FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2009

Today is Friday, March 27, the 86th day of 2009. There are 279 days left in the year.

1625 _ Charles I, King Of England, Scotland and Ireland, ascends to throne

1790 _ The shoelace invented

1914 _ First successful blood transfusion (in Brussels)

1931 _ Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor

1933 _ Japan leaves League of Nations

1958 _ Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet premier and First Secretary of Communist Party

1973 _ 45th Academy Awards: ``Godfather," Marlon Brando & Liza Minnelli win; Brando turns down Oscar for best actor in support of Indians

1977 _ 583 die in aviation's worst disaster KLM-Pan Am 747 crash, Tenerife

1988 _ Ku Ok-hee wins Standard Register Turquoise Classic Golf Tournament

1997 _ 39 cult members in California commit mass suicide (Hale-Bopp)