On This Day July 27th

  OTD

July 27th is the two-hundredth-sixth day of the year, and there are 157 days remaining until the end of the year.

 

Events

1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria, invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth, King of Scotland, somewhere north of the Firth of Forth.

1549 – The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reaches Japan.

1694 – A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.

1775—Founding of the U.S. Army Medical Department: The Second Continental Congress passed legislation establishing "a hospital for an army consisting of 20,000 men."

1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.

1921 – Researchers at the University of Toronto, led by biochemist Frederick Banting, prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.

1949 – Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.

1974 – Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.

1995 – The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.

1996 – In Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb exploded at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics.

 

Birthdays

1625 – Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich (d. 1672)

1857 – Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge, English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist (d. 1934)

1905 – Leo Durocher, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)

1920 – Henry D. "Homer" Haynes, American comedian and musician (d. 1971)

1922 – Norman Lear, American screenwriter and producer.

1928 – Joseph Kittinger, American colonel and pilot (d. 2022)

1957 – Bill Engvall, American comedian, actor, and producer.

1959 – Hugh Green, American football player

1964 – Rex Brown, American bass player and songwriter

1972 – Maya Rudolph, American actress

1993 – Max Power, English footballer

 

 

Highlighted Holiday

BAGPIPE APPRECIATION DAY

Although bagpipes are a big part of Scottish identity, they actually didn't originate in Scotland. They have a really ancient history that goes all the way back to Mesopotamia, a region in the Middle East where shepherds used to play them for fun. There are some theories that the pipes were also used in ancient Egypt, but there isn't any solid evidence to prove this.

A Hittite wall carving from around 1000 B.C. shows a bagpipe, which suggests that bagpipes were used in western Asia as well. The Hittites traded with Egypt, so the instrument could have been passed on to them from the Egyptians. That leaves the Egyptians and the Hittites as the two possible inventors of the bagpipe.

The Greeks later picked up the instruments from the Romans when they took over Greece. The Roman Emperor Nero really liked playing the bagpipe. The English also loved the instrument and adopted it too. The bagpipes became popular in Britain after the Roman invasion in the 5th century and became more popular in England than elsewhere.

Worcestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Lancashire had some really great pipers, and regions like Cornwall, Northumberland, Lancashire, and Lincolnshire made their own types of bagpipes. The first mention of the Scottish Highland bagpipes is from French history, which talks about their use at the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. By the 18th century, they had become a symbol of Scottish national identity. The military started using the instrument along with drums. Bagpipes were used for signaling movements, attacks, and retreats in battles and were also played before battles to inspire the army.

After the Scottish uprising failed in 1745, military training was banned, and bagpipes were no longer used for war. However, they were kept for other purposes. Nowadays, there are all kinds of bagpipes. The most popular one is Scotland’s Great Highland bagpipe. On Bagpipe Appreciation Day, we celebrate all variations of bagpipes and their contribution to culture and music.

 

Holidays And Observance.

Bagpipe Appreciation Day

Barbie-In-A-Blender Day

Cross Atlantic Communication Day

Gary Gygax Day

National Chicken Finger Day

National Creme Brulee Day

National Day of Lament

National Day of the Cowboy

National Drowning Prevention Day

National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day

National Scotch Day

National Water Gun Fight Day

Norfolk Day

Paddle for Perthes Disease Awareness Day

Take Your Houseplant For a Walk Day

Take Your Pants For a Walk Day

Walk on Stilts Day

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