Today in History: Dec. 27

Today is Friday, Dec. 27, the 362nd day of 2024. There are four days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 27, 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a shooting and bomb attack that killed at least 20 people in the city of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Also on this date:

In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

In 1904, James Barrie’s play “Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up” opened at the Duke of York’s Theater in London.

In 1932, New York City’s Radio City Music Hall opened to the public.

In 1945, the International Monetary Fund was formally established as its first 29 member countries ratified its Articles of Agreement.

In 1968, the Apollo 8 capsule splashed down safely in the Pacific, completing the first crewed mission to orbit the moon.

In 1979, Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal.

In 1985, American naturalist Dian Fossey, 53, who had studied mountain gorillas in Africa for nearly 20 years, was found murdered in her cabin in Rwanda.

Today’s Birthdays: Basketball Hall of Fame coach Nolan Richardson is 83. Rock musician Mick Jones (Foreigner) is 80. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Bill Self is 62. TV journalist Savannah Guthrie is 53. Actor Masi Oka is 50. Actor Aaron Stanford is 48. Actor Jay Ellis is 43. Olympic sprint gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is 38. Rock singer Hayley Williams (Paramore) is 36. Country singer Shay Mooney (Dan + Shay) is 33. Actor Timothée Chalamet is 29. NFL quarterback Brock Purdy is 25.