May 27

Events

927 – Death of Simeon I the Great, the first Bulgarian to be recognized as Emperor.

1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death.

1153 – Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.

1199 – John is crowned King of England.

1644 – Manchu regent Dorgon defeats rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, allowing the Manchus to enter and conquer the capital city of Beijing.

1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.

1798 – The Battle of Oulart Hill takes place in Wexford, Ireland.

1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeats the French at Winterthur, Switzerland, securing control of the northeastern Swiss Plateau because of the town's location at the junction of seven cross-roads.

1813 – War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.

1849 – The Great Hall of Euston station in London is opened.

1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian unification.

1863 – American Civil War: First Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson.

1874 – The first group of Dorsland trekkers under the leadership of Gert Alberts leaves Pretoria.

1883 – Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.

1896 – The F4-strength 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing $2.9 billion in damage (1997 US dollars).

1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.

1907 – Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco.

1908 – Khilafat Day – the day of establishment of Khilafat in Islam Ahmadiyya.

1917 – Pope Benedict XV promulgates the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive codification of Catholic canon law in the legal history of the Catholic Church.

1919 – The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

1927 – The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.

1930 – The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.

1933 – New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.

1933 – The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

1933 – The Century of Progress World's Fair opens in Chicago.

1935 – New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).

1937 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.

1940 – World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.

1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".

1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.

1942 – World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later.

1958 – The F-4 Phantom II makes its first flight.

1960 – In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celâl Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.

1962 – The Centralia mine fire is ignited in the town's landfill above a coal mine.

1965 – Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

1967 – Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.

1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.

1968 – The meeting of the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (National Union of the Students of France) takes place. 30,000 to 50,000 people gather in the Stade Sébastien Charléty.

1971 – The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.

1975 – Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, in North Yorkshire, England, kills 33 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.

1980 – The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.

1996 – First Chechen War: the Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.

1997 – The unusual tornado outbreak in Jarrell, Texas.

1998 – Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.

2001 – Members of the Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf seize twenty hostages from an affluent island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002.

2006 – The 6.4 Mw Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of VIII (Damaging), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.

2016 – Barack Obama is the first president of United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet Hibakusha.

Births

742 – Emperor Dezong of Tang (d. 805)

1332 – Ibn Khaldun, Tunisian historian and theologian (d. 1406)

1378 – Zhu Quan, Chinese military commander, historian and playwright (d. 1448)

1519 – Girolamo Mei, Italian historian and theorist (d. 1594)

1537 – Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (d. 1604)

1576 – Caspar Schoppe, German author and scholar (d. 1649)

1584 – Michael Altenburg, German theologian and composer (d. 1640)

1601 – Antoine Daniel, French-Canadian missionary and saint (d. 1648)

1626 – William II, Prince of Orange (d. 1650)

1627 – Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (d. 1693)

1651 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (d. 1729)

1652 – Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine of Germany (d. 1722)

1738 – Nathaniel Gorham, American merchant and politician, 14th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1796)

1756 – Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (d. 1825)

1794 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1877)

1818 – Amelia Bloomer, American journalist and activist (d. 1894)

1819 – Julia Ward Howe, American poet and songwriter (d. 1910)

1827 – Samuel F. Miller, American lawyer and politician (d. 1892)

1832 – Zenas Ferry Moody, American surveyor and politician, 7th Governor of Oregon (d. 1917)

1836 – Jay Gould, American businessman and financier (d. 1892)

1837 – Wild Bill Hickok, American police officer (d. 1876)

1860 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, Portuguese politician, 7th President of Portugal (d. 1941)

1863 – Arthur Mold, English cricketer (d. 1921)

1867 – Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (d. 1931)

1868 – Aleksa Šantić, Bosnian poet and author (d. 1924)

1871 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (d. 1958)

1875 – Frederick Cuming, English cricketer (d. 1942)

1876 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and author (d. 1945)

1876 – William Stanier, English engineer (d. 1965)

1878 – Anna Cervin, Swedish artist (d. 1972)

1879 – Karl Bühler, German-American linguist and psychologist (d. 1963)

1879 – Hans Lammers, German judge and politician (d. 1962)

1883 – Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (d. 1971)

1884 – Max Brod, Czech journalist, author, and composer (d. 1968)

1887 – Frank Woolley, English cricketer (d. 1978)

1888 – Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)

1891 – Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (d. 1965)

1891 – Jaan Kärner, Estonian poet and author (d. 1958)

1894 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (d. 1961)

1894 – Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist and screenwriter (d. 1961)

1895 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian educator and politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1995)

1897 – John Cockcroft, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)

1897 – Dink Templeton, American rugby player and coach (d. 1962)

1899 – Johannes Türn, Estonian chess and draughts player (d. 1993)

1900 – Uładzimir Žyłka, Belarusian poet and translator (d. 1933)

1904 – Chūhei Nambu, Japanese jumper and journalist (d. 1997)

1906 – Buddhadasa, Thai monk and philosopher (d. 1993)

1906 – Harry Hibbs, English footballer (d. 1984)

1906 – Antonio Rosario Mennonna, Italian bishop (d. 2009)

1907 – Nicolas Calas, Swiss-American poet and critic (d. 1988)

1907 – Rachel Carson, American biologist, environmentalist, and author (d. 1964)

1909 – Don Finlay, English hurdler and pilot (d. 1970)

1909 – Dolores Hope, American singer and philanthropist (d. 2011)

1911 – Hubert Humphrey, American journalist and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (d. 1978)

1911 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (d. 2007)

1911 – Vincent Price, American actor (d. 1993)

1912 – John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1982)

1912 – Sam Snead, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2002)

1912 – Terry Moore, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1995)

1913 – Wols, German painter and photographer (d. 1951)

1915 – Ester Soré, Chilean singer-songwriter (d. 1996)

1915 – Herman Wouk, American novelist

1918 – Yasuhiro Nakasone, Japanese commander and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Japan

1921 – Bob Godfrey, Australian-English animator, director, and voice actor (d. 2013)

1922 – Otto Carius, German lieutenant and pharmacist (d. 2015)

1922 – Christopher Lee, English actor (d. 2015)

1922 – John D. Vanderhoof, American banker and politician, 37th Governor of Colorado (d. 2013)

1923 – Henry Kissinger, German-American political scientist and politician, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate

1923 – Sumner Redstone, American businessman and philanthropist

1924 – Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 2014)

1924 – John Sumner, English-Australian director, founded the Melbourne Theatre Company (d. 2013)

1925 – Tony Hillerman, American journalist and author (d. 2008)

1927 – Jüri Randviir, Estonian chess player and journalist (d. 1996)

1927 – Harry Webster, English engineer (d. 2007)

1928 – Thea Musgrave, Scottish-American composer and educator

1930 – John Barth, American novelist and short story writer

1930 – William S. Sessions, American civil servant and judge, 8th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

1930 – Eino Tamberg, Estonian composer and educator (d. 2010)

1931 – John Chapple, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Gibraltar

1931 – Bernard Fresson, French actor (d. 2002)

1931 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (d. 2015)

1931 – Philip Kotler, American author and professor

1933 – Edward Samuel Rogers, Canadian businessman (d. 2008)

1933 – Manfred Sommer, Spanish author and illustrator (d. 2007)

1934 – Ray Daviault, Canadian-American baseball player

1934 – Harlan Ellison, American author and screenwriter

1935 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (d. 2014)

1935 – Lee Meriwether, American model and actress, Miss America 1955

1936 – Benjamin Bathurst, English admiral

1936 – Louis Gossett, Jr., American actor and producer

1936 – Marcel Masse, Canadian educator and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2014)

1937 – Allan Carr, American playwright and producer (d. 1999)

1939 – Simon Cairns, 6th Earl Cairns, English courtier and businessman

1939 – Yves Duhaime, Canadian captain and politician

1939 – Sokratis Kokkalis, Greek businessman

1939 – Gerald Ronson, English businessman and philanthropist

1939 – Don Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1940 – Mike Gibson, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2015)

1942 – Lee Baca, American police officer

1942 – Piers Courage, English race car driver (d. 1970)

1942 – Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman, English accountant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

1942 – Robin Widdows, English race car driver

1943 – Cilla Black, English singer and actress (d. 2015)

1943 – Bruce Weitz, American actor

1944 – Chris Dodd, American lawyer and politician

1944 – Ingrid Roscoe, English historian and politician, Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire

1944 – Alain Souchon, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

1945 – Bruce Cockburn, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist

1946 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish bassist and composer (d. 2005)

1946 – John Williams, English motorcycle racer (d. 1978)

1947 – Peter DeFazio, American politician

1947 – Marty Kristian, German-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

1947 – Branko Oblak, Slovenian footballer and coach

1947 – Riivo Sinijärv, Estonian politician, 19th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs

1948 – Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant

1948 – Pete Sears, English bass player

1948 – Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, American occultist and author (d. 2014)

1949 – Hugh Lowther, 8th Earl of Lonsdale, English politician

1949 – Christa Vahlensieck, German runner

1950 – Dee Dee Bridgewater, American singer-songwriter and actress

1950 – Makis Dendrinos, Greek basketball player and coach (d. 2015)

1951 – John Conteh, English boxer

1954 – Pauline Hanson, Australian businesswoman and politician

1954 – Shahrdad Rohani, Iranian composer

1954 – Jackie Slater, American football player and coach

1955 – Eric Bischoff, American wrestler, manager, and producer

1955 – Richard Schiff, American actor, director, and producer

1955 – Ian Tracey, English organist and conductor

1956 – Cynthia McFadden, American journalist

1956 – Rosemary Squire, English producer and manager, co-founded Ambassador Theatre Group

1956 – Giuseppe Tornatore, Italian director and screenwriter

1957 – Dag Terje Andersen, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of Labour

1957 – Nitin Gadkari, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Transport

1958 – Nick Anstee, English accountant and politician, 682nd Lord Mayor of London

1958 – Neil Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter and mandolin player

1958 – Jesse Robredo, Filipino politician, 23rd Filipino Secretary of the Interior (d. 2012)

1960 – Gaston Therrien, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster

1961 – José Luíz Barbosa, Brazilian runner and coach

1961 – Peri Gilpin, American actress

1962 – Marcelino Bernal, Mexican footballer

1962 – Ray Borner, Australian basketball player

1962 – Steven Brill, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1962 – Anthony A. Hyman, Israeli-English biologist and academic

1962 – David Mundell, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland

1962 – Ravi Shastri, Indian cricketer and sportscaster

1963 – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Cuban pianist and composer

1963 – Maria Walliser, Swiss skier

1964 – Adam Carolla, American actor, producer, and screenwriter

1965 – Pat Cash, Australian-English tennis player and sportscaster

1966 – Heston Blumenthal, English chef and author

1967 – Paul Gascoigne, English footballer, coach, and manager

1967 – Eddie Harsch, Canadian-American keyboard player and bass player

1967 – Eddie McClintock, American actor

1968 – Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player and coach

1968 – Rebekah Brooks, English journalist

1968 – Harun Erdenay, Turkish basketball player and coach

1968 – Frank Thomas, American baseball player and sportscaster

1969 – Todd Hundley, American baseball player

1969 – Jeremy Mayfield, American race car driver

1970 – Michele Bartoli, Italian cyclist

1970 – Tim Farron, English educator and politician

1970 – Joseph Fiennes, English actor

1971 – Mathew Batsiua, Nauruan politician

1971 – Paul Bettany, English actor

1971 – Wayne Carey, Australian footballer and coach

1971 – Kaur Kender, Estonian author

1971 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper and dancer (d. 2002)

1971 – Lee Sharpe, English footballer

1971 – Grant Stafford, South African tennis player

1971 – Sophie Walker, British politician, leader of the Women's Equality Party

1972 – Todd Demsey, American golfer

1972 – Antonio Freeman, American football player

1973 – Jack McBrayer, American actor and comedian

1973 – Tana Umaga, New Zealand rugby player and coach

1973 – Yorgos Lanthimos, Greek film video, and theatre director, producer and screenwriter

1974 – Skye Edwards, British singer-songwriter

1974 – Denise van Outen, English actress, singer, and television host

1974 – Derek Webb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1974 – Danny Wuerffel, American football player

1975 – André 3000, American rapper

1975 – Michael Hussey, Australian cricketer

1975 – Jamie Oliver, English chef and author

1975 – Feryal Özel, Turkish astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic

1976 – Marcel Fässler, Swiss race car driver

1977 – Abderrahmane Hammad, Algerian high jumper

1977 – Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lankan cricketer

1978 – Adin Brown, American soccer player

1979 – Michael Buonauro, American author and illustrator (d. 2004)

1979 – Mile Sterjovski, Australian footballer

1980 – Craig Buntin, Canadian figure skater

1981 – Miloy, Angolan footballer

1981 – Marcelo Bonan, Brazilian footballer

1981 – Alina Cojocaru, Romanian ballerina

1981 – Johan Elmander, Swedish footballer

1982 – Natalya Neidhart, Canadian-American Professional wrestler

1984 – Blake Ahearn, American basketball player

1984 – Ryoko Mima, Japanese model and entertainer

1985 – Chiang Chien-ming, Taiwanese baseball player

1985 – Roberto Soldado, Spanish footballer

1986 – Conor Cummins, Manx motorcycle racer

1986 – Bamba Fall, Senegalese basketball player

1986 – Lasse Schöne, Danish footballer

1987 – Gervinho, Ivorian footballer

1987 – Eric Kolelas, French-English actor and director

1987 – Bora Paçun, Turkish basketball player

1987 – Matt Prior, Australian rugby league player

1987 – Martina Sablikova, Czech speed skater and cyclist

1988 – Irina Davydova, Russian hurdler

1988 – Tyler Sash, American football player (d. 2015)

1988 – Vontae Davis, American football player

1989 – Igor Morozov, Estonian footballer

1989 – Ben Pringle, English footballer

1990 – Yenew Alamirew, Ethiopian runner

1990 – Chris Colfer, American actor and singer

1991 – Sebastien Dewaest, Belgian footballer

1991 – Ksenia Pervak, Russian tennis player

1991 – Eneli Vals, Estonian footballer

1994 – Aymeric Laporte, French footballer

Deaths

366 – Procopius, Roman usurper (b. 325)

398 – Murong Bao, emperor of the Xianbei state Later Yan (b. 355)

475 – Eutropius, bishop of Orange

866 – Ordoño I of Asturias (b. 831)

927 – Simeon I of Bulgaria (b. 864)

1039 – Dirk III, Count of Holland (b. 981)

1178 – Godfrey van Rhenen, bishop of Utrecht

1444 – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1404)

1508 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1452)

1508 – Lucrezia Crivelli, mistress of Ludovico Sforza (d. 1452)

1525 – Thomas Müntzer, German mystic and theologian (b. 1488)

1541 – Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (b. 1473)

1564 – John Calvin, French pastor and theologian (b. 1509)

1610 – François Ravaillac, French assassin of Henry IV of France (b. 1578)

1661 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, Scottish general and politician (b. 1607)

1675 – Gaspard Dughet, Italian-French painter (b. 1613)

1690 – Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian organist and composer (b. 1626)

1702 – Dominique Bouhours, French priest and critic (b. 1628)

1707 – Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (b. 1640)

1781 – Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1716)

1797 – François-Noël Babeuf, French journalist (b. 1760)

1831 – Jedediah Smith, American hunter, explorer, and author (b. 1799)

1840 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1782)

1867 – Thomas Bulfinch American mythologist (b. 1796)

1896 – Aleksandr Stoletov, Russian physicist, engineer, and academic (b. 1839)

1910 – Robert Koch, German physician and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1843)

1918 – Ōzutsu Man'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 18th Yokozuna (b. 1869)

1919 – Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Indian author and activist (b. 1848)

1933 – Achille Paroche, French target shooter (b. 1868)

1939 – Joseph Roth, Austrian-French journalist and author (b. 1894)

1941 – Ernst Lindemann, German captain (b. 1894)

1941 – Günther Lütjens, German admiral (b. 1889)

1942 – Muhammed Hamdi Yazır, Turkish theologian, logician, and translator (b. 1878)

1943 – Gordon Coates, New Zealand soldier and politician, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1878)

1945 – Enno Lolling, German physician (b. 1888)

1947 – Ed Konetchy, American baseball player and manager (b. 1885)

1949 – Robert Ripley, American cartoonist, publisher, and businessman, founded Ripley's Believe It or Not! (b. 1890)

1953 – Jesse Burkett, American baseball player and manager (b. 1868)

1960 – James Montgomery Flagg, American painter and illustrator (b. 1877)

1963 – Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (b. 1912)

1964 – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of India (b. 1889)

1967 – W. Otto Miessner, American composer and educator (b. 1880)

1967 – Ernst Niekisch, German academic and politician (b. 1889)

1971 – Béla Juhos, Hungarian-Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1901)

1971 – Armando Picchi, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1935)

1980 – Gün Sazak, Turkish agronomist and politician (b. 1932)

1984 – Vasilije Mokranjac, Serbian composer (b. 1923)

1986 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (b. 1921)

1986 – Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1901)

1986 – Giorgos Tzifos, Greek actor and cinematographer (b. 1918)

1987 – John Howard Northrop, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

1988 – Hjördis Petterson, Swedish actress (b. 1908)

1988 – Ernst Ruska, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)

1989 – Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet and translator (b. 1907)

1990 – Robert B. Meyner, American lawyer and politician, 44th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1908)

1991 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist and theorist (b. 1904)

1992 – Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (b. 1890)

1998 – Minoo Masani, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1905)

2000 – Kazimierz Leski, Polish engineer and pilot (b. 1912)

2000 – Murray MacLehose, Baron MacLehose of Beoch, Scottish politician and diplomat, 25th Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1917)

2000 – Maurice Richard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1921)

2003 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer and educator (b. 1925)

2006 – Rob Borsellino, American journalist (b. 1949)

2006 – Paul Gleason, American actor (b. 1939)

2006 – Craig Heyward, American football player (b. 1966)

2007 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1967)

2007 – Gretchen Wyler, American actress and dancer (b. 1932)

2007 – Ed Yost, American inventor, created the hot air balloon (b. 1919)

2008 – Franz Künstler, Hungarian soldier (b. 1900)

2009 – Thomas M. Franck, American lawyer and academic (b. 1931)

2009 – Clive Granger, Welsh-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1934)

2009 – Mona Grey, British nursing administrator; Northern Ireland's first Chief Nursing Officer

2009 – Abram Hoffer, Canadian biochemist, physician, and psychiatrist (b. 1917)

2009 – Gérard Jean-Juste, Haitian-American priest and theologian (b. 1946)

2009 – Carol Anne O'Marie, American nun and author (b. 1933)

2009 – William Refshauge, Australian soldier and physician (b. 1913)

2009 – Paul Sharratt, English-American television host (b. 1933)

2010 – Payut Ngaokrachang, Thai animator and director (b. 1929)

2011 – Jeff Conaway, American actor and singer (b. 1950)

2011 – Margo Dydek, Polish-American basketball player (b. 1974)

2011 – Gil Scott-Heron, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1949)

2012 – Simeon Daniel, Nevisian educator and politician, 1st Premier of Nevis (b. 1934)

2012 – Friedrich Hirzebruch, German mathematician and academic (b. 1927)

2012 – David Rimoin, Canadian-American geneticist and academic (b. 1936)

2013 – Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri, Indian politician (b. 1917)

2013 – Bill Pertwee, English actor (b. 1926)

2013 – Abdoulaye Sékou Sow, Malian politician, Prime Minister of Mali (b. 1931)

2014 – Robert Genn, Canadian painter and author (b. 1936)

2014 – Helma Sanders-Brahms, German director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1940)

2014 – Roberto Vargas, Puerto Rican-American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1929)

2014 – Massimo Vignelli, Italian-American graphic designer (b. 1931)

2015 – Erik Carlsson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1929)

2015 – Nils Christie, Norwegian sociologist, criminologist, and author (b. 1928)

2015 – Andy King, English footballer and manager (b. 1956)

2015 – Michael Martin, American philosopher and academic (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances

Armed Forces Day (Nicaragua)

Children's Day (Nigeria)

Christian feast day:

Augustine of Canterbury

Blessed Lojze Grozde

Bede (commemoration, Anglican Communion)

Bruno of Würzburg

Eutropius of Orange

Hildebert

Julius the Veteran

May 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Mother's Day (Bolivia)

Navy Day (Japan)

Slavery Abolition Day (Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin)

World MS Day

Start of National Reconciliation Week (Australia)