April 27

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 - Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines.
• 1565 - Cebu City[?] is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in 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 - United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna[?] (The "shores of Tripoli").
• 1813 - War of 1812: United States troops capture the capital of Ontario, York (present day Toronto, Ontario).
• 1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
• 1861 - American Civil War: West Virginia secedes from Virginia.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1960 - Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.
• 1961 - Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 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.
• 1997 - Andrew Cunanan murders Jerffrey 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 (+ 1794)
• 1759 - Mary Godwin[?], feminist, activist, author
• 1791 - Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of Morse code (+ 1872)
• 1812 - Friedrich von Flowtow[?], composer (+ 1883)
• 1820 - Herbert Spencer, philosopher (+ 1903)
• 1822 - Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States
• 1888 - Florence La Badie, pioneer actress (+ 1917)
• 1894 - Nicolas Slonimsky, musicologist and composer (+1995
• 1896 - Rogers Hornsby[?], Baseball Hall of Famer (+ 1963)
• 1900 - Martin Beheim-Schwarzenbach[?], narrator, lyricist and essayist (+ 1985)
• 1900 - Walter Lantz, cartoonist
• 1916 - Enos Slaughter, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1922 - Jack Klugman[?], actor
• 1927 - Coretta King[?], civil rights activist and widow of the Reverend Martin Luther King
• 1932 - Casey Kasem, American disc jockey
• 1932 - Anouk Aimée, actress
• 1932 - Gian-Carlo Rota, mathematician and philosopher
• 1937 - Sandy Dennis[?], actress (+ 1992)
• 1945 - August Wilson, playwrite
• 1947 - Ace Frehley, musician ("KISS")
• 1959 - Sheena Easton[?], singer

Deaths

• 1124 - King Alexander I of Scotland
• 1404 - King Philip the Bold
• 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan, explorer
• 1813 - Zebulon Pike, mountain man, explorer
• 1882 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist
• 1915 - Alexander Scriabin, composer
• 1932 - Hart Crane[?], writer (suicide)
• 1965 - Edward R. Murrow, journalist
• 1970 - Gypsy Rose Lee, burlesque entertainer
• 1972 - Kwame Nkrumah, first post-independence leader of Ghana
• 1978 - Sardar Mohammed Daoud[?], President of Afghanistan
• 1992 - Olivier Messiaen, composer
• 1995 - Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch writer
• 1999 - Al Hirt, musician
• 2002 - George Alec Effinger, science fiction author

Holidays and observances

• South Africa: Freedom day[?]

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