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Today in History, January 19th

On January 19, 1915, German zeppelins bombed English towns in the first air raid on Britain. Plus snow in Miami and the New Horizons launch.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published January 19, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

January 19 is best known for 1915, when German zeppelins bombed English towns in the first air raid on Britain. The date also brought snow to South Florida in 1977 and the launch of NASA’s New Horizons probe toward Pluto in 2006.

The big story: Zeppelins bomb Britain for the first time (1915)

For centuries, the English Channel and the North Sea had kept Britain’s towns out of reach of enemy armies. On the night of January 19, 1915, that protection ended. Germany sent three hydrogen-filled zeppelins toward the east coast of England. One turned back with engine trouble, but the other two reached Norfolk and dropped bombs on Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, and several smaller places. Four people were killed and 16 injured. By the standards of the war, the toll was small. The meaning was not. Civilians at home were now part of the battlefield, and the giant, slow airships became a source of fear far beyond the damage they did. Over the rest of World War I, Germany launched 51 zeppelin raids on Britain, killing 564 people. It was the opening chapter of the bombing of cities from the air, a practice that would grow far deadlier in the decades to come.

More events on January 19

Year	What happened
1840	U.S. Navy officer Charles Wilkes sighted the coast of eastern Antarctica and claimed it for the United States. The region became known as Wilkes Land.
1853	Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il trovatore premiered at the Teatro Apollo in Rome.
1883	The German steamer Cimbria sank after a collision with the British steamer Sultan off Borkum Island in the North Sea, with the loss of hundreds of lives.
1953	Lucille Ball gave birth to Desi Arnaz Jr. on the same night I Love Lucy aired the episode in which Lucy Ricardo has a baby. The broadcast drew a record TV audience.
1966	Indira Gandhi took over as head of India’s ruling Congress Party after Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s sudden death, putting her in line to lead the country.
1972	Sandy Koufax, 36, became the youngest player ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
1977	Snow fell in South Florida for the first time in recorded history, with flakes reported as far south as Homestead.
1977	President Gerald Ford pardoned Iva Toguri, the American convicted of treason as the World War II propaganda broadcaster “Tokyo Rose.”
1999	Canada’s Research in Motion released the first BlackBerry, the 850, a two-way pager built around email.
2004	After a third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, Howard Dean ended a rally speech with a cracked yell that TV networks replayed endlessly.
2006	NASA launched the New Horizons spacecraft. It flew past Pluto in July 2015.

Born on January 19

1736: James Watt, Scottish inventor whose improved steam engine helped power the Industrial Revolution, born in Greenock.
1809: Edgar Allan Poe, American poet and short-story writer, born in Boston.
1839: Paul Cézanne, French painter, born in Aix-en-Provence.
1943: Janis Joplin, blues-rock singer, born in Port Arthur, Texas.
1946: Dolly Parton, country singer, songwriter, and actress, born in Locust Ridge, Tennessee.