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 354th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Saturday.
Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 7, 2025 – a Saturday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?
When this day started, 29,436,480 minutes 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 ‘trihectapentacontatetragon’ 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 59 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 4,747 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.
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December 20 Historical Events
- 69 –Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of emperor.
- 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.
- 1860 –South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.
- 1924 –Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison
- 1951 –The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
- 1955 –Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
- 1977 –Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
- 1995 –NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
- 2004 –A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, one of the largest bank robberies in UK history.
Who were born on December 20?
- 1566 –Edward Wightman, English Baptist preacher (d. 1612)
- 1841 –Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1932)
- 1904 –Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (d. 1977)
- 1911 –Hortense Calisher, American author (d. 2009)
- 1925 –Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer (d. 2007)
- 1927 –Charlie Callas, American comedian (d. 2011)
- 1942 –Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist
- 1965 –Robert Cavanah, Scottish actor
- 1975 –Jaydy Michel, Mexican model
- 1976 –Jang Hyuk, Korean actor
Who died on December 20?
- 1524 –Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician (b. 1460)
- 1722 –Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
- 1786 –Hannah Ocuish, Native American convicted murderer (b. 1774)
- 1862 –Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
- 1929 –Émile Loubet, French statesman (b. 1838)
- 1973 –Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish statesman (b. 1904)
- 1994 –Dean Rusk, American diplomat (b. 1909)
- 1997 –Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946)
- 1998 –Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1909)
- 2002 –Bernard King, Australian chef and television personality (b. 1934)
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