20 August It Happened Today

1833  Birth of US president Benjamin Harrison.

1912  Death of Salvation Army founder William Booth.

1913  Adolphe Pegond becomes the first person to parachute from an aeroplane.

1924  British sprinter Eric Liddel refuses to run in the Olympic 100 metres as it is on a Sunday.

1940  Leon Trotsky is stabbed to death with an ice pick near Mexico City.

1989  The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks in the Thames after colliding with a sand dredger, killing 51 people.