April 27 Events

1124 - David I 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.
1650 - The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army invades mainland Scotland from the Orkney Islands but is defeated by a Covenanter army.
1667 - The blind, impoverished John Milton sells the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.
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 New York State Senate creates Cornell University as the state's land grant institution.
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.
1906 - Salem, Ohio celebrates its Centennial.[1]
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.
1911 - Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
1914 - Honduras becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1936 - The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
1941 - World War II: German troops enter Athens.
1945 - World War II: Last German troops are expelled from Finnish Lapland (the last day of World War II going on in Finland). The day is the national war veteran day in Finland.
1945 - The Völkischer Beobachter, the newspaper of the Nazi Party, ceases publication.
1947 - Babe Ruth Day is celebrated at Yankee Stadium.
1950 - Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.
1959 - The last Canadian missionary leaves China
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.
1964 - "Love Me Do" by the Beatles was #1 for one week in the US
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.
1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is proclaimed, comprising of Serbia and Montenegro.
1994 - South African general election, 1994: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens vote.
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.
2005 - The Superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus 380 makes its first flight from Toulouse, France.

April 27 Births

1623 - Johann Adam Reinken, German organist (d. 1722)
1701 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773)
1718 - Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (d. 1790)
1737 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (d. 1794)
1759 - Mary Wollstonecraft, English activist and author (d. 1797)
1791 - Samuel F. B. Morse, American inventor (d. 1872)
1812 - Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (d. 1883)
1820 - Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (d. 1903)
1822 - Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
1840 - Edward Whymper, English mountain climber (d. 1911)
1878 - Frank Alvin Gotch, American professional wrestler (d. 1917)
1888 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
1891 - Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer (d. 1953)
1894 - Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian-born musicologist and composer (d.1995)
1896 - Rogers Hornsby, baseball player (d. 1963)
1899 - Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (d. 1994)
1904 - Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet and writer (d. 1972)
1913 - Philip Hauge Abelson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1916 - Enos Slaughter, baseball player (d. 2002)
1920 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
1920 - Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet
1922 - Jack Klugman, American actor
1927 - Coretta Scott King, American civil rights activist and wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. (d. 2006)
1931 - Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist
1932 - Anouk Aimée, French actress
1932 - Pik Botha, South African politician
1932 - Casey Kasem, American disc jockey
1932 - Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-born mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999)
1937 - Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)
1937 - Robin Eames, Northern Irish clergyman
1938 - Earl Anthony, American bowler (d. 2001)
1939 - Judy Carne, British actress and comedienne
1941 - Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
1942 - Jim Keltner, American drummer
1944 - Cuba Gooding, Sr., American musician (The Main Ingredient)
1945 - August Wilson, American playwright (d. 2005)
1947 - Ann Peebles, American singer
1948 - Kate Pierson, American singer (The B-52's)
1951 - Ace Frehley, American musician (KISS)
1952 - George Gervin, American basketball player
1959 - Sheena Easton, Scottish singer
1963 - Cali Timmins, Canadian actress
1967 - Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
1969 - Darcey Bussell, British ballerina
1969 - Mica Paris, British singer and presenter
1970 - Kylie Travis, English actress and model
1976 - Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer, cellist and composer
1976 - Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer
1984 - Patrick Stump, American musician (Fall Out Boy)
1987 - William Moseley, British actor

April 27 Deaths

630 - King Ardashir III of Persia
1404 - Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1342)
1521 - Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer
1530 - Jacopo Sannazaro, Italian poet (b. 1458)
1599 - Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (b. 1538)
1605 - Pope Leo XI (b. 1535)
1613 - Robert Abercromby, Scottish Jesuit (b. 1532)
1625 - Mori Terumoto, Japanese warrior (b. 1553)
1656 - Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter (b. 1596)
1694 - John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)
1695 - John Trenchard, English statesman (b. 1640)
1702 - Jean Bart, French admiral (b. 1651)
1782 - William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician (b. 1710)
1813 - Zebulon Pike, American frontiersman and explorer (b. 1779)
1882 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist (b. 1803)
1915 - Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (b. 1872)
1921 - Arthur Mold, English cricketer (b. 1863)
1932 - Hart Crane, American writer (suicide) (b. 1899)
1936 - Karl Pearson, English statistician (b. 1857)
1952 - Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (b. 1865)
1965 - Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
1970 - Arthur Shields, Irish actor (b. 1896)
1972 - Kwame Nkrumah, leader of Ghana (b. 1909)
1977 - Stanley Adams, American actor (b. 1915)
1992 - Olivier Messiaen, French composer (b. 1908)
1995 - Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch writer (b. 1921)
1996 - William Colby, American director of the Central Intelligence Agency (b. 1920)
1998 - Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born writer (b. 1925)
1999 - Al Hirt, American trumpeter (b. 1922)
2000 - Vicki Sue Robinson, American singer (b. 1954)
2002 - George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
2002 - Ruth Handler, American toy manufacturer (b. 1916)
2002 - Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Swiss industrialist and art collector (b. 1921)

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