This day in history

[April 27, 2009]  (AP)  Today is Monday, April 27, the 117th day of 2009. There are 248 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

Five hundred years ago, on April 27, 1509, Pope Julius II placed the Republic of Venice under an interdict following its refusal to give up lands claimed by the Papal States. (The pope lifted the sanction the following year.)

On this date:

In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives in the Philippines.

In 1570, Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I.

In 1805, during the First Barbary War, an U.S.-led force of Marines and mercenaries captured the city of Derna, on the shores of Tripoli, Libya.

In 1822, the 18th president of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio.

In 1865, the steamer Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tenn., killing more than 1,400 people, mostly freed Union prisoners of war.

In 1932, American poet Hart Crane, 32, drowned after jumping from a steamer into the Gulf of Mexico while en route to New York.

In 1965, broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow died in Pawling, N.Y., two days after turning 57.

In 1967, Expo '67 was officially opened in Montreal by Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

In 1973, acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned after it was revealed that he had handed over bureau files on the Watergate burglary to the Nixon White House.

In 1978, convicted Watergate defendant John D. Ehrlichman was released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months. Fifty-one construction workers plunged to their deaths when a scaffold inside a cooling tower at the Pleasants Power Station site in West Virginia fell 168 feet to the ground.

Ten years ago: A week after the Columbine High School massacre, President Bill Clinton called for new gun control measures, saying, "People's lives are at stake here." Jazz trumpeter Al Hirt died in New Orleans at 76.

Five years ago: Iraqi police moved into the streets of the besieged city of Fallujah following hours of pounding by U.S. warplanes and artillery on Sunni insurgents. A ruptured pipeline began spilling 123,774 gallons of diesel fuel into Suisun Bay, east of San Francisco. Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania beat back a tough primary threat, barely defeating conservative Congressman Pat Toomey.

One year ago: Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped an attempt on his life during a ceremony in Kabul marking Afghanistan's victory over Soviet occupation in the 1980s; three other people were killed in the shooting. Ashley Force, 25, became the first woman to win a national Funny Car race. She beat her father, drag-racing icon John Force, in the final round of the 28th annual Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Today's birthdays: Actor Jack Klugman is 87. Actress Anouk Aimee is 77. Announcer Casey Kasem is 77. Actress Judy Carne is 70. R&B singer Cuba Gooding Sr. is 65. Singer Ann Peebles is 62. Rock singer Kate Pierson (The B-52's) is 61. R&B singer Herbie Murrell (The Stylistics) is 60. Actor Douglas Sheehan is 60. Rock musician Ace Frehley is 58. Pop singer Sheena Easton is 50. Actor James Le Gros is 47. Rock musician Rob Squires (Big Head Todd and the Monsters) is 44. Singer Mica Paris is 40. Actress Sally Hawkins is 33. Rock singer-musician Travis Meeks (Days of the New) is 30. Actress Ari Graynor is 26. Rock singer-musician Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy) is 25. Actor William Moseley is 22.

Thought for today: "Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices -- just recognize them." -- Edward R. Murrow, American broadcast journalist (1908-1965)

[Associated Press]

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