Calendar for March 27th, 2010

International Theater Day

2001: Easter Sunday

2001: Seward's Day (Alaska)

Died 1378: Pope Gregory XI

1776: British General William Howe, his troops, and many Tories, sailed from Boston's outer harbor for Halifax, Nova Scotia, after evacuating the city

Born 1813: Nathaniel Currier (lithographer)

1841: The first steam fire engine was tested in New York City

Born 1845: Wilhelm Roentgen (physicist)

Died 1850: Wilhelm Beer (astronomer)

1860: A corkscrew was patented by M.L. Byrn of New York City

Born 1863: Henry Royce (automobile manufacturer)

1866: Andrew Rankin received a patent for the urinal

Born 1868: Patty Smith Hill (educator)

1883: Regina made capital of N.W.T.

Born 1899: Gloria Swanson (actress)

1912: First cherry trees, a gift from Japan, planted on Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.

Born 1914: Snooky Lanson (singer)

1917: Seattle Metropolitans became first U.S. hockey team to win the Stanley Cup

Born 1924: Sarah Vaughan (jazz singer)

Born 1930: David Janssen (actor)

Born 1942: Michael York (actor)

1955: Steve McQueen made his debut on a Goodyear Playhouse episode called "The Chivington Raid"

1958: Nikita Khrushchev became Premier of the Soviet Union in addition to first secretary of the Communist Party

Born 1963: Quentin Tarantino (actor, director, & writer)

1964: 9.2-magnitude earthquake, Prince William Sound, Alaska

Died 1968: Yuri Gagarin (first man in space)

Born 1970: Mariah Carey (singer)

1973: Marlon Brando turned down an Oscar for his performance in The Godfather as a gesture of support for the Indians occupying the Wounded Knee reservation in South Dakota

Born 1975: Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson (singer)

1977: A Dutch KLM 747 collided on takeoff with a Pan American 747 at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 582 people

1980: Mt. St. Helens erupted after 123-year dormancy, starting a series of events that led to a cataclysmic eruption on May 18.

Born 1988: Brenda Song (actress)

Died 1992: Easley Blackwood (bridge game expert)

Died 1998: Ferry Porsche (automobile manufacturer)

Died 2002: Billy Wilder (Oscar-winning filmmaker)

Died 2002: Milton Berle (comedian)

Died 2002: Dudley Moore (actor)

2004: X-43A Scramjet flew at Mach 7

Died 2004: Edward J. Piszek (once made too many crab cakes for a local bar and threw the extras in a freezer, an accident that led to a frozen seafood empire, Mrs. Paul's Kitchens)