1191: Massacre at Acre
2,000 Muslim prisoners killed after the Siege of Acre, reportedly on the orders of Crusader King Richard I, during the Third Crusade
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1619: First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, setting the stage for slavery in North America. The exact date is not definitively known (a letter from the time identified the ship’s arrival coming in “the latter part of August”), but this date has been chosen by many to mark the arrival of the enslaved Africans in the New World—beginning two and a half centuries of slavery in North America.
1924: Although considered the likely winner, British sprinter Eric Liddel refused to run in the 100m heats at the Paris Olympics because it took place on a Sunday. He went on to set a new record when he won the 400 metres on a weekday.
1940: Radar is used for the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain. Also on this day, in a radio broadcast, Winston Churchill makes his famous homage to the Royal Air Force: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
1960: Senegal seceded from the Mali Federation, declaring its full independence.
1971: Prince Charles got his ‘wings’ at RAF College Cranwell, in Lincolnshire after completing over 140 hours of flight training.
1975: Viking 1 launched
The robotic U.S. spacecraft Viking 1, built to explore the surface of Mars, was launched this day in 1975 and nearly one year later landed on Chryse Planitia, a flat lowland region in the northern hemisphere of the planet.
1988: The Iran-Iraq War comes to an end after 7 years
The deadly conventional war between the two Middle Eastern countries began when Iraq invaded Iran on September 22, 1980.
1991: Estonia, the country where video conferencing tool Skype was developed, claimed independence after being occupied by the Soviet military for over 50 years (1991)
BIRTHS ON THIS DAY: August 20
Tai Solarin (20 August 1922 – 27 July 1994)
Augustus Taiwo “Tai” Solarin, a Nigerian educator and author was born in Ikenne in Ogun State of Nigeria on 20 August 1922. In 1952, Solarin became the principal of Molusi College, Ijebu Igbo, a post he held till 1956 when he became the proprietor and principal of Mayflower School. A social critic, philanthropist, and an avowed atheist, his unique clothing style inspired some people to describe him as a “village eccentric” rather than as the renowned intellectual. He died at 75.
Jim Reeves (20 August 1923 – 31 July 1964)
James Travis Reeves was an American country and popular music singer and songwriter, born in Texas USA. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as “Gentleman Jim”, his songs continued to chart for years after his death in a plane crash. He was 40.
Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991)
Rajiv Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become at the age of 40 the youngest Indian prime minister. He too was assassinated in 1991.
