October 19 October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 73 days remaining. Events 300 BCE-1899 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. 439 - The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa. 1453 - The French recapture of Bordeaux brings the Hundred Years War to a close, with the English retaining only Calais on French soil. 1781 - Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrenders to George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, Virginia, ending the American Revolutionary War. 1812 - Napoleon I of France retreats from Moscow. 1813 - The Battle of Leipzig concludes, giving Napoleon Bonaparte one of his worst defeats. 1864 - Battle of Cedar Creek - Union Army under Philip Sheridan destroys Confederate Army under Jubal Early. 1864 - Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada. 1873 - Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules. 1900-1999 1912 - Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire. 1914 - The First Battle of Ypres begins. 1917 - Love Field in Dallas, Texas is opened. 1933 - Germany withdraws from the League of Nations. 1943 - Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University. 1944 - United States forces land in the Philippines. 1954 - First ascent of Cho Oyu 1960 - Mauretania gains independence from France. 1973 - President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court demand to turn over the Watergate tapes. 1982 - John De Lorean is arrested for trafficking in cocaine. 1983 - Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada, is overthrown and executed in a military coup d'état led by Bernard Coard. 1985 - The first Blockbuster Video store opens in Dallas, Texas. 1986 - Samora Machel, President of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, and 33 others died when their Tupolev 134 plane crashed into the Lebombo Mountains. 1987 - In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. Navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms. 1987 - (Black Monday) Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%. 1989 - Guildford Four convictions are quashed by the Court of Appeal - they had spent 15 years in prison through a miscarriage of justice. 1991 - Paul Glover buys a samoza at the Farmers' Market with Half HOUR #751; the first use of Ithaca Hours. 2000-2099 2003 - Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II. 2004 - Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt is ousted and placed under house arrest by the Thai government on charges of corruption. 2004 - The WWE holds the first fully interactive pay-per-view Taboo Tuesday in the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Births 1700-1899 1784 - John McLoughlin, Hudson's Bay Company Factor 1873 - Jaap Eden, Dutch skater and cyclist 1885 - Charles Merrill, investment banker (d. 1956) 1899 - Miguel Angel Asturias, Guatemalan writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1974) 1900-1999 1907 - Roger Wolfe Kahn, band leader (d. 1962) 1908 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer 1910 - Jean Genet, French author (d. 1986) 1916 - Emil Gilels, Ukrainian pianist (d. 1994) 1918 - Louis Althusser, French Marxist philosopher 1922 - Jack Anderson, American political columnist 1931 - John Le Carré, English novelist 1932 - Robert Reed, actor (d. 1992) 1935 - Tony Lo Bianco, actor 1937 - Peter Max, pop artist 1942 - Andrew Vachss, author and attorney 1944 - Peter Tosh, musician 1945 - Divine (Glen Milstead), actor (d. 1988) 1945 - John Lithgow, actor 1947 - Giorgio Cavazzano, comics artist and illustrator 1951 - Steve Pearson (photographer), in Mudgee NSW Aust 1951 - Patricia Ireland, President of the National Organization for Women 1962 - Evander Holyfield, boxing champion 1966 - Jon Favreau, actor, writer, director 1969 - Trey Parker, cartoonist, comedian, writer, actor 1972 - Pras, musician 1973 - Jeremy Jordan, actor, singer 1974 - Apalaghie Dan, Romanian musician, composer 1976 - Michael Young, American baseball player Deaths 1100-1899 1187 - Pope Urban III 1745 - Jonathan Swift, Irish author 1889 - King Louis of Portugal 1900-1999 1943 - Camille Claudel, French sculptor 1950 - Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet 1956 - Isham Jones, jazz musician (b. 1894) 1973 - Walt Kelly, cartoonist 1983 - Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada 1987 - Jacqueline Du Pré, English cellist (b. 1945) 1988 - Son House, blues musician 1992 - Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner 1994 - Martha Raye, comedienne, actress 2000-2099 2003 - Faith Fancher, television journalist and breast cancer awareness activist 2003 - Michael Hegstrand, "Road Warrior Hawk" 2003 - Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnian politician and president 2003 - Margaret Murie, "Mother of the modern conservationist movement" Holidays Roman Empire - Armilustrium in honor of Mars Niue - Constitution Day in honour of the country's independence (self-governing in free association with New Zealand) in 1974. Mother Teresa Day in Albania. FAVORITE ARTICLES: History of the World    History of the United States    History of Europe    Ancient History    History    Military History    World War I    Bombing of Dresden    California    US Constitution    Frank Sinatra    Boston    Marbury v. Madison This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_19