Date·Lore

On This Day · The 293rd day of the year

October 20

October 20 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1740 and 2005. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction, and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.

♎ZodiacLibra ◈BirthstoneOpal ❀Birth flowerMarigold

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on October 20?

October 20 is the 293rd day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1740 and 2005. Famous people born on October 20 include Arthur Rimbaud, Snoop Dogg and Sam Witwer.

The shape of the day

This year marks the 75th anniversary of Johnny Bright incident — October 20 carries the weight of round numbers. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and conflict is a recurring thread.

Libra is the sign for October 20 — read more on the Libra page, or see October's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on October 20

Movies, games, albums & shows

2023

  • Game Marvel's Spider-Man 2

2022

  • Game Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
  • Game New Tales from the Borderlands
  • Game Batora: Lost Haven

2021

  • Game They Always Run

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1740

    Pragmatic Sanction of 1713

    France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction, and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.

  2. 1941

    World War II

    World War II: Thousands of civilians in German-occupied Serbia are murdered in the Kragujevac massacre.

  3. 1947

    Cold War

    Cold War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of the Hollywood film industry, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.

  4. 1951

    Johnny Bright incident

    The "Johnny Bright incident" occurs during a football game between the Drake Bulldogs and Oklahoma A&M Aggies.

  5. 1962

    China

    China launches simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line, igniting the Sino-Indian War.

  6. 1973

    Watergate scandal

    Watergate scandal: "Saturday Night Massacre": United States President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Solicitor General Robert Bork.

  7. 1977

    Lynyrd Skynyrd

    A plane carrying the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in woodland in Mississippi, United States. Six people, including three band members, are killed.

  8. 1982

    FC Spartak Moscow

    During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.

  9. 1986

    Aeroflot Flight 6502

    Aeroflot Flight 6502 crashes while landing at Kuibyshev Airport (now Kuromoch International Airport) in Kuibyshev (now present-day Samara, Russia), killing 70 people.

  10. 2005

    UNESCO

    The general conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passes the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.

Famous birthday twins

Born on October 20

Arthur Rimbaud

b. 1854

French soldier and poet

Snoop Dogg

b. 1971

American rapper, producer, and actor

Sam Witwer

b. 1977

American actor and musician

Bela Lugosi

b. 1882

Hungarian-American actor

Patrick Volkerding

b. 1966

American computer scientist and engineer, founded Slackware

Elfriede Jelinek

b. 1946

Austrian author and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate

Hilda Solis

b. 1957

American academic and politician, 25th United States Secretary of Labor

Deaths

  • 2011Muammar Gaddafi
  • 1984Paul Dirac
  • 1964Herbert Hoover
  • 1953Werner Baumbach
  • 1900Naim Frashëri
  • 1401Klaus Störtebeker

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast days: Acca of Hexham
  • —Christian feast days: Aderald
  • —Christian feast days: Artemius
  • —Christian feast days: Caprasius of Agen
  • —Christian feast days: Hedwig (in Canada, moved from Oct. 16)
  • —Christian feast days: Irene of Tomar
  • —Christian feast days: Magdalene of Nagasaki
  • —Christian feast days: Margaret Marie Alacoque (in Canada, moved from Oct. 16)

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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