April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 256 days remain until the end of the year.
We have some interesting facts & historic events all about April 19th, including areas in religion, crime, health and more.
Keep reading for more interesting facts about April 19th in history!
Table of Contents
Global Celebrations
- Bicycle Day
- Poetry And The Creative Mind Day
- National Hanging Out Day
- National Garlic Day
- National Rice Ball Day
Historic Events
What Happened On This Day – April 19
1995: 168 die in the Oklahoma City bombing
Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind behind the attack, was executed on June 11, 2001. The motives for the bombing, which also killed 19 babies and children, remain somewhat unclear.
1987: The first installment of The Simpsons is aired
The hugely popular animated sitcom debuted on the Tracey Ullman Show in the form of one-minute shorts.
1971: The Soviet Union launches the world’s first manned space station
Salyut 1 was 23 meters long and offered 100 cubic meters of pressurized space.
1919: Leslie Irvin makes the world’s first free-fall parachute jump
The jump was executed to test a new kind of parachute, which was also the first featuring a ripcord. The Hollywood stuntman broke a leg on landing.
1775: The American Revolutionary War begins
The Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and 13 colonies of British North America. The war resulted in U.S. independence.
1971: The Soviet Union launches the world’s first manned space station in 1971.
1987: The first instalment of The Simpsons is aired in 1987
1945: Mexican Pilots showing off a captured Japanese flag in Mexico City, Mexico 1945.

1941: Japanese destroyer Nowaki (“Fall Gales”) underway at speed, 19 April 1941

1936: An army of schoolgirls marching through Tokyo, their faces an anonymous sea of gas masks, 1936.

1915: Sir Ernest Shackleton’s exploration vessel ‘Endurance’, as it sits stuck in sea ice, later to be crushed from the force and sink, 1915

1901: In the Philippines, recently captured insurgent leader Emilio Aguinaldo issues a proclamation advising his countrymen to end their rebellion and use peaceful means to work with the US toward independence in 1901.
Famous Birthdays
Births On This Day, April 19
1987: Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player
1978: James Franco, American actor, director, producer, screenwriter
1952: Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer, politician
1937: Joseph Estrada, Filipino actor, producer, politician, 13th President of the Philippines
1933: Jayne Mansfield, American model, actress, singer
Mukesh Ambani was born.
James Franco was born.
Kate Hudson was born.
Heartbreaking Deaths
Deaths On This Day, April 19
2004: John Maynard Smith, English biologist
1967: Konrad Adenauer, German politician, Chancellor of West Germany
1914: Charles Sanders Peirce, American philosopher, mathematician, scientist
1882: Charles Darwin, English scientist, theorist
1824: Lord Byron, English poet
Charles Darwin died.
Pierre Curie died.
Jim Corbett died.