📜 This Day in History

April 20

• 1535Sun dogs were observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring Vädersolstavlan, the oldest coloured depiction of the city.
• 1818Four days after the Court of King's Bench upheld an English murder suspect's right to a trial by battle in Ashford v Thornton, the plaintiff declined to fight, allowing the defendant to go free.
• 1939Billie Holiday recorded the song "Strange Fruit", which later became an emblem of the civil rights movement.
• 1968South African Airways Flight 228 crashed shortly after take-off from Windhoek in South West Africa, resulting in 123 deaths.
• 2008American racing driver Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar auto race.
• 2023SpaceX's Starship launched for the first time before exploding four minutes into flight.

Born on this day

• 1808Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France, Emperor of French Second Empire (died 1873)
• 1889Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (died 1945)
• 1893Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (died 1983)
• 1939Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway–