August 19: Encyclopedia - August 19

August 19

August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 134 days remaining.

August 19 - Events

• 293 BC - Oldest known Roman temple to Venus Libitina founded on the Esquiline Hill; institution of Vinalia Rustica begins.
• 1561 - Queen Mary Stuart returns to Scotland.
• 1692 - Salem Witch Trials: In Salem, Massachusetts five women and a clergyman are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
• 1745 - Jacobite Rising, Prince Charles Edward Stuart lands from a French warship in Glenfinnan, raises his standard and marches on London - the start of the Second Jacobite Rebellion known as "the 45"
• 1768 - Saint Isaac's Cathedral is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia
• 1782 - Battle of Blue Licks: the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War, almost ten months after the surrender of the British commander Lord Cornwallis following the Battle of Yorktown.
• 1812 - War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerrière off the coast of Nova Scotia.
• 1813 - Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's second triumvirate.
• 1839 - Presentation of Jacque Daguerre's new photographic process to the French Academy of Sciences.
• 1848 - California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
• 1862 - Indian Wars: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
• 1895 - American frontier murderer and outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.
• 1919 - Afghanistan gains independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1929 - The radio comedy show Amos and Andy makes its NBC debut starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.
• 1934 - The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
• 1934 - The creation of the position Führer approved by the German electorate with 89.9% of the popular vote.
• 1942 - World War II: Operation Jubilee - The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an allied forces amphibious assault on Dieppe, France.
• 1944 - World War II: Liberation of Paris - Paris rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
• 1945 - Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
• 1953 - Cold War: The CIA helps to overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
• 1955 - In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives.
• 1960 - Cold War: In Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
• 1960 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 5 with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of plants.
• 1961 - The Australian public-affairs show Four Corners starts on the ABC.
• 1965 - Japanese prime minister Eisaku Sato becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa.
• 1975 - The cricket test match between England and Australia is called off after the pitch is vandalised by supporters of George Davis.
• 1980 - Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
• 1981 - Gulf of Sidra Incident: Two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets intercept United States fighters over the Gulf of Sidra and are destroyed by them.
• 1987 - Hungerford Massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with an assault rifle and then commits suicide.
• 1989 - Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist Prime Minister in 42 years.
• 1990 - Leonard Bernstein conducts his final concert, ending with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
• 1991 - Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev is overthrown by a coup. This leads to the fall of the Soviet Union
• 1999 - In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.
• 2002 - A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside of Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
• 2003 - A car-bomb attack on UN headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employers.
• 2005 - The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.

August 19 - Births

• 1398 - Marqués de Santillana, Spanish poet (d. 1458)
• 1557 - Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1608)
• 1590 - Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier (d. 1649)
• 1596 - Elizabeth of Bohemia (d. 1662)
• 1621 - Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Dutch painter (d. 1674)
• 1631 - John Dryden, English poet (d. 1700)
• 1646 - John Flamsteed, English astronomer (d. 1719)
• 1686 - Eustace Budgell, English writer (d. 1737)
• 1686 - Nicola Porpora, Italian composer (d. 1768)
• 1689 - Samuel Richardson, English writer (d. 1761)
• 1711 - Edward Boscawen, British admiral (d. 1761)
• 1743 - Madame du Barry, French courtesan (d. 1793)
• 1870 - Bernard Baruch, American financier (d. 1965)
• 1871 - Orville Wright, American aviation pioneer (d. 1948)
• 1875 - Stjepan Seljan, Croatian explorer (d. 1936)
• 1878 - Manuel Quezon, President of the Philippines (d. 1944)
• 1881 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (d. 1955)
• 1883 - Coco Chanel, French clothing designer (d. 1971)
• 1883 - Elsie Ferguson, American film actress (d. 1961)
• 1892 - Alfred Lunt, American actor (d. 1977)
• 1896 - Olga Baclanova, Russian-born actress (d. 1974)
• 1902 - Ogden Nash, American poet (d. 1971)
• 1906 - Philo T. Farnsworth, American inventor and television pioneer (d. 1971)
• 1907 - Thurston B. Morton, American politician (d. 1982)
• 1913 - Richard Simmons, American actor (d. 2003)
• 1914 - Lajos Baróti, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 2005)
• 1915 - Ring Lardner, Jr., American actor and screenwriter (d. 2000)
• 1919 - Malcolm Forbes, American publisher (d. 1990)
• 1921 - Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (d. 1991)
• 1925 - Claude Gauvreau, Canadian playwright, poet, and polemicist (d. 1971)
• 1926 - Arthur Rock, American venture capitalist
• 1930 - Frank McCourt, Irish-born author
• 1931 - Willie Shoemaker, American jockey (d. 2003)
• 1935 - Bobby Richardson, baseball player
• 1938 - Diana Muldaur, American actress, dog breeder, and dog judge
• 1939 - Ginger Baker, English musician
• 1944 - Charles B. Wang, Chinese-born philanthropist
• 1940 - Johnny Nash, American singer
• 1940 - Jill St. John, American actress
• 1942 - Fred Thompson, U.S. Senator from Tennessee and actor
• 1945 - Ian Gillan, English singer
• 1946 - Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States
• 1946 - Beat Raaflaub, Swiss conductor
• 1947 - Gerard Schwarz, American conductor
• 1950 - Jennie Bond, British journalist
• 1951 - John Deacon, English musician (Queen)
• 1952 - Jonathan Frakes, American actor and director
• 1955 - Peter Gallagher, American actor
• 1956 - Adam Arkin, American actor
• 1958 - Anthony Muñoz, American football player
• 1960 - Morten Andersen, American football player
• 1963 - John Stamos, American actor
• 1963 - Joey Tempest, Swedish singer (Europe)
• 1964 - Whitney Prescott, American fetish model
• 1965 - Kyra Sedgwick, American actress
• 1966 - Lee Ann Womack, American musician
• 1969 - Matthew Perry, American actor
• 1973 - Crown Princess Mette Marit of Norway
• 1973 - Callum Blue, British actor
• 1979 - David Douglas American drummer (Relient K)
• 1980 - Darius Danesh, Scottish singer
• 1982 - Erika Christensen, American actress
• 1983 - Tammin Sursok, Australian actress

August 19 - Deaths

• 14 - Augustus, Roman Emperor (b. 63 BC)
• 1186 - Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1158)
• 1245 - Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence (b. 1195)
• 1284 - Alphonso, Earl of Chester, son of Edward I of England (b. 1273)
• 1297 - Saint Louis of Toulouse, French Catholic bishop (b. 1274)
• 1493 - Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1415)
• 1580 - Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (b. 1508)
• 1646 - Alexander Henderson, Scottish theologian
• 1662 - Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (b. 1623)
• 1753 - Balthasar Neumann, German architect (b. 1687)
• 1819 - James Watt, Scottish inventor (b. 1736)
• 1822 - Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre, French mathematician (b. 1749)
• 1872 - King Charles XV / Carl IV of Sweden and Norway (b. 1826)
• 1889 - Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, French writer (b. 1838)
• 1895 - John Wesley Hardin, American gunfighter (b. 1853)
• 1923 - Vilfredo Pareto, Italian sociologist and economist (b. 1845)
• 1929 - Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario (b. 1872)
• 1936 - Federico García Lorca, Spanish author (b. 1898)
• 1950 - Giovanni Giorgi, Italian physicist (b. 1871)
• 1954 - Alcide De Gasperi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1881)
• 1957 - David Bomberg, English painter (b. 1890)
• 1957 - Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish meteorologist (b. 1898)
• 1959 - Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1880)
• 1967 - Hugo Gernsback, Luxembourg-born editor and publisher (b. 1884)
• 1968 - George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (b. 1904)
• 1970 - Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian (b. 1909)
• 1976 - Alastair Sim, Scottish actor and former rector of Edinburgh University (b. 1900)
• 1977 - Groucho Marx, American comedian and actor (b. 1890)
• 1980 - Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank
• 1994 - Linus Pauling, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Peace (b. 1901)
• 1995 - Pierre Schaeffer, French composer (b. 1910)
• 2003 - Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (b. 1926)
• 2003 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (b. 1948)
• 2005 - Bueno de Mesquita, Dutch comedian and actor (b. 1918)
• 2005 - Mo Mowlam, British politician (b. 1949)

August 19 - Holidays and observances

• Roman festivals - Vinalia Rustica celebrated in honor of Venus Libitina commemorating the founding of the oldest known temple to her, on the Esquiline Hill, in 293 BC on this date.
• RC saints - Saint Sebald, Saint Louis of Toulouse, Jean-Eudes de Mézeray
• Afghanistan - Afghan Independence Day see above: 1919
• National Day of the Filipino Language, Philippines - Holiday for Quezon City, Quezon Province and other municipalities named after Manuel Quezon
• National Aviation Day, USA
• Ghost Festival, the 14th day in the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar (2005)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "August 19", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki