So you want to have a drink but you aren't sure why? Here are some GREAT reasons to call your friends over and have a party.

April 19th


- Earliest day on which First Day of Summer or Sumardagurinn fyrsti can fall, while April 25 is the latest; celebrated on the first Thursday after April 18. (Iceland)
- Beginning of the Independence Movement (Venezuela)
- Bicycle Day
- Christian Feast Day:
- Dutch-American Friendship Day (United States)
- King Mswati III's birthday (Swaziland)
- Landing of the 33 (Uruguay)
- Patriots' Day (Traditional) (Massachusetts, Maine, and Wisconsin, USA)
- Primrose Day (United Kingdom)
- The last day of the Cerealia (Roman Empire)

April 19th


- 2005 - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of the Papal conclave.
- 1999 - The German Bundestag returns to Berlin, the first German parliamentary body to meet there since the Reichstag was dissolved in 1945.
- 1997 - The Red River Flood of 1997 overwhelms the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fire breaks out and spreads in downtown Grand Forks, but high water levels hamper efforts to reach the fire, leading to the destruction of 11 buildings.
- 1995 - Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168. That same day convicted murderer Richard Wayne Snell, who had ties to one of the bombers, Timothy McVeigh, is executed in Arkansas.
- 1993 - The 51-day siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die.
- 1993 - South Dakota governor George Mickelson and seven others are killed when a state-owned aircraft crashes in Iowa.
- 1989 - A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
- 1987 - The Simpsons premieres as a short cartoon on The Tracey Ullman Show
- 1985 - FBI siege on the compound of The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSAL) in Arkansas
- 1985 - U.S.S.R performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk.
- 1984 - Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
- 1975 - India's first satellite Aryabhata is launched.
- 1971 - Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration in Washington, D.C..
- 1971 - Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.
- 1971 - Charles Manson is sentenced to death for the Sharon Tate murders.
- 1971 - Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.
- 1961 - The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in success for the defenders.
- 1960 - Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against their president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.
- 1956 - Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
- 1955 - The German automaker Volkswagen, after six years of selling cars in the United States, founds Volkswagen of America in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to standardize its dealer and service network.
- 1954 - Constituent Assembly of Pakistan decides Urdu and Bengali to be national languages of Pakistan.
- 1951 - General Douglas MacArthur retires from the military.
- 1950 - Argentina becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1948 - Burma (now Myanmar) joins the United Nations.
- 1945 - Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Guatemala are established.
- 1943 - World War II: In Poland, German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
- 1943 - Bicycle Day – Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time.
- 1942 - World War II: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
- 1936 - First day of the Great Uprising in Palestine.
- 1928 - The 125th and final fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- 1927 - Mae West is sentenced to 10 days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
- 1919 - Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute jump using a new kind of self-contained parachute.
- 1892 - Charles Duryea claims to have driven the first automobile in the United States, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861, a pro-Secession mob in Baltimore, Maryland, attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
- 1855 - Visit of Napoleon III to Guildhall, London
- 1839 - The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom.
- 1810 - Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a Junta is installed.
- 1809 - An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four day campaign which ended in a French victory.
- 1782 - John Adams secures the Dutch Republic's recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The war begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
- 1770 - Captain James Cook sights the eastern coast of Australia.
- 1770 - Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI in a proxy wedding.
- 1713 - With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inherited by his daughter, Maria Theresa of Austria (not actually born until 1717).
- 1587 - Francis Drake's expedition sinks the Spanish fleet in Cádiz harbor.
- 1529 - At the Second Diet of Speyer, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities (German: Reichsstadt) protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms, beginning the Protestant Reformation.
- 1012 - Martyrdom of Alphege in Greenwich, London.

April 19th


- 1990 - Kim Chiu, Filipino actress
- 1990 - Damien Le Tallec, French football player
- 1989 - Fiona MacGillivray, Canadian vocalist (The Cottars)
- 1989 - Dominik Mader, German football player
- 1987 - Oksana Akinshina, Russian actress
- 1987 - Joe Hart, English Under-21 footballer
- 1987 - Courtland Mead, American actor
- 1987 - Daniel Schuhmacher, German singer
- 1987 - Maria Sharapova, Russian-born professional tennis player
- 1986 - Candace Parker, American basketball player
- 1986 - Gabe Pruitt, American basketball player
- 1985 - Valon Behrami, Swiss Footballer
- 1985 - Jan Zimmermann, German goalkeeper
- 1984 - Lee Da Hae, South Korean actress
- 1983 - Alberto Callaspo, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1983 - Zack Duke, American baseball player
- 1983 - Joe Mauer, American baseball player
- 1983 - Curtis Thigpen, American baseball player
- 1982 - Sitiveni Sivivatu, New Zealand All Black rugby player
- 1981 - Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor
- 1981 - Martin Havlat, Czech hockey player
- 1981 - Troy Polamalu, American football player
- 1981 - Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress
- 1980 - Alexis Thorpe, American actress
- 1979 - Kate Hudson, American actress
- 1979 - Zhao Junzhe, Chinese footballer
- 1979 - Matthew Pace, American entrepreneur
- 1978 - James Franco, American actor
- 1978 - Gabriel Heinze, Argentinian footballer
- 1978 - Amanda Sage, American born visionary artist
- 1977 - Joe Beimel, American baseball player
- 1977 - Lucien Mettomo, Cameroonian footballer
- 1977 - Dennys Reyes, Mexican baseball player
- 1976 - Ruud Jolie, Dutch guitarist (Within Temptation)
- 1976 - Scott Padgett, American basketball player
- 1975 - Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer
- 1975 - Jussi Jääskeläinen, Finnish footballer
- 1974 - Akara Amarttayakul, Thai actor
- 1972 - Rivaldo, Brazilian footballer
- 1972 - Jeff Wilkins, American football player
- 1970 - Kelly Holmes, English athlete
- 1970 - Luis Miguel, Mexican pop-singer
- 1969 - Andrew Carnie, Linguistics Professor at the University of Arizona
- 1969 - Jesse James, American television personality and motorcycle builder
- 1969 - Susan Polgar, Hungarian-born American chess player
- 1968 - Ashley Judd, American actress
- 1968 - Pascal Kleiman, Spanish DJ, producer, musician
- 1968 - Craig McNeil, American writer, lawyer, and military officer
- 1968 - Mswati III, King of Swaziland
- 1968 - Arshad Warsi, Indian actor
- 1967 - Steven H Silver, American science fiction editor
- 1967 - Dar Williams, American musician and songwriter
- 1966 - Véronique Gens, French soprano
- 1966 - David La Haye, Canadian actor
- 1966 - Osamu Matsuda, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1966 - Julia Neigel, German singer, songwriter, producer, author and entertainer
- 1965 - Natalie Dessay, French soprano
- 1965 - Suge Knight, American record producer
- 1964 - Gordon Marshall, Scottish footballer
- 1963 - Valerie Plame Wilson, American former C.I.A. agent
- 1962 - Al Unser, Jr., American race car driver
- 1961 - Spike Owen, American baseball player
- 1960 - Roger Merrett, Australian footballer
- 1960 - John Schweitz, American basketball player and coach
- 1960 - Frank Viola, American baseball player
- 1959 - Donald Markwell, Australian educator, Warden of Rhodes House, Oxford
- 1957 - Mukesh Ambani, Indian businessman
- 1957 - Tony Martin, English musician
- 1956 - Sue Barker, BBC Sports Presenter & former Tennis Professional.
- 1954 - Trevor Francis, English footballer
- 1954 - Bob Rock, Canadian record producer & musician (The Payolas)
- 1953 - Rod Morgenstein, American musician (Winger)
- 1953 - Ruby Wax, British television personality
- 1952 - Alexis Arguello, Nicaraguan boxer (d. 2009)
- 1951 - Barry Brown, American actor and writer (d. 1978)
- 1951 - Jóannes Eidesgaard, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
- 1949 - Larry Walters, American "lawn chair" pilot (d. 1993)
- 1949 - Paloma Picasso daughter of artist Pablo Picasso
- 1948 - Rick Miller, American baseball player
- 1947 - Murray Perahia, American pianist
- 1947 - Mark Volman, American musician (The Turtles, The Mothers Of Invention)
- 1946 - Tim Curry, British actor
- 1946 - Mary Jo Slater, American casting director
- 1944 - Keith Erickson, American basketball player
- 1944 - James Heckman, American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize
- 1944 - Bernie Worrell, American keyboardist (P Funk)
- 1943 - Eve Graham, Scottish singer (The New Seekers)
- 1942 - Bas Jan Ader, Dutch artist (disappeared 1975)
- 1942 - Jack Roush, American racing entrepreneur
- 1941 - Roberto Carlos, Brazilian singer
- 1941 - Alan Price, English musician (The Animals, The Alan Price Set)
- 1941 - Bobby Russell, American songwriter (d. 1992)
- 1940 - Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (d. 1977)
- 1940 - Genya Ravan, American vocalist (Goldie & the Gingerbreads, Ten Wheel Drive)
- 1938 - Stanley Fish, American literary theorist and legal scholar
- 1937 - Elinor Donahue, American actress
- 1937 - Joseph Estrada, actor and 13th President of the Philippines
- 1936 - Wilfried Martens, Prime Minister of Belgium
- 1935 - Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian and composer (d. 2002)
- 1935 - Justin Rigali, American Roman Catholic cardinal
- 1934 - Dickie Goodman, American producer of novelty songs (d. 1989)
- 1933 - Dickie Bird, English cricket umpire
- 1933 - Jayne Mansfield, American actress (d. 1967)
- 1932 - Fernando Botero, Colombian artist
- 1931 - Garfield Morgan, English actor
- 1931 - Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist (d. 2004)
- 1930 - Dick Sargent, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1928 - Alexis Korner, English musician (d. 1984)
- 1926 - Rawya Ateya, Egyptian politician and first female parliamentarian in the Arab world (d. 1997)
- 1925 - Hugh O'Brian, American actor
- 1922 - Erich Hartmann, German fighter pilot (d. 1993)
- 1921 - Anna Lee Aldred, American first licenced female jockey (d. 2006)
- 1920 - Gene Leis, American Jazz guitarist and educator (d. 1993)
- 1912 - Glenn Seaborg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- 1907 - Alan Wheatley, English actor (d. 1991)
- 1903 - Eliot Ness, American lawman (d. 1957)
- 1900 - Richard Hughes, English novelist (d. 1976)
- 1900 - Roland Michener, Governor General of Canada (d. 1991)
- 1899 - George O'Brien, American actor (d. 1985)
- 1897 - Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese supercentenarian
- 1897 - Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970)
- 1897 - Constance Talmadge, American actress (d. 1973)
- 1894 - Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (d. 1966)
- 1892 - Germaine Tailleferre, French composer (d. 1983)
- 1889 - Otto Georg Thierack, German jurist and politician (d. 1946)
- 1883 - Richard von Mises, Austrian-born mathematician (d. 1953)
- 1882 - Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (d. 1954)
- 1877 - Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American inventor (d. 1934)
- 1874 - Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952)
- 1832 - José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
- 1814 - Louis Amédée Achard, French novelist (d. 1875)
- 1793 - Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875)
- 1787 - Deaf Smith, American frontiersman and revolutionary (d. 1837)
- 1785 - Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French composer (d. 1858)
- 1772 - David Ricardo, English political economist (d. 1823)
- 1721 - Roger Sherman, American statesman and signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (d. 1793)
- 1686 - Vasily Tatishchev, Russian statesman (d. 1750)
- 1665 - Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (d. 1721)
- 1658 - Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (d. 1716)
- 1603 - Michel le Tellier, French statesman (d. 1685)