122 things happened on 27 January, from AD 98 to 2017. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1832 · 194 years ago
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an English author, poet, mathematician and photographer. He wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He loved word play, logic and fantasy, and …
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
The Military Service Act became law, bringing in conscription in Great Britain during the First World War. Conscription means people are made to join the armed forces. Most unmarried men aged 18 to 41 could now be called up to the army. For the first time, people could ask to be let off because of their beliefs, as 'conscientious objectors'.
UK story
The United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Outer Space Treaty. It bans countries from placing nuclear weapons in space, and says the Moon and other bodies in space may only be used for peaceful purposes. It was signed during the Cold War, a long rivalry between the USA and the Soviet Union. The treaty is still the basis of international space law.
UK story
Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of Sicily.
UK story
French Revolutionary Wars: In the Macau Incident, French and Spanish warships encountered a British Royal Navy escort squadron in the Wanshan Archipelago; subsequent events, including which side retreated, were disputed by the commanders present.
Trajan became Roman emperor after the death of Nerva, who had adopted him as his son. He was a successful soldier and is remembered as one of the 'Five Good Emperors'. Under Trajan, the Roman Empire grew to its largest ever size. The Roman Senate gave him the title 'optimus princeps', meaning 'the best ruler'.
A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev came close to the coast of Antarctica, discovering the continent. Bellingshausen was a naval officer and map-maker. The voyage was also a circumnavigation, meaning the ships sailed all the way around the world. Antarctica is the icy continent around the South Pole.
American inventor Thomas Edison received a patent for his incandescent lamp, a type of electric light bulb. In this kind of bulb, electricity heats a thin wire called a filament until it glows. The filament sits inside a glass bulb to protect it. Edison registered 1,093 patents in the United States, and also worked on the phonograph and early films.
Tunnellers broke through the pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel in Japan. The railway tunnel is 53.85 kilometres long and links Honshu, Japan's main island, with the northern island of Hokkaido. More than 23 kilometres of it run beneath the seabed of the Tsugaru Strait. The tunnel opened to trains in 1988.
Apple introduced the first iPad, a tablet computer. Smaller, lighter and more powerful models followed, such as the iPad Mini, iPad Air and iPad Pro. By 2022, more than 670 million iPads had been sold. The iPad became so popular that its name is sometimes used for any tablet computer.
Astronomers reported that H1504+65, a white dwarf star in the constellation Ursa Minor, had the hottest surface temperature then known: about 200,000 kelvin. A white dwarf is a very dense, dying star, about the size of Earth but with a mass similar to the Sun's. Scientists expect stars like our Sun to become white dwarfs one day.
A naming ceremony was held in the United States for tennessine, a chemical element with the symbol Ts and atomic number 117. Tennessine does not occur in nature and has to be made in a laboratory. It is named after the US state of Tennessee, where key research centres involved in its discovery are based.
Pope Innocent I declares Pelagius and his follower Caelestius excommunicated unless they return to orthodoxy.
The brothers Stephen and Constantine Lekapenos, having deposed their father as Byzantine emperor a few weeks earlier, were themselves overthrown by Constantine VII, their co-emperor.
Dante Alighieri is condemned in absentia and exiled from Florence.
Clement VI issued the papal bull Unigenitus, justifying the power of the pope and the use of indulgences.
J. S. Bach led the first performance of Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72, concluding his third Christmas season in Leipzig on the Third Sunday after Epiphany.
Spanish forces clash with indigenous Huilliches of southern Chile in the battle of Río Bueno.
American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery" arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The University of Georgia, the oldest state-chartered public university in the United States, was founded.
On the advice of John C. Calhoun, President James Monroe asked Congress to organize Indian Territory (map pictured) west of the Mississippi River, laying the groundwork for Indian removal in the United States.
Boshin War: The Battle of Toba–Fushimi begins, between forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and pro-Imperial factions; it will end in defeat for the shogunate, and is a pivotal point in the Meiji Restoration.
Former members of the overthrown Tokugawa shogunate proclaimed Japan's second-largest island, Hokkaido, to be the independent Republic of Ezo.
Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov premieres in Mariinsky Theatre in St.Petersburg.
Beginning of the Finnish Civil War.
Ibn Saud takes the title of King of Nejd.
First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
World War II: The 872-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with Operation Ranger.
South Vietnamese prime minister Trần Văn Hương was removed by the military junta of Nguyễn Khánh.
Mahamane Ousmane, the first democratically elected president of Niger, was deposed by Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara in a military coup d'état.
The first selections for the United States National Recording Registry were announced by the Library of Congress.
Porfirio Lobo Sosa became the new president of Honduras, ending a constitutional crisis that had begun in 2009 when Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed from office.
Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution began as more than 16,000 protesters demonstrated in Sanaa to demand governmental changes.
Rojava conflict: The Kobanî Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “The UK, USA and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty”?
B: 1967. 1967 — that’s 59 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year was Lewis Carroll born?
B: 1832. 1832 — that’s 194 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: Trajan becomes emperor of Rome. 1916: Britain brings in conscription during the First World War · AD 98: Trajan becomes emperor of Rome · 1967: The UK, USA and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty Find it on the page
“Mairead Maguire” happened in 1944. How many years ago was that?
B: 82 years. 2026 − 1944 = 82. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 27 January.
UK story
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an English author, poet, mathematician and photographer. He wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). He loved word play, logic and fantasy, and his poem Jabberwocky is a famous piece of nonsense verse. Some of Wonderland's topsy-turvy logic reflects his work as a mathematician.
UK story
Mairead Maguire is a peace activist from Northern Ireland. With Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, she founded a movement that became the Community of Peace People. It worked to find a peaceful end to the Troubles, a long conflict in Northern Ireland. Maguire and Williams were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.
Well-known people who died on 27 January.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 27 January somewhere in the world.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “January 27” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.