May 20

May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (141st in leap years). There are 225 days remaining.

Births:

• 1768: [Dolly Madison]?, American First Lady
• 1799: [Honoré de Balzac]?, French novelist
• 1806: John Stuart Mill, British philosopher
• 1830: [Hector Malot]?, French writer of [Without family]?
• 1844: [Henri Rousseau]?, French naive painter
• 1901: [Max Euwe]?, Dutch world champion chess 1935-1937
• 1905: [Gerrit Achterberg]?, Dutch poet
• 1908: Jimmy Stewart, American actor
• 1911: [Annie M. G. Schmidt]?, Dutch children books writer
• 1915: [Moshe Dayan]?, Israelian general
• 1933: [Danny Aiello]?, American actor
• 1944: [Joe Cocker]?, British singer
• 1944: [Boudewijn de Groot]?, Dutch singer
• 1946: Cher?, American singer
• 1958: [Ronald Prescott Reagan]?, American talk show host, son to former president Ronald Reagan
• 1959: [Bronson Pinchot]?, American actor

Deaths:

• 1277: Pope John XXI
• 1471: [Henry VI]? King of England
• 1506: Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer
• 1622: Osman II, sultan of Turkey and emperor of the Ottoman Empire
• 1896: [Clara Schumann]?, Austrian composer

Events:

• 1498: Portuguese explorer [Vasco da Gama]? arrives at Calcutta?, India
• 1521: [Battle of Pampeluna]?
• 1690: England passes [Act of Grace]?, forgiving followers of [James II]?
• 1891: first public display of Thomas Alva Edison's kinetoscope? (see Film history)
• 1927: Saudi Arabia becomes independent of Great Britain ([Treaty of Jedda]?)
• 1954: Chiang Kai-shek becomes president of [Nationalist China]?
• 2002: East Timor independence (expected date)

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See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

May 19 - May 21 - April 20 - June 20 - more historical anniversaries