Did you know
Keith Michell was an artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre in the 1970s and later had a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote as the charming thief Dennis Stanton.
Notable Deaths on November 20
2015 — Keith Michell
Australian actor (born 1926)
November 20 has 139 recorded notable deaths across history, from 284 to 2024. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Notable Deaths
139 source records
284 – 2024
Today in history
Major events on November 20
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1977 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement. Source
- 1998 The first space station module component, Zarya, for the International Space Station is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Source
- 1441 The Peace of Cremona ends the war between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan, after the victorious Venetian enterprise of military engineering of the Galeas per montes. Source
- 1969 Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. Source
Did you know
John Harington became prominent at Queen Elizabeth I's court, and was known as her "saucy Godson", but his poetry and other writings caused him to fall in and out of favour with the Queen.
Did you know
John I is the youngest person to be king of France, the only one to have been king from birth, and the only one to hold the title for his entire life.
Did you know
John Jellicoe fought in the Anglo-Egyptian War and the Boxer Rebellion and commanded the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 during the First World War.
Did you know
David Dacko also served as Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from 1 May 1959 to 14 August 1960.
More major people who died on November 20
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1612
John Harington
English courtier and author (born 1561)
Sir John Harington, of Kelston, Somerset, England, but born in London, was an English courtier, author and translator popularly known as the inventor of the flush toilet.
1316
John I
king of France and Navarra (born 1316)
John I, called the Posthumous, was the King of France and Navarre, as the posthumous son and successor of Louis X, for the four days he lived in 1316.
1935
John Jellicoe
Royal Navy officer and First Sea Lord (born 1859)
Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe was a Royal Navy officer.
2003
David Dacko
African educator and politician, 1st President of the Central African Republic (born 1930)
David Dacko was a Central African politician who served as the first President of the Central African Republic from 14 August 1960 to 31 December 1965 and as the third President of the Central African Republic from 21…
1907
Paula Modersohn-Becker
German painter (born 1876)
Paula Modersohn-Becker was a German Expressionist painter and draftswoman of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is noted for the many self-portraits, including nudes.
1606
John Lyly
English poet and courtier
John Lyly was an English writer, playwright, courtier, and parliamentarian.
855
Theoktistos
Byzantine courtier
Theoktistos or Theoctistus was a leading Byzantine official during the second quarter of the 9th century and the de facto head of the regency for the underage emperor Michael III from 842 until his dismissal and murder…
1764
Christian Goldbach
Prussian mathematician and theorist (born 1690)
Christian Goldbach was a Prussian mathematician connected with some important research mainly in number theory; he also studied law and took an interest in and a role in the Russian court.
1898
Sir John Fowler
1st Baronet, English engineer (born 1817)
Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, KCMG, LLD, FRSE was an English civil engineer specialising in the construction of railways and railway infrastructure.
1889
August Ahlqvist
Finnish professor, poet, scholar of the Finno-Ugric languages, author, and literary critic (born 1826)
Karl August Engelbrekt Ahlqvist, who wrote as A. Oksanen, was a Finnish professor, poet, scholar of the Finno-Ugric languages, author, and literary critic.
1947
Wolfgang Borchert
German author and playwright (born 1921)
Wolfgang Borchert was a German author and playwright whose work was strongly influenced by his experience of dictatorship and his service in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War.
996
Richard I
duke of Normandy (born 932)
Richard I, also known as Richard the Fearless, was the count of Rouen from 942 to 996. Dudo of Saint-Quentin, whom Richard commissioned to write the "De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum", called him a dux.
1903
Tom Horn
American scout, cowboy, soldier
Thomas Horn Jr., was an American cowboy, scout, soldier, range detective, rodeo performer, and Pinkerton agent in the 19th-century and early 20th-century American Old West.
2019
Wataru Misaka
American basketball player (born 1923)
Wataru Misaka was an American professional basketball player. A 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) point guard of Japanese descent, he broke a color barrier in professional basketball by being the first non-white player and the…
1864
Albert Newsam
American painter and illustrator (born 1809)
Albert Newsam was an American lithographer and painter. He was born deaf in Steubenville, Ohio, and orphaned as a small child.
2010
Chalmers Johnson
American author and scholar (born 1931)
Chalmers Ashby Johnson was an American political scientist specializing in comparative politics, and professor emeritus of the University of California, San Diego.
2012
Pete La Roca
American jazz drummer (born 1938)
Pete "La Roca" Sims was an American jazz drummer and attorney.
1933
Augustine Birrell
British politician (born 1815)
Augustine Birrell KC was a British Liberal Party politician, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916.
2005
Chris Whitley
American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1960)
Christopher Becker Whitley was an American blues/rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. Whitley's sound was drawn from the traditions of blues, jazz and rock and he recorded songs by artists from many genres.