December 27
December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. (362nd in a leap year). There are 4 days remaining.
Events:
- 1703 - Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
- 1831 - Charles Darwin embarks on his historic journey aboard the HMS Beagle.
- 1836 - The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing 8 people.
- 1845 - Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time (Dr. Crawford Williamson Long in Jefferson, Georgia).
- 1904 - James Barrie's play Peter Pan premiers in London.
- 1932 - Radio City Music Hall opens
- 1945 - The World Bank is created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations.
- 1945 - Korea is divided
- 1947 - Howdy Doody, a children's television program, makes its debut (NBC).
- 1949 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands grants Indonesia sovereignty.
- 1968 - The long-running radio program The Breakfast Club signs off for the last time (ABC radio).
- 1978 - Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.
- 1979 - The Soviet Union seizes control of Afghanistan and Babrak Karmal replaces overthrown and executed President Hafizullah Amin.
- 1985 - Palestinian guerrillas kill twenty people inside Rome and Vienna airports.
- 1985 - American naturalist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda.
- 1996 - Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul.
- 1997 - Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland.
- 2001 - China is granted permanent normal trade status with the United States.
- 1571 - Johannes Kepler, astronomer (+ 1630)
- 1654 - Jacob Bernoulli, switzerland mathematician (+ 1705)
- 1773 - George Cayley, naturalist, physical scientist, engineer, inventor, politician (+ 1857)
- 1822 - Louis Pasteur, French scientist (+ 1895)
- 1851 - Percy Gilchrist, metallurgist (+ 1935)
- 1860 - David Hendricks Bergey, bacteriologist (+ 1937)
- 1879 - Sydney Greenstreet, actor (+ 1954)
- 1891 - Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (+ 1896)
- 1888 - Thea von Harbou, author and actress (+ 1954)
- 1896 - Carl Zuckmayer, author and dramatist (+ 1977)
- 1896 - Louis Bromfield, writer (+ 1956)
- 1900 - Hans Stuck, automobile racer (+ 1978)
- 1901 - Marlene Dietrich, actress and singer (+ 1992)
- 1906 - Oscar Levant, composer, actor (+ 1972)
- 1907 - Sebastian Haffner, publicist (+ 1999)
- 1915 - Louis Masters, sexologist (+ 2001)
- 1925 - Michel Piccolo, actor
- 1927 - Agnes Nixon, soap opera producer, director, writer
- 1934 - Larissa Latynina, Soviet gymnast
- 1943 - Cokie Roberts, journalist
- 1947 - Steven Spielberg, American film director
- 1948 - Gérard Depardieu, French actor
- 1896 - John Brown, manufacturer
- 1900 - William George Armstrong, inventor, industrialist and engineer
- 1914 - Charles Martin Hall, chemist, inventor
- 1938 - Calvin Blackman Bridges, geneticist
- 1950 - Max Beckmann, painter
- 1968 - Victor Ernest Shelford, zoologist
- 1972 - Lester B. Pearson, fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada
- 1981 - Hoagy Carmichael, composer, singer
- 1988 - Hal Ashby, film director
- 1997 - Billy Wright, Protestant paramilitary leader
- 2002 - George Roy Hill, film director
- 2002 - Carla Henius, singer
- Feast of the Holy Innocents, Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican; in Mexico and Spain Holy Innocents Day is a day of practical jokes, like April Fool's Day
See Also:
December 26 - December 28 - November 27 - January 27 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
