January 19

January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 346 days remaining (347 in leap years)

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 - No, No Nanette[?] premieres (46th Street Theatre[?], New York City).
• 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

• 1736 - James Watt, builder of steam engines
• 1807 - Robert E. Lee, Confederate general (+ 1870)
• 1809 - Edgar Allan Poe, poet, short story author (+ 1849)
• 1813 - Sir Henry Bessemer, inventor
• 1839 - Paul Cézanne, painter (+ 1906)
• 1848 - John F. Stairs, businessman, statesman (+ 1904)
• 1887 - Alexander Woollcott[?], intellectual (+ 1943)
• 1907 - Lilian Harvey[?], actress (+ 1968)
• 1920 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar[?], United Nations Secretary General
• 1921 - Patricia Highsmith, author (+ 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 -
• 1943 - Janis Joplin, singer (+ 1970)
• 1943 - Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
• 1945 - Maria Jespen[?], theologian
• 1946 - Dolly Parton, singer, actress
• 1949 - Robert Palmer[?], singer, guitarist[?]
• 1953 - Desi Arnaz Jr.[?], actor
• 1955 - Simon Rattle, conductor
• 1971 - Shawn Wayans[?], actor, writer, producer
• 1982 - Jodie Sweetin, actress

Deaths

• 1847 - Charles Bent[?], New Mexico pioneer
• 1969 - Jan Palach[?], political activist
• 1990 - Herbert Wehner[?], German politician
• 1997 - James Dickey, poet, novelist
• 1998 - Carl Perkins, guitarist
• 2000 - Bettino Craxi[?], Prime Minister of Italy
• 2000 - Hedy Lamarr, actress

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 - Historical anniversaries