April 19

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

Events

• 1012 - Martyrdom of St Alphege in Greenwich, London
• 1539 - The Treaty of Frankfurt is signed
• 1587 - Sir Francis Drake sinks the Spanish fleet in Cadiz Harbor
• 1770 - Captain James Cook first spots Australia
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Lexington and Concord - British General Thomas Gage attempts to confiscate American colonists' firearms. The British are driven back to Boston, Massachusetts. The American Revolutionary War begins.
• 1810 - Venezuela achieves home rule: Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a Junta is installed.
• 1839 - The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom
• 1861 - American Civil War: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland attacks United States Army troops marching through the city
• 1892 - Charles Duryea claims to have driven the first automobile in the United States, in Springfield, Massachusetts
• 1904 - Much of Toronto, Ontario, Canada is destroyed by fire.
• 1909 - Joan of Arc is declared a saint
• 1919 - Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful parachute jump and free fall
• 1927 - Mae West is sentenced to 10 days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex
• 1933 - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announces that the United States will be leaving the gold standard
• 1934 - Shirley Temple debuts in Stand Up and Cheer
• 1938 - RCA-NBC begins the first regular television broadcasts
• 1943 - World War II: German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, starting the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
• 1946 - The League of Nations dissolves itself transferring its powers to the United Nations.
• 1951 - General Douglas MacArthur retires from the military
• 1956 - Actress Grace Kelly marries Rainier III of Monaco
• 1961 - The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in failure
• 1971 - Sierra Leone becomes a republic
• 1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration in Washington, DC
• 1971 - Charles Manson is sentenced to life in prison for the Sharon Tate murders.
• 1987 - The Simpsons make their first appearance on television, on The Tracey Ullman Show, in the short episode called "Good Night"
• 1989 - A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
• 1989 - Trisha Meili, the "Central Park jogger" is raped
• 1993 - The 50-day siege of the Branch Davidian complex outside Waco, Texas ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die.
• 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is bombed, killing 168
• 1999 - The German Parliament returns to Berlin.
• 2000 - An Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 crashes nearby Davao airport killing 131

Births

• 1320 - King Peter I of Portugal († 1367)
• 1721 - Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence († 1793)
• 1721 - Thomas McKean, signer of the Declaration of Independence († 1817)
• 1772 - David Ricardo, economist (died 1823)
• 1883 - Richard von Mises, mathematician († 1953)
• 1892 - Germaine Tailleferre, composer († 1983)
• 1897 - Constance Talmadge, actress († 1973)
• 1900 - Richard Hughes, novelist († 1976)
• 1903 - Eliot Ness († 1957)
• 1912 - Glenn Seaborg († 1999)
• 1927 - Erma Bombeck, humorist († 1996)
• 1928 - Alexis Korner, rock musician († 1984)
• 1930 - Dick Sargent, actor († 1994)
• 1933 - Jayne Mansfield, actress († 1967)
• 1933 - Dickie Bird, cricket umpire
• 1935 - Dudley Moore, actor, musician, comedian, composer († 2002)
• 1942 - Frank Elstner, television producer
• 1944 - Bernie Worrell, keyboardist (originally with P Funk)
• 1946 - Tim Curry, actor
• 1949 - Paloma Picasso, painter
• 1952 - Alexis Arguello, boxer
• 1953 - Ruby Wax, television personality
• 1962 - Al Unser Jr., automobile racer
• 1965 - Suge Knight, record producer
• 1968 - Ashley Judd, actress
• 1979 - Kate Hudson, actress
• 1981 - Hayden Christensen, actor

Deaths

• 1054 - Pope Leo IX
• 1390 - King Robert II of Scotland
• 1689 - Queen Christina of Sweden
• 1813 - Benjamin Rush, physician, activist
• 1824 - Lord Byron, author, poet
• 1881 - Benjamin Disraeli, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1882 - Charles Darwin, biologist, author
• 1906 - Pierre Curie, physicist
• 1919 - Emiliano Zapata, revolutionary
• 1930 - Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, Canadian Senator, dies at 102
• 1937 - William Martin Conway, British art critic and mountaineer
• 1958 - Robert Bentley, humorist, actor
• 1967 - Konrad Adenauer, former Bundeskanzler of West Germany
• 1974 - Ayub Khan, former President of Pakistan
• 1975 - Percy L. Julian, chemist (* 1899)
• 1980 - Alfred Hitchcock, director
• 1987 - Maxwell Taylor, general
• 1989 - Daphne du Maurier, author
• 1992 - Frankie Howerd, comedian, actor
• 1993 - David Koresh, cult leader
• 1998 - Octavio Paz, writer, diplomat
• 2002 - Layne Staley, musician ("Alice in Chains")

Holidays and observances

• Patriots' Day (Massachusetts)
• Declaration of Independence Day (Venezuela)
• Republic Day (Sierra Leone)
• Landing of the 33 (Uruguay)
• Primrose Day (England) - primroses are placed on the statue of Benjamin Disraeli in Parliament Square, London on the anniversary of his death (1881). Primroses were his favourite flower.
• The Roman holiday of Cerealia ends. (Roman Empire)

April 18 - April 20 - March 19 - May 19 -- listing of all days

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Referenced By