October 27 is the 300th day of the year (301st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 65 days remaining until the end of the year.
- 312 – Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross.
- 710 – Saracen invasion of Sardinia.
- 939 – Edmund I succeeds Athelstan as King of England.
- 1275 – Traditional founding of the city of Amsterdam.
- 1524 – Italian Wars: The French troops lay siege to Pavia.
- 1553 – Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.
- 1644 – Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War.
- 1682 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded.
- 1795 – The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.
- 1806 – The French Army enters Berlin, following the Battle of Jena.
- 1810 – United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.
- 1827 – Bellini's third opera Il pirata is premiered at Teatro alla Scala di Milano
- 1838 – Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs issues the Extermination Order, which orders all Mormons to leave the state or be exterminated.
- 1870 – Marshal François Achille Bazaine surrenders to Prussian forces at the conclusion of the Siege of Metz along with 140,000 French soldiers in one of the biggest French defeats of the Franco-Prussian War.
- 1904 – The first underground New York City Subway line opens; the system becomes the biggest in United States, and one of the biggest in world.
- 1907 –Černová massacre: Fifteen people are killed in the Hungarian half of Austria-Hungary when a gunman opens fire on a crowd gathered at a church consecration. This would led to protests over the treatment of minorities in Austria-Hungary.
- 1914 – World War I: The British super-dreadnought battleship HMS Audacious (23,400 tons), is sunk off Tory Island, north-west of Ireland, by a minefield laid by the armed German merchant-cruiser Berlin.
- 1916 – Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasus V, is defeated by Fitawrari abte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zauditu.
- 1922 – A referendum in Rhodesia rejects the country's annexation to the South African Union.
- 1924 – The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union.
- 1930 – ratifications exchanged in London, for the first London Naval Treaty signed in April modifying the 1925 Washington Naval Treaty and the arms limitation treaty's modified provisions go into effect immediately; further limiting the expensive naval arms race between its five signatories.
- 1936 – Mrs Wallis Simpson files for divorce which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne.
- 1944 – World War II: German forces capture Banská Bystrica during Slovak National Uprising thus bringing it to an end.
- 1948 – Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc.
- 1953 – British nuclear test Totem 2 is carried out at Emu Field, South Australia.
- 1954 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
- 1958 – Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d'état by General Ayub Khan, who had been appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.
- 1961 – NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.
- 1961 – Mauritania and Mongolia join the United Nations.
- 1962 – Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.
- 1962 – A plane carrying Enrico Mattei, post-war Italian administrator, crashes in mysterious circumstances.
- 1964 – Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launched his political career and came to be known as "A Time for Choosing".
- 1967 – Catholic priest Philip Berrigan and others of the Baltimore Four protest the Vietnam War by pouring blood on Selective Service records.
- 1971 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
- 1973 – The Cañon City meteorite, a 1.4 kg chondrite type meteorite, strikes in Fremont County, Colorado.
- 1979 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1981 – The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.
- 1986 – The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang.
- 1988 – Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.
- 1991 – Turkmenistan achieves independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1992 – United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay, precipitating first military, then national, debate about gays in the military that resulted in the United States "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy.
- 1994 – The U.S. prison population tops 1 million for the first time in American history.
- 1994 – Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified.
- 1995 – Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.
- 1995 – Former Prime Minister of Italy Bettino Craxi is convicted in absentia of corruption.
- 1997 – October 27, 1997 mini-crash: Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15.
- 1999 – Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchyan, and 6 other members.
- 2005 – Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers.
- 1156 – Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse (d. 1222)
- 1401 – Catherine of Valois (d. 1437)
- 1703 – Johann Gottlieb Graun, German violinist and composer (d. 1771)
- 1744 – Mary Moser, English painter (d. 1819)
- 1760 – August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1831)
- 1766 – Nancy Storace, English soprano (d. 1817)
- 1782 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1840)
- 1806 – Juan Seguín, American politician (d. 1890)
- 1811 – Stevens T. Mason, American politician, 1st Governor of Michigan (d. 1843)
- 1811 – Isaac Singer, American businessman, founded the Singer Corporation (d. 1875)
- 1814 – Daniel H. Wells, American religious leader and politician (d. 1891)
- 1838 – John Davis Long, American politician, 32nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
- 1842 – Giovanni Giolitti, Italian politician, 13th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1928)
- 1844 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish author, journalist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
- 1854 – William Alexander Smith, Scottish religious leader, founded the Boys' Brigade (d. 1914)
- 1858 – Theodore Roosevelt, American politician, 26th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
- 1865 – Charles Spencelayh, English painter (d. 1958)
- 1869 – Viola Allen, American actress (d. 1948)
- 1872 – Emily Post, American author (d. 1960)
- 1877 – George Thompson, English cricketer (d. 1943)
- 1885 – Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish painter (d. 1948)
- 1894 – Oliver Leese, English general (d. 1978)
- 1896 – Edith Haisman, South African-English survivor of the RMS Titanic (d. 1997)
- 1904 – Ernő Schwarz, Hungarian-American soccer player (d. 1974)
- 1906 – Earle Cabell, American politician, Mayor of Dallas (d. 1975)
- 1906 – Kazuo Ohno, Japanese dancer (d. 2010)
- 1908 – Lee Krasner, American painter (d. 1984)
- 1910 – Jack Carson, Canadian actor (d. 1963)
- 1911 – Leif Erickson, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
- 1913 – Joe Medicine Crow, American historian, author, and anthropologist
- 1914 – Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 1953)
- 1915 – Harry Saltzman, Canadian film producer (d. 1994)
- 1917 – Augustine Harris, English bishop (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Oliver Tambo, South African politician (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Teresa Wright, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Nanette Fabray, American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1920 – K. R. Narayanan, Indian politician, 10th President of India (d. 2005)
- 1921 – Warren Allen Smith, American activist and humanist
- 1922 – Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (d. 1998)
- 1922 – Michel Galabru, French actor
- 1922 – Ralph Kiner, American baseball player
- 1923 – Roy Lichtenstein, American painter and sculptor (d. 1997)
- 1923 – Ned Wertimer, American actor (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Ruby Dee, American actress, scriptwriter, and poet
- 1925 – Warren Christopher, American politician and diplomat, 63rd United States Secretary of State (d. 2011)
- 1926 – H. R. Haldeman, American diplomat, 4th White House Chief of Staff (d. 1993)
- 1927 – Dominick Argento, American composer
- 1928 – Gilles Vigneault, Canadian singer-songwriter and poet
- 1929 – Maurice Robert Johnston, English general
- 1931 – Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian physician, psychiatrist, and author
- 1931 – Anatoliy Zayaev, Ukrainian footballer and coach (d. 2012)
- 1932 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Harry Gregg, Irish footballer and manager
- 1932 – Dolores Moore, American baseball player (d. 2000)
- 1932 – Sylvia Plath, American poet (d. 1963)
- 1933 – Valentin Boreyko, Russian rower (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Floyd Cramer, American pianist (d. 1997)
- 1934 – Giorgos Konstantinou, Greek actor and director
- 1935 – Frank Adonis, American actor
- 1935 – Mauricio de Sousa, Brazilian cartoonist
- 1937 – Lara Parker, American actress
- 1939 – John Cleese, English actor, screenwriter, and producer
- 1939 – Suzy Covey, American scholar (d. 2007)
- 1940 – John Gotti, American mobster (d. 2002)
- 1940 – Maxine Hong Kingston, American author
- 1941 – Dick Trickle, American race car driver (d. 2013)
- 1942 – Lee Greenwood, American singer-songwriter
- 1942 – Janusz Korwin-Mikke, Polish politician
- 1943 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor
- 1943 – Jerry Rook, American basketball player
- 1944 – J. A. Jance, American author
- 1945 – Arild Andersen, Norwegian bassist (Masqualero)
- 1945 – John Kane, Scottish actor and scriptwriter
- 1945 – Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazilian politician, 35th President of Brazil
- 1946 – Peter Martins, Danish dancer and choreographer
- 1946 – Ivan Reitman, Czech-Canadian actor, producer and director
- 1946 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1949 – Clifford Antone, American businessman (d. 2006)
- 1949 – Garry Tallent, American bass player and producer (E Street Band)
- 1950 – Fran Lebowitz, American author
- 1950 – Július Šupler, Slovak ice hockey player and coach
- 1951 – K. K. Downing, English guitarist and songwriter (Judas Priest)
- 1951 – Carlos Frenk, Mexican-English cosmologist
- 1951 – Nancy Jacobs, American politician
- 1951 – Jayne Kennedy, American actress and sportscaster
- 1951 – Éric Morena, French singer
- 1952 – Roberto Benigni, Italian actor, screenwriter, and director
- 1952 – Francis Fukuyama, American philosopher
- 1952 – Topi Sorsakoski, Finnish singer (Agents) (d. 2011)
- 1953 – Peter Firth, English actor
- 1953 – Robert Picardo, American actor
- 1954 – Jan Duursema, American illustrator
- 1955 – Debra Bowen, American politician
- 1956 – Veronica Hart, American porn actress and director
- 1956 – Jaq D. Hawkins, English occultist and author
- 1956 – Babis Tsertos, Greek singer and guitarist
- 1957 – Jeff East, American actor
- 1957 – Glenn Hoddle, English footballer
- 1958 – Lee Carter, American judge
- 1958 – Simon Le Bon, English singer-songwriter (Duran Duran and Arcadia)
- 1958 – Felix Wurman, American cellist and composer (d. 2009)
- 1959 – Rick Carlisle, American basketball player and coach
- 1960 – Tom Nieto, American baseball player
- 1963 – Marla Maples, American actress and model
- 1963 – Farin Urlaub, German singer and guitarist (Die Ärzte)
- 1964 – Mark Taylor, Australian cricketer
- 1964 – Ian Wells, English footballer (d. 2013)
- 1966 – Matt Drudge, American blogger, founded the Drudge Report
- 1966 – Hege Nerland, Norwegian politician (d. 2007)
- 1967 – Steve Almond, American author
- 1967 – Simone Moro, Italian mountaineer
- 1967 – Dejan Raičković, Montenegrin footballer
- 1967 – Scott Weiland, American singer-songwriter (Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, The Wondergirls, and Camp Freddy)
- 1968 – Dileep, Indian actor and producer
- 1968 – Alain Auderset, Swiss author
- 1968 – Vinny Samways, English footballer
- 1969 – Peter O'Meara, Irish actor
- 1970 – Karl Backman, Swedish artist and musician (AC4)
- 1970 – Felix Bwalya, Zambian boxer
- 1970 – Adrian Erlandsson, Swedish drummer (Cradle of Filth, At the Gates, Nemhain, The Haunted, Nifelheim, and Brujeria)
- 1970 – Alama Ieremia, New Zealand rugby player
- 1970 – Jonathan Stroud, English author
- 1971 – Jade Arcade, American illustrator and writer
- 1971 – Stefano Guidoni, Italian footballer
- 1971 – Jorge Soto, Peruvian footballer
- 1971 – Theodoros Zagorakis, Greek footballer
- 1972 – Elissa, Lebanese singer
- 1972 – Lee Clark, English footballer
- 1972 – Marika Krook, Swedish singer and actress (Edea)
- 1972 – Evan Coyne Maloney, American director
- 1972 – Maria Mutola, Mozambican runner
- 1972 – Brad Radke, American baseball player
- 1973 – Jason Johnson, American baseball player
- 1975 – Nicola Mazzucato, Italian rugby player and coach
- 1975 – Aron Ralston, American mountaineer and engineer
- 1976 – Wilson Raimundo Júnior, Brazilian footballer
- 1977 – Jiří Jarošík, Czech footballer
- 1977 – Sheeri Rappaport, American actress
- 1977 – Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1978 – Vanessa-Mae, Singaporean-English violinist
- 1978 – Stephanie Abrams, American meteorologist
- 1978 – Sergei Samsonov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Tanel Padar, Estonian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1981 – Salem Al Fakir, Swedish singer
- 1981 – Volkan Demirel, Turkish footballer
- 1981 – Han Hye-jin, South Korean actress
- 1981 – Kristi Richards, Canadian skier
- 1982 – Patrick Fugit, American actor
- 1982 – Takashi Tsukamoto, Japanese actor and singer
- 1983 – Brent Clevlen, American baseball player
- 1983 – Martín Prado, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1984 – Bam Doyne, American basketball player
- 1984 – Kostas Kapetanos, Greek footballer
- 1984 – Kelly Osbourne, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1984 – Irfan Pathan, Indian cricketer
- 1984 – Brady Quinn, American football player
- 1984 – Emilie Ullerup, Danish actress
- 1986 – Matty Pattison, English footballer
- 1986 – Jon Niese, American baseball player
- 1986 – David Warner, Australian cricketer
- 1987 – Thelma Aoyama, Japanese singer
- 1987 – Andrew Bynum, American basketball player
- 1987 – Guillaume Franke, French-German rugby player
- 1987 – Victor Genev, Bulgarian footballer
- 1987 – Yi Jianlian, Chinese basketball player
- 1988 – Brady Ellison, American archer
- 1988 – Evan Turner, American basketball player
- 1990 – Dimitrios Gkourtsas, Greek footballer
- 1990 – Oktovianus Maniani, Indonesian footballer
- 1992 – Stephan El Shaarawy, Italian footballer
- 1992 – Emily Hagins, American director
- 1993 – Kiefer Ravena, Filipino basketball player
- 1994 – Eddie Alderson, American actor
- 1995 – Cooper Pillot, American actor
- 1997 – Eden Taylor-Draper, English actress
- 1999 – Haruka Kudo, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
- 939 – Æthelstan, English king (b. 895)
- 1271 – Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (b. 1213)
- 1312 – John II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1275)
- 1327 – Elizabeth de Burgh, Scottish wife of Robert I of Scotland (b. 1289)
- 1430 – Vytautas, Lithuanian ruler (b. 1350)
- 1439 – Albert II of Germany (b. 1397)
- 1449 – Ulugh Beg, Persian astronomer, mathematician, and sultan (b. 1394)
- 1505 – Ivan III of Russia (b. 1440)
- 1553 – Michael Servetus, Spanish physician and theologian (b. 1511)
- 1561 – Lope de Aguirre, Spanish explorer (b. 1510)
- 1573 – Laurentius Petri, Swedish archbishop (b. 1499)
- 1605 – Akbar, Mughal emperor (b. 1542)
- 1617 – Ralph Winwood, English politician (b. 1563)
- 1666 – Robert Hubert, French watchmaker, who was executed following his false confession of starting the Great Fire of London (b. 1640)
- 1670 – Vavasor Powell, Welsh preacher (b. 1617)
- 1674 – Hallgrímur Pétursson, Icelandic poet (b. 1614)
- 1675 – Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (b. 1602)
- 1789 – John Cook, American farmer and politician, 6th Governor of Delaware (b. 1730)
- 1880 – Thrasyvoulos Zaimis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1822)
- 1917 – Arthur Rhys-Davids, English pilot (b. 1897)
- 1926 – Warren Wood, American golfer (b. 1887)
- 1927 – Squizzy Taylor, Australian gangster (b. 1888)
- 1935 – Ernest Eldridge, English race car driver (b. 1897)
- 1942 – Helmuth Hübener, German activist (b. 1925)
- 1947 – William Fay, Irish actor and producer (b. 1872)
- 1949 – Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)
- 1949 – Ginette Neveu, French violinist (b. 1919)
- 1953 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)
- 1954 – Harry Tate, American soccer player (b. 1886)
- 1962 – Rudolf Anderson, American pilot (b. 1927)
- 1962 – Enrico Mattei, Italian politician (b. 1906)
- 1968 – Lise Meitner, German physicist (b. 1878)
- 1974 – C. P. Ramanujam, Indian mathematician (b. 1938)
- 1975 – Rex Stout, American author (b. 1886)
- 1976 – Deryck Cooke, English author and historian (b. 1919)
- 1977 – James M. Cain, American author (b. 1892)
- 1980 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian lawyer, politician, and author (b. 1924)
- 1980 – Steve Peregrin Took, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (T. Rex, Shagrat, and Steve Took's Horns) (b. 1949)
- 1980 – John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- 1990 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-born musician (b. 1900)
- 1990 – Jacques Demy, French director (b. 1931)
- 1990 – Elliott Roosevelt, American air force officer and author (b. 1910)
- 1990 – Princess Sophie von Hohenberg (b. 1901)
- 1990 – Ugo Tognazzi, Italian actor (b. 1922)
- 1991 – George Barker, English author and poet (b. 1913)
- 1992 – David Bohm, American physicist (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Morey Amsterdam, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1996 – Arthur Tremblay, Canadian politician (b. 1917)
- 1999 – Robert Mills, American physicist (b. 1927)
- 1999 – Charlotte Perriand, French architect and designer (b. 1903)
- 2000 – Walter Berry, Austrian opera singer (b. 1929)
- 2001 – Pradeep Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1925)
- 2002 – Tom Dowd, American record producer (b. 1925)
- 2003 – Rod Roddy, American television announcer (b. 1937)
- 2003 – Stephanie Tyrell, American songwriter and producer (b. 1949)
- 2004 – Paulo Sérgio Oliveira da Silva, Brazilian footballer (b. 1974)
- 2004 – Lester Lanin, American bandleader (b. 1907)
- 2004 – Zdenko Runjić, Croatian composer (b. 1942)
- 2006 – Jozsef Gregor, Hungarian opera singer (b. 1940)
- 2006 – Reko Lundán, Finnish journalist and author (b. 1969)
- 2006 – Marlin McKeever, American football player (b. 1940)
- 2006 – Joe Niekro, American baseball player (b. 1944)
- 2006 – Brad Will, American journalist and activist (b. 1970)
- 2007 – Satyen Kappu, Indian actor (b. 1931)
- 2007 – Moira Lister, South African actress (b. 1923)
- 2008 – Chris Bryant, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1936)
- 2008 – Ray Ellis, American record producer and arranger (b. 1923)
- 2008 – Frank Nagai, Japanese singer (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Roy Stewart, Jamaican-English actor and stuntman (b. 1925)
- 2009 – John David Carson, American actor (b. 1952)
- 2009 – August Coppola, American academic and author (b. 1934)
- 2009 – David Shepherd, English cricket umpire (b. 1940)
- 2010 – Denise Borino, American actress (b. 1964)
- 2010 – Néstor Kirchner, Argentine politician, 51st President of Argentina (b. 1950)
- 2010 – James Wall, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2011 – James Hillman, American psychologist (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Ian Buist, English diplomat (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Terry Callier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1945)
- 2012 – Angelo Maria Cicolani, Italian politician (b. 1952)
- 2012 – Jacques Dupin, French poet (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Dmitry Gayev, Russian civil servant (b. 1951)
- 2012 – Hans Werner Henze, German composer (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Rodney S. Quinn, American politician (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Göran Stangertz, Swedish actor and director (b. 1944)
- 2012 – Bill White, American illustrator (b. 1961)
Holidays and observances[edit]
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Months and days of the year
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