February 20

1258 After Baghdad was overrun by the Mongols in 1258, the Caliph, Al-Musta'sim, surrendered to them in the belief that their practices prevented them from shedding the blood of a man of such a high royal and religious status. Sure enough, the Mongols kept to their custom by wrapping him in a rug and trampling him to death on February 20, 1258.

Siege of Baghdad by the Mongols led by Hulagu Khan in 1258

1472 In 1468, Christian I, the King of Denmark and Norway, pledged the Orkney and Shetland Islands to Scotland as security for the payment of the dowry of his daughter, Margaret, who was betrothed to James III of Scotland. The dowry was not paid in full, and in 1470 the Scottish Parliament declared the islands to be annexed to Scotland. On February 20, 1472, the formal document of cession was signed by Christian I, officially transferring the islands to Scotland.

1547 9-year-old Edward VI was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on February 20, 1547. As Edward was only nine years old at the time, the coronation ceremony was reduced from 12 to 7 hours long. The boy king’s golden throne also had to be boosted with two cushions.

1685 René-Robert Cavelier established Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay on February 20, 1685 thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas. In response, Spain set up a rival colony in 1691 by setting up a religious outpost in the eastern part of Texas.

1792 The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, was signed by United States President George Washington on February 20, 1792.  Postage was 6 - 12 cents depending on distance.

1797 On February 20, 1797, Horatio Nelson was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Blue. It was a standard promotion according to his seniority and unrelated to his victory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, which was fought six days earlier.

1816 Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) was completed in 13 days. It was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy, Le Barbier de Séville, which took Paris by storm in 1775. The Barber of Seville's premiere in Rome on February 20, 1816 was a disastrous failure; Everything went wrong, a guitar string snapped, a cat walked on stage and the audience hissed and jeered throughout.

1829 The annual Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge universities was started by two friends Charles Merivale (Cambridge) and Charles (nephew of William) Wordsworth (Oxford). On February 20, 1829 a letter was sent to Oxford proposing a match. Oxford won the first boat race by 5 or 6 lengths.

1837 Victor Hugo's brother, Eugène, died at Charenton Asylum on February 20, 1837. He'd gone mad when the French author married Adèle Foucher, whom the brothers had known since childhood and with whom Eugène was secretly in love with.

1841 German pharmacist Frederick Sertürner died on February 20, 1841. Sertürner isolated the alkaloid compound morphine from unripe poppy blossoms. As he found it gave relief from severe pain, and relaxed the patient by making him drowsy, he named the drug after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. Morphine was the first ever alkaloid to be isolated from any plant. Thus Sertürner became the first person to isolate the active ingredient associated with a medicinal plant or herb.

1862 Abraham Lincoln and his wife Mary had four sons: Robert Todd Lincoln, Edward Baker Lincoln, William Wallace Lincoln (also known as "Willie"), and Thomas "Tad" Lincoln. Sadly, three of their sons died before reaching adulthood. Willie, their third son, died of typhoid fever on February 20, 1862, at the age of 11. His death was a significant personal tragedy for the Lincolns, occurring during the midst of the Civil War when the pressures of the presidency were at their greatest.

1872 New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art opened on February 20, 1872. The opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was a significant cultural event, and it was attended by many prominent figures of the time, including President Ulysses S. Grant. The museum's collection has grown significantly since its founding, and it is now one of the largest and most comprehensive art museums in the world, with over 2 million works of art spanning 5,000 years of world culture.

1878 Pope Leo XIII reigned as Pope from February 20, 1878 to his death in 1903. Leo worked to reconcile the Catholic church and the modern world. He declared Thomas Aquinas' Scholastic system that science and religion can live together to be the official Catholic philosophy.

1892 Oscar Wilde wrote four successive comical plays in the 1890s. The first one was Lady Windermere's Fan, which was written for the actress Lilly Langtry in 1892. It was first performed on February 20, 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London.

1902 The photographer Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco, California on February 20, 1902, and raised in a house that overlooked the Golden Gate Bridge. An American landscape photographer particularly of the mountainous Far West, Adams was considered a technical innovator in his field. He was also honored as a conservationist.

1895 Abolitionist Frederick Douglass died on February 20, 1895. Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland. After escaping to freedom on September 3, 1838, he became the most prominent of the black abolitionists and eventually became the first black to hold high political office, as consul-general to the Republic of Haiti.

Frederick Douglass

1935 Danish Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot on Antarctica on February 20, 1935. She accompanied her Norwegian husband, Captain Klarius Mikkelsen, on an expedition, which made landfall at the Vestfold Hills near the present Davis Station. Mikkelsen left the ship and participated in building a memorial cairn. A mountain, Mount Caroline Mikkelsen, is named after her.

1952 Emmett Ashford (1914-80) became the first African-American umpire in organized baseball, when on February 20, 1952; he was authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League. Ashford became major league's first black umpire in 1966. He gained a reputation for his flamboyant calling of balls and strikes.

1962 The people of Perth in Australia all turned their lights on at the same time on February 20, 1962 to greet astronaut John Glenn who was orbiting above them in Friendship 7.

1967 Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was born at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington on February 20, 1967, to a waitress, Wendy Elizabeth, and an automotive mechanic, Donald Leland Cobain. He had a happy childhood until his parents divorced when he was 7-years-old. The divorce left Kurt's outlook on the world forever scarred.

1981 On his 14th birthday on February 20, 1981, Kurt Cobain's Uncle Chuck, who played in a band called the Beachcombers, offered him either a bike or a used guitar. He chose the guitar. and soon, Cobain began working on his own songs.

1990 On February 20, 1990, a garden snail named Verne completed a 31-cm (12.2-in) course at West Middle School in Plymouth, Michigan, USA, in a world record 2 min 13 sec at 0.233 cm/sec (0.09 in/sec).

1993 The greatest paid attendance at a boxing match is 132,274: This record was set on February 20, 1993 at the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City, Mexico. The main event was the successful WBC super lightweight title defense by Julio César Chávez (Mexico) over Greg Haugen (USA).

1998 On February 20, 1998, ice skater Tara Lipinski of the U.S. became the youngest gold medalist in Winter Olympics history when she won the ladies’ figure skating title in Nagano, Japan, aged 15 years and 8 months. The previous year Tara Lipinski was the youngest champion women's World Figure Skating Champion at the age of 14 years and 10 months.

2005 The writer Hunter S. Thompson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on February 20, 2005. He killed himself while on the phone with his wife. She mistook the cocking of the gun for the sound of his typewriter keys and hung up as he fired.

2006 The flag of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was adopted on February 20, 2006. The flag features a sky blue field with a yellow bordered diagonal red stripe from the lower hoist-side corner to the upper fly-side corner. The red stripe represents the blood of those who died in the country's struggle for independence, while the yellow symbolizes prosperity. The blue background represents peace and stability. The Congo is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world.

Congo flag

2008 Former world champion 110 meter hurdler Colin Jackson once held the record for throwing a peanut the farthest. On February 20, 2008 he threw a peanut 37.92 meters (124 feet, four inches) at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff. His record was usurped by Seiji Suwa from Japan. who achieved a distance of 47.73 meters (156 feet 7 inches) at an event organized by YAMASU Co., Ltd. in Japan in November 2023.

2009 Socks (1989 – February 20, 2009) was the pet cat that lived with the Clintons in the White House. He was a stray who jumped into Bill and Hillary's daughter Chelsea's arms one day in 1991. After Clinton left office, Socks resided with his former secretary Betty Currie and her husband, owing to continuing conflicts with Clinton's dog Buddy.

2014 The 8500 carat $2 million Liberty Bell Ruby, which was found in East Africa in the 1950s. was stolen from a jeweler on November 1, 2011. On February 20, 2014, four men were arrested and indicted for the heist. Police have little hope that the Liberty Bell Ruby will be recovered.

Liberty Bell Ruby

2018 Coldilocks, the oldest polar bear in America, was euthanized after declining health including potential liver and spinal problems on February 20, 2018. Two months earlier Philadelphia Zoo had celebrated Coldilocks' 37th birthday.