Major Events
- 1597 First Dutch East India Company ships return from the Far East
- 1619 Slavery begins in mainland British colonies of North America when the first known African captives (approximately 20) land at Point Comfort, Virginia, before being sold or traded into servitude [1]
- 1741 Alaska is first sighted by a Russian expedition led by Danish explorer Vitus Bering
Aug 20 in Film & TV
- 1951 12th Venice Film Festival: “Rashomon” directed by Akira Kurosawa wins the Golden Lion
Aug 20 in Music
Aug 20 in Sport
- 1920 American Professional Football Association forms with Jim Thorpe as president and later becomes the National Football League (NFL)
- 2000 PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Valhalla GC: Tiger Woods wins back-to-back PGA titles after a three-hole playoff with Bob May, becoming the first to win three majors in a calendar year since Ben Hogan in 1953
Did You Know?
British Prime Minister Churchill says of the Royal Air Force, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”
Fun Fact About August 20
In an epic first-round US men’s singles tennis match, Palmer Presbrey takes 80 games to defeat T.S. Tailer, 19-21, 8-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
Famous Weddings
- 1836 English novelist (Vanity Fair) William Makepeace Thackeray (25) marries Isabella Gethin Shawe (20)
- 1939 “Rebecca” actress Joan Fontaine (21) weds actor Brian Aherne (37); divorce in 1945
- 1992 British “Police” singer Sting (41) weds British actress Trudie Styler (38) at an 11th century chapel in Wiltshire, England
Famous Divorces
- 2012 The man known primarily for gatecrashing the White House, Tareq Salahi (42) divorces socialite Michaele Salahi (46) due to adultery, desertion and construction desertion
- 2024 Singer Jennifer Lopez files for divorce from husband Ben Affleck after two years of marriage [1]
Articles, Photos and Quiz
Click the Source link for more details
