Following are some of the major events to have occurred on February 19:
1951 – Andre Gide, French novelist, died. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1947.
1997 – Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping died at 93. He ruled from 1978 until retiring from his last official post in 1990, but his influence remained supreme until his death.
1999 – Toronto Maple Leafs move to new stadium after occupying Maple Leaf Gardens since 1931.
2000 – Thousands of demonstrators gather in front of Hofburg Palce in Vienna, protesting the new coalition of conservatives and Joerg Haiders far-right Freedom Party.
2003 – A Russian-built Il-76 military transport plane carrying members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard including 18 aircrew smashed into a mountainside in southeastern Iran killing all 276 aboard. It was Iran’s worst air disaster to date.
2006 – Italian police raid Austrian Nordic team in drug raid at Torino 2006 Olympics.
2007 – Two bombs exploded aboard a train bound from India to Pakistan, burning to death 68 passengers, most of them Pakistanis.
2008 – Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro said that he will not return to lead the communist country, retiring as president 49 years after he seized power in a revolution and became a central figure of the Cold War.
2008 – Warrant for execution of Mary Queen of Scots viewed in London.
2010 – Terracotta warriors go on display in Museum of Qin.
2015 – Britpop band Blur announce new album.
