World Audiovisual Heritage Day: key events in history on October 27

World Audiovisual Heritage Day is observed today. The day aims to protect cultural and historical heritage through audiovisual media and to convey its importance to people. This heritage includes films, sound recordings, radio programmes, television shows and digital media. Through them, different cultures, traditions and historical events are documented.

These media are a valuable part of history and identity. But preserving them can be difficult, as time, technical problems and a lack of proper resources can put them at risk.

Here are the major events of October 27 in the history of India and the world. In 1954, Benjamin O. Davis Jr. became the first African-American general in the US Air Force. In 1958, General Ayub Khan staged a military coup in Pakistan and removed President Iskander Mirza from office. In 1961, NASA tested the first Saturn I rocket under Mission Saturn-Apollo 1. In the same year, Mauritania and Mongolia were admitted to the United Nations.

In 1971, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was renamed Zaire. In 1979, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gained independence from the United Kingdom. In 1986, the United Kingdom lifted all restrictions on its financial markets. In 1991, Turkmenistan became independent of Russia.

Those born on this date include Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th US President and Nobel laureate, in 1858 (died January 6, 1919). Poet Bhaskar Ramchandra Tambe was born in 1874 (died December 7, 1941). Freedom fighter and revolutionary Jatindranath Das was born in 1904 (died September 13, 1929). K. R. Narayanan, India's 10th President, was born in 1920 (died November 9, 2005). Industrialist Arvind Mafatlal was born in 1923 (died October 30, 2011).

Social worker Dr Vikas Amte was born in 1947, playback singer Anuradha Paudwal in 1954, Australian cricketer Mark Taylor in 1964, and Indian-American chef and author Maneet Chauhan in 1976. Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara was born in 1977 and Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan in 1984.

Among those who died on October 27, the third Mughal emperor Akbar died in 1605 (born October 14, 1542). Peshwa Sawai Madhavrao died in 1795 (born April 18, 1774). Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, founder of the Kirana gharana and guru of Sawai Gandharva, died in 1937 (born November 11, 1872). Vaikunth Mehta, a pioneer of the cooperative movement, died in 1964 (born October 26, 1891). Mathematician Ramanujan died in 1974 (born January 9, 1938).

Cricketer, commentator, industrialist and social worker Vijay Merchant died in 1987 (born October 12, 1911). Actor Pradeep Kumar, who worked in Hindi and Bengali films, died in 2001 (born January 4, 1925). In the same year, children's author and science fiction writer Bhaskar Ramchandra Bhagwat, creator of characters such as Faster Fene and Bipin Buklawar, also died (born May 31, 1910). Character actor Satyen Kappu died in 2007, and Indian pharmaceutical scientist Ranjit Roy Chaudhury died in 2015 (born November 4, 1930).