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MAY 27
May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining.
Events
- 1120 - Richard III of Capua anointed as prince a fortnight before his untimely death
- 1328 - Philip VI is crowned King of France.
- 1647 - First recorded execution of a witch in the American colonies.
- 1703 - Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
- 1813 - War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
- 1849 - The Great Hall of Euston station, London opened.
- 1860 - Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian Unification.
- 1883 - Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.
- 1895 - Oscar Wilde is sent to prison for sodomy.
- 1896 - The F4-strength St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri and East Saint Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and incurring $2.9 billion in damages (1997USD).
- 1901 - In New Jersey, the Edison Storage Battery Company is founded.
- 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.
- 1907 - A Bubonic plague outbreak begins in San Francisco, California.
- 1919 - The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.
- 1919 - Charles Strite patents the pop-up toaster.
- 1923 - The first 24 hours of Le Mans race ends.
- 1924 - The Music Corporation of America (MCA) is founded.
- 1927 - The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacturing the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make Ford Model As.
- 1930 - The 1,046 feet (319 meters) tall Chrysler Building in New York (tallest man-made structure at the time) opens to the public.
- 1932 - The Sydney Harbour Bridge opens.
- 1933 - New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
- 1933 - The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon The Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"
- 1933 - The Century of Progress World's Fair opens in Chicago, Illinois.
- 1935 - New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in the case A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).
- 1936 - The RMS Queen Mary begins her maiden voyage.
- 1937 - In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County.
- 1939 - DC Comics publishes its second superhero in Detective Comics #27; he is Batman, one of the most topical comic book superheroes of all time.
- 1940 - World War II: 97 out of 99 members of a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are massacred while trying to surrender at Dunkirk. The German commander, Captain Fritz Knoechlein, is eventually hanged for war crimes.
- 1941 - World War II: U.S. President Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".
- 1941 - World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing 2,300 men.
- 1942 - World War II: Operation Anthropoid - assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague.
- 1960 - In Turkey, a military coup removed President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.
- 1963 - Folk music singer Bob Dylan releases The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album, which features "Blowin' in the Wind" and several other of his best-known songs.
- 1964 - Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru dies in office.
- 1965 - Vietnam War: United States warships begin bombardments of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam for the first time.
- 1968 - Future U.S. president George W. Bush enlists in the Texas Air National Guard.
- 1974 - Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1980 - The Gwangju Massacre: airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
- 1987 - FC Porto wins the European Cup, defeating Bayern München by 2-1 in Prater Stadion in Wien.
- 1995 - In Charlottesville, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.
- 1996 - First Chechnya War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire in the war.
- 1997 - The F5-strength Jarrell Tornado slams into the small town of Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people.
- 1998 - Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
- 1999 - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
- 2006 - An earthquake hits Java, killing upwards of 5,000.
Births
- 1332 - Ibn Khaldun, Arab historian (d. 1406)
- 1519 - Girolamo Mei, Italian humanist historian (d. 1594)
- 1576 - Caspar Schoppe, German scholar (d. 1649)
- 1601 - Antoine Daniel, Jesuit missionary and one of Canadian Martyrs (d. 1648)
- 1623 - William Petty, English scientist and philosopher (d. 1687)
- 1626 - William II, Prince of Orange (d. 1650)
- 1651 - Louis-Antoine, Cardinal de Noailles, French cardinal (d. 1729)
- 1652 - Liselotte von der Pfalz, Duchess of Orléans (d. 1722)
- 1738 - Nathaniel Gorham, American politician (d. 1796)
- 1756 - King Maximilian I of Bavaria (d. 1825)
- 1794 - "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (d. 1877)
- 1818 - Amelia Bloomer, suffragette (d. 1894)
- 1819 - Julia Ward Howe, American composer (d. 1910)
- 1836 - Jay Gould, American financier (d. 1892)
- 1837 - Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter (d. 1876)
- 1837 - Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter (d. 1887)
- 1864 - Ante Trumbić, Croatian politician (d. 1938)
- 1867 - Arnold Bennett, British novelist (d. 1931)
- 1871 - Georges Rouault, French painter and graphic artist (d. 1958)
- 1876 - Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish writer (d. 1945)
- 1879 - Hans Lammers, SS officer (d. 1962)
- 1884 - Max Brod, Austrian author (d. 1968)
- 1888 - Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)
- 1894 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (d. 1961)
- 1894 - Dashiell Hammett, American author (d. 1961)
- 1897 - John Cockcroft, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
- 1904 - Chuhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (d. 1997)
- 1907 - Rachel Carson, American biologist and science writer (d. 1964)
- 1911 - Hubert H. Humphrey, Vice President of the United States (d. 1978)
- 1911 - Teddy Kollek, Mayor of Jerusalem
- 1911 - Vincent Price, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1912 - John Cheever, American author (d. 1982)
- 1912 - Sam Snead, American golfer (d. 2002)
- 1912 - Terry Moore, baseball player (d. 1995)
- 1913 - Wols, German painter
- 1915 - Herman Wouk, American writer
- 1917 - Yasuhiro Nakasone, Prime Minister of Japan
- 1921 - Caryl Chessman, American robber and rapist (d. 1960)
- 1922 - Christopher Lee, English actor
- 1923 - Henry Kissinger, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1923 - Sumner Redstone, American entrepreneur
- 1925 - Tony Hillerman, American writer
- 1930 - John Barth, American novelist
- 1930 - William S. Sessions, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
- 1933 - Ted Rogers, Canadian entrepreneur
- 1934 - Harlan Ellison, American author
- 1935 - Lee Meriwether, former Miss America and actress
- 1935 - Ramsey Lewis, American jazz and pop pianist
- 1936 - Louis Gossett Jr., American actor
- 1936 - Marcel Masse, French Canadian politician
- 1937 - Allan Carr, American film producer and writer (d. 1999)
- 1943 - Cilla Black, English singer turned presenter
- 1943 - Bruce Weitz, American actor
- 1944 - Alain Souchon, French singer and songwriter
- 1945 - Bruce Cockburn, Canadian musician
- 1946 - Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish musician (d. 2005)
- 1947 - Branko Oblak, Slovenian football player
- 1948 - Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant
- 1951 - Ana Belén, Spanish singer and actress
- 1955 - Richard Schiff, American actor
- 1957 - Eric Bischoff, American professional wrestling personality
- 1957 - Siouxsie Sioux, English musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees )
- 1958 - Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
- 1958 - Linnea Quigley, American actress
- 1961 - Peri Gilpin, American actress
- 1964 - Adam Carolla, American comedian and radio/television personality
- 1967 - Paul Gascoigne, former British footballer
- 1968 - Jeff Bagwell, baseball player
- 1968 - Frank Thomas, baseball player
- 1970 - Tim Farron, British politician
- 1970 - Joseph Fiennes, English actor
- 1970 - Michele Bartoli, Italian cyclist
- 1971 - Paul Bettany, English actor
- 1971 - Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, American singer (d. 2002)
- 1971 - Monika Schnarre, Canadian supermodel
- 1974 - Derek Webb, American singer and songwriter (Caedmon's Call)
- 1974 - Danny Wuerffel, American football player
- 1975 - Andre 3000, American musician (OutKast)
- 1975 - Jamie Oliver, British chef and television personality
- 1979 - Mile Sterjovski, Australian footballer
- 1981 - Marcos Miloy, Angolan footballer
- 1983 - Bobby Convey, American football (soccer) player
Deaths
- 366 - Procopius, Roman usurper (executed)
- 866 - Ordoño I, King of Asturias
- 927 - Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria
- 1444 - John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (b. 1404)
- 1508 - Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1452)
- 1525 - Thomas Muentzer, German rebel leader
- 1541 - Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (executed) (b. 1473)
- 1564 - John Calvin, French religious reformer (b. 1509)
- 1610 - François Ravaillac, French assassin of Henry IV of France (b. 1578)
- 1615 - Marguerite de Valois, "Queen Margot", 1st wife of Henry IV of France (b. 1553)
- 1661 - Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, Scottish religious dissident (executed) (b. 1607)
- 1675 - Gaspard Dughet, French painter (b. 1613)
- 1690 - Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian composer (b. 1626)
- 1702 - Dominique Bouhours, French critic (b. 1628)
- 1707 - Marquise de Montespan, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (b. 1641)
- 1781 - Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist (b. 1716)
- 1797 - François-Noël Babeuf, French revolutionary and early socialist (b. 1760)
- 1831 - Jedediah Smith, American explorer (b. 1799)
- 1840 - Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1782)
- 1896 - Aleksandr Grigorievich Stoletov, Russian physicist (b. 1839)
- 1910 - Robert Koch, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)
- 1926 - Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet (b. 1904)
- 1947 - Ed Konetchy, baseball player (b. 1885)
- 1949 - Robert Ripley, American cartoonist (Ripley's Believe It or Not!) (b. 1890)
- 1953 - Jesse Burkett, Baseball player (b. 1868)
- 1960 - James Montgomery Flagg, American illustrator (b. 1877)
- 1964 - Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian politician (b. 1889)
- 1969 - Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (b. 1926)
- 1986 - Isma'il Raji' al-Faruqi, Palestinian-born philosopher and comparative religion scholar (b. 1921)
- 1987 - John Howard Northrop, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
- 1989 - Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet (b. 1907)
- 1991 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (b. 1904)
- 1992 - Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (b. 1890)
- 1993 - Mary Philbin, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1993 - Werner Stocker, German actor (b. 1955)
- 2000 - Crawford Murray MacLehose of Beoch, British Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1917)
- 2000 - Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (b. 1921)
- 2001 - Ramon Bieri, American actor (b. 1929)
- 2003 - Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925)
- 2006 - Craig Heyward, American football running back (b. 1966)
- 2006 - Paul Gleason, American actor (b. 1939)
- 2006 - Alex Toth, American cartoonist (b. 1928)
- 2006 - Rob Borsellino, American columnist (b. 1949)
Holidays and observances
External links
May 26 - May 28 - April 27 - June 27 – listing of all days
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