October 20

  • 1870 Michael Balfe (62), composer who wrote several operas for performance at Drury Lane, most famously The Bohemian Girl (1843), died.
  • 1999 Jack Lynch, outstanding Gaelic footballer and hurler, leader of Fianna Fáil (1966–79) and taoiseach (1966–73, 1977–9), died.
  • 1986 General Michael J. Costello, colonel commandant in the National Army during the Civil War (1922–3) at the age of eighteen, assistant chief-of-staff (1937–9) and latterly general manager of the Irish Sugar Company (1945–66), died.
  • 1964 Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States (1929–33), died.
  • 1917 W.B. Yeats, poet and dramatist (52), married Georgie Hyde-Lees (25).
  • 1910 The Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic, built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast, for the White Star Line, was launched. At 45,324 gross tons it was the biggest ship ever launched.