What are the important events that happened on December 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
December 20: Facts & Myths About This Day
December 20 is the 355th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 7, 2024 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 481,848 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.
Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectapentacontapentagon’ day.
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Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 40 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,382 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
Do people and celebrities interest you? Discover all the December 20 famous birthdays who share your special day. Learn some fun facts about your birthday!
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December 20 Historical Events
- 217 –The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed by the theologian Hippolytus who accuses him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.
- 1606 –The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
- 1808 –Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
- 1915 –World War I: Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli.
- 1917 –Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, is founded.
- 1951 –The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
- 1960 –National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
- 1971 –Zulfikar Ali Bhutto takes over as the fourth President of Pakistan.
- 2005 –In Durrës, Albania was founded Aleksander Moisiu University.
- 2007 –The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café by the major Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.
Who were born on December 20?
- 1944 –Jean Fergusson, English actress
- 1945 –Sivakant Tiwari, senior legal officer of the Singapore Legal Service (d. 2010)
- 1946 –Dick Wolf, American television series creator
- 1946 –Lloyd Mumphord, NFL football player
- 1949 –Soumaïla Cissé, Malian politician
- 1957 –Joyce Hyser, American actress
- 1977 –Saukrates, Canadian rapper
- 1978 –Andrei Markov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1982 –David Cook, American singer
- 1982 –Mohammed Asif, Pakistani cricket player
Who died on December 20?
- 1723 –Augustus Quirinus Rivinus (b. 1652)
- 1921 –Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (b. 1850)
- 1935 –Martin O'Meara, Australian soldier (b. 1882)
- 1961 –Earle Page, Australian politician (b. 1880)
- 1974 –André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
- 1997 –Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946)
- 1997 –Denise Levertov, English-born American poet (b. 1923)
- 1999 –Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)
- 2001 –Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
- 2009 –Arnold Stang, American comic actor (b. 1918)
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