Today is Sunday, May 27, the 147th day of 2018. There are 218 days left in the year.
►Birthdays: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Herman Wouk is 103. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is 95. Media mogul Sumner Redstone is 95. Former FBI Director William Sessions is 88. Author John Barth is 88. Actress Lee Meriwether is 83. Musician Ramsey Lewis is 83. Actor Louis Gossett Jr. is 82. Rhythm and blues singer Raymond Sanders (The Persuasions) is 79. Actor Bruce Weitz is 75. Former Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Christopher Dodd is 74. Singer Bruce Cockburn is 73. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is 71. Singer-actress Dee Dee Bridgewater is 68. Actor Richard Schiff is 63. Singer Siouxsie Sioux (The Creatures, Siouxsie and the Banshees) is 61. Rock singer-musician Neil Finn (The Finn Brothers) is 60. Actress Peri Gilpin is 57. Actress Cathy Silvers is 57. Comedian Adam Carolla is 54. Actor Todd Bridges is 53. Rock musician Sean Kinney (Alice In Chains) is 52. Actor Dondre Whitfield is 49. Actor Paul Bettany is 47. Rock singer-musician Brian Desveaux (Nine Days) is 47. Country singer Jace Everett is 46. Actor Jack McBrayer is 45. Rapper Andre 3000 (Outkast) is 43. Rapper Jadakiss is 43. TV chef Jamie Oliver is 43. Alt-country singer-songwriter Shane Nicholson is 42. Actor Ben Feldman is 38. Actor Michael Steger is 38. Actor Darin Brooks is 34. Actor-singer Chris Colfer is 28. Actor Ethan Dampf is 24. Actress Desiree Ross (TV: ‘‘Greenleaf’’) is 19.
In 1199, King John of England was crowned in Westminster Abbey nearly two months after the death of his brother, Richard I (“The Lion-Hearted’’).
In 1692, the Court of Oyer and Terminer (’’to hear and determine’’) was established by the governor of Massachusetts to hear accusations of witchcraft.
In 1933, the Chicago World’s Fair, celebrating ‘‘A Century of Progress,’’ officially opened.
In 1941, the British Royal Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France with a loss of some 2,000 lives, three days after the Bismarck sank the HMS Hood with the loss of more than 1,400 lives.
In 1942, Doris ‘‘Dorie’’ Miller, a cook aboard the USS West Virginia, became the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross for displaying ‘‘extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety’’ during Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1957, the single ‘‘That’ll Be the Day’’ by Buddy Holly’s group The Crickets was released by Brunswick Records.
In 1962, a dump fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania, ignited a blaze in underground coal deposits that continues to burn to this day.
In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court, in United States v. O’Brien, upheld the conviction of David O’Brien for destroying his draft card outside a Boston courthouse, ruling that the act was not protected by freedom of speech.
In 1977, the punk rock single ‘‘God Save the Queen,’’ the Sex Pistols’ sardonic salute to Queen Elizabeth II, was released by Virgin Records.
In 1985, in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification for an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997.
In 2008, Myanmar’s military government renewed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention for one year.
