At A Glance

20 August 1940 at a glance

Day of the week
20 August 1940 was a Tuesday.
Top Film of 1940
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1940 was Pinocchio.
Star sign
The star sign for 20 August is Leo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 August 1940 fell in the Year of the Dragon.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 August 1940 was Waning Gibbous.

On this day: 20 August

  • 1940 World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few".
  • 1940 World War II: The Eighth Route Army launches the Hundred Regiments Offensive, a successful campaign to disrupt Japanese war infrastructure and logistics in occupied northern China.
  • 1944 World War II: The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive.
  • 1948 Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob M. Lomakin is expelled by the United States, due to the Kasenkina Case.
  • 1949 Hungary adopts the Hungarian Constitution of 1949 and becomes a People's Republic.

Famous people born on 20 August

  • Andrew Garfield, American-English actor (born 1983)
  • Amy Adams, American actress (born 1974)
  • Demi Lovato, American singer-songwriter and actress (born 1992)
  • Ke Huy Quan, Vietnamese-American actor (born 1971)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1940 in the United Kingdom

A selection from Wikipedia's '1940 in the United Kingdom'. Not a complete list.

  • 3–9 March – RMS Queen Elizabeth makes her maiden voyage from Clydebank to New York.
  • 9 April – British campaign in Norway commences following Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of neutral Denmark and Norway.
  • 26 May – 4 June – The Dunkirk evacuation of British Expeditionary Force takes place. 300,000 troops are evacuated from France to England.

Life in 1940

Prime Minister

Winston Churchill

Monarch

George VI

Pint of Beer

3p

Loaf of Bread

2p

Average House

£675

Weekly Wage

£3.50

Or

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Famous Faces Born in the 1940s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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