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 Chavez 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 Francois Boely, French composer (d. 1858)
1791 - William Orlando Butler, American politician (d. 1880)
1793 - Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875)
1801 1900
1832 - Jose Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize winner (d. 1916)
1847 - Eva Gonzales, French painter (d. 1883)
1874 - Ernst Rudin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952)
1877 - Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American inventor (d. 1934)
1882 - Getulio 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 author (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 - Seamus 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 author (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 - Joannes Eidesgaard, former Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
1952 - Alexis Arguello, 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-Andre, 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 Asul, 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 Sodermanland, 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 - Francois Jacob, French biologist (b. 1920)
2013 - Al Neuharth, American journalist, author 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 Bottcher, 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