May 20 May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). There are 225 days remaining. Events 300-1899 325 - The First Council of Nicaea is held; the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church. 526 - An Earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia. 1293 - King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcala. 1497 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol on his ship The Mathew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date). 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India. 1521 - Battle of Pampeluna. 1570 - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas. 1690 - England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of Catholic James II. 1845 - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost. 1861 - American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law. 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Bermuda Hundred - In Virginia, 3,000 Confederates and l,200 Union troops are killed in this Union victory. 1874 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. 1882 - The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed. 1891 - History of cinema: First public display of Thomas Alva Edison's prototype kinetoscope (shown at Edison's Laboratory for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs). 1900-1999 1902 - Cuba gains independence from the United States. 1916 - The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage"). 1916 - The town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. 1917 - The town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. 1918 - For the third consecutive year on this date, the town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. 1920 - Montreal Quebec station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America. 1927 - Treaty of Jedda: Saudi Arabia becomes independent from the United Kingdom. 1927 - At 7:52 A.M Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York on the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean (he will touch down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 10:22 P.M. the next day). 1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day. 1940 - Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz. 1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete - German troops invade Crete. 1949 - In America the AFSA (predecessor of the NSA) is established. 1954 - Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly 1965 - A Pakistani Airlines Boeing 720-B crashes on landing at Cairo, Egypt, airport killing 121 people. 1971 - Soul singer Marvin Gaye releases the influencial album What's Going On 1985 - Propaganda: Radio Marti begins broadcasting to Cuba. 1990 - The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania. 1992 - Amy Fisher, the so-called "Long Island Lolita," is arrested for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco on the front porch of her Massapequa, New York home. 1993 - The television sitcom, Cheers ends an 11-year run on NBC (the show debuted on September 30, 1982). 1996 - Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of homosexuals. 2000-2099 2002 - Restoration of East Timor independence. Births 1400-1899 1470 - Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal (d. 1547) 1726 - Francis Cotes, English painter (d. 1770) 1737 - William Petty Fitzmaurice, later 2nd Earl of Shelburn & 1st Marquess of Landsdowne, British statesman (d. 1805) 1759 - William Thornton, original architect of the United States Capitol (d. 1828) 1768 - Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States (d. 1849) 1772 - Sir William Congreve, inventor (d. 1828) 1799 - Honoré de Balzac, novelist (d. 1850) 1806 - John Stuart Mill, philosopher (d. 1873) 1830 - Hector Malot, writer (d. 1907) 1838 - Jules Méline, French statesman (d. 1925) 1851 - Emil Berliner, telephone and recording pioneer (d. 1929) 1882 - Sigrid Undset, author and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature 1928 (d. 1949) 1883 - King Faisal I of Iraq (d. 1933) 1894 - Adela Rogers St. Johns, author (d. 1988) 1895 - R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell, British aircraft designer, developer of the Spitfire (d. 1937) 1900-1999 1901 - Max Euwe, world chess champion (d. 1981) 1903 - Barbara Hepworth, sculptor (d. 1975) 1905 - Gerrit Achterberg, poet 1906 - Giuseppe Cardinal Siri, senior cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (d. 1989) 1908 - Jimmy Stewart, actor (d. 1997) 1911 - Annie M. G. Schmidt, children's book writer 1911 - Gardner Fox, writer (d. 1986) 1913 - William Hewlett, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard (d. 2001) 1915 - Moshe Dayan, general (d. 1981) 1916 - Corneliu Coposu, Romanian politician (d. 1995) 1916 - Trebisonda Valla, athlete 1919 - George Gobel, comedian (d. 1991) 1920 - Betty Driver, big band singer and actress 1921 - Wolfgang Borchert, lyricist, narrator and dramatist (d. 1947) 1921 - Hal Newhouser, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1998) 1927 - Bud Grant, Canadian and American football coach 1930 - James McEachin, actor 1931 - Ken Boyer, baseball player (d. 1981) 1935 - Marinella, Greek singer 1936 - Anthony Zerbe, actor 1940 - Stan Mikita, Hockey Hall of Famer 1940 - Sadaharu Oh, baseball star 1942 - David Proval, actor 1944 - Joe Cocker, singer 1944 - Boudewijn de Groot, singer 1946 - Cher, singer 1952 - Roger Milla, Cameroonian football star 1955 - Zbigniew Preisner, film composer 1956 - Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian author 1958 - Ron Reagan, dancer, talk show host, son of former President Ronald Reagan 1958 - Jane Wiedlin, singer 1959 - Bronson Pinchot, actor 1959 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Hawaiian singer 1960 - John Billingsley, actor (Star Trek: Enterprise) 1960 - Tony Goldwyn, actor 1962 - Mike Jeffries, American soccer coach 1966 - Mindy Cohn, actress 1968 - Timothy Olyphant, actor 1971 - Tony Stewart, motor racing driver 1972 - Busta Rhymes, rap music singer 1976 - Ramón Hernández, Major League Baseball All-Star Deaths 600-1899 685 - Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria (b. 645) 1254 - King Conrad IV of Germany (b. 1228) 1277 - Pope John XXI 1506 - Christopher Columbus, explorer (b. 1451) 1550 - Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1510) 1622 - Osman II, sultan of Turkey and emperor of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1604) 1793 - Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist (b. 1720) 1841 - Joseph Blanco White, British theologian (b. 1775) 1873 - Sir George-Étienne Cartier, French-Canadian statesman (b. 1814) 1896 - Clara Schumann, composer (b. 1819) 1900-1999 1917 - Philipp von Ferrary, stamp collector (b. 1850) 1956 - Max Beerbohm, theater critic (b. 1872) 1971 - Waldo Williams, poet (b. 1904) 1989 - Gilda Radner, comedian, actress (b. 1946) 1996 - Jon Pertwee, actor (Doctor Who) (b. 1919) 2000-2099 2000 - Jean Pierre Rampal, French flutist (b. 1922) 2001 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer 2002 - Stephen Gould, paleontologist (b. 1941) Holidays and observances Cameroon National Day East Timor National Day Misc Eliza Doolittle Day from My Fair Lady May 19 - May 21 - April 20 - June 20 -- listing of all days FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. 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