Today May 19th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1499 – Catherine of Aragon, is married by proxy to Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.
1535 – French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona s two sons (whom Cartier kidnapped during his first voyage).
1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.
1568 – Queen Elizabeth I of England has Mary Queen of Scots arrested.
1643 – Thirty Years War: French forces under the duc d Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.
1649 – An Act declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
1749 – King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
1780 – New England s Dark Day: A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 A.M.
1802 – The Légion d Honneur is founded by Napoleon Bonaparte.
1828 – U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
1848 – Mexican-American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of five other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for $15 million USD.
1864 – American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
1897 – Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.
1919 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what was later termed the Turkish War of Independence. The anniversary of this event is the official date of commemoration of the Pontic Greek Genocide in Greece and Cyprus.
1921 – The U.S. Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.
1922 – The Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union is established.
1943 – World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the cross-English Channel landing (D-Day would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather).
1961 – Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe s infamous rendition of Happy Birthday.
1971 – Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
1991 – Croatian s vote for independence at their independence referendum.
Births
1593 – Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter (d. 1678)
1700 – José de Escandón, Spanish colonial governor (d. 1770)
1724 – Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (d. 1779)
1744 – Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1818)
1762 – Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (d. 1814)
1773 – Arthur Aikin, English mineralogist (d. 1854)
1795 – Johns Hopkins, American philanthropist (d. 1873)
1797 – Maria Isabel of Portugal, queen of Spain (d. 1818)
1827 – Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (d. 1896)
1861 – Dame Nellie Melba, Australian opera singer (d. 1931)
1862 – Mikhail Nesterov, Russian painter (d. 1942)
1870 – Albert Fish, American serial killer (d. 1936)
1874 – Gilbert Laird Jessop, English cricketer (d. 1955)
1879 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-born politician (d. 1964)
1880 – Sir Albert Richardson, English architect (d. 1964)
1881 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 1st President of Turkey (d. 1938)
1882 – Mohammed Mosaddeq, Prime Minister of Iran (d. 1967)
1890 – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader (d. 1969)
1891 – Oswald Boelcke, German World War I pilot (d. 1916)
1897 – Frank Luke, American World War I pilot (d. 1918)
1898 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (d. 1974)
1906 – Bruce Bennett, American athlete and actor (d. 2007)
1908 – Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)
1909 – Nicholas Winton, British Humanitarian
1914 – Max Perutz, Austrian-born molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2002)
1914 – Go Seigen, Japanese Go player
1914 – Alex Shibicky, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1918 – Abraham Pais, Dutch-born American physicist (d. 2000)
1921 – Yuri Kochiyama, American civil rights activist
1921 – Karel van het Reve, Dutch writer (d. 1999)
1921 – Daniel Gélin, French actor (d. 2002)
1922 – Joe Gilmore, longest running Head Barmen at The Savoy Hotel s American Bar.
1924 – Sandy Wilson, British composer
1925 – Malcolm X, American civil rights activist (d. 1965)
1925 – Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (d. 1998)
1925 – Guy Provost, French Canadian actor (d. 2004)
1926 – Swami Kriyananda, Indian teacher and author
1928 – Colin Chapman, founder of Lotus Cars (d. 1982)
1928 – Dolph Schayes, American basketball player and coach
1929 – John Stroger Chicago politician
1930 – Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright (d. 1965)
1931 – Eric Tappy, Swiss tenor
1931 – Bob Anderson, British racing driver (d. 1967)
1932 – Alma Cogan, English singer (d. 1966)
1932 – Paul Erdman, American economist and author (d. 2007)
1932 – Claude Blanchard, French Canadian comedian and actor (d. 2006)
1934 – Jim Lehrer, American television journalist
1934 – Ruskin Bond, Indian author
1935 – David Hartman, American actor and television personality
1937 – Pat Roach, English actor and wrestler (d. 2004)
1938 – Madge Hindle, English actress
1938 – Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese leader (d. 1989)
1939 – Livio Berruti, Italian athlete
1939 – James Fox, English actor
1939 – Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong actress
1939 – Dick Scobee, American astronaut (d. 1986)
1940 – Mickey Newbury, American musician
1940 – Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
1941 – Nora Ephron, American screenwriter
1942 – Gary Kildall, American computer programmer (d. 1994)
1942 – Robert Kilroy-Silk, British politician and television presenter
1944 – Peter Mayhew, British-American actor
1945 – Pete Townshend, English musician (The Who)
1946 – André the Giant, French professional wrestler (d. 1993)
1946 – Claude Lelièvre, Belgian commissioner for children s rights
1947 – Michele Placido, Italian actor and director
1947 – Paul Brady, Northern Ireland singer/songwriter
1947 – David Helfgott, Australian pianist
1948 – Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress
1949 – Archie Manning, American football player
1949 – Dusty Hill, American blues rock singer/bassist (ZZ Top)
1951 – Joey Ramone, American musician (The Ramones) (d. 2001)
1951 – Dick Slater, American professional wrestler
1952 – Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
1953 – Victoria Wood, British comic actress
1953 – Dawud M. Mu Min, American convicted murderer (d. 1997)
1953 – Shavarsh Karapetyan, Soviet Armenian finswimmer
1954 – Phil Rudd, Australian drummer (AC/DC)
1955 – James Gosling, Canadian computer programmer
1956 – Steven Ford, American actor
1957 – Bill Laimbeer, American basketball player and coach
1959 – Nicole Brown Simpson, Ex-wife of O.J. Simpson and murder victim. (d. 1994)
1961 – Gregory Poirier, American screenwriter and director
1963 – Filippo Galli, Italian footballer
1963 – Yazz, British singer
1964 – Miloslav Mecír, Slovakian former tennis player
1964 – Sean Whalen, American actor
1965 – Philippe Dhondt, French singer known as Boris
1965 – Maile Flanagan, American actress
1966 – Polly Walker, British actress
1966 – Marc Bureau, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Sophia Crawford, English actress and martial artist
1967 – Massimo Taccon, Italian painter and sculptor
1968 – Kyle Eastwood, American jazz musician; son of Clint Eastwood
1970 – Mario Dumont, Quebec politician (Action démocratique du Québec)
1970 – Choi Kyung-Ju, South Korean professional golfer
1970 – Jason Gray-Stanford, Canadian actor
1971 – Psicosis, Mexican professional wrestler
1972 – Jenny Berggren, Swedish singer (Ace of Base)
1974 – Andrew Johns, Australian rugby league footballer
1975 – London Fletcher, American football player
1975 – Masanobu Ando, Japanese actor
1975 – Josh Paul, American baseball player
1975 – Pretinha, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Ed Cota, American basketball player
1976 – Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
1977 – Manuel Almúnia, Spanish footballer
1977 – Brandon Inge, American baseball player
1978 – Marcus Bent, English footballer
1979 – Barbara Nedeljakova, Slovak actress
1979 – Diego Forlán, Uruguayan footballer
1979 – Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer
1980 – Drew Fuller, American actor/model
1980 – Tony Hackworth, English footballer
1981 – Bong Tae-gyu, South Korean actor
1981 – Nate Cole, American singer
1981 – Luciano Figueroa, Argentine footballer
1981 – Georges St. Pierre, Canadian mixed martial artist
1981 – Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
1982 – Kevin Amankwaah, English footballer
1982 – Pål Steffen Andresen, Norwegian footballer
1983 – Eve Angel, Hungarian porn star
1983 – Jessica Fox, British actress
1984 – Marcedes Lewis, American football player
1986 – Eric Lloyd, American actor
1986 – Mario Chalmers, American basketball player
1987 – David Edgar, Canadian soccer player
1987 – Mariano Torres, Argentine footballer
1988 – Lily Cole, English model/actress
1991 – Jordan Pruitt, American singer
Deaths
804 – Alcuin, English monk (b. c.735)
988 – Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 909)
1102 – Stephen, Count of Blois (b. c.1045)
1125 – Vladimir Monomakh, Russian prince (b. 1053)
1296 – Pope Celestine V (b. 1215)
1319 – Louis d Évreux, son of Philip III of France (b. 1276)
1389 – Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b. 1350)
1526 – Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (b. 1464)
1531 – Jan Laski, Polish statesman and diplomat (b. 1456)
1536 – Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII of England
1601 – Costanzo Porta, Italian composer
1610 – Thomas Sanchez, Spanish theologian (b. 1550)
1637 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (b. 1588)
1715 – Charles Montagu, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)
1786 – John Stanley, English composer (b. 1712)
1795 – Josiah Bartlett, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1729)
1795 – James Boswell, Scottish biographer (b. 1740)
1798 – William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueler (b. 1722)
1821 – Camille Jordan, French politician (b. 1771)
1825 – Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, French political philosopher (b. 1760)
1864 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (b. 1804)
1876 – Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch politician (b. 1801)
1885 – Peter W. Barlow, English engineer (b. 1809)
1895 – José Martí, Cuban independence leader (b. 1853)
1898 – William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1809)
1904 – Auguste Molinier, French historian (b. 1851)
1907 – Benjamin Baker, English engineer (b. 1840)
1912 – Boleslaw Prus, Polish writer (b. 1847)
1915 – John Simpson Kirkpatrick stretcher bearer with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli during World War I (b. 1892)
1918 – Raoul Lufbery, French-American World War I fighter pilot and flying ace (b. 1885)
1935 – T. E. Lawrence, English soldier known as Lawrence of Arabia (b. 1888)
1943 – Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter (b. 1865)
1945 – Philipp Bouhler, German nazi leader (b. 1889)
1946 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist (b. 1869)
1954 – Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
1958 – Archie Scott-Brown, English race car driver (b. 1927)
1958 – Ronald Colman, English actor (b. 1891)
1965 – Tui Malila, world s oldest tortoise
1969 – Coleman Hawkins, American musician (b. 1901)
1971 – Ogden Nash, American poet (b. 1902)
1983 – Jean Rey, President of the European Commission (b. 1902)
1984 – John Betjeman, English poet and Poet Laureate (b. 1906)
1986 – Jimmy Lyons, American musician (b. 1931)
1987 – James Tiptree, Jr, American author (b. 1915)
1989 – CLR James, West Indian writer and journalist (b. 1901)
1994 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, First Lady of the United States (b. 1929)
1994 – Luis Ocaña, Spanish cyclist (b. 1945)
1998 – Sosuke Uno, Japanese prime minister (b. 1922)
1999 – James Blades, English percussionist (b. 1901)
1999 – Candy Candido, American actor (b. 1913)
2000 – Yevgeny Khrunov, cosmonaut (b. 1933)
2001 – Susannah McCorkle, American singer (b. 1946)
2002 – John Gorton, nineteenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)
2002 – Walter Lord, American writer (b. 1917)
2004 – Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress (b. 1907)
2005 – Henry Corden, American actor and voice artist (b. 1921)
2006 – Freddie Garrity, English lead singer from the band Freddie and the Dreamers (b. 1940)
2007 – Dean Eyre, New Zealand politician (b. 1914)
2008 – Vijay Tendulkar, Indian playwright, (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances
Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
Dunstan
Peter Celestine
Ives
Pudentiana
Maria Bernarda Bütler
Joaquina Vedruna de Mas
Calocerus
Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day in Turkey (1919).
World Hepatitis Day
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