On This Day: 27 March

27 March in world history

• 2022At the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage resulting in Smith being expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and banned from its events for ten years.
• 2020North Macedonia became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
• 2016A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter.
• 2015Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.
• 2002Second Intifada: A suicide bomber killed around 30 Israeli civilians and injured about 140 others in Netanya, triggering Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorist military incursion into the West Bank.
• 1999NATO bombing of Yugoslavia: A U.S. Air Force F-117 stealth aircraft was shot down by a Yugoslav Army unit.
• 1993Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.
• 1990The United States begins broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda to Cuba on TV Martí.
• 1980Brothers Nelson Bunker Hunt and William Herbert Hunt failed in their attempt to corner the world silver market, causing panic in commodity and futures exchanges.
• 1977Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the deadliest aviation accident in history.
• 1945World War II: The United States Army Air Forces began Operation Starvation, laying naval mines in many of Japan's vital water routes and ports to disrupt enemy shipping.
• 1943World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
• 1942The Holocaust: Nazi Germany and Vichy France begin the deportation of 65,000 Jews from Drancy internment camp to German extermination camps.
• 1941World War II: A group of Serbian-nationalist officers of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force carried out a coup d'état after Yugoslavia joined the Axis powers.
• 1912First Lady Helen Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant two Yoshino cherry trees on the northern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the origin of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.
• 1899Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino forces for the only time during the Philippine–American War at the Battle of Marilao River.
• 1884A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States attacks members of a jury which had returned a verdict of manslaughter in what was seen as a clear case of murder; over the next few days the mob would riot and burn down the courthouse.
• 1836At least 425 Texian prisoners of war were executed in the Goliad massacre, under orders from Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna.

Born on 27 March

• 1990Brodha V, Indian rapper and music producerIndia
• 1988Brenda Song, American actress
• 1981Akhil Kumar, Indian boxerIndia
• 1951Andrei Kozyrev, Belgian-Russian politician and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Russia
• 1784Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, Hungarian philologist, orientalist, and author (died 1842)
• 1724Jane Colden, American botanist and author (died 1766)

Died on 27 March

• 2015T. Sailo, Indian soldier and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Mizoram (born 1922)India
• 2002Dudley Moore, English actor (born 1935)
• 1992James E. Webb, American colonel and politician, 16th Under Secretary of State (born 1906)
• 1978Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey (born 1922)India

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 27 March in history?

2022: At the 94th Academy Awards, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage resulting in Smith being expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and banned from its events for ten years. 2020: North Macedonia became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). 2016: A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter. 2015: Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.

Which famous people were born on 27 March?

Brodha V, Indian rapper and music producer (1990); Brenda Song, American actress (1988); Akhil Kumar, Indian boxer (1981); Andrei Kozyrev, Belgian-Russian politician and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Russia (1951).

Which day is observed on 27 March?

World Theatre Day; Armed Forces Day (Myanmar); Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania (Romania); World Theatre Day (International).