Deaths on December 27

Bob Luman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)

Robert Glynn Luman (April 15, 1937 – December 27, 1978) was an American country and rockabilly singer-songwriter.

11 Feb

Aristotle
Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
27 Apr

Watergate scandal
Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
25 Jul

In vitro fertilisation
Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.
22 Oct

Pope John Paul II
Papal inauguration of Pope John Paul II.
18 Nov

Jim Jones
In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder-suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier.