What Happened on May 27
Significant Events
- 1679 Habeaus Corpus Act (strengthening person's right to challenge unlawful arrest & imprisonment) passes in England
- 1703 Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great
- 1873 Heinrich Schliemann discovers "Priam's Treasure" a cache of gold and other objects in Hisarlik (Troy) in Anatolia
- 1905 Japanese fleet destroys the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history
- 1940 British and Allied forces begin the evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during WWII
- 1963 Jomo Kenyatta elected 1st Prime Minister of Kenya
- 1999 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo
- 2006 Earthquake strikes Java, Indonesia at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta, killing over 6,600 people
Did You Know?
The 1,046-foot (319-meter) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public
On May 27, 1930
Famous Birthdays
Ibn Khaldūn
(1332 - 1406)
Wild Bill Hickok
(1837 - 1876)
Rachel Carson
(1907 - 1964)
Sam Snead
(1912 - 2002)
Christopher Lee
(1922 - 2015)
Henry Kissinger
95 Years Old
Would You Believe?
New York City fines George Willig 1 cent for each of 110 stories he climbed of the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York
On May 27, 1977
Famous Weddings
- 1916 Naval commander Karl Donitz (24) weds nurse Ingeborg Weber
- 1929 Aviator Charles Lindbergh (27) weds author Anne Morrow (22) in Englewood, New Jersey
- 1980 President of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier (28) weds Michele Bennett in Haiti
- 1994 Radio personality Rush Limbaugh weds wife #3, Marta Fitzgerald
- 1995 "Friends" actress Lisa Kudrow (31) weds French advertising executive Michel Stern (37) in Malibu
Famous Divorces
- 2003 Actress Angelina Jolie (26) divorces actor Billy Bob Thornton (47) due to irreconcilable differences
Ludovico Sforza
John Calvin
Robert Koch
Jawaharlal Nehru
Ezzard Charles
Maurice RichardMay in History
President Falls From Grace
Paul Deschanel had the makings of a fine President of France – until a series of bizarre incidents culminated in him falling out the window of a moving train.
May 23, 1920
Ship that Changed the Face of Britain
Britain was on its knees after the Second World War, its economy and infrastructure in tatters. For help the Mother Country turned to the Commonwealth.
May 27, 1948
A Modern Major-General of Light Entertainment
William Gilbert, celebrated as the unique lyricist behind the highly popular Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, met his death in highly unexpected circumstances.
May 29, 1911
Voltaire: Writer, Wit, Philosopher and Rebel
They burned his books, sent him to the Bastille and into exile, but Voltaire, who died on this day, remained rich, successful – and defiant.
May 30, 1778