May 27
is the 147th day (148th in
leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining.
*
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
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:
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.
*
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
*
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)
*
Lag Ba'omer in
Judaism (
2005)
*
Feast day of the following
saints in the
Roman Catholic Church:
**
Venerable Bede**
Saint Julius the Veteran**
Pope John I**
Hildebert**
Bruno, Bishop of Würzburg**
Eutropius*
Mother's Day in
Bolivia (
Día de la Madre)
*
Children's Day in
Nigeria*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On this day in Canada*
This day in HistoryMay 26 -
May 28 -
April 27 -
June 27 –
listing of all days
