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Americans defeat the British at Yorktown

Born on This Day

John Lithgow

1945 -

Versatile actor who played a meek banker in Terms of Endearment and an alien in “3rd Rock From the Sun.”

Divine

1945 -

Drag performer and LGBTQ trailblazer who mixed humor and shock value in films like Pink Flamingos and Hairspray.

Evander Holyfield

1962 -

American boxer who won the heavyweight championship a record four times, including a 1996 upset over Mike Tyson.

John LithgowGetty Images

DivineRon Galella Collection via Getty

Evander HolyfieldGetty Images

2024

OCT19

The Kalamazoo Wings hockey team sets a world record for the most foam fingers waved simultaneously at a game—3,414 fans waved at once. Giant foam fingers have been around since 1971, when a high school teacher in Iowa made a papier-mâché prototype.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on October 19th

Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile

On October 19, 1469, Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile in Valladolid, thus beginning a cooperative reign that would unite all the dominions of Spain and elevate the nation to a dominant world power. Ferdinand and Isabella incorporated a number of independent Spanish dominions into their kingdom and in 1478 introduced the Spanish Inquisition, […]

Napoleon retreats from Moscow

One month after Napoleon Bonaparte’s massive invading force entered a burning and deserted Moscow, the starving French army is forced to begin a hasty retreat out of Russia. Following the rejection of his Continental System by Czar Alexander I, French Emperor Napoleon I invaded Russia with his Grande Armée on June 24, 1812. The enormous […]

Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Jane Eyre’ is published in London

On October 19, 1847, ‘Jane Eyre’ is published in London. It marked the first solo book release for Charlotte Brontë, who used the pseudonym Currer Bell.

Battle of Cedar Creek

Union General Philip Sheridan averts a near disaster in the Shenandoah Valley when he rallies his troops after a surprise attack by Confederate General Jubal Early and scores a major victory that almost destroys Early’s army at the Battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia. Through the summer of 1864, Early moved his army with impunity […]

First Battle of Ypres

On October 19, 1914, near the Belgian city of Ypres, Allied and German forces begin the first of what would be three battles to control the city and its advantageous positions on the north coast of Belgium during the First World War. After the German advance through Belgium and eastern France was curtailed by a […]

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John Z. DeLorean is arrested in $24 million cocaine deal

On October 19, 1982, the automaker John Z. DeLorean is arrested and charged with conspiracy to obtain and distribute 55 pounds of cocaine. DeLorean was acquitted of the drug charges in August 1984, but his legal woes were only beginning. He soon went on trial for fraud and over the next two decades was forced […]

First Blockbuster store opens

On October 19, 1985, the first Blockbuster video-rental store opens, in Dallas, Texas. At a time when most video stores were small-scale operations featuring a limited selection of titles, Blockbuster opened with some 8,000 tapes displayed on shelves around the store and a computerized check-out process. The first store was a success and Blockbuster expanded […]

“Take on Me” music video helps Norway’s A-ha top the U.S. pop charts

On October 19, 1985, the song “Take On Me,” by the Norwegian band a-Ha, hits #1 on the Billboard pop chart, catapulting the total unknowns to fame almost solely on the strength of the song’s groundbreaking video, driven by comic-book-style pencil-sketch animation. From its beginnings in the early 1980s, it was clear that MTV, the […]

Stock markets have the largest-ever one-day crash on “Black Monday”

The largest-ever one-day percentage decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average comes not in 1929 but on October 19, 1987. As a number of unrelated events conspired to tank global markets, the Dow dropped 508 points—22.6 percent—in a panic that foreshadowed larger systemic issues. Confidence on Wall Street had grown throughout the 1980s as the […]

Guildford Four are cleared of IRA bombings

On October 19, 1989, the Guildford Four, convicted of the 1975 IRA bombings of public houses in Guildford and Woolwich, England, are cleared of all charges and released from prison after nearly 15 years behind bars. On October 5, 1974, an IRA bomb killed four people in a Guildford pub frequented by British military personnel, […]

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Fire sweeps through Oakland hills

On October 19, 1991, a fire begins in the hills of Oakland, California. It went on to burn thousands of homes and kill 25 people. Despite the fact that fires had ravaged the same area three times earlier in the century, people continued to build homes there. Fires had previously raged through the hills in […]

Man charged in murder of Megan Kanka

On October 19, 1994, Jesse Timmendequas is charged with the murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka in New Jersey. Kanka’s death inspired Megan’s Law, a statute enacted in 1994 requiring that information about convicted sex felons be available to the public. Versions of Megan’s Law have been passed in many states since her murder. Megan had […]

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