20 APRIL
1534: Elizabeth Barton, the “Holy Maid of Kent”, was executed with five of her associates for treason.
1653: The Long Parliament was forcibly dissolved by Oliver Cromwell.
1770: Captain James Cook discovered New South Wales.
1841: The Murders In The Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, considered to be the first modern detective story, was published in Graham’s magazine in the United States.
1887: The world’s first motor race took place along the banks of the River Seine from the centre of Paris to Neuilly.
1945: Soviet forces penetrated Berlin defences in Second World War.
1949: The first three-day Badminton horse trials were held in Gloucestershire.
1957: Mayflower II, a replica of the Pilgrim Fathers’ ship, sailed from Plymouth to Cape Cod, the landfall of the 1620 original.
1968: Pierre Trudeau became Liberal prime minister of Canada for first time.
1970: President Richard Nixon announced withdrawal of 150,000 United States military personnel from South Vietnam.
1972: Orion, lunar module of Apollo 16, landed on Descartes area of the Moon with Charles Duke and John Young. They made three walks and collected samples of rock.
1978: Soviet fighter planes forced off-course South Korean airliner down in Soviet Union near Arctic Circle.
1981: Steve Davis became the world snooker champion at 23 years of age, beating Doug Mountjoy at Sheffield.
1987: PLO chairman Yasser Arafat called for sovereign Palestinian state “with Jerusalem as its capital”.
1990: Lech Walesa was re-elected chairman of Solidarity by a large margin.
1992: More than 70,000 packed Wembley Stadium for an AIDS Awareness concert in memory of Queen singer Freddie Mercury.
1993: The Council of the National Trust ruled that deerhunting would continue on its land – over-ruling a vote at its 1990 annual meeting.
1994: Priceless antique treasures were stolen in a raid on Sir Walter Scott’s Borders home at Abbotsford.
1995: Tory MPS David Tredinnick and Graham Riddick were suspended without pay from Parliament for 20 and ten days respectively in the “cash for questions” row.
1999: Two teenagers ran amok with guns and grenades in Columbine High School in Denver, Colorado, killing 23 pupils and staff.
2008: Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300 to become the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
2010: BP’S Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 workers, before causing a massive natural disaster after the release of almost four million gallons of crude into the sea off the coast of Louisiana.
2011: It was revealed that “viable” parcel bombs were sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two high-profile fans of the Glasgow club.