1927

For the Australian band, see 1927 (band).

1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-March

• January 1 - Cristero War erupts in Mexico when pro-Church rebels attack Masonic government that bans the Catholic faith
• January 7 - First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
• January 9 - Military rebellion crushed in Lisbon
• January 15 - Teddy Wakelam gives the first sports commentary on BBC Radio
• January 19 - Britain sends troops to China
• January 30 - Right-wing veterans and the Republican Schutzbund clash in Schattendorf, Burgenland, Austria. One man and a child are killed by gunshots. See July 15.
• February 12 - First British troops land in Shanghai
• February 14 - Earthquake in Yugoslavia - 700 dead
• February 19 - General strike in Shanghai in protest of the presence of the British troops
• February 23 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.

• March 4 - A diamond rush in South Africa includes trained athletes that have been hired by major companies to stake claims
• March 6 - In Britain, 1000 people a week die from influenza epidemic
• March 10 - Albania mobilizes in case of an attack of Yugoslavia
• March 11 - In New York City, the Roxy Theatre is opened by Samuel Roxy Rothafel.
• March 11 - First armoured car robbery, committed by the Flatheads gang.
• March 20 to March 21 - Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo, nonstop voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, filling the streets of U.S.A. with joy.

April-June

• April 1 - First female police officers in Dresden
• April 5 - In Britain, Trade Disputes Act forbids strikes of support
• April 7 - Bell Telephone Co. transmits an image of Commerce Secretary Hoover which becomes the first successful long distance demonstration of television.
• April 12 - The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 renames the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The change acknowledges that the Irish Free State is no longer part of the Kingdom.
• April 12 - Kuomintang troops kill number of communist-supporting workers in Shanghai
• April 18 - Nanking government of China, Kuomintang
• April 21 - Banking crisis in Japan
• April 22 - May 5 - The Great Mississippi Flood affects 700,000 people in the greatest national disaster in US history.
• May - Philo Farnsworth transmits first experimental electronic television pictures
• May 7 - Civil war ends in Nicaragua
• May 9 - The Australian Parliament first convenes in Canberra.
• May 11 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the "Academy" in "Academy Awards," is founded.
• May 12 - British police raids the office of Soviet trade delegation
• May 13 - George V proclaims the change of his style from King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to King of Great Britain and Ireland.
• May 14 - Cap Arcona's launching, Blohm & Voss shipyard, in Hamburg.
• May 18 - Bombings result in 45 deaths, mostly children, in the Bath School disaster.
• May 20 - Saudi Arabia becomes independent of the United Kingdom (Treaty of Jedda).
• May 20-21 first solo non-stop Trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris by Charles Lindbergh.
• May 22 - 8.6 richter scale earthquake in Xining, China kills 200,000
• May 23 - The first demonstration of television before a live audience. Nearly 600 members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers view the demonstration at the Bell Telephone Building in New York.
• May 24 - Britain severs diplomatic relations with Soviet Union because of revelations of espionage and underground agitation
• May 27 - Ford Motor Company ceases manufacturing Ford Model Ts and begins to retool plants to make Ford Model As.
• June 4 - Yugoslavia severs diplomatic relations to Albania
• June 7 - Peter Voikov, Soviet ambassador to Warsaw, assassinated
• June 9 - Soviet Union executes 20 British for alleged espionage
• June 13 - Leon Daudet, leader of French monarchists, is arrested in France
• June 13 - A ticker-tape parade is held for aviator Charles Lindbergh down 5th Avenue in New York City.

July-September

• July 10 - Kevin O'Higgins, vice president of the Irish Free State, assassinated in Dublin
• July 15 - 85 protesters and 5 policemen are dead after left-wing protesters and the Austrian police clash in Vienna. More than 600 people are injured. See Massacre of July 15, 1927.
• July 24 - The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.
• August 1 - Formation of the People's Liberation Army during the Nanchang Uprising
• August 7 - Peace Bridge opens between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.
• August 22 - In Hyde Park, London, 200 people demonstrate against the sentence of Sacco and Vanzetti
• August 23 - Sacco and Vanzetti executed.
• August 24-25 - Hurricane hits Atlantic shore of Canada causing massive damage - at least 56 dead
• August 26-Paul R. Redfern leaves Brunswick,Ga flying his Stinson Detroiter "Port of Brunswick" to attempt solo non-stop flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He later crashes in the Venezuela jungle, the crash site never located.
• September 7 - The University of Minas Gerais is founded in Brazil.
• September 14 - An underwater earthquake in Japan kills over 100 people.

October-December

• October 6 - The Jazz Singer opens and becomes a huge success, marking the end of the silent film era.
• October 7 - Gertrude Ederle is the first Englishwoman to swim the English Channel
• October 8 - Murderer's Row New York Yankees complete 4 game sweep of Pittsburgh Pirates
• October 9 - Mexican government crushes a rebellion in Vera Cruz
• October 27 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands opens Meuse-Waal Canal in Nijmegen
• October 28 - Pan American Airways first flight took off from Key West to Havana.
• November 10 - Unexplained explosions in Canton, Ohio
• November 12 - Mahatma Gandhi made his first and last visit to Ceylon.
• November 12 - Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with undisputed control of the Soviet Union
• November 12 - The Holland Tunnel opens to traffic as the first Hudson River vehicular tunnel linking New Jersey to New York City.
• November 14 - The explosion of three Equitable Gas storage tanks in the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania kills 26 people and causes damages estimated between contemporary totals of $4 million and $5 million. [1]
• November 24 - Total solar eclipse over Northern England and Wales
• December 2 - Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
• December 12 - 1600 people hospitalized in London when they had hurt themselves on the icy streets
• December 15 - Marian Parker, 12, is kidnapped in Los Angeles. Her dismembered body is found on December 19 prompting the largest manhunt to date on the West Coast for her killer, William Edward Hickman, who is arrested on December 22 in Oregon.
• December 27 - Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat, based on Edna Ferber's novel, opens on Broadway and goes on to become the first great classic of the American musical theatre.
• December 30 - First Japanese metro line, the Ginza Line in Tokyo, opens.

Unknown dates

• The British Broadcasting Corporation is granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation.
• The Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (later known as CBS) is formed.
• Harold Stephen Black invents the feedback amplifier.
• Voluntary Committee of Lawyers founded to bring about repeal of prohibition of alcohol in United States.

Births

January

• January 1 - Vernon L. Smith, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• January 1 - Doak Walker, American football player (d. September 27 1998)
• January 6 - Marvin Fishman, American actor (d. 10 June 2006)
• January 10 - Gisele MacKenzie, Canadian-born singer (d. 2003)
• January 10 - Johnnie Ray, American singer (d. 1990)
• January 10 - Otto Stich, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• January 13 - Brock Adams, American politician (d. 2004)
• January 13 - Sydney Brenner, British biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• January 17 - Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer
• January 24 - Lasse Pöysti, Finnish writer and playwright
• January 25 - Antonio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian composer (d. 1994)
• January 26 - José Azcona del Hoyo, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
• January 28 - Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director
• January 29 - Edward Abbey, American environmentalist (d. 1989)
• January 29 - Lewis Urry, Canadian inventor (d. 2004)
• January 30 - Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)

February

• February 2 - Stan Getz, American musician (d. 1991)
• February 3 - Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer
• February 7 - Juliette Greco, French singer and actor
• February 7 - Vladimir Kuts, Russian runner (d. 1975)
• February 10 - Leontyne Price, American soprano
• February 15 - Harvey Korman, American actor and comedian
• February 16 - June Brown, British actor
• February 16 - Tom Kennedy, American game show host
• February 20 - Roy Cohn, American lawyer and anti-Communist (d. 1986)
• February 20 - Sidney Poitier, American actor
• February 21 - Erma Bombeck, American writer and humorist (d. 1996)
• February 21 - Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer
• February 27 - Lynn Cartwright, American actress (d. 2004)

March

• March 1 - Harry Belafonte, American musician and actor
• March 1 - Robert Bork, American law professor
• March 3 - Pierre Aubert, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• March 6 - Gordon Cooper, astronaut (d. 2004)
• March 6 - Wes Montgomery, American musician (d. 1968)
• March 11 - Ron Todd, TGWU General Secretary (1985-1992) (d. 2005)
• March 13 - Robert Denning, American interior designer (d. 2005}
• March 16 - Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut (d. 1967)
• March 16 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York (d. 2003)
• March 18 - George Plimpton, American writer and actor (d. 2003)

• March 21 - Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German politician
• March 24 - Martin Walser, German author
• March 25 - Bill Barilko, Canadian hockey player
• March 27 - Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor
• March 29 - John Robert Vane, British pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)
• March 31 - César Chávez, American labor activist (d. 1993)
• March 31 - William Daniels, American actor

April

• April 2 - Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer (d. 2006)
• April 2 - Kenneth Tynan, English theatre critic (d. 1980)
• April 6 - Gerry Mulligan, American musician (d. 1996)
• April 10 - Marshall Warren Nirenberg, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• April 15 - Robert Mills, American physicist (d. 1999)
• April 16 - Pope Benedict XVI
• April 16 - Peter Mark Richman, American actor
• April 20 - Phil Hill, American race car driver
• April 20 - Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• April 24 - Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• April 27 - Coretta Scott King, American civil rights leader (d. 2006)
• April 27 - Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

May

• May 3 - John Parkin, London-born Covent garden porter, ex-soldier, and a hero to his very proud family
• May 9 - Manfred Eigen, German biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• May 11 - Mort Sahl, Canadian-born comedian, political commentator
• May 13 - Herbert Ross, American film director
• May 20 - Bud Grant, Canadian and American football coach
• May 22 - George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• May 25 - Robert Ludlum, American author (d. 2001)
• May 27 - Ralph Carmichael, American composer and arranger
• May 30 - Clint Walker, American actor

June

• June 8 - Jerry Stiller, American comedian and actor
• June 12 - Al Fairweather, Scottish jazz musician (d. 1993)
• June 21 - Carl Stokes, American politician (d. 1996)
• June 23 - Bob Fosse, American choreographer and director (d. 1987)
• June 24 - Martin Lewis Perl, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• June 28 - Frank Sherwood Rowland, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

July

• July 4 - Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress
• July 6 - Alan Freeman, Australian-born broadcaster and disc jockey
• July 6 - Janet Leigh, American actress (d. 2004)
• July 18 - Kurt Masur, Silesian-born conductor
• July 31 - Victor Wong, American actor (d. 2001)

August

• August 4 - Jess Thomas, American tenor (d. 1993)
• August 8 - Johnny Temple, baseball player (d. 1994)
• August 18 - Rosalynn Carter, wife of U.S President Jimmy Carter
• August 23 - Dick Bruna, Dutch illustrator
• August 24 - Harry Markowitz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• August 25 - Albert Uderzo, French cartoonist
• August 26 - Althea Gibson, American tennis player (d. 2003)
• August 30 - Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer (d. 2004)

September

• September 11 - Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan broadcaster
• September 11 - G. David Schine, American businessman (d. 1996)
• September 16 - Peter Falk, American actor
• September 22 - Gordon Astall, English footballer
• September 25 - Colin Davis, English conductor
• September 27 - Steve Stavro, Canadian businessman and sports team owner (d. 2006)
• September 27 - W. S. Merwin, American poet

October

• October 1 - Tom Bosley, American actor
• October 8 - César Milstein, Argentine scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2002)
• October 14 - Roger Moore, English actor
• October 16 - Günter Grass, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• October 18 - George C. Scott, American actor (d. 1999)
• October 31 - Lee Grant, American actress

November

• November 2 - Steve Ditko, influential comic book writer and artist, co-creator of Spider-Man
• November 8 - Patti Page, American singer
• November 14 - McLean Stevenson. American actor (d. 1996)
• November 15 - Gregor Mackenzie, Labour Party (UK) politician (d. 1992)
• November 18 - Hank Ballard, American musician (d. 2003)
• November 24 - Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (d. 2003)
• November 24 - Alfredo Kraus, Spanish tenor (d. 1999)
• November 27 - Vin Scully, baseball broadcaster
• November 28 - Chuck Mitchell, American actor (d. 1992)

December

• December 5 - Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand
• December 7 - Helen Watts, Welsh contralto
• December 8 - Vladimir Shatalov, cosmonaut
• December 9 - Pierre Henry, French composer
• December 18 - Romeo LeBlanc, 25th Governor General of Canada
• December 25 - Nellie Fox, baseball player (d. 1975)
• December 26 - Denis Quilley, British actor (d. 2003)
• December 29 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d. 1985)

Deaths

• January 19 - Empress Carlota of Mexico (b. 1840)
• February 19 - Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer (b. 1847)
• March 4 - Ira Remsen, American chemist, discoverer of saccharin (b. 1846)
• March 23 - Paul César Helleu, French artist (b. 1859)
• March 27 - Joe Start, baseball player (b. 1842)
• May 2 - Ernest Starling, British physiologist (b. 1866)
• June 1 - Lizzie Borden, American accused murderer (b. 1860)
• June 1 - J. B. Bury, Irish historian (b. 1861)
• June 9 - Victoria Woodhull, American feminist (b. 1838)
• June 11 - William Attewell, English cricketer (b. 1861)
• June 14 - Jerome K. Jerome, English writer (b. 1859)
• July 5 - Albrecht Kossel, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1853)
• July 24 - Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Japanese poet and writer (b. 1892)
• August 23 - Nicola Sacco, Italian anarchist (executed) (b. 1891)
• August 23 - Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist (executed) (b. 1888)
• September 5 - Wayne Wheeler, American temperance movement leader (b. 1868)
• September 14 - Hugo Ball, German poet, founder of Dada (b. 1886)
• September 19 - Michael Peter Ancher, Danish painter (b. 1849)
• September 29 - Willem Einthoven, Dutch inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1860)
• October 2 - Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
• October 10 - Gustave Whitehead, German-born aviation pioneer (b. 1874)

Marriages

• January 5 - Ub Iwerks & Mildred Sarah Henderson
• January 21 - Edward G. Robinson & Gladys Lloyd
• January 24 - Jack Benny & Mary Livingstone
• February 14 - Michael Todd & Bertha Freeman
• April 12 - Zeppo Marx & Marion Benda
• April 20 - Musidora & Dr. Clement Marot
• May 10 - Ernest Hemingway & Pauline Pfeiffer
• May 12 - Hans Hedtoft & Ella Gudrun Ingeborg Holleufer
• May 14 - Pola Negri & Prince Serge Mdivani
• May 19 - Zora Neale Hurston & Herbert Sheen
• May 30 - Florence Eldridge & Fredric March
• June 12 - Guglielmo Marconi & Maria Bezzi-Scali
• June 22 - Blind Willie Johnson & Angeline
• June 26 - Rod La Rocque & Vilma Bánky
• July 27 - Bernard L. Montgomery & Elizabeth Hobart Carver
• August 5 - Ernest Maas & Frederica Sagor
• September 17 - Louis Calhern & Julia Hoyt
• September 29 - Norma Shearer & Irving Thalberg
• September 30 - Chester Morris & Suzanne Kilborn
• October 11 - Milton S. Eisenhower & Helen Elsie Eakin
• October 22 - William Bendix & Theresa Stefanotti
• November 26 - Maria von Trapp & Georg von Trapp
• November 29 - Dr. Seuss & Helen Palmer

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Arthur Holly Compton, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson
• Chemistry - Heinrich Otto Wieland
• Physiology or Medicine - Julius Wagner-Jauregg
• Literature - Henri Bergson
• Peace - Ferdinand Buisson, Ludwig Quidde

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