What Happened On
Running Advocate Dies at 52 of Heart Attack While Jogging
July 20, 1984
James Fixx dies of a heart attack while jogging. His book The Complete Book of Running (1977) launched a nationwide running craze. Fixx started running and quit smoking at age 35 when he weighed 214 pounds (97 kg) and smoked two packs of cigarettes per day. Ten years later, when his book, The Complete Book of Running was published, he was 60 pounds (27 kg) lighter. The book sold over a million copies. It is believed he may have suffered a congenital heart defect, as his father died of a heart attack at age 43.
Bruce Lee Dies of Cerebral Edema
July 20, 1973
The 32-year-old actor and martial arts expert Bruce Lee dies of cerebral edema.
The previous May 10th, Lee collapsed, suffering from seizures and headaches and was diagnosed with cerebral edema. On July 20th, he took the painkiller Equagesic for a headache and then took a nap. Later when friends were unable to wake him, a doctor was called, but he was unable to revive him. He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. The autopsy showed that his brain was severely swollen. The swelling was believed due to a reaction to the Equagesic. Others speculate that the muscle relaxers Lee was taking for a back injury also contributed to the medication reaction. It has also been speculated that over-exertion and heat stroke may have also contributed to his death. Lee had his underarm sweat glands removed in late 1972, and had been practicing in hot temperatures on both May 10th and July 20th, which may have exacerbated his edema.
Lee is considered one of the most influential martial artists of all time and founded the martial arts style Jeet Kune Do (1967, The Way of the Intercepting Fist).
Film: Fists of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973). TV: The Green Hornet (1966-67, Kato).
Armstrong stepping on the Moon
Armstrong stepping on the Moon
First Man on the Moon
July 20, 1969
The Apollo 11 crew lands on the lunar surface. Six and half hours later Neil Armstrong would step onto the surface speaking the famous line, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Buzz Aldrin joined him 20 minutes later. Aldrin would later joke that while Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon, he was the first to piss his pants on the Moon.
They also left behind a laser reflector which was used to prove the Moon was 131.2 feet farther away than previously believed.
The Arthur Murray Party
July 20, 1950
The television show The Arthur Murray Party debuts on ABC. It was hosted by the famous dancers Arthur Murray and Kathryn Murray and ran for 10 years.
Some consider it the longest running commercial on TV.
It was one of only six shows to appear on all four major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, DuMont). As it strongly promoted Murray's dance studios, some consider it the longest running commercial on TV.
Photo Credit: Bundesarchiv
Photo Credit: Bundesarchiv
Hitler Assassination Attempt
July 20, 1944
A bomb explodes during a meeting between Adolf Hitler and the military leaders of the Reich, killing four people and wounding 20 others. Hitler was virtually unscathed. His first reaction was concern for his new boots.
German officer Claus von Stauffenberg, who was part of the resistance movement, had planted a briefcase with a bomb in it next to Hitler during a meeting and then left the room. However, someone sitting next to Hitler moved the bomb to behind a large table leg. The table leg shielded Hitler from the blast saving his life.
Stauffenberg and his resistance movement had planned to seize power after the death of Hitler, but with Hitler's survival, the coup failed. Several of the plot leaders, including Stauffenberg, were rounded up and executed the following day.
Afterwards, the Gestapo began rounding up anyone remotely connected to the plot, arresting over 7,000 people, 4,980 of which were executed, including Erwin Planck, son of the famous physicist Max Planck.
German general Erwin Rommel was also implicated in the plot. But because he was a war hero, Hitler didn't want to publicly execute him. In return for assurances of safety for his family, he was offered the option of suicide, which he took, although he still proclaimed his innocence. Rommel was given a state funeral, and it was announced that he died due to injuries from the strafing of his staff car in Normandy.
Weissmuller in 1924 and later as Tarzan
Weissmuller in 1924 and later as Tarzan
Tarzan Wins Olympic Gold
July 20, 1924
Future Tarzan portrayer Johnny Weissmuller wins Olympic gold medals for swimming in the 100-meter freestyle and the 4x200-meter relay in the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Gymnast Wins Gold With Injured Leg
July 20, 1976
Shun Fujimoto wins an Olympic gold medal as a member of the Japanese gymnastics team. He had severely injured his right leg during his floor exercise routine. Fujimoto said that he did not want to let his team down by revealing his injury. His completing and scoring a 9.5 and 9.7 on the side horse and rings events enabled the team to win gold, defeating the team from the Soviet Union by a narrow margin. The dismount from the rings routine from eight feet above ground aggravated his already serious knee injury, dislocating his broken kneecap and tearing ligaments in his right leg. Doctors ordered him to withdraw from further competition or risk permanent disability.
In 2017, Fujimoto was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
See also George Eyser, the one-legged gymnast who won 6 Olympic medals in a single day.
First Pictures from the Surface of Mars
July 20, 1976
Viking I lands on Mars and sends the first pictures sent from Mars' surface (pictured is the first image sent).
Five days later, it took the famous "Face on Mars" photo.
Viking I was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars, and was part of a two-part mission to search for signs of life on Mars. It performed the first Martian soil sample using its robotic arm and a special biological laboratory.
First Underwater Guided-Missile Launch
July 20, 1960
The submarine USS George Washington (SSBN-598) launches a pair of Polaris missiles. The target was more than 1,100 nautical miles away. This was the first Polaris missile launch. Shortly thereafter, 41 U.S. submarines were armed with 16 Polaris missiles each, with each missile carrying a single nuclear warhead and a range of 1000 nautical miles (1,300 mi; 2,000 km).
First Billboard Magazine
July 20, 1940
First Billboard Magazine music popularity chart: Frank Sinatra topped the list with I'll Never Smile Again.
Lindbergh
July 20, 1927
After completing the first solo transatlantic flight, Charles Lindbergh begins his tour of the U.S. He visited every state with his plane The Spirit of St. Louis.
Monkey Trial
July 20, 1925
Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan takes the witness stand to defend his fundamentalist views against the teaching of evolution. He is completely humiliated by Clarence Darrow, who pointed out the absurdity of a strict reading of the Bible. The resulting stress may have contributed to Bryan's death six days later.
Ford Motor Company's First Car
July 20, 1903
The soon to be auto giant Ford Motor Company ships its first car.
Birthdays
Natalie Wood (Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko)
Born July 20, 1938 d. 1981
American actress. Film: Miracle on 34th Street (1947, as the little girl who trusted Santa Claus) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955, Judy).
She drowned off the side of her yacht while it was anchored near shore. She was on board with her husband Robert Wagner, Christopher Walken, and the yacht's captain. How she ended up in the water was not determined, but she had bruises on her body and arms and an abrasion on her left cheek. Her blood alcohol content was 0.14% and there were traces of a motion-sickness pill and a painkiller in her bloodstream, both of which increase the effects of alcohol. According to Wagner, he and Wood had been arguing earlier and Wood went to bed first. When Wagner went to join her, he noticed that both she and the yacht's small inflatable dinghy were missing. A witness in a boat nearby said that around 11 p.m. she heard a woman calling out, "Somebody please help me, I'm drowning." Her body was found about a mile from the yacht with the dinghy beached nearby.
Her sister, Lana Wood, said Wood had a fear of water and would never have tried to enter the dinghy alone, especially only wearing a nightgown.
Wood's fear of water started as a child, when she almost drowned while filming The Green Promise (1949). She had recently starred in the TV movie The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980), in which a character she played drowned.
Her death was initially ruled accidental, but the case was reopened in 2011 and the cause of death was changed to "drowning and other undetermined factors."
Hillary (left) with Norgay
Photo Credit: Jamling Tenzing Norgay
Hillary (left) with NorgayPhoto Credit: Jamling Tenzing Norgay
Sir Edmund Hillary (Edmund Percival Hillary)
Born July 20, 1919 d. 2008
New Zealander explorer. He and Tenzing Norgay were the first to summit Mt. Everest (1953).
Founder of Genetics
Gregor Johann Mendel
Born July 20, 1822 d. 1884
Austrian monk, botanist. His experiments with the garden pea (1856-63) constitute the basis of modern genetics, now referred to as Mendelian inheritance. His work was all but ignored until 1900.
Carlos Santana
Born July 20, 1947
Mexican-born Grammy-winning musician. His band Santana pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American jazz.
Kim Carnes
Born July 20, 1945
American Grammy-winning singer. Music: It Hurts So Bad (1956) and Bette Davis Eyes (1981, #1, Grammy).
Diana Rigg (Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg)
Born July 20, 1938 d. 2020
British Tony-Emmy-winning actress. TV: The Avengers (1965-68, Emma Peel), Mystery! (1989-2003, host), and Game of Thrones (2013-17, Olenna Tyrell - Queen of Thorns). Film: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969, James Bond's wife).
Robert D. Maurer
Born July 20, 1924
American research physicist. He and his colleagues at Corning Glass Works, Dr. Donald B. Keck and Dr. Peter Schultz, invented optical fiber. It is capable of carrying 65,000 times more information than conventional copper wire.
Lola Albright
Born July 20, 1924 d. 2017
American actress, singer. TV: Peter Gunn (1958-61, Peter Gunn's girlfriend).
Inventor of the Clinical Thermometer
Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt
Born July 20, 1836 d. 1925
English physician. Inventor of the short clinical pocket thermometer (1866). Prior to his invention, clinical thermometers were about a foot long and patients had to hold them for about twenty minutes.
Sir Richard Owen
Born July 20, 1804 d. 1892
English biologist, paleontologist. He coined the term Dinosaur (1842). He was strongly opposed to Darwinian evolution.
Innocent IX (Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti)
Born July 20, 1519 d. 1591
Italian religious leader, 230th Pope (Oct. - Dec. 1591).
Deaths
Doohan as Scotty
Doohan as Scotty
Scotty of Star Trek and D-Day Survivor
James Doohan (James Montgomery Doohan)
Died July 20, 2005 b. 1920
Canadian actor. Famous for his portrayal of Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott on Star Trek (1966-69, "I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain!"). During the World War II D-Day invasion, Doohan shot two snipers while fighting with the Royal Canadian Artillery. However, he was hit by six rounds of friendly fire from a Canadian sentry. A round to his chest was stopped by a cigarette case he was carrying; a gift from his brother. A round to his hand required the amputation of his right middle finger. He also took four rounds in his leg.
Doohan choose the name Montgomery for his character, which is his middle name (in honor of his grandfather James Montgomery). He also helped create the Klingon and Vulcan languages for Star Trek.
TV: Star Trek: The Next Generation (1992) and Star Trek: The Animated Series (voicing Scotty and numerous other characters).
Started a Running Craze - Died of a Heart Attack While Jogging
James Fuller Fixx
Died July 20, 1984 b. 1932
American author, The Complete Book of Running (1977) which launched a running craze. He died of a heart attack while jogging. His book The Complete Book of Running (1977) launched a nationwide running craze. Fixx started running and quit smoking at age 35 when he weighed 214 pounds (97 kg) and smoked two packs of cigarettes per day. Ten years later, when his book, The Complete Book of Running was published, he was 60 pounds (27 kg) lighter. The book sold over a million copies. It is believed he may have suffered a congenital heart defect, as his father died of a heart attack at age 43.
He also published three collections of puzzles: Games for the Super-Intelligent, More Games for the Super-Intelligent, and Solve It!.
Bruce Lee (Lee Jun-fan)
Died July 20, 1973 b. 1940
Chinese-American martial arts expert, actor. Considered one of the most influential martial artists of all time, he founded the martial arts style Jeet Kune Do (1967, The Way of the Intercepting Fist).
In May 1973, Lee collapsed, suffering from seizures and headaches and was diagnosed with cerebral edema. In July, he took the painkiller Equagesic for a headache and then took a nap. Later when friends were unable to wake him, a doctor was called, but he was unable to revive him. He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead on arrival at the age of 32. The autopsy showed that his brain was severely swollen. The swelling was believed due to a reaction to the Equagesic. Others speculate that the muscle relaxers Lee was taking for a back injury also contributed to the medication reaction. It has also been speculated that over-exertion and heat stroke may have also contributed to his death. Lee had his underarm sweat glands removed in late 1972, and had been practicing in hot temperatures on both May 10th and July 20th, which may have exacerbated his edema.
Film: Fists of Fury (1972) and Enter the Dragon (1973). TV: The Green Hornet (1966-67, Kato).
Pancho Villa (José Doroteo Arango Arámbula)
Died July 20, 1923 b. 1878
Mexican revolutionary. He raided Texas and New Mexico, and led revolutions against Mexico.
Dead Man Wins
Alvin "Tuffy" Coerber
Died July 20, 1992 b. 1919
American public official. He defeated his opponent in the August 1992 nomination for re-election for Kearny County Commissioner in Kansas - even though he had been dead for two weeks.
Frank Reynolds
Died July 20, 1983 b. 1923
American anchorman. TV: ABC Evening News.
Guglielmo Marconi
Died July 20, 1937 b. 1874
Italian Nobel-winning physicist, radio pioneer, inventor of the wireless telegraph (1896).
Leo XIII
Died July 20, 1903 b. 1810
Italian religious leader, 256th Pope (1878-1903).
Albrecht von Gräfe
Died July 20, 1870 b. 1828
German eye surgeon. Albrecht von Gräfe is regarded as the greatest German ophthalmologist of the 19th century. He was the first to successfully treat glaucoma.
Peregrine White
Died July 20, 1704 b. 1620
New World pioneer. He was the first child born of English parents in New England. He was born aboard the Mayflower while it was anchored just off of Cape Cod.