Deaths
- 98 – Nerva, Roman Emperor (b. 35)
- 457 – Marcian, Byzantine Emperor (b. 392)
- 661 – Ali, the final Sunni Rashidun and first Shia Imam
- 1490 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (b. 1435)
- 1540 – Saint Angela Merici, Italian religious leader and saint (b. 1474)
- 1595 – Sir Francis Drake, English explorer (b. c.1540)
- 1629 – Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (b. 1560)
- 1638 – Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish novelist (b. 1585?)
- 1651 – Abraham Bloemaert, Dutch painter and printmaker in etching and engraving (b. 1566)
- 1689 – Robert Aske, merchant whose charitable foundation operates Haberdashers' Aske's Boys School and Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls (b. 1619)
- 1731 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian musical instrument maker (b. 1655)
- 1740 – Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (b. 1692)
- 1794 – Antoine Philippe de La Trémoille, French royalist commander and counterrevolutionary (b. 1765)
- 1812 – Captain John Perkins, first black commissioned officer in the Royal Navy
- 1814 – Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (b. 1762)
- 1816 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (b. 1724)
- 1851 – John James Audubon, French-born naturalist and ornithologist (b. 1789)
- 1857 – Dorothea Lieven, Russian noblewoman (b. 1785)
- 1860 – János Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1802)
- 1880 – Edward Middleton Barry, English architect (b. 1830)
- 1901 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
- 1910 – Thomas Crapper, English inventor (b. 1836)
- 1919 – Endre Ady, Hungarian poet (b. 1877)
- 1921 – Maurice Vincent Buckley, Australian soldier (b. 1891)
- 1922 – Nellie Bly, American journalist and writer (b. 1864)
- 1927 – Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius (Matulewicz), Lithuanian bishop (b. 1871)
- 1931 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (b. 1880)
- 1940 – Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
- 1942 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian Prime Minister (b. 1888)
- 1956 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor (b. 1890)
- 1967 – Roger Chaffee – Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1935)
- 1967 – Virgil "Gus" Grissom – Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1926)
- 1967 – Edward White – Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1930)
- 1967 – Alphonse Juin, Marshal of France (b. 1888)
- 1970 – Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (b. 1908)
- 1971 – Jacobo Arbenz, President of Guatemala (b. 1913)
- 1972 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician (b. 1888)
- 1972 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
- 1973 – William Nolde, last American combat casualty of Vietnam War (b. 1929)
- 1974 – Georgios Grivas, Cyprus-born general in the Greek Army (b. 1898)
- 1975 – Bill Walsh, American producer and writer (b. 1913)
- 1979 – Qalander Ba Ba Auliya, Sufi master (b. 1898)
- 1983 – Louis de Funès, French actor (b. 1914)
- 1986 – Lilli Palmer, German-born actress (b. 1914)
- 1987 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director (b. 1914)
- 1988 – Massa Makan Diabaté, Malian author (b. 1938)
- 1989 – Bayani Casimiro, Filipino dancer and actor (b. 1918)
- 1989 – Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (b. 1888)
- 1992 – Clara Solovera, Chilean folk musician (b. 1909)
- 1993 – André the Giant, French professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
- 1994 – Claude Akins, American actor (b. 1918)
- 1996 – Ralph Yarborough, American politician (b. 1903)
- 1997 – Gerald Marks, American songwriter (All of Me) (b. 1900)
- 2000 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (b. 1930)
- 2001 – Stavros Damianides, Greek musician (b. 1941)
- 2003 – Louis Archambault, Canadian sculptor (b. 1915)
- 2003 – Henryk Jabłoński, President of Poland (b. 1909)
- 2004 – Salvador Laurel, Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
- 2004 – Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918)
- 2005 – Shah A M S Kibria, Finance Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1931)
- 2006 – Jean-Christophe Lafaille, French mountaineer (disappeared) (b. 1965)
- 2006 – Gene McFadden, American singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
- 2006 – Johannes Rau, 8th President of Germany (b. 1931)
- 2007 – Tige Andrews, American actor (b. 1920)
- 2007 – Yang Chuan-kwang, Taiwanese athlete (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Alberta Davis, American supercentenerian ( b. 1881)
- 2008 – Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Suharto, President of Indonesia (b. 1921)
- 2008 – Louie Welch, mayor of Houston (b. 1918)
- 2009 – Mino Reitano, Italian singer and actor (b. 1944)
- 2009 – John Updike, American novelist (b. 1932)
- 2009 – R. Venkataraman, 8th President of India (b. 1910)
- 2010 – Zelda Rubinstein, American actress (b. 1933)
- 2010 – J. D. Salinger, American novelist (b. 1919)
- 2010 – Ajmer Singh, Indian athlete (b. 1940)
- 2010 – Howard Zinn, American historian and activist (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Mārtiņš Freimanis, Latvian musician, singer, songwriter, actor and TV personality (F.L.Y.) (b. 1977)
- 2012 – Jeannette Hamby, American politician(b. 1933)
- 2012 – Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi, Iraqi politician (b. 1933)
- 2012 – István Rózsavölgyi, Hungarian athlete (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Kevin White, American politician and Mayor of Boston (b. 1929)
Read more about this topic: January 27
Famous quotes containing the word deaths:
“I sang of death but had I known
The many deaths one must have died
Before he came to meet his own!”
—Robert Frost (18741963)
“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldiers sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
—Philip Caputo (b. 1941)
“You lived too long, we have supped full with heroes,
they waste their deaths on us.”
—C.D. Andrews (19131992)