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.

July 19th
- Burmese Martyrs' Day (Burma)

- Christian Feast Day:

- Sandinista Day or Liberation Day (Nicaragua)


July 19th
- 1992 - Anti-Mafia Judge Paolo Borsellino is killed by a Mafia car bomb in Palermo, Italy together with five police officers.

- 1989 - United Airlines flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa killing 112 of the 296 passengers.

- 1985 - The Val di Stava dam collapses killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.

- 1983 - The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.

- 1979 - The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.

- 1976 - Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.

- 1964 - Vietnam War: at a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Khanh calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.

- 1963 - Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 metres (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention.

- 1947 - The Prime Minister of the shadow Burmese government, Bogyoke Aung San and 6 of his cabinet and 2 non-cabinet members are assassinated by Galon U Saw.

- 1942 - World War II: Battle of the Atlantic – German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the last U-boats to withdraw from their United States Atlantic coast positions in response to the effective American convoy system.

- 1940 - World War II: Battle of Cape Spada – The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualties.

- 1940 - World War II: Army order 112 forms the Intelligence Corps of the British Army.

- 1919 - Following Peace Day celebrations marking the end of World War I, ex-servicemen riot and burn down Luton Town Hall.

- 1916 - World War I: Battle of Fromelles – British and Australian troops attack German trenches in a prelude to the Battle of the Somme.

- 1912 - A meteorite with an estimated mass of 190 kg explodes over the town of Holbrook in Navajo County, Arizona causing approximately 16,000 pieces of debris to rain down on the town.

- 1879 - Doc Holliday kills for the first time after a man shoots up his New Mexico saloon.

- 1870 - Franco-Prussian War: France declares war on Prussia.

- 1864 - Taiping Rebellion: Third Battle of Nanking – The Qing Dynasty finally defeats the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

- 1863 - American Civil War: Morgan's Raid – At Buffington Island in Ohio, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's raid into the north is mostly thwarted when a large group of his men are captured while trying to escape across the Ohio River.

- 1848 - Women's rights: a two-day Women's Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York; there the "Bloomers" are introduced.

- 1843 - Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and also becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.

- 1832 - The British Medical Association is founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary.

- 1760 - A formal request to found what will become Mayagüez, Puerto Rico is filed.

- 1701 - Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England.

- 1692 - Salem witch trials: five women are hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.

- 1588 - Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines – The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English Channel.

- 1553 - Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after only nine days of reign.

- 1545 - The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth.

- 1544 - Italian War of 1542: the first Siege of Boulogne begins.

- 1333 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Halidon Hill – The English win a decisive victory over the Scots.

- 711 - Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Battle of Guadalete – Umayyad forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by King Roderic.


July 19th
- 1987 - Marc Murphy, Australian rules footballer

- 1985 - LaMarcus Aldridge, American basketball player

- 1984 - Alessandra De Rossi, Filipino actress

- 1984 - Ryan O'Byrne, Canadian hockey player

- 1984 - Lasse Gjertsen, Norwegian animator

- 1984 - Adam Morrison, American basketball player

- 1984 - Andrea Libman, Canadian actress and voice actress

- 1984 - Diana Mocanu, Romanian swimmer

- 1984 - Lewis Price, Welsh footballer

- 1983 - Helen Skelton, British TV presenter

- 1982 - Jared Padalecki, American actor

- 1982 - Stuart Parnaby, English footballer

- 1982 - Jess Vanstrattan, Australian football (soccer) player

- 1981 - David Bernard, Jamaican West Indies cricketer

- 1981 - Jimmy Gobble, American baseball player

- 1981 - Didz Hammond, English bass guitarist (Dirty Pretty Things, The Cooper Temple Clause)

- 1981 - Nenê, Brazilian footballer

- 1981 - Nikki Osborne, Australian actress

- 1980 - Xavier Malisse, Belgian tennis player

- 1980 - Giorgio Mondini, Italian racing driver

- 1980 - Mark Webber, American actor

- 1979 - Rick Ankiel, American baseball player

- 1979 - Dilhara Fernando, Sri Lankan cricketer

- 1979 - Michelle Heaton, British pop singer

- 1979 - Luke Young, English footballer

- 1977 - Jean-Sébastien Aubin, Canadian ice hockey player

- 1977 - Tony Mamaluke, American professional wrestler

- 1977 - Haitham Mustafa, Sudanese footballer

- 1977 - Ed Smith, English cricketer

- 1976 - Gonzalo de los Santos, Uruguayan footballer

- 1976 - Vinessa Shaw, American actress

- 1976 - Benedict Cumberbatch, British actor

- 1974 - Rey Bucanero, Mexican professional wrestler

- 1974 - Malcolm O'Kelly, Irish rugby union footballer

- 1974 - Preston Wilson, American baseball player

- 1973 - Martin Powell, English violinist and keyboardist (Cradle of Filth, My Dying Bride)

- 1973 - Laurits Munch-Petersen, Danish film director

- 1973 - Saïd Taghmaoui, French actor

- 1973 - Scott Walker, Canadian ice hockey player

- 1972 - Naohito Fujiki, Japanese actor and singer

- 1972 - Ebbe Sand, Danish footballer

- 1971 - Russell Allen, American vocalist (Symphony X)

- 1971 - Urs Bühler, Swiss tenor (Il Divo)

- 1971 - Vitali Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer

- 1971 - Michael Modest, American professional wrestler

- 1970 - Bill Chen, American quantitative analyst, poker player and software designer

- 1969 - Matthew Libatique, American cinematographer

- 1968 - Robert Flynn, American vocalist and guitarist (Machine Head)

- 1968 - Jim Norton, American comedian and radio personality (The Opie and Anthony Show)

- 1967 - Muriel Degauque, Belgian terrorist, the first western female suicide bomber in Iraq (d. 2005)

- 1967 - Yael Abecassis, Israeli actress and model

- 1967 - Stuart Howe, Canadian operatic tenor

- 1966 - David Segui, American baseball player

- 1966 - Nancy Walls, American actress

- 1965 - Evelyn Glennie, Scottish percussionist

- 1965 - Stuart Scott, American sportscaster

- 1964 - André A. Jackson, French-born diamond manufacturer, founder of African Diamond Producers Association

- 1964 - Masahiko Kondo, Japanese singer, actor and racing driver

- 1963 - Garth Nix, Australian fantasy writer

- 1962 - Anthony Edwards, American actor

- 1962 - Aya Kit?, Japanese writer (d. 1988)

- 1961 - Maria Filatova, Soviet gymnast

- 1961 - Hideo Nakata, Japanese film director

- 1961 - Campbell Scott, American actor

- 1961 - Benoît Mariage, Belgian film director

- 1961 - Lisa Lampanelli, American comedian

- 1960 - Atom Egoyan, Canadian filmmaker

- 1959 - Juan Jose Campanella, Argentinian filmmaker

- 1958 - Robert Gibson, American professional wrestler

- 1958 - David Robertson, American symphony orchestra conductor

- 1956 - Nikki Sudden, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)

- 1956 - Joe Mohen, American internet entrepreneur, founder of SpiralFrog

- 1956 - Yoshiaki Yatsu, Japanese professional wrestler

- 1955 - Roger Binny, Indian cricketer

- 1954 - Sr?a Trifkovi?, Serbian-American journalist

- 1952 - Allen Collins, American guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1990)

- 1952 - Robert A. Ficano, American politician

- 1952 - John Griesheimer, American politician

- 1951 - Abel Ferrara, American filmmaker

- 1951 - Jayson Stark, American sportswriter

- 1950 - Per-Kristian Foss, Norwegian politician, Minister of Finance

- 1950 - Freddy Moore, American songwriter

- 1949 - Ivar Kants, Australian actor

- 1948 - Beverly Archer, American actress

- 1948 - Keith Godchaux, American keyboardist (Grateful Dead) (d. 1980)

- 1947 - Hans-Jürgen Kreische, East German footballer

- 1947 - Brian May, English guitarist (Queen)

- 1946 - Alan Gorrie, Scottish multi-instrumentalist (Average White Band)

- 1946 - Ilie N?stase, Romanian tennis player

- 1945 - George Dzundza, American actor

- 1943 - Han Sai Por, Singaporean sculptor

- 1941 - Vikki Carr, American singer

- 1941 - Neelie Kroes, Dutch EU Commissioner for Competition

- 1940 - Dennis Cole, American actor (d. 2009)

- 1938 - Jayant Narlikar, Indian astrophysicist

- 1938 - Nicholas Bethell, British historian (d. 2007)

- 1938 - Richard Jordan, American actor (d. 1993)

- 1937 - George Hamilton IV, American country singer

- 1935 - Vasily Livanov, Russian and Soviet film actor

- 1934 - Francisco Sá Carneiro, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1980)

- 1932 - Jan Lindblad, Swedish naturalist, writer and photographer (d. 1987)

- 1926 - Helen Gallagher, American actress

- 1925 - Sue Thompson, American pop and country music singer

- 1924 - Stanley K. Hathaway, American politician (d. 2005)

- 1924 - Pat Hingle, American actor (d. 2009)

- 1924 - Arthur Rankin, Jr., American writer, producer and director

- 1923 - William A. Rusher, American newspaper columnist

- 1922 - Harold Camping, American evangelist, founder of Family Radio

- 1922 - George McGovern, American politician, delegate from South Dakota

- 1921 - Rosalyn Yalow, American physicist, Nobel laureate

- 1920 - Patricia Medina, English-born actress

- 1919 - Miltos Sachtouris, Greek poet (d. 2005)

- 1919 - Dallas McKennon, American actor (d. 2009)

- 1917 - William Scranton, American politician

- 1916 - Eve Merriam, American poet, playwright and teacher (d. 1992)

- 1914 - Marius Russo, American baseball player (d. 2005)

- 1912 - Norman Carr, British conservationist (d. 1997)

- 1907 - Isabel Jewell, American actress (d. 1972)

- 1904 - Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, American lawyer, the last descendant of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1985)

- 1898 - Herbert Marcuse, German-born philosopher (d. 1979)

- 1896 - A. J. Cronin, Scottish writer (d. 1981)

- 1896 - Bob Meusel, American baseball player (d. 1977)

- 1895 - Xu Beihong, Chinese painter (d. 1953)

- 1894 - Khawaja Nazimuddin, Bengali politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 1965)

- 1894 - Aleksandr Yakovlevich Khinchin, Russian mathematician (d. 1959)

- 1893 - Vladimir Mayakovsky, Russian poet (d. 1930)

- 1892 - Dick Irvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1957)

- 1888 - Enno Lolling, German physician and head of the Sanitätswesen (d. 1945)

- 1886 - Michael Fekete, Hungarian-born Israeli mathematician (d. 1957)

- 1883 - Max Fleischer, Austrian animator and film producer (d. 1972)

- 1877 - Arthur Fielder, English cricketer (d. 1949)

- 1876 - Joseph Fielding Smith, American 10th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1972)

- 1876 - John Gunn, England cricketer (d. 1963)

- 1865 - Charles Horace Mayo, American surgeon and founder of the Mayo Clinic (d. 1939)

- 1860 - Lizzie Borden, American accused murderer (d. 1927)

- 1849 - Ferdinand Brunetière, French writer and critic (d. 1906)

- 1834 - Edgar Degas, French painter (d. 1917)

- 1827 - Mangal Pandey, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1857)

- 1822 - Princess Augusta of Cambridge, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1916)

- 1819 - Gottfried Keller, Swiss writer (d. 1890)

- 1814 - Samuel Colt, American firearms inventor (d. 1862)

- 1800 - Juan José Flores, Venezuelan military and 1st, 3rd and 4th President of Ecuador (d. 1864)

- 1789 - John Martin, English painter (d. 1854)

- 1771 - Thomas Talbot, Irish-born Canadian administrator (d. 1853)

- 1759 - Seraphim of Sarov, Russian Orthodox Saint (d. 1833)

- 1744 - Heinrich Christian Boie, German author (d. 1806)

- 1688 - Giuseppe Castiglione, Italian missionary to China (d. 1766)

- 1670 - Richard Leveridge, English bass and composer (d. 1758)

