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 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 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, starring 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

• Slovenia: Day of Uprising Against Occupation
• South Africa: Freedom day
• Independence Day: Togo, 1960; Sierra Leone, 1961
• Feast of Saint Zita in the Roman Catholic Church

External links

• BBC: On This Day

April 26 - April 28 - March 27 - May 27 -- listing of all days