Important Events From This day in History – 19th December

Today in History

• 2012 Election of First female President of South Korea

  Park Geun-hye is the eleventh President of South Korea and the first female head of state in Northeast Asia. She took office in February 2013.

• 1984 Hong Kong Treaty Signed

  The Sino-British Treaty, formally known as the Joint Declaration of the Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the People’s Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, was signed in Beijing by Zhao Ziyang of China and Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom. The treaty determined Hong Kong’s fate as a Chinese territory beginning on July 1, 1997.

• 1972 Apollo 17 returns to Earth

  The final mission of the Apollo program spent 12 days in space and was the first human spaceflight launched from the United States at night. The three-person crew spent more time orbiting the Moon and on its surface than any other Moon landing crew. It was also the final time humans stepped foot on Earth’s sole natural satellite.

• 1971 A Clockwork Orange released

  Stanley Kubrick directed the dystopian film based on a novella of the same name by British author Anthony Burgess. The film, set in a futuristic London, debuted to critical acclaim, though the film’s centrality to violence drew much mainstream criticism. The film is now regarded as one of the best of the twentieth century.

• 1886 Sherlock Holmes’ The Adventure of Beryl Coronet begins on this date

  On this date, Arthur Conan Doyle’s short detective story starring detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and assistant Dr. Watson began with the theft of three precious crystals from a coronet. The story is the eleventh in twelve series in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.