27th July, on this day

1214 Battle of Bouvines: In France, Philip II of France defeats John of England.
1501 Copernicus formally installed as canon of Frauenberg Cathedral
1549 Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reached Japan.
1586 English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh introduces tobacco to England
1661 Parliament confirms the Navigation Act
1663 The British Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.
1689 Jacobite Scottish Highlanders defeat royal force at Killiecrankie
1694 An Act of Parliament in Britain establishes the Bank of England
1794 French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution."
1816 Fort Blount on Apalachicola Bay Fla, attacked by US Troops
1836 Adelaide, South Australia founded
1844 Fire destroys the US mint at Charlotte, NC
1862 Steamer "Golden Gate" burns and sinks off west coast of Mexico 231 die
1866 Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid (1,686 miles long)
1880 Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand - In a pyrrhic victory, Afghan forces led by Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan.
1890 Artist Vincent van Gogh shots himself at the spot where he had painted Cornfield With Flight Of Birds. He dies two days later, aged 37
1909 Orville Wright tests 1st US Army airplane, flying 1h12m
1914 Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Filipino government
1917 Yser Canal is acquired by Allies at the battle of Paschendale. The trenches were empty.
1919 Chicago race riot (15 whites and 23 blacks killed, 500 injured)
1921 Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
1924 8th Olympic games closes in Paris
1940 The animated short "A Wild Hare" is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.
1940 Billboard magazine starts publishing bestseller charts
1941 Japanese forces land in Indo-China
1944 1st British jet fighter used in combat (Gloster Meteor)
1944 US regains possession of Guam from Japanese
1945 Sir Winston Churchill's last day in office
1949 The world's first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, makes its' maiden flight
1953 Korean War ends: The United States, People's Republic of China, and North Korea, sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, president of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
1954 Armistice divides Vietnam into two countries
1955 Austria regains full independence after 4-power occupation
1960 VP Nixon nominated for pres at Republican convention in Chicago
1962 Mariner 2 launched to Venus; flyby mission
1962 Martin Luther King Jr jailed in Albany, Georgia
1964 British politician Sir Winston Churchill makes his final appearance in the House of Commons
1964 Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
1968 Race Riot in Gary, Indiana
1969 English rower Tom McLean arrives off the Irish coast to become the first man to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean - from west to east - a distance of 2000 miles. His voyage took 72 days
1969 Pioneer 10 launched
1974 At Ascot, another win for English champion jockey Lester Piggott in his 3,000th race
1974 In America, the First Article of Impeachment is issued against President Richard Nixon over the alleged cover-up of the Watergate break-in
1976 8.2 Tangshan earthquake kills estimated 240,000 Chinese
1976 Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with the Lockheed bribery scandals.
1976 1st outbreak of "Legionnaire's Disease" kills 29 in Philadephia
1977 John Lennon is granted a green card for permanent residence in US
1981 On British television Coronation Street's Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event, with massive viewer numbers earned for the show.
1981 Adam Walsh is murdered in a Sears store in Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida.
1982 Indian PM Indira Gandhi 1st visit to US in almost 11 years
1983 Black July: 18 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo were massacred by the Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.
1985 English athlete Steve Cram sets a new world record for the mile - 3 minutes 46.32 seconds in Oslo
1987 John Demjanjuk, accused Nazi "Ivan the Terrible" testifies in Israel
1987 First expedited salvaging of Titanic wreckage begins by RMS Titanic, Inc.
1988 Radio Shack announces the Tandy 1000 SL computer
1990 Zsa Zsa Gabor begins a 3 day jail sentence for slapping a cop
1990 Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996 the day was celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence was transferred to June 3.
1990 The Jamaat al Muslimeen stage a coup d'état attempt in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying Parliament and the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television, holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet, as well as the staff at the television station hostage for 6 days.
1991 Rocker Jani Lane, (Warrant-Cherry Pie) marries model Bobbie Brown
1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing: In Atlanta, Georgia, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics, killing two and injuring 111.
1997 Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria; about 50 people killed.
2002 Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.
2005 STS-114: NASA grounds the Space shuttle, pending an investigation of the external tank's continued foam-shedding problem. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.
2006 The Federal Republic of Germany is deemed guilty in the loss of Bashkirian 2937 and DHL Flight 611, because it is illegal to outsource flight surveillance.
2007 Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: News helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase; there were no survivors. This was the first known incidence of two news helicopters colliding in mid-air, and the worst civil aviation incident in Phoenix history.

27th July 2006

Israel to bolster army numbers

Chavez hails Russian arms deals

French heatwave claims 64 lives

27th July 2007

Eleven killed in Red Mosque blast

Nasa astronauts 'flew when drunk'

Volatility sweeps global markets

27th July 2008

Deadly explosions hit Istanbul

Iran executes 29 in jail hangings

Floods kill 16 in eastern Europe

27th July 2009

Nigerian Islamist attacks spread

US, UK urge Taliban 'integration'

China-US economic talks kick off

27th July 2010

Sailor found dead in Afghanistan

Chechen children in Russia holiday camp brawl

4 guilty over SA humiliation

Birthdates which occurred on 27th July :

1768 Charlotte Corday assassin of Jean-Paul Marat
1801 George Biddle Airyy 7th Astronomer Royal
1824 Alexandre Dumas fils France, playwright/novelist (Camille)
1835 GiosuŠ Carducci Italy, poet (Nobel 1906)
1857 Jos‚ Celso Barbosa Puerto Rico, found Federalist Party in 1900
1867 Enrique Granados L‚rida Spain, composer (Maria del Carmen)
1870 Joseph Hilaire Belloc England, author (Path to Rome)
1877 Ern” (Ernst von) Dohn nyi Hungary, composer (Msg to Posterity)
1880 Donald Crisp Scotland, actor (How Green Was My Valley, Pollyana)
1880 Joseph Tinker baseball Hall of Famer, 1/3 of fame double play combo
1899 Harl McDonald near Boulder Colorado, composer (Santa F‚ Trail)
19-- Gwynne Gilford LA Calif, actress (Linda Harris-Waverly Wonders)
19-- Kimberley Simms actress (Mindy-Guiding Light)
19-- Mark Geary heavy metal rocker (Dangerous Toys-Hellacious Aces)
19-- Michael Evans actor (Douglas Austin-Young & Restless)
19-- Simon Jones Willshire England, comedian (The News is the News)
1904 Anton Dolin dancer (Girl From Petrovka)
1906 Leo Durocher Mass, baseball manager (Brooklyn Dodgers, NY Giants)
1912 Igor Markevitch Kiev Ukraine, conductor (Le Paradis Perdo)
1916 Kennan Wynn NYC, actor (Dr Strangelove, Absent Minded Professor)
1918 Leonard Rose Washington DC, concert cellist (NY Phil 1943-51)
1920 Beatrice Pearson Texas, actress (Moving Finger)
1922 Lillian Hayman Balt Md, actress (Leslie Uggams Show)
1922 Norman Lear TV writer/producer (All in The Family)
1924 Vincent Canby critic (NY Times)
1929 Harvey Fuqua vocalist (Moonglows-Sincerely)
1931 Jerry Van Dyke Danville Ill, actor (My Mother the Car, Coach)
1932 Diane Webber LA Calif, playmate (May, 1955 & Feb, 1956)
1937 Chuck Jackson Latta SC, singer (Any Day Now)
1937 Don Galloway Brooksville Ky, actor (Arrest & Trial, Ironside)
1938 Shirley Anne Field England, actress (Alfie, War Lover)
1939 Irv Cross NFL sportscaster (CBS-TV)
1939 James Victor Puerto Rico, actor (Boulevard Night, Streets of LA)
1942 Barbara Ferris London England, actress (Nice Girl Like Me)
1942 John Pleshette NYC, actor (Richard-Knots Landing, 7th Avenue)
1943 Stu Gilliam Detroit, actor/comedian (Roll Out, Harris & Company)
1944 Bobbie Gentry Mississippi, what did Billi-Jo throw off the bridge
1947 Betty Thomas St Louis Mo, actress (Lucy Baines-Hill Street Blues)
1948 Peggy Fleming San Jose Cal, ice figure skater (Olympic-gold-1968)
1949 Maureen McGovern Youngstown Oh, singer (Got to be a morning after)
1951 Janet Eilber Detroit Mich, actress (Hard to Hold, Romantic Comedy)
1960 Jo Durie England, tennis player
1967 Sasha Mitchell LA Calif, actor (Spike of Bensonhurst)

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Deaths which occurred on July 27th:
1883 Montgomery Blair lawyer (Dred Scot V Sandford), dies at 70
1974 Lightning Slim blues singer, dies at 61
1976 Ray Brennan becomes 1st to, die of "Legionnaire's Disease"
1980 Shah Mohammed Reza Pahavala of Iran, dies in Cairo at 60
1981 Ray Harrison dancer (American Song), dies at 64
1982 Dan Seymour actor (We the People, Sing it Again), dies at 67
1984 James Mason actor, dies at 75 of a heart attack
1986 Leroy Holmes orch leader (Tonight Show, 1956-57), dies at 72
1990 Bobby Day rocker (Rockin' Robin), dies of cancer at 60
1990 Kim Thomas-Friedland news anchor (FNN), dies at 32