Today In History - March 27

1513 Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida
1599 Robert Devereux becomes Lt-general of Ireland
1625 Charles I, King Of England, Scotland and Ireland, ascends English throne
1668 English King Charles II gives Bombay to East India Company
1708 English pretender to the throne James III flees to Dunkerk
1709 Dike at Hardinxveld breaks (Alblasserwaard flooded)
1713 Spain losses Menorca and Gibraltar
1721 France and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid
1758 Battle at Emmerich: the British Army floats around France the Rhine
1790 The shoelace is invented
1794 The U.S. Navy forms
1802 Treaty of Amiens-French Revolutionary War ends
1808 Joseph Haydns oratorio "Die Schopfung" premieres in Vienna
1814 Battle at Horseshoe Bend: General Andrew Jackson beats Creek Indians
1836 The first Mormon temple is dedicated in Kirtland, Ohio
1841 The first U.S. steam fire engine is tested in New York City
1848 John Parker Paynard originates medicated adhesive plaster
1849 Joseph Couch patents steam-powered percussion rock drill
1855 Abraham Gesner patents kerosene
1860 M. L. Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (a.k.a. corkscrew)
1861 Black demonstrators in Charleston staged ride-ins on street cars
1863 President Davis calls for this to be a day of fasting and prayer
1865 Siege of Spanish Fort, AL-captured by Federals
1866 Andrew Rankin patents the urinal
1866 President Johnson vetoes civil rights bill; it later becomes 14th amendment
1871 The first international rugby game-Scotland 1, England 0
1879 Longest championship fight (136 rounds)
1884 The first long-distance telephone call, Boston - New York
1912 The first Japanese cherry blossom trees planted in Washington D.C.
1914 The first successful blood transfusion (done in Brussels)
1920 Film stars Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks marry
1920 Hermann Muller becomes German chancellor (SPD)
1924 Canada recognizes the U.S.S.R.
1924 New French government of Poincare begins
1928 KGB-AM in San Diego, California begins radio transmissions
1928 U.S. Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
1928 U.S. Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
1929 U.S. Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Maribel Vinson
1929 U.S. Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
1930 The first U.S. radio broadcast from a ship at sea
1931 Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor
1931 John McGraw says night baseball will not catch on
1932 De Bataven soccer team forms in Gendt
1933 Japan leaves the League of Nations
1933 U.S. Farm Credit Administration authorized
1936 WOS-AM in Jefferson City Missouri goes off the air
1937 Feyenoord-stadium official opens in Rotterdam
1939 The first NCAA Men's Basketball Champion: University of Oregon beats OH State 46-33
1940 Himmler orders the building of Auschwitz concentration camp, at Katowice
1941 Britain leases defense bases in Trinidad to U.S. for 99 years
1941 Hitler signs Directive 27 (assault on Yugoslavia)
1941 Yugoslavian coup gets rid of pro-German Prince Paul
1942 Allies raid German submarine base in St. Nazaire
1942 Japan forces Java to use "Tokyo time" 1 hour forward
1942 Joe Louis KOs Abe Simon in 6 rounds to retain heavyweight boxing title (New York City)
1943 Assassination attempt on Van de Peat at Amsterdam's census bureau
1943 Blue Ribbon Town (with Groucho Marx) is first heard on CBS Radio
1943 U.S. begins assault on Fondouk-pass, Tunisia
1944 1,000 Jews leave Drancy France for Auschwitz Concentration Camp
1944 2,000 Jews are murdered in Kaunas Lithuania
1944 40 Jewish policemen in Riga Latvia ghetto are shot by the gestapo
1944 Children's Aktion-Nazis collect all the Jewish children of Lovno
1945 7th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Oklahoma State beats NYU 49-44
1945 British premier Churchill sails to eastern banks of Rhine
1945 DePaul beats Bowling Green for NIT title
1945 Ella Fitzgerald and Delta Rhythm Boys record "It's Only a Paper Moon"
1945 General Eisenhower declares German defenses on Western Front broken
1945 Iwo Jima occupied, after 22,000 Japanese and 6,000 U.S. killed
1945 U.S. 20th Army corps captures Wiesbaden
1950 Jazz pianist, Erroll Garner's solo concert (Cleveland, Ohio)
1950 Netherlands recognizes People's Republic of China
1950 WHAS TV channel 11 in Louisville, Kentucky (CBS) begins broadcasting
1951 13th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kentucky beats Kansas 68-58
1951 Frank Sinatra recorded "I'm a Fool to Want You"
1952 Failed assassination attempt of German Chancellor Adenauer
1952 Sun Records of Memphis begins releasing records
1953 21 people die in a train crash in Conneaut, Ohio
1955 9th Tony Awards: Desperate Hours and Pajama Game win
1955 Steve McQueen makes his network TV debut (Goodyear Playhouse)
1955 WPRI TV channel 12 in Providence, RI (ABC) begins broadcasting
1956 French commandos land in Algeria
1956 U.S. seizes U.S. communist newspaper "Daily Worker"
1957 29th Academy Awards - "Around World in 80 Days," Bergman, Brynner win
1958 CBS Labs announce new stereophonic records
1958 Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier and First Secretary of Communist Party
1960 Wiffi Smith wins LPGA Royal Crown Golf Open
1961 Belgium government of Eyskens resigns
1961 Failed assassination attempt on King Saif al-Islam Achmad of Yemen
1962 Ann Jellicoe's "Knack," premieres in London
1962 Archbishop Rummel ends race segregation in New Orlean Catholic school
1962 Jacques Plante ties record winning 6th NHL Vezina trophy
1964 Earthquake strikes Alaska, 8.4 on Richter scale, 118 die
1964 Great Train Robbers sentenced to a total of 307 years behind bars
1964 U.N. troops arrive on Cyprus
1966 Anti Vietnam war demonstrations in U.S., Europe and Australia
1966 Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Louise Suggs Delray Beach Golf Invitational
1968 Japanese Trade and Cultural Center (Japan Center) dedicated in San Francisco
1968 Suharto succeeds Sukarno as president of Indonesia
1969 Black Academy of Arts and Letters forms in Boston
1969 Launch of Mariner 7, flies 2,190-mi above southern Mars
1970 Ringo releases his first solo album "Sentimental Journey"
1970 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk U.S.S.R.
1971 33rd NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Villanova 68-62 UCLA wins their 5th consecutive NCAA basketball title
1972 Adolph Rupp retires after 42 years of coaching at University of Kentucky
1972 Venera 8 launched to Venus
1973 45th Academy Awards - "Godfather," Marlon Brando and Liza Minnelli win Marlon Brando turns down Oscar for best actor in support of Indians
1973 Dennis Amiss out for 99 vs. Pakistan, 3rd 99 in Test Cricket
1973 Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead) stopped for speeding and LSD possession
1976 Delta States beat Immaculata, 69-64, for AIWA basketball title
1976 Washington D.C. underground Metro opens
1977 583 die in aviation's worst disaster KLM-Pan Am 747 crash on Tenerife
1977 Sandra Palmer wins LPGA Kathryn Crosby/Honda Civic Golf Classic
1978 40th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kentucky beats Duke 94-88
1978 Bob Fosse's "Dancin'" opens at Broadhurst Theater New York City for 1,774 performances
1979 Supreme Court rules, 8-1, police can't randomly stop cars
1980 "Happy New Year" opens at Morosco Theater New York City for 17 performances
1980 "Reggae" opens at Biltmore Theater New York City for 21 performances
1980 Elevator in Vaal Reef South Africa gold mine crash 1900m down (23 die)
1980 Mount St. Helens becomes active after 123 years
1981 John Lennon releases "Watching the Wheels" in U.K.
1982 "Best Little Whorehouse..." closes at 46th St. New York City after 1,577 performances
1982 Imran takes 14-116 for cricket match vs. Sri Lanka at Lahore
1982 Randy Holt sets Washington Capitals record of 34 penalty minutes
1983 13th Easter Seal Telethon
1983 Larry Holmes beats Lucien Rodriguez in 12 rounds for heavyweight boxing title
1983 Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs," premieres in New York City
1984 Andrew Lloyd Webber/Richard Stilgoe's "Starlight Express," premieres
1985 Billy Dee Williams receives a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
1986 Disney-MGM Studio Tour ground breaking
1987 President Habre's troops reconquer Faya Largeau Chad
1988 Ice Dance Championship at Budapest won by Bestemianova and Bukin (URS)
1988 Ice Pairs Championship at Budapest won by E Valova and O Vasiliev (URS)
1988 Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Budapest won by Katarina Witt (GDR)
1988 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Budapest won by Brian Boitano (USA)
1988 Ok-Hee Ku wins Standard Register Turquoise Classic Golf Tournament
1988 Wrestlemania IV at Trump Plaza, "Macho Man" Savage pins Ted Dibiase
1989 Delhi beat Bengal by innings and 210 to win Cricket's Ranji Trophy
1989 The first half-black soap opera, "Generations," premieres on NBC-TV
1990 Bus accidentally touches high voltage wire in Karagpur India; 21 die
1990 NSW beat Queensland by 345 runs to win Sheffield Shield Final
1991 NCAA bans University of Minnesota football team from postseason play in 1992
1991 New Kid Donnie Wahlberg is arrested on arson charges in Kentucky
1991 Scotty Bowman and Neil Armstrong elected to NHL Hall of Fame
1992 Bruce Springsteen releases "Human Touch" and "Lucky Town"
1994 23rd Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Donna Andrews
1994 Church in Piedmont Alabama collapses in tornado, 19 killed
1994 Ice Dance Championship at Chiba Japan won by Gritschuk and Platov (RUS)
1994 Ice Pairs Championship at Chiba won by Shishkova/Vadim Naumov (RUS)
1994 Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Chiba won by Yuka Sato (JPN)
1994 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Chiba won by Elvis Stojko (CAN)
1994 Radio personality Rush Limbaugh weds wife #3, Marta Fitzgerald
1995 67th Academy Awards - "Forest Gump," Jessica Lange and Tom Hanks win
1996 "State Fair," opens at Music Box Theater New York City for 118 performances
1997 "Young Man From Atlanta," opens at Longacre New York City for 85 performances
1997 39 cult members in California commit mass suicide (Hale-Bopp Comet)
1997 Martin Luther King's son meets with James Earl Ray

Today In History - March 27

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