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.
- 1935 - Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs.
- 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.
- 1949 - Cuba recognises Israel.
- 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.
- 2038 - End of the Unix epoch.
Births
- 399 - Pulcheria, Byzantine empress (d. 453)
- 1544 - Francis II of France
- 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)
- 1949 - Dennis Taylor, North Irish snooker player
- 1953 - Desi Arnaz Jr., actor
- 1955 - Simon Rattle, conductor
- 1971 - Shawn Wayans, actor, writer, producer
- 1971 - John Wozniak, singer, songwriter of Marcy Playground
- 1973 - Drea de Matteo, actress
- 1982 - Jodie Sweetin, actress
- 1983 - Utada Hikaru, singer/composer/songwriter
- 1989 - Timothy Olsen, author
Deaths
- 1847 - Charles Bent, New Mexico pioneer
- 1878 - Henri Victor Regnault physcisist and chemist (b. 1810)
- 1905 - Debendranath Tagore, philosopher (b. 1817)
- 1968 - Ray Harroun, first winner of the Indianapolis 500 (b. 1879)
- 1969 - Jan Palach, student, political activist (b. 1948)
- 1971 - Harry Shields, jazz musician (b. 1899)
- 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