Historical Events and Current Affairs on February 27

1526: Saxony & Hesse form League of Gotha (league of Protestant princes)
1531: Evangelical German monarchy/towns form Schmalkaldische Union
1557: 1st Russian Embassy opens in London, Russia & US sign trade agreement
1563: William Byrd is appointed organist at Lincoln Cathedral
1594: Henri IV crowned king of France
1665: Battle at Elmina, Gold Coast: Vice-adm De Ruyter beats English
1667: Abraham Crijnssen conquerors Fort Willoughby (Zeelandia), Suriname
1670: Jews expelled from Austria by order of Leopold I
1678: Earl of Shaftesbury freed out of London Tower
1696: English/Welsh nobles lay down Oath of Assn
1700: Pacific Island of New Britain discovered
1713: French troops bomb Willemstad Cura‡ao
1801: Washington DC placed under Congressional jurisdiction
1803: Great fire in Bombay, India
1813: 1st federal vaccination legislation enacted
1813: Congress authorizes use of steamboats to transport mail
1814: Ludwig von Beethovens 8th Symphony in F, premieres
1816: Dutch regain Suriname
1827: 1st Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans
1844: Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti (National Day)
1854: Composer Robert Schumann saved from suicide attempt in Rhine
1861: Russians shoot at Poles protesting Russian rule of Poland
1861: US Congress authorizes 1st stamped newspaper wrappers for mailing
1861: Warsaw Massacre: Russians fire on crowd demonstrating against Russia
1864: 6th & last day of battle at Dalton, Georgia (about 600 casualties)
1864: Near Andersonville GA, rebels open a new POW camp "Camp Sumpter"
1865: Civil War skirmish near Sturgeon, Missouri
1869: John Menard is 1st black to make a speech in Congress
1871: Meeting of Alabama claims commission
1872: Charlotte Ray, 1st Black woman lawyer, graduated Harvard U
1873: Dutch socialist Samuel van Wooden demands law against child labor
1877: US Electoral College declares R Hayes winner presidential election
1879: Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener)
1881: Battle at Amajuba, S Afr: Boers vs Brit army under Gen Colley
1883: Oscar Hammerstein patents 1st cigar-rolling machine
1890: D Needham & P Kerrigan box 100 rounds (6 h 39 m), SF; match is draw
1900: Battle at Pietershoogte
1900: Boer General Cronj‚ surrenders to English in Pardenberg, South-Africa
1900: British Labour Party forms
1901: except after two strikes
1901: NL Rules Committee decrees that all fouls are to count as strikes
1906: France & Britain agree to joint control of New Hebrides
1908: Sacrifice fly adopted (repealed in 1931, reinstated 1954)
1908: Star #46 was added to US flag for Oklahoma
1912: Lord Kitchener opens Khartoum-El Obeid (Nyala) railway
1919: 1st public performance of Holst's "Planets"
1919: American Association for Hard of Hearing forms (NYC)
1921: US female Figure Skating championship won by Theresa Weld Blanchard
1921: US male Figure Skating championship won by Sherwin Badger
1922: Commerce Sec Herbert Hoover convenes 1st National Radio Conference
1922: G B Shaw's "Back to Methusaleh I/II," premieres in NYC
1922: Supreme Court unanimously upheld 19th amend woman's right to vote
1924: Belgium's Theunis govt falls
1925: Hitler's resurrects NSDAP political party in Munich
1929: Turkey signs Litvinov-pact
1930: Bouvet Island declared a Norwegian dependency
1932: Explosion in coal mine Boissevain, Virginia, USA (38 dead)
1933: German parliament building, Reichstag, destroyed by fire
1933: Jean Genet's "Intermezzo," premieres in Paris
1933: Nazis set fire to German parliament, blame it on Communists
1936: Willy den Ouden swims world record 100 m free style (1:04.6)
1938: Britain & France recognize Franco govt in Spain
1939: Belgian govt of Pierlot falls
1939: English Spook house Borley Rectory destroyed in a fire
1939: France recognizes Franco's regime in Spain
1939: Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes
1942: 1st transport of French Jews to nazi-Germany
1942: Battle of Java Sea began 13 US warships sunk-2 Japanese
1942: J S Hey discovers radio emissions from Sun
1945: Battle of US 94 Infantry
1946: 4th "Road" film, "Road to Utopia" premieres (NYC)
1947: Paul-Emile Victor French polar expeditions organized
1949: Chaim Weizmann becomes 1st Israeli president
1950: General Chiang Kai-shek elected president of Nationalist China
1951: 22nd amendment ratified, limiting president to 2 terms
1956: Elvis Presley's releases "Heartbreak Hotel"
1956: Female suffrage in Egypt
1957: "Xavier Cugat Show" on NBC (until X-Files)
1957: Mao's speech "On Correct Handling of Contradictions Among People"
1957: Premiere of only prime-time network TV show beginning with an "X":
1958: USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1959: Boston Celtic Bob Cousy sets NBA record with 28 assists
1959: Boston Celtics score 173 points against Minneapolis Lakers
1959: Chicago Cards trade running back Ollie Matson to LA Rams for 9 players
1960: Oil pipe line from Rotterdam to Ruhrgebied opens
1960: US Olympic Ice Hockey Team beats USSR 3-2 en route to gold medal
1962: South-Vietnam pres Ngo Dinh Diem's palace bombed, 1st US killed
1963: Mickey Mantle of NY Yankees sign a baseball contract worth $100,000
1964: "What Makes Sammy Run?" opens at 84th St Theater NYC for 540 perfs
1965: "High Spirits" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 375 performances
1965: Dutch Marijnen govt resigns
1965: France performs Underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria
1966: Ice Dance Championship at Davos won by Diane Towler/Bernard Ford GRB
1966: Ice Pairs Championship at Davos won by Belousova & Protopopov of URS
1966: Ladies Figure Skating Championship in Davos won by Peggy Fleming of US
1966: Men's Figure Skating Championship in Davos won by Emmerich Danzer AUT
1967: Antigua & St Christopher-Nevis become associated states of UK
1967: Dominica gains independence from England
1967: Pink Floyd release their 1st single "Arnold Layne"
1967: Rio de la Plata Treaty
1969: Gen Hafez al-Assad becomes head of Syria via milt coup
1969: President Nixon visits West-Berlin
1970: NY Times (falsely) reports US army has ended domestic surveillance
1972: Pres Nixon & Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issued Shanghai Communique
1973: American Indian Movement occupy Wounded Knee in South Dakota
1973: Dick Allen signs a record $675,000 3-yr contract with White Sox
1973: L Kohoutek discovers asteroids 1999 Hirayama, 2407, 2472, 2541 & 2901
1973: Members of American Indian Movement begin occupation of Wounded Knee
1973: Pope Paul VI publishes constitution motu proprio Quo aptius
1973: White Sox slugger Dick Allen signs 3-year $750,000 contract
1974: "People" magazine begins sales
1974: US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1975: CDU-politician Peter Lorentz kidnapped in West Berlin
1975: House of Reps pass $21.3 billion anti-recession tax-cut bill
1976: Final meeting between Mao tse Tung & Richard Nixon
1976: P Wild discovers asteroids #2080 Jihlava, #2081 Sazava & #2088 Sahlia
1977: Keith Richards gets suspended sentence for heroin possession, Canada
1978: France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1980: 22nd Grammy Awards: What a Fool Believe, Streisand-Diamond duet
1980: Israel & Egypt exchange ambassadors
1980: Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF wins elections in Zimbabwe
1980: Terrorists occupies Dominican embassy in Bogota
1981: Greatest passenger load on a commercial airliner-610 on Boeing 747
1981: Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder record "Ebony & Ivory"
1982: Dan Issel (NBA-Nuggets), hits on 63rd consecutive free throw
1982: Earl Anthony becomes 1st pro bowler to win more than $1 million
1982: France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1982: Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta
1983: Eamonn Coghlan set indoor mile record of 3:49.78
1984: Carl Lewis jumps world record indoor (8,675 m)
1984: Worker's union leader Billy Nair freed in South Africa
1984: WRC-AM in Washington DC changes call letters to WWRC
1985: Farmers converge in Washington to demand economic relief
1985: Mauritania's new constitutional charter published
1985: US dollar is worth Ÿ3.9355 (Netherlands)
1987: "Washington Week In Review," 20th anniversary on PBS
1987: Donald Regan resigned as White House chief of staff
1987: Mike Conley triple jumps world indoor record (17.76m)
1987: NCAA cancels SMU's entire 1987 football schedule for gross
1987: violations of NCAA rules regarding athletic corruption
1988: Bonnie Blair (US) wins Olympic 500m speed skating in record 39.1
1988: Gulfstream G-IV goes around the world 36:08:34
1988: Katarina Witt (GDR) wins 2nd consecutive Olympic figure skating
1989: German war criminals Aus der Fnten/Fischer, freed in Holland
1990: Exxon Corp & Exxon Shipping are indicted on 5 criminal counts (Valdez)
1990: No one elected to Hall of Fame for 2nd time in 3 years
1991: Ben Elton's "Silly Cow," premieres in London
1991: Gulf War ends after Iraqi troops retreated & Kuwait is liberated
1991: Noureddine Morcelli set 1500m mark at 3:34:16
1991: Singer James Brown is released from prison
1991: US led allied 6 week war with Iraq ends
1992: Larry Smith, named 9th Commissioner of the CFL
1993: PBA National Championship Won by Ron Palombi Jr
1994: 17th Winter Olympic games closes in Lillehammer, Norway
1994: Maronite church near Beirut bombed, 10 killed
1995: Car bomb explodes in Zakho, North-Iraq (54-80 killed)
1996: Mark Waugh scores 126 in World Cup against India
1997: "Last Night of Ballyhoo" opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC
1997: Singer Sade (Helen Folasade), arrest in Jamaica for disobeying a cop
1998: 14th Soap Opera Digest Awards
1998: Apple discontinues developing Newton computer
1998: FBI arrests 10 most wanted suspected serial killer Tony Ray Amati
1998: NE Patriot David Meggett arrested in Toronto on sex assault charges
2008: BBC to hire 45 employees from ethnic minorities by 2011
2008: McCain, Obama in heated exchange over Iraq
2008: Shooting at L.A. bus stop leaves 8 wounded

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