April 19



Events

Up to 1900 
 69 - Vitellius is accepted as Roman Emperor.
 531 - Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Ar-Raqaah, Syria.
 1529 - Protestant Reformation: Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism.
 1587 - English seafarer Francis Drake attacks a Spanish fleet in Cadiz harbor.
 1689 - Amalienborg castle in Denmark is destroyed by fire.
 1770 - James Cook sights the East coast of Australia.
 1770 – Marie Antoinette marries the future King Louis XVI of France.
 1775 – The American Revolutionary War begins at Lexington, Massachusetts.
 1782 – John Adams secures the Dutch Republic's recognition of the United States as an independent state.
 1809 - An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn.
 1810 - Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General, is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.
 1839 - The Treaty of London creates Belgium fully as a kingdom, also separating Luxembourg from Belgium.
 1861 - American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861 - A Pro-Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland, attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
 1865 - The funeral of Abraham Lincoln takes place in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC.
 1882 – Charles Darwin dies aged 73.
 1892 - Charles Duryea claims to have driven the first automobile across the United States.
 1897 – The first Boston Marathon takes place.
 1897 - Jiroemon Kimura, the oldest man ever, is born in Japan.

1901  2000 
 1902 - A magnitude 7.5 earthquake strikes Guatemala, killing 2,000 people.
 1903 - The Kishinev pogrom begins in present-day Moldova, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western World.
 1904 – A fire in Toronto destroys 104 buildings.
 1927 - Mae West is sentenced to ten days in prison for obscenity for her play Sex.
 1943 – Holocaust: German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto.
 1945 – The Soviet Union and Guatemala establish diplomatic relations.
 1948 – Burma joins the UN.
 1950 - Argentina signs the Buenos Aires Convention.
 1951 – Douglas MacArthur retires from the US military.
 1954 - The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan recognizes Urdu and Bengali as the country's official languages.
 1956 – Prince Rainier III of Monaco marries Hollywood actress Grace Kelly.
 1960 - Students in South Korea hold a nationwide democracy protest against President Rhee Syng-man, who resigns a week later.
 1971 – Sierra Leone becomes a Republic, with Siaka Stevens as President.
 1971 - Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.
 1975 - India's first satellite, Aryabhata, is launched.
 1984 - Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold become the official national colors.
 1985 - The Soviet Union carries out nuclear tests in eastern Kazakhstan.
 1987 – The Simpsons premiere on the Tracey Ullman Show.
 1989 – A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
 1993 – The 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, ends as fire breaks out, killing 82 cult members, including David Koresh.
 1993 - George S. Mickelson, Governor of South Dakota, is killed along with six others, when an airplane crashes in Iowa.
 1995 – Timothy McVeigh carries out the Oklahoma City bombing, killing 169 people.
 1997 - Grand Forks, South Dakota, is overwhelmed by flooding from the Red River.
 1998 - Thomas Klestil is elected to a second term as President of Austria.
 1999 – The German Bundestag moves its seat to Berlin.
 2000 - A Philippine Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashes on landing at the island of Sanal in the Philippines, killing all 131 people on board.

From 2001 
 2005 – Joseph Alois Ratzinger is chosen to become Pope. He chooses to be known as Pope Benedict XVI.
 2011 – Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba's central committee, after 45 years.
 2013 - Jiroemon Kimura becomes the first man to reach the age of 116 years. He is the oldest man ever; the oldest-ever person is Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122.
 2013 - Aftermath of 2013 Boston Marathon bombings: A police officer is shot dead in the early hours of the morning, before one of the suspects is killed in shoot-out with police, after which a lock-down is enforced in Boston. The second suspect is later arrested after a stand-off in the Watertown area of Greater Boston.
 2013 - Nicolas Maduro becomes President of Venezuela. He had already served in a caretaker capacity after the death of Hugo Chávez on March 5.
 2015 - A migrant boat sinks off the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, killing an estimated 700 people, making this the deadliest such tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea to date.
 2018 - Miguel Diaz-Canel is chosen to succeed Raul Castro as President of Cuba.
 2018 - Mswati III of Swaziland, on his 50th birthday, announces a change to the country's official name from "Kingdom of Swaziland" to "Kingdom of eSwatini".

Births

Up to 1800 
 1320 – King Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)
 1452 – King Ferdinand II of Aragon (d. 1504)
 1603 – Michel le Tellier, French statesman (d. 1685)
 1605 - Antonio Bertali, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1669)
 1613 - Christoph Bach, grandfather of Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1661)
 1658 – Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (d. 1716)
 1665 – Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (d. 1721)
 1686 – Vasily Tatishchev, Russian statesman (d. 1750)
 1721 – Roger Sherman, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1793)
 1721 – Thomas McKean, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1817)
 1759 - August Wilhelm Iffland, German actor and dramatist (d. 1814)
 1785 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French composer (d. 1858)
 1791 - William Orlando Butler, American politician (d. 1880)
 1793 – Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875)

1801  1900 
 1832 – José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize winner (d. 1916)
 1847 - Eva Gonzales, French painter (d. 1883)
 1874 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952)
 1877 - Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American inventor (d. 1934)
 1882 – Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (d. 1954)
 1883 – Richard von Mises, Austrian mathematician (d. 1953)
 1883 - Henry Jameson, American soccer player (d. 1938)
 1892 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer (d. 1983)
 1894 - Elizabeth Dilling, American writer and activist (d. 1966)
 1897 – Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970)
 1897 – Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese supercentenarian, world's oldest man and oldest man ever (d. 2013)
 1898 – Constance Talmadge, American actress (d. 1973)
 1899 – George O'Brien, American actor (d. 1985)
 1900 – Richard Hughes, British novelist (d. 1976)
 1900 - Roland Michener, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1991)
 1900 - Aleksandr Ptushko, Soviet-Russian movie director and screenwriter (d. 1973)

1901  1950 
 1902 - Veniamin Kaverin, Russian writer (d. 1989)
 1903 – Eliot Ness, American lawman (d. 1957)
 1912 – Glenn Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
 1914 - Ugo Poletti, Italian cardinal (d. 1997)
 1917 - Sven Hassel, Danish writer (d. 2012)
 1920 - Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (d. 2013)
 1921 - Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal (d. 2015)
 1922 – Erich Hartmann, fighter pilot with the most amount of kills (352) (d. 1993)
 1924 – Werner Kohlmeyer, German footballer (d. 1974)
 1925 – Hugh O'Brian, American actor (d. 2016)
 1928 - Azlan Shah of Perak, 9th Yang-di Pertuan Agong (Head of State) of Malaysia and Sultan of Perak (d. 2014)
 1928 – Alexis Korner, musician (d. 1984)
 1930 – Dick Sargent, actor (d. 1994)
 1932 – Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor
 1933 – Jayne Mansfield, American actress (d. 1967)
 1933 – Dickie Bird, English cricket umpire
 1934 – Jean Ziegler, Swiss sociologist and politician
 1934 - Ox Baker, American wrestler and actor (d. 2014)
 1935 – Dudley Moore, English actor, musician, comedian, composer (d. 2002)
 1935 - Justin Francis Rigali, American cardinal
 1936 – Wilfried Martens, former Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2013)
 1936 - Séamus Pattison, Irish politician (d. 2018)
 1937 – Elinor Donahue, American actress
 1937 – Joseph Estrada, Filipino actor and politician, former President of the Philippines
 1937 - Antonio Carluccio, Italian-English chef and writer (d. 2017)
 1938 - Gil Santos, American sports announcer (d. 2018)
 1940 - Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (d. 1977)
 1940 - Genya Ravan, American singer-songwriter and producer
 1941 - Roberto Carlos, Brazilian singer and composer
 1941 - Alan Price, English musician
 1941 - Michel Roux, French-British chef and restaurateur
 1942 - Bas Jan Ader, Dutch artist (d. 1975)
 1942 – Frank Elstner, German entertainer
 1943 - Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (d. 2014)
 1943 - Lorenzo Sanz, Spanish businessman
 1944 – James Heckman, American economist, Nobel Prize
 1944 – Bernie Worrell, keyboardist (P Funk)
 1946 – Tim Curry, British actor
 1946 - Mary Jo Slater, American casting director and producer
 1947 – Murray Perahia, American pianist
 1949 – Joachim Sauer, husband of German Chancellor Angela Merkel
 1949 – Paloma Picasso, designer, daughter of Pablo Picasso

1951  1975 
 1951 – Jóannes Eidesgaard, former Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
 1952 – Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (d. 2009)
 1953 - Sara Simeoni, Italian athlete
 1953 – Ruby Wax, American-born British television personality
 1954 - Trevor Francis, English footballer
 1956 – Sue Barker, English tennis player and television presenter
 1956 - Lane Hoppen, American singer-songwriter and musician (Orleans)
 1956 - Randy Carlyle, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 1957 - Tony Martin, English singer and musician
 1958 - Denis O'Brien, Irish businessman
 1960 - Nicoletta Braschi, Italian actress and producer
 1960 – Ara Gevorgyan, Armenian musician, composer and musical producer
 1960 – Frank Viola, American baseball player
 1960 – Roger Merrett, Australian footballer
 1962 – Al Unser, Jr., race car driver
 1963 - Mika Kojonskoski, Finnish ski jumper
 1964 - Gordon Marshall, Scottish footballer and coach
 1965 – Suge Knight, record producer
 1965 - Natalie Dessay, French soprano
 1967 - Philippe Sainte-André, French rugby player and coach
 1967 – Steven H Silver, science fiction editor
 1967 – Dar Williams, American musician and songwriter
 1968 – Mswati III, King of Swaziland
 1968 – Ashley Judd, American actress
 1968 - Arshad Warsi, Indian actor, singer and producer
 1968 - Pascal Kleiman, Spanish DJ, producer and songwriter
 1969 - Susan Polgar, Hungarian-American chess player
 1970 – Kelly Holmes, British athlete, double Olympic champion
 1970 – Luis Miguel, Mexican singer
 1972 – Rivaldo, Brazilian footballer
 1972 - Django Asül, German actor and comedian 
 1973 - Alessandro Preziosi, Italian actor
 1975 – Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer

From 1976 
 1976 - Scott Padgett, American basketball player, coach and radio host
 1978 – James Franco, American actor
 1978 – Gabriel Heinze, Argentine footballer
 1979 – Kate Hudson, American actress
 1979 - Zhao Junzhe, Chinese footballer
 1980 - Jason Blaine, Canadian singer-songwriter
 1980 - Robyn Regehr, Canadian ice hockey player
 1981 – Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor
 1981 – Catalina Sandino Moreno, actress
 1981 - James Hibberd, English cricketer
 1981 – Ryuta Hara, Japanese footballer
 1985 – Valon Behrami, Swiss footballer
 1986 - Heather Kuzmich, American model
 1987 – Joe Hart, English footballer
 1987 – Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player
 1987 - Lauren Wilson, Canadian figure skater
 1988 - Haruna Kojima, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
 1989 – Daisuke Watabe, Japanese footballer
 1990 - Damien Le Tallec, French footballer
 1992 - Nick Pope, English footballer
 1994 - Lee Areum, South Korean singer
 2016 - Prince Alexander, Duke of Södermanland, Swedish royal

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 1012 - Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 954)
 1054 – Pope Leo IX (b. 1002)
 1321 - Patriarch Gerasimus I of Constantinople
 1390 – King Robert II of Scotland (b. 1316)
 1560 - Philipp Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (b. 1497)
 1578 - Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1530)
 1588 - Paolo Veronese, Italian painter (b. 1528)
 1608 - Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English statesman and poet (b. 1536)
 1689 – Christina of Sweden (b. 1626)
 1733 - Elizabeth Villiers, mistress to William III of England (b. 1655)
 1768 – Canaletto, Italian artist (b. 1697)
 1791 - Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (b. 1723)
 1824 – Lord Byron, English poet (b. 1788)
 1881 – Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)
 1882 – Charles Darwin, British naturalist (b. 1809)

1901  2000 
 1906 – Pierre Curie, French scientist (b. 1859)
 1906 - Spencer Gore, British tennis player and cricketer (b. 1850)
 1914 – Charles Sanders Peirce, American philosopher (b. 1838)
 1916 - Ephraim Shay, American engineer (b. 1839)
 1949 – Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
 1950 - Ernst Robert Curtius, Alsatian philologist (b. 1886)
 1958 - Artur Kukk, Estonian wrestler (b. 1899)
 1966 – Javier Solis, Mexican singer (b. 1931)
 1967 – Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
 1974 – Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (b. 1907)
 1988 - Kwon Ki-ok, first female pilot in Korea (b. 1901)
 1989 – Daphne du Maurier, British writer (b. 1907)
 1991 - Stanley Hawes, British-Australian producer, director and administrator (b. 1905)
 1992 - Frankie Howerd, British comedian and actor (b. 1917)
 1993 – David Koresh, American cult leader (b. 1959)
 1993 - George S. Mickelson, 28th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1941)
 1998 – Octavio Paz, Mexican writer (b. 1914)

From 2001 
 2001 - Meldrim Thomson, Jr., 73rd Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1912)
 2004 – Norris McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of World Records (b. 1925)
 2004 – John Maynard Smith, British theoretical evolutionary biologist (b. 1920)
 2005 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (b. 1911)
 2006 - Albert Scott Crossfield, American engineer, pilot and astronaut (b. 1921)
 2007 - Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (b. 1932)
 2008 - Germaine Tillion, French anthropologist and Resistance activist (b. 1907)
 2009 – J. G. Ballard, British writer (b. 1930)
 2010 – Guru, American rapper (b. 1961)
 2011 – Elisabeth Sladen, British actress (b. 1948)
 2011 – Grete Waitz, Norwegian marathon runner (b. 1953)
 2012 - Valeri Vasiliev, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1949)
 2012 - Levon Helm, American musician and actor (b. 1940)
 2013 - François Jacob, French biologist (b. 1920)
 2013 - Al Neuharth, American journalist, writer and publisher (b. 1924)
 2014 - Frits Thors, Dutch journalist (b. 1909)
 2014 - Mimi Kok, Dutch actress (b. 1934)
 2014 - Sonia Silvestre, Dominican singer (b. 1952)
 2014 - Luciano do Valle, Brazilian sports commentator (b. 1947)
 2015 - Elio Toaff, Italian rabbi (b. 1915)
 2015 - Tom McCabe, Scottish politician (b. 1954)
 2015 - Uche Chukwumerije, Nigerian politician (b. 1939)
 2015 - Theodosia Okoh, Ghanaian flag designer and sports administrator (b. 1922)
 2015 - Raymond Carr, British historian (b. 1919)
 2015 - Ali Abu Mukhammad, Dagestani-Russian Islamist leader (b. 1972)
 2016 - Patricio Aylwin, President of Chile (b. 1918)
 2016 - Estelle Balet, Swiss snowboarder (b. 1994)
 2016 - Ronit Elkabetz, Israeli actress (b. 1964)
 2016 - Walter Kohn, Austrian-American theoretical physicist (b. 1923)
 2016 - Mehrdad Oladi, Iranian footballer (b. 1985)
 2016 - Milt Pappas, American baseball player (b. 1939)
 2016 - Billy Redmayne, Manx motorcycle racer (b. 1990)
 2017 - Delbert Daisey, American conservationist (b. 1928)
 2017 - Aaron Hernandez, American football player (b. 1989)
 2017 - Lyda Ann Thomas, American politician (b. 1936)
 2018 - Cornelius Jakobs, Estonian-Russian Orthodox hierarch (b. 1924)
 2018 - Luis Montes Mieza, Spanish anaesthetist and activist (b. 1949)
 2018 - Walter Moody, American murderer (b. 1935)
 2018 - Gil Santos, American sports announcer (b. 1938)
 2019 - Martin Böttcher, German film composer and conductor (b. 1927)
 2019 - Massimo Marino, Italian television presenter (b. 1960)
 2019 - Patrick Sercu, Belgian cyclist (b. 1944)
 2019 - Rodolfo Severino Jr., Filipino diplomat (b. 1936)
 2019 - Okiharu Yasuoka, Japanese politician (b. 1939)

Observances 
 Bicycle Day 
 Dutch-American friendship day
 King Mswati III's birthday (Swaziland)
 Patriots' Day (Massachusetts, Maine, Wisconsin)
 Beginning of Independence Movement (Venezuela)
 Most common date for Easter, last in 1992

Days of the year