English footballer and TV pundit (died 2021)

Jimmy Greaves

James Peter Greaves was an English professional footballer who played as a forward and is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and one of England's best ever players. He is England's fifth-highest international goalscorer with 44 goals, which includes an English record of six hat-tricks, and is Tottenham Hotspur's second-highest all-time top goalscorer. Greaves is the highest goalscorer in the history of English top-flight football with 357 goals. He finished as the First Division's top scorer in six seasons, more times than any other player and came third in the 1963 Ballon d'Or rankings.

Born

1940

February 20

Died

2021

Era

1940s

Country

—

About

Jimmy, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1940 Born
2021 Died

Also on February 20

What else happened on this day, through history

1339 The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
1472 Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
1521 Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León sets out from San Juan, Puerto Rico, for Florida with about 200 prospective colonists.
1547 Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

See all of February 20 →

The world in 1940

When Jimmy arrived

april 14 World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later.
april 23 The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
april 7 Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
april 8 The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia.

Read the year 1940 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on February 20

Rihanna 1988– Barbados actor Edward Albert 1951–2006 American actor (died 2006) Georges Bernanos 1888–1948 French soldier and author (died 1948) Louis-Alexandre Berthier 1753–1815 French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (died 1815) Phil Neal 1951– English footballer and manager Shigeo Nagashima 1936–2025 Japanese baseball player and manager (died 2025) Thomas Cajetan 1469–1534 Italian cardinal and philosopher (born 1470) William Cornwallis 1744–1819 English admiral and politician (died 1819)

See everything on February 20 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1940

Abbas Kiarostami 1940–2016 Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (born 1940) Abdurrahman Wahid 1940–2009 Indonesian journalist and politician, fourth President of Indonesia (born 1940) Bruce Chatwin 1940–1989 English-French author (born 1940) Bruce Lee 1940–1973 American actor and martial artist (born 1940) David Jason 1940– English actor, director, and producer Edmund White 1940–2025 American novelist, memoirist, and essayist (died 2025) Fabrizio De André 1940–1999 Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1999) Fran Tarkenton 1940– American football player and sportscaster Frank Zappa 1940–1993 American singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer (died 1993)

Read about the year 1940 →

Keep going

More to explore

Jimmy's birthday February 20 Jimmy's zodiac Pisces When Jimmy arrived 1940