On October 19, 1991, a fire begins in the hills of Oakland, California.

The largest-ever one-day percentage decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average comes not in 1929 but on October 19, 1987.

On October 19, 1985, the song “Take On Me,” by the Norwegian band a-Ha, hits #1 on the Billboard pop chart, catapulting the total unknowns to fame almost solely on the strength of the song’s groundbreaking video, driven by comic-book-style pencil-sketch animation.

On October 19, 1985, the first Blockbuster video-rental store opens, in Dallas, Texas.

On October 19, 1914, near the Belgian city of Ypres, Allied and German forces begin the first of what would be three battles to control the city and its advantageous positions on the north coast of Belgium during the First World War.

On October 19, 1847, Jane Eyre is published by Smith, Elder and Co.

One month after Napoleon Bonaparte’s massive invading force entered a burning and deserted Moscow, the starving French army is forced to begin a hasty retreat out of Russia.

How do you commemorate Thomas Browne, one of the great thinkers of the 17th Century who was born on this day? Well, why not a giant sculpture of his brain?

On October 19, 1469, Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile in Valladolid, thus beginning a cooperative reign that would unite all the dominions of Spain and elevate the nation to a dominant world power.