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ON THIS DAY

On This Day: December 19

Updated December 18, 2011, 1:28 PM

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On Dec. 19, 1984, Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

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On Dec. 19, 1906, Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet statesman who was the leader of the Soviet Union for 18 years, was born. Following his death on Nov. 10, 1982, his obituary appeared in The Times.

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On This Date

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

1732	Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac."
1776	Thomas Paine published his first "American Crisis" essay, writing: "These are the times that try men's souls."
1777	Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.
1843	Charles Dickens' Yuletide tale, "A Christmas Carol," was first published in Britain.
1907	A coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa., killed 239 workers.
1946	War broke out in Indochina as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French.
1972	Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
1974	Nelson A. Rockefeller was sworn in as vice president, replacing Gerald R. Ford, who became president when Richard M. Nixon resigned.
1984	Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
1986	The Soviet Union announced it had freed dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile and pardoned his wife, Yelena Bonner.
1997	"Titanic," the second highest-grossing movie of all-time, opened in American theaters.
2000	The U.N. Security Council voted to impose broad sanctions on Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unless they closed terrorist training camps and surrendered U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden.
2003	Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed to halt his nation's drive to develop nuclear and chemical weapons.
2005	Afghanistan's first democratically elected parliament in more than three decades convened.

Current Birthdays

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Actor Jake Gyllenhaal turns 31 years old today.

AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Actress Jennifer Beals turns 48 years old today.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

1933	Cicely Tyson, Actress, turns 78
1934	Al Kaline, Baseball Hall of Famer, turns 77
1941	Maurice White, R&B musician (Earth, Wind and Fire), turns 70
1943	James Jones, Former national security adviser, turns 68
1943	Elaine Joyce, Actress, turns 68
1944	Richard E. Leakey, Palaeontologist, turns 67
1944	Alvin Lee, Rock singer (Ten Years After), turns 67
1944	Tim Reid, Actor ("WKRP in Cincinnati"), turns 67
1955	Rob Portman, U.S. senator, R-Ohio, turns 56
1957	Kevin McHale, Basketball Hall of Famer, turns 54
1960	Mike Lookinland, Actor ("The Brady Bunch"), turns 51
1964	Randall McDaniel, Football Hall of Famer, turns 47
1967	Criss Angel, Magician, turns 44
1969	Kristy Swanson, Actress, turns 42
1971	Amy Locane, Actress, turns 40
1972	Alyssa Milano, Actress ("Charmed," "Who's the Boss?"), turns 39
1972	Warren Sapp, Football player, turns 39
1985	Lady Sovereign, Rapper, turns 26

Historic Birthdays

Leonid Brezhnev12/19/1906 - 11/10/1982Russian statesman.Go to obituary »

80	Charles-Julien Brianchon 12/19/1783 - 4/29/1864 French mathematician
55	Edwin Stanton 12/19/1814 - 12/24/1869 American Secretary of War under President Lincoln
78	A.A. Michelson 12/19/1852 - 5/9/1931 German-born American physicist
83	Barry Byrne 12/19/1883 - 12/17/1967 American architect
74	Fritz Reiner 12/19/1888 - 11/15/1963 Hungarian-born American conductor
80	Sir Ralph Richardson 12/19/1902 - 10/10/1983 English actor
92	George Davis Snell 12/19/1903 - 6/6/1996 American geneticist and Nobel Prize winner
75	Jean Genet 12/19/1910 - 4/15/1986 French novelist
47	Edith Piaf 12/19/1915 - 10/11/1963 French singer and actress