September 27

Events
Up to 1900
1066 William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme River, beginning the Norman Conquest of England.
1422 After the brief Gollub War, the Teutonic Knights sign the Treaty of Melno with the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1529 The Siege of Vienna begins, as Suleiman I attacks the city.
1540 The Society of Jesus receives its charter from Pope Paul III.
1590 The death of Pope Urban VII ends the shortest papacy in history, lasting just 13 days.
1605 The armies of Sweden are defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kirchholm.
1777 Lancaster, Pennsylvania is the capital city of the United States for a day.
1821 Mexico gains independence from Spain.
1822 Jean-Francois Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone.
1825 The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens in northern England, having the first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
1854 Steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board in the Atlantic Ocean.
1865 Chile declares war on Spain.
1901 2000
1903 The "Wreck of the Old 97" train crash occurs near Danville, Virginia, killing 11 people (including one who later died on October 6), and injuring 7. The crash later becomes well known through songs and musical pieces.
1905 The formula E=mc squared is introduced, devised by Albert Einstein.
1908 The first production of the Ford Model T automobile is built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1916 Iyasu V is officially deposed in a palace coup in Ethiopia, in favor of his aunt, Zauditu.
1922 Constantine I of Greece abdicates the throne. His eldest son succeeds him as George II of Greece.
1928 The Republic of China is recognised by the United States.
1930 Bobby Jones wins the US Amateur Championship to complete the Grand Slam of winning all the major golf tournaments of the year.
1937 The Balinese Tiger is declared extinct.
1938 The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth is launched in Glasgow, Scotland.
1940 World War II: Germany, Japan and Italy sign the "Tripartite Pact".
1942 World War II: Last day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps troops barely escapes after being surrounded by Japanese forces near the Matanikau River.
1949 The design of the Flag of the People's Republic of China (which is founded on October 1) is accepted by the National People's Congress.
1957 In the Azores, the Capelinho volcano erupts on the island of Faial. 300 homes are destroyed and 2,000 people are evacuated.
1959 Almost 5,000 people are killed when a typhoon strikes the island of Honshu, Japan.
1961 Sierra Leone joins the UN.
1968 The stage musical Hair opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London.
1973 The Soviet Union launches the Soyuz 12 spacecraft.
1979 The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the United States Congress to become the 13th US cabinet agency.
1983 Richard Stallman announces the GNU Project.
1987 In Cairo, Egypt, the first Metro line in Africa is opened.
1988 Canadian athlete Ben Johnson is stripped of his Olympic gold medal, after failing a drug test.
1993 The Sokhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
1996 Afghan forces are routed as the Taleban seizes control of Kabul.
1997 The Julie N tanker ship crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine, spilling hundreds of gallons of oil.
1997 Communication is lost with the Mars Pathfinder Probe.
1998 Google is founded.
1998 Gerhard Schroder is elected Chancellor of Germany, succeeding Helmut Kohl.
From 2001
2001 In Zug, Switzerland, Friedrich Leibacher shoots 18 people, of which 14 are killed. He then kills himself.
2002 East Timor joins the UN.
2003 The Smart 1 satellite is launched.
2005 Tom and Jerry airs its 162nd, and last, episode.
2007 NASA launches the Dawn probe.
2008 Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese astronaut to perform a space walk.
2009 German Parliamentary Election: Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel of the CDU is allowed to serve a second term in office, after defeating SPD candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier. She enters into a coalition with the Free Democrats under Guido Westerwelle.
2014 The Mount Ontake volcano in Japan erupts.
Births
Up to 1900
823 Ermentrude of Orleans, Frankish Queen (d. 869)
1271 Wenceslaus II of Bohemia, and Poland (d. 1305)
1275 John II of Brabant (d. 1312)
1389 Cosimo de' Medici, Italian art patron and ruler of Florence (d. 1464)
1533 Stephen Bathory, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (d. 1586)
1544 Takenaka Shigeharu, Japanese samurai (d. 1579)
1601 King Louis XIII of France (d. 1643)
1643 Solomon Stoddard, American Puritan clergyman (d. 1729)
1657 Sophia Alekseyevna of Russia, regent of Russia (d. 1704)
1677 Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari, Italian musical composer (d. 1754)
1696 Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Italian bishop and saint (d. 1787)
1722 Samuel Adams, American patriot, revolutionary, writer and statesman (d. 1803)
1729 Michael Denis, Austrian writer, priest and scientist (d. 1800)
1765 Antoine Philippe de la Tremouille, French counter-revolutionary (d. 1794)
1772 Martha Jefferson Randolph, daughter of Thomas Jefferson (d. 1836)
1781 William I of Wurttemberg (d. 1864)
1783 Agustin de Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico (d. 1824)
1792 George Cruikshank, British artist (d. 1878)
1818 Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe, German chemist (d. 1884)
1821 Henri-Frederic Amiel, Swiss philosopher, poet and critic (d. 1881)
1824 William "Bull" Nelson, American Civil War general (d. 1862)
1826 Armand David, French monk and naturalist (d. 1900)
1830 William Babcock Hazen, American Civil War general (d. 1887)
1838 Lawrence Sullivan Ross, American Confederate general and 19th Governor of Texas (d. 1898)
1840 Thomas Nast, German-American political cartoonist (d. 1902)
1840 Alfred Thayer Mahan, American admiral (d. 1914)
1842 Alphonse Francois Renard, Belgian geologist (d. 1903)
1861 Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, sister of Theodore Roosevelt (d. 1933)
1862 Louis Botha, South African politician (d. 1919)
1864 Andrej Hlinka, Slovakian politician and priest (d. 1938)
1866 Eurosia Fabris, Italian saint (d. 1932)
1867 Giovanni Bonzano, Italian cardinal (d. 1927)
1871 Grazia Deledda, Italian writer (d. 1936)
1871 Martin H. Glynn, 40th Governor of New York (d. 1924)
1880 Jacques Thibaud, French violinist (d. 1953)
1894 Lothar von Richthofen, German pilot (d. 1922)
1898 Vincent Youmans, American composer and producer (d. 1946)
1901 1950
1907 Bhagat Singh, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1931)
1907 Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and theorist (d. 2003)
1907 Bernard Miles, English actor, director, producer and producer (d. 1991)
1916 S. Yizhar, Israeli writer (d. 2006)
1918 Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer (d. 1984)
1919 James Wilkinson, British mathematician (d. 1986)
1919 Johnny Pesky, American baseball player (d. 2012)
1919 Jayne Meadows, American actress (d. 2015)
1920 William Conrad, American actor (d. 1994)
1921 John Malcolm Patterson, former Governor of Alabama (d. 2021)
1921 Miklos Jancso, Hungarian movie director (d. 2014)
1921 Milton Subotsky, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1991)
1922 Arthur Penn, American screenwriter (d. 2010)
1922 Heinrich Boere, German Nazi war criminal (d. 2013)
1924 Bud Powell, American jazz pianist (d. 1966)
1924 Josef Skvorecky, Czech writer and publisher (d. 2012)
1925 Robert G. Edwards, British biologist and Nobel Prize winner (d. 2013)
1927 Chrysostomos I, Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus (d. 2007)
1927 Adhemar da Silva, Brazilian triple jumper (d. 2001)
1929 Barbara Murray, English actress (d. 2014)
1929 Txillardegi, Basque linguist, writer and politician (d. 2012)
1931 Freddy Quinn, Austrian singer
1932 Yash Chopra, Indian director (d. 2012)
1932 Oliver E. Williamson, American economist
1933 Greg Morris, American actor
1933 Will Sampson, American actor and artist (d. 1987)
1934 Wilford Brimley, American actor (d. 2020)
1936 Don Cornelius, American television host (d. 2012)
1936 Sancho Gracia, Spanish television presenter (d. 2012)
1937 Vasyl Durdynets, 8th Prime Minister of Ukraine
1938 Jean-Loup Dabadie, French journalist, songwriter and screenwriter
1940 Josephine Barstow, English soprano
1940 Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan feminist writer and sociologist (d. 2015)
1941 Peter Bonetti, English footballer and coach
1942 Dith Pran, Cambodian photojournalist (d. 2008)
1942 Alvin Stardust, English singer (d. 2014)
1943 Randy Bachman, Canadian musician
1943 Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, Italian nobleman
1943 Walter Riester, German politician
1946 Nicos Anastasiades, Greek-Cypriot politician, President of Cyprus
1946 Naiyyum Choudhury, Bangladeshi biochemist (d. 2019)
1946 Robin Nedwell, English actor (d. 1999)
1947 Barbara Dickson, Scottish singer
1947 Denis Lawson, Scottish actor
1947 Vic Snyder, American politician
1947 Meat Loaf, American singer (d. 2022)
1947 Dick Advocaat, Dutch football manager
1948 Duncan Fletcher, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
1950 Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa, Japanese-American actor and martial artist
1951 1975
1951 Jim Shooter, American writer
1951 Anthony Laciura, American operatic tenor
1952 Dumitru Prunariu, Romanian cosmonaut
1952 Didier Dubois, French mathematician
1952 Katie Fforde, English author
1953 Diane Abbott, English politician
1953 Claudio Gentile, Italian footballer
1953 Mata Amritanandamayi, Indian guru and saint
1953 Robbie Shakespeare, Jamaican musician and producer
1953 Dumitru Prunariu, Romanian engineer and astronaut
1954 Dougie MacLean, Scottish singer-songwriter
1954 Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Russian violinist and composer
1956 Milan Smrcka, Czech musician
1956 Steve Archibald, Scottish footballer
1957 John Inverdale, English broadcaster
1957 Peter Sellars, American theatre director
1958 Irvine Welsh, Scottish writer
1960 Jean-Marc Barr, German-born French-American movie actor, director and producer
1964 Stephan Jenkins, American musician and producer
1965 Bernard Lord, Canadian politician, 30th Premier of New Brunswick
1965 Peter MacKay, Canadian politician
1966 Uche Okechukwu, Nigerian footballer
1966 Jovanotti, Italian singer
1966 Debbie Wasserman Schultz, American politician
1966 Stephanie Wilson, American engineer and astronaut
1967 Willie Rennie, Scottish politician
1967 Llewella Gideon, English voice actor
1968 Mari Kiviniemi, former Prime Minister of Finland
1968 Patrick Muldoon, American actor
1972 Lhasa de Sela, Mexican-American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
1972 Clara Hughes, Canadian cyclist
1972 Gwyneth Paltrow, American actress
1973 Vratislav Lokvenc, Czech footballer
1974 Carrie Brownstein, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress
From 1976
1976 Francesco Totti, Italian footballer
1976 Matt Harding, American video game designer and dancer
1978 Mihaela Ursuleasa, Romanian pianist (d. 2012)
1978 Pastora Soler, Spanish singer
1979 Shinji Ono, Japanese footballer
1980 Olivier Kapo, French footballer
1980 Asashoryu Akinori, Mongolian sumo wrestler
1981 Brendon McCallum, New Zealand cricketer
1981 Mirjam Weichselbraun, Austrian television host and actress
1982 Markus Rosenberg, Swedish footballer
1982 Lil Wayne, American rapper
1982 Darrent Williams, American football player
1983 Jeon Hye-bin, South Korean actress and singer
1984 Davide Capello, Italian footballer
1984 Avril Lavigne, Canadian singer
1984 Wouter Weylandt, Belgian cyclist (d. 2011)
1985 Ibrahim Toure, Ivorian footballer (d. 2014)
1987 Adam Bogdan, Hungarian footballer
1991 Simona Halep, Romanian tennis player
1992 Granit Xhaka, Swiss footballer
1993 Monica Puig, Puerto Rican tennis player
1995 Lina Leandersson, Swedish actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
855 Lothair I, King of the Romans (b. 795)
1162 Odo II, Duke of Burgundy
1249 Count Raymond VII of Toulouse (b. 1197)
1404 William of Wykeham, English bishop (b. 1320)
1547 Lady Eleanor Brandon (b. 1519)
1557 Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (b. 1492)
1590 Pope Urban VII (b. 1521)
1651 Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1573)
1660 Vincent de Paul, French priest and saint (b. 1581)
1700 Pope Innocent XII (b. 1615)
1832 Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, German philosopher (b. 1781)
1833 Ram Mohan, Indian reformer (b. 1772)
1876 Braxton Bragg, American Confederate general (b. 1817)
1886 Charles Gordon Greene, American journalist (b. 1804)
1891 Ivan Goncharev, Russian writer (b. 1812)
1901 2000
1917 Edgar Degas, French painter (b. 1834)
1921 Engelbert Humperdinck, German composer (b. 1854)
1940 Walter Benjamin, German philosopher (b. 1892)
1940 Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian doctor, won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1857)
1956 Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American athlete (b. 1911)
1960 Sylvia Pankhurst, British Women's Rights activist (b. 1882)
1961 H.D., American writer (b. 1886)
1965 Clara Bow, American actress (b. 1905)
1967 Felix Yusupov, Russian prince, participated in the killing of Grigori Rasputin (b. 1887)
1972 S. R. Ranganathan, Indian mathematician (b. 1892)
1974 Silvio Frondizi, Argentine lawyer (b. 1907)
1975 Jack Lang, 23rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1876)
1979 Gracie Fields, British comedienne (b. 1898)
1981 Bronislaw Malinowski, Polish athlete (b. 1951)
1986 Cliff Burton, American bassist (Metallica) (b. 1962)
1991 Oona O'Neill, English actress (b. 1926)
1993 Jimmy Doolittle, American general (b. 1896)
1996 Mohammad Najibullah, President of Afghanistan (b. 1947)
From 2001
2004 John E. Mack, American psychiatrist (b. 1929)
2005 Ronald Golias, Brazilian comedian and actor (b. 1929)
2007 Kenji Nagai, Japanese photographer and journalist (b. 1957)
2008 Mahendra Kapoor, Indian singer (b. 1934)
2009 William Safire, American columnist (b. 1929)
2011 David Croft, British writer, producer and director (b. 1922)
2011 Imre Makovecz, Hungarian architect (b. 1935)
2012 Herbert Lom, Czech-born British actor (b. 1917)
2014 Eugie Foster, American science fiction writer (b. 1971)
2014 James Traficant, American politician (b. 1941)
2014 Taylor Hardwick, American architect (b. 1925)
2014 Zhang Xianliang, Chinese author and poet (b. 1936)
2014 Abdelmajid Lakhal, Tunisian actor and director (b. 1939)
2014 Jean-Jacques Pauvert, French publisher (b. 1926)
2015 Syed Ahmed, Indian politician (b. 1945)
2015 Pietro Ingrao, Italian politician (b. 1915)
2015 Wilton Felder, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1940)
2015 Frank Tyson, English cricketer (b. 1930)
2015 John Guillermin, English movie director and producer (b. 1925)
2015 Denise Lor, American singer and actress (b. 1929)
2016 Sebastian Papaiani, Romanian actor (b. 1936)
2017 Joy Fleming, German singer (b. 1944)
2017 Hiromi Hayakawa, Japanese-Mexican actress and singer (b. 1982)
2017 Hugh Hefner, American adult magazine publisher and businessman (Playboy) (b. 1926)
2017 Anne Jeffreys, American actress (b. 1923)
2018 Marty Balin, American rock singer and musician (b. 1942)
2018 Brian A. Joyce, American politician (b. 1962)
2018 James G. March, American sociologist (b. 1928)
2019 William J. Edwards, American politician (b. 1928)
2019 Rob Garrison, American actor (b. 1960)
2019 John J. Snyder, American Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1925)
2019 Joseph C. Wilson, American writer (b. 1949)
Observances
End of Independence War Day (Mexico)
Holiday for the French-speaking community, Belgium
Days of the year