April 27
is the 117th day of the year (118th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar, with 248 days remaining.
*
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).
*
1810 -
Beethoven composes his famous piano piece,
Für Elise.
*
1813 -
War of 1812:
United States troops capture the
capital of
Ontario,
York (present day
Toronto, Ontario).
*
1827 - The Petrel, Australian Coal carrying ship sinks in stormy seas, off Hope Bay, Tasmania.
*
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.
*
1904 - The
Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain
national government, under
Chris Watson.
*
1909 -
Sultan of
Turkey Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother,
Mehmed 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 -
World War II: The
Völkischer Beobachter, the newspaper of the
Nazi Party, ceases publication.
*
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.
*
1972 -
Constructive Vote of No Confidence against
German Chancellor Willy Brandt fails under obscure circumstances.
*
1974 - 10,000 march in
Washington, D.C., calling for impeachment of US
President Nixon*
1981 -
Xerox PARC introduces the
computer mouse.
*
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 could vote.
*
1996 - The
Israeli military operation in
Lebanon,
Operation Grapes of Wrath, ends after 16 days of heavy bombing.
*
2005 - The
Superjumbo jet aircraft
Airbus 380 makes its first flight from
Toulouse,
France.
*
2006 - Construction on the
Freedom Tower for the new
World Trade Center in
New York City officially begins.
*
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)
*
1850 -
Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (d.
1921)
*
1878 -
Frank Alvin Gotch, American professional wrestler (d.
1917)
*
1888 -
Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d.
1917)
*
1891 -
Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer (d.
1953)
*
1893 - General
Dragoljub Mihailović, commandant of the
Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland (d.
1946)
*
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 comedian
*
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 -
Cory Booker, Mayor-Elect of
Newark, New Jersey* 1969 -
Darcey Bussell, British ballerina
* 1969 -
Mica Paris, British singer and presenter
*
1970 -
Kylie Travis, English actress and model
*
1975 -
Chris Carpenter, baseball player
*
1976 -
Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer, cellist and composer
* 1976 -
Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer
*
1980 -
Zayed Khan, Indian actor
* 1980 -
Christian Lara, Ecuadorian footballer
*
1981 -
Fabrizio Faniello, Maltese singer
* 1981 -
Patrik Gerrbrand, Swedish footballer
*
1984 -
Patrick Stump, American musician (
Fall Out Boy)
*
1986 -
Elena Risteska, Macedonian singer
*
1987 -
William Moseley, British actor
*
630 - King
Ardashir III of Persia*
1404 -
Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (b.
1342)
*
1521 -
Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer (b.
1480)
*
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 -
Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Swiss industrialist and art collector (b.
1921)
*
Slovenia:
Day of Uprising Against Occupation.
*
South Africa:
Freedom day.
*
Sierra Leone:
Republic Day.
*
Catalonia:
Montserrat's Day (see
Montserrat).
*
Rochester, NY:
Al Franken Day.
Liturgical feasts
*
Saint Floribert*
Saint Liberalis*
Saint Mariana*
Saint Zita Lombardo*
BBC: On This DayApril 26 -
April 28 -
March 27 -
May 27 –
listing of all days
