Saturday, 27th December 2025 in Lisbon

27th December in the Stars – Star Sign Capricorn

Today, the zodiac sign Capricorn celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality Those born on 27 December blend Capricorn ambition with Mercury's intellect, creating a thoughtful, goal-oriented nature. They think structurally and communicate with precision, seizing opportunities aligned with their reasoning. Subtle wit and profound ideas punctuate their otherwise pragmatic demeanor.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their strength lies in combining discipline with sharp thinking—they solve complex problems elegantly. Weakness: excessive self-criticism and emotional restraint can hinder intimacy and personal connections.

Love These natives need partners who appreciate intellectual depth and respect their nature. They express love through reliability rather than grand gestures, building relationships consciously and deliberately.

Caree & Finance Applying analytical abilities toward science, administration, or management brings success. Financial stability comes naturally; they plan long-term and systematically minimize risk with natural precision.

Health Those born 27 December thrive with regular exercise and mental stimulation. Learning to consciously manage stress rather than burying themselves in work is essential to prevent burnout.

That night, the moon was in its waning gibbous phase.

Chinese year of the Snake (Wood).

Fun Facts About 27th December

Name Days in Your Language: Adwin, Alvern, Alverna, Alvin, Alvina, Alwin, Elvin, Elvina, Elvira, Elvita, Elwin

Someone born on this day would be just 178 days old today — roughly 4,275 hours, 256,543 minutes, or 15,392,600 seconds spent on Earth so far.

It's the 361. day of the year. In 2025, 27th December falls on a Saturday.

There are 4 days still to come.

We’re currently in Week 52 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 27th December

On this day, 231 notable people were born on 27th December — spanning from 1350 to 2001. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

27/12/2001

Ander Barrenetxea, Spanish footballer

Ander Barrenetxea Muguruza, commonly known mononymously as Barrene, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for Real Sociedad and the Spain national team.

27/12/1999

Brock Purdy, American football player

Brock Richard Purdy is an American professional football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa State Cyclones and was selected by the 49ers with the final pick in the 2022 NFL draft, becoming that year's Mr. Irrelevant.

27/12/1998

Luka Garza, American basketball player

Luka Hudson Garza is a Bosnian-American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

27/12/1997

Mads Juel Andersen, Danish footballer

Mads Juel Andersen is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for EFL League One club Luton Town.

Vachirawit Chivaaree, Thai actor and singer

Vachirawit Chivaaree, also known as Bright Vachirawit or Bright, is a Thai actor, singer, and entrepreneur. He is known for his role in the 2gether series franchise and F4 Thailand: Boys Over Flowers, for the films Congrats My Ex! and Love You To Debt, for show Toe Laew, for album Adolescent, and for song "Lost & Found". He is the founder of ASTRO Stuffs merchandise and Cloud9 Entertainment agency. He was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 under Asia Entertainment in 2024.

Ana Konjuh, Croatian tennis player

Ana Konjuh is a Croatian tennis player.

Jang Gyu-ri, South Korean actress

Jang Gyu-ri is a South Korean actress and former singer. She finished ninth in Mnet's girl group survival show Idol School, becoming a member of the resulting girl group Fromis 9, but left after her contract expired with Pledis Entertainment in July 2022, and later transitioned to an acting career. She gained more recognition after starring in the television series It's Okay to Not Be Okay (2020).

27/12/1995

Timothée Chalamet, French-American actor

Timothée Hal Chalamet is an American and French actor. Known for his work in a diverse range of blockbusters and independent films, he is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Actor Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Critics' Choice Awards, in addition to nominations for four Academy Awards, six British Academy Film Awards, and a Grammy Award. His films as a leading actor have grossed over US$2.3 billion worldwide.

Nick Chubb, American football player

Nicholas Jamaal Chubb is an American professional football running back. He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs and was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the second round of the 2018 NFL draft. Across his seven seasons with the Browns, Chubb was a four-time Pro Bowler and a second-team All-Pro in 2022. Chubb has also played for the Houston Texans.

Ghislain Konan, Ivorian footballer

Ghislain N'Clomande Konan is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Primeira Liga club Gil Vicente and the Ivory Coast national team.

Mark Lapidus, Estonian chess player

Mark Lapidus is an Estonian chess player who won the Estonian Chess Championship in 2012.

27/12/1994

Isi Palazón, Spanish footballer

Isaac Palazón Camacho, better known as Isi Palazón, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as attacking midfielder or right midfielder for La Liga club Rayo Vallecano.

27/12/1993

Olivia Cooke, English actress

Olivia Kate Cooke is an English actress. She has appeared as Alicent Hightower in the fantasy drama television series House of the Dragon (2022–present), Emma Decody in the thriller Bates Motel (2013–2017), Becky Sharp in the period drama Vanity Fair (2018), spy Sidonie "Sid" Baker in the Apple TV thriller Slow Horses (2022), and Cherry Laine in the psychological thriller The Girlfriend (2025).

27/12/1992

Joel Indermitte, Estonian footballer

Joel Indermitte is a retired Estonian footballer and current football manager. He played the position of centre back.

Maicel Uibo, Estonian decathlete

Maicel Uibo is an Estonian decathlete. While competing for the University of Georgia, he won the 2014 and 2015 NCAA championships in decathlon. Uibo won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships, setting his personal best in the event with 8604 points.

27/12/1991

Chloe Bridges, American actress

Chloe Marisa Suazo Devine, known professionally as Chloe Bridges, is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Zoey Moreno in the sitcom Freddie (2005–2006) and as Dana Turner in the Disney Channel original film Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010). She has starred in the films Forget Me Not (2009), Family Weekend (2013), Mantervention (2014), The Final Girls (2015), and Nightlight (2015). She has also portrayed Donna LaDonna in The Carrie Diaries, Sydney in Pretty Little Liars, and Kibby in Daytime Divas. Born in Thibodaux, Louisiana, she was raised in nearby Houma.

Michael Morgan, Australian rugby league player

Michael Morgan is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the NRL.

Beth Potter, Scottish triathlete and long-distance runner

Beth Potter is a Scottish triathlete and long distance runner. She competed for Great Britain in athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In 2019 she won the gold medal at the European Triathlon Championships in Weert, Netherlands. In 2022, she won individual bronze at the 2022 World Triathlon Sprint Championships, and silver with Team Great Britain in the World Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships. In 2023, she won the Elite championship in the World Triathlon Championship Series, becoming the sixth British women's world champion.

Danny Wilson, Scottish footballer

Daniel John Wilson is a Scottish footballer who last played for Scottish Championship club Livingston.

27/12/1990

Max Lindholm, Finnish figure skater

Max Lindholm is a Finnish former ice dancer. With partner Olesia Karmi, he is the 2015 CS Ice Challenge bronze medalist, 2014 NRW Trophy bronze medalist, and a two-time Finnish national champion. The duo reached the free skate at two ISU Championships – 2013 Europeans in Zagreb and 2015 Europeans in Stockholm. They were 22nd at the 2013 World Championships in London, Ontario.

Jonathan Marchessault, Canadian ice hockey player

Jonathan Marchessault is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a forward for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and the Vegas Golden Knights.

Milos Raonic, Canadian tennis player

Milos Raonic is a Canadian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, making him the highest-ranked Canadian in ATP history. Raonic won eight ATP Tour titles, and reached a major final at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. Raonic first gained widespread recognition by reaching the fourth round of the 2011 Australian Open as a qualifier. Coupled with his first ATP Tour title three weeks later, his world ranking rose from No. 152 to No. 37 in one month, and he was named the 2011 ATP Newcomer of the Year. Raonic was the first player born in the 1990s to be ranked in the top 10 and to qualify for the ATP Finals. His career highlights include his 2016 Wimbledon final, two other major semifinals at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships and 2016 Australian Open, and four Masters finals. He was the first Canadian man in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon final, the Australian Open semifinals, and the French Open quarterfinals. Raonic was frequently described as having one of the best serves among his contemporaries. Statistically, Raonic is one of the best servers in the Open Era, winning 91% of service games to rank. Aided by his serve, he played an all-court style with an emphasis on short points. All his singles titles were won on hardcourts. His overall winning percentage of 68% was one of the highest among players of his era.

Zelina Vega, American wrestler

Thea Megan Trinidad Büdgen is an American professional wrestler. She is best known for her tenure in WWE under the ring name Zelina Vega.

27/12/1989

Ingrid Várgas Calvo, Peruvian tennis player

Ingrid Esperanza Várgas Calvo is a Peruvian former tennis player.

27/12/1988

Jorge Gutiérrez, Mexican basketball player

Jorge Iván Gutiérrez Cárdenas is a Mexican former professional basketball player currently working as an assistant coach for the Long Island Nets of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the California Golden Bears. He is considered one the best Mexican basketball players of all time.

Hera Hilmar, Icelandic actress

Hera Hilmarsdóttir, known professionally as Hera Hilmar, is an Icelandic actress. Starting her career as a child actor, she has been active in the film industry since 1995.

Zavon Hines, Jamaican-English footballer

Zavon Albert Hines is a football coach and former professional footballer who played as a winger. He is currently assistant coach for the West Ham United under-18 team.

Ok Taec-yeon, South Korean singer and actor

Ok Taec-yeon, known mononymously as Taecyeon, is a South Korean rapper, singer, actor, and entrepreneur. In 2008, he debuted as the rapper of the South Korean boy band 2PM. In 2010, Ok debuted as an actor in the Korean drama Cinderella's Stepsister and has since starred in notable television series such as Dream High (2011), Bring It On, Ghost (2016), Vincenzo (2021), and The First Night with the Duke (2025), as well as films such as Hansan: Rising Dragon (2022). As a solo artist, he has released one Japanese studio album titled Taecyeon Special: Winter Hitori in 2017.

Rick Porcello, American baseball player

Frederick Alfred Porcello III is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and New York Mets.

Hayley Williams, American singer-songwriter

Hayley Nichole Williams is an American singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist and a founding member of the rock band Paramore and has released several solo albums.

27/12/1987

Lily Cole, English model

Lily Luahana Cole is an English actress, model, author, and entrepreneur. Cole pursued a modelling career as a teenager and was listed in 2009 by Vogue Paris as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s. She was booked for her first British Vogue cover at age 16, named "Model of the Year" at the 2004 British Fashion Awards and has worked with many well-known brands, including Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Jean Paul Gaultier and Moschino. Her advertising campaigns have included Longchamp, Anna Sui, Rimmel and Cacharel.

27/12/1986

Torah Bright, Australian snowboarder

Torah Jane Bright is an Australian former professional snowboarder. She is Australia's second most successful Winter Olympian, former Olympic gold and silver medalist, two time X Games gold medalist, three time US Open winner, two time Global Open Champion, three time World Superpipe Champion, former TTR World Champion and recipient of the Best Female Action Sports Athlete at the ESPY awards. In 2014 Bright became the first Olympic athlete to qualify for all three snowboarding disciplines; halfpipe, slopestyle and boarder-cross.

Jamaal Charles, American football player

Jamaal RaShaad Jones Charles is an American former professional football player who was a running back for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs. He played college football for the Texas Longhorns, where he won the 2006 Rose Bowl, and was selected by the Chiefs in the third round of the 2008 NFL draft.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaican sprinter

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is a retired Jamaican track and field sprinter who competed in the 60 metres, 100 m and 200 m. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time.

27/12/1985

Logan Bailly, Belgian footballer

Logan Bailly is a Belgian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Having started his career at Genk, Bailly has had spells at German Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach, Scottish Premiership club Celtic and Belgian Pro League side Oud-Heverlee Leuven. In March 2021 he announced to have signed with Bressoux playing in the Belgian Provincial Leagues, but early August of that same year he instead retired and became goalkeeper manager at FC Differdange 03. He became goalkeeper manager at Virton, but due to several injured goalkeepers he suddenly appeared in the three final matches of the 2023–2024 season. The following season he remained third goalkeeper and would go on to make four more appearances, after now officially retiring at 39 years of age in May of 2025.

Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Belgian racing driver

Jérôme d'Ambrosio is a Belgian motorsport executive and former racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2011 to 2012. Since 2024, d'Ambrosio has served as deputy team principal of Ferrari in Formula One, as well as the head of the Ferrari Driver Academy.

Adil Rami, French footballer

Adil Rami is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Paul Stastny, Canadian-American ice hockey player

Paul Stastny is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey center who played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets, Vegas Golden Knights, and Carolina Hurricanes.

27/12/1984

Andrejs Perepļotkins, Ukrainian-Latvian footballer

Andrejs Perepļotkins is a Ukrainian born Latvian former footballer, who used to primarily play as a winger.

Gilles Simon, French tennis player

Gilles Simon is a French former tennis player. He turned professional in 2002 and won fourteen singles titles on the ATP Tour, and attained a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 6, on 5 January 2009.

27/12/1983

Anthony Boric, New Zealand rugby union player

Anthony Frank Boric is a former rugby union footballer who represented the New Zealand in international rugby, and was a member of the 2011 Rugby World Cup winning All Blacks squad. He played as a lock.

Cole Hamels, American baseball player

Colbert Michael Hamels, nicknamed "Hollywood", is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (2006–2015), Texas Rangers (2015–2018), Chicago Cubs (2018–2019), and Atlanta Braves (2020).

Jesse Williams, American high jumper

Jesse Daniel Williams is an American high jumper and the 2011 World Champion. He was ranked the #2 jumper in the world, outdoors, in 2010 and #1 in the world in 2011. He has jumped 53 centimeters above his height, a differential which places him among the top 20 jumpers of all time.

27/12/1982

Erin E. Stead, American illustrator

Erin E. Stead is an American illustrator of children's books. She won the 2011 Caldecott Medal for the year's best-illustrated U.S. picture book, recognizing her first publication, A Sick Day for Amos McGee.

27/12/1981

David Aardsma, American baseball player

David Allan Aardsma is an American former professional baseball pitcher, currently serving in the Toronto Blue Jays front office as a coordinator of player development. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2004 to 2015 for the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Atlanta Braves. Aardsma is notable as the first player in alphabetical order among all of those who have ever played in MLB.

Emilie de Ravin, Australian actress

Emilie de Ravin is an Australian actress. She first gained recognition for playing Tess Harding on The WB's science fiction television series Roswell (2000–2002). She went on to portray Claire Littleton on the ABC drama series Lost, and Belle on the ABC fantasy adventure series Once Upon a Time (2011–2018). De Ravin's film credits include Santa's Slay (2005), The Hills Have Eyes (2006) and Ball Don't Lie (2008), Brick (2005), Public Enemies (2009) and Remember Me (2010).

Jay Ellis, American actor

Wendell Ramone "Jay" Ellis Jr. is an American actor. In 2013, Ellis received his first major role on BET's series The Game. His role as Martin "Lawrence" Walker in the HBO series Insecure (2016–2021), earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series. He later starred in the horror film Escape Room (2019) and appeared in Top Gun: Maverick (2022).

Moise Joseph, American-Haitian runner

Moise Joseph is a Haitian middle-distance runner specializing in the 800 meters. He competed at the Summer Olympics in 2004 and 2012.

Patrick Sharp, Canadian ice hockey player

Patrick Sharp is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, and Dallas Stars. After his retirement as a player, Sharp worked as an analyst for NBC Sports and as a color commentary for Blackhawks broadcasts on NBC Sports Chicago. He joined the Flyers in 2023 as a special adviser to hockey operations. Sharp was also a member of the University of Vermont coaching staff in 2021.

27/12/1980

Bernard Berrian, American football player

Bernard Berrian is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Fresno State Bulldogs, earning first-team All-American honors in 2001. Berrian was selected by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2004 NFL draft. He also played in the NFL for the Minnesota Vikings.

Claudio Castagnoli, Swiss wrestler

Claudio Castagnoli is a Swiss professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). He is a member of the Death Riders faction. Castagnoli is also known for his work in Ring of Honor (ROH) through the 2000s and early 2020s, and for his tenure with WWE between 2011 and 2022, where he performed under the ring names Cesaro and Antonio Cesaro.

Dahntay Jones, American basketball player

Dahntay Lavall Jones is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Duke Blue Devils. Jones played in the NBA as a small forward and shooting guard from 2003 to 2017. He won an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.

Meelis Kompus, Estonian journalist

Meelis Kompus is an Estonian civil servant and former Estonian TV and radio host, employed by the Estonian Public Broadcasting.

27/12/1979

Pascale Dorcelus, Canadian weightlifter

Pascale Dorcelus is a Canadian weightlifter.

David Dunn, English footballer and manager

David John Ian Dunn is an English former professional football player, manager and coach.

Carson Palmer, American football player

Carson Hilton Palmer is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. Palmer played college football for the USC Trojans, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2002. He was selected first overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2003 NFL draft.

27/12/1978

Deuce McAllister, American football player

Dulymus Jenod "Deuce" McAllister is an American former professional football player who was a running back for eight seasons with the New Orleans Saints in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels and was selected by the Saints in the first round of the 2001 NFL draft. McAllister was selected to two Pro Bowls in his career.

Lisa Jakub, Canadian actress

Lisa Jakub is a Canadian writer, yoga teacher, and former child actress. She is best known for her roles as Lydia Hillard in the comedy-drama film Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and as Alicia Casse in Independence Day (1996).

27/12/1977

Jacqueline Pillon, Canadian actress

Jacqueline Patricia Pillon is a Canadian actress.

Chris Tate, English footballer

Christopher Douglas Tate is an English former footballer who played as a striker for various teams in the Football League.

27/12/1976

Nikolaos Georgeas, Greek footballer

Nikolaos "Nikos" Georgeas is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a right-back. He was most recently administrative director of AEK Athens Academy.

Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (died 2009)

Piotr Morawski was a Polish mountaineer. He achieved the first successful winter ascent together with Simone Moro of Shishapangma on 14 January 2005. Morawski died aged 32 during an international Dhaulagiri/Manaslu expedition in Nepal. He fell into a crevasse at an elevation of 5500 m while acclimatizing.

Daimí Pernía, Cuban basketball player and hurdler

Daimí Pernía Figueroa is a retired Cuban athlete competing mainly in 400 m hurdles. A former basketball player, she did not rise to international level until 1999, when she lowered her personal best from 55.51s to 52.89s and even became world champion. She announced her retirement in 2007.

Fernando Pisani, Canadian-Italian ice hockey player

Fernando Antonio Pisani is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger. He played professionally in the National Hockey League for his hometown Edmonton Oilers for seven NHL seasons, and one for the Chicago Blackhawks.

27/12/1975

Aigars Fadejevs, Latvian race walker and therapist

Aigars Fadejevs was a Latvian athlete, competing in 20 km, 50 km walk, and marathon running, and a physiotherapist for sprinters and other athletes. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 50 km race walk, and was named the Latvian Sportsperson of the Year in 2000.

Heather O'Rourke, American actress (died 1988)

Heather Michele O'Rourke was an American child actress. She had her breakthrough starring as Carol Anne Freeling in the supernatural horror film Poltergeist (1982), which received critical acclaim and established her as an influential figure in the genre. She went on to reprise the role in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and Poltergeist III (1988), the last of which was released posthumously.

27/12/1974

Tomáš Janků, Czech high jumper

Tomáš Janků is a former Czech high jumper.

Masi Oka, Japanese-American actor and visual effects designer

Masayori "Masi" Oka is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist based in the United States who became widely known for starring in NBC's Heroes as Hiro Nakamura, for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and in CBS's Hawaii Five-0 as Doctor Max Bergman.

Fumiko Orikasa, Japanese voice actress and singer

Fumiko Orikasa is a Japanese actress, voice actress, and singer. She voiced Ruki Makino in Digimon Tamers, Rukia Kuchiki in Bleach, Meyrin Hawke in Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny, Chun-Li in Street Fighter, Kanade Minamino/Cure Rhythm in Suite PreCure, Lotte Yanson in Little Witch Academia, and Riza Hawkeye in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.

Jay Pandolfo, American ice hockey player and coach

Jay Paul Pandolfo is an American college ice hockey coach and former professional forward. He is currently the head coach of the Boston University Terriers.

27/12/1973

Wilson Cruz, American actor

Wilson Cruz is an American actor known for playing Rickie Vasquez on My So-Called Life, Dr. Hugh Culber on Star Trek: Discovery, and the recurring character Junito on Noah's Arc. As a gay man of Afro-Puerto Rican ancestry, he has served as an advocate for gay youth, especially gay minorities.

Kristoffer Zegers, Dutch pianist and composer

Kristoffer Zegers is a Dutch composer.

27/12/1972

Colin Charvis, Welsh rugby union player and coach

Colin Charvis is a former professional rugby union player. A back row forward, Charvis was equally adept as a flanker or at number 8. Born in Sutton Coldfield, England, he captained the Wales national team from 2002 to 2004, and also played for the British & Irish Lions on their tour of Australia in 2001.

Kevin Ollie, American basketball player and coach

Kevin Jermaine Ollie is an American basketball coach and former player who most recently was the interim head coach for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Matt Slocum, American guitarist and songwriter

Matt Slocum is an American musician and songwriter, known for his work as the principal songwriter and lead guitarist of Sixpence None the Richer.

27/12/1971

Duncan Ferguson, Scottish footballer and coach

Duncan Cowan Ferguson is a Scottish football manager and former player.

Guthrie Govan, English guitarist and educator

Guthrie Govan is an English guitarist and guitar teacher, known for his work with the bands the Aristocrats, Asia, GPS, the Young Punx and the Fellowship, as well as his solo project Erotic Cakes. More recently, he has collaborated with Steven Wilson and Hans Zimmer. He is a noted guitar teacher, working with the UK magazine Guitar Techniques, Guildford's Academy of Contemporary Music, Lick Library, and formerly the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. Govan was named "Guitarist of the Year" by Guitarist magazine in 1993.

Savannah Guthrie, American television journalist

Savannah Clark Guthrie is an American broadcast journalist and attorney. She is a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show Today, a position she has held since July 2012.

27/12/1970

Lorenzo Neal, American football player and radio host

Lorenzo LaVonne Neal is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. Neal played college football for the Fresno State Bulldogs and was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round of the 1993 NFL draft. A four-time Pro Bowl selection and three-time All-Pro, he was also a member of the New York Jets, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tennessee Titans, the Cincinnati Bengals, the San Diego Chargers, the Baltimore Ravens and the Oakland Raiders. Considered one of the best blocking fullbacks in NFL history, Neal blocked for a 1,000-plus-yard running back in 11 straight seasons from 1997 to 2007.

Naoko Yamazaki, Japanese pilot and astronaut

Naoko Yamazaki is a Japanese engineer and former astronaut at JAXA. She was the second Japanese woman to fly in space. The first was Chiaki Mukai.

27/12/1969

Jean-Christophe Boullion, French racing driver

Jean-Christophe Joël Louis "Jules" Boullion is a French former racing driver. He won the 1994 International Formula 3000 Championship with DAMS, took two Le Mans Series titles with the Pescarolo Sport outfit in 2005 and 2006, and took two podium finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Boullion also competed in 11 Formula One races for the Sauber team.

Chyna, American professional wrestler and actress (died 2016)

Chyna, also known as Joanie Laurer, was an American professional wrestler, fitness model, bodybuilder, actress, adult actress, and television personality.

Sarah Vowell, American author and journalist

Sarah Jane Vowell is an American historian, writer, journalist, radio personality, social commentator, and actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. Vowell was a contributing editor for the radio program This American Life on Public Radio International from 1996 to 2008, where she produced commentaries and documentaries. She was the voice of Violet Parr in the 2004 animated film The Incredibles and its 2018 sequel.

27/12/1966

Marianne Elliott, English director and producer

Marianne Phoebe Elliott is a British theatre director and producer. Known for her works in the West End and on Broadway, she has received numerous accolades including two Laurence Olivier Awards and four Tony Awards.

Bill Goldberg, American football player, wrestler and actor

William Scott Goldberg, often known mononymously as Goldberg, is an American retired professional wrestler and football player. As a wrestler, he is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Eva LaRue, American model and actress

Eva Maria LaRue is an American actress and model. She is known for her roles as Maria Santos on All My Children and Detective Natalia Boa Vista on CSI: Miami.

27/12/1965

Salman Khan, Indian film actor and producer

Salman Khan is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works primarily in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over three decades, his awards include two National Film Awards as a film producer, and two Filmfare Awards as an actor. He has been cited as one of the most popular and commercially successful actors of Indian cinema, and was included in Forbes lists of the world's highest-paid celebrities in 2015 and 2018.

27/12/1964

Ian Gomez, American actor

Ian Braque Gomez is an American actor known for his comedic TV work, which includes series-regular roles as Javier on Felicity and Andy on Cougar Town.

Theresa Randle, American actress

Theresa Randle is an American retired actress. She has appeared in films such as Malcolm X (1992), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Space Jam (1996), Spawn (1997) and the Bad Boys franchise (1995–2020).

27/12/1963

Gaspar Noé, Argentine-French director and screenwriter

Gaspar Julio Noé Murphy, known professionally as Gaspar Noé, is an Argentine filmmaker and screenwriter, who lives and works primarily in France. He is one of the primary exponents of New French Extremity, associated its graphic nature of unsimulated sex, drugs, epilepsy, and violence. His feature films including I Stand Alone (1998), Irréversible (2002), Enter the Void (2009), Love (2015), Climax (2018), Lux Æterna (2019), and Vortex (2021).

27/12/1962

Mark Few, American basketball player and coach

Mark Norman Few is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Gonzaga University since 1999.

John Kampfner, Singaporean journalist and author

John Kampfner is a British author, broadcaster and commentator.

Bill Self, American basketball player and coach

Billy Eugene Self Jr. is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level and has been the coach of the Jayhawks since 2003.

Sherri Steinhauer, American golfer

Sherri Steinhauer is an American professional golfer who plays on the Legends Tour. She retired from the LPGA Tour in 2012 after a 26-year career. She was born in Madison, Wisconsin and attended The University of Texas at Austin. Her rookie season on the LPGA Tour was 1986. She has won eight tournaments on the Tour, including two major championships, the 1992 du Maurier Classic and 2006 Women's British Open.

27/12/1961

Guido Westerwelle, German lawyer and politician, 15th Vice-Chancellor of Germany (died 2016)

Guido Westerwelle was a German politician who served as foreign minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011, being the first openly gay person to hold any of these positions. He also led the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 2001 until he stepped down in 2011. A lawyer by profession, he was a member of the Bundestag from 1996 to 2013.

27/12/1960

Maryam d'Abo, English actress

Maryam d'Abo is a British actress, best known as Bond girl Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights.

Donald Nally, American conductor and academic

Donald Nally is an American conductor, chorus master, and professor of conducting, specializing in chamber choirs, opera, and new music. Nally has been nominated for 11 Grammy Awards, of which he has won 4. He is the current director of Choral studies at Westminster Choir College, and conductor of the professional new-music choir, The Crossing, based in Philadelphia.

Terry Price, Australian golfer

Terry Price is an Australian professional golfer.

27/12/1959

Gerina Dunwich, American astrologer, historian, and author

Gerina Dunwich is a professional astrologer, occult historian, and New Age author best known for her books on Wicca and various occult subjects.

Andre Tippett, American football player and coach

Andre Bernard Tippett Sr. is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the New England Patriots. He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes, where he was recognized as a consensus All-American in 1981. A second-round pick in the 1982 NFL draft, Tippett was selected to five Pro Bowls and was named first-team All-Pro twice in his career. Since 2007, he has been the Patriots' executive director of community affairs. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

27/12/1958

Steve Jones, American golfer

Steven Glen Jones is an American professional golfer, best known for winning the U.S. Open in 1996.

27/12/1956

Doina Melinte, Romanian runner

Doina Ofelia Melinte is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner. She competed at four Olympics (1980–92), and won a gold medal in the 800 metres and a silver medal in the 1,500 metres in 1984. She won the world indoor title in 1987 and 1989 and the European indoor title in 1985, 1988 and 1990 in the 1,500 m. Her world indoor mile record of 4:17.41 in 1990, stood for 26 years.

27/12/1955

Brad Murphey, American race car driver

Brad Murphey, is a former American racecar driver in the Indy Racing League. He raced in the 1996 and 1996-1997 seasons for Hemelgarn Racing with three career starts, including the Indianapolis 500 where he was credited with 23rd place, but never finished a race or led a lap. His last IRL race was the inaugural 500K at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where his right leg/pelvis was broken while involved in an accident with Eddie Cheever and Stephane Gregoire on lap 29.

Barbara Olson, American journalist and author (died 2001)

Barbara Kay Olson was an American lawyer and conservative television commentator who worked for CNN, Fox News Channel, and several other outlets. She was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77 en route to a taping of Bill Maher's television show Politically Incorrect when it was flown into the Pentagon in the September 11 attacks.

27/12/1954

Kent Benson, American basketball player

Michael Kent Benson is an American former professional basketball player. He was a two-time All-American for the Indiana Hoosiers, winning the 1976 Helms Foundation Player of the Year and helping lead the Hoosiers to the 1976 NCAA championship with a perfect 32–0 record, with Benson being named the 1976 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player. Benson was the No. 1 overall pick of the 1977 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, playing 11 seasons in the NBA for Milwaukee (1977–1980), the Detroit Pistons (1980–1986), Utah Jazz (1986–1987) and Cleveland Cavaliers (1988).

Mandie Fletcher, English director, producer, and production manager

Mandie Elizabeth Fletcher is a British television and film director.

Teo Chee Hean, Singaporean politician and 5th Senior Minister of Singapore

Teo Chee Hean is a Singaporean former politician and naval officer who served as Senior Minister of Singapore and Coordinating Minister for National Security from 2019 and 2015 respectively until 2025. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Pasir Ris West division of Pasir Ris–Punggol Group Representation Constituency from 2001 to 2025.

27/12/1952

Jay Hill, Canadian farmer and politician

Jay D. Hill is a Canadian politician who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Prince George—Peace River in British Columbia from 1993 to 2010. He served as Government House Leader in the House of Commons during his tenure (2008–2010). On July 21, 2010, Hill announced that he would be retiring at the May 2011 federal election. In October 2010, he announced he would retire on October 25, 2010. He recently served as the interim leader of the Maverick Party from 2020 to 2022.

David Knopfler, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

David Knopfler is a British musician. Together with his older brother Mark Knopfler, John Illsley, and Pick Withers, he founded the rock band Dire Straits in 1977, serving as rhythm guitarist on their first two albums. After quitting the band in 1980 during the recording of their third album, Knopfler embarked upon a solo career as a recording artist.

27/12/1951

Karla Bonoff, American singer-songwriter

Karla Bonoff is an American singer-songwriter. As a vocalist and songwriter. Bonoff has released a number of albums that have established her with an enduring fan base., As a songwriter Bonoff is recognized for her songs recorded by Linda Ronstadt and artists including "Home", covered by Bonnie Raitt, Trisha Yearwood, and Eliza Gilkyson, Tell Me Why by Wynonna Judd, Isn't It Always Love by Lynn Anderson and “Lose Again” by Allison Krauss.

Ernesto Zedillo, Mexican economist and politician, 54th President of Mexico

Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León is a Mexican economist and politician. He was the 61st president of Mexico from 1994 to 2000, as the last of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Father of Modern Democracy in Mexico, his non-interventionist policy yielded transparent results on the 2000 Mexican general election.

27/12/1950

Haris Alexiou, Greek singer-songwriter

Haris Alexiou is a Greek singer whose career has spanned over 5 decades. She is one of the most popular singers in Greece. She has worked with important Greek songwriters and composers, has performed at top musical theatres all over the world, and has received several awards. She has recorded over thirty albums and has been featured on albums of other musicians. On 14th March 2010, Alpha TV ranked Alexiou as the first top-certified female artist in Greece in the phonographic era. She is the highest selling Greek female artist and third overall, behind George Dalaras and Yiannis Parios. Eight of her personal albums released between 1977 and 2003 have totaled 11 million sales, the only Greek female artist to do so.

Roberto Bettega, Italian footballer and manager

Roberto Bettega is an Italian former footballer who played as a forward.

Terry Bozzio, American drummer and songwriter

Terry John Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons, U.K., and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and five albums with Missing Persons. Bozzio has been a prolific sideman, playing on numerous releases by other artists since the mid-1970s. He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1997.

27/12/1949

Terry Ito, Japanese director, producer, and critic

Teruo Ito , better known as Terry Ito , is a Japanese director, television producer, critic, and writer. His name "Terry" comes from his first name, "Teruo". His ancestral home is in Yokoshibahikari, Sanbu District, Chiba Prefecture.

27/12/1948

Gérard Depardieu, French-Russian actor

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor. Considered an icon of French cinema in the same way as Jean Gabin and Alain Delon, he has completed over 200 films since 1967, most of which as a lead actor. Depardieu has worked with over 150 film directors including François Truffaut, Bertrand Blier, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott, Peter Weir, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bernardo Bertolucci. He is the second highest-grossing actor in the history of French cinema behind Louis de Funès. Among his films, about 60 have sold more than one million tickets in France. He has portrayed numerous historical and fictitious figures including Cyrano de Bergerac, Georges Danton, Christopher Columbus, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Auguste Rodin, Jean Valjean, Edmond Dantès, Porthos, commissioner Maigret, Joseph Stalin and Grigori Rasputin, as well as Obelix in four of the live action Asterix films. Depardieu is also a film producer, businessman and vineyard owner. He has occasionally directed films and performed as a singer. His body of work includes many television productions, several records and, as of 2025, 19 stage plays and 9 books.

27/12/1947

Bill Eadie, American wrestler and coach

William Reid Eadie is an American retired professional wrestler, best known for performing under the ring names The Masked Superstar and Ax, the latter as part of Demolition.

Doug Livermore, English footballer and manager

Douglas Ernest Livermore is a former professional football player and manager.

Willy Polleunis, Belgian runner

Willy Polleunis is a Belgian former long-distance runner who won the silver medal in the 3000 metres at the 1973 European Indoor Championships, behind his clubmate Emiel Puttemans. He also ran a world record on the 10 miles in 1972. He competed in the 5000 and 10000 metres events at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics with the best achievement of sixth place in the 5000 metres in 1976. At the start of the final lap, he was in tenth place, but he accelerated, and possibly ran the final lap even faster than the winner, Lasse Viren. Polleunis also won team gold medals at the 1973 and 1977 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, and a team silver in 1976.

27/12/1946

Lenny Kaye, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer

Lenny Kaye is an American guitarist, composer, and writer, notable for his work with the Patti Smith Group, his contributions to music magazines, and his garage rock retrospective anthology Nuggets.

Joe Kinnear, Irish footballer and manager (died 2024)

Joseph Patrick Kinnear was an Irish professional football manager and player. As a defender, Kinnear spent the majority of his career spanning ten seasons with Tottenham Hotspur and one with Brighton & Hove Albion. With Tottenham he won the FA Cup, the League Cup twice, the Charity Shield, and the UEFA Cup. After Spurs, Kinnear played for Brighton for the 1975–76 season. Having been born in Dublin, Kinnear played and was capped 26 times for the Republic of Ireland national team. After his playing career, he managed India, Nepal, Doncaster Rovers, Wimbledon, Luton Town, Nottingham Forest, and Newcastle United.

Janet Street-Porter, English journalist and producer

Janet Vera Street-Porter is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer and media personality. She began her career in 1969 as a fashion writer and columnist at the Daily Mail and was appointed fashion editor of the Evening Standard in 1971. In 1973, she co-presented a mid-morning radio show with Paul Callan on LBC.

Polly Toynbee, English journalist and author

Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998.

27/12/1944

Mick Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer

Michael Leslie Jones is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known as the founder, leader and only continuous original member of the British-American rock band Foreigner, though he no longer tours with the band as of 2023. Prior to Foreigner, he was in the band Spooky Tooth.

27/12/1943

Cokie Roberts, American journalist and author (died 2019)

Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne "Cokie" Roberts was an American journalist and author. Her career included decades as a political reporter and analyst for National Public Radio, PBS, and ABC News, with prominent positions on Morning Edition, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, World News Tonight, and This Week. She was considered one of NPR's "Founding Mothers" along with the late Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer and Nina Totenberg.

Joan Manuel Serrat, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist

Joan Manuel Serrat Teresa is a Catalan musician, singer, and composer from Spain. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both Spanish and Catalan languages.

Peter Sinfield, English songwriter and producer (died 2024)

Peter John Sinfield was an English poet and songwriter. He was best known as a co-founder and lyricist of King Crimson. Their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King is considered one of the first and most influential progressive rock albums ever released.

Roy White, American baseball player and coach

Roy Hilton White is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the New York Yankees between 1965 and 1979. With the Yankees, he won two championships in 1977 and '78, both over his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers.

27/12/1942

Byron Browne, American baseball player

Byron Ellis Browne is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies, between 1965 and 1972. He attended Central High School in St. Joseph, MO.

Thomas Menino, American politician, 53rd Mayor of Boston (died 2014)

Thomas Michael Menino was an American politician who served as the mayor of Boston, from 1993 to 2014. He was the city's longest-serving mayor. He was elected mayor in 1993 after first serving three months as acting mayor following the resignation of his predecessor Raymond Flynn. Before serving as mayor, Menino was a member of the Boston City Council and had been elected president of the City Council in 1993.

Ron Rothstein, American basketball player and coach

Ronald L. Rothstein is an American former professional basketball coach and college basketball player, who has led many different NBA teams. He served as the first head coach for the Miami Heat, and later coached the Detroit Pistons. He has also coached in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In 2007–08, he also filled in for Pat Riley as an interim coach for the Heat.

27/12/1941

Miles Aiken, American basketball player and coach

Miles Aiken is an American former professional basketball player, coach of the British Olympic basketball team, and sportscaster of basketball and American football.

Mike Pinder, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (died 2024)

Michael Thomas Pinder was an English rock musician. He was a founding member and the original keyboard player of the rock group the Moody Blues. In 1978, he left the group following the recording of Octave, their ninth album. Pinder was renowned for his technological contributions, most notably in the emergence and development of the Mellotron in 1960s rock music. In 2018, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues.

Nolan Richardson, American basketball player and coach

Nolan Richardson Jr. is an American former basketball head coach best known for his tenure at the University of Arkansas, where he won the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and led the Razorbacks to three Final Fours. Elected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014, Richardson coached teams to winning a Division I Basketball National Championship, an NIT championship, and a Junior College National Championship, making him the only coach to win all three championships. During his 22 seasons of coaching in NCAA Division I, Richardson made a post-season tournament appearance 20 times.

27/12/1940

David Shepherd, English cricketer and umpire (died 2009)

David Robert Shepherd was a first-class cricketer who played county cricket for Gloucestershire, and later became one of the cricket world's best-known umpires. He stood in 92 Test matches, the last of them in June 2005, the most for any English umpire. He also umpired 172 ODIs, including three consecutive World Cup finals in 1996, 1999 and 2003.

27/12/1939

John Amos, American actor (died 2024)

John Allen Amos Jr. was an American actor. He was best known for his role as James Evans Sr. on the CBS television series Good Times. His other well known roles were as the adult Kunta Kinte in the landmark miniseries Roots and for portraying Captain Meissner in Lock Up (1989) and Major Grant in Die Hard 2 (1990). His other television work includes The Mary Tyler Moore Show, a recurring role as Admiral Percy Fitzwallace on The West Wing, and the role of the Mayor of Washington DC Ethan Baker in the series The District. Amos was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and an NAACP Image Award. In film, he played numerous supporting roles in movies such as The Beastmaster (1982), Coming to America (1988), and Coming 2 America (2021).

27/12/1936

James Harrison, Australian blood plasma donor (died 2025)

James Christopher Harrison was an Australian blood donor known as the "Man with the Golden Arm" for his prolific history of donations, 1,173 times between the ages 18 to 81.

Phil Sharpe, English cricketer (died 2014)

Philip John Sharpe was an English cricketer, who played in twelve Test matches from 1963 to 1969, and was one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1963. He played all of his county cricket for Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and played in Minor counties cricket for Norfolk. However he was despised by Geoff Boycott because of what Boycott perceived as his “social, rather weak and insipid attitude towards cricket”.

Eve Uusmees, Estonian swimmer and coach (died 2026)

Eve-Mai Maurer was an Estonian breaststroke swimmer who won the silver medal in the 4×100 m medley relay at the 1958 European Aquatics Championships. She also competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in the 200 m breaststroke but was eliminated in the preliminaries.

27/12/1935

Michael Turnbull, English bishop

Anthony Michael Arnold Turnbull is a retired Church of England bishop. He was ordained in 1961 and in 1988 he was consecrated as the Bishop of Rochester. In 1994, he became the Bishop of Durham until he retired in 2003. In his retirement, Turnbull continues "preaching and teaching and writing".

27/12/1934

Larisa Latynina, Ukrainian gymnast and coach

Larisa Semyonovna Latynina is a Russian former artistic gymnast. Between 1956 and 1964 she won 14 individual Olympic medals and four team medals for the Soviet Union. She holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals by a female gymnast, with nine. Her total of 18 Olympic medals was a record for 48 years. She held the record for individual event medals for over 52 years, winning 14. She is credited with helping to establish the Soviet Union as a dominant force in gymnastics.

Jeffrey Sterling, Baron Sterling of Plaistow, English businessman

Jeffrey Maurice Sterling, Baron Sterling of Plaistow, is a British businessman and Conservative peer. The Plaistow referred to is Plaistow, West Sussex, reflected in the land holdings in the county.

27/12/1933

Dave Marr, American golfer (died 1997)

David Francis Marr Jr. was an American professional golfer and sportscaster, best known for winning the 1965 PGA Championship.

27/12/1931

Scotty Moore, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2016)

Winfield Scott Moore III was an American guitarist who formed the Blue Moon Boys in 1954, Elvis Presley's backing band. He was studio and touring guitarist for Presley between 1954 and 1968.

27/12/1930

Marshall Sahlins, American anthropologist and academic (died 2021)

Marshall David Sahlins was an American cultural anthropologist best known for his ethnographic work in the Pacific and for his contributions to anthropological theory. He was the Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago.

Wilfrid Sheed, English-born American novelist and essayist (died 2011)

Wilfrid John Joseph Sheed was an English-born American novelist and essayist.

27/12/1927

Antony Gardner, English engineer and politician (died 2011)

Antony (Tony) John Gardner was a British Labour Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1966 to 1970.

Nityanand Swami, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Uttarakhand (died 2012)

Nityanand Swami was the chief minister of the Indian state of Uttarakhand, named Uttaranchal during his administration. He was the first chief minister of the state, serving from 9 November 2000 to 29 October 2001.

Audrey Wagner, American baseball player, obstetrician, and gynecologist (died 1984)

Genevieve "Audrey" Wagner was an outfielder who played from 1943 through 1949 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m), 145 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.

27/12/1926

Jerome Courtland, American actor, director, and producer (died 2012)

Jerome Courtland was an American actor, director and producer. He acted in films in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and in television in the 1950s and 1960s. Courtland also appeared on Broadway in the musical Flahooley in the early 1950s. He directed and produced television series in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He served in the Pacific Theater of World War II.

27/12/1925

Michel Piccoli, French actor, singer, director, and producer (died 2020)

Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide variety of roles and worked with many acclaimed directors, being awarded with a Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival.

27/12/1924

Jean Bartik, American computer scientist and engineer (died 2011)

Jean Bartik was an American computer programmer who was one of the original six programmers of the ENIAC computer.

James A. McClure, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 2011)

James Albertus McClure was an American lawyer and politician from the state of Idaho, most notably serving as a Republican in the U.S. Senate for three terms from 1973 to 1991. He also served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1973.

27/12/1923

Bruno Bobak, Polish-Canadian painter and educator (died 2012)

Bruno Bobak, was a Polish-born Canadian Official war artist and art teacher. His main medium was watercolour painting but he also produced woodcuts.

Lucas Mangope, South African politician (died 2018)

Kgosi Lucas Manyane Mangope was the leader of the Bantustan (homeland) of Bophuthatswana. The territory he ruled over was distributed between the Orange Free State – what is now Free State – and North West Province. He was also the founder and leader of the United Christian Democratic Party, a political party based in the North West of South Africa.

27/12/1921

John Whitworth, English countertenor (died 2013)

John Anthony Whitworth was an English countertenor, organist, and teacher of music. He was a lay vicar at Westminster Abbey and a professor at the Guildhall School of Music.

27/12/1920

Bruce Hobbs, American jockey and trainer (died 2005)

Bruce Robertson Hobbs was an English jockey and racehorse trainer.

27/12/1919

Charles Sweeney, American general and pilot (died 2004)

Charles William Sweeney was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and the pilot who flew Bockscar carrying the Fat Man atomic bomb to the Japanese city of Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. Separating from active duty at the end of World War II, he later became an officer in the Massachusetts Air National Guard as the Army Air Forces transitioned to an independent United States Air Force, eventually rising to the rank of major general.

27/12/1918

John Celardo, American captain and illustrator (died 2012)

John Celardo was an American comic strip and comic book artist, best known for illustrating the Tarzan comic strip.

27/12/1917

Buddy Boudreaux, American saxophonist and clarinet player (died 2015)

John Landry “Buddy” Boudreaux was an American big band and jazz musician. He played saxophone and clarinet. Starting in 1934, he directed and played in a number of bands that toured the southern United States and drew nationally known performers to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The State-Times newspaper called him "the city’s sound of big band". His bands backed such artists as Andy Williams, Bernadette Peters, Doc Severinsen, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Burt Bacharach, Johnny Mathis, The Four Tops, Bob Hope, George Burns and Joan Rivers. He opened shows for Tony Bennett, Tony Orlando, Louise Mandrell, The Beach Boys and Bill Cosby. He was co-author—with his barber, Michael T. Abadie—of “My Baton Rouge,” which in 1998 was declared the city's official song.

T. Nadaraja, Sri Lankan lawyer and academic (died 2004)

Thambiah Nadaraja was a Sri Lankan academic, lawyer and author. He was dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ceylon and chancellor of the University of Jaffna.

Onni Palaste, Finnish soldier and author (died 2009)

Onni Palaste, born Onni Bovellan was a Finnish Winter War veteran and writer.

27/12/1916

Werner Baumbach, German pilot (died 1953)

Werner Baumbach was a German bomber pilot during World War II. He commanded the secret bomber wing Kampfgeschwader 200 of the Luftwaffe, the air force of Nazi Germany. Baumbach received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for the destruction of over 300,000 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping.

Cathy Lewis, American actress (died 1968)

Catherine Lee Lewis was an American actress on radio, film, and television. She is remembered best for numerous radio appearances but also noted for making a number of film and television appearances in the last decade of her life.

27/12/1915

William Masters, American gynecologist, author, and academic (died 2001)

William Howell Masters was an American gynecologist and the senior member of the Masters and Johnson human sexuality research team. Along with his partner Virginia E. Johnson, he pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual dysfunctions and disorders from 1957 until the 1990s.

Gyula Zsengellér, Hungarian-Cypriot footballer and manager (died 1999)

Gyula Zsengellér was a Hungarian footballer who played as a striker. A historic player of Újpest FC, he scored 387 goals in the Hungarian league between 1935 and 1947, making him the league's third-highest goalscorer of all-time. He was also a member of the Hungary national team that reached the final of the 1938 FIFA World Cup, being the tournament's second-highest scorer. Zsengellér also was the last surviving player of the Hungarian side that played the 1938 World Cup final.

27/12/1913

Elizabeth Smart, Canadian poet and novelist (died 1986)

Elizabeth Smart was a Canadian poet and novelist. Her best-known work is the novel By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (1945), an extended prose poem inspired by her romance with the poet George Barker.

27/12/1911

Anna Russell, English-Canadian singer and actress (died 2006)

Anna Russell was an English–Canadian singer and comedian. She gave many concerts in which she sang and played comic musical sketches, also playing the piano. Among her best-known works are her concert performances and recordings of The Ring of the Nibelungs – a humorous 22-minute synopsis of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen – and her parody How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera.

27/12/1910

Charles Olson, American poet and educator (died 1970)

Charles John Olson was a second generation modernist American poet who was a link between earlier modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the third generation modernist New American poets. The latter includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, and some of the artists and poets associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance.

27/12/1909

James Riddell, English skier and author (died 2000)

W. James Riddell MBE was a British champion skier and author who was involved in the early days of skiing as a competitive sport and holiday industry. Like his near contemporary, Sir Arnold Lunn, he matched his adventurism on the slopes and knowledge of the Alpine countries with an elegant record of his times.

27/12/1907

Asaf Halet Çelebi, Turkish poet (died 1958)

Asaf Halet Çelebi was a Turkish mystical poet. Although not very widely known, due to his erudite and often foreign-influenced style, he is considered to be Turkey's first surrealist poet.

Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author (died 1999)

Raimund Pretzel, better known by his pseudonym Sebastian Haffner, was a German journalist and historian. As an émigré in Britain during World War II, Haffner argued that accommodation was not only impossible with Adolf Hitler but also impossible with the German Reich with which Hitler had gambled. Peace could be secured only by rolling back history and restoring Germany to a network of smaller states. As a journalist in West Germany, Haffner's independence and penchant for provocation precipitated breaks with editors both liberal and conservative. His intervention in the Spiegel affair of 1962, and his contributions to the anti-fascist rhetoric of the student New Left, sharply raised his profile.

Mary Howard, English author (died 1991)

Mary Mussi, née Edgar, was a British writer of over 50 romance novels as Mary Howard, who also wrote over 10 gothic romance as Josephine Edgar. She is one of the two novelists to win three times the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Conrad L. Raiford, American baseball player and activist (died 2002)

Conrad Laurel Raiford was an American athlete, goodwill ambassador and one of the first African-American police officers in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Willem van Otterloo, Dutch conductor and composer (died 1978)

Jan Willem van Otterloo was a Dutch conductor, cellist and composer.

27/12/1906

Oscar Levant, American pianist, composer, and actor (died 1972)

Oscar Levant was an American concert pianist, composer, conductor and actor born in Pittsburgh, U.S., from Russian-emigrant parents. Levant studied under Zygmunt Stojowski and Arnold Schoenberg, and has 33 albums as a pianist, having recorded works of numerous classical composers. For a period of time during the 1940s, he had been the highest paid concert pianist in the United States.

27/12/1905

Cliff Arquette, American actor and comedian (died 1974)

Clifford Charles Arquette was an American actor and comedian. He was best known for performing comedic routines as his alter-ego Charley Weaver on numerous television and radio shows.

27/12/1904

René Bonnet, French racing driver and engineer (died 1983)

René Bonnet was a French engineer and businessman who co-founded the automobile manufacturing brand DB Deutsch-Bonnet in 1937, before founding his own brand, Automobiles René Bonnet, in 1961.

27/12/1901

Marlene Dietrich, German-American actress and singer (died 1992)

Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich was a German and American actress and singer whose career spanned nearly seven decades. In 1920s Berlin, she performed on the stage and in silent films. Her performance as Lola Lola in Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel (1930) brought her international acclaim and a contract with Paramount Pictures. Dietrich starred in many Hollywood films, including six roles directed by Sternberg: Morocco (1930), Dishonored (1931), Shanghai Express and Blonde Venus, The Scarlet Empress (1934), and The Devil Is a Woman (1935). Throughout World War II, she was a high-profile entertainer in the United States. Although she delivered notable performances in several post-war films, including Billy Wilder's A Foreign Affair (1948), Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950), Billy Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Orson Welles's Touch of Evil (1958), and Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), she spent most of the 1950s to the 1970s touring the world as a marquee live-show performer.

Irene Handl, English actress (died 1987)

Irene Handl was a British character actress and novelist who appeared in more than 100 British films.

27/12/1900

Hans Stuck, German racing driver (died 1978)

Hans Erich Karl Josef Stuck was a German motor racing driver. Both his son Hans-Joachim Stuck and his grandsons Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck became race drivers.

27/12/1898

Inejiro Asanuma, Japanese politician (died 1960)

Inejiro Asanuma was a Japanese politician and leader of the Japan Socialist Party. Known for his large stature and powerful voice, he tirelessly toured the country delivering speeches, earning him the nicknames "speech-making everyman", "human locomotive", and the affectionate "Numa-san".

27/12/1896

Louis Bromfield, American author and theorist (died 1956)

Louis Bromfield was an American writer and conservationist. A bestselling novelist in the 1920s, he reinvented himself as a farmer in the late 1930s and became one of the earliest proponents of sustainable and organic agriculture in the United States. He won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1927 for Early Autumn, founded the experimental Malabar Farm near Mansfield, Ohio, and played an important role in the early environmental movement.

Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (died 1952)

Maurice De Waele was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer.

Carl Zuckmayer, German author and playwright (died 1977)

Carl Zuckmayer was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer.

27/12/1892

Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian captain and pilot (died 1917)

Captain Alfred Edwin "Eddie" McKay MC was a Canadian flying ace who flew with the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.

27/12/1888

Thea von Harbou, German actress, director, and screenwriter (died 1954)

Thea Gabriele von Harbou was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director, and actress. She is remembered as the screenwriter of the science fiction film classic Metropolis (1927) and for the 1925 novel on which it was based. Von Harbou collaborated as a screenwriter with film director Fritz Lang, her husband, during the period of transition from silent to sound films.

27/12/1883

Cyrus S. Eaton, Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (died 1979)

Cyrus Stephen Eaton Sr. was a Canadian-American investment banker, businessman and philanthropist, with a career that spanned 70 years.

27/12/1882

Mina Loy, British modernist poet and artist (died 1966)

Mina Loy was a British artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian. She was one of the last of the first-generation modernists to achieve posthumous recognition. Her poetry was admired by T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Basil Bunting, Gertrude Stein, Francis Picabia, and Yvor Winters, among others.

27/12/1879

Sydney Greenstreet, English-American actor (died 1954)

Sydney Hughes Greenstreet was a British and American character actor. While he did not begin his career in films until the age of 61, he had a run of significant motion pictures in a Hollywood career lasting through the 1940s. He is best remembered for the three Warner Bros. films – The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca (1942), and Passage to Marseille (1944) – with both Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre. Greenstreet was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Maltese Falcon. He portrayed Nero Wolfe on radio during 1950 and 1951. He became an American citizen in 1925.

27/12/1878

Kalle Korhonen, Finnish politician (died 1938)

Kaarlo (Kalle) Eeronpoika Korhonen was a Finnish farmer, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Oulu Province South between April 1917 and September 1918. Korhonen went to Soviet Russia during the Finnish Civil War and was executed there in 1938 during Stalin's Great Purge.

27/12/1864

Hermann-Paul, French painter and illustrator (died 1940)

René Georges Hermann-Paul was a French artist. He was born in Paris and died in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

27/12/1863

Louis Lincoln Emmerson, American lawyer and politician, 27th Governor of Illinois (died 1941)

Louis Lincoln Emmerson was an American Republican politician and the 27th governor of Illinois. He was also a prominent figure in Freemasonry in Illinois.

27/12/1858

Juan Luis Sanfuentes, Chilean lawyer and politician, 17th President of Chile (died 1930)

Juan Luis Sanfuentes Andonaegui was President of Chile between 1915 and 1920.

27/12/1838

Lars Oftedal, Norwegian priest, social reformer, politician, and newspaper editor (died 1900)

Lars Svendsen Oftedal was a Norwegian priest, social reformer, politician, and newspaper editor. He was the founding editor of Stavanger Aftenblad and served as a member of the Storting.

27/12/1832

Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and philanthropist, founded the Tretyakov Gallery (died 1897)

Pavel Mikhaylovich Tretyakov was a Russian businessman, patron of art, collector, and philanthropist who gave his name to the Tretyakov Gallery and Tretyakov Drive in Moscow. His brother Sergei Tretyakov was also a famous patron of art and a philanthropist.

27/12/1827

Stanisław Mieroszewski, Polish-born politician, writer, historian and member of the Imperial Council of Austria (died 1900)

Count Stanisław Mieroszewski (Mieroszowski) (1827–1900) was a Polish-born politician, writer, historian and member of the Imperial Council of Austria.

27/12/1823

Mackenzie Bowell, English-Canadian journalist and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1917)

Sir Mackenzie Bowell was the fifth prime minister of Canada, serving from 1894 to 1896.

27/12/1822

Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist (died 1895)

Louis Pasteur was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the last of which was named after him. His research in chemistry led to remarkable breakthroughs in the understanding of the causes and preventions of diseases, which laid down the foundations of hygiene, public health and much of modern medicine. Pasteur's works are credited with saving millions of lives through the developments of vaccines for rabies and anthrax. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern bacteriology and has been honored as the "father of bacteriology" and the "father of microbiology".

27/12/1809

Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Greek poet and politician, Foreign Minister of Greece (died 1892)

Alexandros Rizos Rangavis or Alexander Rizos Rakgabis, was a Greek man of letters, poet and statesman.

27/12/1803

François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier, Canadian activist (died 1839)

François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier, also known under shorter names such as François-Marie-Thomas de Lorimier, Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier or Chevalier de Lorimier, was a notary who fought as a Patriote and Frère chasseur for the independence of Lower Canada in the Lower Canada Rebellion. For these actions, he was incarcerated at the Montreal Pied-du-Courant Prison and was hanged at the site by the British authorities.

27/12/1797

Ghalib, Indian poet (died 1869)

Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan, commonly known as Mirza Ghalib, was an Indian poet and letter writer of the Mughal Empire. Writing in Persian and Urdu during the final years of the Mughal Empire and the rise of British colonial rule, his poetry often addressed themes of love, loss, philosophy, the human condition, and socio-political disturbances with a depth and complexity that influenced the literary traditions of his time. His ghazals, noted for their intricate imagery and layered meanings, form a significant part of Urdu literature. He spent most of his life in poverty.

Charles Hodge, American theologian (died 1878)

Charles Hodge was a Presbyterian theologian in the area of reformed theology. He was also principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878.

27/12/1776

Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (died 1811)

Count Nikolay Mikhailovich Kamensky was a Russian general, younger son of Field Marshal Count Mikhail Fedotovich Kamensky and his wife, Princess Anna Pavlovna Shcherbatova (1749-1826).

27/12/1773

George Cayley, English engineer and politician (died 1857)

Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet was an English engineer, inventor, and aviator. He was a pioneer of aeronautical engineering and is sometimes referred to as "the father of aviation", designing the first glider reliably reported to carry a human aloft. He is commonly credited as the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of heavier-than-air flight: weight, lift, drag and thrust. He was also the inventor of the wire wheel.

27/12/1721

François Hemsterhuis, Dutch philosopher and author (died 1790)

François Hemsterhuis was a Dutch writer on aesthetics and moral philosophy.

27/12/1715

Philippe de Noailles, French general (died 1794)

Philippe de Noailles, comte de Noailles and later prince de Poix, duc de Mouchy, and duc de Poix à brevêt, was a younger brother of Louis de Noailles, and a more distinguished soldier than his brother. He was the son of Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné, niece of Madame de Maintenon.

27/12/1714

George Whitefield, English preacher and saint (died 1770)

George Whitefield, was an English Anglican priest and Itinerant preacher who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement.

27/12/1713

Giovanni Battista Borra, Italian architect and engineer (died 1770)

Giovanni Battista Borra was an Italian architect, engineer and architectural draughtsman born in Dogliani and believed to have died in Turin.

27/12/1705

Prince Frederick Henry Eugen of Anhalt-Dessau, German prince of the House of Ascania (died 1781)

Frederick Henry Eugen of Anhalt-Dessau was a German prince of the House of Ascania from the Anhalt-Dessau branch.

27/12/1697

Sollom Emlyn, Irish legal writer (died 1754)

Sollom Emlyn was an Irish legal writer.

27/12/1689

Jacob August Franckenstein, Encyclopedia editor, professor (died 1733)

Jacob August Franckenstein was the main editor of the first two volumes of Johann Heinrich Zedler's Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon , the most important encyclopedia published in the Holy Roman Empire in the 18th century.

27/12/1683

Conyers Middleton, English priest and theologian (died 1750)

Conyers Middleton was an English clergyman. Though mired in controversy and disputes, he was also considered one of the best stylists in English of his time.

27/12/1663

Johann Melchior Roos, German painter (died 1731)

Johann Melchior Roos was a German Baroque painter.

27/12/1660

Veronica Giuliani, Italian Capuchin mystic (died 1727)

Veronica Giuliani, OSC Cap. was an Italian Capuchin Poor Clares nun and mystic. She was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI in 1839.

27/12/1655

Abstrupus Danby, English politician (died 1727)

Sir Abstrupus Danby was an English wool merchant and country gentleman. He was the son of Christopher Danby and Anne Culpepper, niece of Lord Colepeper.

27/12/1645

Giovanni Antonio Viscardi, Swiss architect (died 1713)

Giovanni Antonio Viscardi was a Swiss architect of the baroque, who worked mostly in Bavaria.

27/12/1637

Petar Kanavelić, Venetian writer (died 1719)

Pietro Canavelli was a Croatian writer who wrote poems in Croatian and Italian. He is regarded as one of the greatest Croatian writers of the 17th century.

27/12/1636

William Whitelock, English gentleman, Member of Parliament (died 1717)

Sir William Whitelock KC was an English barrister and Tory politician. His name is also spelt Whitelocke and Whitlock.

27/12/1633

Jean de Lamberville, French missionary (died 1714)

Jean de Lamberville was a Jesuit priest who arrived in New France from France in 1669. He was the older brother of Jacques de Lamberville. Jean became a missionary to the Onondagas and had success in converting their chief, Garakontie. He also was well known for his knowledge in the medical treatments of his time.

27/12/1622

Teofil Rutka, Polish philosopher (died 1700)

Teofil (Bogusław) Rutka SJ was a Polish Jesuit, Rhetorician, philosopher, theologian and missionary.

27/12/1595

Bohdan Khmelnytsky, hetman of Ukraine (died 1657)

Zynoviy Bohdan Mykhailovych Khmelnytsky of the Abdank coat of arms was a Ruthenian nobleman and military commander of Zaporozhian Cossacks as Hetman of the Zaporozhian Host, which was then under the suzerainty of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He led the Cossacks to victory in a successful uprising against the Commonwealth and its magnates (1648–1654) that resulted in the creation of an independent Cossack state in Ukraine.

27/12/1584

Philipp Julius, Duke of Pomerania (died 1625)

Philipp Julius was duke of Pomerania in the Teilherzogtum Pomerania-Wolgast from 1592 to 1625.

27/12/1572

Johannes Vodnianus Campanus, Czech poet, playwright, and composer (died 1622)

Johannes Vodnianus Campanus was a Czech humanist, composer, pedagogue, poet and dramatist.

27/12/1571

Johannes Kepler, German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer (died 1630)

Johannes Kepler was a German polymath who was an astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and music theorist. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of planetary motion, and his books Astronomia nova, Harmonice Mundi, and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae. The variety and impact of his work made Kepler one of the founders and fathers of modern astronomy, the scientific method, natural science, and modern science. He has been described as the "father of science fiction" for his novel Somnium.

27/12/1566

Jan Jesenius, Bohemian physician, politician and philosopher (died 1621)

Jan Jesenius, also written as Jessenius, was a Bohemian physician, anatomist, politician and philosopher. He was active in Prague, where he gained fame after he conducted a public dissection of a human body for scientific purposes. He was publicly executed following the Battle of White Mountain.

27/12/1493

Johann Pfeffinger, German theologian (died 1573)

Johann Pfeffinger was a significant theologian and Protestant Reformer.

27/12/1481

Casimir, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Margrave of Bayreuth (died 1527)

Casimir of Brandenburg-Bayreuth was Margrave of Bayreuth or Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach from 1515 to 1527.

27/12/1459

John I Albert, King of Poland (died 1501)

John I Albert was King of Poland and (disputed) Supreme Duke of Lithuania from 1492 to his death, as well as Duke of Głogów from 1491 to 1498. He was the fourth Polish sovereign from the Jagiellonian dynasty and the son of Casimir IV and Elizabeth of Austria.

27/12/1390

Anne de Mortimer, claimant to the English throne (died 1411)

Anne de Mortimer was a medieval English noblewoman who became an ancestor to the royal House of York, one of the parties in the fifteenth-century dynastic Wars of the Roses. It was her line of descent which gave the Yorkist dynasty its claim to the throne. Anne was the mother of Richard, Duke of York, and thus grandmother of kings Edward IV and Richard III, and great-grandmother of Edward V and Elizabeth of York.

27/12/1350

John I of Aragon (died 1395)

John I, called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance, or the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1387 until his death.

Lives Remembered on 27th December

On 27th December, 125 remarkable people passed away — from 683 to 2024. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

27/12/2024

Greg Gumbel, American sportscaster (born 1946)

Gregory Girard Gumbel was an American television sportscaster. He was best known for his various assignments for CBS Sports. Gumbel became the first African-American announcer to call play-by-play of a major sports championship in the United States when he announced Super Bowl XXXV for the CBS network in 2001. From 1998 through 2023, Gumbel was the studio host for CBS' men's college basketball coverage and was a play-by-play broadcaster for the NFL on CBS.

Olivia Hussey, Argentinian-English actress (born 1951)

Olivia Hussey was an Argentine and British actress. The daughter of Argentine singer Osvaldo Ribó and Englishwoman Alma Joy Hussey, Hussey was born in Buenos Aires and spent most of her early life in her mother's native England. She aspired to become an actress at a young age and studied drama at London's Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

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

Charles Richard Shyer was an American filmmaker. Shyer's films are mainly comedies, often with a romcom overtone. His writing-directing credits include Private Benjamin (1980), Irreconcilable Differences (1984), Baby Boom (1987), Father of the Bride (1991), The Parent Trap (1998), The Affair of the Necklace (2001), and Alfie (2004).

27/12/2023

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

Lee Sun-kyun was a South Korean actor. Internationally, he was best known for his role in Bong Joon-ho's Academy Award–winning film Parasite (2019), for which he won an Actor Award along with his castmates. He received several other awards, including a nomination for an International Emmy Award.

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

Gaston Glock was an Austrian engineer and businessman. He founded the company Glock in 1963. When he entered the 1980 competition for a new Austrian service pistol, he hired two engineers who had worked on the development of HK's first two polymer-frame pistols, the VP70 and P9 models. The first Glock pistol, chambered in 9x19mm and named the Glock 17 because of it being Gaston Glock's 17th patent, and not because it holds 17 rounds, entered Austrian military and police service in 1982. It became one of the most influential and popular handguns of the 20th century, leading to a succession of other models in a variety of sizes and chamberings as well as an industry-wide trend toward polymer-frame, striker-fired pistols.

27/12/2019

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

Maria Creveling, better known as Remilia, was an American professional League of Legends player. She was the first woman and first transgender person to compete in the North American League of Legends Championship Series, debuting in the 2016 spring split as the support for Renegades. However, she took a sudden hiatus from professional play a few weeks into her debut season due to onstage pressure and online harassment. During her career she was particularly known for her mastery of the character Thresh, which earned her the nicknames "Thresh Queen" and "MadWife".

27/12/2018

Frank Blaichman, Polish resistance fighter (born 1922)

Frank Blaichman, also known as Ephraim Blaichman, occasionally spelled Frank Bleichman, and in Polish Franek or Franciszek Blajchman, was a Polish-Jewish leader of a communist armed organization during World War II and a Holocaust survivor. In post-war communist Poland, Blaichman was the head of the Prison and Camps Department at the Security Office in Kielce.

27/12/2016

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

Carrie Frances Fisher was an American actress and writer. She is best known for playing Princess Leia in the original Star Wars films (1977–1983) and reprised the role in The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017)—a posthumous release that was dedicated to her—and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), the latter using unreleased footage from The Force Awakens. Her other film credits include Shampoo (1975), The Blues Brothers (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The 'Burbs (1989), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), Soapdish (1991), and The Women (2008). She was nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performances in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2007) and the Channel 4 series Catastrophe (2017).

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Sri Lankan politician (born 1933)

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was a Sri Lankan politician who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2010, and also served as the Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2002. He was a Member of Parliament representing the Horana electorate and later the Kalutara District.

27/12/2015

Stein Eriksen, Norwegian-American skier (born 1927)

Stein Eriksen was an alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Norway. Following his racing career, he was a ski school director and ambassador at various resorts in the United States.

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

David Lee Henderson, nicknamed "Hendu", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, and Kansas City Royals during his 14-year career, primarily as an outfielder.

Ellsworth Kelly, American painter and sculptor (born 1923)

Ellsworth Kelly was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, color and form, similar to the work of John McLaughlin and Kenneth Noland. Kelly often employed bright colors. He lived and worked in Spencertown, New York.

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

Meadowlark Lemon was an American basketball player, actor, and Christian minister. For 22 years, he was known as the "Clown Prince" of the touring Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. He was a 2003 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Ordained in 1986, in 1994 he started Meadowlark Lemon Ministries in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Alfredo Pacheco, Salvadoran footballer (born 1982)

Alfredo Alberto Pacheco, nicknamed "El Chele", was a Salvadoran footballer who had the record for most appearances on the El Salvador national football team when he was banned for life in 2013, for match-fixing while playing for the national team. He was murdered in Santa Ana on 27 December 2015.

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

Stephen Carlton Wright was an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. Called Australia's first international pop star, he is best known for being the lead singer of the Easybeats, who are widely regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s.

27/12/2014

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

Ben Ammi Ben-Israel was an American-born Israeli spiritual leader. Inspired by the Black Hebrew Israelites in the United States, he founded the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem, which claims that African Americans originate from the Land of Israel. The community's initial members claimed Israelite descent and undertook a major initiative to immigrate to the State of Israel during and after the 1960s. Ben Ammi stated that Black people were descended from the Twelve Tribes of Israel and thus were the "true inheritors" of Israel, and created a new religious movement that he claimed was authentically Hebrew or Israelite in theology and practice. Though he was born a Baptist Christian, he denounced Judaism and Christianity as false religions, but maintained that the Jewish Bible was still divine.

Ulises Estrella, Ecuadorian poet and academic (born 1939)

Ulises Estrella Moya was an Ecuadorian poet and the co-founder of Tzantzismo, a literary movement of the 1960s, Ecuador. He was also a devoted film researcher and programmer, who headed the film cinematheque of the House of Ecuadorian Culture for over 30 years.

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

Ronald Li Fook-shiu was the founder and former chairman of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and died of cancer.

Karel Poma, Belgian bacteriologist and politician (born 1920)

Karel Emiel Hubert, Baron Poma was a Belgian liberal and politician for the PVV.

27/12/2013

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

Richard Penry Ambler was an English molecular biologist who conducted groundbreaking research into the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Ambler was the first scientist to publish an amino acid sequence of a bacterial protein, and had a long academic career at the University of Edinburgh.

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

Mohammad Chatah was a Lebanese economist and diplomat.

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

Gianna D'Angelo was an American coloratura soprano, primarily active in the 1950s and 1960s.

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

John Ross Matheson was a Canadian politician, lawyer, and judge, who helped develop both the national flag of Canada and the Order of Canada.

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

Farooq Sheikh was an Indian actor, philanthropist and television presenter. He was best known for his work in Hindi films from 1973 to 1993 and for his work in television between 1988 and 2002. He returned to acting in films in 2008 and continued to do so until his death on 28 December 2013. His major contribution was in Parallel Cinema or the New Indian Cinema. He worked with directors like Satyajit Ray, Sai Paranjpye, Muzaffar Ali, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Ayan Mukherjee and Ketan Mehta.

27/12/2012

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

Henry George Carey Jr. was an American actor. He appeared in more than 90 films, including several John Ford Westerns, as well as numerous television series.

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

Lloyd Charmers was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer, keyboard player and record producer.

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

Tingye Li was a Chinese-American scientist in the fields of microwaves, lasers and optical communications. His innovative work at AT&T pioneered the research and application of lightwave communication, and has had a far-reaching impact on information technology for over four decades.

Archie Roy, Scottish astronomer and academic (born 1924)

Archie Edmiston Roy FRSE, FRAS was Professor Emeritus of Astronomy in the University of Glasgow.

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

Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. was a United States Army general. While serving as the commander of United States Central Command, he led all coalition forces in the Gulf War against Ba'athist Iraq.

Salt Walther, American race car driver (born 1947)

David "Salt" Walther was a driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He also drove NASCAR stock cars and unlimited hydroplane boats, and was a car owner in USAC. Walther is best remembered for a crash at the start of the 1973 Indianapolis 500 that left him critically injured. He recovered from his injuries, returned in 1974, and placed 9th in the 1976 race. He also co-drove a car with Bob Harkey to 10th place in 1975.

27/12/2011

Catê, Brazilian footballer and manager (born 1973)

Marco Antônio Lemos Tozzi, commonly known as Catê, was a Brazilian professional footballer who played for clubs of Brazil, Chile, Italy, the United States and Venezuela.

Michael Dummett, English soldier, philosopher, and academic (born 1925)

Sir Michael Anthony Eardley Dummett was an English academic described as "among the most significant British philosophers of the last century and a leading campaigner for racial tolerance and equality." He was, until 1992, Wykeham Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford. He wrote on the history of analytic philosophy, notably as an interpreter of Frege, and made original contributions particularly in the philosophies of mathematics, logic, language and metaphysics.

Helen Frankenthaler, American painter and educator (born 1928)

Helen Frankenthaler was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades, she spanned several generations of abstract painters while continuing to produce vital and ever-changing new work. Frankenthaler began exhibiting her large-scale abstract expressionist paintings in contemporary museums and galleries in the early 1950s. She was included in the 1964 Post-Painterly Abstraction exhibition curated by Clement Greenberg that introduced a newer generation of abstract painting that came to be known as color field. Born in Manhattan, she was influenced by Greenberg, Hans Hofmann, and Jackson Pollock's paintings. Her work has been the subject of several retrospective exhibitions, including a 1989 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and been exhibited worldwide since the 1950s. In 2001, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

Johnny Wilson, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (born 1929)

John Edward Wilson was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and head coach. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Black Hawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and New York Rangers between 1950 and 1962. With Detroit, Wilson won the Stanley Cup four times. After his playing career, he coached in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings, Detroit, the Colorado Rockies, and Pittsburgh Penguins between 1969 and 1980. He also coached the Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades and Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association between 1974 and 1976, and the Canadian national team at the 1977 World Championship. Wilson was born in Kincardine, Ontario, but grew up in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec.

27/12/2009

Isaac Schwartz, Ukrainian-Russian composer and educator (born 1923)

Isaac Iosifovich Schwartz, also known as Isaak Shvarts, was a Soviet composer.

27/12/2008

Delaney Bramlett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1939)

Delaine Alvin "Delaney" Bramlett was an American singer and guitarist. He was best known for his musical partnership with his wife Bonnie Bramlett in the band Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, which included a wide variety of other musicians, many of whom were successful in other contexts.

Robert Graham, Mexican-American sculptor (born 1938)

Robert Graham was a Mexican-born American sculptor based in the state of California in the United States. His monumental bronzes commemorate the human figure, and are featured in public places across America.

27/12/2007

Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician, Prime Minister of Pakistan (born 1953)

Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani stateswoman and politician who served as the prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was the first woman elected to head a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country. Ideologically a liberal and a secularist, she chaired or co-chaired the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) from the early 1980s until her assassination in 2007.

Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Polish director and screenwriter (born 1922)

Jerzy Franciszek Kawalerowicz was a Polish film director, screenwriter and politician, having been a member of Polish United Workers' Party from 1954 until its dissolution in 1990 and a deputy in Polish parliament since 1985 until 1989.

Jaan Kross, Estonian author and poet (born 1920)

Jaan Kross was an Estonian writer. He won the 1995 International Nonino Prize in Italy.

27/12/2004

Hank Garland, American guitarist (born 1930)

Walter Louis Garland, known professionally as Hank Garland, was an American guitarist and songwriter. He started as a country musician, played rock and roll as it became popular in the 1950s, and released a jazz album in 1960. His career was cut short when a car accident in 1961 left him unable to perform.

27/12/2003

Alan Bates, English actor (born 1934)

Sir Alan Arthur Bates was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from Whistle Down the Wind to the kitchen sink drama A Kind of Loving.

Iván Calderón, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (born 1962)

Iván Calderón Pérez was a Puerto Rican professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for four teams from 1984 to 1993, and was named an All-Star in 1991. Listed at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) and 220 pounds (100 kg), he batted and threw right-handed. Nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible", Calderón was killed in a shooting in Puerto Rico in December 2003.

27/12/2002

George Roy Hill, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1921)

George Roy Hill was an American film director. His films include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973), both starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Both films also earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director; he won for the latter.

27/12/1999

Michael McDowell, American author and screenwriter (born 1950)

Michael McEachern McDowell was an American novelist and screenwriter. He was described by Stephen King as "the finest writer of paperback originals in America today." His best-known work is the screenplay for the Tim Burton film Beetlejuice.

27/12/1997

Brendan Gill, American journalist and essayist (born 1914)

Brendan Gill was an American journalist. He wrote for The New Yorker for more than 60 years. Gill also contributed film criticism for Film Comment, wrote about design and architecture for Architectural Digest, and authored fifteen books, including a popular memoir about his time at The New Yorker.

Billy Wright, Northern Irish loyalist leader (born 1960)

William Stephen Wright, known as King Rat, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary leader who founded the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) during The Troubles. Wright had joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in his home town of Portadown around 1975. After spending several years in prison, he became a Protestant fundamentalist preacher. Wright resumed his UVF activities around 1986 and, in the early 1990s, replaced Robin Jackson as commander of that organisation's Mid-Ulster Brigade. According to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Wright was involved in the sectarian killings of up to 20 Catholics but was never convicted for any.

27/12/1995

Shura Cherkassky, Ukrainian-American pianist (born 1909)

Shura Cherkassky was a Russian-American concert pianist known for his performances of the romantic repertoire. His playing was characterized by a virtuoso technique and singing piano tone. For much of his later life, Cherkassky resided in London.

Genrikh Kasparyan, Armenian chess player and composer (born 1910)

Genrikh Kasparyan was an Armenian chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest composers of chess endgame studies.

27/12/1994

Fanny Cradock, English author and critic (born 1909)

Phyllis Nan Sortain Pechey, better known as Fanny Cradock, was an English restaurant critic, television cook and writer. She frequently appeared on television, at cookery demonstrations and in print with her fourth husband, Major Johnnie Cradock, who played the part of a slightly bumbling hen-pecked husband.

J. B. L. Reyes, Filipino lawyer and jurist (born 1902)

Jose Benedicto Luis Luna Reyes was a Filipino jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1954 to 1972.

27/12/1993

Feliks Kibbermann, Estonian chess player and philologist (born 1902)

Feliks (Felix) Kibbermann was an Estonian chess master, philologist of German, lexicographer, and pedagogue.

Evald Mikson, Estonian footballer (born 1911)

Evald Mikson was an Estonian athlete and police officer. A multi-sport athlete, he played basketball and football and was a goalkeeper for the Estonia national football team, winning seven caps between 1934 and 1938. During the 1941–1944 Nazi German occupation of Estonia, he has been accused of being a collaborator with Germany during his service in the police force of Estonian Self-Administration and of committing war crimes against Jews. He later emigrated to Iceland, where he became heavily involved in sports and is credited as one of the pioneers in introducing basketball to the nation.

André Pilette, Belgian racing driver (born 1918)

André Théodore Pilette, son of former Indy 500 participant Théodore Pilette, was a racing driver from Belgium. He participated in 14 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 17 June 1951.

27/12/1992

Kay Boyle, American novelist, poet, and educator (born 1902)

Kay Boyle was an American novelist, short story writer, educator, and political activist. Boyle is best known for her fiction, which often explored the intersections of personal and political themes. Her work contributed significantly to modernist literature, and she was an active participant in the expatriate literary scene in Paris during the 1920s. She was a Guggenheim Fellow and O. Henry Award winner.

27/12/1988

Hal Ashby, American director and producer (born 1929)

William Hal Ashby was an American film director and editor. His work exemplified the countercultural attitude of the era. He directed wide-ranging films featuring iconic performances. He is associated with the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking with filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Mike Nichols and Sidney Lumet.

27/12/1987

Rewi Alley, New Zealand writer and political activist (born 1897)

Rewi Alley was a New Zealand-born writer and political activist. A member of the Chinese Communist Party, he dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause and was a key figure in the establishment of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives and technical training schools, including the Bailie Schools and Peili Vocational Institute, both named after his mentor Joseph Bailie. Alley was a prolific writer about 20th century China, and especially the communist revolution. He also translated numerous Chinese poems.

27/12/1986

George Dangerfield, English-American historian and journalist (born 1904)

George Bubb Dangerfield was a British-born American journalist, historian, and the literary editor of Vanity Fair from 1933 to 1935. He is known primarily for his book The Strange Death of Liberal England (1935), a classic account of how the Liberal Party in Great Britain ruined itself in dealing with the House of Lords, women's suffrage, the Irish question, and labour unions, 1906–1914. His book on the United States in the early 19th century, The Era of Good Feelings, won the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for History.

Dumas Malone, American historian and author (born 1892)

Dumas Malone was an American historian, minister, and biographer. A professor by occupation, Malone spent the majority of his career teaching at the University of Virginia (UVA), where he served as the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History.

27/12/1985

Jean Rondeau, French racing driver (born 1946)

Jean Jacques Fernand Rondeau was a French race car driver and constructor, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1980, in a car bearing his own name, an achievement which remains unique in the history of the race.

27/12/1982

Jack Swigert, American pilot, astronaut, and politician (born 1931)

John Leonard Swigert Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer, United States Air Force pilot, and politician. In April 1970, as command module pilot of Apollo 13, he became one of 24 Apollo astronauts who reached the Moon. Due to the "slingshot" route around the Moon they chose to safely return to Earth, the Apollo 13 astronauts flew farther away from Earth than any other astronauts until the Artemis II lunar flyby in 2026, though they had to abort the Moon landing.

27/12/1981

Hoagy Carmichael, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (born 1899)

Hoagland Howard Carmichael was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor, author and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s and 1940s, and was among the first singer-songwriters in the age of mass media to use new communication technologies such as radio broadcasts, television, microphones, and sound recordings.

27/12/1979

Hafizullah Amin, Afghan educator and politician, 2nd General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (born 1929)

Hafizullah Amin was an Afghan revolutionary and communist head of state, who served in that position for a little over three months, from September 1979 until his assassination. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and co-founded the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (DRA), ruling Afghanistan as General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party.

27/12/1978

Chris Bell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1951)

Christopher Branford Bell was an American musician and singer-songwriter. Along with Alex Chilton, he led the power pop band Big Star through its first album #1 Record (1972). He also pursued a solo career throughout the mid-1970s, resulting in the posthumous I Am the Cosmos LP.

Houari Boumediene, Algerian colonel and politician, 2nd President of Algeria (born 1932)

Houari Boumédiène was an Algerian military officer, revolutionary, and politician who was the second head of state of independent Algeria from 1965 until his death in 1978. He served as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Algeria from 19 June 1965 until 12 December 1976 and thereafter as president of Algeria until his death.

Bob Luman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1937)

Robert Glynn Luman was an American country and rockabilly singer.

27/12/1974

Vladimir Fock, Russian physicist and mathematician (born 1898)

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Fock was a Soviet physicist, who did foundational work on quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.

Amy Vanderbilt, American author (born 1908)

Amy Osborne Vanderbilt was an American authority on etiquette. In 1952 she published the best-selling book Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette. The book, later retitled Amy Vanderbilt's Etiquette, has been updated and is still in circulation. Its longtime popularity has led to it being considered a standard of etiquette writing.

27/12/1972

Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897)

Lester Bowles Pearson was a Canadian politician, diplomat, and scholar who served as the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968. He also served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1958 to 1968 and as leader of the Official Opposition from 1958 to 1963.

27/12/1965

Edgar Ende, German painter (born 1901)

Edgar Karl Alfons Ende was a German surrealist painter and father of the children's novelist Michael Ende.

27/12/1956

Lambert McKenna, Irish priest and lexicographer (born 1870)

Lambert McKenna S.J. was a Jesuit priest and writer.

27/12/1955

Alfred Carpenter, English admiral, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1881)

Vice-Admiral Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, VC was a Royal Navy officer who was selected by his fellow officers and men to receive the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

27/12/1953

Şükrü Saracoğlu, Turkish soldier and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1887)

Mehmet Şükrü Saracoğlu was a Turkish politician, the fifth prime minister of Turkey and the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs during the early stages of World War II. He signed the German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship in 1941, which would prevent Turkish involvement in the war. He was also the chairman of the Turkish sports club Fenerbahçe S.K. for 16 years between 1934 and 1950, including holding that post concurrently with his time as Prime Minister from 1942 to 1946.

Julian Tuwim, Polish poet and author (born 1894)

Julian Tuwim, known also under the pseudonym Oldlen as a lyricist, was a Polish poet, born in Łódź, then part of the Russian Partition. He was educated in Łódź and in Warsaw where he studied law and philosophy at Warsaw University. After Poland's return to independence in 1918, Tuwim co-founded the Skamander group of experimental poets with Antoni Słonimski and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. He was a major figure in Polish literature, admired also for his contribution to children's literature. He was a recipient of the prestigious Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature in 1935.

27/12/1952

Patrick Joseph Hartigan, Australian priest, author, and educator (born 1878)

Monsignor Patrick Joseph Hartigan was an Australian Roman Catholic priest, educator, author and poet, writing under the name John O'Brien.

27/12/1950

Max Beckmann, German-American painter and sculptor (born 1884)

Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920s, he was associated with the New Objectivity, an outgrowth of Expressionism that opposed its introverted emotionalism. Even when dealing with light subject matter like circus performers, Beckmann often had an undercurrent of moodiness or unease in his works. By the 1930s, his work became more explicit in its horrifying imagery and distorted forms with combination of brutal realism and social criticism, coinciding with the rise of Nazism in Germany.

27/12/1943

Ants Kurvits, Estonian general and politician, 10th Estonian Minister of War (born 1887)

Ants Kurvits or Hans Kurvits was an Estonian military commander, reaching rank of major general. He participated in the Estonian War of Independence and later became the founder and long-time leader of the Estonian Border Guard. Kurvits also served briefly as Minister of War.

27/12/1939

Rinaldo Cuneo, American painter (born 1877)

Rinaldo Cuneo, was an American artist known for his landscape paintings and murals. He was dubbed "the Painter of San Francisco".

27/12/1938

Calvin Bridges, American geneticist and academic (born 1889)

Calvin Blackman Bridges was an American scientist known for his contributions to the field of genetics. Along with Alfred Sturtevant and Hermann Joseph Muller, Bridges was part of Thomas Hunt Morgan's famous "Fly Room" at Columbia University.

Osip Mandelstam, Polish-Russian poet and critic (born 1891)

Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam was a Russian and Soviet poet. He was one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school.

Zona Gale, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (born 1874)

Zona Gale, also known by her married name, Zona Gale Breese, was an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921. The close relationship she had with her parents influenced both her writing and personal life. Her books, based on her hometown, were noted for their charm and intimate realism, capturing the underlying emotions and motivations of her characters. All of her works were published under her maiden name, Zona Gale.

27/12/1936

Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Turkish poet, academic, and politician (born 1873)

Mehmet Akif Ersoy was a Turkish poet, writer, academic, politician, and the author of the Turkish National Anthem. Widely regarded as one of the premiere literary minds of his time, Ersoy is noted for his command of the Turkish language, as well as his patriotism and role in the Turkish War of Independence.

27/12/1924

Agda Meyerson, Swedish nurse and healthcare activist (born 1866)

Agda Meyerson was a Swedish nurse who became an activist to improve the education, pay and working conditions of her profession. She served as vice chair of the Swedish Nursing Association in 1910 and on the board of numerous nursing facilities. She is recognized as one of the pioneers of the profession in Sweden.

27/12/1923

Gustave Eiffel, French architect and engineer, co-designed the Eiffel Tower (born 1832)

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Métiers, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit Viaduct. He is best known for the Eiffel Tower, designed by his company and built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, and his contribution to building the Statue of Liberty in New York. After his retirement from engineering, Eiffel focused on research into meteorology and aerodynamics, making significant contributions in both fields.

27/12/1919

Achilles Alferaki, Russian-Greek composer and politician, Governor of Taganrog (born 1846)

Achilles Nikolayevich Alferaki was a Russian composer and politician of Greek descent. His brother was Sergei Alphéraky. He served as the mayor of Taganrog from 1880 to 1888.

27/12/1914

Charles Martin Hall, American chemist and engineer (born 1863)

Charles Martin Hall was an American inventor, businessman, and chemist. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminium, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of iron. He was one of the founders of Alcoa, along with Alfred E. Hunt; Hunt's partner at the Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory, George Hubbard Clapp; Hunt's chief chemist, W. S. Sample; Howard Lash, head of the Carbon Steel Company; Millard Hunsiker, sales manager for the Carbon Steel Company; and Robert Scott, a mill superintendent for the Carnegie Steel Company. Together they raised $20,000 to launch the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which was later renamed Aluminum Company of America and then shortened to Alcoa.

27/12/1900

William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, English engineer and businessman, founded Armstrong Whitworth (born 1810)

William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong was an English engineer and industrialist who founded the Armstrong Whitworth manufacturing concern on Tyneside. He was also an eminent scientist, inventor and philanthropist. In collaboration with the architect Richard Norman Shaw, he built Cragside in Northumberland, the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity. He is regarded as the inventor of modern artillery.

27/12/1896

John Brown, English businessman and politician (born 1816)

Sir John Brown, British industrialist, was born in Sheffield. He was known as the Father of the South Yorkshire Iron Trade.

27/12/1895

Eivind Astrup, Norwegian explorer (born 1871)

Eivind Astrup was a Norwegian explorer and writer. Astrup participated in Robert Peary's expedition to Greenland in 1891–92 and mapped northern Greenland. In the follow-up Greenland expedition by Peary during 1893–94 he explored and mapped Melville Bay on the north-west coast of Greenland. Among his works is Blandt Nordpolens Naboer from 1895. He was awarded the Knight of the Order of St. Olav in 1892.

27/12/1858

Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French pianist and composer (born 1785)

Alexandre Pierre-François Boëly was a French composer, organist, pianist, and violist.

27/12/1836

Stephen F. Austin, American soldier and politician (born 1793)

Stephen Fuller Austin was an American-born empresario, i.e. a person granted the right to settle on land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for settling the eastern areas of the Tejas region of Mexico in the early nineteenth century. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas, he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families and their slaves from the United States in 1825.

27/12/1834

Charles Lamb, English essayist and poet (born 1775)

Charles Lamb was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the children's book Tales from Shakespeare, co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–1847).

27/12/1812

Joanna Southcott, English religious leader (born 1750)

Joanna Southcott was a British self-described religious prophetess from Devon. A "Southcottian" movement continued in various forms after her death.

27/12/1800

Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and author (born 1718)

Hugh Blair FRSE was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse.

27/12/1782

Henry Home, Lord Kames, Scottish judge and philosopher (born 1697)

Henry Home, Lord Kames was a Scottish writer, philosopher and judge who played a major role in Scotland's Agricultural Revolution. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, he was a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh and active in The Select Society. Home acted as patron to some of the most influential thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, including philosopher David Hume, economist Adam Smith, writer James Boswell, philosopher William Cullen and naturalist John Walker.

27/12/1776

Johann Rall, Hessian colonel (born c. 1726)

Johann Gottlieb Rall was a German colonel best known for his command of Hessian troops at the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War.

27/12/1771

Henri Pitot, French engineer, invented the Pitot tube (born 1695)

Henri Pitot was a French hydraulic engineer and the inventor of the pitot tube.

27/12/1743

Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter (born 1659)

Jacint Rigau-Ros i Serra, known in French as Hyacinthe Rigaud, was a Catalan-French baroque painter most famous for his portraits of Louis XIV and other members of the French nobility.

27/12/1737

William Bowyer, English printer (born 1663)

William Bowyer the elder, English printer, was apprenticed to a Miles Flesher in 1679, made a liveryman of The Stationers' and Newspaper Makers' Company in 1700, and nominated as one of the twenty printers allowed by the Star Chamber.

27/12/1707

Jean Mabillon, French monk and scholar (born 1632)

Dom Jean Mabillon, was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics.

Robert Leke, 3rd Earl of Scarsdale, English earl, politician (born 1654)

Robert Leke, 3rd Earl of Scarsdale was an English politician and courtier, styled Lord Deincourt from 1655 to 1681.

27/12/1704

Hans Albrecht von Barfus, Prussian field marshal and politician (born 1635)

Hans Albrecht von Barfus was a field marshal in the service of Brandenburg and Prussia, serving briefly as prime minister under King Frederick I.

27/12/1694

Henrik Span, naval officer in the Dutch (born 1634)

Henrik Span was a naval officer in the Dutch, Venetian and Danish navies. He reached the rank of Admiral in the Royal Danish Navy in 1683 and headed the Royal Danish Naval Dockyard in Copenhagen from 1690. In 1692, he was granted Hørbygaard at Holbæk and raised to the peerage by Christian V of Denmark.

27/12/1693

Henri de Villars, French prelate (born 1621)

Henri de Villars was a French prelate, latterly Archbishop of Vienne from 1662 to his death.

27/12/1689

Gervase Bryan, English clergyman (born 1622)

Gervase Bryan was an English clergyman, an ejected minister of 1662.

27/12/1683

Maria Francisca of Savoy, Queen consort of Portugal (born 1646)

Dona Maria Francisca Isabel of Savoy was Queen of Portugal during her marriage to King Dom Afonso VI from 2 August 1666 to 24 March 1668 and, as the wife of Afonso's brother King Dom Peter II, from 12 September 1683 until her death in December that year. She married Afonso VI at the age of 20; because the marriage was never consummated, she was able to obtain an annulment. On 28 March 1668, she married the King's brother Infante Dom Peter, Duke of Beja, who was appointed prince regent the same year due to Afonso's perceived incompetence. She became queen a second time when Afonso died and Peter succeeded his brother, but she herself died three months later.

27/12/1672

Jacques Rohault, French philosopher (born 1618)

Jacques Rohault was a French philosopher, physicist and mathematician, and a follower of Cartesianism.

27/12/1663

Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy (born 1606)

Christine of France was Duchess of Savoy from 26 July 1630 to 7 October 1637 as the consort of Duke Victor Amadeus I. She was the daughter of Henry IV of France and sister of Louis XIII. Following her husband's death in 1637, she acted as regent of Savoy between 1637 and 1648.

27/12/1660

Hervey Bagot, English politician (born 1591)

Sir Hervey Bagot, 1st Baronet was an English MP.

27/12/1656

Andrew White, English Jesuit missionary (born 1579)

Andrew White was an English Jesuit Catholic missionary who was involved in the founding of the Maryland colony. A chronicler of Colonial Maryland, his writings remain a primary source on the land, the Native Americans and the Jesuit mission in North America.

27/12/1642

Herman op den Graeff, Dutch bishop (born 1585)

Herman op den Graeff, also Hermann, was a Mennonite community leader from Krefeld.

27/12/1641

Francis van Aarssens, Dutch diplomat (born 1572)[citation needed]

Baron Francis van Aarssens or Baron François van Aerssen, from 1611 on lord of Sommelsdijk, was a diplomat and statesman of the United Provinces.

27/12/1637

Vincenzo Giustiniani, Italian banker (born 1564)

Vincenzo Giustiniani was an aristocratic Italian banker, art collector and intellectual of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, known today largely for the Giustiniani art collection, assembled at the Palazzo Giustiniani, near the Pantheon, in Rome, and at the family palazzo at Bassano by Vincenzo and his brother, Cardinal Benedetto, and for his patronage of the artist Caravaggio.

27/12/1603

Thomas Cartwright, English minister and theologian (born 1535)

Thomas Cartwright was an English Puritan preacher and theologian.

27/12/1548

Francesco Spiera, Italian lawyer and jurist (born 1502)

Francesco Spiera was a Protestant Italian jurist. The manner of his death has been the subject of numerous religious tracts.

27/12/1543

George, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (born 1484)

George of Brandenburg-Ansbach, known as George the Pious, was a margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach from the House of Hohenzollern.

27/12/1518

Mahmood Shah Bahmani II, sultan of the Bahmani Sultanate (born c. 1470)

Mahmood Shah or Shihab-Ud-Din Mahmud was the sultan of the Bahmani Sultanate from 1482 until his death in 1518. His long rule is noted for the disintegration of the sultanate and the creation of the independent Deccan sultanates.

27/12/1381

Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, English politician (born 1352)

Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March and Earl of Ulster was an English magnate who was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland, but died after only two years in the post.

27/12/1087

Bertha of Savoy, Holy Roman Empress (born 1051)

Bertha of Savoy, also called Bertha of Turin, was Queen of Germany from 1066 and Holy Roman Empress from 1084 until 1087 as the first wife of Emperor Henry IV.

27/12/1076

Sviatoslav II, Grand Prince of Kiev (born 1027)

Sviatoslav II Iaroslavich or Sviatoslav II Yaroslavich was Grand Prince of Kiev from 1073 until his death in 1076. He was a younger son of Yaroslav the Wise, the grand prince of Kiev. He is the progenitor of the Sviatoslavichi branch of Rurikids.

27/12/1005

Nilus the Younger, Byzantine abbot (born 910)

Nilus the Younger, also called Neilos of Rossano was a Griko monk and abbot from Calabria, Italy. He was the founder of Italo-Byzantine monasticism in southern Italy. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches, and his feast day is celebrated on September 26 in both the Byzantine calendar and the Roman Martyrology.

27/12/1003

Emma of Blois, French duchess and regent

Emma of Blois was Duchess of Aquitaine by marriage to William IV, Duke of Aquitaine. She ruled Aquitaine as regent for her son, William V, Duke of Aquitaine, from 996 until 1004.

27/12/0975

Balderic, bishop of Utrecht (born 897)

Balderic of Cleves was a long-reigning and influential Bishop of Utrecht from 918 to 975.

27/12/0870

Aeneas of Paris, Frankish bishop

Aeneas of Paris was bishop of Paris from 858 to 870. He is best known as the author of one of the controversial treatises against the Byzantines ("Greeks"), called forth by the encyclical letters of Photius. His comprehensive Liber adversus Græcos deals with the procession of the Holy Spirit, the marriage of the clergy, fasting, the consignatio infantium, the clerical tonsure, the Roman primacy, and the elevation of deacons to the see of Rome. He declares that the accusations brought by the Greeks against the Latins are "superfluous questions having more relation to secular matters than to spiritual."

27/12/0683

Gaozong of Tang, 3rd emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty (born 628)

Emperor Gaozong of Tang, personal name Li Zhi, was the third emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty, ruling from 649 to 683; after January 665, he handed power over the empire to his second wife Empress Wu, and her decrees were carried out with greater force than the decrees of Emperor Gaozong's. Emperor Gaozong was the youngest son of Emperor Taizong and Empress Zhangsun; his elder brothers were Li Chengqian and Li Tai.

Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 27th December

Christian feast day: Blessed Francesco Spoto

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Blessed Sára Salkaházi

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Fabiola

Fabiola was a physician and Roman matron of rank of the company of noble Roman women who, under the influence of the Church Father Jerome, gave up all earthly pleasures and devoted herself to the practice of Christian asceticism and charitable work. She is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic church, being commemorated on 27 December.

Christian feast day: John the Apostle

John the Apostle, also known as Saint John the Beloved and, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Saint John the Theologian, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother James was another of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder, and the Beloved Disciple, and claim that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims.

Christian feast day: Pope Maximus of Alexandria

Pope Maximus of Alexandria, 15th Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria. He is commemorated in the Coptic Synaxarion on the 14th day of Baramudah, and by the Romans on Dec. 27.

Christian feast day: Nicarete

Saint Nicarete, was a woman of Nicomedia who became a saint as a disciple of St. John Chrysostom. She left her home specifically to study theology and practice devotion and care for the poor in Constantinople. She became a follower of John Chrysostom and worked as a physician as well as a healer for the poor. She cured John Chrysostom of a stomach ailment. Later, when Chrysostom was sent into exile from Constantinople, she went with him.

Christian feast day: Theodorus and Theophanes

Theodorus and Theophanes, called the Grapti, are remembered as proponents of the veneration of icons during the second Iconoclastic controversy. They were brothers and natives of Jerusalem.

Christian feast day: December 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

December 26 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - December 28

Constitution Day (North Korea)

This is a list of public holidays in North Korea. See also the Korean calendar for a list of traditional holidays. As of 2017, the North Korean calendar has 71 official public holidays, including Sundays. In the past, North Koreans relied on rations provided by the state on public holidays for feasts. Recently, with marketization people are able to save up money and buy the goods they need.

Emergency Rescuer's Day (Russia)

Emergency Rescuer's Day is a professional holiday of Russian emergency service workers, observed annually on 27 December when the Russian Emergency Rescue Corps was established in 1990, according to the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Russian SSR. The holiday itself was established by the Presidential Decree of Boris Yeltsin No. 1306 "On the Establishment of the Day of the Emergency Rescuer of the Russian Federation" on 26 November 1995.

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

Saint Stephen's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on 26 December in Western Christianity and 27 December in Eastern Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox churches that adhere to the Julian calendar mark Saint Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which places it on 9 January of the Gregorian calendar used in civil contexts. In Western Christian denominations, Saint Stephen's Day marks the second day of Christmastide.

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

The Twelve Days of Christmas, or Twelve Days of Christmastide, is the festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In Western Christianity it begins with Christmas Day and includes Saint Stephen's Day, the Feast of Saint John the Apostle, Childermas, New Year's Eve or Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Day or the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, and the Feast of the Holy Family. It ends with Twelfth Night or Epiphany Eve.

What Happened on 27th December?

42 significant events took place on Wednesday, 27th December — stretching from 537 to 2025. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

27/12/2025

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

In December 2025, items worth an estimated €30 million were stolen from a Sparkasse bank in Buer, a suburb of Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The thieves used a large drill to break into the bank's underground vault and proceeded to crack over 3,000 safe deposit boxes. Authorities believe that the thieves broke into the Buer branch of the bank over the weekend, although it was not discovered by the police until a fire alarm went off early on Monday 29 December.

27/12/2019

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

Bek Air Flight 2100 was a domestic passenger flight from Almaty to Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, operated by a Fokker 100 that crashed on 27 December 2019 while taking off from Almaty International Airport. Of the 98 people on board, 13 died in the crash and 66 were injured. The Kazakh government started investigations on the same day.

27/12/2009

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

After incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests broke out in major cities across Iran in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The protests continued until 2010, and were titled the Iranian Green Movement by their proponents, reflecting Mousavi's campaign theme, and Persian Awakening, Persian Spring or Green Revolution.

27/12/2008

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

The Gaza War, also known as the First Gaza War, Operation Cast Lead, or the Gaza Massacre, and referred to as the Battle of al-Furqan by Hamas, was a three-week armed conflict between Gaza Strip Palestinian paramilitary groups and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that began on 27 December 2008 and ended on 18 January 2009 with a unilateral ceasefire. The conflict resulted in 1,166–1,417 Palestinian and 13 Israeli deaths. Over 46,000 homes were destroyed in Gaza, making more than 100,000 people homeless.

27/12/2007

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

A prime minister, also known as a chief of cabinet, chief minister, first minister, minister-president or premier, is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but rather the head of government, serving as the chief of the executive under either a monarch or a president in a republican form of government.

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

Mombasa is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. Buildings in the Central Business District are blue and white, representing the Indian Ocean. It is the country's oldest and second-largest city after Nairobi, with a population of about 1,208,333 people according to the 2019 census.

27/12/2004

Radiation 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.

In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes:electromagnetic radiation consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma radiation (γ) particle radiation consisting of particles of non-zero rest energy, such as alpha radiation (α), beta radiation (β), proton radiation and neutron radiation acoustic radiation, such as ultrasound, sound, and seismic waves, all dependent on a physical transmission medium gravitational radiation, in the form of gravitational waves, ripples in spacetime

27/12/2002

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

The Grozny truck bombing occurred on 27 December 2002, when three Chechen suicide bombers ran vehicles into the heavily guarded republic's government headquarters in the regional capital Grozny.

27/12/1999

Burger 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.

Burger King Corporation is an American fast food chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The company was founded on July 23, 1953, as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida–based restaurant chain. After Insta-Burger King ran into financial difficulties, its two Miami-based franchisees David Edgerton (1927–2018) and James McLamore (1926–1996) purchased the company in 1959. Over the next half-century, the company changed hands four times and its third set of owners, a partnership between TPG Capital, Bain Capital, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, took it public in 2002. In late 2010, 3G Capital of Brazil acquired a majority stake in the company in a deal valued at US$3.26 billion. The new owners promptly initiated a restructuring of the company to reverse its fortunes. 3G, along with its partner Berkshire Hathaway, eventually merged the company with the Canadian-based coffeehouse chain Tim Hortons under the auspices of a new Canadian-based parent company named Restaurant Brands International.

27/12/1997

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

William Stephen Wright, known as King Rat, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary leader who founded the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) during The Troubles. Wright had joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in his home town of Portadown around 1975. After spending several years in prison, he became a Protestant fundamentalist preacher. Wright resumed his UVF activities around 1986 and, in the early 1990s, replaced Robin Jackson as commander of that organisation's Mid-Ulster Brigade. According to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Wright was involved in the sectarian killings of up to 20 Catholics but was never convicted for any.

27/12/1996

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

The Taliban, officially known as the Islamic Movement of Taliban, also referring to themselves by their state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is the Afghan ruling government, as well as a political and militant organization with an ideology comprising elements of the Deobandi movement of Islamic fundamentalism and Pashtun nationalism. It ruled approximately 90% of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, before it was overthrown by an American-led invasion after the September 11 attacks carried out by the Taliban's ally al-Qaeda. Following a 20-year insurgency and the departure of coalition forces, the Taliban recaptured Kabul in August 2021, overthrowing the Islamic Republic, and now controls all of Afghanistan. The Taliban has been condemned for restricting human rights, including women's rights to work and have an education, and for the persecution of ethnic minorities. It is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries, and the Taliban government is largely unrecognized by the international community.

27/12/1991

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

Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 751 was a regularly scheduled Scandinavian Airlines passenger flight from Stockholm, Sweden, to Warsaw, Poland, via Copenhagen, Denmark. On 27 December 1991, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81 operating the flight, registration OY-KHO, piloted by Danish Captain Stefan G. Rasmussen (44) and Swedish first officer Ulf Cedermark (34), both experienced pilots with 8,000 and 3,000 flight hours, respectively, was forced to make an emergency landing in a field near Gottröra, Sweden. Ice had collected on the wings' inner roots before takeoff, broke off, and was ingested into the engines as the aircraft became airborne, ultimately disabling both engines. All 129 passengers and crew aboard survived.

27/12/1989

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

The Romanian revolution was a period of violent civil unrest in the Socialist Republic of Romania during December 1989 as a part of the revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries around the world, primarily within the Eastern Bloc. The Romanian revolution started in the city of Timișoara and soon spread throughout the country, ultimately culminating in the drumhead trial and execution of longtime Romanian Communist Party (PCR) General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, and the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. It was also the last removal of a Marxist–Leninist government in a Warsaw Pact country during the events of 1989, and the only one that violently overthrew a country's leadership and executed its leader; according to estimates, over one thousand people died and thousands more were injured.

27/12/1985

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

Palestinians are an Arab national group native to the region of Palestine, descended from those who have inhabited the area over the millennia. They represent a highly homogenized community who share a cultural and ethnic identity, and close linguistic and cultural ties with other Levantine Arabs.

27/12/1983

Pope 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.

Pope John Paul II was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pius IX. In addition to this, he was an important philosopher and theologian of the 20th century.

27/12/1978

Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.

The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as la Transición or la Transición española, officially the Spanish State from 1975 to 1978 and Kingdom of Spain thereafter, was a period of modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system, in the form of constitutional monarchy under Juan Carlos I.

27/12/1968

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

The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidency during Project Mercury and executed after Project Gemini. Apollo was later dedicated to President John F. Kennedy's national goal, "before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" in his address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961.

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

On December 27, 1968, North Central Airlines Flight 458 crashed into a hangar while attempting a night landing in poor weather at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Of the 41 passengers and four crew members, only 17 passengers and one crew member survived. One person was killed and six were injured on the ground.

27/12/1966

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

The Cave of Swallows, also called the Cave of the Swallows, is an open-air pit cave in the municipality of Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The elliptical mouth, on a slope of karst, is 49 by 62 m wide and is undercut around all of its perimeter, widening to a room approximately 303 by 135 m wide. The floor of the cave is a 333 m (1,093 ft) freefall drop from the lowest side of the opening, with a 370 m (1,210 ft) drop from the highest side, making it the largest known cave shaft in the world, the second deepest pit in Mexico and perhaps the 11th deepest sheer drop in the world.

27/12/1949

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

The Indonesian National Revolution, also known as the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during postwar and postcolonial Indonesia. It took place between Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945 and the Netherlands' transfer of sovereignty over the Dutch East Indies to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia at the end of 1949.

27/12/1945

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

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international financial institution and a specialized agency of the United Nations, headquartered in Washington, D.C. It consists of 191 member countries, and its stated mission is "working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world". The IMF acts as a lender of last resort to its members experiencing actual or potential balance of payments crises.

27/12/1939

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

An earthquake struck Turkey's eastern Erzincan Province at 1:57:23 a.m. on 27 December 1939 local time with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.8 and maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). It is tied with the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes as the most powerful earthquake in Turkey to be recorded by instruments. However, it was less powerful than estimates of the 1668 North Anatolia earthquake. This was one of the largest in a sequence of violent shocks to affect Turkey along the North Anatolian Fault between 1939 and 1999. Surface rupturing, with a horizontal displacement of up to 3.7 meters, occurred in a 360 km long segment of the North Anatolian Fault Zone. The earthquake was the most severe natural loss of life in Turkey in the 20th century, with 32,968 dead, and some 100,000 injured.

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

The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its organization.

27/12/1935

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

Regina Jonas was a Berlin-born Reform rabbi. In 1935, she became the first woman to be ordained as a rabbi. Jonas was murdered in the Holocaust.

27/12/1932

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

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for the Rockettes. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style.

27/12/1929

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

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the country's dissolution in 1991, the officeholder was the recognized leader of the Soviet Union. Prior to Joseph Stalin's accession, the position was not viewed as an important role in Vladimir Lenin's government and previous occupants had been responsible for technical rather than political decisions.

27/12/1927

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

Show Boat is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years from 1887 to 1927. Its themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. The musical contributed such classic songs as "Ol' Man River", "Make Believe", and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man".

27/12/1922

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

Hōshō was the world's first commissioned ship that was built as an aircraft carrier, and the first aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Commissioned in 1922, the ship was used for testing carrier aircraft operations equipment, techniques, such as take-offs and landings, and carrier aircraft operational methods and tactics. The ship provided valuable lessons and experience for the IJN in early carrier air operations. Hōshō's superstructure and other obstructions to the flight deck were removed in 1924 on the advice of experienced aircrews.

27/12/1918

The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.

The Greater Poland uprising of 1918–1919, or Wielkopolska uprising of 1918–1919 or Poznań War was a military insurrection of Poles in the Greater Poland region against German rule. The uprising had a significant effect on the Treaty of Versailles, which granted a reconstituted Second Polish Republic the area won by the Polish insurrectionists. The region had been part of the Kingdom of Poland and then Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth before the 1793 Second Partition of Poland when it was annexed by the German Kingdom of Prussia. It had also, following the 1806 Greater Poland uprising, been part of the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815), a French client state during the Napoleonic Wars.

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

The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the Ukrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the establishment and development of an independent Ukrainian republic, most of which was absorbed into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic between 1919 and 1920. The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1991.

27/12/1911

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

"Jana Gana Mana" is the national anthem of the Republic of India. It was originally composed as "Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata" in Bengali written by polymath, activist and country's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore on 11 December 1911. The first stanza of the song "Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata", originally composed as a Hindu religious hymn for the Brahmo Samaj, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India as the National Anthem on 24 January 1950. A formal rendition of the national anthem takes approximately 52 seconds. A shortened version consisting of the first and last lines is also staged occasionally. It was first publicly sung on 27 December 1911 at the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.

27/12/1845

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

Diethyl ether, or simply ether is an organic compound with the chemical formula (CH3CH2)2O, belonging to the ether class. It is a colourless, highly volatile, sweet-smelling, and extremely flammable liquid. It is a common solvent and was formerly used as a general anesthetic.

Having 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.

Manifest destiny was the expansionist belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand westward across North America, and that this belief was both obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny"). The belief is rooted in American exceptionalism, romantic nationalism, Anglo-Saxonism, and nascent ideas of white chauvinism, implying the inevitable spread of republicanism and the American way. It is one of the earliest expressions of American imperialism. According to historian William Earl Weeks, there were three basic tenets behind the concept: The assumption of the unique moral virtue of the United States, the assertion of its mission to redeem the world by the spread of republican government and more generally the "American way of life", and the faith in the nation's divinely ordained destiny to succeed in this mission.

27/12/1836

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

The Lewes avalanche occurred on 27 December 1836 in Lewes, East Sussex, when a huge build-up of snow on a chalk cliff overlooking the town collapsed into the settlement 100 metres (330 ft) below, destroying a row of cottages and killing eight people. It remains the deadliest avalanche on record in the United Kingdom.

27/12/1831

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

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey.

27/12/1814

War 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.

The War of 1812 was a conflict initiated by the United States against the United Kingdom and its allies fought mainly in North America and at sea during the wider Napoleonic Wars. The United States declared war on Britain on 18 June 1812. Although peace terms were agreed upon in the December 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the war did not officially end until the peace treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on 17 February 1815.

27/12/1703

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

The Methuen Treaty was a military and commercial treaty between England and Portugal signed in 1703 as part of the War of the Spanish Succession. Named after John Methuen, it actually refers to two treaties signed that year.

27/12/1657

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

The Flushing Remonstrance was a 1657 petition to Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, in which some thirty residents of the small settlement at Flushing requested an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights.

27/12/1655

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

The Northern War of 1655–1660 was fought between the Swedish Empire and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with participation at different times by Russia, Brandenburg-Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and Denmark–Norway. It ended with the treaties of Copenhagen and Oliva in 1660.

27/12/1521

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

The Zwickau prophets were three men of the Radical Reformation from Zwickau in the Electorate of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire who were possibly involved in a disturbance in nearby Wittenberg and its evolving Reformation in early 1522. The prophets, as well as supporters of their beliefs, were also referred to as Abecedarians, a name supposedly referring to the fact that they believed it was preferable to never learn the letters of the alphabet, as worldly knowledge prevented spiritual enlightenment.

27/12/1512

The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.

The Laws of Burgos, promulgated on 27 December 1512 in Burgos, Crown of Castile (Spain), was the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spaniards in the Americas, particularly with regard to the Indigenous people of the Americas. They forbade the slavery of the indigenous people and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism. The laws were created following the conquest and Spanish colonization of the Americas in the West Indies, where the common law of Castile was not fully applicable. Friars and Spanish academics pressured King Ferdinand II of Aragon and his daughter, Queen regnant, Joanna of Castile, to pass the set of laws in order to protect the rights of the natives of the New World.

27/12/0537

The second Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is consecrated.

Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. It was formerly a church (360–1453) and a museum (1935–2020). The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in AD 537, becoming the world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a fully pendentive dome. It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture". From its dedication in 360 until 1453, Hagia Sophia served as the cathedral of Constantinople in the Byzantine liturgical tradition, except for the period 1204–1261 when the Latin Crusaders installed their own hierarchy. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it served as a mosque, having its minarets added soon after. The site became a museum in 1935, and was redesignated as a mosque in 2020.

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Personality Profile

Fun Facts About 27th December

Famous Birthdays on 27th December

Ander Barrenetxea, Spanish footballer

Brock Purdy, American football player

Luka Garza, American basketball player

Mads Juel Andersen, Danish footballer

Vachirawit Chivaaree, Thai actor and singer

Ana Konjuh, Croatian tennis player

Jang Gyu-ri, South Korean actress

Timothée Chalamet, French-American actor

Nick Chubb, American football player

Ghislain Konan, Ivorian footballer

Mark Lapidus, Estonian chess player

Isi Palazón, Spanish footballer

Olivia Cooke, English actress

Joel Indermitte, Estonian footballer

Maicel Uibo, Estonian decathlete

Chloe Bridges, American actress

Michael Morgan, Australian rugby league player

Beth Potter, Scottish triathlete and long-distance runner

Danny Wilson, Scottish footballer

Max Lindholm, Finnish figure skater

Jonathan Marchessault, Canadian ice hockey player

Milos Raonic, Canadian tennis player

Zelina Vega, American wrestler

Ingrid Várgas Calvo, Peruvian tennis player

Jorge Gutiérrez, Mexican basketball player

Hera Hilmar, Icelandic actress

Zavon Hines, Jamaican-English footballer

Ok Taec-yeon, South Korean singer and actor

Rick Porcello, American baseball player

Hayley Williams, American singer-songwriter

Lily Cole, English model

Torah Bright, Australian snowboarder

Jamaal Charles, American football player

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaican sprinter

Logan Bailly, Belgian footballer

Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Belgian racing driver

Adil Rami, French footballer

Paul Stastny, Canadian-American ice hockey player

Andrejs Perepļotkins, Ukrainian-Latvian footballer

Gilles Simon, French tennis player

Anthony Boric, New Zealand rugby union player

Cole Hamels, American baseball player

Jesse Williams, American high jumper

Erin E. Stead, American illustrator

David Aardsma, American baseball player

Emilie de Ravin, Australian actress

Jay Ellis, American actor

Moise Joseph, American-Haitian runner

Patrick Sharp, Canadian ice hockey player

Bernard Berrian, American football player

Claudio Castagnoli, Swiss wrestler

Dahntay Jones, American basketball player

Meelis Kompus, Estonian journalist

Pascale Dorcelus, Canadian weightlifter

David Dunn, English footballer and manager

Carson Palmer, American football player

Deuce McAllister, American football player

Lisa Jakub, Canadian actress

Jacqueline Pillon, Canadian actress

Chris Tate, English footballer

Nikolaos Georgeas, Greek footballer

Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (died 2009)

Daimí Pernía, Cuban basketball player and hurdler

Fernando Pisani, Canadian-Italian ice hockey player

Aigars Fadejevs, Latvian race walker and therapist

Heather O'Rourke, American actress (died 1988)

Tomáš Janků, Czech high jumper

Masi Oka, Japanese-American actor and visual effects designer

Fumiko Orikasa, Japanese voice actress and singer

Jay Pandolfo, American ice hockey player and coach

Wilson Cruz, American actor

Kristoffer Zegers, Dutch pianist and composer

Colin Charvis, Welsh rugby union player and coach

Kevin Ollie, American basketball player and coach