At A Glance

20 May 2012 at a glance

Day of the week
20 May 2012 was a Sunday.
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1
The Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 was “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye featuring Kimbra.
Top Film of 2012
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 2012 was The Avengers.
Bestselling Novel of 2012
“Fifty Shades of Grey” by E. L. James was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 2012.
Top-Rated TV Show
“NCIS” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 2012–13 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 20 May is Taurus.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 20 May 2012 fell in the Year of the Dragon.
Birthstone
The birthstone for May is Emerald.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 20 May 2012 was New Moon.

On this day: 20 May

  • 1996 Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
  • 2002 The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
  • 2011 Mamata Banerjee is sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post.
  • 2019 The International System of Units (SI): The base units are redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.
  • 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war: Russia claims full control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after a nearly three-month siege.

Famous people born on May 20

  • Enes Kanter Freedom, Turkish basketball player (born 1992)
  • Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, English journalist and author (born 1964)
  • Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (born 1946)
  • Timothy Olyphant, American actor and producer (born 1968)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Choose your country: the charts, news and leaders change to match.

Events of 2012 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '2012 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • March 2 – Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is released in theaters.
  • March 20 – John Carter records one of the biggest losses in cinema history, forcing Disney to take a $200 million writedown and chairman Rich Ross to resign.
  • May 4 – The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, is released by Marvel Studios as the sixth film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the final film in its "Phase One" slate.

Life in the US in 2012

President

Barack Obama

Gas (per gallon)

$3.68

Loaf of Bread

$1.84

Average House

$256,900

Weekly Wage

$757

Or

Browse by Year

About The Day You Were Born

Ever wondered what was happening in the world when you took your first breath? Our birthday lookup tool reveals the fascinating history of your special day.

About The Birthday Chronicle and where our data comes from →