Today in History for 19th July 2026

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Historical Events

1914 - Boston Braves begin drive from last to the NL pennant with a 3-2 win against the 2nd placed Cincinnati Reds
1942 - Transport #7 departs Drancy, France with 999 French Jews sent to Auschwitz Concentration camp; 17 survive until the war's end
1980 - XXII Summer Olympic Games open in Moscow, Russia; led by United States, 66 nations boycott event because of Soviet-Afghan war
1998 - British Open Men's Golf, Royal Birkdale GC: Mark O'Meara wins his 2nd major championship of the year (Masters) and first Open title by 2 in a 4-hole aggregate playoff with fellow American Brian Watts
2001 - Michael Brunet discovers the skull of Sahelanthropus tchadensis in the Djurab Desert, Chad, one of the oldest known species in the human family tree and 6-7 million years old

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Famous Birthdays

1742 - Jean-Baptiste Davaux, French classical composer, born in La Côte-Saint-André, France (d. 1822)
1877 - Arthur Fielder, English cricket fast bowler (6 Tests 1903-08), born in Plaxtol, Tonbridge, Kent (d. 1949)
1894 - Joris van Severen, Flemish politician and founder of the Alliance of Dietsche National Solidarists, born in Wakken, Belgium (d. 1940)
1929 - Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, French historian (Carnival in Romans; Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error), born in Les Moutiers-en-Cinglais, France (d. 2023)
1961 - Maria Filatova, Soviet gymnast (Olympic 1976, 80 Gold), born in Leninsk-Kuznetsky, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia

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Famous Deaths

1545 - George Carew, English admiral, drowns
1625 - Samuel Besler, German-Polish composer, dies at 50
1939 - Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet (Curfew Must Not Ring) and writer, dies at 89
1989 - Kazimierz Sabbat, President of the Republic of Poland in Exile (1986-89), dies at 76
2013 - Poncie Ponce, American actor (Hawaiian Eye), dies of heart failure at 80

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