ON THIS DAY

FEBRUARY 27

The Great Fire of Bombay, India, starts in a pub.

The first Mardi Gras celebration takes place in New Orleans. Mardi Gras, meaning Fat Tuesday, refers to events of the Carnival celebration, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings’ Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday (Shrove Tuesday). The name reflects the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of Lent.

Boer General Piet Cronjé surrenders to the British at Paardeberg.

Australian soldiers Harry “Breaker” Morant and Peter Handcock are executed in Pretoria after being convicted of war crimes.

An Allied strike force is decisively defeated by the Imperial Japanese Navy when they lose 13 warships in the Java Sea, in the Dutch East Indies.

Italy asks for help to prevent the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.

The formerly Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front, declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

Black Tot Day takes place in the Royal New Zealand Navy with the ending of the traditional rum ration that the Royal Navy started in 1740. Other navies which abandoned the practice were the Royal Australian Navy in 1921, the Royal Navy in 1970, and the Royal Canadian Navy in 1972. When the tradition ended in the South African Navy is unknown.

US President George HW Bush announces “Kuwait is liberated”, ending the first Gulf War.

Shoko Asahara, leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, sentenced to death for the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin gas attack that killed 13 people. He was executed last year (2018), aged 65.

The bombing of a Superferry by Abu Sayyaf, which leaves 116 people dead in the Philippines, is that country’s worst terrorist attack.

A powerful earthquake strikes central Chile, killing 525 people. The quake triggered a tsunami which struck Hawaii, caused significant damage in Japan and in San Diego, and devastated South American coastal communities.

Emmy and Oscar-winning entertainer Barbra Streisand reveals she cloned her dog – twice.