The original theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, debuted on December 7, 1732, with the inaugural performance of William Congreve's The Way of the World. Various changes were made to it during the next sixty years or so. A fire broke out in the early hours of September 20, 1808, and the theatre was destroyed, taking with it Handel's own organ and many of his manuscripts. The fire raged so ferociously that it nearly destroyed other structures, including Drury Lane Theatre, but that one survived for another year before succumbing to the same destiny.

Herbert George Wells, born on September 21, 1866, was an English writer. He was a prolific writer of many genres, having written over fifty novels and dozens of short stories. Nonfiction works by him included social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography, and autobiography. Wells is now best known for his science fiction novels, for which he has been dubbed the "Father of Science Fiction."

The United Nations General Assembly established the International Day of Peace in 1981. In 2001, the General Assembly unanimously voted to declare the Day a period of nonviolence and cease-fire. The United Nations invites all nations and people to observe a cessation of hostilities on the Day, as well as to commemorate the Day through education and public awareness on peace issues.

Ferenc Szisz (September 20, 1873 – February 21, 1944) was a Hungarian race car driver who won the first Grand Prix motor racing event in 1906 aboard a Renault Grand Prix 90CV.

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is a horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novelist from the United States. His books have sold over 350 million copies, and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries, and comic books. He is known as the "King of Horror," a play on his surname and a reference to his celebrity in pop culture. King has written 64 novels, seven of which were published under the pen name Richard Bachman, as well as five non-fiction books. He has also written about 200 short stories, the majority of which have appeared in book collections.

The Paris-Marseille-Paris race was the first competitive 'city to city' motor race, starting in Paris, in which the first car across the finish line was declared the winner, with previous events selecting the winner through various forms of classification and judging. Émile Mayade won the ten-day, 1,710 km race over unpaved roads in 67 hours while driving a Panhard et Levassor.

Mahesh Bhatt (born September 20, 1948) is a film director, producer, and screenwriter best known for his work in Hindi cinema. Saaransh (1984), screened at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival, is a standout film from his earlier period. It was India's official entry for that year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Naam, his first commercial film, was released in 1986. In 1987, he co-produced the film Kabzaa with his brother Mukesh Bhatt under the banner "Vishesh Films."

In September 1982, Pakistan's Jalal-ud-Din took the first ODI hat-trick against Australia in Hyderabad, Sindh. Kuldeep Yadav of India achieved this feat most recently against the West Indies in December 2019.

The Wright Flyer II was Wilbur and Orville Wright's second powered aircraft. During 1904, they made a total of 105 flights, eventually achieving five-minute flights and full circles, which Wilbur accomplished for the first time on September 20.

Sophia Loren (born Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone on September 20, 1934) is an Italian actress. The American Film Institute named her one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. Loren is one of the last surviving major stars from Hollywood's Golden Age, and the only living person on the AFI's list as of 2022.

J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a children's fantasy novel. It was published in 1937 to widespread critical acclaim, earning it a Carnegie Medal nomination and a New York Herald Tribune award for best juvenile fiction. The book is still widely read and considered a classic in children's literature.

Kwame Nkrumah PC was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary who lived from 21 September 1909 to 27 April 1972. He was Ghana's first Prime Minister and President, leading the country to independence from Britain in 1957. Nkrumah, a prominent proponent of Pan-Africanism, was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and received the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize in 1962.

AT&T announced plans to split its operations into three companies: communications services, communications equipment, and computers. AT&T's core telephone service will be provided by the communications services company, which will retain the powerful AT&T brand name.

Rashid Khan Arman (born September 20, 1998) is an Afghan cricketer and former national team captain. He currently plays for the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Adelaide Strikers in Australia's Big Bash League (BBL), the Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), and the Band-e-Amir Dragons in Afghanistan's Shpageeza Cricket League. He bats right-handed and bowls right-arm leg spin.

The Boeing CH-47 Chinook is a tandem rotor helicopter designed and manufactured by American rotorcraft company Vertol. The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter that is one of the most powerful Western helicopters. Chinook is derived from the Native American Chinook people of Oregon and Washington state.

Christopher Henry Gayle, OD (born September 21, 1979) is a Jamaican cricketer who has represented the West Indies since 1999. Gayle, a destructive batter, is widely regarded as one of the greatest Twenty20 batsmen of all time, and by some as the best ever. He was a key member of the West Indies teams that won the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, the 2012 ICC World Twenty20, and the 2016 ICC World Twenty20.

Sir Allen Lane CH (21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who founded Penguin Books in 1935 with his brothers Richard and John Lane, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fiction to the mass market.