On this day 19th December

Some notable facts about this date, for more, visit http://www.onthisday.com

Facts

1776 Thomas Paine publishes his 1st "American Crisis" essay beginning "These are the times that try men's souls" (date disputed)

1783 William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at age 24

1932 British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas

1950 Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion

1958 1st radio broadcast from space, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower Christmas message "to all mankind, America's wish for peace on Earth and goodwill to men everywhere"

1984 Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration to transfer Hong Kong back to China in 1997

Deaths

401 Anastasius I, Bishop of Rome (399-401), dies

1848 Emily Brontë, English novelist (Wuthering Heights), dies of tuberculosis at 30

1915 Alois Alzheimer, German psychiatrist/neurologist (Alzheimer Disease), dies at 51

1953 Robert A. Millikan, American physicist (Nobel 1923), dies at 85

1991 Paul Maxwell, Canadian actor (Aliens, City of Fear, Freedom to Die), dies at 70

1997 Masaru Ibuka, co-founder (Sony Corp), dies at 89

2008 James Bevel, American civil rights activist (Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Direct Action), dies of cancer at 72

2012 Sir Lawrence "Lawrie" Barratt, British businessman and housing developer (Barratt Developments), dies at 85

Born on this day

1980 Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor (Donnie Darko, Jarhead), born in Los Angeles, California

1985 Gary Cahill, English footballer

A Couple of Pics from those no longer with us

Robert A. Millikan

Sir Lawrence "Lawrie" Barratt