20 January in history
9 events that happened on 20 January, from 1265 to 2009.
1265 CE 761 years ago
Simon de Montfort's Parliament meets at Westminster
Ruling in the name of the captive Henry III, Simon de Montfort summoned knights from the shires and, for the first time, burgesses from the towns. It is seen as a forerunner of the House of Commons.
1649 CE 377 years ago
Trial of Charles I opens in Westminster Hall
A High Court of Justice set up by the Rump Parliament tried the King for treason against his people. Charles refused to recognise its authority and was beheaded ten days later.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1783 CE 243 years ago
Britain agrees preliminary peace with France and Spain
Preliminary articles signed at Versailles ended hostilities between Britain and the Bourbon powers. With peace with the United States already agreed, the war that won American independence was over.
1841 CE 185 years ago
Convention of Chuenpi cedes Hong Kong Island to Britain
During the First Opium War, Charles Elliot and the Qing envoy Qishan agreed terms ceding Hong Kong Island. Neither government accepted the deal, but the 1842 Treaty of Nanking confirmed the cession.
1936 CE 90 years ago
George V dies and Edward VIII becomes king
King George V died at Sandringham, and his eldest son succeeded as Edward VIII. Edward abdicated before the end of the year to marry Wallis Simpson, the only voluntary abdication in British history.
1942 CE 84 years ago
Nazi officials meet at Wannsee to coordinate the Holocaust
Chaired by Reinhard Heydrich, senior officials met at a villa on the Wannsee in Berlin to organise the 'Final Solution', the deportation and murder of Europe's Jews. The minutes survived the war.
1961 CE 65 years ago
John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as US President
At 43, Kennedy became the youngest person elected President. His inaugural address urged Americans to 'ask what you can do for your country'. He was assassinated less than three years later.
1981 CE 45 years ago
Iran releases 52 American hostages after 444 days
Minutes after Ronald Reagan was sworn in, Iran freed the Americans held since the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. The crisis had overshadowed Jimmy Carter's final year in office.
2009 CE 17 years ago
Barack Obama inaugurated as the first African American President
Before a crowd of some 1.8 million on the National Mall, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, taking office amid a deep financial crisis.
