Userkaf was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Fifth Dynasty. Before ascending the throne, he may have been a high priest of Ra. He reigned for seven to eight years in the early 25th century BC, during the Old Kingdom period. He built a sun temple, known as the Nekhenre, that mainly functioned as a mortuary temple associated with the setting sun. Rites performed in the temple were primarily concerned with Ra's creator function and his role as father of the king. Userkaf built a pyramid in Saqqara, close to that of Djoser, with a mortuary temple that was much smaller than those built during the Fourth Dynasty. Its mortuary complex was lavishly decorated with fine painted reliefs. Little is known of Userkaf's activities beyond the construction of his pyramid and sun temple. There may have been a military expedition to Canaan or the Eastern Desert, and there probably were trade contacts with the Aegean civilizations. ( Full article...)

Susan Sweney

• ... that Second World War fascist Susan Sweney (pictured) was shipwrecked so often that she described herself as "many times drowned"?
• ... that the term " informed consent" was coined during the 1957 court case Salgo v. Leland Stanford Jr. University Board of Trustees?
• ... that Edward Ardolino sculpted and carved Art Deco architectural works including the central Los Angeles Public Library and the Nebraska State Capitol?
• ... that the idea for the documentary film Crip Camp came to the directors after an "off-hand comment at lunch"?
• ... that Sylvia Rose Ashby, an Australian market researcher, was once threatened with arrest if she did not stop surveying popular opinion on the Second World War?
• ... that there were doubts regarding in which County Londonderry constituency the freeholders of the North West Liberties of Londonderry could vote?
• ... that Ulrich Stranz composed Musik für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 1 for piano and orchestra, which premiered in Munich with Margarita Höhenrieder as the soloist in 1983?
• ... that the Socony–Mobil Building in Manhattan was disparaged by architectural critic Lewis Mumford as having the appearance of a structure "coming down with measles"?

• A mass shooting in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves at least twenty people dead.
• In the South Korean legislative election, the ruling Democratic Party (leader Lee Hae-chan pictured) and their allies increase their majority in the National Assembly.
• Thirty-eight people are killed in a tornado outbreak in the Southeastern United States.

April 20: First day of Ridván ( Baháʼí Faith, 2020); Patriots' Day in various U.S. states (2020); 420 ( cannabis culture)

Billie Holiday

• 1535 – Sun dogs were observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring the painting Vädersolstavlan, the oldest colour depiction of the city.
• 1809 – War of the Fifth Coalition: Commanded by Napoleon, Franco-German forces defeated a reinforced Austrian corps at the Battle of Abensberg.
• 1939 – Billie Holiday (pictured) recorded the song " Strange Fruit", which later became an emblem of the civil rights movement.
• 1968 – Pierre Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister of Canada, succeeding Lester B. Pearson.
• 2010 – An explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico, resulted in the largest marine oil spill in history.