May 27th

May 27 is the 148th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. If the ancient Mayans were correct, there are 208 days remaining until the end of time.

1703 Tsar Peter the Great (who obviously has a very high opinion of himself) founds the city of Saint Petersburg.

1907 A bubonic plague outbreak begins in San Francisco, California.

1921 After 84 years of British control, Afghanistan achieves sovereignty. And how does that work out?

1943 U.S. forbids racial discrimination in war industry.  Don't need to ask. We can tell.

1961 1st black light is sold 30 minutes after the first "dime" bag of reefer

1981 John Hinckley attempts suicide by overdosing on Tylenol. Lame.  Can't this boy do anything right?

1994 Alexander Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia after 20 years in exile and finds things pretty much the same

1995 In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition. Fucking horse.

1998 Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot. He was released from prison on January 20, 2006 and entered into the Witness Protection Program with a new identity. Study the picture carefully. Is this man your neighbor?

1837 James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok, US gunfighter/lawman 
    “Physically, he was a delight to look upon. Tall, lithe, and free in every motion, he rode and walked as if every muscle was perfection, and the careless swing of his body as he moved seemed perfectly in keeping with the man, the country, the time in which he lived. I do not recall anything finer in the way of physical perfection than Wild Bill. . .” ~Mrs. George Armstrong Custer

1877 Isadora Duncan, bisexual US-Russian dancer 

1907 Rachel Carson, gay US environmentalist/nature writer, responsible for the environmental movement of the 1960's, the banning of DDT, creation of the E.P.A.  

1911 Vincent Price, STLMO-born US actor 

1912 John Cheever, bisexual US writer 

1936 Louis Gossett, Jr., US actor 

1937 Allan Carr, gay US producer/manager/publicist/director/Grease,Can't Stop the Music, LaCage aux Folles (musical) 

1956 Giuseppe Tornatore, gay Italian director/Nuovo Cinema Paradiso

1964 Stephen Lovatt, Kiwi actor 

1965 Pat Cash, Australian tennis player 

1967 Eddie McClintock, US actor 

1968 Vincenzo Peluso, Italian actor 

1970 Joseph Fiennes, English actor 

1970 Mark Collier, US actor 

1971 Paul Bettany, English actor 

1971 Wayne Carey, Australian Rules footie 

1974 Sebastien Foucan, Frnch actor 

1977 Sander Foppele, Dutch actor 

1979 Jeff Brazier, English TV personality/host 

1984 Jose Loreto, Brazilian actor 

1990 Chris Colfer, gay US actor/Kurt Hummel 

1949 Robert L Ripley, cartoonist (Believe It or Not), doesn’t set a record believe it or not.

1964 Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian Prime Minister, gets clarified, ghee

1969 Jeffrey Hunter, actor (Christopher Pike-Star Trek Cage), boldly goes.  <le sigh>

1988 Florida Friebus, gay US actress (Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Bob Newhart Show), requests a lamp unto her feet. Her main squeeze was Eva LaGallienne.

2010 John William Finn, 100, American naval officer, oldest living Medal of Honor recipient, not anymore.