Calendar date · December

What happened on December 20

On December 20, 69: Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.

Events

45

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Sagittarius

Featured moment · 69

Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.

AD 69 (LXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the consulship of Galba and Vinius. The denomination AD 69 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

People

Born on December 20

Facundo Pellistri 2001– Uruguayan footballer (born 2001)
Gaboro 2000– Swedish rapper (2000–2024)
Kylian Mbappé 1998– French footballer (born 1998)
De'Aaron Fox 1997– American basketball player (born 1997)
Suzuka Nakamoto 1997– Japanese musician (born 1997)
Jarrod Bowen 1996– English footballer (born 1996)
Anžejs Pasečņiks 1995– Latvian basketball player (born 1995)
Calvin Ridley 1994– American football player (born 1994)
Andrea Belotti 1993– Italian footballer (born 1993)
Show 9 more — notable births on December 20
Robeisy Ramírez 1993– Cuban Boxer (born 1993)
Ksenia Makarova 1992– Russian figure skater (born 1992)
Rachael Boyle 1991– Scottish footballer
Jorginho 1991– Brazilian-Italian footballer (born 1991)
Jillian Rose Reed 1991– American actress (born 1991)
Fabian Schär 1991– Swiss footballer (born 1991)
JoJo 1990– American singer and songwriter (born 1990)
Marta Xargay 1990– Spanish basketball player (born 1990)
Malcolm Jenkins 1987– American football player (born 1987)

People

Died on December 20

Casey Chaos American singer (1965–2024)
George Eastham English footballer (1936–2024)
Rickey Henderson American baseball player (1958–2024)
Franco Harris American football player (1950–2022)
Fanny Waterman English musician (1920–2020)
Ezra Vogel American sociologist of East Asia (1930–2020)
Per-Ingvar Brånemark Swedish anatomist (1929–2014)
John Freeman British politician and army officer (1915–2014)
Pyotr Bolotnikov Soviet long-distance runner
Show 9 more — notable deaths on December 20
Stan Charlton English footballer & manager
Robert Juniper Australian artist (1929–2012)
Victor Merzhanov Russian pianist (1919–2012)
Barry Reckord Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (1926–2011)
K. P. Ratnam Sri Lankan Tamil academic and politician
Brittany Murphy American actress and singer (1977–2009)
Arnold Stang American actor (1918–2009)
Adrian Mitchell English poet, novelist, and playwright (1932–2008)
Robert Mulligan American director, producer (1925–2008)

Timeline

Every December 20 on record

  1. 69 Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.

    Calendar year

    AD 69 (LXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the consulship of Galba and Vinius. The denomination AD 69 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

  2. 944 Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos is arrested by two of his sons, forced to abdicate and to live as a monk for the rest of his life.

    The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title.

  3. 1046 Emperor Henry III convenes the synod of Sutri to mediate between different claimants to the papacy.

    Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 to 1056

    Henry III, called Heinrich the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia.

  4. 1192 Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.

    King of England from 1189 to 1199

    Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony; Lord of Cyprus; Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes; and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and was therefore not expected to become king, but his two elder brothers predeceased their father.

  5. 1334 Cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, is elected Pope Benedict XII.

    Senior church official

    A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Cardinals are chosen and formally created by the pope, and typically hold the title for life.

  6. 1803 The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
  7. 1808 Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
  8. 1832 HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands.
  9. 1848 French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic.
  10. 1860 South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession.
  11. 1915 World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
  12. 1917 Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.
  13. 1924 Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison.
  14. 1940 Captain America Comics #1, containing the first appearance of the superhero Captain America, is published.
  15. 1941 World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers", in Kunming, China.
Show 15 earlier entries from December 20
  1. 1942 World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India.
  2. 1946 It's a Wonderful Life premieres at the Globe Theatre in New York to mixed reviews.
  3. 1946 An earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan causes a tsunami which kills at least one thousand people and destroys 36,000 homes.
  4. 1948 Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.
  5. 1951 The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
  6. 1952 A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87 of the 115 people on board.
  7. 1955 Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
  8. 1957 The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.
  9. 1960 Vietnam War: The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, popularly known as the Viet Cong, is formally established in Tân Lập village, present day Tây Ninh province.
  10. 1968 The Zodiac Killer murders his first two officially confirmed victims, David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, United States.
  11. 1970 Koza riot: After a series of hit-and-runs and other vehicular incidents involving American service personnel, roughly 5,000 Okinawans take to the streets, clashing with American law enforcement in protest against the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.
  12. 1973 Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.
  13. 1977 With the approval of the State Council, China's two largest newspapers, the People's Daily and the Guangming Daily, publish in full for the first time the Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme.
  14. 1984 The Summit Tunnel fire, one of the largest transportation tunnel fires in history, burns after a freight train carrying over one million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines.
  15. 1984 Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on July 23, 2019, located about 24 km (15 mi) southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head."

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