On This Day in History

June 20

Historical Events

451 Battle of the Catalaunian Plains: Roman and Visigoths forces defeat Attila the Hun in north east France, halting Hun invasion of Roman Gaul (exact date disputed).

Painting by Jacques-Louis David of the Tennis Court Oath

1789 French Revolution: The Third Estate of the French Estates-General swears the Tennis Court Oath at the Palace of Versailles, swearing not to disband until a new constitution is formed.

1840 American inventor Samuel Morse patents his telegraph.

1895 First female PhD from an American University, earned by Caroline Willard Baldwin (in Science) at Cornell University.

2020 Highest-ever temperature recorded in the Arctic circle, 38C (100F) in Verkhoyansk, Siberia.

More Historical Events

Famous Birthdays

Sigismund III Vasa 1566 - 1632 Wolfe Tone 1763 - 1798

Lionel Richie 75th Birthday Nicole Kidman 57th Birthday

Also Lillian Hellman and Brian Wilson (82).

More Famous Birthdays

Famous Deaths

Jack Kilby 1923 - 2005 Bugsy Siegel 1906 - 1947

Also Louis the Pious and Manuel Belgrano.

More Famous Deaths

Misery of The King's Executioner

He may have caused civil war but the execution of King Charles I shocked many Englishmen and caused untold anguish for the man who took the royal life.

Confessions of a Hangman