Today in History April 20: What Happened on This Date?

1139 2nd Lateran Council (10th ecumenical council) opens in Rome

1505 Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg

1551 John Dudley becomes Earl Marshal of England

1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St Louis

1908 12th Boston Marathon won by Tom Morrissey in 2:25:43.2

1908 Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.

1910 Cleveland Naps Addie Joss 2nd no-hitter, beats Chicago, 1-0

1910 Halley’s Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km

1912 Fenway Park officially opens, Red Sox beat NY Highlanders 7-6 in 11

1912 Tiger Stadium in Detroit opens, Tigers beat Cleveland Indians 6-5

1914 18th Boston Marathon won by Canadian James Duffy in 2:25:01.2

1914 33 killed by soldiers during mine strike in Ludlow, Colo

1914 US President W Wilson, having dispatched more naval ships to Mexico, asks a joint session of Congress to approve armed force if necessary; Congress approves

1915 The Armenians rise and seize the Turkish town of Van, which they hold until Russians relieve them on 19 May; thousands of Armenians are killed

1916 German-British sea battle off Belgian coast

1916 Chicago Cubs play their 1st game at Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) and beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6

1944 Dutch Communist Party resistance fighter John Postma sentence to death

1944 NFL legalizes coaching from bench

1945 Cleveland Browns organization formed by Arthur “Mickey” McBride

1945 German occupiers flood Beemster & Fencer

1945 Soviet artillery begins shelling Berlin

1945 US 7th army captured German city of Nuremberg

1945 US forces conquer Motobu peninsula on Okinawa

1946 1st baseball broadcast in Chicago, Cards vs Cubs

1947 Frederik IX becomes King of Denmark

1948 NYC hikes subway fare from 5 cents to 10 cents

1948 Walter P. Reuther UAW President shot & wounded at his home in Detroit

1949 Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 1st race, in Albany, California

1950 Balt’s Memorial Stadium opens – Orioles of International League

1951 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak

1951 Velsen city council demands investigation of police collaborators

1951 4th Cannes Film Festival: “Miss Julie” directed by Alf Sjoberg and “Miracle in Milan” directed by Vittorio De Sica jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film

1953 57th Boston Marathon won by Keizo Yamada of Japan in 2:18:51

1954 “Golden Apple” opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 125 performances

1955 “Saint of Bleecker St” closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 92 performances

1957 Yankee Bill Skowron becomes 3rd player to hit a ball out of Fenway

1962 New Orleans Citizens Co gives free 1-way ride to blacks to move North

1962 OAS-leader ex-general Salan arrested in Algiers

1963 “Sophie” closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 8 performances

1963 -30] All Africa Conferences of Churches opens in Kampala Uganda

1963 10th National Film Awards (India): “Dada Thakur” wins the Golden Lotus

1964 68th Boston Marathon won for second straight year by Aurele Vandendriessche of Belgium in 2:19:59

1964 86% of black students boycott Cleveland schools

1965 People’s Republic China offers North Vietnam military aid

1966 WDCA TV channel 20 in Washington, D.C. (IND) begins broadcasting

1967 French author Régis Debray caught in Bolivia

1967 US Surveyor 3 lands on Moon

1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1993 Uranus passes Neptune (once every 171 years)

1994 Danny Harold Rolling sentenced to death in Florida for killing 5

1994 Serbian army bombs hospital in Goradze Bosnia, 47 killed

1994 Sohail & Inzamam make world record ODI partnership of 263

1994 Space shuttle STS-59 (Endeavour 6), lands

1996 Chicago Bulls win record 72 games in a season

1996 1996 NFL Draft: Keyshawn Johnson from USC first pick by New York Jets

1997 “Gin Game” opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 144 performances

1997 “Present Laughter” closes at Walter Kerr Theater NYC

1997 1st baseball game in Hawaii, Cards beat Padres in doubleheader

1998 TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53.

1998 German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.

1998 102nd Boston Marathon: Moses Tanui of Kenya wins men’s title in 2:07:34; Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia wins back-to-back women’s events in 2:23:21

1999 Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School, Colorado

2002 NFL Draft: Fresno State quarterback David Carr first pick by Houston Texans

2004 In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.

2007 Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.

2008 Danica Patrick driving for Andretti Green Racing wins the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi; first female driver in history to win an IndyCar Series race

2008 54th British Academy Television Awards: “Fonejacker” Best Comedy, “The Street” best Drama

2009 113th Boston Marathon: Deriba Merga of Ethiopia wins men’s event in 2:08:42; Salina Kosgei of Kenya women’s champion in 2:32:16

2010 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental disaster