November 20 All Events |
Read about how to open files in Open File Database. |
| November 20th, 2007 (November 20 2007) | Death | Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia (born in 1919) | |
| November 20th, 2006 (November 20 2006) | Death | Robert Altman, American film director (born in 1925) | |
| November 20th, 2006 (November 20 2006) | Death | Zoia Ceausescu, Romanian mathematician (born in 1950) | |
| November 20th, 2006 (November 20 2006) | Death | Andre Waters, American football player (born in 1962) | |
| November 20th, 2005 (November 20 2005) | Death | Manouchehr Atashi, Iranian poet (born in 1931) | |
| November 20th, 2005 (November 20 2005) | Death | Sheldon Gardner, American psychologist (born in 1934) | |
| November 20th, 2005 (November 20 2005) | Death | James King, American singer (born in 1925) | |
| November 20th, 2005 (November 20 2005) | Death | Chris Whitley, American musician (born in 1960) | |
| November 20th, 2004 (November 20 2004) | Death | David Grierson, Canadian radio host (born in 1955) | |
| November 20th, 2004 (November 20 2004) | Death | Jenny Ross, English musician (Section 25) (born in 1962) | |
| November 20th, 2003 (November 20 2003) | Event | After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate. | Roy Turk Quotes |
| November 20th, 2003 (November 20 2003) | Death | Robert Addie, British actor (cancer) (born in 1960) | |
| November 20th, 2003 (November 20 2003) | Death | Loris Azzaro, French fashion designer (born in 1933) | |
| November 20th, 2003 (November 20 2003) | Death | David Dacko, first President of the Central African Republic (born in 1930) | |
| November 20th, 2003 (November 20 2003) | Death | Eugene Kleiner, American entrepreneur (born in 1923) | |
| November 20th, 2003 (November 20 2003) | Death | Roger Short, British Consulate General (born in 1944) | |
| November 20th, 2003 (November 20 2003) | Death | Jim Siedow, American actor (born in 1920) | |
| November 20th, 2003 (November 20 2003) | Death | Kerem Yilmazer, Turkish actor (born in 1945) | |
| November 20th, 2001 (November 20 2001) | Event | In Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicates the United States Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday. | Robert F. Kennedy Quotes |
| November 20th, 2000 (November 20 2000) | Birth | Connie Talbot, English singer | |
| November 20th, 2000 (November 20 2000) | Death | Mike Muuss, American computer programmer (born in 1958) | |
| November 20th, 2000 (November 20 2000) | Death | Kalle Paatalo, Finnish writer (born in 1919) | |
| November 20th, 1999 (November 20 1999) | Birth | Princess Sofia of Bulgaria, titular Bulgarian royal family | |
| November 20th, 1999 (November 20 1999) | Birth | Prince Umberto of Bulgaria, titular Bulgarian royal family | |
| November 20th, 1999 (November 20 1999) | Death | Amintore Fanfani, Italian politician and prime minister (born in 1908) | |
| November 20th, 1998 (November 20 1998) | Event | A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. | Osama bin Laden Quotes |
| November 20th, 1998 (November 20 1998) | Event | The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched. | |
| November 20th, 1998 (November 20 1998) | Death | Galina Starovoitova, Russian politician (born in 1946) | |
| November 20th, 1997 (November 20 1997) | Death | Dick Littlefield, baseball player (born in 1926) | |
| November 20th, 1995 (November 20 1995) | Death | Sergei Grinkov, Russian Olympic and World Figure Skating Champion (born in 1967) | |
| November 20th, 1994 (November 20 1994) | Event | The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war (localized fighting resumed the next year). | |
| November 20th, 1994 (November 20 1994) | Death | John Lucarotti, TV writer (born in 1926) | |
| November 20th, 1993 (November 20 1993) | Event | Savings and Loan scandal: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating. | Alan Cranston Quotes |
| November 20th, 1993 (November 20 1993) | Event | An Avioimpex Yak 42D crashes near Ohrid, Macedonia. The aircraft was on a flight from Geneva, Switzerland to Skopje, but had been diverted to Ohrid due to poor weather conditions at the Skopje airport. On landing the aircraft crashed into Mount Trojani near Ohridied in All eight crew members and 115 of the 116 passengers were killed. | |
| November 20th, 1992 (November 20 1992) | Event | In England, a fire breaks out in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle, rages for 15 hours, and seriously damages the northwest side of the building (an investigation found that the fire was ignited after a spotlight came into contact with a curtain over an extended period). | |
| November 20th, 1990 (November 20 1990) | Birth | Sam Burton, English footballer | |
| November 20th, 1989 (November 20 1989) | Event | Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million. | |
| November 20th, 1989 (November 20 1989) | Birth | Cody Linley, American actor | |
| November 20th, 1989 (November 20 1989) | Birth | Tyga, American rapper | |
| November 20th, 1986 (November 20 1986) | Birth | Aaron Yan, Taiwanese singer and actor | |
| November 20th, 1985 (November 20 1985) | Event | Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released. | |
| November 20th, 1985 (November 20 1985) | Birth | Juan Cruz Alvarez, Argentine racing driver | Al Alvarez Quotes |
| November 20th, 1985 (November 20 1985) | Birth | Dan Byrd, American actor | |
| November 20th, 1984 (November 20 1984) | Event | SETI is founded. | |
| November 20th, 1984 (November 20 1984) | Birth | Ferdinando Monfardini, Italian racing driver | |
| November 20th, 1983 (November 20 1983) | Event | An estimated 100 million people watch the controversial made-for-television movie The Day After, depicting a nuclear war and its effects on the United States. | |
| November 20th, 1983 (November 20 1983) | Death | Marcel Dalio, French actor (born in 1900) | |
| November 20th, 1982 (November 20 1982) | Birth | Margo Stilley, American actress | |
| November 20th, 1981 (November 20 1981) | Birth | Carlos Boozer, American basketball player | |
| November 20th, 1981 (November 20 1981) | Birth | Kimberley Walsh, English singer (Girls Aloud) | |
| November 20th, 1980 (November 20 1980) | Birth | James Chambers, English footballer | |
| November 20th, 1980 (November 20 1980) | Death | John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (born in 1900) | |
| November 20th, 1979 (November 20 1979) | Event | Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages in the Kaaba. The Saudi government received help from French special forces to put down the uprising. | |
| November 20th, 1979 (November 20 1979) | Birth | Ericson Alexander Molano, Colombian gospel singer | |
| November 20th, 1979 (November 20 1979) | Birth | Maree Bowden, New Zealand netball player (Silver Ferns) | |
| November 20th, 1978 (November 20 1978) | Birth | Ryan Leslie, American singer/songwriter | |
| November 20th, 1978 (November 20 1978) | Birth | Freya Lin, Taiwanese singer | |
| November 20th, 1978 (November 20 1978) | Birth | Nadine Velazquez, American actress and model | |
| November 20th, 1978 (November 20 1978) | Death | Vasilisk Gnedov, Russian poet (born in 1890) | |
| November 20th, 1977 (November 20 1977) | Birth | Rudy Charles, American professional wrestling referee | |
| November 20th, 1977 (November 20 1977) | Birth | Josh Turner, American singer | |
| November 20th, 1976 (November 20 1976) | Birth | Dominique Dawes, American gymnast | |
| November 20th, 1976 (November 20 1976) | Birth | Jason Thompson, Canadian actor | |
| November 20th, 1976 (November 20 1976) | Birth | Theodoros Velkos, badminton player | |
| November 20th, 1976 (November 20 1976) | Death | Trofim Lysenko, Stalinist biologist (born in 1898) | |
| November 20th, 1975 (November 20 1975) | Event | Francisco Franco, Caudillo of Spain dies after 36 years in power. He died on the 39th anniversary of the death of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera. | |
| November 20th, 1975 (November 20 1975) | Birth | Dierks Bentley, American singer | |
| November 20th, 1975 (November 20 1975) | Birth | J. D. Drew, American baseball player | |
| November 20th, 1975 (November 20 1975) | Birth | Davey Havok, singer (AFI) | Davey Havok Quotes |
| November 20th, 1975 (November 20 1975) | Death | Francisco Franco, Head of State of Spain (1936-1975) (born in 1892) | |
| November 20th, 1974 (November 20 1974) | Event | The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the break up of AT&T and its Bell System. | |
| November 20th, 1973 (November 20 1973) | Death | Allan Sherman, American comedian (born in 1924) | |
| November 20th, 1972 (November 20 1972) | Birth | Sheema Kalbasi, Iranian born poet | |
| November 20th, 1971 (November 20 1971) | Birth | Joey Galloway, American football wide receiver | |
| November 20th, 1971 (November 20 1971) | Birth | Joel McHale, American actor and comedian | |
| November 20th, 1970 (November 20 1970) | Birth | Matt Blunt, American politician | |
| November 20th, 1970 (November 20 1970) | Birth | Delia Gonzalez, American boxer | |
| November 20th, 1970 (November 20 1970) | Birth | Geoffrey Keezer, American jazz pianist | |
| November 20th, 1970 (November 20 1970) | Birth | Joe Zaso, American actor | |
| November 20th, 1969 (November 20 1969) | Event | Vietnam War: The Cleveland Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. | |
| November 20th, 1969 (November 20 1969) | Birth | Callie Thorne, American actor | |
| November 20th, 1968 (November 20 1968) | Event | Vietnam War: Eleven men comprising a Long Range Patrol team from F Company, 58th Infantry, 101st Airborne are surrounded and nearly wiped out by North Vietnamese army regulars from the 4th and 5th Regiment. The seven wounded survivors are rescued after several hours by an impromptu force made of other men from their unit. | Earl Long Quotes |
| November 20th, 1967 (November 20 1967) | Birth | Chris Childs, American basketball player | |
| November 20th, 1967 (November 20 1967) | Birth | Teoman, Turkish rock singer | |
| November 20th, 1966 (November 20 1966) | Birth | Kevin Gilbert, American musician (died in 1996) | |
| November 20th, 1966 (November 20 1966) | Birth | Jill Thompson, American comic book writer and artist | |
| November 20th, 1965 (November 20 1965) | Birth | Mike D, American musician (Beastie Boys) | |
| November 20th, 1965 (November 20 1965) | Birth | Sen Dog, Cuban rapper (Cypress Hill) | |
| November 20th, 1965 (November 20 1965) | Birth | Yoshiki Hayashi, Japanese musician (X Japan) | |
| November 20th, 1963 (November 20 1963) | Birth | Timothy Gowers, British mathematician | |
| November 20th, 1963 (November 20 1963) | Birth | Ming-Na Wen, Macau-born actress | |
| November 20th, 1962 (November 20 1962) | Event | Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation. | John F. Kennedy Quotes |
| November 20th, 1961 (November 20 1961) | Birth | Tim Harvey, British racing driver | |
| November 20th, 1961 (November 20 1961) | Birth | Larry Karaszewski, American screenwriter | |
| November 20th, 1961 (November 20 1961) | Birth | Dave Watson, English footballer | |
| November 20th, 1960 (November 20 1960) | Birth | Marc Labreche, Canadian actor and television host | |
| November 20th, 1959 (November 20 1959) | Birth | James P. McGovern, American politician | |
| November 20th, 1959 (November 20 1959) | Birth | Sean Young, American actress | |
| November 20th, 1958 (November 20 1958) | Birth | Rickson Gracie, Brazilian Mixed Martial Artist | Martial Quotes |
| November 20th, 1957 (November 20 1957) | Birth | Stefan Bellof, German race car driver (died in 1985) | |
| November 20th, 1957 (November 20 1957) | Birth | Mike Craven, former English professional footballer | |
| November 20th, 1957 (November 20 1957) | Death | Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-Lithuanian artist (died in 1875) | |
| November 20th, 1956 (November 20 1956) | Birth | Bo Derek, American actress | |
| November 20th, 1956 (November 20 1956) | Birth | Mark Gastineau, American football player | |
| November 20th, 1954 (November 20 1954) | Birth | Frank Marino, Canadian Guitarist (Rock, Blues, Jazz) | |
| November 20th, 1954 (November 20 1954) | Birth | Berit Andnor, Swedish politician | |
| November 20th, 1954 (November 20 1954) | Birth | Steve Dahl, American radio personality | |
| November 20th, 1954 (November 20 1954) | Death | Clyde Vernon Cessna, aviation pioneer (Cessna) (born in 1879) | |
| November 20th, 1952 (November 20 1952) | Event | Slansky trialsa series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia. | |
| November 20th, 1952 (November 20 1952) | Birth | John Van Boxmeer, National Hockey League player | |
| November 20th, 1951 (November 20 1951) | Birth | David Walters, American politician | |
| November 20th, 1950 (November 20 1950) | Death | Francesco Cilea, Italian composer (born in 1866) | |
| November 20th, 1949 (November 20 1949) | Birth | Thelma Drake, American politician | |
| November 20th, 1948 (November 20 1948) | Birth | John R. Bolton, American ambassador | |
| November 20th, 1948 (November 20 1948) | Birth | Barbara Hendricks, American-born singer | |
| November 20th, 1948 (November 20 1948) | Birth | Richard Masur, American actor | |
| November 20th, 1947 (November 20 1947) | Event | The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London. | |
| November 20th, 1947 (November 20 1947) | Birth | Joe Walsh, American musician | |
| November 20th, 1946 (November 20 1946) | Birth | Duane Allman, American guitarist (The Allman Brothers Band) (died in 1971) | |
| November 20th, 1946 (November 20 1946) | Birth | Greg Cook, American football player | |
| November 20th, 1946 (November 20 1946) | Birth | Judy Woodruff, American TV anchor | |
| November 20th, 1945 (November 20 1945) | Event | Nuremberg Trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg. | |
| November 20th, 1945 (November 20 1945) | Birth | Rick Monday, American baseball player | |
| November 20th, 1945 (November 20 1945) | Birth | Nanette Workman, American-born Canadian singer and actress | |
| November 20th, 1945 (November 20 1945) | Death | Francis William Aston, British chemist, Nobel laureate (born in 1877) | |
| November 20th, 1944 (November 20 1944) | Birth | Louie Dampier, American basketball player | |
| November 20th, 1943 (November 20 1943) | Event | World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) beginsUnited States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns. | |
| November 20th, 1943 (November 20 1943) | Birth | Veronica Hamel, American actress | |
| November 20th, 1942 (November 20 1942) | Birth | Joe Biden, American politician | |
| November 20th, 1942 (November 20 1942) | Birth | Norman Greenbaum, American singer | |
| November 20th, 1942 (November 20 1942) | Birth | Meredith Monk, American composer, performer, director, vocalist, film-maker, and choreographer | |
| November 20th, 1941 (November 20 1941) | Birth | Haseena Moin, Pakistani television drama writer and Urdu playwright | |
| November 20th, 1940 (November 20 1940) | Event | World War II: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers. | |
| November 20th, 1940 (November 20 1940) | Birth | Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian (Super Dave Osborne) | |
| November 20th, 1939 (November 20 1939) | Birth | Dick Smothers, American comedian | |
| November 20th, 1938 (November 20 1938) | Death | Enzo Matsunaga, Japanese writer (born in 1895) | |
| November 20th, 1937 (November 20 1937) | Birth | Rene Kollo, German tenor | |
| November 20th, 1937 (November 20 1937) | Birth | Ruth Laredo, American pianist (died in 2005) | |
| November 20th, 1937 (November 20 1937) | Birth | Eero Mantyranta, Finnish cross-country skier | |
| November 20th, 1937 (November 20 1937) | Birth | Viktoriya Tokareva, Russian playwright | |
| November 20th, 1936 (November 20 1936) | Event | Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange is killed by a republican execution squad. | |
| November 20th, 1936 (November 20 1936) | Event | The levee of a pond fails at Mitsubishi Osarizawa mine, Kazuno, northeastern Akita, Japan, killing at least 362. | |
| November 20th, 1936 (November 20 1936) | Birth | Don DeLillo, American author | |
| November 20th, 1936 (November 20 1936) | Death | Buenaventura Durruti, Spanish anarchist (born in 1896) | |
| November 20th, 1936 (November 20 1936) | Death | Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, Founder of the Falange. Executed by firing squadied in (born in 1903) | |
| November 20th, 1934 (November 20 1934) | Death | Willem de Sitter, Dutch scientist (born in 1872) | |
| November 20th, 1932 (November 20 1932) | Birth | Richard Dawson, English-born actor and game show host | |
| November 20th, 1929 (November 20 1929) | Birth | Don January, American professional golfer | |
| November 20th, 1928 (November 20 1928) | Birth | Aleksey Batalov, Russian actor | |
| November 20th, 1928 (November 20 1928) | Birth | John Disley, Welsh athlete | |
| November 20th, 1927 (November 20 1927) | Birth | Estelle Parsons, American actress | |
| November 20th, 1926 (November 20 1926) | Birth | Kaye Ballard, American comic actress | |
| November 20th, 1926 (November 20 1926) | Birth | Terry Hall, English ventriloquist (died in 2007) | |
| November 20th, 1926 (November 20 1926) | Birth | Andrzej W. Schally, Polish-born endocrinologist, Nobel laureate | |
| November 20th, 1925 (November 20 1925) | Birth | Robert F. Kennedy, American politician (died in 1968) | Robert F. Kennedy Quotes |
| November 20th, 1925 (November 20 1925) | Birth | Maya Plisetskaya, Russian ballet dancer | |
| November 20th, 1925 (November 20 1925) | Death | Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (born in 1844) | |
| November 20th, 1924 (November 20 1924) | Birth | Benoit Mandelbrot, Polish-born French mathematician | |
| November 20th, 1923 (November 20 1923) | Event | Rentenmark replaces the Papiermark as the official currency of Germany at the exchange rate of one Rentenmark to One Trillion (One Billion on the long scale) Papiermark | |
| November 20th, 1923 (November 20 1923) | Birth | Nadine Gordimer, South African writer, Nobel laureate | |
| November 20th, 1921 (November 20 1921) | Birth | Jim Garrison, American district attorney and judge (died in 1992) | |
| November 20th, 1921 (November 20 1921) | Birth | Phyllis Thaxter, American actress | |
| November 20th, 1917 (November 20 1917) | Event | World War I: Battle of Cambrai beginsBritish forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back. | |
| November 20th, 1917 (November 20 1917) | Event | Ukraine is declared a republic. | |
| November 20th, 1917 (November 20 1917) | Birth | Robert Byrd, American politician | Robert Byrd Quotes |
| November 20th, 1917 (November 20 1917) | Birth | Bobby Locke, South African golfer (died in 1987) | |
| November 20th, 1916 (November 20 1916) | Birth | Evelyn Keyes, American actress | |
| November 20th, 1915 (November 20 1915) | Birth | Kon Ichikawa, iconic Japanese film director | |
| November 20th, 1914 (November 20 1914) | Birth | Emilio Pucci, Italian fashion designer (died in 1992) | |
| November 20th, 1913 (November 20 1913) | Birth | Judy Canova, American actress (died in 1983) | |
| November 20th, 1912 (November 20 1912) | Birth | Otto von Habsburg, Austrian-German nobleman, head of the Habsburg house | |
| November 20th, 1910 (November 20 1910) | Event | Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero issues the Plan de San Luis Potosi, denouncing President Porfirio Diaz, declaring himself president, and calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution. | |
| November 20th, 1910 (November 20 1910) | Birth | Willem Jacob van Stockum, Dutch physicist (died in 1944) | |
| November 20th, 1910 (November 20 1910) | Death | Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian novelist (born in 1828) | Leo Tolstoy Quotes |
| November 20th, 1908 (November 20 1908) | Birth | Alistair Cooke, British-born journalist (died in 2004) | |
| November 20th, 1908 (November 20 1908) | Death | Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (born in 1868) | |
| November 20th, 1907 (November 20 1907) | Birth | Fran Allison, American , early television personality, (Kukla, Fran and Ollie) (died in 1989) | |
| November 20th, 1907 (November 20 1907) | Birth | Henri-Georges Clouzot, French film director (died in 1977) | |
| November 20th, 1903 (November 20 1903) | Birth | Alexandra Danilova, Russian ballerina (died in 1997) | |
| November 20th, 1903 (November 20 1903) | Birth | Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and educationist (died in 1981) | |
| November 20th, 1900 (November 20 1900) | Birth | Chester Gould, creator of comic strips (Dick Tracy) (died in 1985) | |
| November 20th, 1896 (November 20 1896) | Birth | Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (died in 1977) | |
| November 20th, 1894 (November 20 1894) | Death | Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist and composer (born in 1829) | |
| November 20th, 1889 (November 20 1889) | Birth | Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (died in 1953) | |
| November 20th, 1886 (November 20 1886) | Birth | Karl von Frisch, Austrian zoologist, Nobel laureate (died in 1982) | |
| November 20th, 1884 (November 20 1884) | Birth | Norman Thomas, American social reformer (died in 1968) | |
| November 20th, 1882 (November 20 1882) | Birth | Andy Coakley, baseball player and long-time coach at Columbia University (died in 1963) | |
| November 20th, 1880 (November 20 1880) | Birth | George McBride, baseball player (died in 1973) | |
| November 20th, 1874 (November 20 1874) | Birth | James Michael Curley, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts (died in 1958) | |
| November 20th, 1869 (November 20 1869) | Birth | Clark Griffith, Baseball manager (died in 1955) | |
| November 20th, 1866 (November 20 1866) | Birth | Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American judge (died in 1944) | |
| November 20th, 1864 (November 20 1864) | Birth | Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer (died in 1931) | |
| November 20th, 1861 (November 20 1861) | Event | Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky s Confederate government. | |
| November 20th, 1858 (November 20 1858) | Birth | Selma Lagerlof, Swedish author, Nobel laureate (died in 1940) | |
| November 20th, 1856 (November 20 1856) | Death | Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (born in 1775) | |
| November 20th, 1851 (November 20 1851) | Birth | Queen Margherita of Italy (died in 1926) | |
| November 20th, 1841 (November 20 1841) | Birth | Victor D Hondt, Belgian mathematician (died in 1901) | |
| November 20th, 1841 (November 20 1841) | Birth | Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (died in 1919) | |
| November 20th, 1839 (November 20 1839) | Birth | Christian Wilberg, German painter (died in 1882) | |
| November 20th, 1820 (November 20 1820) | Event | An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville s 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this story). | Herman Melville Quotes |
| November 20th, 1789 (November 20 1789) | Event | New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights. | |
| November 20th, 1781 (November 20 1781) | Birth | Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German jurist (died in 1854) | |
| November 20th, 1778 (November 20 1778) | Death | Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (born in 1726) | |
| November 20th, 1765 (November 20 1765) | Birth | Sir Thomas Fremantle, British naval captain (died in 1819) | |
| November 20th, 1764 (November 20 1764) | Death | Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician (born in 1690) | |
| November 20th, 1762 (November 20 1762) | Birth | Pierre Andre Latreille, French entomologist (died in 1833) | |
| November 20th, 1761 (November 20 1761) | Birth | Pope Pius VIII (died in 1830) | |
| November 20th, 1758 (November 20 1758) | Death | Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (born in 1694) | |
| November 20th, 1750 (November 20 1750) | Birth | Tipu Sultan, Indian ruler (died in 1799) | |
| November 20th, 1742 (November 20 1742) | Death | Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (born in 1661) | |
| November 20th, 1737 (November 20 1737) | Death | Caroline of Ansbach, Queen of George II of Great Britain (born in 1683) | George II of Great Britain Quotes |
| November 20th, 1704 (November 20 1704) | Death | Charles Plumier, French botanist (born in 1646) | |
| November 20th, 1700 (November 20 1700) | Event | Great Northern War: Battle of NarvaKing Charles XII of Sweden defeats the army of Tsar Peter the Great at Narva. | |
| November 20th, 1695 (November 20 1695) | Event | Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed. | |
| November 20th, 1695 (November 20 1695) | Death | Zumbi, Brazilian runaway slave | |
| November 20th, 1662 (November 20 1662) | Death | Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (born in 1614) | |
| November 20th, 1660 (November 20 1660) | Birth | Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German theologian (died in 1741) | |
| November 20th, 1651 (November 20 1651) | Death | Mikolaj Potocki, Polish soldier (born in 1595) | |
| November 20th, 1625 (November 20 1625) | Birth | Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (died in 1654) | |
| November 20th, 1621 (November 20 1621) | Birth | Avvakum, Russian priest and writer (died in 1682) | |
| November 20th, 1620 (November 20 1620) | Birth | Peregrine White, first English child born in the Plymouth Colony (died in 1704) | |
| November 20th, 1612 (November 20 1612) | Death | John Harington, English writer (born in 1561) | John Harington Quotes |
| November 20th, 1602 (November 20 1602) | Birth | Otto von Guericke, German physicist (died in 1686) | |
| November 20th, 1591 (November 20 1591) | Death | Christopher Hatton, English politician (born in 1540) | |
| November 20th, 1529 (November 20 1529) | Death | Karl von Miltitz, papal nuncio | |
| November 20th, 1518 (November 20 1518) | Death | Marmaduke Constable, English soldier | |
| November 20th, 1518 (November 20 1518) | Death | Pierre de La Rue, Flemish composer | |
| November 20th, 1437 (November 20 1437) | Death | Thomas Langley, bishop of Durham, cardinal and lord chancellor (born in 1363) | |
| November 20th, 1407 (November 20 1407) | Event | A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orleans is agreed under the auspices of John, Duke of Berry. Orleans would be assassinated three days later by Burgundy. | |
| November 20th, 1316 (November 20 1316) | Death | King John I of France (died in 1316) | |
| November 20th, 1194 (November 20 1194) | Event | Palermo is conquered by Emperor Henry VI. | |
| November 20th, 0870 (November 20 0870) | Death | King Edmund of East Anglia | |
| November 20th, 0762 (November 20 0762) | Event | Bogu, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire. | |
| November 20th, 0284 (November 20 0284) | Event | Diocletian was chosen as Roman Emperor. | |
| November 20th, 0270 (November 20 0270) | Birth | Maximinus, Roman Emperor (died in 313) | |
