May 27

### Up to 1930

- 1153 – Malcolm IV of Scotland becomes King.
- 1199 – King John of England is crowned.
- 1293 – A massive earthquake hits Kamakura, Japan.
- 1328 – Philip VI is crowned King of France.
- 1644 – Manchu regent Dorgon defeats rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun Dynasty at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, allowing the Manchus to enter and conquer Beijing.
- 1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
- 1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeat the French at Winterthur, Switzerland, securing control of the Northeast Swiss plateau because of the town's location at the junction of the seven cross–roads.
- 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 F5–strength East St. Louis Tornado hits in East Saint Louis, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri, killing 255 people.
- 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.
- 1915 – Off Sheerness, minelayer _Princess Irene_ runs over laid mines and explodes, killing 400 people.
- 1919 – The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.
- 1923 – The first 24 hours of Le Mans race ends.
- 1924 – The Music Corporation of America (MCA) is founded.
- 1927 – The Ford Motor Company stops making the Ford Model T and gets ready 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.

### 1931 – 2000

- 1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge opens.
- 1933 – New Deal: The U.S. 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.
- 1934 – The 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy begins, with a series of knock–out games.
- 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 first 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 prints 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 Knochlein, is later hanged for war crimes.
- 1941 – World War II: US President Franklin 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: Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich is wounded in Prague and dies over a week later.
- 1960 – In Turkey, General Cemal Gürsel leads a military coup d'état removing President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government.
- 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 bombing of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam for the first time.
- 1967 – Australians vote to change the Constitution to give Indigenous Australians equal rights
- 1968 – Future U.S. President George W. Bush joins the Texas Air National Guard.
- 1971 – The Dahlerau train disaster near Wuppertal, then–West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25.
- 1974 – Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1975 – The Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, North Yorkshire, England, kills 33 people, in the United Kingdom's deadliest–ever road accident.
- 1980 – The Gwangju Massacre: air force and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
- 1995 – In Charlottesville, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed (not able to move) 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 agrees to 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 War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands charges Slobodan Milošević and 4 others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

### From 2001

- 2005 – Schapelle Corby is sentenced to 20 years in jail for marijuana smuggling in Indonesia.
- 2006 – An earthquake in Java kills over 6,600 people and destroys the cities of Bantul and Yogyakarta.
- 2009 – A suicide bombing kills at least 35 people in Lahore, Pakistan.
- 2015 – Football's world governing body FIFA is accused by US law enforcement officials of bribery totaling hundreds of dollars over more than 20 years, including a scheme involving the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Fourteen people are arrested, and President Sepp Blatter is under pressure over his position.
- 2016 – Barack Obama becomes the first serving President of the United States to visit Hiroshima and meet victims of the atomic bomb.
- 2017 – A computer failure at British Airways leads to the airline's flights around the world being cancelled.

### Up to 1900

- 742 – Emperor Dezong of Tang of China (d. 805)
- 1332 – Ibn Khaldun, Arab polymath (d. 1406)
- 1519 – Girolamo Mei, Italian historian (d. 1594)
- 1623 – William Petty, English scientist and philosopher (d. 1687)
- 1626 – William II, Prince of Orange (d. 1650)
- 1651 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (d. 1729)
- 1652 – Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (Charlotte Elizabeth, Duchesse d'Orléans) (d. 1722)
- 1738 – Nathaniel Gorham, American politician (d. 1796)
- 1756 – King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (d. 1825)
- 1774 – Francis Beaufort, Irish scientist and admiral (d. 1857)
- 1794 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, entrepreneur (d. 1877)
- 1818 – Amelia Bloomer, American activist (d. 1894)
- 1818 – Franciscus Donders, Dutch ophthalmologist (d. 1889)
- 1819 – Julia Ward Howe, composer ("The Battle Hymn of the Republic") (d. 1910)
- 1819 – George V of Hanover (d. 1878)
- 1820 – Mathilde Bonaparte, French princess and socialite (d. 1904)
- 1822 – Joachim Raff, Swiss–German composer (d. 1882)
- 1832 – Zenas Ferry Moody, American politician, 7th Governor of Oregon (d. 1917)
- 1832 – Lizardo Montero Flores, President of Peru (d. 1905)
- 1836 – Jay Gould, American financier (d. 1892)
- 1837 – Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter (d. 1876)
- 1860 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, 7th President of Portugal (d. 1941)
- 1864 – Ante Trumbić, Croat politician (d. 1938)
- 1867 – Arnold Bennett, British novelist (d. 1931)
- 1871 – Georges Rouault, painter and graphic artist (d. 1958)
- 1876 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and author (d. 1945)
- 1876 – William Stanier, English engineer (d. 1965)
- 1877 – Isadora Duncan, American dancer (d. 1927)
- 1879 – Karl Bühler, psychologist (d. 1963)
- 1884 – Max Brod, writer (d. 1968)
- 1888 – Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)
- 1893 – Hermann Dörnemann, German supercentenarian, world's oldest man from November 19, 2004 (d. 2005)
- 1894 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (d. 1961)
- 1894 – Dashiell Hammett, American writer (d. 1961)
- 1895 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, 13th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1995)
- 1897 – John Cockcroft, British physicist (d. 1967)
- 1900 – Ethel Lang, British supercentenarian (d. 2015)

### 1901 – 1925

- 1902 – Fanny Godin, Belgian supercentenarian (d. 2014)
- 1904 – Chohei Nambu, Japanese athlete (d. 1997)
- 1906 – Buddhadasa, Thai monk and philosopher (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Carl Falck, Norwegian businessman and centenarian (d. 2016)
- 1907 – Rachel Carson, American ecologist (d. 1964)
- 1909 – Dolores Hope, American singer (d. 2011)
- 1909 – Don Finlay, English hurdler and pilot (d. 1970)
- 1911 – Hubert H. Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States (d. 1978)
- 1911 – Teddy Kollek, Mayor of Jerusalem (d. 2007)
- 1911 – Vincent Price, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1912 – John Cheever, writer (d. 1982)
- 1912 – Sam Snead, American golf champion (d. 2002)
- 1913 – Wols, German painter (d. 1951)
- 1915 – Herman Wouk, American writer (d. 2019)
- 1917 – Yasuhiro Nakasone, former Prime Minister of Japan
- 1920 – Gabrielle Wittkop, French writer, essayist, journalist and artist (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Caryl Chessman, American, executed for murder (d. 1960)
- 1921 – Bob Godfrey, English animator (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Christopher Lee, English actor (d. 2015)
- 1922 – Otto Carius, German World War II tank commander (d. 2015)
- 1922 – John David Vanderhoof, 36th Governor of Colorado (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Henry Kissinger, American politician, 37th United States Secretary of State, received the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1923 – Inge Morath, Austrian–American photographer (d. 2002)
- 1923 – Sumner Redstone, American entrepreneur
- 1924 – Jaime Lusinchi, President of Venezuela (d. 2014)
- 1925 – Tony Hillerman, American mystery writer (d. 2008)

### 1926 – 1950

- 1928 – Thea Musgrave, Scottish–American composer
- 1930 – John Barth, American novelist
- 1930 – Eino Tamberg, Estonian composer (d. 2010)
- 1930 – William S. Sessions, FBI director
- 1931 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Enzo Siciliano, Italian writer (d. 2006)
- 1934 – Harlan Ellison, American science fiction writer (d. 2018)
- 1934 – Uwe Friedrichsen, German actor (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Lee Meriwether, American actress and former Miss America
- 1935 – Luud Schimmelpennink, Dutch inventor, entrepreneur and politician
- 1936 – Louis Gossett Jr., American actor
- 1936 – Marcel Masse, Canadian politician (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Allan Carr, producer, writer (d. 1999)
- 1940 – Mike Gibson, Australian sports journalist (d. 2015)
- 1942 – Piers Courage, English racing driver (d. 1970)
- 1943 – Cilla Black, English singer (d. 2015)
- 1943 – Robert Axelrod, American political scientist
- 1944 – Alain Souchon, French singer-songwriter, guitarist and author
- 1945 – Bruce Cockburn, Canadian musician
- 1946 – Lewis Collins, English actor (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish jazz musician (d. 2005)
- 1947 – Henry McMaster, American politician, 117th Governor of South Carolina
- 1947 – Branko Oblak, Slovenian footballer
- 1949 – Terry Collins, American baseball manager

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Ana Belén, Spanish singer and actress
- 1955 – Eric Bischoff, American WWE performer
- 1956 – Giuseppe Tornatore, Italian director and screenwriter
- 1957 – Siouxsie Sioux, English musician ("Siouxsie and the Banshees")
- 1957 – Duncan Goodhew, English swimmer
- 1958 – Jesse Robredo, Filipino politician (d. 2012)
- 1958 – Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
- 1958 – Linnea Quigley, American actress
- 1958 – Wayne Williams, American child murderer
- 1959 – Donna Strickland, Canadian physicist
- 1960 – Ray Armstead, American athlete
- 1961 – Peri Gilpin, American actress
- 1962 – David Mundell, Scottish politician
- 1962 – Steven Brill, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
- 1962 – Ravi Shastri, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
- 1963 – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Cuban pianist and composer
- 1964 – Adam Carolla, American comedian, television host and actor
- 1964 – Volker Abramczik, German footballer
- 1965 – Todd Bridges, American actor
- 1965 – Pat Cash, Australian tennis player
- 1966 – Sean Kinney, American drummer (Alice in Chains)
- 1966 – Heston Blumenthal, English chef
- 1967 – Paul Gascoigne, English footballer
- 1968 – Rebekah Brooks, English newspaper editor
- 1968 – Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player
- 1968 – Frank Thomas, American baseball player
- 1970 – Joseph Fiennes, English actor
- 1970 – Michele Bartoli, Italian cyclist
- 1970 – Tim Farron, English politician
- 1971 – Paul Bettany, English actor
- 1971 – Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, American singer (d. 2002)
- 1971 – Sophie Walker, Scottish politician
- 1971 – Lee Sharpe, English footballer
- 1971 – Beatrix von Storch, German politician of the Alternative for Germany Party
- 1974 – Derek Webb, singer–songwriter, former member of Caedmon's Call
- 1974 – Danny Wuerffel, American football quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner
- 1975 – Jamie Oliver, British celebrity chef and TV personality (_The Naked Chef_)
- 1975 – Michael Hussey, Australian cricketer
- 1975 – André 3000, American rapper, producer and actor

### From 1976

- 1976 – Jiri Stajner, Czech footballer
- 1977 – Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1979 – Mile Sterjovski, Australian footballer
- 1981 – Johan Elmander, Swedish footballer
- 1981 – Miloy, Angolan footballer
- 1981 – Fivos Constantinou, Cypriot runner
- 1983 – Bobby Convey, American soccer player
- 1984 – Kalle Spjuth, Swedish bandy player
- 1985 – Roberto Soldado, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Gervinho, Ivorian footballer
- 1988 – Birkir Bjarnason, Icelandic footballer
- 1988 – Mari Pokinen, Estonian actress and singer
- 1989 – Igor Morozov, Estonian footballer
- 1990 – Nadine Beiler, Austrian singer
- 1990 – Chris Colfer, American actor
- 1990 – Apinya Sakuljaroensuk, Thai actress
- 1990 – Jonas Hector, German footballer
- 1994 – Aymeric Laporte, French footballer
- 1999 – Lily-Rose Depp, French–American actress
- 1999 – Harambe, American–bred Western lowland gorilla (d. 2016)

### Up to 1950

- 366 – Procopius, Roman usurper (b. 326)
- 866 – Ordoño I, king of Asturias
- 927 – Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria
- 1508 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1452)
- 1525 – Thomas Müntzer, German theologian and religious reformer (b. 1489)
- 1541 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence (executed) (b. 1374)
- 1564 – John Calvin, religious reformer (b. 1509)
- 1610 – Ravaillac, assassin who killed Henry IV of France (b. 1578)
- 1661 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, Scottish Covenanter, was beheaded
- 1707 – Marquise de Montespan, mistress of Louis XIV of France (b. 1641)
- 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)
- 1885 – Charles Rogier, Belgian politician and journalist (b. 1800)
- 1896 – Aleksandr Stoletov, Russian physicist (b. 1839)
- 1910 – Robert Koch, German doctor, won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)
- 1918 – Ozutsu Man'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1869)
- 1926 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet
- 1936 – H. P. Hanssen, Danish politician (b. 1862)
- 1939 – Joseph Roth, Austrian writer (b. 1894)
- 1941 – Ernst Lindemann, German captain (b. 1894)
- 1941 – Günther Lütjens, German admiral (b. 1889)
- 1943 – Gordon Coates, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1878)

### 1951 – 2000

- 1960 – James Montgomery Flagg, illustrator (b. 1877)
- 1962 – Egon Petri, German pianist (b. 1881)
- 1963 – Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (b. 1912)
- 1964 – Jawaharlal Nehru, 1st Prime Minister of India (b. 1889)
- 1967 – W. Otto Miessner, American composer and educator (b. 1880)
- 1971 – Armando Picchi, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1935)
- 1985 – Kai Lindberg, Danish politician (b. 1899)
- 1986 – Isma'il Raji' al-Faruqi, Palestinian–American Muslim thinker, philosopher, and comparative religion scholar (b. 1921)
- 1986 – Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1901)
- 1987 – John Howard Northrop, American chemist, Nobel Prize winner (b. 1891)
- 1988 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist (b. 1906)
- 1989 – Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet (b. 1907)
- 1990 – Robert B. Meyner, 40th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1908)
- 1991 – Leopold Nowak, musicologist (b. 1904)
- 1993 – Werner Stocker, German actor (b. 1955)
- 2000 – Crawford Murray MacLehose of Beoch, British Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1917)
- 2000 – Maurice Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1921)

### From 2001

- 2003 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925)
- 2004 – Umberto Agnelli, Italian entrepreneur (b. 1934)
- 2007 – Zard, Japanese singer (b. 1967)
- 2007 – Ed Yost, American inventor (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Franz Künstler, last–surviving Austro-Hungarian World War I veteran (b. 1900)
- 2009 – Clive Granger, British economist (b. 1934)
- 2010 – John William Finn, American naval officer (b. 1909)
- 2011 – Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player (b. 1974)
- 2011 – Jeff Conaway, American actor (b. 1950)
- 2011 – Gil Scott-Heron, American rapper and poet (b. 1949)
- 2012 – Friedrich Hirzebruch, German mathematician (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Johnny Tapia, American boxer (b. 1967)
- 2013 – Bill Pertwee, British actor (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Helma Sanders-Brahms, German movie director, screenwriter, producer and actress (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian medical research scientist (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Massimo Vignelli, Italian graphic designer (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Erik Carlsson, Swedish rally driver (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Nils Christie, Norwegian sociologist and criminologist (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Kai G. Henriksen, Norwegian businessman (b. 1956)
- 2016 – Marshall Jones, American musician (b. 1941)
- 2017 – Gregg Allman, American musician (b. 1947)
- 2017 – Don Robinson, English rugby league player (b. 1932)
- 2018 – Gardner Dozois, American science fiction writer (b. 1947)
- 2018 – Aly Lotfy Mahmoud, Egyptian economist and politician, Prime minister of Egypt (b. 1935)
- 2018 – Donald H. Peterson, American astronaut (b. 1933)
- 2018 – John DiFronzo, American mobster (b. 1928)
- 2019 – Bill Buckner, American baseball player (b. 1949)
- 2019 – Veeru Devgan, Indian choreographer, actor and director (b. 1934)
- 2019 – Gabriel Diniz, Brazilian singer and composer (b. 1990)
- 2019 – Tony Horwitz, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
- 2019 – Aharon Razin, Israeli biochemist (b. 1935)
- 2020 – Tony Scannell, Irish actor (b. 1945)

## Observances

- Children's Day (Nigeria)
- Armed Forces Day (Nicaragua)
- Mother's Day (Bolivia)
- Navy Day (Japan)