Home   On This Day   On this day in history - April 27

On this day in history - April 27

What Happened On This Day – April 27

  • 2005 The Airbus A380 takes to the skies for the first time

    The double-deck airliner is the world's largest commercial jet.

  • 1994 South African citizens of all races are allowed to vote in a general election for the first time

    The 1994 general election was held precisely 44 years after Apartheid was formalized by the government with the passing of the Group Areas Act.

  • 1992 For the first time in its 700-year history, the British House of Commons is presided over by a female Speaker

    Betty Boothroyd served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1992 to 2000.

  • 1961 Sierra Leone becomes an independent republic

    The West African country's first Prime Minister, Sir Milton Margai, ended over 150 years of British colonial rule.

  • 1810 Ludwig van Beethoven composes “Für Elise”

    “Bagatelle No. 25” for solo piano is one of the German composer's most popular works and one of the most recognized melodies in the history of music.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
April 27

  • 1963 Russell T Davies

    Welsh screenwriter, producer

  • 1935 Theodoros Angelopoulos

    Greek director, producer, screenwriter

  • 1822 Ulysses S. Grant

    American general, politician, 18th President of the United States

  • 1791 Samuel Morse

    American painter, inventor, co-invented the Morse code

  • 1759 Mary Wollstonecraft

    English author, philosopher

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
April 27

  • 1992 Olivier Messiaen

    French composer, ornithologist

  • 1972 Kwame Nkrumah

    Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana

  • 1938 Edmund Husserl

    Austrian mathematician, philosopher

  • 1896 Henry Parkes

    English/Australian politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales

  • 1521 Ferdinand Magellan

    Portuguese explorer