19 th October

1605 Sir Thomas Browne was born.

1781 Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia.

1936 Journalist H. R. Ekins completed an around the world flight in 18.5 days.

Today marks the anniversary of Lord Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, Virginia. This event, in 1781, actually ended the American Revolutionary War.

When H. R. Ekins—a reporter for The New York World Telegram—completed an around - the-world airline trip in 18.5 days on this day in 1936, his story made headlines all over the world. It was especially newsworthy because he beat two other competing journalists to both the finish line and the scoop.

This is the birthday of the seventeenth-century physician and writer, Sir Thomas Browne, who was born in London in 1605. His name is not very well known today, but some of his thoughts and phrases are immortal. It was Thomas Browne who wrote, “There is no road or ready way to virtue,” and “Charity begins at home.” Another of Sir Thomas Browne’s observations was that “The whole world was made for man.”