Major Events
- 451 Battle of the Catalaunian Plains: Roman and Visigoths forces defeat Attila the Hun in north east France, halting Hun invasion of Roman Gaul (exact date disputed)
- 1789 French Revolution: The Third Estate of the French Estates-General swears the Tennis Court Oath at the Palace of Versailles, swearing not to disband until a new constitution is formed
- 1840 American inventor Samuel Morse patents his telegraph
- 1895 First female PhD from an American University, earned by Caroline Willard Baldwin (in Science) at Cornell University
- 2020 Highest-ever temperature recorded in the Arctic circle, 38C (100F) in Verkhoyansk, Siberia
- More June 20 Events
Jun 20 in Film & TV
- 1975 "Jaws", based on the book by Peter Benchley, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Roy Scheider is released
Jun 20 in Music
- 1969 200,000 attend Newport '69, then largest-ever pop concert in Northridge, California. Jimi Hendrix gets $120,000 to appear
Jun 20 in Sport
- 1987 1st Rugby World Cup Final, Eden Park, Auckland: New Zealand fly-half Grant Fox lands 4 penalties, a conversion and drop goal as the All Blacks beat France, 29-9
Did You Know?
Black Hole of Calcutta: 146 British soldiers, Anglo-Indian soldiers and Indian civilians are imprisoned in a small dungeon in Calcutta, India where most die from suffocation and heat exhaustion
Sigismund III Vasa
Wolfe Tone
Lillian Hellman
Errol Flynn
Lionel Richie
John Goodman
Nicole Kidman
Robert Rodriguez
Brian Wilson
Doris Hart
Fun Fact About June 20
The SS Savannah reaches Cork in Ireland after a 29 day and 11 hour voyage from Savannah, Georgia to become the 1st steamship to cross the Atlantic or any other ocean
Famous Weddings
- 1894 Basketball inventor James Naismith (32) weds Maude Evelyn Sherman (23) in Springfield, Massachusetts
- 1929 Author William Faulkner (31) weds Estelle Oldham at College Hill Presbyterian Church outside Oxford, Mississippi
- 1938 British actor Alec Guinness (24) weds British actress and artist Merula Sylvia Salaman (23) in Surrey, England, until his death in 2000
More June 20 Weddings
Louis the Pious
Manuel Belgrano
Bugsy Siegel
Jack Kilby
Peter ThomsonArticles, Photos and Quiz
Misery of The King's Executioner
He may have caused civil war but the execution of King Charles I shocked many Englishmen and caused untold anguish for the man who took the royal life.
June 20, 1649
Tennis Court Oath
Painting by Jacques-Louis David of the Tennis Court Oath
June 20, 1789
'Gorgeous Gussie' Shocks Wimbledon
There is a strict dress code at Wimbledon and, as Gussie Moran discovered on this day in tennis history, tennis players break it at their peril.
June 20, 1949
