| Today In History | |
| October 19 | |
| Events | |
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202 BC - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. 439 - The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa. 1216 - King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry. 1453 - The French recapture of Bordeaux brings the Hundred Years' War to a close, with the English retaining only Calais on French soil. 1466 - The Thirteen Years' War ends with the Second Treaty of Torun. Gdansk Pomerania and Prussia as a whole are incorporated into Poland; the Teutonic Knights are allowed to rule its eastern part as Polish vassals. 1469 - Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain. 1512 - Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology (Doctor in Biblia). 1781 - At Yorktown, Virginia, British commander Lord Cornwallis surrendered to a Franco-American force led by George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau, paving the way for the end of the American Revolutionary War. 1789 - Chief Justice John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. 1812 - Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow. 1813 - The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats. 1822 - In Parnaíba; Simplício Dias da Silva, João Cândido de Deus e Silva and Domingos Dias declare the independent state of Piauí. 1864 - Battle of Cedar Creek - Union Army under Philip Sheridan destroys Confederate Army under Jubal Early. 1864 - Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada. 1873 - Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules. 1912 - Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire. 1914 - The First Battle of Ypres begins. 1917 - Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened. 1921 - Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup. 1933 - Germany withdraws from the League of Nations. 1935 - The League of Nations places economic sanctions on fascist Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia. 1943 - Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University. 1944 - United States forces land in the Philippines. 1950 - The military of the People's Republic of China takes control of the town of Chamdo in eastern Tibet. 1952 - John Bamford, aged 15, rescues victims of a house fire and becomes the youngest person to have been awarded the George Cross. 1953 - Arthur Godfrey fires Julius LaRosa live on American national TV. 1954 - First ascent of Cho Oyu 1960 - The United States government decides to place an embargo on Communist Cuba. 1964 - Simon and Garfunkel release their first album commonly known as Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. 1969 - The first Prime Minister of Tunisia in twelve years, Bahi Ladgham, is appointed by President Habib Bourguiba. 1973 - President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court demand to turn over the Watergate tapes. 1973 - The Who release their album Quadrophenia 1974 - Niue becomes independent from New Zealand 1976 - Battle of Aishiya in Lebanon. 1976 - Chimpanzee placed in list of endangered species. 1982 - John De Lorean is arrested for trafficking in cocaine (later acquitted). 1983 - Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, is overthrown and executed in a military coup d'état led by Bernard Coard. 1985 - The first Blockbuster Video store opens in Dallas, Texas. 1986 - Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others died when their Tupolev 134 plane crashed into the Lebombo Mountains. 1987 - In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms. 1987 - (Black Monday) Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%. 1989 - Guildford Four convictions are quashed by the Court of Appeal - they had spent 15 years in prison through a miscarriage of justice. 1991 - 7.0 Richter Scale earthquake in Northern Italy - 2000 dead 1994 - New Zealand's Goodnight Kiwi says good night for the last time. 1998 - The Earth Liberation Front sets fire to the Vail Mountain ski resort in Vail, Colorado, causing $12 million in damage. 2001 - SIEV-X, an Indonesian fishing boat en-route to Christmas Island, carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sank in international waters with the loss of 353 people. 2003 - Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II. 2004 - Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the Thai government on charges of corruption. 2004 - Alain Robert dons a Spider-Man costume and climbs a building. 2005 - Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity. 2005 - Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb. 2005 - The last Major League Baseball game is played at Busch Memorial Stadium. 2006 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 12,000 mark for the first time. |
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| Births | |
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1276 - Prince Hisaaki, Japanese shogun (d. 1328) 1433 - Marsilio Ficino, Italian philosopher (d. 1499) 1562 - Archbishop George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1633) 1582 - Dmitry Ivanovich, Tsarevich (d. 1591) 1605 - Thomas Browne, English writer (d. 1682) 1610 - James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (d. 1688) 1658 - Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1704) 1680 - John Abernethy, Irish Protestant minister (d. 1740) 1688 - William Cheselden, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1752) 1718 - Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, Marshal of France (d. 1804) 1720 - John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (d. 1772) 1721 - Joseph de Guignes, French orientalist (d. 1800) 1784 - John McLoughlin, Canadian fur trader (d. 1857) 1810 - Cassius Marcellus Clay, American abolitionist (d. 1903) 1837 - Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist (d. 1925) 1851 - Empress Myeongseong, Empress of Korea (d. 1895) 1858 - George Albert Boulenger, Belgian naturalist (d. 1937) 1862 - Auguste Lumière, French inventor (d. 1954) 1873 - John Barton King, American cricketer (d. 1965) 1876 - Mordecai Brown, baseball player (d. 1945) 1885 - Charles Merrill, American investment banker (d. 1956) 1895 - Lewis Mumford, American historian (d. 1990) 1895 - Frank Durbin Last U.S veteran of the Battle of Verdun (d.1999) 1896 - Bob O'Farrell, baseball player (d. 1988) 1897 - Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani scientist and scholar (d. 1994) 1899 - Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974) 1900 - Bill Ponsford, Australian cricketer (d. 1991) 1900 - Roy Worters, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (d. 1957) 1901 - Arleigh Burke, Naval commander (d. 1996) 1907 - Roger Wolfe Kahn, American bandleader (d. 1962) 1908 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (d. 1981) 1909 - Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (d. 1981) 1910 - Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995) 1910 - Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (d. 1980) 1913 - Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian poet and songwriter (d. 1980) 1916 - Jean Dausset, French immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1916 - Emil Gilels, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1985) 1920 - Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher (d. 2003) 1922 - Jack Anderson, American journalist (d. 2005) 1926 - Joel Feinberg, American moral philosopher (d. 2004) 1926 - Arne Bendiksen, Norwegian singer and songwriter 1931 - John le Carré, English novelist 1932 - Robert Reed, American actor (d. 1992) 1937 - Peter Max, American artist 1937 - Marilyn Bell, Canadian long distance swimmer 1940 - Michael Gambon, Irish actor 1941 - Simon Ward, British actor 1942 - Andrew Vachss, American author and attorney 1943 - Robin Holloway, British composer 1943 - Takis Ikonomopoulos, Greek footballer 1944 - Peter Tosh, Jamaican musician, political activist (d. 1987) 1944 - George McCrae, American soul singer 1945 - Divine, American actor (d. 1988) 1945 - Patricia Ireland, President of the NOW 1945 - John Lithgow, American actor 1945 - Jeannie C. Riley American country and gospel singer 1946 - Philip Pullman, English writer 1947 - Giorgio Cavazzano, comics artist and illustrator 1948 - Patrick Simmons, American musician (The Doobie Brothers) 1949 - Jamie McGrigor, British politician 1951 - Demetrios Christodoulou, Greek mathematical physicist, recipient of the Bôcher Memorial Prize 1954 - Sam Allardyce, English football manager 1954 - Deborah Blum, American writer 1956 - Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (d. 1993) 1956 - Sunny Deol, Indian actor 1957 - Ray Richmond, entertainment/media columnist 1958 - Tiriel Mora, Australian actor 1960 - Jonathan FeBland, English musician, writer and artist 1962 - Tracy Chevalier, American author 1962 - Evander Holyfield, American boxer 1963 - Prince Laurent of Belgium 1964 - Jorge Luis Gonzales, Cuban-born American boxer 1965 - Ty Pennington, American television carpenter 1966 - Jon Favreau, American actor, writer and director 1969 - Trey Parker, American cartoonist, comedian, writer, and actor 1970 - Chris Kattan, American comedian and actor 1972 - Pras, American musician 1972 - Keith Foulke, American baseball pitcher 1973 - Joaquin Gage, Canadian ice hockey player 1974 - Kevin Sullivan, American Automation Engineer 1976 - Michael Young, baseball player 1976 - Dan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player 1976 - Desmond Harrington, American actor 1977 - Louis-José Houde, Québec stand-up comic 1978 - Enrique Bernoldi, Brazilian Formula One driver 1978 - Zakhar Dubenskiy, Russian footballer 1980 - Benjamin Salisbury, American actor 1981 - Heikki Kovalainen, Finnish Formula One driver 1990 - Janet Leon, Swedish singer (Play) 1991 - Adam Michalski, baseball/Football player An all around stud at any sport for the Ashwaubenon Jaguars as a freshman 1992 - Liam Eoin Thomas Acquinas Glynn Cunningham, Actor, film director, amateur chef |
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| Deaths | |
| 727 - Saint Frideswide 1187 - Pope Urban III 1216 - King John 1432 - John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English politician (b. 1392) 1587 - Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1541) 1608 - Martin Delrio, Flemish theologian and occultist (b. 1551) 1636 - Marcin Kazanowski, Polish politician 1682 - Thomas Browne, English writer (b. 1605) 1723 - Godfrey Kneller, German-born painter (b. 1646) 1745 - Jonathan Swift, Irish author (b. 1667) 1790 - Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1724) 1813 - Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Polish prince and Marshal of France (friendly fire) (b. 1763) 1842 - Aleksey Koltsov, Russian poet (b. 1808) 1851 - Marie Thérèse Charlotte (b. 1778) 1889 - King Louis of Portugal (b. 1838) 1897 - George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831) 1901 - Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish financier and industrialist (b. 1829) 1918 - Harold Lockwood, American actor (b. 1887) 1936 - Lu Xun, Chinese writer (b. 1881) 1937 - Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1871) 1943 - Camille Claudel, French sculptor (b. 1864) 1950 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet (b. 1892) 1956 - Isham Jones, American musician (b. 1894) 1960 - George Wallace, Australian vaudevillian and film comedian (b. 1895) 1973 - Walt Kelly, American cartoonist (b. 1913) 1983 - Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1944) 1985 - Alfred Rouleau, French Canadian businessman (b. 1915) 1986 - Dele Giwa, Nigerian journalist 1986 - Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b. 1933) 1987 - Jacqueline Du Pré, English cellist (b. 1945) 1987 - Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909) 1988 - Son House, American musician (b. 1902) 1992 - Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner (b. 1920) 1994 - Martha Raye, American comedian and actress (b. 1916) 1995 - Don Cherry, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1936) 1997 - Glen Buxton, American guitarist (b. 1947) 1999 - Nathalie Sarraute, Russian-born French writer (b. 1900) 1999 - James C. Murray, American politician (b. 1917) 2003 - Alija Izetbegovic, President of Bosnia-Herzegovina (b. 1925) 2003 - Margaret Murie, American conservationist (b. 1902) 2003 - Michael Hegstrand, American professional wrestler (b. 1957) 2004 - Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist (b. 1920) 2005 - Dallas Cook, American musician (Suburban Legends) (b. 1982) |
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| Holidays and observances | |
| Roman festivals - Armilustrium in honor of Mars Roman Catholic Saints - Saints Jean de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, and Companions; Saint Frideswide Also see October 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Albania - Mother Teresa Day. Brazil - Independence Day of State of Piauí Niue - Constitution Day in honour of the country's independence (self-governing in free association with New Zealand) in 1974. French Republican Calendar - Tomate (Tomato) Day, twenty-eighth day in the Month of Vendémiaire |
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