Holidays Calendar for June 20, 2018

In Argentina, National Flag Day is a public holiday celebrated on June 20. It commemorates the anniversary of the death of Manuel Belgrano who created the national flag of Argentina.

Martyrs' Day is an Eritrean public holiday celebrated on June 20 each year. It honors those who gave their lives during the Eritrean War of Independence that lasted for thirty years.

International Nystagmus Awareness Day is observed annually on June 20. It was created to bring attention to an eye condition that affects million of people across the globe, many of whom are infants or older children, and often results in reduced or limited vision.

Tennis is one of the most widely played sports in the world, so it is not surprising that there are not one, but two holidays celebrating it: World Tennis Day is observed on the first Monday of March, while International Tennis Day always falls on June 20. The catch is that the two holidays celebrate different kinds of tennis.

Gas Sector Day is an official professional holiday in Azerbaijan celebrated on June 20 each year. It was established by President Ilham Aliyev in 2006 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the creation of Azerbaijani gas sector.

Arbor Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, but mostly the event is organized on different dates. For instance Arbor Day is celebrated in Australia on June 20.

National American Eagle Day, also known as simply American Eagle Day, is celebrated annually on June 20. It was created to commemorate the day in 1782 when the final design of the Great Seal of the United States, with a bald eagle holding an olive branch and a bundle of 13 arrows, was submitted to the Congress.

West Virginia Day is a state holiday in the state of West Virginia. It is celebrated annually on June 20 to commemorate the state’s admission to the Union in 1863, during the American Civil War.

June 20 is National Vanilla Milkshake Day. People across country happily celebrate this day annually.

Looking for an unusual food holiday to celebrate? National Kouign Amann Day is exactly what you need! Observed on June 20, it celebrates what has been described as “the fattiest pastry in all of Europe”.

National Ice Cream Soda Day is an unofficial food holiday observed annually on June 20. It celebrates a popular summertime refreshment that has been around since the late 19th century.

World Refugee Day is a United Nations global observance held on June 20 each year. It was established by the UN General Assembly on December 4, 2000.


This Day in History

  • 2013 Died: Jean-Louis Scherrer, French fashion designer. Although he was known for his work and fame, he was sacked from his own-name label in 1992.
  • 2009 The Acropolis Museum was opened in Athens, Greece. The museum houses the artifacts dated from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece.
  • 2005 Died: Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate for invention of the integrated circuit.
  • 1973 Ezeiza massacre in Buenos Aires: snipers fired upon left-wing Peronists, supporters of President Juan Domingo Perón, who came to acclaim his return from an 18-year exile in Spain. At least 13 were killed and more than 300 injured.
  • 1971 Born: Josh Lucas, American actor, best known for films Glory Road, Sweet Home Alabama, A Beautiful Mind, Steath, Poseidon and J. Edgar.
  • 1967 Born: Nicole Kidman, Australian-American actress, and producer. She received two Academy Awards for Best Actress, two Golden Globe Awards and Silver Bear of Best Actress. Her notable films were Batman Forever, Moulin Rouge!, Eyes Wide Shut.
  • 1963 Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United Stats established the so-called red telephone link. Despite its popular name, this connection was never a telephone link and used no red phones.
  • 1960 Born: John Taylor, English singer-songwriter, bass player, best known s the bass guitarist and co-founder of band Duran Duran. He left the band in 1997 to pursue a solo recording and film career.
  • 1958 Died: Kurt Alder, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate for work on what is now known as the Diels-Alder reaction.
  • 1956 A Venezuelan Lockheed Constellation aircraft crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey. 74 were killed.
  • 1949 Born: Lionel Richie, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor. He recorded several hits and singles, that were Top 10 in the USA and sold more than 100 million records worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling artists of all time.
  • 1933 Died: Clara Zetkin, German activist, theorist and advocate for women's rights. She organized the first celebration of International Women's Day.
  • 1925 Died: Josef Breuer, Austrian physician and psychologist, best remembered for his key discoveries in neurophysiology. Together with Anna O. he developed the talking cure and laid foundation to psychoanalysis as developed by his protégé Sigmund Freud.
  • 1909 Born: Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor, singer, and producer, known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films and his playboy lifestyle. A leading role in Captain Blood brought Flynn recognition and fame.
  • 1906 Died: John Clayton Adams, English painter, particularly known for his harvesting paintings. It was his favorite subject throughout life. His best known paintings are Harvest Time, The evening sun, Flowers of the field, Evening reflection, Returning from the Harvest.
  • 1900 Boxer Rebellion: the Imperial Chinese Army began a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.
  • 1895 The Kiel Canal was officially opened in Germany. The canal crosses the base of the Jutland peninsula and nowadays it's the busiest artificial waterway in the world.
  • 1894 Born: Lloyd Hall, American chemist. He made numerous contributions to the science of food preservation. By the end of his career, he had 59 United States patents, number of his inventions were patented in other countries.
  • 1888 Died: Johannes Zukertort, Polish chess player, one of the leading world players of the end of the 19th century.
  • 1877 World's first commercial telephone service was installed by Alexander Graham Bell in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
  • 1875 Born: Reginald Punnett, English geneticist, statistician, and academic. He is best remembered today for popularization of genetics and book Mendelism, that is said to be the first textbook on genetics.
  • 1870 Died: Jules de Goncourt, French author. He wrote books together with his brother Edmond. Both of them are pioneered naturalism and impressionism in French literature. Germinie Lacerteux is considered to be their best novel.
  • 1861 Born: Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate for discovery of vitamins.
  • 1840 Samuel Morse patented his invention, the telegraph.
  • 1837 Died: William IV, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Hanover from 1830, the last monarch of House of Hanover.
  • 1837 Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne. She was 18 at that time and she ruled the country till 1901.
  • 1819 Born: Jacques Offenbach, German-French cellist and composer of the romantic period. His legacy includes nearly 100 operettas and uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffman. His The Tales of Hoffman is a standard opera repertory.
  • 1819 The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrived at Liverpool, United Kingdom. This ship became the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey was made under sail.
  • 1756 Born: Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer of the classical era. He is sometimes referred to as the Swedish Mozart and his life span was very similar to that of Mozart.
  • 1597 Died: Willem Barentsz, Dutch cartographer and explorer. He went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northeast passage and died on return voyage. The Barents Sea was named after him.