TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, JAN. 27, the 27th day of 2021. There are 338 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY: On this date in 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria.
In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
In 1901, opera composer Giuseppe Verdi died in Milan, Italy, at age 87.
In 1944, during World War II, the Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.
In 1945, during World War II, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.
In 1967, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.
In 1972, “Queen of Gospel” Mahalia Jackson, 60, died in Evergreen Park, Illinois.
In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.
In 1981, President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, greeted the 52 former American hostages released by Iran at the White House.
In 1984, singer Michael Jackson suffered serious burns to his scalp when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi-Cola TV commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
In 1998, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, on NBC’s “Today” show, charged the sexual misconduct allegations against her husband, President Bill Clinton, were the work of a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
In 2006, Western Union delivered its last telegram.
In 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet computer during a presentation in San Francisco. J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” died in Cornish, New Hampshire, at age 91.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Actor James Cromwell is 81. Rock musician Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) is 77. R&B singer Nedra Talley (The Ronettes) is 75. Ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov is 73. Latin singer-songwriter Djavan is 72. Chief U.S. Justice John Roberts, country singer Cheryl White and country singermusician Richard Young (The Kentucky Headhunters) are 66. Actor Mimi Rogers is 65. Rock musician Janick Gers (Iron Maiden) is 64. Actor Susanna Thompson is 63. Political and sports commentator Keith Olbermann is 62. Rock singer Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) and rock musician Gillian Gilbert are 60. Actor Tamlyn Tomita is 58. Actor Bridget Fonda is 57. Actor Alan Cumming is 56. Country singer Tracy Lawrence, rock singer Mike Patton and rapper Tricky are 53. Rock musician Michael Kulas (James) and actor-comedian Patton Oswalt are 52. Actor Josh Randall is 49. Country singer Kevin Denney is 43. Tennis player Marat Safin is 41. Rock musician Matt Sanchez (American Authors) is 35. Actor Braeden Lemasters is 25.