April 19

2024 Calendar

April 19 is the 109th day of the year (110th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 256 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

69 – Vitellius is accepted as Roman Emperor.
531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Ar–Raqaah, Syria.
1529 – Protestant Reformation: Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism.
1587 – English seafarer Francis Drake attacks a Spanish fleet in Cadiz harbor.
1689 – Amalienborg castle in Denmark is destroyed by fire.
1770 – James Cook sights the East coast of Australia.
1770 – Marie Antoinette marries the future King Louis XVI of France.
1775 – The American Revolutionary War begins at Lexington, Massachusetts.
1782 – John Adams secures the Dutch Republic's recognition of the United States as an independent state.
1809 – An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn.
1810 – Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General, is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.
1839 – The Treaty of London creates Belgium fully as a kingdom, also separating Luxembourg from Belgium.
1861 – American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861 – A Pro–Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland, attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
1865 – The funeral of Abraham Lincoln takes place in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
1882 – Charles Darwin dies aged 73.
1892 – Charles Duryea claims to have driven the first automobile across the United States.
1897 – The first Boston Marathon takes place.
1897 – Jiroemon Kimura, the oldest man ever, is born in Japan.

1901 – 2000

1902 – A magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes Guatemala, killing 2,000 people.
1903 – The Kishinev pogrom begins in present–day Moldova, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western World.
1904 – A fire in Toronto destroys 104 buildings.
1927 – Mae West is sentenced to ten days in prison for obscenity for her play Sex.
1943 – Holocaust: German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto.
1945 – The Soviet Union and Guatemala establish diplomatic relations.
1948 – Burma joins the UN.
1950 – Argentina signs the Buenos Aires Convention.
1951 – Douglas MacArthur retires from the US military.
1954 – The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan recognizes Urdu and Bengali as the country's official languages.
1956 – Prince Rainier III of Monaco marries Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.
1960 – Students in South Korea hold a nationwide democracy protest against President Rhee Syng–man, who resigns a week later.
1971 – Sierra Leone becomes a Republic, with Siaka Stevens as President.
1971 – Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.
1975 – India's first satellite, Aryabhata, is launched.
1984 – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold become the official national colors.
1985 – The Soviet Union carries out nuclear tests in eastern Kazakhstan.
1987 – The Simpsons premiere on the Tracey Ullman Show.
1989 – A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
1993 – The 51–day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, ends as fire breaks out, killing 82 cult members, including David Koresh.
1993 – George S. Mickelson, Governor of South Dakota, is killed along with six others, when an airplane crashes in Iowa.
1995 – Timothy McVeigh carries out the Oklahoma City bombing, killing 169 people.
1997 – Grand Forks, South Dakota, is overwhelmed by flooding from the Red River.
1998 – Thomas Klestil is elected to a second term as President of Austria.
1999 – The German Bundestag moves its seat to Berlin.
2000 – A Philippine Airlines Boeing 737–200 crashes on landing at the island of Sanal in the Philippines, killing all 131 people on board.

From 2001

2005 – Joseph Alois Ratzinger is chosen to become Pope. He chooses to be known as Pope Benedict XVI.
2011 – Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba's central committee, after 45 years.
2013 – Jiroemon Kimura becomes the first man to reach the age of 116 years. He is the oldest man ever; the oldest–ever person is Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122.
2013 – Aftermath of 2013 Boston Marathon bombings: A police officer is shot dead in the early hours of the morning, before one of the suspects is killed in shoot–out with police, after which a lock–down is enforced in Boston. The second suspect is later arrested after a stand–off in the Watertown area of Greater Boston.
2013 – Nicolas Maduro becomes President of Venezuela. He had already served in a caretaker capacity after the death of Hugo Chávez on March 5.
2015 – A migrant boat sinks off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, killing an estimated 700 people, making this the deadliest such tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea to date.
2018 – Miguel Diaz–Canel is chosen to succeed Raul Castro as President of Cuba.
2018 – Mswati III of Swaziland, on his 50th birthday, announces a change to the country's official name from "Kingdom of Swaziland" to "Kingdom of eSwatini".

Births

Up to 1800

1320 – King Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)
1452 – King Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1504)
1603 – Michel le Tellier, French statesman (d. 1685)
1605 – Antonio Bertali, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1669)
1613 – Christoph Bach, grandfather of Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1661)
1658 – Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (d. 1716)
1665 – Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (d. 1721)
1686 – Vasily Tatishchev, Russian statesman (d. 1750)
1721 – Roger Sherman, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1793)
1721 – Thomas McKean, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1817)
1759 – August Wilhelm Iffland, German actor and dramatist (d. 1814)
1785 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French composer (d. 1858)
1791 – William Orlando Butler, American politician (d. 1880)
1793 – Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875)

1801 – 1900

1832 – José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize winner (d. 1916)
1847 – Eva Gonzales, French painter (d. 1883)
1874 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952)
1877 – Ole Evinrude, Norwegian–American inventor (d. 1934)
1882 – Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (d. 1954)
1883 – Richard von Mises, Austrian mathematician (d. 1953)
1883 – Henry Jameson, American soccer player (d. 1938)
1892 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer (d. 1983)
1894 – Elizabeth Dilling, American writer and activist (d. 1966)
1897 – Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970)
1897 – Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese supercentenarian, world's oldest man and oldest man ever (d. 2013)
1898 – Constance Talmadge, American actress (d. 1973)
1899 – George O'Brien, American actor (d. 1985)
1900 – Richard Hughes, British novelist (d. 1976)
1900 – Roland Michener, Governor–General of Canada (d. 1991)
1900 – Aleksandr Ptushko, Soviet–Russian movie director and screenwriter (d. 1973)

1901 – 1950

1902 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (d. 1989)
1903 – Eliot Ness, American lawman (d. 1957)
1912 – Glenn Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
1914 – Ugo Poletti, Italian cardinal (d. 1997)
1917 – Sven Hassel, Danish writer (d. 2012)
1920 – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (d. 2013)
1921 – Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal (d. 2015)
1922 – Erich Hartmann, fighter pilot with the most amount of kills (352) (d. 1993)
1924 – Werner Kohlmeyer, German footballer (d. 1974)
1925 – Hugh O'Brian, American actor (d. 2016)
1928 – Azlan Shah of Perak, 9th Yang–di Pertuan Agong (Head of State) of Malaysia and Sultan of Perak (d. 2014)
1928 – Alexis Korner, musician (d. 1984)
1930 – Dick Sargent, actor (d. 1994)
1932 – Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor
1933 – Jayne Mansfield, American actress (d. 1967)
1933 – Dickie Bird, English cricket umpire
1934 – Jean Ziegler, Swiss sociologist and politician
1934 – Ox Baker, American wrestler and actor (d. 2014)
1935 – Dudley Moore, English actor, musician, comedian, composer (d. 2002)
1935 – Justin Francis Rigali, American cardinal
1936 – Wilfried Martens, former Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2013)
1936 – Séamus Pattison, Irish politician (d. 2018)
1937 – Elinor Donahue, American actress
1937 – Joseph Estrada, Filipino actor and politician, former President of the Philippines
1937 – Antonio Carluccio, Italian–English chef and writer (d. 2017)
1938 – Gil Santos, American sports announcer (d. 2018)
1940 – Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (d. 1977)
1940 – Genya Ravan, American singer–songwriter and producer
1941 – Roberto Carlos, Brazilian singer and composer
1941 – Alan Price, English musician
1941 – Michel Roux, French–British chef and restaurateur
1942 – Bas Jan Ader, Dutch artist (d. 1975)
1942 – Frank Elstner, German entertainer
1943 – Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (d. 2014)
1943 – Lorenzo Sanz, Spanish businessman
1944 – James Heckman, American economist, Nobel Prize
1944 – Bernie Worrell, keyboardist (P Funk)
1946 – Tim Curry, British actor
1946 – Mary Jo Slater, American casting director and producer
1947 – Murray Perahia, American pianist
1949 – Joachim Sauer, husband of German Chancellor Angela Merkel
1949 – Paloma Picasso, designer, daughter of Pablo Picasso

1951 – 1975

1951 – Jóannes Eidesgaard, former Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
1952 – Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (d. 2009)
1953 – Sara Simeoni, Italian athlete
1953 – Ruby Wax, American–born British television personality
1954 – Trevor Francis, English footballer
1956 – Sue Barker, English tennis player and television presenter
1956 – Lane Hoppen, American singer–songwriter and musician (Orleans)
1956 – Randy Carlyle, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1957 – Tony Martin, English singer and musician
1958 – Denis O'Brien, Irish businessman
1960 – Nicoletta Braschi, Italian actress and producer
1960 – Ara Gevorgyan, Armenian musician, composer and musical producer
1960 – Frank Viola, American baseball player
1960 – Roger Merrett, Australian footballer
1962 – Al Unser, Jr., race car driver
1963 – Mika Kojonskoski, Finnish ski jumper
1964 – Gordon Marshall, Scottish footballer and coach
1965 – Suge Knight, record producer
1965 – Natalie Dessay, French soprano
1967 – Philippe Sainte–André, French rugby player and coach
1967 – Steven H Silver, science fiction editor
1967 – Dar Williams, American musician and songwriter
1968 – Mswati III, King of Swaziland
1968 – Ashley Judd, American actress
1968 – Arshad Warsi, Indian actor, singer and producer
1968 – Pascal Kleiman, Spanish DJ, producer and songwriter
1969 – Susan Polgar, Hungarian–American chess player
1970 – Kelly Holmes, British athlete, double Olympic champion
1970 – Luis Miguel, Mexican singer
1972 – Rivaldo, Brazilian footballer
1972 – Django Asül, German actor and comedian
1973 – Alessandro Preziosi, Italian actor
1975 – Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer

From 1976

1976 – Scott Padgett, American basketball player, coach and radio host
1978 – James Franco, American actor
1978 – Gabriel Heinze, Argentine footballer
1979 – Kate Hudson, American actress
1979 – Zhao Junzhe, Chinese footballer
1980 – Jason Blaine, Canadian singer–songwriter
1980 – Robyn Regehr, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor
1981 – Catalina Sandino Moreno, actress
1981 – James Hibberd, English cricketer
1981 – Ryuta Hara, Japanese footballer
1985 – Valon Behrami, Swiss footballer
1986 – Heather Kuzmich, American model
1987 – Joe Hart, English footballer
1987 – Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player
1987 – Lauren Wilson, Canadian figure skater
1988 – Haruna Kojima, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
1989 – Daisuke Watabe, Japanese footballer
1990 – Damien Le Tallec, French footballer
1992 – Nick Pope, English footballer
1994 – Lee Areum, South Korean singer
2016 – Prince Alexander, Duke of Södermanland, Swedish royal

Deaths

Up to 1900

1012 – Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 954)
1054 – Pope Leo IX (b. 1002)
1321 – Patriarch Gerasimus I of Constantinople
1390 – King Robert II of Scotland (b. 1316)
1560 – Philipp Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (b. 1497)
1578 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1530)
1588 – Paolo Veronese, Italian painter (b. 1528)
1608 – Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English statesman and poet (b. 1536)
1689 – Christina of Sweden (b. 1626)
1733 – Elizabeth Villiers, mistress to William III of England (b. 1655)
1768 – Canaletto, Italian artist (b. 1697)
1791 – Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (b. 1723)
1824 – Lord Byron, English poet (b. 1788)
1881 – Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)
1882 – Charles Darwin, British naturalist (b. 1809)

1901 – 2000

1906 – Pierre Curie, French scientist (b. 1859)
1906 – Spencer Gore, British tennis player and cricketer (b. 1850)
1914 – Charles Sanders Peirce, American philosopher (b. 1838)
1916 – Ephraim Shay, American engineer (b. 1839)
1949 – Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
1950 – Ernst Robert Curtius, Alsatian philologist (b. 1886)
1958 – Artur Kukk, Estonian wrestler (b. 1899)
1966 – Javier Solis, Mexican singer (b. 1931)
1967 – Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
1974 – Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (b. 1907)
1988 – Kwon Ki–ok, first female pilot in Korea (b. 1901)
1989 – Daphne du Maurier, British writer (b. 1907)
1991 – Stanley Hawes, British–Australian producer, director and administrator (b. 1905)
1992 – Frankie Howerd, British comedian and actor (b. 1917)
1993 – David Koresh, American cult leader (b. 1959)
1993 – George S. Mickelson, 28th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1941)
1998 – Octavio Paz, Mexican writer (b. 1914)

From 2001

2001 – Meldrim Thomson, Jr., 73rd Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1912)
2004 – Norris McWhirter, co–founder of the Guinness Book of World Records (b. 1925)
2004 – John Maynard Smith, British theoretical evolutionary biologist (b. 1920)
2005 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (b. 1911)
2006 – Albert Scott Crossfield, American engineer, pilot and astronaut (b. 1921)
2007 – Jean–Pierre Cassel, French actor (b. 1932)
2008 – Germaine Tillion, French anthropologist and Resistance activist (b. 1907)
2009 – J. G. Ballard, British writer (b. 1930)
2010 – Guru, American rapper (b. 1961)
2011 – Elisabeth Sladen, British actress (b. 1948)
2011 – Grete Waitz, Norwegian marathon runner (b. 1953)
2012 – Valeri Vasiliev, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1949)
2012 – Levon Helm, American musician and actor (b. 1940)
2013 – François Jacob, French biologist (b. 1920)
2013 – Al Neuharth, American journalist, writer and publisher (b. 1924)
2014 – Frits Thors, Dutch journalist (b. 1909)
2014 – Mimi Kok, Dutch actress (b. 1934)
2014 – Sonia Silvestre, Dominican singer (b. 1952)
2014 – Luciano do Valle, Brazilian sports commentator (b. 1947)
2015 – Elio Toaff, Italian rabbi (b. 1915)
2015 – Tom McCabe, Scottish politician (b. 1954)
2015 – Uche Chukwumerije, Nigerian politician (b. 1939)
2015 – Theodosia Okoh, Ghanaian flag designer and sports administrator (b. 1922)
2015 – Raymond Carr, British historian (b. 1919)
2015 – Ali Abu Mukhammad, Dagestani–Russian Islamist leader (b. 1972)
2016 – Patricio Aylwin, President of Chile (b. 1918)
2016 – Estelle Balet, Swiss snowboarder (b. 1994)
2016 – Ronit Elkabetz, Israeli actress (b. 1964)
2016 – Walter Kohn, Austrian–American theoretical physicist (b. 1923)
2016 – Mehrdad Oladi, Iranian footballer (b. 1985)
2016 – Milt Pappas, American baseball player (b. 1939)
2016 – Billy Redmayne, Manx motorcycle racer (b. 1990)
2017 – Delbert Daisey, American conservationist (b. 1928)
2017 – Aaron Hernandez, American football player (b. 1989)
2017 – Lyda Ann Thomas, American politician (b. 1936)
2018 – Cornelius Jakobs, Estonian–Russian Orthodox hierarch (b. 1924)
2018 – Luis Montes Mieza, Spanish anaesthetist and activist (b. 1949)
2018 – Walter Moody, American murderer (b. 1935)
2018 – Gil Santos, American sports announcer (b. 1938)
2019 – Martin Böttcher, German film composer and conductor (b. 1927)
2019 – Massimo Marino, Italian television presenter (b. 1960)
2019 – Patrick Sercu, Belgian cyclist (b. 1944)
2019 – Rodolfo Severino Jr., Filipino diplomat (b. 1936)
2019 – Okiharu Yasuoka, Japanese politician (b. 1939)

Observances

Bicycle Day
Dutch–American friendship day
King Mswati III's birthday (Swaziland)
Patriots' Day (Massachusetts, Maine, Wisconsin)
Beginning of Independence Movement (Venezuela)
Most common date for Easter, last in 1992