41st year - Nr 140 Wednesday, 20 May 2026

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)
41st year - Nr 140 Wednesday, 20 May 2026

20 May / Today's 28 Events:

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(-) 749 years ago Thursday 20th of May 1277 187th Pope Ioannes XXI, originally Pedro Julião dies of injuries suffered when the roof of his bedroom collapsed on 14 May at the age of 62 in Viterbo, Lazio, Italy.

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(-) 517 years ago Thursday 20th of May 1509 Explorer, navigator, cartographer and captain Christophorus Columbus dies of Reiter's syndrome at the age of 58 in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain.

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(x) 505 years ago Friday 20th of May 1521 30-year-old Founder of the Jesuits Ignatius de Loyola is severely injured when a French cannonball shatters his leg while storming the fortress in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain.

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(+) 233 years ago Monday 20th of May 1793 Professor of chemistry and geology and murderer John White Webster is born in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

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(+) 227 years ago Monday 20th of May 1799 Writer and playwright Honoré de Balzac known for La Comédie Humaine is born in Tours, Centre, France.

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(+) 175 years ago Tuesday 20th of May 1851 Inventor Emile Berliner known for developing the disc record gramophone is born in Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany.

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(+) 144 years ago Saturday 20th of May 1882 Writer Sigrid Undset is born in Kalundborg, Sjælland, Denmark.

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(+) 118 years ago Wednesday 20th of May 1908 Actor James Maitland Stewart is born in Indiana, Pennsylvania, United States.

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(+) 111 years ago Thursday 20th of May 1915 Israeli military leader and politician Moshe Kitaigorodsky Dayan is born in Degania Alef, Emek Hayarden, Israel.

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(x) 109 years ago Sunday 20th of May 1917 20-year-old Doctor and serial killer Marcel André Henri Félix Petiot aka The Triangular Chamber of Death Murderer has his left foot ripped open by a German hand-grenade during a bitter fight in Aisne, Picardie, France.

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(+) 101 years ago Wednesday 20th of May 1925 Aircraft designer Alexei Andreyevich Tupolev is born in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

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(-) 99 years ago Friday 20th of May 1927 Murderer Charles J. Blackburn is executed by hanging at the age of 35 in Arizona State Prison Complex, 1305 E Butte Avenue, Florence, Arizona, United States.

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(x) 90 years ago She Kept Trying and Trying Wednesday 20th of May 1936 31-year-old Geisha, prostitute, actress and murderess Sada Abe is arrested walking around the street with the cut off penis and testicles of her lover Kichizo Ishida in her handbag in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Kantō, Japan. "I felt attached to Ishida's penis and thought that only after taking leave from it quietly could I then die. I unwrapped the paper holding them and gazed at his penis and scrotum. I put his penis in my mouth and even tried to insert it inside me... It didn't work however though I kept trying and trying." After her arrest, Ishida's penis and testicles were moved to Tokyo University Medical School's pathology museum. They were put on public display not long af ter the end of World War II, but they have since disappeared.

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(-) 86 years ago Monday 20th of May 1940 Leader of the Verdinaso Joris Edmond Eduard Van Severen is brutally murdered by drunken French partizans at the age of 46 in Kiosque d'Abbeville, Abbeville, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Twenty one suspects of varying political stripe were selected and executed without trial.

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(+) 82 years ago Saturday 20th of May 1944 Singer and musician Joe John Robert Cocker is born in 38 Tasker Road, Crookes, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

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(+) 80 years ago Monday 20th of May 1946 Singer and actress Cher, originally Cherilyn Sarkisian aka The Goddess of Pop is born in El Centro, California, United States.

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(+) 74 years ago Tuesday 20th of May 1952 Member of the Rote Armee Fraktion Christian Klar is born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

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(+) 71 years ago Friday 20th of May 1955 Triple murderer James Demouchette aka Doom is born in San Antonio, Texas, United States.

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(-) 62 years ago Wednesday 20th of May 1964 Spree killer Reuben Rolle commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 31 in Over-the-Hill, Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas. Earlier that day Rolle killed six people including his wife Eloise and his nephew Carlton Sweeting, and wounded six others.

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(x) 61 years ago Thursday 20th of May 1965 121 die in Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720-040B Flight 705 crash in Cairo International Airport, Caïro, Al Qahirah, Egypt. There were 6 survivors.

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(-) 61 years ago He Saved His Dog the Mourning Thursday 20th of May 1965 Mass murderer Roger Girard commits suicide by a shot in the head at the age of 34 in Chavagneux, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. Girard first killed his 34-year-old wife Jeannette, his 58-year-old mother Angèle, his 40-year-old brother Robert and 10-year-old Eliane, 8-year-old Jacqueline, 7-year-old Bernard, 4-year-old Yves, 2-year-old Daniel, 16-months-old Sylvianne and 6-months-old Pierre. Girard also shot his dog.

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(x) 58 years ago Monday 20th of May 1968 26-year-old Serial killer John Wayne Gacy aka The Killer Clown is sentenced for sodomy and sent to the Iowa Men Reformatory in Anamosa, Iowa, United States.

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(x) 35 years ago Monday 20th of May 1991 Sabine Moitzi is found strangled by serial killer Jack Unterweger aka Jack the Writer aka Der Häfenpoet aka The Pug Dumper in Wien, Wien, Austria. Moitzi was strangled on 16 April 1991.

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(-) 34 years ago Wednesday 20th of May 1992 Murderer Jesus Romero is executed by lethal injection at the age of 27 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

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(-) 34 years ago Wednesday 20th of May 1992 Murderer Roger Keith Coleman is executed by Old Sparky at the age of 34 in Greensville Correctional Center, Jarratt, Virginia, United States. Coleman's last meal request was for cold pepperoni pizza, with chocolate marshmallow cookies and 7UP.

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(-) 29 years ago Tuesday 20th of May 1997 Rapist and murderer Clarence Allen Lackey is executed by lethal injection at the age of 43 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. Lackey's last meal request was for t-bone steak, a large salad, french fries and chocolate ice cream. His request for a pack of Camel cigarettes was denied because of prison tobacco policy.

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19 years ago The Eyes had it Sunday 20th of May 2007 One of several lakes on the way from Pori for a performance in Tampere, Pirkanmaa, Finland.

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(-) 7 years ago Monday 20th of May 2019 Formula One racer Niki Andreas Nikolaus Lauda dies of a long illness at the age of 70 in Wien, Wien, Austria.

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