On This Day in History

May 27

Historical Events

1679 Habeas Corpus Act passes in England, strengthening a person's right to challenge unlawful arrest and imprisonment.

1703 Saint Petersburg founded by Russian Tsar Peter the Great.

1873 Heinrich Schliemann discovers "Priam's Treasure" a cache of gold and other objects in Hisarlik (Troy) in Anatolia.

Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō on the bridge of Mikasa, at the beginning of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905.

1905 Japanese fleet destroys the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history.

British troops await evacuation at Dunkirk

1940 British and Allied forces begin the evacuation of Dunkirk (Operation Dynamo) during World War II.

1999 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo

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Famous Birthdays

Cornelius Vanderbilt 1794 - 1877 Wild Bill Hickok 1837 - 1876

Christopher Lee 1922 - 2015 Henry Kissinger 1923 - 2023

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Famous Deaths

John Calvin 1509 - 1564 Jawaharlal Nehru 1889 - 1964

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Ship that Changed the Face of Britain

Britain was on its knees after the Second World War, its economy and infrastructure in tatters. For help the Mother Country turned to the Commonwealth.

The Windrush Generation