This Day Trivia - march 27

Events

1998 Viagra Becomes the first oral drug approved for use in the U.S. for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. It was originally developed as a treatment for angina, for which it was ineffective; however, an interesting side effect was noticed.

1980 The Alexander Kieland hotel ship overturns in the North Sea killing 137 people.

1972 Funky Winkerbean comic strip premiers, by Tom Batiuk.

1964 North America's largest recorded earthquake A quake measuring 8.4 on the Richter scale hits near Prince William Sound, Alaska.

1958 Nikita Khrushchev The Russian leader becomes Premier of the Soviet Union. The previous premier, Bulganin, had resigned.

1956 The offices of the U.S. communist party along with the newspaper Daily Worker, are seized by the IRS for nonpayment of income taxes.

1914 First indirect (patient and donor not connected together) blood transfusion by a Belgian Surgeon.

1912 First of the famous cherry trees encircling the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. are planted.

1860 The corkscrew is patented, by M.L. Byrn of New York City.

1814 End of the Creek War Andrew Jackson defeats the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Alabama. 90% of the Indians were killed.

Births

1940 Cale Yarborough auto racer, 4-time Daytona 500 winner.

1930 David Janssen d. 1980 (David Harold Meyer), American actor. TV: The Fugitive (Dr. Richard Kimble). He won the 1930 Sears, Roebuck title of Prettiest Baby.

1927 Hy Eisman cartoonist, artist for The Katzenjammer Kids since 1986.

1899 Gloria Swanson d. 1983 (Gloria Svensson), American actress, sex symbol of the 1920s. Film: Sunset Boulevard (1950).

1876 Alonzo "Lonnie" Clayton d. 1917 American horse racer, the youngest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby (1892 at 15 years old).

1863 Sir Frederick Henry Royce d. 1933 English auto maker, co-founder of Rolls-Royce automobile company (1904).

1845 Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen d. 1923 German physicist, discovered X-rays (1895). He died of cancer.

1813 Nathaniel Currier d. 1888 American lithographer, co-founded (1857) Currier & Ives, which recorded American history in their prints from the mid 1800s to the turn of the century.

1809 Georges Eugene Haussman d. 1891 French financier. He was responsible for the rebuilding of Paris in the mid 1800s and for building its underground sewer system.

Deaths

2002 Milton Berle b. 1908 (Milton Berlinger), American comedian, known as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television." He got his start in advertising as the Buster Brown kid. TV: Batman (Louie the Lilac).

2002 Dudley Moore b. 1935 English actor, composer. Film: 10 (1979) and Arthur (1981).

2002 Billy Wilder b. 1906 (Samuel Wilder), Austrian-born Oscar-winning author, director. Once directed a cameraman, "Shoot a few scenes out of focus, I want to win the foreign film award." Film: The Lost Weekend (1945, Oscar and U.S. winner of the first Cannes Film Festival), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Stalag 17 (1953), Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960, Oscar).

1998 Joseph Sobek b. 1918 American sportsman, inventor of racquetball (1950).

1992 Anita Colby b. 1914 (Anita Couniham), one of America's first super-models, known as "The Face." She was the first model to earn $100 per hour. She turned down marriage proposals from Clark Gable and James Stewart.

1968 Yuri A. Gagarin b. 1934 Soviet cosmonaut. He became the first man in space (1961) when he orbited the Earth aboard the Soviet Vostok 1.

1923 Sir James Dewar b. 1842 British chemist, physicist, inventor of the Dewar flask (the vacuum thermos bottle).

1869 James Harper b. 1795 American publisher, co-founded Harper & Row, Publishers.

1625 James I b. 1566 King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1603-25), in 1604 he commissioned the creation of the King James Bible (completed in 1611).

1191 Clement III b. ???? Italian-born religious leader, 174th Pope (1187-91).