October 20

October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 72 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Gerard Butler

Gerard James Butler (born 13 November 1969) is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. After studying law, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as Mrs Brown (1997), the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and Tale of the Mummy (1998). In 2000, he starred as Dracula in the horror film Dracula 2000 with Christopher Plummer and Jonny Lee Miller. The following year, he played Attila the Hun in the miniseries Attila (2001).

In the 2000s, Butler co-starred in the films Reign of Fire with Christian Bale (2002), and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life with Angelina Jolie (2003), before playing André Marek in the adaptation of Michael Crichton's science fiction adventure Timeline (2003). He then was cast as the role of Erik, The Phantom in Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation of the musical The Phantom of the Opera alongside Emmy Rossum. That role earned him a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actor. In 2007, Butler gained recognition for his portrayal of King Leonidas in Zack Snyder's fantasy war film 300. That role earned him nominations for an Empire Award for Best Actor and a Saturn Award for Best Actor and a win for MTV Movie Award for Best Fight. That same year, he starred in the romantic drama film P.S. I Love You with Hilary Swank. He was then cast in the 2008 films Nim's Island with Jodie Foster and RocknRolla with Idris Elba. In 2009, he starred in several films including the romantic comedy The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl and the thriller Law Abiding Citizen with Jamie Foxx.

The Snowman

The Snowman is a children's picture book without words by English author Raymond Briggs, first published in 1978 by Hamish Hamilton in the U.K., and published by Random House in the U.S. in November of the same year. In Britain it was the runner up for the Kate Greenaway Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a British subject. In the U.S. it was named to the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award list in 1979.

The book was adapted into a 26-minute animated television special in 1982 which debuted in Britain on 26 December. It was nominated for an Academy Award. Its showings have since become an annual event.

Animated television special

The Snowman was adapted as a 26-minute animated television special by Dianne Jackson for the fledgling British public-service Channel 4. It was first telecast on 26 December 1982 and was an immediate success. It was nominated for the 1982 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

The story is told through pictures, action and music, scored by Howard Blake. It is wordless like the book, except for the song "Walking in the Air". In addition to the orchestral score, performed in the film by the Sinfonia of London, Blake composed the music and lyrics of the song, performed by a St Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty.

HLN (TV channel)

HLN (formerly Headline News) is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner. The channel is a spin-off of the U.S. Cable News Network.

The channel was originally structured to feature a tightly formatted, 30-minute newscast that was rebroadcast each half-hour, 24 hours a day, with freshly updated information that briefly covered various areas of interest (such as national news, sports, entertainment, weather and business). Since 2005, however, its format has increasingly shifted to long-form tabloid-, opinion-, crime-, and entertainment news-related programming. In 2014, the network further re-focused with an emphasis on social media.

As of July 2015, HLN is available to approximately 96.4 million American households (82.8% of households with at least one television set) in the United States making it the most distributed American cable network. Since the mid-2000s, HLN has been available internationally on cable and satellite in parts of Asia, the Caribbean, South America, Middle East and North Africa