April 27

Events
Up to 1900
33 BC - Lucius Marcius Philippus, step-brother of future Roman Emperor Augustus, celebrates a triumph for his victories while serving as Governor in one of the Provinces of Hispania.
711 - Islamic Conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1296 - First Scottish War of Independence: John Balliol's Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar.
1521 - Ferdinand Magellan is killed in the Philippines.
1522 - Combined forces of Spain and the Papal States defeat a French and Venetian army at the Battle of Bicocca.
1539 - Re-founding of Bogota, in present-day Colombia.
1565 - Cebu is established as the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
1749 - First performance of George Frideric Handel's Music of the Fireworks in Green Park, London.
1777 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Ridgefield - A British invasion force engages and defeats Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
1810 - Ludwig van Beethoven composes the musical piece Fur Elise.
1813 - War of 1812: US troops capture the capital city of Upper Canada in the Battle of York (present-day Toronto).
1840 - The foundation stone is laid for the new Palace of Westminster.
1865 - The SS Sultana steamboat explodes and sinks on the Mississippi River, killing 1,700 people.
1901 2000
1904 - Chris Watson becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
1908 - The 1908 Summer Olympics in London begin.
1909 - Ottoman Empire Sultan Abdul Hamid II is overthrown by his brother Mehmed V.
1914 - Honduras becomes a signatory of the Buenos Aires Convention.
1927 - The Carabineros de Chile, the national police and gendarmerie of Chile, is created.
1936 - United Auto Workers gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
1941 - World War II: German troops enter Athens.
1945 - World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans.
1945 - World War II: German troops are expelled from Finnish Lapland.
1950 - Apartheid: in South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed, formally segregating (separating) Black people from White people.
1950 - The United Kingdom officially recognizes the state of Israel.
1960 - Togo becomes independent from France.
1961 - Sierra Leone becomes independent from the UK.
1967 - The Expo 67, a trade fair, begins in Montreal, Canada.
1974 - 10,000 people march in Washington, DC, calling for the impeachment for Richard Nixon.
1977 - 28 people are killed in the Guatemala City air disaster.
1981 - Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
1987 - The US Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States over revelations of possible war crimes committed by him during World War II.
1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is created, consisting of Serbia and Montenegro.
1992 - Russia and 12 former Soviet Republics join the International Monetary Fund.
1992 - Betty Boothroyd becomes the first female Speaker of the British House of Commons.
1993 - Several members of the Zambia national football team are killed in a plane crash near Libreville, Gabon.
1994 - South Africa holds its first general elections under free and equal conditions, with Nelson Mandela being elected President.
1996 - The 1996 Lebanon war ends.
1999 - Abdelaziz Bouteflika becomes President of Algeria.
From 2001
2005 - The Superjumbo aircraft Airbus A380 makes its first flight in France.
2006 - Construction begins on the Freedom Tower in New York City.
2007 - The Bronze Soldier Soviet war memorial in Tallinn is removed by Estonian authorities, amidst tensions with Russia.
2009 - The United Kingdom announces its first cases of the 2009 Swine flu outbreak.
2011 - A tornado outbreak kills hundreds of people in the Southeastern United States.
2014 - Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II are declared saints.
2018 - South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet for talks.
Births
Up to 1900
85 BC - Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman politician and general (d. 43 BC)
1623 - Johann Adam Reinken, German organist and composer (d. 1722)
1650 - Charlotte-Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1714)
1676 - King Frederick I of Sweden (d. 1751)
1701 - Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773)
1724 - Thomas Gardner, American politician and soldier (d. 1755)
1755 - Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician (d. 1836)
1759 - Mary Wollstonecraft, English writer and feminist (d. 1797)
1770 - Edward Codrington, English admiral (d. 1851)
1788 - Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect, archaeologist and writer (d. 1863)
1791 - Samuel Morse, American inventor (d. 1872)
1802 - Louis Niedermeyer, French-Swiss composer and teacher (d. 1861)
1806 - Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (d. 1878)
1820 - Herbert Spencer, English philosopher (d. 1908)
1822 - Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
1840 - Edward Whymper, English mountaineer (d. 1911)
1848 - Otto I of Bavaria (d. 1916)
1853 - Jules Lemaitre, French critic and dramatist (d. 1914)
1856 - Tongzhi Emperor of China (d. 1875)
1857 - Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian artist (d. 1914)
1860 - Frank Winkelmeier, Austrian, tallest man at the time of his death (d. 1887)
1862 - Rudolph Schildkraut, Turkish-American actor (d. 1930)
1866 - Marcel Raoul-Duval, French polo player (d. 1916)
1875 - Maurice de Broglie, French physicist (d. 1960)
1878 - John Rimmer, British athlete (d. 1962)
1878 - Frank Gotch, American wrestler (d. 1917)
1880 - Mihkel Ludig, Estonian organist, composer and conductor (d. 1958)
1882 - Jessie Redmon Fauset, American author and poet (d. 1961)
1887 - Warren Wood, American golfer (d. 1926)
1888 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
1892 - Albert Rudomine, French photographer (d. 1975)
1893 - Allen Sothoron, American baseball player, coach and manager (d. 1939)
1893 - Prince Paul of Yugoslavia (d. 1976)
1894 - Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian composer, conductor, musician, critic and writer (d. 1995)
1894 - George Petty, American artist (d. 1975)
1896 - William Hudson, Australian engineer (d. 1978)
1896 - Wallace Carothers, American chemist (d. 1937)
1898 - Ludwig Bemelmans, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1962)
1899 - Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (d. 1994)
1901 1950
1902 - Tiemoko Garan Kouyate, Malian educator and activist (d. 1942)
1903 - Horace Stoneham, American businessman (d. 1990)
1904 - Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet and writer (d. 1972)
1904 - Nikos Zachariadis, Greek politician (d. 1973)
1905 - John Huck, American javelin thrower and shot putter (d. 1986)
1909 - Guillermo Leon Valencia, President of Colombia (d. 1971)
1910 - Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese-Taiwanese politician (d. 1988)
1911 - Chris Berger, Dutch sprinter (d. 1965)
1912 - Zohra Sehgal, Indian actress, dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
1912 - Jacques de Bourbon Busset, French novelist, essayist and politician (d. 2001)
1913 - Luz Long, German long jumper (d. 1943)
1918 - Sten Rudholm, Swedish jurist (d. 2008)
1920 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
1920 - Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet (d. 2010)
1921 - Robert Dhery, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1922 - Martin Gray, Polish Holocaust survivor and writer (d. 2016)
1922 - Jack Klugman, American actor (d. 2012)
1926 - Tim LaHaye, American minister, author and speaker (d. 2016)
1927 - Coretta Scott King, American Civil Rights activist (d. 2006)
1927 - Sheila Scott, English aviator (d. 1988)
1929 - Nina Ponomaryova, Russian athlete (d. 2016)
1931 - Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist
1931 - Krzysztof Komeda, Polish jazz pianist (d. 1969)
1932 - Anouk Aimee, French actress
1932 - Casey Kasem, American radio show host and voice actor (d. 2014)
1932 - Derek Minter, English motorcycle racer (d. 2014)
1932 - Pik Botha, South African politician (d. 2018)
1932 - Chuck Knox, American football coach (d. 2018)
1932 - Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999)
1939 - Stanislaw Dziwisz, Polish cardinal
1939 - Jerry Mercer, Canadian drummer
1939 - Joao Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2009)
1941 - Fethullah Gulen, Turkish politician and religious leader
1942 - Valeri Polyakov, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut
1943 - Ryszard Bugajski, Polish film director (d. 2019)
1944 - Michael Fish, English weather presenter
1944 - Cuba Gooding, Sr., American singer (d. 2017)
1944 - Stoker Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, English academic and politician
1947 - Nick Greiner, Hungarian-Australian politician, 37th Premier of New South Wales
1947 - Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1975)
1947 - Ann Peebles, American singer-songwriter
1948 - Josef Hickersberger, Austrian footballer and coach
1948 - Frank Abagnale, American security consultant and trickster
1949 - Jean Asselborn, Luxembourgish politician
1950 - Paolo Pulici, Italian footballer
1951 1975
1951 - Ace Frehley, American musician
1951 - Viviane Reding, Luxembourgish journalist and politician
1952 - Ari Vatanen, Finnish rally driver
1953 - Arielle Dombasle, French-American actress and singer
1954 - Frank Bainimarama, Fijian politician
1954 - Herman Edwards, American football manager
1954 - John Cygan, American actor (d. 2017)
1955 - Eric Schmidt, American entrepreneur, former CEO of Google
1956 - Bridget Kendall, English journalist
1957 - Adrian Utley, English musician
1959 - Andrew Fire, American Nobel Prize-winning biologist
1959 - Sheena Easton, Scottish singer
1959 - Jim Duffy, Scottish footballer and coach
1961 - Moana Pozzi, Italian pornographic actress, television personality, model, politician and writer (d. 1994)
1961 - Andrew Schlafly, American conservative lawyer and activist
1962 - Edvard Moser, Norwegian neurologist, 2014 Nobel Prize winner
1963 - Russell T Davies, Welsh television writer
1965 - Anna Chancellor, English actress
1966 - Yoshihiro Togashi, Japanese manga artist
1967 - King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
1967 - Tommy Smith, Scottish saxophonist, composer and educator
1968 - Cristian Mungiu, Romanian filmmaker
1969 - Darcey Bussell, English ballerina
1969 - Mica Paris, English singer
1969 - Tess Daly, English television presenter
1969 - Cory Booker, American politician
1971 - Olari Elts, Estonian conductor
From 1976
1976 - Sally Hawkins, English actress
1976 - Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter and cellist
1976 - Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer
1976 - Faisal Saif, Indian director, screenwriter and critic
1976 - Olaf Tufte, Norwegian rower
1978 - Jim James, American singer, songwriter and guitarist (My Morning Jacket)
1980 - Christian Lara, Ecuadorean footballer
1981 - Patrik Gerrbrand, Swedish footballer
1981 - Fabrizio Faniello, Maltese singer-songwriter
1982 - Nicole Hosp, Austrian politician
1983 - Ari Gaynor, American actress
1984 - Patrick Stump, American musician
1984 - Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 - Hannes Thor Halldorsson, Icelandic footballer and filmmaker
1986 - Jenna Coleman, British actress
1986 - Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player
1986 - Elena Risteska, Macedonian singer
1987 - William Moseley, English actor
1988 - Semyon Varlamov, Russian ice hockey player
1989 - Lars Bender, German footballer
1989 - Sven Bender, German footballer
1989 - Emily Rios, American actress and model
1990 - Robin Bengtsson, Swedish singer
1990 - Martin Kelly, English footballer
1991 - Lara Gut, Swiss skier
1992 - Allison Iraheta, American actress
1995 - Nick Kyrgios, Australian tennis player
Deaths
Up to 1900
630 - Ardashir III of Persia
1272 - Zita, Italian saint (b. 1212)
1404 - Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1342)
1463 - Isidore of Kiev (b. 1385)
1521 - Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer (b. 1480)
1605 - Pope Leo XI (b. 1535)
1613 - Robert Abercromby, Scottish priest and missionary (b. 1532)
1656 - Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter (b. 1596)
1694 - John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)
1794 - James Bruce, Scottish traveller and travel writer (b. 1730)
1813 - Zebulon Pike, American general and explorer (b. 1779)
1818 - Christopher Greenup, 3rd Governor of Kentucky (b. 1750)
1882 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist (b. 1803)
1896 - Henry Parkes, English statesman and politician (b. 1815)
1901 2000
1915 - Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (b. 1872)
1932 - Hart Crane, American poet (b. 1899)
1937 - Antonio Gramsci, Italian Communist writer and politician (b. 1891)
1952 - Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (b. 1865)
1962 - A. K. Fazlul, Bengali statesman (b. 1883)
1965 - Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
1969 - Rene Barrientos, President of Bolivia (b. 1919)
1972 - Kwame Nkrumah, 1st President of Ghana (b. 1909)
1977 - Stanley Adams, American actor (b. 1915)
1977 - Scott Bradley, American composer, pianist and conductor (b. 1891)
1979 - Celal Atik, Turkish sports wrestler and trainer (b. 1918)
1989 - Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese industrialist (b. 1894)
1991 - Robert Velter, French comic writer (b. 1909)
1992 - Olivier Messiaen, French organist and composer (b. 1908)
1996 - Gilles Grangier, French director and screenwriter (b. 1911)
1996 - William Colby, American CIA director (b. 1920)
1998 - Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian writer (b. 1925)
2000 - Vicki Sue Robinson, American actress and singer (b. 1954)
From 2001
2002 - Ruth Handler, American businesswoman and inventor of the Barbie doll (b. 1916)
2002 - Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Dutch-Swiss businessman (b. 1921)
2006 - Julia Thorne, American writer (b. 1944)
2007 - Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (b. 1927)
2009 - Feroz Khan, Indian actor (b. 1939)
2013 - Aloysius Jin Luxian, Chinese bishop (b. 1916)
2014 - Yigal Arnon, Israeli lawyer (b. 1929)
2014 - Vujadin Boskov, Serbian footballer, coach and manager (b. 1931)
2014 - Harry Firth, Australian racing driver (b. 1918)
2014 - Andrea Parisy, French actress (b. 1935)
2015 - Andrew Lesnie, Australian cinematographer (b. 1956)
2015 - Verne Gagne, American professional wrestler and football player (b. 1926)
2015 - Suzanne Crough, American actress (b. 1963)
2015 - Gene Fullmer, American boxer (b. 1931)
2015 - Guy LeBlanc, Canadian keyboardist (b. 1960)
2015 - Marty Napoleon, American jazz pianist (b. 1921)
2016 - Toms, Indian cartoonist (b. 1929)
2017 - Peter George, Canadian academic (b. 1941)
2017 - Vinod Khanna, Indian actor (b. 1946)
2017 - Vinu Chakravarthy, Indian actor (b. 1945)
2017 - Julius Youngner, American virologist (b. 1920)
2018 - Paul Junger Witt, American film and television producer (b. 1941)
2018 - Roy Young, English singer and pianist (b. 1937)
2018 - Earl Balfour, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
2018 - Michael Luscombe, Australian chief executive (b. 1953)
2018 - Kristin Nelson, American actress, painter and author (b. 1945)
2019 - Aleksey Lebed, Russian military officer and politician (b. 1955)
2019 - Negasso Gidada, President of Ethiopia (b. 1943)
2019 - Bart Chilton, American civil servant (b. 1960)
Observances
Independence Day in Togo (1960) and Sierra Leone (1961)
Freedom Day in South Africa
World Tapir Day
King's Day in the Netherlands from 2014 (to be observed on April 26 when the 27th is a Sunday, including in 2014 itself)
Days of the year