1927

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

Events

January-March

• January 7 - First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London
• January 9 - Military rebellion crushed in Lisbon
• January 14 - Paul Doumer elected president of France
• 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, a 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.

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 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 - 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
• September 14 - underwater earthquake in Japan - over 100 dead

October-December

• October 6 - The Jazz Singer opens and becomes a huge success, marking the end of the silent film era.
• October 7 - Mercedes Gleitze is the first Englishwoman to swim the English Channel
• October 9 - Mexican government crushes a rebellion in Vera Cruz
• 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 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 30 - Japan's first subway 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.

Year in topic

• 1927 in aviation
• 1927 in film
  • January 10 - The film Metropolis by Fritz Lang premiers.
  • Wings
  • October 6 - The first talkie is released - The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson
  • The formation of The Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 1927 in literature
• 1927 in rail transport
  • The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad celebrates its centennial in the Fair of the Iron Horse in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1927 in music
• 1927 in sports
  • January 7 - The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game
  • February 11 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Beatrix Loughran.
  • February 11 - US male Figure Skating championship won by Nathaniel Niles.

Births

January

• January 10 - Gisele MacKenzie, Canadian-born singer (d. 2003)
• January 10 - Johnnie Ray, American singer (d. 1990)
• January 17 - Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer
• 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, Soviet long-distance 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)
  • Sidney Poitier, American actor
• February 21 - Erma Bombeck, American writer and humorist (d. 1996)
  • Hubert de Givenchy, French fashion designer

March

• March 1 - Harry Belafonte, American musician and actor
• March 1 - Robert Bork, American law professor
• March 6 - Gordon Cooper, astronaut (d. 2004)
• March 6 - Wes Montgomery, American musician (d. 1968)
• March 10 - Paul Wunderlich, painter, graphic artist, and sculptor
• March 10 - Jupp Derwall, football coach
• March 11 - Joachim Fuchsberger, actor
• March 16 - Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut (d. 1967)
• March 16 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Senator from New York (d. 2003)
• March 18 - George Plimpton, American writer (d. 2003)
• March 21 - Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German politician
• March 24 - Martin Walser, German author
• March 27 - Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor
• March 31 - César Chávez, American labor activist (d. 1993)
• March 31 - William Daniels, American actor

April

• April 2 - Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer
  • Kenneth Tynan, English theatre critic (d. 1980)
• April 6 - Gerry Mulligan, American musician (d. 1996)
• April 12 - Kuomintang, executes hundreds of members of the Chinese Communist Party
• April 16 - Pope Benedict XVI
• 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

May-June

• May 9 - Wim Thoelke, show master
• 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 23 - Dieter Hildebrandt, cabaret artiste
• May 25 - Robert Ludlum, American author (d. 2001)
• May 30 - Clint Walker, American 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

July-August

• July 4 - Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress
• July 18 - Kurt Masur, Silesian-born conductor
• July 31 - Victor Wong, Chinese/American actor (d. 2001)
• August 4 - Jess Thomas, American tenor (d. 1993)
• August 8 - Johnny Temple, Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)
• August 23 - Dick Bruna, Dutch illustrator
• August 25 - Albert Uderzo, French cartoonist
• August 27 - Althea Gibson, American tennis player (d. 2003)
• August 30 - Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer (d. 2004)

September-November

• September 11 - Vernon Corea, Sri Lankan broadcaster
• September 11 - G. David Schine, American investigator and businessman (d. 1996)
• September 16 - Peter Falk, American actor.
• September 25 - Sir Colin Davis, English conductor
• September 20 - Lloyd Robinson, Australian speleologist
• October 1 - Tom Bosley, American actor
• October 16 - Günter Grass, German writer
• October 18 - George C. Scott, American film and stage actor (d. 1999)
• 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 25 - Nellie Fox, baseball player (d. 1975)
• December 29 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d. 1985)

Deaths

• January 18 - Empress Carlota of Mexico (b. 1840)
• February 19 - Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer (b. 1847)
• 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)
• August 23 - Nicola Sacco, Italian anarchist (executed) (b. 1891)
• August 23 - Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist (executed) (b. 1888)
• September 19 - Michael Peter Ancher, Danish painter (b. 1849)
• October 2 - Svante Arrhenius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
• October 10 - Gustave Whitehead, German-American aviation pioneer (b. 1874)

Nobel Prizes

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