April 27
1521 - Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed in a fight with natives of the Philippines.
1805 - U.S. Marines captured Derna, on the shores of Tripoli.
1810 - Ludwig van Beethoven wrote one of his most famous piano compositions, the Bagatelle in A-minor.
1813 - The Battle of York took place in Upper Canada during the War of 1812 as a U.S. force defeated the British garrison in present-day Toronto before withdrawing.
1822 - Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States (1869-1877) and commander of the Union armies during the Civil War, was born near Point Pleasant, Ohio.
1865 - The worst steamship disaster in U.S. history occurred when there was an explosion aboard the Sultana on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee; more than 1,400 people were killed.
1941 - German forces occupied Athens during World War II.
1961 - Sierra Leone gained independence from Britain.
1965 - Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow died at age 57.
1972 - Apollo 16 returned to Earth after a manned voyage to the moon.
1973 - Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned after it was revealed that he’d destroyed files removed from the safe of Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt.
1978 - Fifty-one construction workers plunged to their deaths when a scaffold inside a cooling tower at the Pleasants Power Station site in West Virginia fell 168 feet to the ground.
1982 - John W. Hinckley Jr. went on trial in Washington, D.C., in the shooting of President Ronald Reagan. (He was acquitted by reason of insanity.)
1987 - Austrian president Kurt Waldheim was barred from entering the United States. He was accused of aiding in the execution of thousands of Jews during World War II.
1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed in Belgrade by the Republic of Serbia and its lone ally, Montenegro.
1992 - Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics won entry into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1993 - Eritrea declared its independence.
1994 - An outdoor funeral service was held for former President Richard Nixon at his presidential library in Yorba Linda, California. In attendance were all five of his presidential successors: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and sitting President Bill Clinton.
2006 - Construction began on a 1,776-foot building on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
2010 - Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was extradited from the United States to France, where he was later convicted of laundering drug money and received a seven-year sentence.
2011 - More than 120 tornadoes raked the South and Midwest, resulting in 316 deaths across parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia.
2011 - President Barack Obama produced a detailed Hawaii birth certificate in an extraordinary attempt to bury the issue of where he was born.
2012 - The space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a jumbo jet, sailed over the New York City skyline on its final flight before becoming a museum piece aboard the USS Intrepid.
2015 - Rioters plunged part of Baltimore into chaos, torching a pharmacy, setting police cars ablaze and throwing bricks at officers hours after thousands attended a funeral for Freddie Gray, a Black man who died from a severe spinal injury he’d suffered in police custody; the Baltimore Orioles’ home game against the Chicago White Sox was postponed because of safety concerns.
2021 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its guidelines on the wearing of masks outdoors, saying fully vaccinated Americans didn’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they were in a big crowd of strangers; those who were unvaccinated could also go outside without masks in some situations.
2021 - President Joe Biden signed an executive order to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors, providing a pay bump to hundreds of thousands of workers.
Birthdays
30 - Allison Iraheta (singer)
33 - Emily Rios (actress)
33 - Martha Hunt (model)
34 - Lizzo (singer)
35 - William Moseley (actor)
36 - Jenna Coleman (actress)
37 - Sheila Vand (actress)
39 - Ari Graynor (actor)
39 - Francis Capra (actor)
43 - Travis Meeks (singer)
44 - Jim James (singer)
46 - Sally Hawkins (actress)
50 - Maura West (actress)
50 - David Lascher (actor)
53 - Mica Paris (singer)
60 - James Le Gros (actor)
63 - Sheena Easton (singer)
73 - Douglas Sheehan (actor)
74 - Si Robertson (reality star)
74 - Kate Pierson (singer)
===================================
Today in Sports History - April 27
1938 - A colored baseball was used for the first time in any baseball game. The ball was yellow and was used between Columbia and Fordham Universities in New York City.
1947 - "Babe Ruth Day" was celebrated at Yankee Stadium to honor the ailing baseball star.
1961 - The NFL officially recognizes the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
1982 - The New England Patriots select Texas defensive end Kenneth Sims with the first pick in the NFL Draft.
1983 - Pitcher Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros surpassed Walter Johnson's major league career strikeouts record of 3,508 that had stood since 1927.
2017 - The Cleveland Browns selected Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett with the first pick in the NFL Draft.
1521 - Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed in a fight with natives of the Philippines.
1805 - U.S. Marines captured Derna, on the shores of Tripoli.
1810 - Ludwig van Beethoven wrote one of his most famous piano compositions, the Bagatelle in A-minor.
1813 - The Battle of York took place in Upper Canada during the War of 1812 as a U.S. force defeated the British garrison in present-day Toronto before withdrawing.
1822 - Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States (1869-1877) and commander of the Union armies during the Civil War, was born near Point Pleasant, Ohio.
1865 - The worst steamship disaster in U.S. history occurred when there was an explosion aboard the Sultana on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee; more than 1,400 people were killed.
1941 - German forces occupied Athens during World War II.
1961 - Sierra Leone gained independence from Britain.
1965 - Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow died at age 57.
1972 - Apollo 16 returned to Earth after a manned voyage to the moon.
1973 - Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned after it was revealed that he’d destroyed files removed from the safe of Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt.
1978 - Fifty-one construction workers plunged to their deaths when a scaffold inside a cooling tower at the Pleasants Power Station site in West Virginia fell 168 feet to the ground.
1982 - John W. Hinckley Jr. went on trial in Washington, D.C., in the shooting of President Ronald Reagan. (He was acquitted by reason of insanity.)
1987 - Austrian president Kurt Waldheim was barred from entering the United States. He was accused of aiding in the execution of thousands of Jews during World War II.
1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed in Belgrade by the Republic of Serbia and its lone ally, Montenegro.
1992 - Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics won entry into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1993 - Eritrea declared its independence.
1994 - An outdoor funeral service was held for former President Richard Nixon at his presidential library in Yorba Linda, California. In attendance were all five of his presidential successors: Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and sitting President Bill Clinton.
2006 - Construction began on a 1,776-foot building on the site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
2010 - Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was extradited from the United States to France, where he was later convicted of laundering drug money and received a seven-year sentence.
2011 - More than 120 tornadoes raked the South and Midwest, resulting in 316 deaths across parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia.
2011 - President Barack Obama produced a detailed Hawaii birth certificate in an extraordinary attempt to bury the issue of where he was born.
2012 - The space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a jumbo jet, sailed over the New York City skyline on its final flight before becoming a museum piece aboard the USS Intrepid.
2015 - Rioters plunged part of Baltimore into chaos, torching a pharmacy, setting police cars ablaze and throwing bricks at officers hours after thousands attended a funeral for Freddie Gray, a Black man who died from a severe spinal injury he’d suffered in police custody; the Baltimore Orioles’ home game against the Chicago White Sox was postponed because of safety concerns.
2021 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased its guidelines on the wearing of masks outdoors, saying fully vaccinated Americans didn’t need to cover their faces anymore unless they were in a big crowd of strangers; those who were unvaccinated could also go outside without masks in some situations.
2021 - President Joe Biden signed an executive order to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors, providing a pay bump to hundreds of thousands of workers.
Birthdays
30 - Allison Iraheta (singer)
33 - Emily Rios (actress)
33 - Martha Hunt (model)
34 - Lizzo (singer)
35 - William Moseley (actor)
36 - Jenna Coleman (actress)
37 - Sheila Vand (actress)
39 - Ari Graynor (actor)
39 - Francis Capra (actor)
43 - Travis Meeks (singer)
44 - Jim James (singer)
46 - Sally Hawkins (actress)
50 - Maura West (actress)
50 - David Lascher (actor)
53 - Mica Paris (singer)
60 - James Le Gros (actor)
63 - Sheena Easton (singer)
73 - Douglas Sheehan (actor)
74 - Si Robertson (reality star)
74 - Kate Pierson (singer)
===================================
Today in Sports History - April 27
1938 - A colored baseball was used for the first time in any baseball game. The ball was yellow and was used between Columbia and Fordham Universities in New York City.
1947 - "Babe Ruth Day" was celebrated at Yankee Stadium to honor the ailing baseball star.
1961 - The NFL officially recognizes the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
1982 - The New England Patriots select Texas defensive end Kenneth Sims with the first pick in the NFL Draft.
1983 - Pitcher Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros surpassed Walter Johnson's major league career strikeouts record of 3,508 that had stood since 1927.
2017 - The Cleveland Browns selected Texas A&M defensive end Myles Garrett with the first pick in the NFL Draft.
