1258 Salisbury Cathedral in south west England inaugurated.
Sir Thomas Salisbury, heir to the Lleweni Estate, 2 miles north-east of Denbigh, was one of the conspirators executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered on 20th September 1586, for his involvement in the Babington Plot to murder Queen Elizabeth I and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots.
1643 First Battle of Newbury (English civil war): King Charles I's forces beaten by a parliamentary army led by the Earl of Essex and Philip Stapleton.
The Dowlais Ironworks in Merthyr was founded on 20th September 1750. It was to become recognised as a centre of innovation in the industry and at one time, was the largest steel producer in the UK. It became part of British Steel in 1967, finally closing in 1987.
The works owed much of its initial success to a contract for iron rail for the rapidly expanding railroads. In 1845 it was employing 7,300 people in its 18 furnaces that were producing 89,000 tonnes of iron per annum. It was also the first place to use the innovative’ Bessemer Process’ for mass production of steel and by 1857 owned the most powerful rolling mill in the world.
1854 Battle of the Alma: British, French, and Ottoman alliance defeats the Russian Empire in the first major battle of the Crimean War.
On 20th September 1891, Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show performed at Sophia Gardens,Cardiff, which was to be the first of many further visits to Wales. William Cody was riding for the Pony Express when aged 14 and 3 years later he was serving for the union during the American Civil War. After the war, he worked as a buffalo hunter for the Kansas Pacific railroad, for whom he is said to have shot in excess of 4,000 buffaloes and this is how he got the name Buffalo Bill.
1954 Igor Stravinsky's funeral song "In Memoriam Dylan Thomas" premieres in Los Angeles.
1970: Jim Morrison of the Doors is sentenced to six months in prison and fined $500 for allegedly exposing himself during a drunken performance at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Coconut Grove, Florida.
