Fashion designer William Tempest

Events in 1985 and 19-12

Events in the world in the birth year of William Tempest

• Soviet leader Chernenko dies at 73 and is replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev, 54 (March 11). Under the slogans of glasnost and Perestroika, Gorbachev initiates a broad program of reform and liberalization. Background: Rulers of Russia since 1533
• Two Shi'ite Muslim gunmen capture TWA airliner with 133 aboard, 104 of them Americans (June 14); 39 remaining hostages freed in Beirut (June 30).
• PLO terrorists hijack Achille Lauro, Italian cruise ship, with 80 passengers, plus crew (Oct. 7); American, Leon Klinghoffer, killed (Oct. 8); Italian government toppled by political crisis over hijacking (Oct. 16).
• Reagan and Gorbachev meet at summit (Nov. 19); agree to step up arms control talks and renew cultural contacts (Nov. 21). Background: nuclear disarmament
• Terrorists seize Egyptian Boeing 737 airliner after takeoff from Athens (Nov. 23); 59 dead as Egyptian forces storm plane on Malta (Nov. 24).

Birthday William Tempest (19-12) in history

• Day 19-12 year 1732: America's founding father, Benjamin Franklin began publishing the book poor richard's almanack.
• Day 19-12 year 1776: Philosopher Thomas Paine published his first essay on The Crisis in America, in which he wrote, "These are times that test men's souls."
• Day 19-12 year 1843: Writer Charles Dickens published "A Christmas Carol."
• Day 19-12 year 1946: War broke out in Indochina when Ho Chi Minh attacked the French.
• Day 19-12 year 1972: Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.
• Day 19-12 year 1984: Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.
• Day 19-12 year 1998: President Bill Clinton impeached on two counts by the House of Representatives.
• Day 19-12 year 2003: Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya announced that his country would discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction.