Today in History

Today is Saturday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2014. There are four days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 27, 1964, the Cleveland Browns defeated the Baltimore Colts 27-0 to win the NFL Championship Game played at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

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 1927, the musical play "Show Boat," with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.

In 1932, New York City's Radio City Music Hall first opened.

In 1945, 28 nations signed an agreement creating the World Bank.

In 1947, the original version of the puppet character Howdy Doody made its TV debut on NBC's "Puppet Playhouse."

In 1949, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed an act recognizing Indonesia's sovereignty after more than three centuries of Dutch rule.

In 1968, Apollo 8 and its three astronauts made a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific.

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

In 1985, Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; 19 victims were killed, plus four attackers who were slain by police and security personnel. American naturalist Dian Fossey, 53, who had studied gorillas in the wild in Rwanda, was found hacked to death.

In 1994, four Roman Catholic priests -- three French and a Belgian -- were shot to death in their rectory in Algiers, a day after French commandos killed four radicals who'd hijacked an Air France jet from Algiers to Marseille.

In 2007, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated during a suicide bomb attack in Pakistan following a campaign rally.

Ten years ago: The death toll continued to rise in southern Asia in the wake of a huge tsunami triggered by a monster earthquake underneath the Indian Ocean. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory in Ukraine's fiercely contested presidential election. In an audiotape, a man purported to be Osama bin Laden endorsed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of January's elections.

Five years ago: Iranian security forces fired on Tehran protesters, killing at least eight and launching a new wave of arrests.

One year ago: Connecticut police released thousands of pages from their investigation into the Newtown massacre, providing the most detailed and disturbing picture yet of the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that left 20 first-graders and six educators dead.

Today's Birthdays: Rockabilly musician Scotty Moore is 83. Actor John Amos is 75. Actress Charmian Carr (Film: "The Sound of Music") is 72. ABC News correspondent Cokie Roberts is 71. Rock musician Mick Jones (Foreigner) is 70. Singer Tracy Nelson is 70. Actor Gerard Depardieu is 66. Jazz singer-musician T.S. Monk is 65. Singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff is 63. Actress Tovah Feldshuh is 62. Rock musician David Knopfler (Dire Straits) is 62. Journalist-turned-politician Arthur Kent is 61. Actress Maryam D'Abo is 54. Country musician Jeff Bryant is 52. Actor Ian Gomez is 50. Actress Theresa Randle is 50. Actress Eva LaRue is 48. Former professional wrestler and actor Bill Goldberg is 48. Actress Tracey Cherelle Jones is 45. Bluegrass singer-musician Darrin Vincent (Dailey & Vincent) is 45. Rock musician Guthrie Govan is 43. Musician Matt Slocum is 42. Actor Wilson Cruz is 41. Singer Olu is 41. Actor Masi Oka is 40. Actor Aaron Stanford is 38. Actress Emilie de Ravin is 33. Christian rock musician James Mead (Kutless) is 32. Rock singer Hayley Williams (Paramore) is 26. Country singer Shay Mooney (Dan & Shay) is 23.

Thought for Today: "A dollar saved is a quarter earned." -- Oscar Levant, American composer, musician, actor (born this date in 1906, died in 1972).

Copyright 2014, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.