This Day in History – December 27, 2011

0537 – St Sofia Church (Constantinople) initiated 1512 – The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World. 1703 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England. 1814 – Destruction of schooner Carolina, the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson’s make-shift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans. 1825 – First public railroad using steam locomotive completed in England 1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate the theory of evolution. 1836 – The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing 8 people. 1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Williamson Long in Jefferson, Georgia. 1850 – Hawaiian Fire Department established 1862 – Battle of Chickasaw Bluffs MS (Chickasaw Bayou) 1862 – Battle of Elizabethtown, KY 1871 – World’s first cat show (Crystal Palace, London) 1900 – Carrie Nation’s First public smashing of a bar (Hotel Carry Annex Bar in Wichita, KS) 1904 – Duke of York Theatre opens in London (First musical Peter Pan) 1927 – Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.  The play is written by Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein. 1927 – Stalin’s faction wins All-Union Congress in USSR, Trotsky expelled 1932 – Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City. 1934 – Shah of Persia declares Persia is to be known as Iran. 1937 – Mae West performs Adam & Eve skit that gets her banned from NBC radio. 1945 – The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations. 1947 – First “Howdy Doody Show” (Puppet Playhouse), telecast on NBC. 1966 – The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico. 1968 – Apollo Program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon. 1970 – “Hello, Dolly!” closes at St James Theater NYC after 2,844 performances. 1979 – “Knots Landing” premieres on CBS-TV 1983 – Pope John Paul II pardons man who shot him (Mehmet Ali Agca) 1983 – Propane gas fire devastated 16 square blocks of Buffalo, NY 1985 – Terrorists kill 20 & wound 110 attacking El Al at Rome & Vienna airports; President Reagan blamed Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qaddafi 1991 – “Carol Burnett Show” last airs on CBS-TV 1991 – Bengals hire Dave Shula as youngest NFL coach (32) 1991 – Chuck Knox retires as Seattle Seahawk coach 1992 – Nancy Sheehan wins LPGA Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge Golf Tournament 1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul. 1997 – Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. 2001 – The People’s Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States. 2002 – The company Clonaid announces that it has successfully cloned a human being, although it has never presented any verifiable evidence. 2002 – Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya. 2004 – Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet. 2007 – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident. 2007 – Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis. 2008 – Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza – Operation Cast Lead 2009 – Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.]]]]> ]]>