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This day in history

This day in history: 27 December

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day232 · 125

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Key facts

399 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 27 December.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: An estimated €30 million were stolen from a Sparkasse bank in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Blessed Francesco Spoto

Christian feast day: Blessed Sára Salkaházi

Christian feast day: December 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Fabiola

Christian feast day: John the Apostle

Christian feast day: Nicarete

Christian feast day: Pope Maximus of Alexandria

Christian feast day: Theodorus and Theophanes

Constitution Day (North Korea)

Emergency Rescuer's Day (Russia)

Saint Stephen's Day (Eastern Orthodox Church; a public holiday in Romania)

The third of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)

Events

2025An estimated €30 million were stolen from a Sparkasse bank in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

2019Bek Air Flight 2100 crashes during takeoff from Almaty International Airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan, killing 13.

2009Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, Iran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.

2008Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches three-week operation on Gaza.

2007Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.

2007Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.

2004Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.

2002Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.

1999Burger King and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission order a recall of plastic Poké Ball containers after they are determined to be a choking hazard.

1997Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

1996Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Airfield which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.

1991Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 751 crashes in Gottröra in the Norrtälje Municipality in Sweden, injuring 92.

1989The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country's capital, Bucharest.

1985Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.

1983Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.

1978Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.

1968Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital crewed mission to the Moon.

1968North Central Airlines Flight 458 crashes at O'Hare International Airport, killing 28.

1966The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

1949Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence. End of the Dutch East Indies.

1945The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations.

1939The 7.8 Mw Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 32,700 people were killed.

1939Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.

1935Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.

1932Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.

1929Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".

1927Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.

1922Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.

1918The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.

1918Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine occupies Yekaterinoslav and seizes seven airplanes from the UPRAF, establishing an Insurgent Air Fleet.

1911"Jana Gana Mana", the national anthem of India, is first sung in the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.

1845Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.

1845Having coined the phrase "manifest destiny" the previous July, journalist John L. O'Sullivan argued in his newspaper New York Morning News that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country.

1836The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing eight people.

1831Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.

1814War of 1812: The destruction of the schooner USS Carolina brings to an end Commodore Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet, which fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans.

1703Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which allows Portugal to export wines to England on favorable trade terms.

1657The Flushing Remonstrance articulates for the first time in North American history that freedom of religion is a fundamental right.

1655Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.

1521The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg, disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse.

Born on this day

2001Ander Barrenetxea, Spanish footballer

1999Brock Purdy, American football player

1998Luka Garza, American basketball player

1997Ana Konjuh, Croatian tennis player

1997Jang Gyu-ri, South Korean actress

1997Mads Juel Andersen, Danish footballer

1997Vachirawit Chivaaree, Thai actor and singer

1995Ghislain Konan, Ivorian footballer

1995Mark Lapidus, Estonian chess player

1995Nick Chubb, American football player

1995Timothée Chalamet, French-American actor

1994Isi Palazón, Spanish footballer

1993Olivia Cooke, English actress

1992Joel Indermitte, Estonian footballer

1992Maicel Uibo, Estonian decathlete

1991Beth Potter, Scottish triathlete and long-distance runner

1991Chloe Bridges, American actress

1991Danny Wilson, Scottish footballer

1991Michael Morgan, Australian rugby league player

1990Jonathan Marchessault, Canadian ice hockey player

1990Max Lindholm, Finnish figure skater

1990Milos Raonic, Canadian tennis player

1990Zelina Vega, American wrestler

1989Ingrid Várgas Calvo, Peruvian tennis player

1988Hayley Williams, American singer-songwriter

1988Hera Hilmar, Icelandic actress

1988Jorge Gutiérrez, Mexican basketball player

1988Ok Taec-yeon, South Korean singer and actor

1988Rick Porcello, American baseball player

1988Zavon Hines, Jamaican-English footballer

1987Lily Cole, English model

1986Jamaal Charles, American football player

1986Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaican sprinter

1986Torah Bright, Australian snowboarder

1985Adil Rami, French footballer

1985Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Belgian racing driver

1985Logan Bailly, Belgian footballer

1985Paul Stastny, Canadian-American ice hockey player

1984Andrejs Perepļotkins, Ukrainian-Latvian footballer

1984Gilles Simon, French tennis player

Died on this day

2024Charles Shyer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1941)

2024Greg Gumbel, American sportscaster (born 1946)

2024Olivia Hussey, Argentinian-English actress (born 1951)

2023Gaston Glock, Austrian firearm engineer and founder of Glock (born 1929)

2023Lee Sun-kyun, South Korean actor (born 1975)

2019Maria Creveling, American League of Legends player (born 1995)

2018Frank Blaichman, Polish resistance fighter (born 1922)

2016Carrie Fisher, American actress, screenwriter, author, producer, and speaker (born 1956)

2016Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Sri Lankan politician (born 1933)

2015Alfredo Pacheco, Salvadoran footballer (born 1982)

2015Dave Henderson, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1958)

2015Ellsworth Kelly, American painter and sculptor (born 1923)

2015Meadowlark Lemon, American basketball player and minister (born 1932)

2015Stein Eriksen, Norwegian-American skier (born 1927)

2015Stevie Wright, English-Australian singer-songwriter (born 1947)

2014Ben Ammi Ben-Israel, American-Israeli religious leader, founded the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem (born 1939)

2014Karel Poma, Belgian bacteriologist and politician (born 1920)

2014Ronald Li, Hong Kong accountant and businessman (born 1929)

2014Ulises Estrella, Ecuadorian poet and academic (born 1939)

2013Farooq Sheikh, Indian actor, philanthropist and a popular television presenter (born 1948)

2013Gianna D'Angelo, American soprano and educator (born 1929)

2013John Matheson, Canadian colonel, lawyer, and politician (born 1917)

2013Mohamad Chatah, Lebanese economist and politician, Lebanese Minister of Finance (born 1951)

2013Richard Ambler, English-Scottish biologist and academic (born 1933)

2012Archie Roy, Scottish astronomer and academic (born 1924)

2012Harry Carey, Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1921)

2012Lloyd Charmers, Jamaican singer, keyboard player, and producer (born 1938)

2012Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., American general and engineer (born 1934)

2012Salt Walther, American race car driver (born 1947)

2012Tingye Li, Chinese-American physicist and engineer (born 1931)

Quote of the day

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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