19th January

Events

• 1419 - Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England which makes Normandy a part of England.
• 1764 - John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
• 1806 - The United Kingdom occupies the Cape of Good Hope.
• 1829 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust premieres.
• 1839 - British East India Company captures Aden.
• 1840 - Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what became known as Wilkes Land for the United States.
• 1853 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premieres in Rome.
• 1883 - The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires begins service (Roselle, New Jersey) It was built by Thomas Edison.
• 1899 - Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
• 1915 - George Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
• 1915 - German zeppelins bomb the cities of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom for the first time, killing more than 20.
• 1920 - The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
• 1937 - Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.
• 1941 - World War II: British troops attack Italian-held Eritrea.
• 1942 - World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma.
• 1953 - 68% of all United States television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
• 1955 - The Scrabble board game debuts.
• 1966 - Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India.
• 1969 - Student Jan Palach sets himself on fire in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968.
• 1971 - Revival of No, No, Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City).
• 1974 - The UCLA men's basketball team sees its 88-game winning streak end at the hands of Notre Dame.
• 1977 - President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka "Tokyo Rose").
• 1981 - United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
• 1983 - Klaus Barbie, Nazi war criminal, is arrested in Bolivia.
• 1983 - The Apple Lisa personal computer is announced.
• 1993 - IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992 which is the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history.
• 1997 - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli controlled West Bank city.

Births

• 399 - Pulcheria, Byzantine empress, (d. 453)
• 1736 - James Watt, builder of steam engines, (d. 1819)
• 1807 - Robert E. Lee, Confederate general, (d. 1870)
• 1809 - Edgar Allan Poe, poet, short story author, (d. 1849)
• 1813 - Sir Henry Bessemer, inventor, (d. 1898)
• 1839 - Paul Cézanne, painter, (d. 1906)
• 1848 - John F. Stairs, businessman, statesman, (d. 1904)
• 1851 - Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer, (d. 1922)
• 1887 - Alexander Woollcott, intellectual, (d. 1943)
• 1907 - Lilian Harvey, actress, (d. 1968)
• 1920 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, United Nations Secretary General
• 1921 - Patricia Highsmith, author, (d. 1995)
• 1923 - Jean Stapleton, actress
• 1926 - Fritz Weaver, actor
• 1931 - Tippi Hedren, actress
• 1931 - Robert MacNeil, journalist
• 1939 - Phil Everly, musician
• 1942 - Michael Crawford, singer, actor
• 1943 - Janis Joplin, singer, (d. 1970)
• 1943 - Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
• 1945 - Maria Jespen, theologian
• 1946 - Dolly Parton, singer, actress
• 1946 - Julian Barnes, author
• 1949 - Robert Palmer, singer, guitarist, (d. 2003)
• 1953 - Desi Arnaz Jr., actor
• 1955 - Simon Rattle, conductor
• 1971 - Shawn Wayans, actor, writer, producer
• 1982 - Jodie Sweetin, actress
• 1983 - Utada Hikaru, singer/composer/songwriter

Deaths

• 1847 - Charles Bent, New Mexico pioneer
• 1878 - Henri Victor Regnault physcisist and chemist, (b. 1810)
• 1969 - Jan Palach, political activist
• 1975 - Thomas Hart Benton, muralist, (b. 1889)
• 1990 - Herbert Wehner, German politician, (b. 1906)
• 1997 - James Dickey, poet, novelist, (b. 1923)
• 1998 - Carl Perkins, guitarist, (b. 1932)
• 2000 - Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy, (b. 1934)
• 2000 - Hedy Lamarr, actress, (b. 1913)
• 2004 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer and coach, (b. 1955)

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Julian Calendar Theophany (Epiphany)
• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Sultán (Sovereignty) - First day of the 17th month of the Bahá'í Calendar

January 18 - January 20 - December 19 - February 19 -- listing of all days

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