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19th April

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1824: Lord Byron dies


Lord Byron, the great English poet, dies from a fever in Missolonghi, Greece. Mourned as a national hero in Greece, Byron had donated £4,000 to the Greek Navy and personally came to the country to unite nationalist factions in their struggle for independence from the Turks. He died shortly after taking command of a brigade of Christian Souliot guerrillas from the Greek region of Epirus. Remembered for his epic poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan, Byron was one of the most popular poets of his day and the epitome of the sensual romantic figure. His idealistic accounts of his travels to Greece did much to awaken Europe to the plight of the Greeks under Ottoman rule.

2006

The Italian Supreme Court rules in favour of Romano Prod’s general election victory after it had been challenged by the loser in the election Silvio Berlusconi.

2005

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected Pope, assuming the name Benedict XVI.

1995

80 people are killed as a car bomb explodes at a government building in Oklahoma City, America.

1993

In America, the siege at the headquarters of the Branch Davidian sect near Waco, Texas comes to an end as the building is set on fire after the police storm the building.

1987

In America, the TV animation, The Simpsons, make their debut in the The Tracey Ullman Show.

1972

In Britain, Lord Widgery’s report into Bloody Sunday largely exonerates the British Army of any wrongdoing. 

1971

The Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration in Washington, D.C.

1956

Prince Rainier of Monaco marries the American actress Grace Kelly.

1943

The Second World War: the Warsaw Ghetto uprising begins.

1927

Hollywood actress Mae West is found guilty of indecent behaviour in her production of 'Sex' on Broadway. She is sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined 500 dollars.

1909

Joan of Arc receives beatification.

1902

A massive earthquake hits western Guatemala, killing more 2,000 people.

1861

The first deaths occur in the American Civil War when a secessionist mob in Baltimore attacks Massachusetts troops bound for Washington D.C.

1839

Belgium’s independence is recognised by the Treaty of London.

1775

The American Revolution begins.

1956

British tennis star Sue Barker.

1935

British comedian and actor Dudley Moore.

1933

British actress Jayne Mansfield. Real name Vera Jayne Palmer. Dies in a car crash in 1967.

1876

English cricketer Sidney Barnes

1967

West German politician Konrad Adenhauer.

1882

Biologist Charles Darwin