March 27

March 27 is the 86th day of the year (87th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 279 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 196 BC – Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt.
• 1306 – Robert The Bruce is crowned King of Scotland at Scone.
• 1309 – Pope Clement V excommunicates Venice and all its population.
• 1329 – Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.
• 1613 – The first English child born in Canada at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland to Nicholas Guy.
• 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
• 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1794 – The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
• 1794 – Denmark and Sweden form a neutrality compact.
• 1814 – War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
• 1836 – Texas Revolution: Goliad massacre – Antonio López de Santa Anna orders the Mexican army to kill about 400 Texas POW's at Goliad, Texas.
• 1836 – Kirtland Temple in Ohio is dedicated in an 8 hour long service led by Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon.
• 1846 – Mexican-American War: Siege of Fort Texas.
• 1851 – First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans.
• 1854 – Crimean War: The United Kingdom declares war on Russia.
• 1868 – The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad Company is organized in Oswego, New York.
• 1871 – The first international rugby football match, England v. Scotland, is played in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.
• 1881 – Rioting takes place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of rigid Temperance by the Salvation Army.
• 1886 – Famous Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
• 1890 – A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 and injuring 200.
• 1906 – The Alpine Club of Canada is founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 1910 – A fire during a barn-dance in Ököritófülpös, Hungary, kills 312.
• 1918 – Moldova and Bessarabia join Romania.
• 1938 – The Battle of Taierzhuang takes place.
• 1941 – World War II: Yugoslavian Air Force officers topple the pro-axis government in a bloodless coup.
• 1943 – World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands – In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
• 1945 – World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan's ports and waterways begins.
• 1948 – The Second Congress of the Workers Party of North Korea is convened.
• 1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.
• 1963 – Beeching axe: Dr. Richard Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the United Kingdom's rail network.
• 1964 – The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.
• 1969 – Mariner 7 is launched.
• 1975 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
• 1976 – The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens.
• 1977 – Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). 61 survived on the Pan Am flight.
• 1980 – The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
• 1980 – Silver Thursday: A steep fall in silver prices, resulting from the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the market in silver, led to panic on commodity and futures exchanges.
• 1986 – A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing 1 police officer and injuring 21 people.
• 1990 – The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí to Cuba in an effort to bridge the information blackout imposed by the Castro regime.
• 1993 – Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People's Republic of China.
• 1993 – Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.
• 1994 – One of the biggest tornado outbreaks in recent memory hits the Southeastern United States. One tornado slams into a church in Piedmont, Alabama during Palm Sunday services killing 20 and injuring 90.
• 1994 – The Eurofighter takes its first flight in Manching, Germany.
• 1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
• 1999 – An F-117 Nighthawk is shot down during the Kosovo War.
• 2000 – A Phillips Petroleum plant explosion in Pasadena, Texas kills 1 and injures 71.
• 2002 – Passover Massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people partaking of the Passover meal in Netanya, Israel.
• 2004 – HMS Scylla (F71), a decommissioned Leander class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
• 2009 – Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing at least 99 people.

Births

• 972 – King Robert II of France (d. 1031)
• 1416 – Antonio Squarcialupi, Italian composer (d. 1480)
• 1627 – Stephen Fox, English politician (d. 1716)
• 1676 – Francis II Rákóczi, leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburg (d. 1735)
• 1696 – Antoine Court, French Huguenot minister (d. 1760)
• 1702 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, German composer (d. 1762)
• 1712 – Claude Bourgelat, French veterinary surgeon (d. 1779)
• 1714 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian theologian and historian (d. 1795)
• 1730 – Thomas Tyrwhitt, English classical scholar (d. 1786)
• 1746 – Michael Bruce, Scottish poet (d. 1767)
• 1765 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1841)
• 1784 – Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, Hungarian philologist, the founder of Tibetology (d. 1842)
• 1785 – King Louis XVII of France (d. 1795)
• 1797 – Alfred de Vigny, French author (d. 1863)
• 1809 – Baron Haussmann, French civic planner (d. 1891)
• 1810 – William Hepworth Thompson, English classical scholar (d. 1886)
• 1813 – Nathaniel Currier, American illustrator (d. 1888)
• 1817 – Karl Wilhelm von Nägeli, Swiss biologist (d. 1891)
• 1845 – Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1923)
• 1847 – Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
• 1851 – Vincent d'Indy, French composer and teacher (d. 1931)
• 1857 – Karl Pearson, English statistician (d. 1936)
• 1859 – George Giffen, Australian cricketer (d. 1927)
• 1860 – Frank Frost Abbott, American classical scholar (d. 1924)
• 1863 – Sir Henry Royce, English automobile pioneer (d. 1933)
• 1869 – James McNeill, Irish politician (d. 1938)
• 1871 – Heinrich Mann, German writer (d. 1950)
• 1879 – Miller Huggins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1929)
• 1883 – Marie Under, Estonian author and poet (d. 1980)
• 1886 – Sergey Kirov, Russian bolshevik leader (d. 1934)
• 1886 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German architect (d. 1969)
• 1892 – Ferde Grofé, American composer (d. 1972)
• 1893 – Karl Mannheim, Hungarian sociologist (d. 1947)
• 1895 – Betty Schade, German-born American film actress (d. 1982)
• 1899 – Gloria Swanson, American actress (d. 1983)
• 1897 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematical physicist (d. 1958)
• 1901 – Carl Barks, American illustrator (d. 2000)
• 1901 – Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)
• 1901 – Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1975)
• 1901 – Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (d. 1971)
• 1902 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (d. 1998)
• 1905 – Elsie MacGill, Canadian aeronautical engineer (d. 1980)
• 1906 – Pee Wee Russell, American musician (d. 1969)
• 1909 – Golo Mann, German historian (d. 1994)
• 1909 – Ben Webster, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1973)
• 1912 – James Callaghan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1976-1979) (d. 2005)
• 1913 – Theodor Dannecker, SS officer (d. 1945)
• 1914 – Richard Denning, American actor (d. 1998)
• 1914 – Budd Schulberg, American screenwriter and novelist (d. 2009)
• 1915 – Robert Lockwood, Jr., American blues guitarist (d. 2006)
• 1917 – Cyrus Vance, American politician (d. 2002)
• 1920 – Robin Jacques, illustrator (d. 1995)
• 1921 – Harold Nicholas, American dancer (d. 2000)
• 1922 – Stefan Wul, French author (d. 2003)
• 1923 – Endo Shusaku, Japanese author (d. 1996)
• 1923 – Louis Simpson, Jamaican-born poet
• 1924 – Sarah Vaughan, American singer (d. 1990)
• 1927 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (d. 2007)
• 1931 – David Janssen, American actor (d. 1980)
• 1935 – Abelardo Castillo, Argentine writer
• 1935 – Julian Glover, British actor
• 1935 – Fr. Stanley Rother, Roman Catholic Priest, Martyr and Missionary to Guatemala (d. 1981)
• 1937 – Thomas Aquinas Daly, American painter
• 1939 – Cale Yarborough, American race car driver
• 1940 – Janis Martin, American singer (d. 2007)
• 1940 – Austin Pendleton, American actor
• 1941 – Ivan Gašparovič, President of Slovakia
• 1942 – John E. Sulston, British chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1942 – Michael York, English actor
• 1942 – Michael Jackson, English writer (d. 2007)
• 1944 – Khosrow Shakibai, Iranian actor (d. 2008)
• 1946 – Olaf Malolepski, German musician (Die Flippers)
• 1947 – Brian Jones, British balloonist
• 1947 – Walt Mossberg, the highest-paid journalist at the Wall Street Journal
• 1950 – Tony Banks, English musician (Genesis)
• 1950 – Petros Efthimiou, Greek politician
• 1950 – Lynn McGlothen, American baseball player (d. 1984)
• 1952 – Maria Schneider, French actress
• 1952 – Richard Séguin, Quebec singer and songwriter
• 1956 – Leung Kwok Hung, Hong Kong activist
• 1956 – Thomas Wassberg, Swedish cross-country skier
• 1957 – Nick Hawkins, British politician
• 1957 – Billy Mackenzie, Scottish musician (Associates) (d. 1997)
• 1959 – Andrew Farriss, Australian musician (INXS)
• 1960 – Hans Pflügler, German footballer
• 1960 – Renato Russo, Brazilian rock singer-songwriter (d. 1996)
• 1961 – Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist (B'z)
• 1961 – Tony Rominger, Swiss cyclist
• 1962 – Jann Arden, Canadian musician
• 1962 – John O'Farrell, British author and satirist
• 1963 – Charly Alberti, Argentinian musician
• 1963 – Randall Cunningham, American football player
• 1963 – Dave Koz, American saxophonist
• 1963 – Quentin Tarantino, American director, writer, and producer
• 1963 – Xuxa, Brazilian television personality
• 1964 – Glenn Carter, English actor and singer-songwriter
• 1966 – Paula Trickey, American actress
• 1966 – Haruto Umezawa, Japanese manga artist
• 1967 – David Bavaro, American football player
• 1967 – Talisa Soto, American actress
• 1967 – Kenta Kobashi, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1968 – Sandra Hess, Swiss-born actress and model
• 1969 – Kevin Corrigan, American actor
• 1969 – Pauley Perrette, American actress, photographer, poet, writer
• 1969 – Victoria O'Keefe, British actress (d. 1990)
• 1970 – Mariah Carey, American R&B/pop singer
• 1970 – Brent Fitz, Canadian musician (Theory of a Deadman)
• 1970 – Brendan Hill, British drummer (Blues Traveler)
• 1970 – Princess Leila of Iran (d. 2001)
• 1970 – Elizabeth Mitchell, American actress
• 1971 – David Coulthard, Scottish Formula One driver
• 1971 – Nathan Fillion, Canadian actor
• 1972 – Charlie Haas, professional wrestler
• 1972 – Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Dutch footballer
• 1974 – Russ Haas, wrestler (d. 2001)
• 1974 – Gaizka Mendieta, Spanish footballer
• 1975 – Fergie, American pop singer (The Black Eyed Peas)
• 1975 – Tom Goegebuer, Belgian weightlifter
• 1975 – Chakrit Yamnam, Thai film and television actor
• 1976 – Djamel Belmadi, Algerian footballer
• 1976 – Danny Fortson, American basketball player
• 1976 – Carl Ng, Hong Kong/British actor and model
• 1977 – Vitor Meira, Brazilian racing driver
• 1977 – Adrian Anca, Romanian footballer
• 1979 – Michael Cuddyer, Minnesota Twins baseball player
• 1980 – Cesare Cremonini, italian singer and songwriter
• 1981 – Carey Davis, National Football League fullback
• 1981 – Lin Jun Jie, Chinese singer
• 1981 – Terry McFlynn, Northern Irish footballer
• 1982 – Kurara Chibana, Japanese beauty queen, first runner-up Miss Universe 2006
• 1984 – Laura Critchley, British singer/song writer
• 1985 – Dario Baldauf, Austrian footballer
• 1985 – Stijn De Smet, Belgian footballer
• 1985 – Caroline Winberg, Swedish supermodel
• 1986 – Baby M, American custody case child
• 1986 – SoCal Val, American professional wrestling valet
• 1987 – Chad Denny, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1988 – Brenda Song, American actress
• 1990 – Scott Selwood, Australian rules footballer
• 1995 – Taylor Atelian, American actress

Deaths

• 710 – Rupert of Salzburg
• 973 – Herman, Duke of Saxony
• 1191 – Pope Clement III (b. 1130)
• 1350 – King Alfonso XI of Castile (b. 1312)
• 1378 – Pope Gregory XI (b. 1336)
• 1462 – Vasili II of Russia, Grand Prince of Moscow (b. 1415)
• 1482 – Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold; wife of Maximilian I (b. 1457)
• 1555 – William Hunter, Protestant martyr
• 1572 – Girolamo Maggi, Italian Renaissance man (b. c. 1523)
• 1625 – King James I of England and Ireland, James VI of Scotland (b. 1566)
• 1635 – Robert Naunton, English politician (b. 1563)
• 1676 – Bernardino de Rebolledo, Spanish poet, soldier and diplomat (b. 1597)
• 1697 – Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate (b. 1603)
• 1757 – Johann Stamitz, Czech-born composer (b. 1717)
• 1770 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian artist (b. 1696)
• 1809 – Joseph-Marie Vien, French painter (b. 1716)
• 1827 – François Alexandre Frédéric, French social reformer (b. 1747)
• 1836 – James Fannin, Texas revolutionary (b. 1804)
• 1843 – Karl Salomo Zachariae von Lingenthal, German jurist (b. 1769)
• 1849 – Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford (b. 1776)
• 1850 – Wilhelm Beer, German astronomer (b. 1797)
• 1864 – Jean-Jacques Ampère, French scholar (b. 1800)
• 1865 – Petrus Hoffman Peerlkamp, Dutch scholar (b. 1786)
• 1873 – Amedée Simon Dominique Thierry, French journalist and historian (b. 1797)
• 1875 – Edgar Quinet, French historian (b. 1803)
• 1878 – Sir George Gilbert Scott, English architect (b. 1811)
• 1879 – Prince Waldemar of Prussia, son of Emperor Frederick III (b. 1868)
• 1889 – John Bright, English statesman (b. 1811)
• 1897 – Andreas Anagnostakis, Greek physician (b. 1826)
• 1898 – Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian Muslim intellectual (b. 1817)
• 1910 – Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, American scientist; son of Louis Agassiz (b. 1835)
• 1918 – Henry Adams, American historian (b. 1838)
• 1923 – Sir James Dewar, Scottish chemist (b. 1842)
• 1924 – Walter Parratt, English composer (b. 1841)
• 1925 – William Bligh, Canadian MP (b. 1887)
• 1926 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)
• 1927 – Joe Start, American baseball player (b. 1842)
• 1931 – Arnold Bennett, British novelist (b. 1867)
• 1934 – Francis William Reitz, 5th State President of the Orange Free State (b. 1844)
• 1940 – Michael Joseph Savage, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1872)
• 1967 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
• 1967 – Jim Thompson, American designer (disappeared) (b. 1906)
• 1968 – Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1934)
• 1972 – Sharkey Bonano, American musician (b. 1904)
• 1972 – M. C. Escher, Dutch artist (b. 1898)
• 1977 – A. P. Hamann, American politician (b. 1909)
• 1977 – Diana Hyland, American actress (b. 1936)
• 1977 – Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch Aviator (b. 1927)
• 1981 – Mao Dun, Chinese writer (b. 1895)
• 1982 – Betty Schade, German-born American actress (b. 1895)
• 1988 – Renato Salvatori, Italian actor (b. 1934)
• 1989 – May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)
• 1989 – Jack Starrett, American actor and film director (b. 1936)
• 1991 – Ralph Bates, British actor (b. 1940)
• 1991 – Aldo Ray, American actor (b. 1926)
• 1992 – Easley Blackwood, American bridge player (b. 1903)
• 1993 – Clifford Jordan, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1931)
• 1993 – Paul László, Hungarian interior designer and architect (b. 1900)
• 1996 – Howard Wyeth, American drummer and pianist (b. 1944)
• 1998 – David McClelland, American psychologist (b. 1917)
• 1998 – Ferry Porsche, Austrian automobile manufacturer (b. 1909)
• 2000 – Ian Dury, English musician (b. 1942)
• 2002 – Milton Berle, American actor and comedian (b. 1908)
• 2002 – Dudley Moore, British actor (b. 1935)
• 2002 – Billy Wilder, American director (b. 1906)
• 2003 – Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor (b. 1927)
• 2003 – Ricardo Munguía, Salvadoran aid worker (b. 1960)
• 2003 – Paul Zindel, American writer (b. 1936)
• 2004 – Adán Sánchez, Mexican-American singer (b. 1984)
• 2005 – Ahmed Zaki, Egyptian prominent actor (b. 1949)
• 2005 – Wilfred Bigelow, Canadian heart surgeon (b. 1913)
• 2005 – Bob Casey, American baseball announcer (b. 1925)
• 2005 – Grant Johannesen, American concert pianist (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Dan Curtis, American television producer and director (b. 1928)
• 2006 – Ian Hamilton Finlay, Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Stanisław Lem, Polish writer (b. 1921)
• 2006 – Ruari McLean, British typographer (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Lyn Nofziger, American journalist and political advisor to Ronald Reagan (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1929)
• 2008 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French president of motor sport's FIA (b. 1921)
• 2008 – George Pruteanu, Romanian literary critic and politician (b. 1947)
• 2009 – Jack Dreyfus, American businessman (b. 1913)
• 2010 – Vasily Smyslov, Russian grandmaster (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Alexander, a Pannonian soldier, martyred in 3rd century.
  • Amador of Portugal
  • Augusta of Treviso, a virgin, beheaded by her pagan father in 5th century.
  • Gelasius
  • John of Egypt
  • Philetus and companies
  • Romulus of Nîmes, a Benedictine abbot, martyred c. 730.
  • Rupert of Salzburg
  • Zanitas and Lazarus of Persia
  • March 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• World Theatre Day (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada