August 27

is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining.

Events

479 BC - Greco-Persian Wars: Persian forces led by Mardonius are routed by Pausanias, the Spartan commander of the Greek army in the Battle of Plataea. Along the with the Greek victory on the same day in the Battle of Mycale, the Persian invasion of Greece ended.
55 BC - Julius Caesar lands in Britain for the first time.
410 - Visigoth sack of Rome ends after three days.
1232 - The Formulary of Adjudications is promulgated by Regent Hojo Yasutoki. (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 1232)
1776 - Battle of Long Island, in present day Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington
1798 - Battle of Castlebar
1813 - Napoleon defeats the Austrians, Russians and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden
1828 - The Russians defeat the Turks at the Battle of Akhalzic.
1859 - Petroleum discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania. World's first successful oil well.
1861 - Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
1883 - Krakatoa, an Indonesian volcano, erupts. It is one of the most violent volcanic events in modern times.
1896 - Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (9:02 to 9:40) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
1900 - British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal
1920 - Radio Argentina begins regularly scheduled transmissions from the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, considered the world's first public broadcast station.
1928 - Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war, signed by sixty nations
1937 - The automobile division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works is spun off into the Toyota Motor Corporation.
1939 - First jet aircraft flight
1952 - Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg; West Germany to pay 3 billion Deutschmarks.
1957 - The Malayan Constitution came into force.
1962 - Mariner 2 launched
1969 - The first installment of the Otoko wa Tsurai yo (It's Tough Being a Man) movies is released in Japan. Director and screenplay writer Yoji Yamada went on to make 48 installments of the series, which is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running movie series.
1979 - An IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten and 3 others on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.
1985 - The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
1990 - The British Broadcasting Corporation launches BBC Radio Five Live at 9am GMT with a mixture of sports, news, and children's programming. The station broadcasts for eighteen hours per day.
1991 - The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1991 - Moldova declares independence from the USSR.
1993 - The Florida DOT decides to cease producing its distinctive colored U.S. Highway shields so that it can make use of Federal funds for those signs.
1993 - The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed.
2000 - Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.
2003 - Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing approximately 34,646,416 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) from Earth.

Births

1407 - Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (d. 1425)
1471 - George, Duke of Saxony (d. 1539)
1637 - Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (d. 1715)
1665 - John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (d. 1751)
1677 - Otto Ferdinand Graf von Abensperg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (d. 1748)
1724 - John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-born Continental Congressman (d. 1781)
1730 - Johann Georg Hamann, German philosopher (d. 1788)
1770 - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (d. 1831)
1809 - Hannibal Hamlin, Vice President of the United States of America (d. 1891)
1858 - Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (d. 1932)
1865 - James Henry Breasted, American Egyptologist (d. 1935)
1865 - Charles G. Dawes, 30th Vice President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1951)
1870 - Amado Nervo, Mexican poet (d. 1919)
1871 - Theodore Dreiser, American author (d. 1945)
1874 - Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
1875 - Katharine McCormick, American women's rights activist (d. 1967)
1886 - Rebecca Clarke, English composer and violist (d. 1979)
1886 - Eric Coates, English composer (d. 1957)
1890 - Man Ray, photographer and artist (d. 1976)
1899 - C.S. Forester, British author (d. 1966)
1899 - Byron Foulger, American character actor (d. 1970)
1904 - Norah Lofts, British author (d. 1983)
1906 - Ed Gein, American serial killer (d. 1984)
1908 - Don Bradman, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
1908 - Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States (d. 1973)
1908 - Kurt Wegner, German artist (d. 1985)
1909 - Lester Young, American musician (d. 1959)
1910 - Mother Teresa, Albanian missionary and humanitarian, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1997)
1911 - Kay Walsh, British actress (d. 2005)
1913 - Nina Schenk von Stauffenberg, German wife of freedom fighter Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg (d. 2006)
1915 - Norman F. Ramsey, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1916 - Martha Raye, American actress (d. 1994)
1921 - Leo Penn, American film director-actor (d. 1998)
1926 - Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian mathematician, computer scientist, and politician (d. 2002)
1928 - Mangosuthu Buthelezi, South African politician
1929 - Ira Levin, American author
1932 - Antonia Fraser, British author
1935 - Frank Yablans, American film producer
1937 - Tommy Sands, American actor and singer
1940 - Sonny Sharrock, American jazz guitarist (d. 1994)
1942 - B. J. Thomas, American singer
1943 - Tuesday Weld, American actress
1945 - G.W. Bailey, American actor
1947 - Barbara Bach, American actress
1947 - Harry Reems, American actor
1950 - Charles Fleischer, American actor
1951 - Buddy Bell, baseball player-manager
1952 - Paul "Pee-Wee Herman" Reubens, American actor
1953 - Peter Stormare, Swedish-born actor
1953 - Alex Lifeson, Canadian guitarist (Rush)
1954 - Derek Warwick, British race car driver
1955 - Diana Scarwid, American actress
1957 - Bernhard Langer, German golfer
1958 - Tom Lanoye, Belgian author
1959 - Gerhard Berger, Austrian race car driver
1959 - Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian artist
1961 - Tom Ford, American fashion designer
1962 - Adam Oates, Canadian hockey player
1963 - Downtown Julie Brown, Welsh television personality
1965 - Wayne James, Zimbabwe cricketer
1966 - Juhan Parts, Prime Minister of Estonia
1969 - Reece Shearsmith, British actor and comedian
1970 - Peter Ebdon, English snooker player
1970 - Tony Kanal, English-born musician (No Doubt)
1970 - Jim Thome, baseball player
1970 - Jeff Kenna, Irish footballer
1971 - Marlon Ayoví, Ecuadorian footballer
1972 - Jimmy Pop, American Musician (The Bloodhound Gang)
1973 - Dietmar Hamann, German footballer
1973 - Jazz, Wrestler
1974 - Jose Vidro, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
1975 - Jonny Moseley, American skier
1976 - Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
1976 - Carlos Moya, Spanish tennis player
1976 - Mark Webber, Australian race car driver
1977 - Deco, Portuguese footballer
1978 - Mase, American rapper
1979 - Tian Liang, Chinese diver
1984 - Sulley Ali Muntari, Ghanaian footballer
1986 - Mario, R&B Singer
1988 - Alexa Vega, American actress

Deaths

542 - Saint Caesarius of Arles
1312 - Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1262)
1394 - Chokei, Emperor of Japan (b. 1343)
1450 - Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr, English politician (b. 1395)
1521 - Josquin Des Prez, Flemish composer
1545 - Piotr Gamrat, Polish Catholic archbishop (b. 1487)
1572 - Claude Goudimel, French composer
1577 - Titian, Italian artist
1590 - Pope Sixtus V (b. 1521)
1635 - Félix Lope de Vega, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1562)
1664 - Francisco Zurbarán, Spanish painter (b. 1598)
1748 - James Thomson, Scottish poet (b. 1700)
1773 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (b. 1721)
1875 - William Chapman Ralston, American banker (b. 1826)
1909 - Emil Christian Hansen, Danish fermentation physiologist (b. 1842)
1929 - Herman Potočnik Noordung, Slovenian rocket scientist (b. 1892)
1931 - Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (b. 1856)
1931 - Francis Marion Smith, American borax magnate (b. 1846)
1944 - Georg von Boeselager, German nobleman (b. 1915)
1948 - Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1862)
1958 - Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
1963 - Garrett Morgan, American inventor (b. 1877)
1963 - W.E.B. DuBois, American civil rights activist and scholar (b. 1868)
1964 - Gracie Allen, American actress and comedienne
1965 - Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (b. 1887)
1967 - Brian Epstein, English manager of The Beatles (b. 1934)
1968 - Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
1969 - Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (b. 1884)
1969 - Erika Mann, German writer and daughter of Thomas Mann (b. 1905)
1971 - Bennett Cerf, American publisher and television personality (b. 1898)
1975 - Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1892)
1976 - Mukesh, Indian playback singer (b. 1923)
1979 - Earl Mountbatten, British admiral and statesman (assassinated) (b. 1900)
1980 - Douglas Kenney, American humorist (b. 1947)
1988 - William Sargant, British psychiatrist (b. 1907)
1990 - Stevie Ray Vaughan, American guitarist (b. 1954)
1997 - Brandon Tartikoff, American television producer (b. 1949)
2001 - Abu Ali Mustafa, leader of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (murdered) (b. 1938)
2002 - Richard Ricci, American handyman wrongly suspected of being a kidnapper in the Elizabeth Smart case (b. 1953)
2003 - Pierre Poujade, French politician (b. 1920)
2004 - Willie Crawford, baseball player (b. 1946)
2005 - Seán Purcell, Gaelic Footballer (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances

Roman festivals - Volturnalia held in honor of Volturnus
RC Saints - Saint Monica of Hippo
Moldova - Independence Day (from the USSR, 1991)

External links

BBC: On This Day

August 26 - August 28 - July 27 - September 27 -- listing of all days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: August 27

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links