On this day in History - Oct. 27

• 0312 - Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross.
• 0625 - Honorius I becomes Pope.
• 0710 - Saracen invasion of Sardinia.
• 0939 - King Athelstan I of England dies. Edmund I succeeds Athelstan as King of England.
• 1156 - Count Raymond VI of Toulouse was born (d. 1222).
• 1271 - Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy dies (b. 1213). French crusader.
• 1275 - Traditional founding of the city of Amsterdam.
• 1303 - Benedictus XI is elected Pope.
• 1312 - John II, Duke of Brabant dies (b. 1275).
• 1327 - Elizabeth de Burgh dies. Queen of Robert I of Scotland.
• 1331 - Abu al-Fida dies (b. 1273). Arab hitorian and geographer.
• 1401 - Catherine of Valois was born (d. 1437). Queen of Henry VI of England.
• 1430 - Vytautas the Great dies. Grand Prince of Lithuania.
• 1439 - Albert II of Germany dies (b. 1397). Holy Roman Emperor.
  
• 1449 - Ulugh Beg dies (b. 1394). Turkish ruler and astronomer.
• 1466 - Erasmus was born (d. 12 Jul 1536). Dutch humanist and theologian. He was the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance, the first editor of the New Testament, and also an important figure in patristics and classical literature.
• 1495 - Portugal: D. Manuel is proclaimed King.
• 1505 - Ivan III of Russia dies (b. 1440).
• 1524 - Italian Wars: The French troops lay siege to Pavia.
• 1553 - Condemned as heretic Michael Servetus is burned at stake (b. 1511). Spanish theologian.
• 1561 - Lope de Aguirre dies. Spanish conquistador.
• 1573 - Laurentius Petri dies (b. 1499). First Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden.
• 1590 - Death of Pope Urban VII.
• 1605 - Akbar, Jellaladin Mahommed dies (b. 1542). Mughal Emperor.
• 1617 - Ralph Winwood dies. English politician.
• 1644 - Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War.
• 1670 - Vavasor Powell dies (b. 1517). Welsh non-conformist leader.
• 1674 - Hallgrímur Pétursson dies (b. 1614). Icelandic poet.
• 1675 - Gilles de Roberval dies (b. 1602). French mathematician.
• 1678 - Pierre de Montmort was born in Paris (d. 7 Oct 1719). French mathematician.
• 1682 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded.
• 1728 - James Cook was born (d. 1779). British naval captain and explorer.
• 1744 - Mary Moser was born ( † 1819). English painter.
• 1760 - August von Gneisenau was born (d. 1831). Prussian field marshal.
• 1782 - Niccolò Paganini was born (d. 1840). Italian violinist and composer.
• 1789 - John Cook dies (b. 1730). American farmer and Governor of Delaware.
• 1795 - The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.
• 1797 - Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria.
• 1806 - The French Army enters in Berlin.
  
• 1807 - Occupation of Portugal by French-Spanish troops.
• 1810 - United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.
• 1811 - Isaac Singer was born (d. 1875). American inventor.
• 1811 - Stevens Thomson Mason was born (d. 1843). First Governor of Michigan.
• 1814 - Daniel H. Wells was born (d. 1891). Mormon leader and politician.
  
• 1838 - Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state.
• 1838 - John Davis Long was born (d. 1915). 32^nd Governor of Massachusetts.
  
• 1842 - Giovanni Giolitti was born (d. 1928). Italian statesman.
• 1844 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson was born (d. 1916). Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
  
• 1854 - Sir William Smith was born (d. 1914). Scottish founder of the Boys' Brigade.
• 1858 - Theodore Roosevelt was born (d. 1919). 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
  
• 1865 - Charles Spencelayh was born (d. 1958). English painter.
  
• 1870 - Marshal François Achille Bazaine surrenders to Prussian forces at Metz along with 140,000 French soldiers in one of the biggest French defeats of the Franco-Prussian War.
• 1873 - Emily Post was born (d. 1960). Eticquette author.
• 1877 - George Thompson was born (d. 1943).English cricketer.
• 1885 - Sigrid Hjertén was born (d. 1948). Swedish modernist painter.
  
• 1892 - Graciliano Ramos was born (d. 1953). Brazilian writer.
• 1894 - Oliver Leese was born (d.1978). British general.
• 1896 - Edith Brown was born (d. 1997). Survivor of the Titanic.
  
• 1904 - First New York City Subway line opens; the system becomes biggest in United States of America, and one of biggest in world.
• 1904 - Erno Schwarz was born (d. 1974). Hungarian American soccer player.
  
• 1906 - Earle Cabell was born (d. 1975). American politician.
• 1908 - Lee Krasner was born (d. 1984). American painter.
  
• 1910 - Jack Carson was born (d. 1963). Canadian actor.
• 1910 - Fred De Cordova was born (d. 15 Sep 2001). Emmy Award-winning producer: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson [1975-1976, 1976-1977, 1977-1978, 1978-1979, 1991-1992]; director: Bedtime for Bonzo, Frankie and Johnny, I’ll Take Sweden.
• 1911 - Leif Erickson was born (d. 1986). American actor and singer.
  
• 1914 - Dylan Thomas was born (d. 1953). Welsh poet.
• 1915 - Harry Saltzman was born (d. 1994). American film producer.
• 1916 - Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari Habte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
• 1917 - Augustine Harris was born (d. 2007). British Bishop of Middlesbrough.
  
• 1917 - Oliver Tambo was born (d. 1993). South-Africa politician.
• 1917 - Arthur Rhys Davids dies (b. 1897). English pilot.
• 1918 - João Lúcio [João Lúcio Pousão Pereira] dies (b. in Olhão, 4 Jul 1880). Portuguese poet and lawyer.
• 1918 - Teresa Wright was born. American actress.
• 1920 - Nanette Fabray was born. Emmy Award-winning actress: Caesar’s Hour [1955, 1956]; One Day at a Time, Westinghouse Playhouse, Our Gang series.
• 1920 - K. R. Narayanan was born (d. 2005). President of India.
• 1921 - Warren Allen Smith was born. American encyclopedist.
• 1922 - A referendum in Rhodesia rejects the country's annexation to the South African Union.
• 1922 - Poul Bundgaard was born (d. 1998). Danish actor and singer.
  
• 1922 - Ralph Kiner was born. American baseball player.
• 1923 - Roy Lichtenstein was born (d. 1997). American artist.
• 1924 - The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union.
• 1924 - Michel Galabru was born. French actor.
• 1924 - Ruby Dee was born. American actress.
• 1925 - Albert Medwin wa born. American inventor.
• 1925 - Warren Christopher was born. US Secretary of State (1993–1997).
• 1926 - H.R. Haldeman was born (d. 1993). American political personality.
  
• 1928 - Gilles Vigneault was born. Canadian poet, singer and songwriter.
• 1929 - Maurice Robert Johnston was born. English Lieutenant-General.
• 1931 - Nawal El Saadawi was born. Egyptian writer.
• 1932 - Jean-Pierre Cassel was born (d. 2007). French actor.
  
• 1932 - Sylvia Plath was born (d. 1963). American poet.
• 1933 - Floyd Cramer was born (d. 1997). American popular pianist.
  
• 1934 - Giorgos Konstadinou was born. Greek actor and director.
• 1936 - Mrs Wallis Simpson filed for divorce which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne.
• 1937 - Lara Parker was born. American actress.
• 1939 - John Cleese was born. British Award-winning actor: guest performer: Cheers [1986-87]; A Fish Called Wanda, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Splitting Heirs, Life of Brian, Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, Silverado, The Big Picture.
• 1940 - John Gotti was born (d. 2002). American gangster.
• 1940 - Maxine Hong Kingston was born. American writer.
• 1941 - Dick Trickle ws born. American auto racer.
• 1942 - Lee Greenwood was born. American singer.
• 1945 - John Kane was born. Actor/writer
• 1945 - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was born in Caetés, Pernambuco; President of Brazil (since 2003).
• 1946 - Carrie Snodgress was born (d. 2004). American actress.
• 1946 - Ivan Reitman was born. Slovakian actor.
• 1946 - First commercially-sponsored television program airs (Geographically Speaking, sponsored by Bristol-Myers).
• 1948 - Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (BDS).
• 1949 - An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes near the Azores. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
• 1949 - José Carlos Queiroz Nunes Ribeiro dies in Paris (b. 5 Apr 1907). Portuguese poet. Prize Antero de Quental.
• 1949 - Egas Moniz (b. 1874, d. 1955). Portuguese neurosurgeon receives the 1949 Nobel Prize for Medicine "for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy in certain psychoses" . The prize was shared with Walter Rudolf Hess from Swiss "for his discovery of the functional organization of the interbrain as a coordinator of the activities of the internal organs".
• 1949 - Garry Tallent was born. American bass player (E Street Band).
• 1949 - Clifford Antone was born (d. 2006). American businessman.
• 1949 - Marcel Cerdan dies (b. 1916). French boxer.
• 1949 - Ginette Neveu dies (b. 1919). French violinist.
• 1950 - Fran Lebowitz was born. American writer.
• 1951 - Carlos Frenk was born. Mexican/British cosmologist.
• 1951 - K.K. Downing was born. English guitarist (Judas Priest).
• 1951 - Carlos Frenk was born. Mexican/British cosmologist.
• 1951 - Jayne Kennedy, American actress, model, and sportscaster.
• 1951 - Nancy Jacobs was born. American politician.
• 1952 - Hameed Haroon was born. Pakistani publisher.
• 1952 - Roberto Benigni was born. Italian actor.
• 1953 - British nuclear test Totem 2 is detonated at Emu Field, South Australia.
• 1953 - Peter Firth was born. British actor.
• 1953 - Robert Picardo was born. American actor.
• 1953 - Thomas Wass dies (b. 1873). English cricketer.
• 1954 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
• 1954 - Jan Duursema was born. American comic book artist.
• 1955 - Maurício de Souza was born in Santa Isabel, São Paulo. Brazilian cartoonist "Turma da Mônica".
• 1955 - Debra Bowen was born. American politician.
• 1956 - Jaq D. Hawkins was born. British author, occultist and lecturer.
• 1956 - Veronica Hart was born. American porn actress.
• 1957 - Glenn Hoddle was born. English football player.
• 1957 - Jeff East was born. American actor.
• 1958 - Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who was appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.
• 1958 - Lee Carter was born. Alabama Judge of the 25th Judicial Circuit.
• 1958 - Simon Le Bon was born. English singer (Duran Duran).
• 1960 - Tom Nieto was born. American baseball player.
• 1961 - Mongólia and Mauritâniabecome the 102nd and 103rd members of United Nations.
• 1961 - NASA launched the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.
• 1962 - Major Rudolph Anderson of the US Air Force became the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane was shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.
• 1962 - Enrico Mattei (b. 1906) dies as his plane crashes in mysterious circumstances. Italian industrialist.
• 1963 - Marcélia Cartaxo was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1963 - Marla Maples was born. American actress and model.
• 1964 - Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launched his political career and came to be known as "A Time for Choosing".
• 1964 - Mark Taylor was born. Australian test cricket captain (1944-1999).
• 1966 - Matt Drudge was born. American blogger.
• 1967 - Scott Weiland was born. American singer (Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver).
• 1968 - XIX Olympiad in Mexico closed.
• 1968 - Vinny Samways was born. English footballer.
• 1968 - Lise Meitner dies (b. 7 Nov 1878). Austrian physicist.
• 1969 - Eric Maschwitz dies (b. 1901). English poet, screenwriter.
• 1970 - Louis Néel receives the Nobel Prize.
• 1970 - Adrian Erlandsson was born. Swedish drummer (Cradle of Filth).
• 1970 - Felix Bwalya was born. Zambian boxer.
• 1971 - Republic of the Congo is renamed Republic of Zaire.
• 1971 - Jade Arcade was born. American comics artist and writer.
• 1971 - Theodoros Zagorakis was born. Greek footballer.
• 1971 - Jorge Soto was born. Peruvian footballer.
• 1972 - Evan Coyne Maloney was born. American filmmaker.
• 1972 - Brad Radke was born. Baseball player.
• 1972 - Maria Mutola was born in Chamanculo. Mozambican athlete who won Mozambique's first ever Olympic gold (2000 Sidney, 800 m).
• 1972 - Marika Krook was born. Finnish singer (Edea).
• 1972 - Lee Clark was born. English footballer.
• 1972 - Elissa (singer) was born. Lebanese singer.
• 1972 - Esther Nunes Bibas dies (b. 1888). Brazilian writer.
• 1973 - The Canyon City meteorite, a 1.4 kg chondrite type meteorite strikes in Fremont County, Colorado.
• 1973 - Jason Johnson was born. Baseball pitcher (Cincinnati Reds).
• 1975 - Zadie Smith was born. British novelist.
• 1975 - Rex Stout dies (b. 1886). American novelist.
• 1977 - Jiří Jarosík was born. Czech football player.
• 1977 - Kumar Sangakkara was born. Sri Lankan cricketer.
• 1977 - James M. Cain dies (b. 1 Jul 1892). American writer.
• 1978 - Sergei Samsonov was born. National Hockey League player.
• 1978 - Vanessa-Mae was born. Singapore violinist.
• 1978 - The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat. They were honored for the Camp David Agreement, which brought about a negotiated peace between Egypt and Israel.
• 1979 - Independência de São Vicente e Granadinas.
• 1980 - José Rodrigues Miguéis dies (b. 1901). Portuguese writer.
• 1980 - Tanel Padar was born. Estonian singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner.
• 1980 - Cassia Riley was born. American model.
• 1980 - Steve Peregrin Took dies (b. 1949). English singer and songwriter.
• 1980 - John Hasbrouck van Vleck dies (b. 1899). American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1980 - Judy LaMarsh dies (b. 1924). Canadian politician, author and broadcaster.
• 1981 - The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
• 1981 - Han Hye-jin was born. South Korean actress.
• 1981 - Kristi Richards was born. Canadian freestyle skier.
• 1982 - Dennis Moran was born. American computer hacker.
• 1982 - Keri Hilson was born. American singer, songwriter.
• 1982 - Patrick Fugit was born. American actor.
• 1982 - Takashi Tsukamoto was born. Japanese actor.
• 1983 - Brent Clevlen was born. American baseball player.
• 1983 - Ludovico Nitoglia was born. Italian rugby player.
• 1984 - Bam Doyne was born. American Basketball player.
• 1984 - Brady Quinn was born. American football player.
• 1984 - Irfan Pathan was born. Indian cricketer.
• 1984 - Kelly Osbourne was born. English television personality.
• 1986 - The United Kingdom government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang.
  
• 1986 - Andressa Fernandes was born. Brazilian swimmer.
• 1987 - Andrew Bynum was born. American basketball player.
• 1987 - Yi Jianlian was born. Chinese basketball player.
• 1989 - Professional juggler and world record holder Erik Kloeker was born.
• 1989 - Erik Kloeker was born. American juggler.
• 1990 - Supreme Soviet of Kirghiz SSR chooses Askar Akayev as republic's first president.
• 1990 - Xavier Cugat dies (b. 1900). Spanish-born musician.
• 1990 - Elliott Roosevelt dies (b. 1910). American war hero, author, and advertising executive.
• 1990 - Jacques Demy dies (b. 1931). French film director.
• 1990 - Ugo Tognazzi dies (b. 1922). Italian actor.
• 1991 - Turkmenistan achieved independence from the Soviet Union and Askar Akayev is elected President.
• 1991 - First free legislative elections in Poland since 1936.
• 1992 - US Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by shipmates for being gay, precipitating first military, then national debate about gays in the military that resulted in the United States "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy.
• 1992 - David Bohm dies (b. 1917). American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist.
• 1993 - Fires in five counties in southern California destroy more than 500 homes and cause an estimate $1 billion of damage within a week.
• 1995 - Latvia applies for membership of the European Union.
• 1995 - Former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi is condemned in absentia for corruption.
• 1996 - Morey Amsterdam dies (b. 1908). American actor.
• 1996 - Arthur Tremblay dies (b. 1917). French Canadian politician.
• 1997 - - October 27, 1997 mini-crash: Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15. For the first time, the New York Stock Exchange activated their "circuit breakers" twice during the day eventually making the controversial move of closing the Exchange early (see October 27, 1997 mini-crash).
• 1998 - Gerhard Schröder becomes Chancellor of Germany for the first time.
• 1999 - Armenian Prime Minister Vasgen Sarkissian and 6 other members killed in an attack on the Armenian parliament.
• 1999 - Robert Mills dies (b. 1927). American physicist.
• 1999 - Charlotte Perriand dies (b. 1903). French architect and designer.
• 2000 - Walter Berry dies (b. 1929). Austrian bass-baritone.
• 2002 - Trades unionist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is elected as President of Brazil.
• 2002 - Running back Emmitt Smith becomes the current leader in career rushing yards in the National Football League, breaking the record then held by Walter Payton.
• 2002 - Anaheim Angels win the baseball World Series.
• 2002 - The ITV Network aired a constant regional service for the last time in England and Wales, but London Weekend Television (LWT) lost its identity completely. All companies (except UTV, Channel, Scottish TV & Grampian TV) formed the national ITV1 with regional references only before regional programmes.
• 2003 - Rod Roddy dies (b. 1937). American television announcer.
• 2004 - Curse of the Bambino: The Boston Red Sox won Game 4 of the World Series 3-0, sweeping the series in 4 games over the St. Louis Cardinals on a night featuring a full lunar eclipse, becoming champions for the first time since 1918.
• 2004 - Matti Nykänen, once a very successful Finnish ski-jumper, is found guilty of attempt of manslaughter and sentenced to a two year and two month jail term for stabbing a family friend.
• 2004 - Eclipse lunar total pôde ser avistado nas Américas, Europa, África e Ásia Central
• 2004 - Serginho died (b. 1974). Brazilian footballer.
• 2005 - Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers.
• 2006 - Luís Filipe Vieira é eleito Presidente da Direcção do Sport Lisboa e Benfica nas eleições em que encabeçou a lista única; Manuel Vilarinho, Presidente da Assembleia Geral e Walter Marques, Presidente do Conselho Fiscal, encabeçam os outros órgãos sociais.
• 2006 - Joe Niekro dies (b. 1944). American baseball player.
• 2006 - Brad Will dies (b. 1970). American anarchist and independent journalist.
• Feast day of Saint Frumentius, who introduced Christianity into Ethiopia.
• Independence Day in Turkmenistan (1991).
• Independence Day in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1979).
• Greece - Flag Day.
• Municipal holiday in Lagos (Portugal) / Feriado municipal em Lagos (Portugal).