October 20

1548 The Bolivian capital city of Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace), commonly known as La Paz, was founded on October 20, 1548 by the Spanish conquistadors at the site of the Native American settlement, Laja. At an elevation of roughly 11,975 ft (3,650 m) above sea level, La Paz is the highest capital city in the world.

La Paz, Bolivia

1632 English mathematician-physicist and architect Christopher Wren was born on October 20, 1632 at East Knoyle in Wiltshire, England. His father, also Christopher Wren, was at that time the rector of East Knoyle. In 1635, Christopher Wren snr was appointed Dean of Windsor by Charles I and the family moved to Windsor. Young Christopher spent his early years at Windsor Castle where his father was Dean. He used to play there with the future Charles II.

1696 The creation of the regular Imperial Russian Navy was declared by Peter the Great's Boyar Duma on October 20, 1696. This date is considered to be the birth date of the Russian Navy. The first shipbuilding program consisted of 52 vessels.

1740 In his memoirs, Voltaire wrote that Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died on October 20, 1740 after "eating mushrooms, which brought on an apoplexy, and this plate of mushrooms changed the destiny of Europe." It appears that his death in 1740 was caused by eating a dish of death caps, the most dangerous of all fungi, which superficially resemble field mushrooms. A single bite can be deadly.

1811 New Orleans was the first steamship on the western waters of the United States. After a  trial trip around Pittsburgh, New Orleans steamed for New Orleans on October 20, 1811 on first the Ohio River, then the Mississippi River. It arrived in its namesake city 72 days later to complete its maiden voyage.

The New Orleans, first steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi

1818 The Convention of 1818 was a landmark agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States that settled a major boundary dispute between the two countries. The treaty established the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and British North America (later Canada) from the Rocky Mountains to Lake of the Woods. This remains the border between the two countries today.

1867 English music educator Sarah Ann Glover, who invented the Norwich sol-fa system, died on October 20, 1867. Solmization (or Solfège) is a system of notation whereby the musical notes of the diatonic scale are designated by syllables and manual signs. The system was introduced by Italian music theorist Guido d'Arezzo in the 11th century. His six-note ascending scale went as follows: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. A seventh note, "Si" was added shortly after to complete the diatonic scale. The Norwich sol-fa system, which was concerned with making note relationships aurally apparent, changed "si" to "ti" so that every syllable might begin with a different letter.

Sarah Ann Glover

1889 Mao Zedong's first wife, Luo Yixiu, was born on October 20, 1889. When Mao finished primary education at the age of 13 his father had him married to the 17-year-old Luo Yixiu, uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognize her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died in 1910.

1891 English scientist Sir James Chadwick, CH, FRS  was born on October 20, 1891. He was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932. Chadwick had originally intended studying mathematics, but he was interviewed by a physicist who assumed Chadwick wanted to study physics. He was too shy to contradict him, so ended up enrolling as a physics major.

1911 Roald Amundsen set off from his winter quarters on October 20, 1911, for his final push to the South Pole with four men, four sledges and 42 dogs. Amundsen and his team had spent the Antarctic winter at a base they named "Framheim," located at the Bay of Whales on the Ross Ice Shelf. They reached the South Pole 25 days later, becoming the first humans to ever do so.

1913 Chiropractic is a method of healing by removing nerve interference through manipulation of the spinal column. A Canadian-born grocer, Daniel David Palmer performed the first chiropractic adjustment in 1895 whilst in Davenport, Iowa. He died after he was struck by an automobile driven by his son, during a homecoming parade at the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport on October 20, 1913.

Daniel David Palmer

1930 Painted Dreams was the first daytime radio soap opera program in the United States. A 15-minute daily show that followed the relationship of Irish-American widow Mother Moynihan and  her unmarried daughter, it debuted on October 20, 1930 on Chicago radio station WGN.

1943 Enid Blyton married her second husband Kenneth Waters at the City of Westminster Register Office on October 20, 1943. Blyton's second marriage was very happy and, as far as her public image was concerned, she moved smoothly into her role as a devoted doctor's wife, living with him and her two daughters at Green Hedges.

1946 Muffin The Mule was the first character created for children’s TV. Muffin first appeared on television in an edition of For the Children broadcast by the BBC on October 20, 1946. The presenter who played the piano while Muffin danced on it was Annette Mills, who was the sister of actor Sir John Mills.

1951 During a NCAA game between Drake and Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) on October 20, 1951. Johnny Bright, a star African American quarterback was repeatedly hit by Oklahoma A&M defensive tackle Wilbanks Smith. One of the hits broke Bright's jaw, even though the ball was far from the play. The incident led the NCAA to introduce new rules to better protect quarterbacks and other players from unnecessary and violent hits away from the ball and the use of more protective helmets with face guards. 

1953 On the evening of October 20. 1953, the famous Shakespearean actor John Gielgud was arrested in Chelsea, London for cruising in a public lavatory. The New Statesman and The Observer, two periodicals with a left-wing slant, urged the legalization of private homosexual acts between consenting adults within a few days of Gielgud's bust. Thus, the arrest of John Gielgud could be seen as the start of a gradual thaw in attitudes in the UK that led to the 1967 overturn of laws criminalizing homosexuality during Harold Wilson 's prime-ministry.

1964 Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States, died following massive internal bleeding in his New York City suite at 11:35 a.m. on October 20, 1964. As the US president from 1929 to 1933 he was best known for his mishandling of the Great Depression. After leaving office, Hoover enjoyed one of the longest retirements of any former president, and he authored numerous works in subsequent decades. When he passed away aged 90, at the time, no former president had lived as long.

1967 The first ever CMA Awards were held on October 20, 1967. Hosted by singers Sonny James and Bobbie Gentry, they were presented at an untelevised ceremony at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. The big winning song was Jack Greene’s "There Goes My Everything" and the Entertainer of the Year award went to Eddy Arnold. The awards were televised live from 1969.

1968 On October 20, 1968, Jackie Kennedy married her long-time friend Aristotle Onassis, a wealthy Greek shipping magnate. The wedding took place on Skorpios, Onassis's private Greek island in the Ionian Sea. Aristotle Onassis' health deteriorated rapidly following the death of his son Alexander in a plane crash in 1973. and he died of respiratory failure at age 69 two years later.

1973 After 15 years of construction, the Sydney Opera House was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II on October 20, 1973. The opera house is considered one of the worst project management failures of our time. It was completed ten years late, 14 times over budget, the architect never saw it completed and the project manager never worked on another project in his career (he became a lecturer at Hawaii University). 

1986 On October 20, 1986, two Russian airline pilots Alexander Kliuyev and Gennady Zhirnov, got into an argument over whether one could land the plane without vision. Kliuyev pulled the curtains over the windows, insisting he could. The aircraft touched down at a speed of 174 miles per hour (280 km/h) and came to rest upside down killing 70 of the passengers.

2011 The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in August 2011 after the National Transitional Council forces took control of the Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War. Gaddafi retreated to Sirte after Tripoli's fall and was captured during the Battle of Sirte on October 20, 2011. He was killed less than an hour later.