study of classical political thought. He is known best for his interpretation of ancient and medieval philosophy, his account of classical natural right, and his claim that philosophers often wrote esoterically, presenting different teachings to general and specialist readers. Strauss argued that the modern turn in philosophy, beginning with Niccolò Machiavelli and culminating in historicism and relativism, marked a decisive break with the classical understanding of politics and the good life. His work sought to recover the questions and methods of ancient political philosophy as a corrective to the perceived crisis of modern thought. Read more
20 Sep 1895: Walter Dubislav, German logician and philosopher of science (died 1937) Walter Dubislav was a German logician and philosopher of science (Wissenschaftstheoretiker). Read more
20 Sep 1893: Colin Fraser Barron, Scottish-Canadian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1958) Colin Fraser Barron was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
He was born at Boyndie, Banffshire, Scotland, a son of Margaret Walker Barron, a domestic servant. He was raised in a large household by his grandparents Joseph Barron & Mary Barron along with his brother Alexander Barron and many other half-siblings and aunts and uncles. He emigrated to Canada in 1910, and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1914. Read more
20 Sep 1893: Hermann Lux, German footballer and manager (died 1962) Hermann Lux was a German footballer. Read more
20 Sep 1891: Tomás Garrido Canabal, Mexican revolutionary (died 1943) Tomás Garrido Canabal was a Mexican revolutionary politician, soldier and atheist. Garrido Canabal served as governor of the state of Tabasco from 1920 to 1924 and from 1931 to 1934. He was noted for his anti-Catholicism; during his term, he led persecutions against the Church in his state, killing many priests and laymen and driving the remainder underground. Read more
20 Sep 1890: Linda Eenpalu, Estonian activist and politician (died 1967) Linda Marie Eenpalu was an Estonian politician. She was a member of the National Constituent Assembly (1937) and a Member of the Second Chamber of the National Council (1938) and the first women in both of these positions. She was a well-known women's rights activist. She was married to politician Kaarel Eenpalu, who was prime minister in 1938–1939. Read more
20 Sep 1889: Oskar Kaplur, Estonian wrestler (died 1962) Oskar Kaplur was an Estonian wrestler. He competed for the Russian Empire in the lightweight event at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Read more
20 Sep 1889: Charles Reidpath, American runner and general (died 1975) Charles Decker Reidpath was an American track and field sprinter and winner of two gold medals at the 1912 Summer Olympics, who later went on to have an outstanding military career. Read more
20 Sep 1886: Charles Williams, English author, poet, and critic (died 1945) Charles Walter Stansby Williams was an English poet, novelist, playwright, theologian and literary critic. Most of his life was spent in London, where he was born, but in 1939 he moved to Oxford with the university press for which he worked until his death. Read more
20 Sep 1885: Enrico Mizzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (died 1950) Enrico Mizzi was a Maltese politician, leader of the Maltese Nationalist Party from 1926 and briefly Prime Minister of Malta in 1950. Read more
20 Sep 1884: Maxwell Perkins, American editor (died 1947) William Maxwell Evarts "Max" Perkins was an American book editor, best remembered for discovering authors Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Thomas Wolfe. Read more
20 Sep 1880: Ildebrando Pizzetti, Italian composer, musicologist and critic (died 1968) Ildebrando Pizzetti was an Italian composer of classical music, as well as a musicologist and a music critic. Read more
20 Sep 1878: Upton Sinclair, American novelist, critic, and essayist (died 1968) Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. was an American author, muckraker journalist, and political activist, and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California. He wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in the first half of the 20th century, and he won the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Read more
20 Sep 1878: Francisco Lagos Cházaro, acting president of Mexico (died 1932) Francisco Jerónimo de Jesús Lagos Cházaro Mortero was the acting President of Mexico designated by the Convention of Aguascalientes from 9 June to 10 October 1915. Read more
20 Sep 1876: Carleton Ellis, American inventor and chemist (died 1941) Carleton Ellis was an American inventor and a pioneer in the field of organic chemistry. He was involved in the development of margarine, polyester, anti-knock gasoline, paint and varnish remover, and holder of 753 patents. A native of Keene, New Hampshire, he was the valedictorian of his high school class, and later a graduate of MIT. He then set up the Ellis Laboratories in Montclair, New Jersey. Read more
20 Sep 1875: Matthias Erzberger, German publicist and politician (died 1921) Matthias Erzberger was a German Centre Party politician who, from 1919-1920, served as the Minister of Finance and, in 1919, Vice Chancellor of Germany. Read more
20 Sep 1873: Sidney Olcott, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1949) Sidney Olcott was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Read more
20 Sep 1873: Ferenc Szisz, Hungarian race car driver (died 1944) Ferenc Szisz, was a Hungarian racing driver and the winner of the first Grand Prix motor racing event on a Renault AK 90CV on 26 June, 1906. Read more
20 Sep 1872: Maurice Gamelin, French general (died 1958) Maurice Gustave Gamelin was a French general who served as head of the French Army from 1935 and as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in France from the outbreak of the Second World War to his dismissal during the Battle of France in May 1940. The strategic choices Gamelin made ultimately left France vulnerable to a lightning offensive through the Ardennes and have been extensively criticised by historians. Read more
20 Sep 1861: Herbert Putnam, American lawyer and publisher, 8th Librarian of Congress (died 1955) George Herbert Putnam was an American librarian. He was the eighth Librarian of Congress from 1899 to 1939. He implemented his vision of a universal collection with strengths in many languages, especially from Europe and Latin America. Read more
20 Sep 1853: Chulalongkorn, Siamese king (died 1910) Chulalongkorn, posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his death in 1910 was characterised by the modernisation of Siam, governmental and social reforms, and territorial concessions to the British and French empires. As Siam was surrounded by European colonies, Chulalongkorn, through his policies and acts, ensured the independence of Siam. Read more
20 Sep 1851: Henry Arthur Jones, English playwright and critic (died 1929) Henry Arthur Jones was an English dramatist, who was first noted for his melodrama The Silver King (1882), and went on to write prolifically, often appearing to mirror Ibsen from the opposite (conservative) viewpoint. As a right-winger, he engaged in extensive debates with left-wing writers such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells. Read more
20 Sep 1847: Susanna Rubinstein, Austrian psychologist (died 1914) Susanna Rubinstein was an Austrian psychologist and the first woman to earn a doctorate from the University of Bern in Switzerland. Read more
20 Sep 1844: William H. Illingworth, English-American photographer (died 1893) William H. Illingworth was an English born photographer from St. Paul, Minnesota who accompanied both Captain James L. Fisk's 1866 expedition to the Montana Territory and Lt. Colonel George Custer's 1874 U.S. military expedition into the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory. Read more
20 Sep 1842: James Dewar, Scottish-English chemist and physicist (died 1923) Sir James Dewar was a Scottish chemist and physicist. He is best known for his invention of the vacuum flask, which he used in conjunction for his research into the liquefaction of gases. He also studied atomic and molecular spectroscopy, working in these fields for more than twenty-five years. Dewar was nominated for the Nobel Prize eight times — five times in Physics and three times in Chemistry — but he was never so honoured. Read more
20 Sep 1833: Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1918) Ernesto Teodoro Moneta was an Italian journalist, nationalist, revolutionary soldier and later a pacifist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. He adopted the motto In varietate unitas! which later inspired the motto of the European Union. Read more
20 Sep 1831: Kate Harrington, American poet and educator (died 1917) Kate Harrington, born Rebecca Harrington Smith and later known as Rebecca Smith Pollard, was an American teacher, writer and poet. Read more
20 Sep 1820: John F. Reynolds, American general (died 1863) John Fulton Reynolds was a career United States Army officer and a general in the American Civil War. One of the Union Army's most respected senior commanders, he played a key role in committing the Army of the Potomac to the Battle of Gettysburg and was killed at the start of the battle. Read more
20 Sep 1819: Frederick Ellsworth Sickels, American inventor (died 1895) Frederick Ellsworth Sickels was an American inventor, best known for the invention of a cut-off valve for steam engines in 1841. Read more
20 Sep 1815: Richard Dry, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Tasmania (died 1869) Sir Richard Dry, KCMG was an Australian politician, the son of United Irish convict, who was Premier of Tasmania from 24 November 1866 until 1 August 1869 when he died in office. Dry was the first Tasmanian-born premier, and the first Tasmanian to be knighted. Read more
20 Sep 1800: Benjamin Franklin White, American singer and composer (died 1879) Benjamin Franklin White was a shape note "singing master", and compiler of the shape note tunebook known as The Sacred Harp. He was born near Cross Keys in Union County, South Carolina, the twelfth child of Robert and Mildred White. Read more

Notable Deaths on 20 September

20 Sep 2025: Matt Beard, English football manager (born 1978) Matthew Beard was an English professional football coach. Active primarily in women's football, he managed Millwall, Chelsea, Liverpool, Boston Breakers, West Ham United, Bristol City, and Burnley. Read more
20 Sep 2024: Ibrahim Aqil, Hezbollah militant (born 1962) Ibrahim Aqil was a Lebanese militant leader who served as commander-in-chief of Hezbollah's special operations unit, the Radwan Force. He was a member of the Jihad Council, which oversees the military operations of the organisation. Some considered Aqil as the de facto Chief of Staff of Hezbollah. Read more
20 Sep 2024: Kathryn Crosby, American actress and singer (born 1933) Olive Kathryn Crosby was an American actress and singer who performed in films, primarily under the stage name Kathryn Grant. She married Bing Crosby in 1957 and subsequently appeared on television with him and hosted a talk show, The Kathryn Crosby Show, on which he occasionally appeared. She returned to acting after his death in 1977. Read more
20 Sep 2024: Daniel J. Evans, American politician, 16th Governor of Washington (born 1925) Daniel Jackson Evans was an American politician who served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives representing Washington's 43rd legislative district from 1957 to 1965, the 16th governor of Washington from 1965 to 1977, and later served in the United States Senate from 1983 to 1989. He was also the second president of Evergreen State College in Olympia from 1977 to 1983 before being in the U.S. Senate. He was a member of the Republican Party. Read more
20 Sep 2024: Sayuri, Japanese musician (born 1996) Sayuri was a Japanese musician, singer and songwriter. After winning the Music Revolution Grand Prix in 2012, she left school and started her music career. In 2015, she released her debut single "Mikazuki", the ending theme of Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace, and she later sang theme songs for the anime series Erased, Scum's Wish, Fate/Extra Last Encore, Golden Kamuy, My Hero Academia, Sing "Yesterday" for Me, Edens Zero, and Lycoris Recoil. Read more
20 Sep 2024: Cleo Sylvestre, English actress (born 1945) Cleopatra Mary Palmer, known professionally as Cleo Sylvestre, was a British actress. She was the first black woman ever to play a leading role at the National Theatre in London, and the first woman to record with The Rolling Stones. Read more
20 Sep 2024: Eduardo Xol, American designer and author (born 1966) Eduardo Torres Xol was an American television personality, designer, entertainer, social activist and businessman. He was most known to U.S. television audiences for his work as a designer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition which formerly aired on ABC. Read more
20 Sep 2023: Maddy Cusack, English football player (born 1995) Madeleine Cusack was an English footballer who played as a midfielder. She began her career with local club Nottingham Forest before moving to Aston Villa, where she made her professional debut. She joined Birmingham City in 2017 and spent a year there before moving to Leicester City in 2018. She moved to Sheffield United in January 2019. She played for England U19s at international level. In January 2024, the Football Association opened a formal investigation into her death after reports of wrongdoing by her club manager. The inquest is due to restart on 7 December 2026. Read more
20 Sep 2016: Curtis Hanson, American film director and screenwriter (born 1945) Curtis Lee Hanson was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Reno, Nevada, Hanson grew up in Los Angeles. After dropping out of high school, Hanson worked as photographer and editor for Cinema magazine. In the 1970s, Hanson participated as a writer for the horror film The Dunwich Horror (1970) and made his directorial debut the B-Movie Sweet Kill (1973), where he lacked creative control to fulfill his vision. While Hanson continued directing, he rose to prominence screenwriting critically acclaimed films such as The Silent Partner (1978), White Dog (1982), and Never Cry Wolf (1983). Read more
20 Sep 2016: Peter Leo Gerety, American bishop (born 1912) Peter Leo Gerety was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Newark from 1974 to 1986. He previously served as Bishop of Portland in Maine from 1969 to 1974. Gerety was the oldest living Catholic bishop in the world at the time of his death at age 104. Read more
20 Sep 2015: Mario Caiano, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1933) Mario Caiano was an Italian film director, screenwriter, producer, art director and second unit director. Read more
20 Sep 2015: Jagmohan Dalmiya, Indian businessman (born 1940) Jagmohan Dalmiya was an Indian cricket administrator and businessman from the city of Kolkata. He was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India as well as the Cricket Association of Bengal. He had also served as the President of the International Cricket Council. Read more
20 Sep 2015: Jack Larson, American actor (born 1928) Jack Edward Larson was an American actor, librettist, screenwriter and producer best known for his portrayal of photographer/cub reporter Jimmy Olsen on the television series Adventures of Superman from 1952 to 1958, a role he once reprised on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in 1996. Read more
20 Sep 2014: Anatoly Berezovoy, Russian colonel, pilot, and cosmonaut (born 1942) Anatoly Nikolayevich Berezovoy was a Soviet and later Russian cosmonaut. Read more
20 Sep 2014: Polly Bergen, American actress and singer (born 1930) Polly Bergen was an American actress and singer. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in Helen Morgan . For her stage work, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Carlotta Campion in Follies in 2001. Her film work included Cape Fear (1962) and The Caretakers (1963), for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. She hosted her own weekly variety show for one season, was a regular panelist on the TV game show To Tell the Truth, and later in life had roles in The Sopranos and Desperate Housewives. She wrote three books on beauty, fashion, and charm. She is also the inspiration behind Mother Goose in The Land of Stories. Read more
20 Sep 2014: Takako Doi, Japanese scholar and politician (born 1928) Takako Doi was a Japanese politician who served as leader of the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) from 1986 to 1991 and later its successor the Social Democratic Party (SDP) from 1996 to 2003. As leader of the JSP, she became the first female leader of a major Japanese political party, and the country's first female opposition leader. Doi's leadership and the result of the 1989 Upper House elections are considered watershed moments for female political participation in Japan. Read more
20 Sep 2014: George Sluizer, French-Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1932) George Sluizer was a Dutch filmmaker whose credits included features as well as documentary films. Read more
20 Sep 2013: James B. Vaught, American general (born 1926) James Benjamin Vaught was a United States Army Lieutenant General who fought in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In South Korea he served as a company commander in the 24th Infantry Division. In 1967, in South Vietnam, on his first tour he served as the commanding officer of the 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry. He also played a major role in numerous United States Special Forces operations. He was the overall commander of Operation Eagle Claw, the failed rescue mission of U.S. hostages in Iran in 1980. Read more
20 Sep 2013: Gilles Verlant, Belgian journalist and critic (born 1957) Gilles Verlant was a Belgian journalist, best known as a music critic and rock expert. He was also Serge Gainsbourg's friend and wrote his definitive biography. He died from falling down a set of stairs. Read more
20 Sep 2012: Fortunato Baldelli, Italian cardinal (born 1935) Fortunato Baldelli was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was appointed a cardinal in 2010 after a career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1966 to 2009 that included ten years as Apostolic Nuncio to France. He was also the Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary from 2009 to 2012. Read more
20 Sep 2012: Richard H. Cracroft, American author and academic (born 1936) Richard Holton Cracroft was an author and emeritus professor of English at Brigham Young University (BYU) where he held the title of Nan Osmond Grass Professor in English and spent time as head of BYU's English department and as dean of the College of Humanities. He directed BYU's American Studies Program (1989–1994), directed the Center for the Study of Christian Values in Literature and edited the seminal A Believing People anthology, a landmark in Mormon letters. His devotion to the field is most famously summed up in his Association for Mormon Letters presidential address "Attuning the Authentic Mormon Voice: Stemming the Sophic Tide in LDS Literature" and his long-running column "Book Nook" in BYU Magazine which demonstrated the breadth of Mormon literature to a wide audience. Read more
20 Sep 2012: Tereska Torrès, French soldier and author (born 1920) Tereska Torrès was a French writer known for the 1950 book Women's Barracks, the first "original paperback bestseller." In 2008, historians credited the republished book as the first pulp fiction book published in America to candidly address lesbian relationships, although Torrès did not agree with this analysis. Read more
20 Sep 2011: Oscar Handlin, American historian and author (born 1915) Oscar Handlin was an American historian. As a professor of history at Harvard University for over 50 years, he directed 80 PhD dissertations and helped promote social and ethnic history, virtually inventing the field of immigration history in the 1950s. Handlin won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Uprooted (1951). Handlin's 1965 testimony before Congress played an important role in passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 that abolished the discriminatory immigration quota system. According to historian James Grossman, "He reoriented the whole picture of the American story from the view that America was built on the spirit of the Wild West, to the idea that we are a nation of immigrants." Read more
20 Sep 2011: Burhanuddin Rabbani, Afghan academic and politician, 10th President of Afghanistan (born 1940) Burhanuddin Rabbani was an Afghan politician and teacher who served as the sixth president of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, and again from November to December 2001. Read more
20 Sep 2010: Leonard Skinner, American soldier and educator (born 1933) Forby Leonard Skinner was an American high school gym teacher, basketball coach, and businessman from Jacksonville, Florida. He is known in popular culture as the eponym of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd; Skinner was the band members' teacher. Read more
20 Sep 2007: Johnny Gavin, Irish footballer (born 1928) John Thomas Gavin was an Irish footballer who spent most of his career in England. He played for Janesboro United, Limerick, Ireland, Norwich City, Watford, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, Cambridge City, Newmarket Town and Fulbourn. Read more
20 Sep 2006: Armin Jordan, Swiss conductor (born 1932) Armin Jordan was a Swiss conductor known for his interpretations of French music, Mozart and Wagner. Read more
20 Sep 2006: Sven Nykvist, Swedish director, producer, and cinematographer (born 1922) Sven Vilhem Nykvist was a Swedish cinematographer and filmmaker, best known for his collaboration with directors Ingmar Bergman and Woody Allen. Read more
20 Sep 2006: John W. Peterson, American pilot and songwriter (born 1921) John Willard Peterson was a songwriter who had a major influence on evangelical Christian music in the 1950s through the 1970s. He wrote over 1000 songs, and 35 cantatas. Read more
20 Sep 2005: Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian human rights activist, Holocaust survivor (born 1908) Simon Wiesenthal was an Austrian Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter, and writer. He studied architecture, and was living in Lviv at the outbreak of World War II. He survived the Janowska concentration camp, the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, a death march to Chemnitz, Buchenwald, and the Mauthausen concentration camp. Read more
20 Sep 2004: Brian Clough, English footballer and manager (born 1935) Brian Howard Clough was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest and is one of four managers to have won the English league with two different clubs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. Charismatic, outspoken and often controversial, his achievements with Derby and Forest, two clubs with little prior history of success, are rated among the greatest in football history. His teams were also noted for playing attractive football and for their good sportsmanship. Despite applying several times and being a popular choice for the job, he was never appointed England manager and has been dubbed the "greatest manager England never had". Read more
20 Sep 2004: Townsend Hoopes, American soldier and historian (born 1922) Townsend Walter Hoopes II was an American historian and government official, who reached the height of his career as Under Secretary of the Air Force from 1967 to 1969. Read more
20 Sep 2003: Simon Muzenda, Zimbabwean politician, 1st Vice-President of Zimbabwe (born 1922) Simon Vengai Muzenda was a Zimbabwean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1980 to 1987 and as Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 2003 under President Robert Mugabe. Read more
20 Sep 2003: Gareth Williams, Baron Williams of Mostyn, Welsh lawyer and politician, Lord President of the Council (born 1941) Gareth Wyn Williams, Baron Williams of Mostyn, was a Welsh barrister and Labour politician who was Leader of the House of Lords, Lord President of the Council and a member of the Cabinet from 2001 until his sudden death in 2003. He played an important role in the Northern Ireland peace process. Read more
20 Sep 2002: Sergei Bodrov Jr., Russian actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1971) Sergei Sergeyevich Bodrov, also known as Sergei Bodrov Jr., was a Russian actor and screenwriter who had lead roles in the films Brother, Prisoner of the Mountains, East/West and Brother 2. He was the son of the Russian playwright, actor, director and producer Sergei Bodrov. He died in the Kolka–Karmadon rock ice slide at the end of the second day of shooting of his film The Messenger. Read more
20 Sep 2000: Gherman Titov, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (born 1935) Gherman Stepanovich Titov was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut who, on 6 August 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth, aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1. He was the fourth person in space, counting suborbital voyages of US astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. Born in Altai Krai in western Siberia, Titov was the first spacefarer born in Asia. At 25 years old at launch, he remains the youngest professional astronaut and the youngest person to fly in Earth orbit. Read more
20 Sep 1999: Robert Lebel, Canadian businessman (born 1905) Robert Lebel or LeBel was a Canadian ice hockey administrator, who served as president of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA), and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Lebel founded a senior ice hockey league during World War II, and then became president of the Quebec Amateur Hockey Association (QAHA). He was a mayor of Chambly, Quebec, before joining the CAHA as an executive member and later its president. He was president of the IIHF during the early Cold War era, the last Canadian to lead the federation. He later founded the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for junior ice hockey players. He received the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, the IIHF Hall of Fame, three halls of fame in his native Quebec, and is the namesake of the Robert Lebel Trophy. Read more
20 Sep 1996: Paul Erdős, Hungarian-Polish mathematician and academic (born 1913) Paul Erdős was a Hungarian mathematician. He was one of the most prolific mathematicians and producers of mathematical conjectures of the 20th century. Erdős pursued and proposed problems in discrete mathematics, graph theory, number theory, mathematical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory. Much of his work centered on discrete mathematics, cracking many previously unsolved problems in the field. He championed and contributed to Ramsey theory, which studies the conditions in which order necessarily appears. Overall, his work leaned towards solving previously open problems, rather than developing or exploring new areas of mathematics. Read more
20 Sep 1996: Reuben Kamanga, Zambian politician, 1st Vice-President of Zambia (born 1929) Reuben Chitandika Kamanga was a Zambian freedom fighter, politician and statesman. He was educated at Munali Secondary School. Read more
20 Sep 1996: Paul Weston, American pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1912) Paul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the Father of Mood Music". His compositions include popular music songs such as "I Should Care", "Day by Day", and "Shrimp Boats". He also wrote classical pieces, including "Crescent City Suite" and religious music, authoring several hymns and masses. Read more
20 Sep 1994: Abioseh Nicol, Sierra Leonean physician, academic, and diplomat (born 1924) Davidson Sylvester Hector Willoughby Nicol, also known by his pen name Abioseh Nicol, was a Sierra Leone Creole physician, diplomat, and writer. He was also one of the first directors of the Bank of Sierra Leone. Read more
20 Sep 1994: Jule Styne, American composer (born 1905) Jule Styne was a British-American songwriter and composer widely known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became successful films: Gypsy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Funny Girl. Read more
20 Sep 1993: Erich Hartmann, German soldier and pilot (born 1922) Erich Alfred Hartmann, nicknamed Bubi, was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He was credited with shooting down a total of 352 Allied aircraft: 345 Soviet and 7 American while serving with the Luftwaffe. During his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his fighter 16 times after either mechanical failure or damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had shot down; he was never shot down by direct enemy action. Read more
20 Sep 1987: Michael Stewart, American playwright and composer (born 1924) Michael Stewart was an American playwright and dramatist, librettist, lyricist, screenwriter and novelist. Read more
20 Sep 1984: Steve Goodman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1948) Steven Benjamin Goodman was an American folk and country singer-songwriter from Chicago. He wrote the song "City of New Orleans", which was recorded by artists including Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, Willie Nelson, and Judy Collins. In 1985, Goodman received the Grammy songwriter award for best country song. Goodman co-wrote "You Never Even Call Me by My Name", which became the best-selling song of country musician David Allan Coe. A lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, Goodman wrote "Go Cubs Go". Goodman died of leukemia in September 1984. Read more
20 Sep 1979: Ludvík Svoboda, Czech general and politician, 8th President of Czechoslovakia (born 1895) Ludvík Svoboda was a Czech general and politician. He fought in both World Wars, for which he was regarded as a national hero, and he later served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1968 to 1975. Read more
20 Sep 1975: Saint-John Perse, French poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1887) Alexis Leger, better known by his pseudonym Saint-John Perse, was a French poet, writer and diplomat, awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Literature "for the soaring flight and the evocative imagery of his poetry which in a visionary fashion reflects the conditions of our time". Read more
20 Sep 1973: Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1943) James Joseph Croce was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of odd jobs to pay bills while he continued to write and record songs as well as perform concerts. After Croce formed a partnership with songwriter and guitarist Maury Muehleisen in the early 1970s, his fortunes turned. Croce's breakthrough came in 1972, when his third album, You Don't Mess Around with Jim, produced three charting singles, including "Time in a Bottle", which reached number one after his death. The follow-up album Life and Times included the song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", the only number-one hit Croce had during his lifetime. Read more
20 Sep 1972: Pierre-Henri Simon, French historian and author (born 1903) Pierre-Henri Simon was a French intellectual, literary historian, essayist, novelist, poet, and literary critic. He won the Prix Ève-Delacroix for Histoire d’un bonheur in 1965. Read more
20 Sep 1971: Giorgos Seferis, Greek poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900) Giorgos or George Seferis, the pen name of Georgios Seferiadis, was a Greek poet and diplomat. He was one of the most important Greek poets of the 20th century, and a Nobel laureate. Read more
20 Sep 1971: James Westerfield, American actor (born 1913) James A. Westerfield was an American character actor of stage, film, and television. Read more
20 Sep 1970: Alexandros Othonaios, Greek general and politician, 126h Prime Minister of Greece (born 1879) Alexandros Othonaios was a distinguished Greek general, who became briefly the acting Prime Minister of Greece, heading an emergency government during an abortive coup d'état in 1933. Read more
20 Sep 1957: Heino Kaski, Finnish pianist and composer (born 1885) Heino Wilhelm Daniel Kaski was a Finnish composer, teacher and pianist. Read more
20 Sep 1957: Jean Sibelius, Finnish violinist and composer (born 1865) Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a stronger national identity when the country was struggling from several attempts at Russification in the late 19th century. Read more
20 Sep 1947: Fiorello H. La Guardia, American lawyer and politician, 99th Mayor of New York City (born 1882) Fiorello Henry La Guardia was an American attorney and politician who served as the 100th mayor of New York City from 1934 to 1946. He previously represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1917 to 1919 and again from 1923 to 1933. He was known for his irascible, energetic, and charismatic personality and diminutive, rotund stature. A progressive member of the Republican Party, La Guardia was frequently cross-endorsed by parties other than his own, especially parties on the left under New York's electoral fusion laws. A panel of 69 scholars in 1993 ranked him as the best big city mayor in American history. Read more
20 Sep 1947: Jantina Tammes, Dutch biologist, geneticist, and academic (born 1871) Jantina "Tine" Tammes was a Dutch botanist and geneticist and the first professor of genetics in the Netherlands. Read more
20 Sep 1945: Augusto Tasso Fragoso, Brazilian politician, President of Brazil (born 1869) General Augusto Tasso Fragoso, better known as Tasso Fragoso was a Brazilian military, judge of the Superior Military Court and writer. During the Revolution of 1930 he was president of the Provisional Government Board of 1930, which ruled Brazil from 24 October to 3 November, between the deposition of President Washington Luis and the inauguration of Getúlio Vargas. Read more
20 Sep 1945: William Seabrook, American occultist, journalist, and explorer (born 1884) William Buehler Seabrook was an American occultist, explorer, world traveler, journalist and author. He began his career as a reporter and city editor of the Augusta Chronicle in Georgia and later worked for the New York Times. He is well known for his writing on, and engaging in, cannibalism. Seabrook's 1929 book The Magic Island, which documents his experiences with Haitian Vodou, is considered the first popular English-language work to describe the concept of zombies. Read more
20 Sep 1945: Eduard Wirths, German physician (born 1909) Eduard Wirths was the chief SS doctor at the Auschwitz concentration camp from September 1942 to January 1945. Thus, Wirths had formal responsibility for everything undertaken by the nearly twenty SS doctors who worked in the medical sections of Auschwitz between 1942 and 1945. Read more
20 Sep 1942: Kārlis Ulmanis, Latvian prime minister and president (born 1877) Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis was a Latvian politician and dictator. He was one of the most prominent Latvian politicians of pre-World War II Latvia during the Interwar period of independence from November 1918 to June 1940 and served as the country's first prime minister. Read more
20 Sep 1939: Paul Bruchési, Canadian archbishop (born 1855) Louis Joseph Napoléon Paul Bruchési was a Canadian prelate, the second Archbishop of Montreal. In 1910 he directed the 21st International Eucharistic Congress held in Montreal. Read more
20 Sep 1933: Annie Besant, English theosophist and activist (born 1847) Annie Besant was an English socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights and activist, educationist, involved in women's rights, Home Rule, and Indian nationalism. She gave support to both Irish and Indian self-rule. She had been the first female president of the Indian National Congress in 1917. Read more
20 Sep 1932: Francisco S. Carvajal, Mexican lawyer and politician, president 1914 (born 1870) Francisco Sebastián Carvajal y Gual was a Mexican lawyer and politician who served briefly as president in 1914, during the Mexican Revolution. In his role as foreign minister, he succeeded Victoriano Huerta as president upon the latter's resignation. Read more
20 Sep 1930: Gombojab Tsybikov, Russian anthropologist and explorer (born 1873) Gombojab Tsybikov was a Russian explorer of Tibet from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in ethnography, Buddhist Studies, and after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia and Mongolia. Read more
20 Sep 1927: George Nichols, American actor, director, and screenwriter (born 1864) George Nichols, sometimes credited in films as George O. Nicholls, was an American actor and film director. He worked at Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios. Read more
20 Sep 1908: Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (born 1844) Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Spanish virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works include Zigeunerweisen, the Spanish Dances, and the Carmen Fantasy. Read more
20 Sep 1906: Robert R. Hitt, American politician, 13th United States Assistant Secretary of State (born 1834) Robert Roberts Hitt was an American diplomat and Republican politician from Illinois. He served briefly as assistant secretary of state in the short-lived administration of James A. Garfield but resigned alongside Secretary of State James G. Blaine after Garfield's assassination in 1881. He returned to Washington to represent Northwestern Illinois in the United States House of Representatives from 1882 to his death. After 1885, he was the senior Republican on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, which he chaired from 1889 to 1891 and 1895 until his death in 1906. Read more
20 Sep 1898: Theodor Fontane, German author and poet (born 1819) Theodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet. He has been called “the greatest German realist novelist” and “clearly the greatest German novelist before Thomas Mann.”
He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known today, only at age 58 after a career as a journalist. Many of his novels delve into topics that were more or less taboo for discussion in the polite society of Fontane's day, including marital infidelity, class differences, urban vs. rural differences, abandonment of children, and suicide. His novels sold well during his lifetime and several have been adapted for film or audio works. Read more
20 Sep 1884: Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist and author (born 1802) Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger was an Austrian zoologist. Read more
20 Sep 1863: Jacob Grimm, German philologist and mythologist (born 1785) Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm, also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie, and the editor of Grimms' Fairy Tales. He was the older brother of Wilhelm Grimm; together, they were the literary duo known as the Brothers Grimm. Read more
20 Sep 1855: José Trinidad Reyes, Honduran priest and educator (born 1797) Father José Trinidad Reyes y Sevilla was a Honduran priest who founded the National Autonomous University of Honduras, formerly called "La Sociedad del Genio emprendedor y del buen gusto". He advocated against poverty by assisting the poor and supporting their right to education on matters of faith, culture, and science. Read more
20 Sep 1852: Philander Chase, American bishop and educator, founded Kenyon College (born 1775) Philander Chase was an Episcopal Church bishop, educator, pioneer of the United States western frontier, especially in Ohio and Illinois, and founder of Kenyon College. Read more
20 Sep 1845: Matvei Gedenschtrom, Russian explorer and public servant (born 1780) Mathias or Matthias Hedenström, also known by his Russian name Matvei Matveyevich Gedenshtrom, was a Russian explorer of Northern Siberia, writer, and public servant. Read more
20 Sep 1840: José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Paraguayan lawyer and politician, Consul of Paraguay (born 1766) José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco, also known as Doctor Francia or to Paraguayans of his time as Karai Guasu, was a lawyer, politician, statesman and the first dictator (1814–1840) of Paraguay following its 1811 independence from the Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. His official title was "Supreme and Perpetual Dictator of Paraguay", but he was popularly known as El Supremo. Read more
20 Sep 1839: Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, English admiral (born 1769) Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy, 1st Baronet, GCB was a Royal Navy officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He took part in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in February 1797, the Battle of the Nile in August 1798 and the Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Hardy served as flag captain to Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson, and commanded HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. Nelson was shot as he paced the decks with Hardy, and as he lay dying, Nelson's famous remark of "Kiss me, Hardy" was directed at him. Hardy went on to become First Naval Lord in November 1830 and in that capacity refused to become a Member of Parliament and encouraged the introduction of steam warships. Read more
20 Sep 1815: Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist and scholar (born 1725) Nicolas Desmarest was a French geologist and contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, in particular, the multi-volume Géographie-physique. Read more
20 Sep 1803: Robert Emmet, Irish republican (born 1780) Robert Emmet was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt in Ireland to overthrow the British Crown and Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland, and to break the recently enforced union with Great Britain. Emmet entertained, but ultimately abandoned, hopes of immediate French assistance and of coordination with radical militants in Great Britain. In Ireland, many of the surviving veterans of '98 hesitated to lend their support, and his rising in Dublin in 1803 proved abortive. Read more

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