On this day: 27 October

Years ago today

Events · 20

• 1644
  Second Battle of Newbury — 1644 battle that took place during the First English Civil War
• 1795
  Pinckney's Treaty — 1795 treaty that established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain
• 1907
  Černová massacre — Mass shooting in Csernova, Hungary
• 1916
  Battle of Segale — 1916 civil conflict in the Ethiopian Empire
• 1924
  Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic — union republic of the Soviet Union (1924–1991)
• 1948
  1948 Donora smog — Major Pennsylvania air pollution incident
• 1958
  1958 Pakistani coup d'état — Events surrounding the deposing of Pakistani President Iskander Mirza by Ayub Khan, Pakistani Army Commander-in-Chief
• 1964
  A Time for Choosing — political speech by Ronald Reagan in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964
• 1971
  Zaire — one-party military dictatorship in Central Africa (1965–1997) under Mobutu Sese Seko; renamed Republic of Zaire in 1971 as part of Mobutu's Authenticité policy; formerly Belgian Congo, now Democratic Republic of the Congo
• 1991
  Turkmenistan — country in Central Asia
• 1993
  Widerøe Flight 744 — 1993 aviation accident
• 1999
  1999 Armenian parliament shooting — political terrorist attack
• 2000
  Jiang Zemin slamming Hong Kong journalists — 27 October 2000 interview
• 2005
  2005 French riots — 2005 civil unrest in France
• 2011
  2011 Irish presidential election — Election
• 2017
  Catalan Republic — self-proclaimed state in 2017
• 2017
  Catalan declaration of independence — October 2017 announcement by which Catalonia declared their independence and founded the Catalan Republic
• 2018
  Pittsburgh synagogue shooting — antisemitic mass shooting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on October 27, 2018
• 2023
  Operation 1027 — 2023 rebel military operation in Myanmar
• 2023
  death of Li Keqiang — 2023 sudden death of 7th Chinese Premier Li Keqiang

Births · 60

• 1156(Julian date)
  Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse — Count of Toulouse
• 1335
  Taejo of Joseon — the first king of Joseon Dynasty in Korean history
• 1401(Julian date)
  Catherine of Valois — Queen consort of England
• 1760
  August Neidhardt von Gneisenau — Prussian field marshal (1760-1831)
• 1782
  Niccolò Paganini — Italian violinist and composer (1782–1840)
• 1811
  Isaac Singer — American businessman; inventor of the Singer sewing machine (1811-1875)
• 1842
  Giovanni Giolitti — Italian statesman (1842–1928)
• 1858
  Theodore Roosevelt — 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)
• 1894
  Fritz Sauckel — German Nazi politician and convicted war criminal (1894-1946)
• 1908
  Lee Krasner — American abstract expressionist painter (1908–1984)
• 1914
  Dylan Thomas — Welsh poet and writer (1914–1953)
• 1917
  Oliver Tambo — South African anti-apartheid activist and politician (1917–1993)
• 1918
  Teresa Wright — American actress (1918–2005)
• 1920
  K. R. Narayanan — President of India from 1997 to 2002
• 1922
  Michel Galabru — French actor (1922–2016)
• 1922
  Ruby Dee — American actress (1922–2014)
• 1923
  Roy Lichtenstein — American pop artist (1923–1997)
• 1925
  Warren Christopher — U.S. Secretary of State (1925-2011)
• 1931
  Nawal El Saadawi — Egyptian feminist writer (1931–2021)
• 1932
  Sylvia Plath — American poet and writer (1932–1963)
• 1932
  Harry Gregg — Northern Irish footballer and manager (1932-2020)
• 1932
  Jean-Pierre Cassel — French actor (1932-2007)
• 1939
  John Cleese — English comedian and actor (born 1939)
• 1940
  John Gotti — American crime boss (1940–2002)
• 1940
  Shahnaz Pahlavi — Princess of Iran

Deaths · 60

• 939(Julian date)
  Æthelstan — King of Wessex and first king of England (r. 924-939)
• 1269
  Ulrich III — Duke of Carinthia
• 1272
  Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy — Duke of Burgundy (1213-1272)
• 1303
  Beatrice of Castile — Queen of Portugal
• 1312(Julian date)
  John II — Duke of Brabant (1275-1312)
• 1327(Julian date)
  Elizabeth de Burgh — Irish noblewoman and Queen consort of Scotland (c.1284–1327)
• 1331(Julian date)
  Abulfeda — geographer and leader (1273–1331)
• 1430(Julian date)
  Vytautas — Grand Duke of Lithuania
• 1439(Julian date)
  Albert II of Germany — King of Germany, Hungary and Bohemia
• 1449(Julian date)
  Ulugh Beg — Timurid sultan, astronomer and mathematician (1394–1449)
• 1485(Julian date)
  Rodolphus Agricola — Dutch humanist (1443-1485)
• 1505(Julian date)
  Ivan III of Moscow — Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1462 to 1505
• 1553(Julian date)
  Michael Servetus — Spanish physician and theologian
• 1561(Julian date)
  Lope de Aguirre — Basque Spanish conquistador
• 1605
  Akbar — the third and greatest Mughal emperor from 1556 to 1605
• 1613
  Gabriel Báthory — Prince of Transylvania (1589-1613)
• 1674
  Hallgrímur Pétursson — Icelandic writer and minister
• 1675
  Gilles de Roberval — French mathematician (*1602 – †1675)
• 1816
  Santō Kyōden — Japanese poet and artist (1761–1816)
• 1869
  Rudolf Kner — Austrian zoologist and ichthyologist (1810–1869)
• 1880(Julian date)
  Thrasivoulos Zaimis — Prime Minister of Greece (1822–1880)
• 1921
  Yan Fu — Chinese translator (1854–1921)
• 1926
  Warren Wood — Amateur golfer (1887–1926)
• 1942
  Helmuth Hübener — German resistance member (1925–1942)
• 1943
  Seigō Nakano — Japanese journalist and politician (1886–1943)