Anniversaries 20 October

Birth

Christopher Wren2

English architect 1632–1723

Stanisław Leszczyński10

king of Poland 1677–1766

Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston72

British politician 1784–1865

Daniel Drake3

American physician and writer 1785–1852

Patrick Matthew9

British scientist 1790–1874

Báb77

Iranian prophet; founder of the religion Bábism; venerated … 1819–1850

Thomas Hughes14

English lawyer, author and cricketer 1822–1896

Arthur Rimbaud66

French Decadent and Symbolist poet 1854–1891

Alphonse Allais3

French writer and humourist 1854–1905

John Burns1

English trade unionist and politician 1858–1943

John Dewey62

American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer 1859–1952

Gustav Cassel2

Swedish economist 1866–1945

Frances Kellor37

American sociologist 1873–1952

Charles Ives3

American composer 1874–1954

Bouck White21

American author and novelist 1874–1951

Béla Lugosi4

Hungarian actor 1882–1956

Jomo Kenyatta10

First prime minister and first president of Kenya 1893–1978

Jack Lindsay1

Australian writer in the United Kingdom 1900–1990

Tommy Douglas26

Scottish-born Canadian politician 1904–1986

Christopher Caudwell10

British Marxist literary critic, journalist and writer 1907–1937

Eddie August Schneider5

American aviator 1911–1940

Amet-khan Sultan2

WWII fighter pilot and twice Hero of the Soviet Union who w… 1920–1971

Robert Craft1

American conductor and writer 1923–2015

Art Buchwald13

journalist, humorist, United States Marine 1925–2007

Joyce Brothers39

Joyce Brothers 1927–2013

R. J. Hollingdale3

British Author 1930–2001

Mickey Mantle10

Professional baseball player 1931–1995

Zhong Nanshan4

Chinese pulmonologist 1936

Robert Pinsky21

American poet, editor, literary critic, academic. 1940

John R. Erickson4

American author 1942

Daniel S. Hamermesh1

American economist 1943

Elfriede Jelinek50

Austrian writer 1946

Lewis Grizzard12

American journalist 1946–1994

Kevin Roberts1

British businessman 1949

Tom Schulman7

American film director, screenwriter 1950

Tom Petty127

American musician 1950–2017

Ken Ham74

Australian young Earth creationist 1951

Steven J. Rosen2

American editor, author on Vaishnavism 1955

Gennifer Choldenko3

American children's writer 1957

Hilda Solis1

25th United States Secretary of Labor 1957

Lynn Flewelling6

American writer 1958

Warren Berger1

American writer 1958

Viggo Mortensen8

American actor 1958

Ivo Pogorelić2

Croatian pianist 1958

Shuping Wang1

Chinese-American medical researcher 1959–2019

Kate Mosse5

English novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and br… 1961

Navjot Singh Sidhu5

Indian cricketer and politician 1963

Kamala Harris10

United States Senator from California 1964

Manmohan Acharya6

Poet, lyricist 1967–2013

Monica Ali1

British writer and novelist 1967

Wee Ka Siong1

A Malaysian engineer and politician 1968

Michelle Malkin1

American political commentator 1970

Dannii Minogue1

Australian pop singer, songwriter, actress 1971

BJ Miller4

palliative caregiver 1971

Snoop Dogg16

American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and ac… 1971

Ryan North14

Canadian webcomic writer and programmer 1980

Death

Ali Zayn al-Abidin11

Great-grandson of the Prophet Muhammad 659–713

Musō Soseki1

Japanese Zen-Buddhist teacher and landscape architect 1275–1351

James Iredell3

one of the first Justices of the Supreme Court of the Unite… 1751–1799

Lydia Maria Child34

American abolitionist, author and women's rights activist 1802–1880

Richard Fuller (minister)22

United States Baptist minister 1804–1876

James Anthony Froude111

English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of Fras… 1818–1894

Philip Schaff21

American Calvinist theologian 1819–1893

Richard Francis Burton78

British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, … 1821–1890

Charles Dudley Warner16

American writer 1829–1900

Alexander III of Russia1

Emperor of Russia 1845–1894

Eugene V. Debs108

American labor and political leader 1855–1926

Henry L. Stimson6

United States Secretary of War 1867–1950

Winnifred Harper Cooley1

American author and lecturer 1874–1967

Herbert Hoover64

31st President of the United States of America 1874–1964

Anders Nygren2

Swedish bishop 1890–1978

Carl Ferdinand Cori1

Czech Nobel prize laureate and scientist 1896–1984

Arthur Beer1

German astronomer 1900–1980

Paul Dirac23

theoretical physicist 1902–1984

Mary Chase1

American writer 1907–1981

Burt Lancaster5

American actor and producer 1913–1994

Peg Bracken8

American writer 1918–2007

Lawrence Klein15

American economist 1920–2013

Arno Gruen2

German psychologist 1923–2015

Eva Ibbotson19

British children's writer 1925–2010

Paul Kurtz12

American professor of philosophy 1925–2012

Muammar Gaddafi66

Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist 1942–2011

Wayne Teasdale3

American writer 1945–2004