So you want to have a drink but you aren't sure why? Here are some GREAT reasons to call your friends over and have a party.

July 20th


- Christian Feast Day:
- Friend's Day (Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence declaration of Colombia from Spain in 1810.

July 20th


- 2006 - Ethiopian troops enter Somalian territory.
- 2003 - France: Sixteen people are injured after two bombs explode outside a tax office in Nice.
- 2002 - South America: A fire in a discotheque in Lima, Peru kills over twenty-five.
- 2000 - In Zimbabwe, Parliament opens its new session and seats opposition members for the first time in a decade.
- 2000 - Carlos the Jackal sues France in the European Court of Human Rights for allegedly torturing him.
- 1999 - Falun Gong is banned in the People's Republic of China, and a large scale crackdown of the practice is launched.
- 1998 - Two hundred aid workers from CARE International, Doctors Without Borders and other aid groups leave Afghanistan on orders of the Taliban.
- 1996 - In Spain, an ETA bomb at Reus Airport injures 53
- 1994 - Israel's Shimon Peres visits Jordan, the highest ranking Israeli official to do so
- 1994 - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Fragment Q1 hits Jupiter.
- 1992 - Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
- 1992 - The first post-Soviet monetary reform in Latvia ended, as the Soviet rouble lost its status as legal tender.
- 1989 - Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's show opens at Washington, D.C.'s Project for the Arts after the Smithsonian Institution's Corcoran Gallery cancels it.
- 1989 - Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
- 1987 - UN Security Council Resolution 598, condemning the Iran–Iraq War and demanding cease-fire, is unanimously adopted.
- 1986 - In South Africa, police fire tear gas into a church service for families of those held under the government's emergency decrees.
- 1985 - The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
- 1984 - Officials of the Miss America pageant ask Vanessa Lynn Williams to quit after Penthouse publishes nude photos of her.
- 1983 - The Israeli cabinet votes to withdraw troops from Beirut but to remain in southern Lebanon.
- 1982 - Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regents Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
- 1980 - The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
- 1977 - Johnstown is hit by a flash flood that kills eighty and causes $350 million in damage.
- 1977 - The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments.
- 1976 - The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
- 1976 - Vietnam War: The U.S. military completes its troop withdrawal from Thailand.
- 1976 - Hank Aaron hits his 755th home run, the final home run of his career.
- 1975 - India expels three reporters from The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and Newsweek because they refused to sign a pledge to abide by government censorship.
- 1974 - Turkish occupation of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a "coup d' etat", organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. NATO's Council praises the United States and the United Kingdom for attempts to settle the dispute. Syria and Egypt put their militaries on alert.
- 1973 - The US Senate passes the War Powers Act.
- 1973 - Vietnam War: In testimony by Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Friedheim to the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, the US Defense Department admits it lied to US Congress about bombing Cambodia .
- 1973 - Palestianian terrorists hijack a Japan Airlines jet en route from Amsterdam to Japan and force it down in Dubai.
- 1973 - First coast-to-coast black-owned and operated radio network: The National Black Network (NBN) begins operations.
- 1971 - The Soviet Union says it will support the People's Republic of China's admission to the United Nations
- 1969 - Apollo Program: Apollo 11 successfully lands on the Moon at 20:17 UTC on July 20.
- 1969 - A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, 6 days after the beginning of the "Football War"
- 1968 - Special Olympics founded.
- 1965 - Turkish prime minister Suat Hayri Urguplu returns from a visit to Moscow and announces the Soviet Union will provide aid to his country.
- 1964 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).
- 1964 - The National Movement of the Revolution is instituted as the sole legal political party in the Republic of Congo.
- 1961 - French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
- 1960 - Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
- 1960 - The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.
- 1960 - Belgium defends its intervention in the Congo to the United Nations Security Council while the government of the Congo appeals to the Soviet Union to send troops to push back the Belgians. The governments of the United States and France and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization warn the Soviets to stay out of the dispute.
- 1960 - The head of the Physics Department at the Israel Institute of Technology, Kurt Sitte, is arrested for espionage.
- 1959 - The Organization for European Economic Cooperation admits Spain.
- 1954 - Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
- 1954 - At Geneva, Switzerland, an armistice is signed that ends fighting in Vietnam and divides the country along the 17th parallel.
- 1953 - The United Nations Economic and Social Council votes to make UNICEF a permanent agency.
- 1951 - King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
- 1950 - Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
- 1949 - Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
- 1948 - U.S. President Harry S. Truman issues a peacetime military draft in the United States amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.
- 1948 - In New York City, twelve leaders of the Communist Party USA are indicted under the Smith Act including William Z. Foster and Gus Hall.
- 1947 - Police in Burma arrest former Prime Minister U Saw and 19 others on charges of assassinating Prime Minister U Aung San and seven members of his cabinet.
- 1947 - The Viceroy of India says the people of the North-West Frontier Province overwhelmingly voted the previous day to join Pakistan rather than India.
- 1946 - World War II: The US Congress's Pearl Harbor Committee says Franklin D. Roosevelt is completely blameless for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and calls for a unified command structure in the armed forces.
- 1945 - The US Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement.
- 1944 - World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt (known as the 20 July plot) led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
- 1944 - Franklin D. Roosevelt wins the Democratic Party nomination for the fourth and final time at the 1944 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1944 - Fifty are hurt in rioting in front of the presidential palace in Mexico City.
- 1942 - World War II: The first unit of the Women's Army Corps begins training in Des Moines, Iowa.
- 1941 - Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrenti Beria its chief.
- 1940 - Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
- 1940 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Hatch Act of 1939, limiting political activity by Federal government employees.
- 1938 - The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in .
- 1936 - The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
- 1935 - Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
- 1934 - Labor unrest in the U.S., as police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven.
- 1934 - 1934 West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
- 1933 - In London, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism.
- 1933 - Germany: Two-hundred Jewish merchants are arrested in Nuremberg and paraded through the streets.
- 1933 - Vice-Chancellor of Germany Franz von Papen and Vatican Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli sign a concordat on behalf of their respective nations.
- 1932 - In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force who attempt to march to the White House.
- 1932 - Crowds in the capitals of Bolivia and Paraguay demand their governments declare war on the other after fighting on their border.
- 1929 - Soviet troops attempt to cross the Amur River into Manchuria near Blagoveschensk as tensions mount between the Soviet Union and the Republic of China.
- 1928 - The government of Hungary issues a decree ordering Gypsies to end their nomadic ways, settle permanently in one place, and subject themselves to the same laws and taxes as other Hungarians.
- 1926 - A convention of the Southern Methodist Church votes to allow women to become ministers.
- 1924 - Teheran, Persia comes under martial law after the American vice-consul, Robert Imbrie, is killed by a religious mob enraged by rumors he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people.
- 1922 - The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
- 1921 - Air mail service begins between New York City and San Francisco.
- 1921 - Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson became the first woman to preside over the US House of Representatives.
- 1918 - World War I: German troops cross the Marne.
- 1917 - World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
- 1916 - World War I: In Armenia, Russian troops capture Gumiskhanek.
- 1907 - A train wreck on the Pere Marquette Railroad near Salem, Michigan, kills 30 and injures 70.
- 1903 - Ford Motor Company ships its first car.
- 1898 - Spanish-American War: A boiler explodes on the USS Iowa off the coast of Santiago de Cuba.
- 1894 - The troops sent by Grover Cleveland to Chicago to end the Pullman Strike are recalled.
- 1885 - The Football Association legalises professionalism in football under pressure from the British Football Association.
- 1881 - Indian Wars: Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford, North Dakota
- 1877 - Rioting in Baltimore, Maryland, by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers is put down by the state militia, resulting in nine deaths.
- 1871 - British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
- 1866 - Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa – The Austrian Navy , led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek – Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
- 1810 - Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
- 1807 - Nicéphore Niépce was awarded a patent by Napoleon Bonaparte for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France.
- 1738 - North America: French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
- 1656 - Swedish forces under the command of King Charles X Gustav defeat the forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Warsaw.
- 1402 - Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara – Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I.
- 1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle – King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf.
- 911 - Rollo lays siege to Chartres.
- 70 - First Jewish-Roman War: Siege of Jerusalem - Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.

July 20th


- 1999 - Princess Alexandra of Hanover
- 1997 - Billi Bruno, American actress
- 1991 - William Tomlin, British actor
- 1989 - Witwisit Hirunwongkul, Thai actor
- 1988 - Julianne Hough, American ballroom dancer
- 1988 - Stephen Strasburg, American baseball player
- 1985 - John Francis Daley, American actor
- 1985 - David Mundy, Australian rules footballer
- 1985 - Anastasia Perraki, Greek fashion model
- 1984 - Alexi Casilla, Dominican baseball player
- 1984 - Matt Gilroy, American Hockey Player
- 1982 - Percy Daggs III, American actor
- 1981 - Damien Delaney, Irish footballer
- 1981 - Thorsten Engelmann, German rower
- 1980 - Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model
- 1980 - Mike Kennerty, American guitarist (The All-American Rejects)
- 1979 - Claudine Barretto, Filipino actress
- 1979 - Miklos Feher, Hungarian footballer (d. 2004)
- 1979 - David Ortega, Spanish freestyle swimmer
- 1978 - Will Solomon, American basketball player
- 1978 - Elliott Yamin, American Idol contestant
- 1978 - Pavel Datsyuk, Russian ice hockey player
- 1978 - Charlie Korsmo, American actor
- 1978 - Tamsyn Lewis, Australian athlete
- 1977 - Kiki Musampa, Congolese footballer
- 1977 - Alessandro dos Santos, naturalized Japanese footballer
- 1976 - Erica Hill, American news anchor
- 1976 - Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer
- 1976 - Andrew Stockdale, Australian musician (Wolfmother)
- 1976 - Alex Yoong, Malaysian racing driver
- 1975 - Ray Allen, American basketball player
- 1975 - Judy Greer, American actress
- 1975 - Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer
- 1975 - Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish politician
- 1975 - Atiq-uz-Zaman, Pakistani cricketer
- 1975 - El Zorro, Mexican professional wrestler
- 1974 - Bengie Molina, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1974 - Phofo, American musician
- 1974 - Simon Rex, American actor
- 1973 - Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1973 - Nixon McLean, West Indian cricketer
- 1973 - Omar Epps, American actor
- 1973 - Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
- 1973 - Claudio Reyna, American soccer player
- 1973 - Mads Rieper, Danish footballer
- 1972 - Jozef Stümpel, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1972 - Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician
- 1971 - Ed Giddins, English cricketer
- 1971 - Charles Johnson, American baseball player
- 1971 - Sandra Oh, Korean Canadian actress
- 1971 - DJ Screw, American hip hop deejay (d. 2000)
- 1970 - Agot Isidro, Filipina actress
- 1969 - Vitamin C, American singer
- 1969 - Josh Holloway, American actor
- 1969 - Giovanni Lombardi, Italian cyclist
- 1969 - Tobi Vail, American musician (Bikini Kill, The Go Team, The Frumpies)
- 1968 - Jimmy Carson, American ice hockey player
- 1968 - Michael Park, American actor
- 1968 - Julian Rhind-Tutt, English actor
- 1967 - Reed Diamond, American actor
- 1967 - Courtney Taylor-Taylor, American musician (The Dandy Warhols)
- 1966 - Stone Gossard, American musician (Pearl Jam, Mother Love Bone, Brad)
- 1966 - Enrique Peńa Nieto, American politician
- 1964 - Chris Cornell, American musician (Soundgarden, Audioslave)
- 1964 - Terri Irwin, American naturalist; widow of Steve Irwin
- 1964 - Kool G Rap, American musician
- 1964 - Bernd Schneider, German racing driver
- 1964 - Dean Winters, American actor
- 1963 - Frank Whaley, American actor
- 1962 - Carlos Alazraqui, American actor and comedian
- 1962 - Giovanna Amati, Italian racing driver
- 1962 - Lee Harris, English drummer (Talk Talk, .O.rang)
- 1960 - Claudio Langes, Italian racing driver
- 1958 - Peter Fraßmann, German footballer
- 1958 - Mick MacNeil, Scottish musician (Simple Minds)
- 1958 - Billy Mays, American TV pitchman (d. 2009)
- 1957 - Nancy Cruzan, American figure in right-to-die case (d. 1990)
- 1957 - Donna Dixon, American actress
- 1956 - Paul Cook, English musician (The Sex Pistols)
- 1956 - Ryo Ishibashi, Japanese actor
- 1956 - Jim Prentice, Canadian politician
- 1955 - Jem Finer, English musician and composer (The Pogues)
- 1954 - Moira Harris, American actress
- 1954 - Larry Levan, American DJ (d. 1992)
- 1953 - Dan Shaughnessy, American sports writer
- 1953 - Dave Evans, Australian singer (AC/DC)
- 1953 - Thomas Friedman, American journalist
- 1953 - Marcia Hines, American-born Australian singer
- 1952 - Keiko Matsuzaka, Japanese actress
- 1951 - Jeff Rawle, English actor
- 1950 - Tantoo Cardinal, Canadian actress
- 1950 - Naseeruddin Shah, Indian actor
- 1948 - Muse Watson, American actor
- 1947 - Gerd Binnig, German-born physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1947 - Carlos Santana, Mexican-born American guitarist
- 1946 - Randal Kleiser, American film director
- 1945 - Kim Carnes, American singer and songwriter
- 1945 - Larry Craig, American politician
- 1945 - John Lodge, English musician (The Moody Blues)
- 1945 - Johnny Loughrey, Irish singer (d. 2005)
- 1945 - Bo Rein, American football coach (d. 1980)
- 1945 - Harrison Ellenshaw, American matte painter
- 1944 - Olivier de Kersauson, French sailor
- 1943 - Chris Amon, New Zealand racing driver
- 1943 - Wendy Richard, English actress (d. 2009)
- 1943 - Adrian P?unescu, Romanian poet, journalist, and politician (d. 2010)
- 1942 - Ron Bowden, Australian politician
- 1942 - Pete Hamilton, American race car driver
- 1942 - T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer
- 1941 - Kurt Raab, German actor (d. 1988)
- 1939 - Judy Chicago, American artist
- 1938 - Roger Hunt, English footballer
- 1938 - Tony Oliva, Cuban baseball player
- 1938 - Dame Diana Rigg, English actress
- 1938 - Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981)
- 1937 - Ken Ogata, Japanese actor (d. 2008)
- 1936 - Barbara Mikulski, American politician
- 1935 - Ted Rogers, English comedian (d. 2001)
- 1934 - Uwe Johnson, German writer (d. 1984)
- 1934 - Doug Padgett, English cricketer
- 1934 - Aliki Vougiouklaki, Greek actress (d. 1996)
- 1933 - Buddy Knox, American singer and songwriter (d. 1999)
- 1933 - Cormac McCarthy, American author
- 1933 - Rex Williams, English snooker player
- 1932 - Nam June Paik, Video artist (d. 2006)
- 1932 - Otto Schily, German politician
- 1932 - Ove Verner Hansen, Danish actor
- 1931 - Tony Marsh, English racing driver
- 1930 - Chuck Daly, American basketball coach (d. 2009)
- 1930 - Sally Ann Howes, English-born singer and actress
- 1929 - Mike Ilitch, American businessman and sports executive
- 1929 - Rajendra Kumar, Indian actor (d. 1999)
- 1927 - Michael Gielen, Austrian conductor and composer
- 1926 - Lola Albright, American actress
- 1926 - Patricia Cutts, English actress (d. 1974)
- 1925 - Jacques Delors, French President of the European Commission
- 1925 - Frantz Fanon, West Indian psychiatrist and writer (d. 1961)
- 1924 - Thomas Berger, American novelist
- 1924 - Mort Garson, Canadian composer (d. 2008)
- 1923 - Stanis?aw Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (d. 2005)
- 1922 - Alan Stephenson Boyd, American politician
- 1920 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (d. 1999)
- 1919 - Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (d. 2008)
- 1918 - Cindy Walker, American singer (d. 2006)
- 1914 - Charilaos Florakis, leader of the Communist Party of Greece (d. 2005)
- 1912 - George Johnston, Australian journalist and novelist (d. 1970)
- 1911 - Baqa Jilani, Indian cricketer (d. 1941)
- 1910 - Vilém Tauský, Czech conductor and composer (d. 2004)
- 1909 - Eric Rowan, South African cricketer, Wisden COY 1952 (d. 1993)
- 1909 - Jean Focas, Greco-French astronomer (d. 1969)
- 1902 - Jimmy Kennedy, Irish composer (d. 1984)
- 1901 - Heinie Manush, American baseball player (d. 1971)
- 1900 - Maurice Leyland, English cricketer (d. 1967)
- 1897 - Tadeus Reichstein, Polish-born chemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (d. 1996)
- 1896 - Eunice Sanborn, American supercentenarian
- 1895 - László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
- 1893 - George Llewelyn-Davies, English Peter Pan character model (d. 1915)
- 1890 - King George II of Greece (d. 1947)
- 1889 - John Reith, British broadcast executive (d. 1971)
- 1876 - Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician (d. 1944)
- 1873 - Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator (d. 1932)
- 1868 - Miron Cristea, 1st Patriarch of All Romania (d. 1939)
- 1864 - Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate (d. 1931)
- 1858 - Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (d. 1925)
- 1852 - Theo Heemskerk, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1932)
- 1849 - Robert Anderson Van Wyck, Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
- 1847 - Max Liebermann, German artist (d. 1935)
- 1838 - Augustin Daly, American playwright (d. 1899)
- 1838 - George Otto Trevelyan, British statesman and biographer (d. 1928)
- 1822 - Gregor Mendel, German scientist, father of modern genetics (d. 1884)
- 1804 - Richard Owen, English biologist (d. 1892)
- 1797 - Sir Pawe? Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist (d. 1873)
- 1774 - Auguste Marmont, French marshal (d. 1852)
- 1757 - Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (d. 1811)
- 1754 - Destutt de Tracy, French philosopher (d. 1836)
- 1620 - Nikolaes Heinsius, Dutch scholar (d. 1681)
- 1537 - Arnaud d'Ossat, French diplomat and writer (d. 1604)
- 1304 - Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet (d. 1374)
- 810 - Imam Bukhari, Muslim scholar and compiler of Hadith (d. 870)
- -356 - Alexander the Great, Macedonean king and conqueror of Persia (d. 323 BC)