Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
1187 - Pope Clement III elected
1732 - Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard’s Almanack
1777 - George Washington’s army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
1842 - United States recognizes the independence of Hawaii
1928 - First autogiro flight in the United States
1972 - Apollo 17, the last manned lunar flight, returns to Earth.
1974 - The Altair 8800, the first personal computer, goes on sale
1984 - The United Kingdom and People’s Republic of China sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which handed Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997
2001 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the first Lord of the Rings movie to open in theaters
2001 - A new world-record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 mb (32.06 inches Hg) is set at Tosontsengel, Hövsgöl Aymag, Mongolia

Births
1933 - Cicely Tyson, actress
1944 - Richard Leakey, anthropologist
1946 - Robert Urich, actor (d. 2002)
1972 - Warren Sapp, American football player
1974 - Jake Plummer, American football quarterback

Deaths
401 - St. Anastasius I, Pope
1370 - Pope Urban V (b. 1310)
1737 - James Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland (b. 1667)
1741 - Vitus Bering, explorer
1749 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (b. 1672)
1848 - Emily Brontë, author (b. 1818)
1999 - Desmond Llewelyn, actor (b. 1914)

Holidays & observances
Feast of Saint Boniface [Eastern Orthodox]