Date·Lore

On This Day · The 353rd day of the year

December 19

250 years on from Thomas Paine, December 19 is a date with an anniversary worth pausing on. Most of the weight falls in the 20th century, where politics and nation-building recur.

♐ZodiacSagittarius ◈BirthstoneTurquoise ❀Birth flowerHolly

Sagittarius is the sign for December 19 — read more on the Sagittarius page, or see December's birthstone & birth flower.

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed September 6, 2026

What happened on December 19?

December 19 is the 353rd day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1154 and 2016. Famous people born on December 19 include Édith Piaf, Karim Benzema and Alberto Tomba.

Released on December 19

Movies, games, albums & shows

2024

  • Game Alien: Rogue Incursion
  • Movie Sonic the Hedgehog 3

2023

  • TV Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1154

    Henry II of England

  2. 1776

    Thomas Paine

  3. 1929

    Indian National Congress

  4. 1941

    World War II

  5. 1956

    John Bodkin Adams

  6. 1984

    Sino-British Joint Declaration

  7. 1985

    Aeroflot Flight 101/435

  8. 1997

    SilkAir Flight 185

  9. 1998

    Bill Clinton

  10. 2016

    Andrei Karlov

Famous birthday twins

Born on December 19

Édith Piaf

b. 1915

Karim Benzema

b. 1987

Alberto Tomba

b. 1966

Sally Kipyego

b. 1985

Orna Berry

b. 1949

Lee Myung-bak

b. 1941

Mige (musician)

b. 1974

M'Baye Niang

b. 1994

Deaths

  • 2016Andrei Karlov
  • 1999Desmond Llewelyn
  • 1996Marcello Mastroianni
  • 1946Paul Langevin
  • 1807Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm
  • 1111Al-Ghazali

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Lillian Trasher (Episcopal Church)
  • —Christian feast day: O Radix
  • —Christian feast day: Pope Anastasius I
  • —Christian feast day: Pope Urban V
  • —Christian feast day: December 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Christian feast day: Saint Nicholas Day
  • —Goa Liberation Day (Goa, India)
  • —National Heroes and Heroines Day (Anguilla)

The factual record above — event titles, dates, names, and observances — is drawn from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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