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British comedian Roy Kinnear. Image Credit: Shutterstock

1988 - Actor Roy Kinnear, whose muddled manner kept him in the first rank of British comedy since the early 1960s, has died after a riding accident in Spain. He was 54. He was thrown from a horse near Madrid while filming The Return of the Musketeers which co-stars Michael York and Oliver Reed. York rushed him to hospital but he died 24 hours later from head injuries. He leaves his wife, Carmel, and three children.

Other major events on September 20

1946 - The first annual Cannes film Festival opens.

1967 - The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched.

1977 - Vietnam and Djibouti join the United Nations.

1989 - Indian troops declare ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

1992 - French vote in favour of Maastricht treaty.

1998 - Malaysian police arrest ousted deputy premier Anwar Ebrahim.

2001 - US President George W. Bush declares a ‘war on terror’ in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

2011 - Former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani is killed by a suicide bomber at his home in Kabul.

2015 - British author Jackie Collins dies of breast cancer at 77.

2017 - 51 countries sign nuclear arms ban treaty at the UN.