Today is Tuesday, Dec. 27, the 362nd day of 2016. There are four days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Dec. 27, 1904, James Barrie’s play “Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” opened at the Duke of York’s Theater in London.
On this date:
In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.
In 1927, the musical play “Show Boat,” with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.
In 1932, New York City’s Radio City Music Hall first opened.
In 1945, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were formally established.
In 1947, the original version of the puppet character Howdy Doody made his TV debut on NBC’s “Puppet Playhouse.”
In 1949, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed an act recognizing Indonesia’s sovereignty after more than three centuries of Dutch rule.
In 1968, Apollo 8 and its three astronauts made a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific.
In 1970, the musical play “Hello, Dolly!” closed on Broadway after a run of 2,844 performances.
In 1979, Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin (hah-FEE’-zoo-lah ah-MEEN’), who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal.
In 1985, Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; 19 victims were killed, plus four attackers who were slain by police and security personnel. American naturalist Dian Fossey, 53, who had studied gorillas in the wild in Rwanda, was found hacked to death.
In 1995, Israeli jeeps sped out of the West Bank town of Ramallah, capping a seven-week pullout giving Yasser Arafat control over 90 percent of the West Bank’s one million Palestinian residents and one-third of its land.
In 2007, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto (BEN’-uh-zeer BOO’-toh) was assassinated during a suicide bomb attack in Pakistan following a campaign rally.
Ten years ago: Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to embrace “brotherly coexistence” and not to hate U.S.-led foreign troops in a goodbye letter posted on a website a day after Iraq’s highest court upheld his death sentence. Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race a day earlier than he’d planned after his campaign accidentally went live with his election website a day before his scheduled announcement.
Five years ago: Tens of thousands of defiant Syrian protesters thronged the streets of Homs, calling for the execution of President Bashar Assad shortly after his army pulled its tanks back and allowed Arab League monitors in for the first time to the city at the heart of the anti-government uprising. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, a conservative Democrat, said he would retire from the Senate rather than seek a third term. Abstract expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler, 83, known for her bold, lyrical use of color, died in Darien, Connecticut.
One year ago: British Prime Minister David Cameron sent hundreds more troops into northern England to help exhausted residents and emergency workers fight back rising river waters that had inundated towns and cities after weeks of heavy rain. Death claimed Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon at age 83; baseball player Dave Henderson at age 57; cinematographer Haskell Wexler at age 93; painter-sculptor Ellsworth Kelly at age 92.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor John Amos is 77. ABC News correspondent Cokie Roberts is 73. Rock musician Mick Jones (Foreigner) is 72. Singer Tracy Nelson is 72. Actor Gerard Depardieu is 68. Jazz singer-musician T.S. Monk is 67. Singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff is 65. Actress Tovah Feldshuh is 64. Rock musician David Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 64. Journalist-turned-politician Arthur Kent is 63. Actress Maryam D’Abo is 56. Country musician Jeff Bryant is 54. Actor Ian Gomez is 52. Actress Theresa Randle is 52. Actress Eva LaRue is 50. Wrestler and actor Bill Goldberg is 50. Actress Tracey Cherelle Jones is 47. Bluegrass singer-musician Darrin Vincent (Dailey & Vincent) is 47. Rock musician Guthrie Govan is 45. Musician Matt Slocum is 44. Actor Wilson Cruz is 43. Singer Olu is 43. Actor Masi Oka is 42. Actor Aaron Stanford is 40. Actress Emilie de Ravin is 35. Christian rock musician James Mead (Kutless) is 34. Rock singer Hayley Williams (Paramore) is 28. Country singer Shay Mooney (Dan & Shay) is 25.
Thought for Today: “I’m not young enough to know everything.” — Sir James Matthew Barrie, Scottish dramatist-author (1860-1937).
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