March 27 is the 86th day of the year (87th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 279 days remaining until the end of the year.
Holidays
- Armed Forces Day or Tatmadaw nei (Burma)
- Christian Feast Day:
- Alexander, a Pannonian soldier, martyred in 3rd century.
- Amador of Portugal
- Augusta of Treviso
- Charles Henry Brent (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Gelasius
- John of Egypt
- Philetus and companies
- Romulus of Nîmes, a Benedictine abbot, martyred c. 730.
- Rupert of Salzburg
- Zanitas and Lazarus of Persia
- March 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- World Theatre Day (International)
History
In 87 BC, Crown Prince Fuling, later Emperor Zhao of Han, is named as Emperor Wu of Han‘s successor and heir to the throne. Emperor Wu dies two days later.
In 1309, Pope Clement V imposes excommunication, interdiction, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse against Venice, which had unjustly seized on Ferrara, a fief of the Patrimony of Peter.
In 1329, Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.
In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida.
In 1555, William Hunter, English martyr (b. 1535) dies. He was a Marian martyr burnt to death in Brentwood at the age of 19 on March 27, 1555 on Ingrave Road. He had lost his job in London as a silk-weaver because he refused to attend the Catholic mass, despite an order that everyone in the City of London had to attend, and had come to live with his parents in Brentwood, but got into a dispute when discovered reading the Bible for himself in Brentwood Chapel. He refused to accept the Catholic dogma of transubstantiation according to which the bread and wine of the communion become the body and blood of Jesus. He was taken before Antony Browne, then the local Justice, but later Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, but refused to retract his position. Hunter was then sent to Bishop Bonner in London. He resisted both threats and bribes—Bonner offered to make him a Freeman of the City of London and give him £40—and was eventually returned to Brentwood to be burnt. He was the first Essex martyr of the reign of Mary Tudor. The site is now Brentwood School, which was founded by Antony Browne in 1558, under a grant from Queen Mary (not, as some believe, as a penance when Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne). The Martyr’s Elm was grown on the spot of Hunter’s incineration. The site is marked by a plaque with the inscription: WILLIAM HUNTER. MARTYR. Committed to the Flames March 26th MDLV. Christian Reader, learn from his example to value the privilege of an open Bible. And be careful to maintain it.
In 1613, The first English child born in Canada at Cuper’s Cove, Newfoundland to Nicholas Guy.
In 1625, Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
In 1679, Abraham Minjon, Dutch painter (b. 1640) dies. He was a Dutch golden age painter, specialized in flower bouquets. Mignon was born at Frankfurt. His father, a merchant, placed him under the care of the still-life painter Jacob Marrel, when he was only seven years old. Marrel specialized in flower painting, and found him to be his best pupil. He accompanied Mignon when he moved to the Netherlands about 1660 to work under Jan Davidszoon de Heem at Utrecht. In 1675 he settled there permanently and married the daughter of the painter Cornelis Willaerts (granddaughter of Adam Willaerts). He died at Utrecht. Marrel’s stepdaughter Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), daughter of the engraver Matthew Merian, who lived with Marrel and thus studied with Mignon, achieved distinction as a flower painter. Besides Merian, his other pupil was Ernst Stuven. He left two daughters when he died; Catharina and Anna. Mignon devoted himself almost exclusively to flowers, fruit, birds and other still-life, though at times he also attempted portraiture. His flower pieces are marked by careful finish and delicate handling. His favourite scheme was to introduce red or white roses in the centre of the canvas and to set the whole group of flowers against a dark background. Nowhere can his work be seen to better advantage than at the Dresden Gallery, which contains fifteen of his paintings, twelve of which are signed. Six of his pictures are at the Louvre, four at the Hermitage, and other examples are to be found at the museums of Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Brussels, Munich, Karlsruhe, Brunswick, Kassel, Schwerin, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Lyon, Florence and Turin.
In 1697, Simon Bradstreet, English (American) politician, 20th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1603) died at his home in Salem on 27 March 1697 at the age of 93; due to his advanced age he was called the “Nestor of New England” by Cotton Mather. He was a colonial magistrate, businessman, diplomat, and the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Arriving in Massachusetts on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, Bradstreet was almost constantly involved in the politics of the colony but became its governor only in 1679. He served on diplomatic missions and as agent to the crown in London, and also served as a commissioner to the New England Confederation. He was politically comparatively moderate, arguing minority positions in favor of freedom of speech and for accommodation of the demands of King Charles II following his restoration to the throne. His many descendants include jurists Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and David Souter, U.S. President Herbert Hoover, and actor Humphrey Bogart.
In 1782, Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
In 1794, The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
In 1794, Denmark and Sweden form a neutrality compact.
In 1809, Peninsular War: A combined Franco–Polish force defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Ciudad-Real.
In 1812, Hugh McGary Jr. establishes what is now Evansville, Indiana on a bend in the Ohio River.
In 1814, War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
In 1836, Texas Revolution: Goliad massacre – On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican army butchers 342 Texas POWs at Goliad, Texas.
In 1836, James Fannin, American colonel (b. 1804) was executed, after seeing his men killed. He was taken by Mexican soldiers to the courtyard in front of the chapel, blindfolded and seated in a chair (due to his leg wound from the battle). He made three requests: he asked for his personal possessions to be sent to his family, to be shot in his heart and not his face, and to be given a Christian burial. The soldiers took his belongings, shot him in the face, and burned Fannin’s body along with the other Texans who died that day.
He was a 19th-century U.S. military figure on the Texas Army and leader during the Texas Revolution of 1835–36. After being outnumbered and surrendering to Mexican forces at the Battle of Coleto Creek, Colonel Fannin and nearly all his 344 men were executed soon afterward at Goliad, Texas, under Santa Anna‘s orders for all rebels to be executed.
He was memorialized in several place names, including a military training camp.
In 1851, First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans.
In 1863, Confederate President Jefferson Davis calls for this to be a day of fasting and prayer.
In 1866, Andrew Rankin received a patent for the urinal. I’m not touching that one.
In 1866, President Johnson vetoed the civil rights bill; it later became the 14th amendment.
In 1871, The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.
In 1881, Rioting takes place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of Teetotalism by the Salvation Army.
In 1884, A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, attacks members of a jury who had returned a verdict of manslaughter in a clear case of murder, and then over the next few days would riot and destroy the courthouse.
In 1886, Famous Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
In 1890, A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 and injuring 200.
In 1899, Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino forces for the only time during the Philippine–American War at the Battle of Marilao River.
In 1910, A fire during a barn-dance in Ököritófülpös, Hungary, kills 312.
In 1912, the first Japanese cherry trees were planted in Washington, D.C. by the First Lady Helen Taft of Cincinnati, Ohio.
In 1914, Peter Grace, American captain (b. 1845) dies. He was an American soldier who fought in the American Civil War. Grace received his country’s highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor. Jellison’s medal was won for his heroism during the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia on May 5, 1864. He was honored with the award on December 27, 1894. Grace was born in Berkshire, Massachusetts, where he entered service. He is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Peter Grace, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism on 5 May 1864, while serving with Company G, 83d Pennsylvania Infantry, in action during the Wilderness Campaign, Virginia. Single-handed, Sergeant Grace rescued a comrade from two Confederate guards, knocking down one and compelling surrender of the other.
In 1915, Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
In 1918, Bessarabia is ceded to the Kingdom of Romania.
In 1925, Carl Neumann, German mathematician (b. 1832) dies. He was a German mathematician. Neumann was born in Königsberg, Prussia, as the son of the mineralogist, physicist and mathematician Franz Ernst Neumann (1798-1895), who was professor of mineralogy and physics at Königsberg University. Carl Neumann studied in Königsberg and Halle and was a professor at the universities of Halle, Basel, Tübingen, and Leipzig. Neumann worked on the Dirichlet principle, and can be considered one of the initiators of the theory of integral equations. The Neumann series, which is analogous to the geometric series but for infinite matrices, is named after him. Together with Alfred Clebsch Neumann founded the mathematical research journal Mathematische Annalen. He died in Leipzig. The Neumann boundary condition for certain types of ordinary and partial differential equations is named after him (Cheng and Cheng, 2005).
In 1933, Japan leaves League of Nations.
In 1938, Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Taierzhuang begins, resulting several weeks later in the war’s first major Chinese victory over Japan.
In 1941, World War II: Yugoslavian Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup.
In 1943, World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands – In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
In 1945, World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan’s ports and waterways begins. Argentina declares war on the Axis Powers.
In 1948, The Second Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea is convened.
In 1958, Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.
In 1963, Beeching Axe: Dr. Richard Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the United Kingdom’s rail network.
In 1964, The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.
In 1967, on EASTER SUNDAY, several thousand hippies hold what’s billed as the first annual ‘love-in’ at Elysian Park in L.A..
In 1975, Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
In 1976, The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens.
In 1977, Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the worst aviation accident in history.
In 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 8-to-1, that police could not stop motorists at random to check licenses and registrations unless there was reason to believe a law had been broken.
In 1980, The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
In 1980, Silver Thursday: A steep fall in silver prices, resulting from the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the market in silver, led to panic on commodity and futures exchanges.
In 1981, The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.
In 1986, A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing one police officer and injuring 21 people.
In 1986, ‘Baby M‘, famed surrogate, born. Baby M was the pseudonym used in the case In re Baby M, 537 A.2d 1227, 109 N.J. 396 (N.J. 1988) for the infant whose legal parentage was in question.
In 1988, Jesse Jackson, rejoicing from an upset victory in Michigan’s primary-style caucuses the day before, vowed that his Democratic presidential campaign would continue to “win and grow.” Just from that you knew Chicago was doomed politically.
In 1990, The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí, an anti-Castro propaganda network, to Cuba.
In 1993, Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People’s Republic of China.
In 1993, Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.
In 1998, Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, Austrian businessman (b. 1909) dies. He mainly known as Ferry Porsche, was an Austrian technical automobile designer and automaker–entrepreneur. He operated Porsche AG in Stuttgart, Germany. His father, Ferdinand Porsche, Sr. was also a renowned automobile engineer and founder of Volkswagen and Porsche. His nephew, Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, is the longtime chairman of Volkswagen Group, and his son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, was involved in the design of the 911.
Ferry Porsche’s life was intimately connected with that of his father, Ferdinand Porsche, Sr., who began sharing his knowledge of mechanical engineering already in his childhood. With his father he opened a bureau of automobile design, in Stuttgart in 1931.
They worked together to fulfill their country’s National Socialist regime’s needs and they met Adolf Hitler at many business events. The Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche, Sr. and a team of engineers, including Ferry Porsche.
After World War II, while his father remained imprisoned in France, being accused of war crimes, Ferry Porsche ran their company. Aided by the postwar Volkswagen enterprise, he created the first cars that were uniquely associated with the company. Despite the political-economical adversities of the postwar years, the company manufactured automobiles and, eventually, became a world powerhouse for producing sports cars.
In 1998, The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
In 1999, Kosovo War: Yugoslav SAM downed F117A, the first and only kill of the stealth aircraft.
In 2000, A Phillips Petroleum plant explosion in Pasadena, Texas kills one and injures 71.
In 2002, Passover massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people partaking of the Passover meal in Netanya, Israel.
In 2002, Nanterre massacre: In Nanterre, France, a gunman opens fire at the end of a town council meeting, resulting in the deaths of eight councilors and the injury of 19 others.
In 2004, HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
In 2009, The dam forming Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing at least 99 people.
In 2009, A suicide bomber kills at least 48 at a mosque in the Khyber Agency of Pakistan.
In 2013, A 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes near Taipei, Taiwan, injuring 97 people.
In 2013, Canada becomes the first country to announce its intention to withdraw from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
In 2014, Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.
In 2014, The last day the children of Dr. Roy and Frances Neudecker are together alive in the same house our parents built in 1968.
In 2015, Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.
In 2016, A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter.
