Today November 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
1095 – The Council of Clermont, called by Pope Urban II to discuss sending the First Crusade to the Holy Land, begins.
1493 – Christopher Columbus goes ashore on an island he first saw the day before. He names it San Juan Bautista (later renamed Puerto Rico).
1794 – The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay s Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.
1816 – Warsaw University is established.
1847 – The second Canadian railway line, the Montreal and Lachine Railway, is opened.
1863 – American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the military cemetery ceremony at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
1881 – A meteorite lands near the village of Grossliebenthal, southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.
1916 – Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures (the company later became one of the most successful independent filmmakers).
1941 – World War II: Battle between HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran. The two ships sink each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 German seamen.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Stalingrad – Soviet Union forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation Uranus counterattacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the USSR s favor.
1943 – Holocaust: Nazis liquidate Janowska concentration camp in Lemberg (Lviv), western Ukraine, murdering at least 6,000 Jews after a failed uprising and mass escape attempt.
1944 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the 6th War Loan Drive, aimed at selling $14 billion USD in war bonds to help pay for the war effort.
1946 – Afghanistan, Iceland and Sweden join the United Nations.
1950 – US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes supreme commander of NATO-Europe
1955 – National Review publishes its first issue.
1959 – The Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel.
1967 – The establishment of TVB, the first wireless commercial television station in Hong Kong.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (the Ocean of Storms) and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.
1969 – Football player Pelé scores his 1,000th goal.
1976 – Jaime Ornelas Camacho takes office as the first President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal.
1977 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
1977 – Transportes Aereos Portugueses Boeing 727 crashes in Madeira islands killing 130.
1979 – Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
1984 – A series of explosions at the PEMEX petroleum storage facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico City starts a major fire and kills about 500 people.
1985 – Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
1985 – Pennzoil wins a $10.53 billion USD verdict against Texaco, in the largest civil verdict in the history of the United States, stemming from Texaco executing a contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil had entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty.
1988 – Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatism in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia.
1990 – Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It’s True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.
1994 – In Great Britain, the first National Lottery draw is held. A £1 ticket gave a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.
1996 – Lt. Gen. Maurice Baril of Canada arrives in Africa to lead a multi-national policing force in Zaire.
1997 – In Des Moines, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies were born alive. They would go on to become the first set of septuplets to survive infancy, with all seven alive in 2008.
1998 – Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bill Clinton.
1998 – Vincent van Gogh s Portrait of the Artist Without Beard sells at auction for $71.5 million USD.
1999 – Shenzhou 1: The People s Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft.
1999 – In Istanbul, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ends a two-day summit by calling for a political settlement in Chechnya and adopting a Charter for European Security.
Births
1464 – Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (d. 1526)
1563 – Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, English statesman (d. 1626)
1597 – Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Electress of Bavaria (d. 1660)
1600 – King Charles I of England (d. 1649)
1600 – Leo Aitzema, Dutch historian and statesman (d. 1669)
1617 – Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (d. 1655)
1700 – Jean-Antoine Nollet, French abbot and physicist (d. 1770)
1711 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian writer and polymath (d. 1765)
1722 – Leopold Auenbrugger, Austrian physician (d. 1809)
1722 – Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (d. 1810)
1752 – George Rogers Clark, American military leader (d. 1818)
1802 – Solomon Foot, American politician (d. 1866)
1805 – Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat and Suez Canal engineer (d. 1894)
1812 – Karl Schwarz, German theologian (d. 1885)
1831 – James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States (d. 1881)
1833 – Wilhelm Dilthey, German philosopher (d. 1911)
1834 – Georg Hermann Quincke, German physicist (d. 1924)
1835 – Rani Lakshmi Bai, Indian Queen (d. 1858)
1843 – Richard Avenarius, German philosopher (d. 1896)
1859 – Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer (d. 1935)
1862 – Billy Sunday, American evangelist (d. 1935)
1875 – Mikhail I. Kalinin, President of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (d. 1946)
1876 – Tatyana Alexeyevna Afanasyeva, Russian/Dutch mathematician (d. 1964)
1883 – Ned Sparks, Canadian actor (d. 1957)
1887 – James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (d. 1955)
1888 – José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess player (d. 1942)
1889 – Clifton Webb, American actor (d. 1966)
1892 – Huw Thomas Edwards, Welsh trade unionist and politician (d. 1970)
1893 – René Voisin, French classical trumpet player (d. 1952)
1894 – Américo Tomás, Portuguese admiral and politician, 14th President of Portugal (d. 1987)
1895 – Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American photographer (d. 1989)
1896 – Georgy Zhukov, Russian general (d. 1974)
1897 – Quentin Roosevelt, son of United States President Theodore Roosevelt (d. 1918)
1898 – Arthur R. von Hippel, German-born physicist (d. 2003)
1899 – Allen Tate, American poet and critic (d. 1979)
1899 – Grand Ayatollah Abul-Qassim Khoei, influential Shia Islamic scholar (d. 1992)
1900 – Mikhail Lavrentyev, Russian scientist (d. 1980)
1900 – Anna Seghers, German writer (d. 1983)
1900 – Bunny Ahearne, Irish ice hockey promoter (d. 1985)
1904 – Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr., American murderer (d. August 30, 1971)
1905 – Tommy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1956)
1907 – Jack Schaefer, American author (d. 1991)
1909 – Peter Drucker, American management theorist (d. 2005)
1910 – Adrian Conan Doyle, son of Arthur Conan Doyle (d. 1970)
1912 – George Emil Palade, Romanian cell biologist, Nobel laureate (d. 2008)
1915 – Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr., American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
1917 – Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
1919 – Alan Young, British-born American actor (Mister Ed)
1919 – Gillo Pontecorvo, Italian film director (d. 2006)
1920 – Gene Tierney, American actress (d. 1991)
1921 – Roy Campanella, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1921 – Peter Ruckman, American Baptist minister
1922 – Yuri Knorozov, Russian epigrapher (d. 1999)
1922 – Salil Chowdhury, Indian music composer, poet, writer, dramatist and filmmaker (d. 1995)
1924 – William Russell, British actor
1925 – Zygmunt Bauman, Polish Sociologist
1926 – Jeane Kirkpatrick, U. S. Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2006)
1929 – Slavko Avsenik, Slovenian musician
1929 – Norman Cantor, Canadian medieval scholar (d. 2004)
1933 – Larry King, American TV personality
1933 – Jerry Sheindlin, American jurist; husband of Judith Sheindlin
1935 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian imam (d. 1990)
1935 – Jack Welch, American businessman
1936 – Dick Cavett, American talk show host
1936 – Yuan T. Lee, Taiwanese-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1938 – Ted Turner, American businessman
1939 – Tom Harkin, American politician
1941 – Dan Haggerty, American actor
1941 – Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Governor of Wisconsin
1942 – Calvin Klein, American clothing designer
1942 – Sharon Olds, American poet
1943 – Aurelio Monteagudo, Cuban-born Major League Baseball player (d. 1990)
1943 – Fred Lipsius, American musician (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
1944 – Agnes Baltsa, Greek mezzo-soprano
1944 – Dennis Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
1945 – Bobby Tolan, American baseball player
1947 – Bob Boone, American baseball player and manager
1947 – Lamar S. Smith, American politician
1949 – Nigel Bennett, English actor
1949 – Ahmad Rashad, American football player and sportscaster
1951 – Zeenat Aman, Indian actress
1951 – Lord Falconer of Thoroton, British lawyer and politician
1952 – Stephen Soldz, American psychoanalyst and anti-war activist
1953 – Robert Beltran, American actor
1953 – Tom Villard, American actor (d. 1994)
1954 – Kathleen Quinlan, American actress
1955 – Sam Hamm, American screenwriter
1956 – Ann Curry, American journalist
1956 – Glynnis O Connor, American actress
1957 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (d. 2000)
1958 – Michael Wilbon, sports analyst
1958 – Terrence T.C. Carson, American actor
1959 – Allison Janney, American actress
1960 – Elizabeth Hulette, American professional wrestling manager (d. 2003)
1960 – Matt Sorum, American musician (The Cult, Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver)
1961 – Meg Ryan, American actress
1962 – Jodie Foster, American actress
1962 – Dodie Boy Peñalosa, Philippine boxer
1963 – Terry Farrell, American actress
1963 – Jon Potter, British field hockey player
1963 – Zsuzsanna Jánosi, Hungarian fencer
1965 – Laurent Blanc, French footballer
1965 – Sean Hughes, Irish comedian
1966 – Gail Devers, American athlete
1966 – Jason Scott Lee, American actor
1966 – Rocco DiSpirito, American chef
1968 – Karina, Venezuelan singer
1969 – Erika Alexander, American actress
1969 – Philippe Adams, Belgian racing driver
1969 – Richard Virenque, French cyclist
1971 – Justin Chancellor, English bassist (Tool)
1971 – Alice Peacock, American folk singer
1971 – Jeremy McGrath, American motorcycle racer
1972 – Sandrine Holt, Canadian actress
1973 – Ryukishi07, Japanese mystery writer
1973 – Savion Glover, American dancer and choreographer
1973 – Billy Currington, American singer and songwriter
1973 – Takashi Matsumoto, Japanese photographer and business person
1975 – Sushmita Sen, Indian beauty queen and actress
1976 – Jun Shibata, Japanese singer and songwriter
1976 – Petr Sýkora, Czech ice hockey player
1976 – Benny Vansteelant, Belgian duathlete (d. 2007)
1976 – Stylianos Venetidis, Greek football player
1977 – Kerri Strug, American gymnast
1978 – Vera Pospíšilová-Cechlová, Czech athlete
1978 – Matt Dusk, Canadian jazz musician / vocalist
1979 – Ryan Howard, American baseball player
1979 – Larry Johnson, American football player
1979 – Leam Richardson, English football player
1979 – John-Ford Griffin, American baseball player
1979 – Keith Buckley – American singer (Every Time I Die)
1979 – Rodrigo Venegas, aka Rodstarz, of the hip hop group Rebel Diaz
1980 – Courtney Anderson, American football player
1980 – Adele Silva, English actress
1983 – Chandra Crawford, Canadian cross-country skier
1983 – Daria Werbowy, Ukranian-Canadian model
1985 – Chris Eagles, English footballer
1986 – Veronica Scott, American fashion designer
1986 – Milan Smiljanic, Serbian footballer
1988 – Patrick Kane, American ice-hockey player
1997 – McCaughey septuplets, world s first surviving set of septuplets
Deaths
498 – Pope Anastasius II
1478 – Emperor Baeda Maryam of Ethiopia (b. 1448)
1492 – Jami, Persian poet (b. 1414)
1557 – Bona Sforza, Queen of Sigismund I of Poland (b. 1494)
1577 – Matsunaga Hisahide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)
1630 – Johann Schein, German composer (b. 1586)
1649 – Caspar Schoppe, German scholar (b. 1576)
1665 – Nicolas Poussin, French painter (b. 1594)
1672 – John Wilkins, English Bishop of Chester (b. 1614)
1682 – Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (b. 1619)
1692 – Thomas Shadwell, English poet and playwright
1723 – Antoine Nompar de Caumont, French courtier and soldier (b. 1632)
1772 – William Nelson, American colonial governor of Virginia (b. 1711)
1773 – James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish politician (b. 1722)
1785 – Bernard de Bury, French composer (b. 1720)
1798 – Wolfe Tone, Irish republican (b. 1763)
1804 – Pietro Guglielmi, Italian composer (b. 1728)
1810 – Jean-Georges Noverre, French dancer and ballet master (b. 1725)
1822 – Johann Georg Tralles, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1763)
1828 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (b. 1797)
1850 – Richard Mentor Johnson, American politician (b. 1780)
1868 – Ivane Andronikashvili, Georgian general (b. 1798)
1883 – William Siemens, German engineer (b. 1823)
1887 – Emma Lazarus, American poet (b. 1849)
1897 – William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian (b. 1810).
1915 – Joe Hill, American labor activist (executed) (b. 1879)
1924 – Thomas Ince, American film director (b. 1882)
1931 – Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet (b. 1897)
1938 – Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (b. 1866)
1942 – Bruno Schulz, Polish writer and painter (shot) (b. 1892)
1954 – Walter Bartley Wilson, founding member of Cardiff City F.C. (b. 1870)
1959 – Joseph Charbonneau, archbishop of Montreal (b. 1892)
1960 – Phyllis Haver, American actress (b. 1899)
1967 – Charles J. Watters, US Army chaplain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1927)
1974 – George Brunies, American musician (b. 1902)
1975 – Roger D. Branigin, American politician (b. 1902)
1976 – Sir Basil Spence, British architect (b. 1907)
1983 – Tom Evans, English bass guitarist (Badfinger) (b. 1947)
1985 – Stepin Fetchit, American actor and dancer (b. 1907)
1988 – Christina Onassis, daughter of billionaire Aristotle Onassis (b. 1950)
1990 – Sun Li-jen, Chinese general (b. 1900)
1992 – Bobby Russell, American songwriter (b. 1941)
1992 – Diane Varsi, American actress (b. 1938)
1998 – Ted Fujita, Japanese-born American meteorologist (b. 1920)
1998 – Alan J. Pakula, American film director (b. 1928)
2001 – Marcelle Ferron, Quebec painter and stained glass artist (b. 1924)
2003 – Ian Geoghegan, Australian racing driver (b. 1940)
2004 – Piet Esser, Dutch sculptor (b. 1914)
2004 – Helmut Griem, German actor (b. 1932)
2004 – Terry Melcher, American record producer; son of Doris Day (b. 1942)
2004 – John Robert Vane, British pharmacologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1927)
2004 – George Canseco, Filipino composer (b. 1934)
2005 – Erik Balling, Danish TV and film director (b. 1924)
2007 – Kevin DuBrow, American singer (Quiet Riot) (b. 1955)
2007 – Mike Gregory, English rugby league footballer (b. 1964)
2007 – Dick Wilson, American actor (b. 1916)
Holidays and observances
International Men s Day in Canada, Australia, India, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, and Singapore
Brazil – Flag Day
Mali – Liberation Day
Norway – The Liberation of the Sami People of the coast
Puerto Rico – Discovery of Puerto Rico (1493)
Greek Orthodox Church – Feast of the Prophet Obadiah
Roman Catholic Church – Raphael Kalinowski
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