1776-Thomas Paine publishes his first "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 Corporation (BBC) begins transmitting overseas

1933-U.S. President Roosevelt creates Electric Home & Farm Authority (EHFA) to assist low income household with purchase of major appliances

1950-Chinese invasion of Tibet forces the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to flee Lhasa for Yadong on the Tibetan-India border

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

1986-USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile

1991-Boris Yeltsin takes control of the Kremlin

1998-U.S. House of Representatives votes to impeach President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal, forwarding the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial

2000-Ballon d'Or: Real Madrid's Portuguese midfielder Luís Figo is named best football player in Europe ahead of Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane and Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko