April 27
April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years ) in the Gregorian Calendar , with 248 days remaining.
Events
1124 - David becomes King of Scotland .
1296 - Battle of Dunbar : The Scots are defeated by Edward I of England .
1509 - Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict .
1521 - Battle of Mactan : Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu .
1565 - Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines .
1667 - The blind, impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost 1773 - The British Parliament passes the Tea Act , designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.
1805 - First Barbary War : United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' hymn ).
1813 - War of 1812 : United States troops capture the capital of Ontario , York (present day Toronto, Ontario ).
1840 - Foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster , London , laid by wife of Sir Charles Barry .
1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus .
1865 - The steamboat Sultana , carrying 2,300 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River , killing 1,700, most of whom were Union survivors of the Andersonville Prison .
1897 - Grant's Tomb is dedicated.
1904 - The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson .
1908 - The 1908 Summer Olympics open in London .
1909 - Sultan of Turkey Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Murat V .
1936 - The United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor .
1941 - World War II : German troops enter Athens .
1947 - Babe Ruth Day is celebrated at Yankee Stadium
1950 - Apartheid : In South Africa , the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.
1954 - The film White Christmas Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye , premieres.
1960 - Togo gains independence from French -administered UN trusteeship.
1961 - Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom , with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister .
1967 - Expo '67 opens in Montreal, Quebec .
1972 - Constructive Vote of No Confidence against German Chancellor Willy Brandt fails under obscure circumstances.
1981 - Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse .
1986 - Captain Midnight (John R. MacDougall) hijacks HBO 's satellite and transmits his own message to HBO viewers.
1994 - The first democratic general election in South Africa , in which black citizens vote.
1994 - The funeral of former U.S. President Richard Nixon is held in Nixon's hometown of Yorba Linda , California . Several foriegn dignitaries and all five living U.S. presidents attend.
1997 - Andrew Cunanan murders Jeffrey Trail , beginning a murder spree that will last until July and terminate with the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace .
Births
1737 - Edward Gibbon , historian (d. 1794 )
1759 - Mary Wollstonecraft , feminist, activist, author (d. 1797 )
1791 - Samuel F. B. Morse , inventor of Morse code (d. 1872 )
1812 - Friedrich von Flowtow , composer (d. 1883 )
1820 - Herbert Spencer , philosopher (d. 1903 )
1822 - Ulysses S. Grant , 18th President of the United States (d. 1885 )
1878 - Frank Alvin Gotch , American wrestler (d. 1917 )
1888 - Florence La Badie , pioneer actress (d. 1917 )
1894 - Nicolas Slonimsky , musicologist and composer (d.1995 )
1896 - Rogers Hornsby , Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1963 )
1899 - Walter Lantz , American cartoonist (d. 1994 )
1900 - Martin Beheim-Schwarzenbach , narrator, lyricist and essayist (d. 1985 )
1904 - Cecil Day-Lewis , poet and writer (d. 1972 )
1913 - Philip Hauge Abelson , physicist , co-discoverer of Neptunium (d. 2004 )
1916 - Enos Slaughter , Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 2002 )
1920 - Guido Cantelli , conductor (d. 1956 )
1922 - Jack Klugman , actor
1927 - Coretta King , civil rights activist and widow of the Reverend Martin Luther King
1931 - Igor Oistrakh , Ukrainian violinist
1932 - Anouk Aimée , actress
1932 - Casey Kasem , American disc jockey
1932 - Gian-Carlo Rota , mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999 )
1937 - Sandy Dennis , actress (d. 1992 )
1941 - Lee Roy Jordan , American football player
1945 - August Wilson , playwright
1947 - Ace Frehley , musician ("KISS ")
1959 - Sheena Easton , singer
1963 - Cali Timmins , actress
1967 - Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands , crown prince of the Netherlands
1969 - Darcey Bussell , UK ballerina
1969 - Mica Paris , UK singer and presenter
1970 - Kylie Travis , actress and model
Deaths
399 BC - Socrates , philosopher (poison via hemlock ) (b. 470 BC )
630 - Ardashir III , king of the Sassanid dynasty
1404 - Philip the Bold Duke of Burgundy (b. 1342 )
1521 - Ferdinand Magellan , explorer (b. 1470 )
1530 - Jacopo Sannazaro , Italian poet (b. 1458 )
1605 - Pope Leo XI (b. 1535 )
1613 - Robert Abercromby , Jesuit (b. 1532 )
1813 - Zebulon Pike , mountain man, explorer (b. 1779 )
1882 - Ralph Waldo Emerson , essayist (b. 1803 )
1915 - Alexander Scriabin , composer (b. 1872 )
1921 - Arthur Mold , controversial Lancashire fast bowler and alleged "chucker" (b. 1863 )
1932 - Hart Crane , writer (suicide ) (b. 1899 )
1936 - Karl Pearson , statistician (b. 1857 )
1965 - Edward R. Murrow , journalist (b. 1908 )
1972 - Kwame Nkrumah , first post-independence leader of Ghana (b. 1909 )
1992 - Olivier Messiaen , composer (b. 1908 )
1995 - Willem Frederik Hermans , Dutch writer (b. 1921 )
1999 - Al Hirt , musician (b. 1922 )
2002 - George Alec Effinger , science fiction author (b. 1947 )
2002 - Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza , Swiss industrialist and art collector
Holidays and observances
External links
April 26 - April 28 - March 27 - May 27 -- listing of all days
