Did you know
He reigned from February 1325 until his death in March 1351
Notable Deaths on March 20
105 people
687 – 2026
March 20 has seen 105 notable figures pass away throughout recorded history — from 687 – 2026. Below are the most significant names who died on this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
1351 — Muhammad bin Tughluq
Sultan of Delhi
Did you know
In 1321, the young Muhammad was sent by his father to the Deccan Plateau to fight a military campaign against the Kakatiya dynasty
Did you know
In 1323, the future sultan successfully laid siege upon the Kakatiya capital in Warangal
Did you know
Muhammad bin Tughluq, or Muhammad II, also known by his epithets, The Eccentric Prince, and The Mad Sultan, was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi
Did you know
Muhammad was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty
687
703
king of Asturias (Spain) (born 759)
Alfonso II, nicknamed the Chaste, was the king of Asturias during two different periods: first in the year 783 and later from 791 until his death in 842. Upon his death, Nepotian attempted to usurp the crown in place of…
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842
851
Japanese general (born 1118)
Taira no Kiyomori was a Japanese military leader and kugyō of the late Heian period, who was Daijō-daijin and the de facto ruler of Japan from 1167 until his death. He established the first samurai-dominated…
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1181
Pope Clement III, born Paolo Scolari, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 December 1187 to his death in 1191. He ended the conflict between the Papacy and the city of Rome, by…
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1191
German knight and diplomat (born 1179)
Hermann von Salza was the fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, serving from 1210 to 1239. A skilled diplomat with ties to the Frederick II and the Pope, Hermann oversaw the expansion of the military order into…
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1239
1302
Hungarian Dominican friar (born 1270)
Maurice Csák was a Hungarian Dominican friar. He was beatified by Pope Alexander VI in 1494.
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1336
Emperor of Trebizond (born 1338)
Alexios III Megas Komnenos, or Alexius III, was Emperor of Trebizond from December 1349 until his death. He is perhaps the best-documented ruler of that country, and his reign is distinguished by a number of religious…
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1390
Henry IV, also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413, Lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and a grandson of King Edward III.
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1413
Sigismund Kęstutaitis was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1432 to 1440. Sigismund was his baptismal name, while his pagan Lithuanian birth name is unknown. He was the son of Grand Duke Kęstutis and his wife Birutė.
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1440
Burgundian chronicler and poet
Georges Chastellain, Burgundian chronicler and poet, was a native of Aalst in Flanders. Chastellain's historical works are valuable for the accurate information they contain. As a poet he was famous among his…
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1475
1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, English general and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (born 1508)
Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, KG, PC was a brother of Jane Seymour, the third wife of King Henry VIII. With his brother, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and Lord Protector of England, he vied for…
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1549
1568
1619
Polish monk (born 1603)
Abbot Augustyn Kordecki was a prior of the Jasna Góra Monastery, Poland.
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1673
Dutch princess (born 1642)
Maria of Nassau or Maria of Orange-Nassau was a Dutch princess of the house of Orange and by marriage pfalzgräfin or countess of Simmern-Kaiserslautern.
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1688
French actress (born 1692)
Adrienne Lecouvreur was a French actress, considered by many as the greatest of her time. Born in Damery, Champagne, she first appeared professionally on the stage in Lille. After her Paris debut at the…
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1730
French painter and academic (born 1656)
Nicolas de Largillière was a French painter and draughtsman. From 1733 until 1735, he was director of the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture.
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1746
English brewer and businessman (born 1699)
Sir Benjamin Truman was an English entrepreneur and brewer during the 18th century, responsible for the expansion of the Truman Brewery in the Brick Lane area of east London.
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1780
1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (born 1705)
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield,, was a British barrister, politician and judge best known for his reforms to English law. Born in Scone Palace, Perthshire into the Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth…
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1793
1835
Turkish-English author and diplomat (born 1780)
James Justinian Morier was a British diplomat and author noted for his novels about the Qajar dynasty in Iran, most famously for the Hajji Baba series.
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1849
English businessman (born 1788)
Joseph Aspdin was an English bricklayer, businessman, inventor, and stonemason who obtained the patent for Portland cement on 21 October 1824.
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1855
Japanese samurai (born 1833)
Yamanami Keisuke was a Japanese samurai. He was the General Commander of the Shinsengumi, a special police force in Kyoto during the late Edo period.
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1865
Danish composer and conductor (born 1810)
Hans Christian Lumbye was a Danish composer of waltzes, polkas, mazurkas and galops, among other things.
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1874
German physician and physicist (born 1814)
Julius Robert von Mayer was a German physician, chemist, and physicist and one of the founders of thermodynamics. He is best known for enunciating in 1841 one of the original statements of the conservation of energy or…
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1878
Hungarian lawyer, journalist and politician (born 1802)
Lajos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva was a Hungarian nobleman, lawyer, journalist, politician, statesman, revolutionist and governor-president of the Hungarian State during the war of independence of 1848–1849.
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1894
Russian poet and playwright (born 1821)
Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov was a Russian poet, best known for his lyric verse showcasing images of Russian villages, nature, and history. His love for ancient Greece and Rome, which he studied for much of his life, is…
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1897
Austrian geologist and author (born 1822)
Franz Ritter von Hauer, or Franz von Hauer was an Austrian geologist.
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1899
Estonian historian and businessman (born 1842)
Friedrich Ludwig Balthasar Amelung was a Baltic German cultural historian, businessman and chess endgame composer.
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1909
American general and lawyer (born 1828)
Lewis Addison Grant was a teacher, lawyer, soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and later United States Assistant Secretary of War. He was among the leading officers from the state of Vermont, and…
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1918
1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (born 1859)
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, known as Lord Curzon, was a British statesman, Conservative politician, explorer and writer who served as Viceroy of India from 1899 to 1905 and Foreign…
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1925
French field marshal (born 1851)
Ferdinand Foch was a French general, Marshal of France and a member of the Académie Française and Académie des Sciences. He distinguished himself as Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front during the First World…
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1929
American cyclist (born 1876)
Arthur Fleming Andrews was an American cyclist who competed in the early twentieth century.
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1930
German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (born 1876)
Hermann Müller was a German Social Democratic politician who served as foreign minister (1919–1920) and was twice chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic.
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1931
Italian-American assassin of Anton Cermak (born 1900; executed)
Giuseppe Zangara was an Italian-born American man who attempted to assassinate the President-elect of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, on February 15, 1933, 17 days before Roosevelt's inauguration. During a…
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1933
German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (born 1860)
Alfred Ploetz was a German physician, biologist, Social Darwinist, and eugenicist known for coining the term racial hygiene (Rassenhygiene), a form of eugenics, and for promoting the concept in Germany.
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1940
Bohemian writer (born 1883)
Oskar Baum was a Czech music educator and writer in the German language.
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1941
Scottish-American golfer (born 1883)
Dorothy Lee Campbell was a Scottish amateur golfer. Campbell was the first woman to win the American, British and Canadian Women's Amateurs.
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1945
Brazilian teacher and anarcha-feminist (born 1887)
Maria Lacerda de Moura was a Brazilian teacher, writer and anarcha-feminist. The daughter of spiritist and anti-clerical parents, she grew up in the city of Barbacena, in the interior of Minas Gerais, where she…
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1945
American-Chinese geologist, paleontologist, and academic (born 1870)
Amadeus William Grabau was an American geologist, teacher, stratigrapher, paleontologist, and author who worked in the United States and China.
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1946
Swedish actor and director (born 1884)
Sigurd Richard Engelbrekt Wallén was a Swedish actor, film director, and singer.
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1947
Finnish cyclist (born 1892)
Frans Albert Hjalmar Väre was a Finnish road racing cyclist who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics. He was born in Vihti and died in Turku.
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1952
Nigerian merchant, journalist, and politician (born 1915)
Gbadamosi Adegoke Adelabu, popularly known as Adelabu Adegoke Penkelemesi, was a prominent personality in the politics of Ibadan city and subsequently that of the Western Region of Nigeria right before the country's…
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1958
Irish republican and playwright (born 1923)
Brendan Francis Aidan Behan was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican, an activist who wrote in both English and Irish. His widely acknowledged alcohol dependence, despite…
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1964
American long jumper (born 1882)
Daniel Gordon Frank was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and was Jewish.
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1965
Greek artist (born 1879)
Demetrios Galanis was an early twentieth-century Greek artist and friend of Picasso. In 1920, the year he completed his Seated Nude, he exhibited alongside such major figures of modern art as Matisse and Braque, while…
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1966
American baseball player (born 1895)
John Dewey Morrison, nicknamed "Jughandle Johnny", was an American professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of ten seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn Robins. For his career,…
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1966
Danish director and screenwriter (born 1889)
Carl Theodor Dreyer, commonly known as Carl Th. Dreyer, was a Danish film director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers in history, his movies are noted for emotional austerity and slow,…
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1968
French politician (born 1896)
Marie François Henri Longchambon was a French scientist and politician known for his work in geology, particularly on clay minerals, and his role in the French Resistance during World War II. He was awarded the Prix…
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1969
Turkish journalist and politician (born 1894)
Falih Rıfkı Atay was a Turkish journalist, writer and politician between 1923 and 1950.
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1971
1972
American journalist (born 1911)
Chester Robert Huntley was an American television newscaster, best known for co-anchoring NBC's evening news program, The Huntley–Brinkley Report, for 14 years beginning in 1956.
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1974
10th Viscount Cobham, English politician, 9th Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1909)
Charles John Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham was the ninth Governor-General of New Zealand and an English cricketer from the Lyttelton family.
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1977
Japanese sumo wrestler, the 38th Yokozuna (born 1919)
Terukuni Manzō was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Ogachi, Akita. He was the sport's 38th yokozuna. He was promoted to yokozuna without any top division tournament titles to his name, although he later…
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1977
French tennis player (born 1895)
Jacques Marie Stanislas Jean Brugnon, nicknamed "Toto", was a French tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was born in and died in…
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1978
American football player (born 1953)
Gerry Bertier was a high school American football player and Paralympian. He became known for his participation on the 1971 Virginia State Champion football T. C. Williams High School team, and their portrayal in the…
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1981
Russian mathematician and academic (born 1891)
Ivan Matveevich Vinogradov was a Soviet mathematician, who was one of the creators of modern analytic number theory, and also a dominant figure in mathematics in the USSR. He was born in the Velikiye Luki district,…
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1983
French director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1907)
Maurice Cloche was a French film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. Best known for his Oscar-winning film Monsieur Vincent (1947) he won a 1948 Special Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
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1990
Russian footballer (born 1929)
Lev Ivanovich Yashin was a Soviet professional footballer considered to be one of the greatest players of all time and the best goalkeeper in the history of the sport. He was the first and only goalkeeper to win the…
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1990
French composer (born 1925)
Georges Delerue was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film music awards, including an Academy Award for A Little Romance (1979), three César Awards,…
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1992
German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1911)
Polykarp Kusch was a German-American physicist who shared the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physics with Willis Eugene Lamb for his accurate determination that the electron magnetic moment was greater than its theoretical value,…
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1993
American writer and humorist (born 1946)
Lewis McDonald Grizzard Jr. was an American writer and humorist, known for his Southern demeanor and commentary on the American South. Although he spent his early career as a newspaper sports writer and editor, becoming…
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1994
English short story writer, essayist, and critic (born 1900)
Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett was a British writer and literary critic.
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1997
British painter (born 1920)
Patrick Heron was a British abstract and figurative artist, critic, writer, and polemicist, who lived in Zennor, Cornwall.
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1999
Canadian-American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1961)
Gene Andrusco, better known as Gene Eugene, was a Canadian-born actor, record producer, engineer, composer, and musician. Eugene was best known as the leader of the alternative rock band Adam Again, a member of the…
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2000
Puerto Rican-American baseball player (born 1949)
Luis César Alvarado Martínez was a Puerto Rican infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). From 1968 through 1977, he played for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, New York…
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2001
Juliana was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980.
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2004
Canadian colonel and politician (born 1917)
Joseph Pierre Albert Sévigny was a Canadian soldier, author, politician, and academic. He is best known for his involvement in the Munsinger Affair.
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2004
American-Finnish director and screenwriter (born 1912)
Armand Uolevi Lohikoski was a Finnish movie director and writer. He is best known as a director of a number of Pekka ja Pätkä movies.
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2005
Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (born 1933)
Raynald Fréchette was a Quebec lawyer, judge and political figure.
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2007
Iraqi politician, Vice President of Iraq (born 1938)
Taha Yassin Ramadan al-Jazrawi was an Iraqi military officer and politician who served as the vice president of Iraq from March 1991 to the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003 and the commander of the Popular Army.
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2007
Ghanaian politician (born 1948)
Hawa Yakubu Ogede was a Ghanaian politician. She was a Member of Parliament in the Fourth Republic of Ghana and also served as Minister for Tourism.
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2007
2010
Indian-Nepalese politician, 30th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1924)
Nepal Ratna Girija Prasad Koirala, affectionately known as Girija Babu, was a Nepalese politician. He headed the Nepali Congress and served as the Prime Minister of Nepal on four occasions: from 1991 to 1994, 1998 to…
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2010
American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1920)
Stewart Lee Udall was an American politician and environmentalist who belonged to the Democratic Party. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969,…
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2010
English pianist, conductor, and composer (born 1925)
John Valmore Pearson was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist. He led the Top of the Pops orchestra for sixteen years, wrote a catalogue of library music, and had many of his pieces used as the theme music…
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2011
Australian mountaineer and author (born 1955)
Lincoln Ross Hall OAM was a veteran Australian mountaineer, adventurer and author. Lincoln was part of the first Australian expedition to climb Mount Everest in 1984, which successfully forged a new route. He reached…
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2012
Japanese animator and director (born 1938)
Noboru Ishiguro was a Japanese anime director, anime producer, and animator.
He was the founder and chairman of the animation studio Artland.
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2012
Polish-Israeli rabbi and author (born 1910)
Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg was a Polish-born, American-raised, Israeli Haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva who, from 1965, made his home in the Kiryat Mattersdorf neighborhood of Jerusalem, Israel. He was the rosh yeshiva of…
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2012
Irish-Australian footballer (born 1966)
James Peter Stynes was an Irish footballer who converted from Gaelic football to Australian rules football and the first international player to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Playing for…
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2012
English author (born 1943)
James John Herbert, OBE was an English horror writer. A full-time writer, he also designed his own book covers and publicity. His books have sold 54 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 34 languages,…
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2013
New Zealand-English mountaineer and explorer (born 1924)
Wallace George Lowe, known as George Lowe, was a New Zealand-born mountaineer, explorer, film director and educator. He was the last surviving member of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition, during which his friend…
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2013
Bangladeshi lawyer and politician, 19th President of Bangladesh (born 1929)
Mohammed Zillur Rahman was a Bangladeshi politician who served as President of Bangladesh from 2009 until his death in 2013. He was also a senior presidium member of the Awami League. He is the third president of…
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2013
South African poet, author, and academic (born 1934)
Hennie Aucamp was a South African Afrikaans poet, short story writer, cabaretist and academic. He grew up on a farm in the Stormberg highlands and matriculated at Jamestown, Eastern Cape before continuing his higher…
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2014
Brazilian footballer (born 1930)
Hilderaldo Luiz Bellini was a Brazilian footballer of Italian origin who played as a defender and was known in Brazil as one of the nation's greatest central defenders ever.
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2014
American politician (born 1923)
Theodora Nathalia "Tonie" Nathan was an American radio producer, television producer, and political activist. She was the first woman to receive an electoral vote in a United States presidential election. She was the…
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2014
Indian journalist and author (born 1915)
Khushwant Singh FKC was an Indian author, lawyer, diplomat, journalist and politician. His experience in the 1947 Partition of India inspired him to write Train to Pakistan in 1956, which became his most well-known…
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2014
Australian 13th General of The Salvation Army (born 1929)
Eva Evelyn Burrows AC OF was an Australian Salvation Army Officer who was the 13th General of the Salvation Army, serving from 1986 to 1993. She served as an Officer of the Salvation Army from 1951 until her retirement…
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2015
Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (born 1930)
John Malcolm Fraser was an Australian farmer and politician who was the 22nd prime minister of Australia, serving from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth…
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2015
Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (born 1922)
Anker Henrik Jørgensen was a Danish politician who served at various times as prime minister and foreign minister of Denmark. Between 1972 and 1982 he led five cabinets as prime minister. Jørgensen was president of the…
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2016
American billionaire and philanthropist (born 1915)
David Rockefeller was an American economist and investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the Rockefeller family from 2004 until his…
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2017
Ghanaian Highlife musician and producer (born 1936)
Charles Kofi Amankwaa Mann, known as C. K. Mann, was a Ghanaian highlife musician and producer. His music career spanned over four decades; he won multiple awards for his songs. He was awarded the Grand Medal of Ghana…
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2018
English philosopher and writer (born 1924)
Helen Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, was an English philosopher of morality, education, and mind, and a writer on existentialism. She is best known for chairing an inquiry whose report formed the basis of the Human…
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2019
Argentine footballer (born 1926)
Amadeo Raúl Carrizo Larretape, popularly known by his first name "Amadeo", was an Argentine football goalkeeper and manager. Carrizo is considered a pioneer of the position, helping to innovate techniques and strategies…
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2020
American singer (born 1938)
Kenneth Ray Rogers was an American singer-songwriter. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences, but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts…
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2020
Australian rugby league player (born 1942)
John William Sattler was an Australian professional rugby league footballer played as a prop in the 1960s and 1970s. He captained South Sydney to four premiership victories from 1967 to 1971 and who played four Tests…
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2023
Australian rugby league player (born 1970)
Kyle White was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Western Suburbs Magpies and the Illawarra Steelers in the NSWRL and ARL competitions. White also played…
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2023
Irish businessman, television personality and motorsport team owner (born 1948)
Edmund Patrick Jordan was an Irish motorsport executive, broadcaster, racing driver and businessman. From 1991 to 2005, Jordan served as founder and team principal of Jordan in Formula One.
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2025
American actor (born 1971)
Nicholas Brendon Schultz was an American actor, artist, and writer. He is best known for playing Xander Harris in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) and Kevin Lynch in Criminal Minds (2007–2014).
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2026
Ukrainian religious leader, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (born 1929)
Patriarch Filaret was a Ukrainian religious leader, serving as the primate and Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC–KP). The Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which he left in 2019, viewed…
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2026
American attorney, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (born 1944)
Robert Swan Mueller III was an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013.
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2026
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March 20 in the Blog
Singing Revolution — March 20, 1988
1988 Singing Revolution in Tallinn, Estonia, sparked a powerful movement
Read the full storyNotable deaths
Who died on March 20?
Muhammad bin Tughluq — Sultan of Delhi from 1325 to 1351
FeaturedMuhammad bin Tughluq
Death year1351
Known forHe reigned from February 1325 until his death in March 1351
Deaths on this date105 (687 – 2026)
Explore March 20
Jump between the main pages for this date to compare events, people, and the daily quiz.
Also on March 20 in History
2021
La Plume noire, an anarchist bookstore in Lyon, is targeted by an attack of the far-right, provoking a shock in Lyon's far-left circles. Wikipedia →
2019
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is sworn in as acting president of Kazakhstan, following the resignation of long-time president Nursultan Nazarbayev. Wikipedia →
2015
See all events on March 20
A solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day. Wikipedia →
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