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Sunday 20 September 2026
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FILE NO. 09.20 5 specimens · est. 1519-1973

What happened on September 20?

Real photographs, all filed under this date. Name each event before you read on.
Case Timeline 1519-1973 · 454 years
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What happened on September 20

All 5 specimens from this file, spanning 1519 to 1973, with the story behind each photograph.

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  1. A dark oil portrait of a bearded man in a black cap with a red-ribboned badge on his chest, one hand resting on a rolled chart.
    Exploration · 1519

    Five ships set out to sail all the way round the world

    Ferdinand Magellan left Spain on 20 September 1519 with five ships and about 270 men. Three years later one ship and eighteen men came home, having gone all the way round. Magellan was not among them: he was killed in the Philippines in 1521.

  2. An old photograph of a long city wall pocked with shell damage and broken open near a gate tower, with domes visible in the distance.
    Conflict · 1870

    Artillery breaches an ancient city wall and ends the pope's rule over it

    Italian troops shelled a gap in the Aurelian Wall near Porta Pia on 20 September 1870, took Rome in about five hours, and completed the unification of Italy. Pope Pius IX withdrew into the Vatican and called himself a prisoner. The dispute was not settled until 1929.

  3. A photograph of a huge riveted steel hull torn open, with a workman in a flat cap standing beside the hole for scale.
    Disaster · 1911

    A warship rams the world's largest liner and tears open its hull

    HMS Hawke struck RMS Olympic off the Isle of Wight on 20 September 1911, opening two large holes in her side. Nobody was killed, but the inquiry blamed the liner. Repairs pulled workers and parts off her sister ship in Belfast and delayed the maiden voyage of the Titanic by three weeks.

  4. A young man in a suit and tie walking through a crowd flanked by grim-faced men in suits, with helmeted officers behind.
    Society · 1962

    A governor personally blocks a student from enrolling at a university

    James Meredith, an air force veteran, tried to register at the University of Mississippi on 20 September 1962 and was turned away in person by the state governor. He was finally enrolled on 1 October behind federal marshals, after a riot that killed two people. He graduated the following August.

  5. A woman in a tennis dress being carried into a packed arena on a decorated chair, waving, as spectators hold up handmade signs.
    Sports · 1973

    A woman beats a former champion in a match watched by 90 million people

    Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in straight sets at the Houston Astrodome on 20 September 1973, in front of 30,000 people and a television audience of around 90 million. Riggs, a 55 year old former Wimbledon champion, had spent months claiming no woman could beat him. She was carried in on a gold litter; he arrived in a rickshaw.