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 libell
- 1793 - The French Convention tries Louis XVI of France for treason, finds him guilty and sentences him to the guillotine.
- 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
- 1861 - Georgia secedes from the United States.
- 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.
- 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 - 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).
- 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)
- 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 - 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)
See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
January 18 - January 20 - December 19 - February 19 - Historical anniversaries