On This Day – May 20th

Events that took place on this day

2013 – The Church of Scotland passed a vote to allow actively gay men and women to become ministers. It was described as a “positive step forward for a more equal society” by a representative from the Equality Network, however there was some disapproval within the clergy. There were divisions within the church when the first openly gay minister was appointed four years previously, with two congregations and six ministers breaking away from the church.

2012 – English singer Adele was the big winner at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards. The awards, honouring music popularity, have been annually since 1989, apart from a 5 year break between 2007 and 2011. The awards are based on US yearly chart performance, rather than nominations and voting like most other music awards. Adele was announced as the Top Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist and Top Pop Artist, alongside winning awards for Top Pop Album, Top Streaming Song and Top Alternative Song, picking up 12 awards in total.

2003 – The US reality TV show “America’s Next Top Model” aired for the first time. The programme, created by model and television personality Tyra Banks, allows people the chance to become a supermodel. The show has run for 20 series, with the winners getting opportunities to model for brands such as Revlon and Guess.

1998 – Real Madrid won their 7th Major European and their first of the Champions League era. (The previous 6 being won as the former European Cup.) This was Madrid’s first European title in 32 years, Juventus on the other hand where in their third straight final and strong favourites to win the tournament. The match was notable as Real legend and Footballing great Zinédine Zidane played for Juventus against future club Real.

1992 – Rapper Tung Twista set a world record and became known as the “World’s Fastest Rapper”. He rapped 597 syllables in only 55.12 seconds, beating the previous world record holder Daddy Freddy, from Jamaica, who rapped 528 syllables in 60 seconds.

1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope sent its first image back to be viewed on Earth. The image, whilst exceeding the quality of all the ground-based telescopes, wasn’t as clear as they had hoped it would be. This was later found to be due to one of the mirrors being ground too flat. The images, although slightly blurry, allowed the scientists to see space in a different way than they had before. However, due to the poor quality of the image, they were not able to complete some parts of their mission.

1970 – “Let it Be”, the documentary film about the Beatles was released. The rehearsal and recording of songs for the album was featured on the film, which also included footage of an unannounced rooftop concert, which was their last public performance as a group. It was released just after the album, making it the final Beatles release.

1895 – The first commercial film was broadcast in front of a paying audience. It was projected onto a screen at a storefront theatre, and was an eight minute, black and white, silent film of a boxing match. The match, between Australian Albert Griffiths and Charles Barnett, was filmed on the roof of Madison Square Garden on May 4^th, 1895, and was titled Young Griffo v. Battling Charles Barnett.

1932 – World famous pilot Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland, Canada. Nearly 15 hours later, she landed in Ireland, making her the first woman to sly across the Atlantic Ocean solo. She first became known after becoming the first woman to cross the Atlantic on a trans-Atlantic flight, as a passenger. She did not feel that she deserved the fame, saying, “I was just baggage, like a sack of potatoes”.

Died on this day

2012 – Robin Gibb: Recording Artist and member of the Bee Gees

1996 – John Pertwee: Actor of Doctor Who and Worzel Gummidge fame

2011 – Randy Savage: American Professional Wrestler and Actor

Born on this day

1970 – Louis Theroux: Television presenter

1946 – Cher: Recording Artist and Oscar Winning Actress

1944 – Joe Cocker: Recording Artist famous for The Beatles cover “With a Little Help from My Friends”

If you are interested in finding out what happened on other dates, why not take a look at our History Diploma?