May 19 birthdays
1861 NELLIE MELBA
Australian soprano
Born Helen Mitchell, Melba became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and early 20th century. She took the pseudonym Melba from her home town of Melbourne.
1890 HO CHI MINH Vietnamese revolutionary
Ho Chi Minh led the Communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945, and defeated the French Union in 1954 at the Battle of
Dien Bien Phu, which ended the first Indo-china Wa.
1918 FLORENCE CHADWICK American swimmer
Chadwick was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, and set a record time each way. She was also the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, the Straits of Gibraltar, the Bosporus (one way) and the Dardanelles.
1925 MALCOLM X
American activist
An African-american Muslim minister and human rights activist, Malcolm X was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement in the US. He was assassinated on February 19, 1965, in New York.
1925 POL POT Cambodian dictator
Under his administration, Cambodia was converted to a one-party communist state. His administration perpetrated the Cambodian genocide, the persecution and killing of
Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge thought to have left up to two million dead.
1948 GRACE JONES Jamaican singer
Jones began a modelling career in New York, then Paris, modelling for houses such as Yves St Laurent and appearing on covers of Elle and Vogue. Jones embarked on a music career in 1977 and has had a number of successful albums.
1974 ANDREW JOHNS Australian NRL player
Johns captained the Newcastle Knights and participated in their only two premiership victories, in 1997 and 2001. He played a club record 249 games for the Knights. Johns played in 23 State of Origin series matches for NSW.