On This Day: What happened on January 20? 

On This Day in History: Pearl Buck rightly said, “If you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.”

Wondering about what happened on this day in history? Scroll to get details about what happened on January 20 in India and across the world, along with birthdays and deaths of renowned personalities.  

On This Day in History

2018: India won the Blind Cricket World Cup for the second time in a row under the captaincy of Ajay Kumar Reddy. 

2009: Barack Obama became the first black and 44th President of the United States. He served for two consecutive terms (2009-2017).

1981: The Iran hostage crisis ended and 52 U.S. citizens were released after 444 days at the hands of a group of Islamists.

1969: The killing of a student activist sets the stage for the Bangladesh Liberation War which resulted in the establishment of Bangladesh as a sovereign nation.

1961: US President John F. Kennedy delivered a historic speech, in which he told the countrymen, "Don't ask what your country can do for you, but tell what you can do for your country."

1942: Nazi officials meet during the Wannsee Conference in Berlin and discussed what they called the “Final Solution to the Jewish question”.

1934: The Japanese photography and electronics company Fujifilm was founded. 

On This Day In India

1999: Renowned playwright Girish Karnad was selected for the 1998 Jnanpith Award.

1996: The Indian Army began UN Peacekeeping Operations in New Delhi. The operations concluded on 26 January. 

1995: SC ordered the closure of 84 industries around the Taj Mahal due to increasing pollution. 

1988: Bharat Ratna Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan passed away. He was also known as Frontier Gandhi. 

Shiv Charan Mathur was sworn in as Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

1972: Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura became states of the Indian union, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram became Union Territories, and Assam's North-East Frontier Agency (Nepha) was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh.

1957: First Indian Atomic Reactor, Apsara, was dedicated to the nation.

South Africa banned Indian Cargo ships to dock at their ports.

1949: Junagarh was formally merged with Saurashtra.

1948: The bomb exploded near Birla House during a prayer meeting of Gandhi. 

1931: Feature film Saroj Kumari was prohibited on grounds that it was sordid and revolting. 

1898: Krishnarao Ganeshpant Fulambrikar, popularly known as Master Krishnarao, was born. He was a vocalist, classical musician and composer of Hindustani music.

1871: Famous Industrialist Sir Ratanji Jamsetji Tata was born. 

1817: Ram Mohan Roy started Hindu College in Calcutta with the help of Justice David Hare. The college was later renamed the Presidency College.

1684: Treaty was signed between Marathas and Portuguese.

On This Day: Birthdays on January 20

1971: Gary Barlow (English singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer)

1956: Bill Maher (American comedian, actor, and TV host)

1952: Vasant Patankar (Indian writer)

1946: David Lynch (American director)

1939: Nalin Chandra Wickramasinghe (Indian astronomer )

1930: Buzz Aldrin (American pilot, and astronaut)

1920: Federico Fellini (Italian director)

1898: Krishnarao Ganeshpant Fulambrikar(Indian vocalist, musician and composer of Hindustani music)

1879: Raghunath Choudhary (Indian poet)

1871:  Sir Ratanji Jamsetji Tata (Indian Industrialist)

On This Day: Deaths on January 20

2012: Etta James (American singer-songwriter)

1993: Audrey Hepburn (Belgian/English actress, and singer)

Bindeshwari Dube ( Former CM of Bihar)

Captain Karamjeet Singh (First Pramveer Chakra Awardee)

1936: George V (King of the United Kingdom)

1988: Bharat Ratna Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan

1959: Tej Bahadur Sapru (Indian Freedom Fighter)

1900: John Ruskin (English author)

1837: John Soane (English architect)

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