Events 1 - 200 of 633
- Jan 1 Cigarette advertisements banned on TV
- Jan 2 Spectator crush at Ibrox Park in Glasgow, Scotland as Rangers supporters leave the ground with home team 0-1 behind to Old Firm rivals Celtic; 66 deaths and more than 200 injuries; Rangers score late for 1-1
- Jan 4 Dr Melvin H Evans inaugurated as 1st elected governor of Virgin Is
- Jan 4 Philadelphia's multi-purpose Veteran's Stadium dedicated, it becomes home to MLB Phillies and NFL Eagles
- Jan 5 1st one-day international, Australia v England at the MCG
Liston Found Dead
Jan 5 Body of former world heavyweight boxing champion Charles "Sonny" Liston (40) is found by his wife Geraldine at their Las Vegas home; he had been dead for an estimated 6 days; foul play suspected
- Jan 5 Globetrotters lose 100-99 to NJ Reds, ending 2,495-game winning streak
- Jan 6 Berkeley chemists announces 1st synthetic growth hormones
- Jan 6 Cecil Partee elected president pro tem of Illinois state senate
Neil Young's Canadian Homecoming
Jan 6 Neil Young returns to his homeland of Canada for his first concert there since his pre-stardom days
Suzuki on Science
Jan 10 Canadian scientist and environmentalist David Suzuki begins his broadcasting career as host of CBC TV program "Suzuki on Science" [1]
- Jan 10 Irish Republican Army (IRA) carry out a 'punishment attack', tarring and feathering 4 men accused of criminal activities in Belfast
- Jan 11 Tigers ace reliever John Hiller, 27, sufferes a heart attack, but later makes a remarkable comeback to record 38 saves
- Jan 12 "All in the Family" premieres on CBS featuring 1st toilet flush on TV
- Jan 12 Congressional Black Caucus organizes
- Jan 12 Negotiations over price of petroleum begin in Tehran between 6 OPEC Persian Gulf states and 22 oil companies
- Jan 12 Two bombs explode at UK Employment Secretary Robert Carr's home
Plot to Kidnap Kissinger
Jan 12 US Federal grand jury indicts Rev Philip Berrigan & 5 others, including a nun & 2 priests, on charges of plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger
Canadiens Obtain Mahovlich
Jan 13 In a high profile NHL trade, the Montreal Canadiens obtain future Hockey Hall of Fame left wing Frank Mahovlich from Detroit, in exchange for Bill Collins, Guy Charron and Mickey Redmond
"My Sweet Lord"
Jan 15 George Harrison releases 1st solo single "My Sweet Lord" in the UK; tops the charts in 15 countries, and becomes subject of a copyright infringement lawsuit
Schenk Sets World Record
Jan 16 Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk skates world record 1500m (1:58.7)
- Jan 17 At a party conference in Dublin, Sinn Féin end their 65 year abstentionist policy and agree that any elected representative could take their seat at the Dáil
- Jan 17 Super Bowl V, Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, FL: Baltimore Colts beat Dallas Cowboys, 16-13; MVP: Chuck Howley, Dallas, LB
Northern Irish PM meets Home Secretary
Jan 18 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark meets British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling
- Jan 19 NHL Writers' Association renamed Professional Hockey Writers' Association
"Helter Skelter" at Manson Trial
Jan 19 The Beatles' "Helter Skelter" is played at Charles Manson trial
- Jan 20 Ard Schenk skates world record 1000m (1:18.8)
Lennon Meets Ono Parents
Jan 20 John Lennon meets Yoko Ono's parents in Japan
"What's Going On"
Jan 20 Tamla Records releases Marvin Gaye's single "What's Going On" about police brutality, from the album of the same name
- Jan 21 "Alias Smith & Jones" premieres on ABC TV
Power to the People
Jan 22 John Lennon and Plastic Ono Band record "Power to the People" at his Ascot Sound home studio at Tittenhurst Park, England
- Jan 23 -80°F (-62°C) in Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska (US record)
- Jan 23 Britain allowed to sell arms to South Africa, after Commonwealth Conference in Singapore ends in compromise
- Jan 23 Riots break out in the Shankill Road area of Belfast, North Ireland
- Jan 23 UCLA loses to Notre Dame, UCLA then wins next 88 games in a row
- Jan 25 Charles Manson and three female followers are convicted of the Tate-LaBianca murders
- Jan 25 Himachal Pradesh becomes 18th Indian state
Eisenhower Dollar
Jan 25 Philadelphia mint's 1st trial strike of Eisenhower dollar
- Jan 25 The 170 delegates of the Ulster Unionist Council (UUC) call for the resignation of Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark
- Jan 25 WHMB TV channel 40 in Indianapolis, IN (IND) begins broadcasting
- Jan 26 Dutch 2nd Chamber accepts law against limitation of war crimes
- Jan 27 Montgomery St Station, last link in Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco, 'holed thru'
- Jan 27 The body of a man who had been shot dead is found in Belfast
- Jan 28 1971 NFL Draft: Jim Plunkett from Stanford University first pick by New England Patriots
- Jan 29 Test debut of Dennis Keith Lillee, v England at Adelaide
Lillee's Bowling Debut
Jan 30 Dennis Lillee takes 5-84 in his 1st Test bowl, v England
- Jan 30 UCLA starts 88 basketball game winning streak
- Jan 31 "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison hits #1 on UK pop chart
- Jan 31 Apollo 14 launched, 1st landing in lunar highlands
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 31 Dave Bancroft & George Weiss elected to baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 31 Special Veterans Committee adds 6 former players and 1 executive to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Dave Bancroft, Jake Beckley, Chick Hafey, Harry Hooper, Joe Kelley, Rube Marquard and George Weiss
- Feb 2 General Idi Amin ousts Milton Obote and appoints himself President and Dictator of Uganda
- Feb 2 US Congressional Black Caucus organizes with Charles C. Diggs Jr. its first Chair
- Feb 3 A series of house searches by the British Army in Catholic areas of Belfast, resulting in serious rioting and gun battles
- Feb 3 KTSC TV channel 8 in Pueblo-Colorado Spgs, CO (PBS) 1st broadcast
- Feb 3 NYPD officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust while his fellow officers stood outside and failed to call for assistance
- Feb 3 OPEC mandates "total embargo" against any company that rejects 55 percent tax rate
- Feb 4 Baseball announces a special hall of fame wing for black players and coaches
- Feb 4 British automobile and aerospace company Rolls Royce Ltd enters voluntary liquidation
- Feb 4 Government exhibit under construction in Brazil collapses, kills 65
- Feb 4 Lieutenant-General Vernon Erskine-Crum becomes General Officer Commanding of the British Army in Northern Ireland
- Feb 4 National Guard mobilized to quell rioting in Wilmington NC
- Feb 4 The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) stock exchange, the second-largest in the world - behind the New York Stock Exchange - is founded in New York City
Apollo 14
Feb 5 Apollo 14, 3rd US manned Moon expedition, lands near Fra Mauro Alan Shepard & Edward Mitchell (Apollo 14) walk on Moon for 4 hrs
- Feb 6 American astronaut Alan Shepard is 1st to hit a golf ball on the moon [1]
- Feb 6 Bernard Watt (28), a Catholic civilian, is shot and killed by the British Army (BA) during street disturbances in Ardoyne, Belfast
- Feb 6 James Saunders (22), a member of the IRA, is shot and killed by the British Army during a gun battle near the Oldpark Road, Belfast
- Feb 6 The Irish Republican Army shoots and kills Gunner Robert Curtis, the first British soldier to die during the 'Troubles'
- Feb 7 Switzerland votes for national women's suffrage in a referendum - last European country to do so except for Liechtenstein
- Feb 8 NASDAQ Composite stock market index debuts with 50 companies and a starting value of 100
- Feb 8 Operation Lam Son 719 begins, a limited South Vietnamese incursion into Laos
Zappa Concert Cancelled
Feb 8 Royal Albert Hall cancels scheduled concert featuring Frank Zappa, due to concerns about indecent lyrics
- Feb 9 5 men are killed near a BBC transmitter on Brougher Mountain, County Tyrone, in a landmine attack carried out by the Irish Republican Army
- Feb 9 Apollo 14 returns to Earth
- Feb 9 Elektra Records releases eponymous debut album of American singer-songwriter Carly Simon; garners two Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist
- Feb 9 Probably 1st gay theme TV episode - All in the Family
- Feb 9 Quake in San Fernando Valley kills 64 & causes over $½B damage
Baseball Hall of Fame
Feb 9 Satchel Paige becomes 1st Negro League player elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Tapestry
Feb 10 A&M Records releases "Tapestry", the second album by singer-songwriter Carole King (wins 4 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year 1972); tops charts in 4 countries, goes on to sell over 30 million copies
- Feb 10 American Mensa Ltd incorporates in New York
- Feb 10 Bill White becomes 1st African American baseball announcer (NY Yankees)
- Feb 11 Montreal Canadien John Believau scores his 500th NHL goal
- Feb 11 US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons
- Feb 13 12,000 South Vietnamese troops cross into Laos
Sports History
Feb 13 US Vice President Spiro Agnew hits 2 tee shots into crowd while golfing, injuring 2
Daytona 500
Feb 14 13th Daytona 500: Richard Petty wins his 3rd Great American Race; goes on to win the inaugural Winston Cup title
- Feb 14 Movie "Ben Hur" 1st shown on television
Nixon Taping System
Feb 14 President Richard Nixon installs a secret taping system in the White House
- Feb 14 Tehran agreement signed; oil companies accept 55 percent tax rate, immediate increase in posted prices, and further successive increases
- Feb 15 A British soldier dies 7 days after being mortally wounded in an Irish Republican Army attack in North Ireland
- Feb 15 After 1,200 years Great Britain abandons pence & shilling system for decimal currency
Parkinson
Feb 19 British TV chat show "Parkinson" debuts on BBC1 presented by Michael Parkinson
Another Day
Feb 19 Paul McCartney releases single "Another Day" in UK
Howe's Scores #1,800 Point
Feb 20 "Mr. Hockey," Gordie Howe scores a goal and adds 3 assists, including his 1,800th career NHL point, in 6-5 Red Wings' win over Buffalo in Detroit; Howe's 1,670th game
Esposito's Magical Season
Feb 20 Bruin Phil Esposito is NHL's quickest to score 50 goals in a season
- Feb 20 National Emergency Center erroneously orders US radio & TV stations to go off the air. Mistake wasn't resolved for 30 minutes
- Feb 21 Series of tornadoes cuts through Mississippi & Louisiana killing 117
- Feb 21 The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna
- Feb 23 Boston Bruins begin 13 NHL game winning streak
- Feb 23 George Harrison is fined & his driving license is suspended for 1 year
- Feb 23 US army officer William Calley confesses & implicates Captain Medina during his trial for the My Lai Massacre
- Feb 24 Algeria nationalizes 51 percent of French oil concessions
Oh! Calcutta! - The Bare Facts
Feb 25 "Oh! Calcutta!" moves to Belasco Theater in NYC; runs for 1,316 performances
- Feb 25 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark holds a meeting with Catholic Cardinal of Ireland William Conway, the first such meeting between men holding these offices since 1921
- Feb 25 P Zindel's "And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little" premieres in NYC
- Feb 26 Two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers shot and killed by the Irish Republican Army while on mobile patrol in the Ardoyne area of Belfast, North Ireland
- Feb 27 Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform aborti provocati
- Feb 28 A British soldier dies in Derry after his vehicle had been attacked with petrol bombs (he died as a result of inhaling chemicals from fire extinguishers that were used to put out the fire)
PGA Championship
Feb 28 PGA Championship Men's Golf, PGA National East: Jack Nicklaus leads wire-to-wire for his 2nd career grand slam; wins by 2 from Billy Casper
- Feb 28 WDRB TV channel 41 in Louisville, Kentucky (IND) begins broadcasting
- Mar 1 Bomb attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
- Mar 1 Clandestine Radio Deutsche Reich (Germany) begins transmitting on FM
- Mar 3 South African Broadcasting Corp lifts its ban on the Beatles, begun after John Lennon's infamous "Jesus" quote in 1966
Event of Interest
Mar 3 Winnie Mandela sentenced to 1 year in jail in South Africa
- Mar 4 "City Command" kidnaps 4 US military men at Ankara, Turkey
Stairway to Heaven
Mar 5 "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin first played live at Ulster Hall, Belfast by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones
Cricket Debut
Mar 6 Test Cricket debut of Indian cricket great Sunil Gavaskar versus West Indies at Port-of-Spain; 125 Tests, 10,122 runs @ 51.12; 34 Test centuries
Sinatra Snaps the Fight of the Century
Mar 8 Joe Frazier ends Muhammad Ali's 31-fight winning streak at Madison Square Garden, NYC; retains heavyweight boxing title by unanimous points decision over 15 rounds in the "Fight of the Century"
- Mar 8 Milwaukee Bucks win their 20th straight NBA game (team record)
- Mar 8 Radio Hanoi broadcasts Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner"
- Mar 9 J M Noreiga takes 9-95 WI v India at Port-of-Spain
- Mar 9 Three off-duty Scottish soldiers are killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army; 4000 shipyard workers take to the streets to demand internment in response
- Mar 10 Three members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers (a regiment of the British Army) are killed by members of the Irish Republican Army
- Mar 10 US Senate approves amendment lowering voting age to 18
Music History
Mar 11 Jim Morrison leaves for Paris to re-orient himself emotionally and creatively, and to avoid the jail sentence given to him in Miami, Florida. He never returns to the US.
Election of Interest
Mar 12 Hafez al-Assad consolidates power in Syria by installing himself as President
- Mar 12 The Allman Brothers Band record their live album "Live at Fillmore East" on this date and the following day
- Mar 12 Thousands of Belfast shipyard workers march demanding the introduction of Internment for members of the Irish Republican Army
- Mar 12 Turkish Government of Demirel forced to resign by Army
TV Show Appearance
Mar 14 Barbra Streisand appears on "The Burt Bacharach Special" on CBS TV
- Mar 14 South Vietnamese troops flee Laos
Music History
Mar 14 The Rolling Stones leave England for France in an attempt to escape taxes
Meeting of Interest
Mar 16 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark meets with British PM Edward Heath to discuss the security situation in Northern Ireland
- Mar 17 Government of Trygve Bratteli takes office in Norway
- Mar 18 200 die in landslide into Lake Yanahuani, Chungar Peru
- Mar 19 Philadelphia 76ers outscore Cincinnati Royals 90-80 in 2nd half enroute to a 147-127 victory
- Mar 20 Boston Bruins win 13th straight NHL game
- Mar 20 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark resigns in protest at what he views as a limited security response by the British government
- Mar 21 Indian cricket great Sunil Gavaskar scores first of his 34 Test Cricket centuries; 116 in drawn 3rd Test at Georgetown, Guyana
- Mar 21 Vermont seasonal snowfall totals 132.2"
- Mar 21 WCPB TV channel 28 in Salisbury, MD (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Mar 22 Brian Faulkner becomes the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
- Mar 22 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Mar 23 Dutch 2nd Chamber accept simplified divorce
- Mar 23 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- Mar 24 Serge Gainsbourg releases his concept album "Histoire de Melody Nelson"
- Mar 25 European council accepts Mansholt Plan laying off 5 million farmers
Event of Interest
Mar 25 James Callaghan speaks at a rally of the Northern Ireland labour movement, but rejects calls for the Labour Party to open membership to those living in N. Ireland
- Mar 25 NFL football team Boston Patriots become New England Patriots as they relocate to Foxboro. Massachusetts
- Mar 26 "Benny Hill Show" tops TV ratings
- Mar 26 "Cannon" starring William Conrad as a private detective premieres on CBS-TV; airs for 5 seasons
Event of Interest
Mar 26 Bangladesh (East Pakistan) under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares its independence from Pakistan
- Mar 27 David Heneker and John Taylor's musical "Charlie Girl" close at the Adelphi Theatre, London, after 2,202 performances
- Mar 27 The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI) holds its first Annual Conference in the Ulster Hall in Belfast
- Mar 28 25th Tony Awards: "Sleuth" (Best Play) & "Company" (Best Musical, Original Score, Director) win
Film & TV History
Mar 28 Last original edition of "The Ed Sullivan Show" broadcasts on CBS-TV
- Mar 29 1st Lt William L Calley Jr found guilty in My Lai (Vietnam) massacre
- Mar 29 Chile president Allende nationalizes banks/copper mines
- Mar 29 Conrad Van Emde Boas becomes West Europe's 1st sexology professor
- Mar 29 Development of a serum hepatitis vaccine for children announced
- Mar 29 WSVN (now WSBN) TV channel 47 in Norton, VA (PBS) begins broadcasting
- Mar 31 South Africa national debt hits 5.45 billion
- Mar 31 William Calley sentenced to life for Mi Lai Massacre
- Apr 1 United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership
- Apr 1 US/Canada ISIS 2 launched to study ionosphere
- Apr 2 Dark Shadows, American Gothic supernatural soap opera, concludes an almost 5 year run on ABC
- Apr 2 Libya concludes 5 weeks of negotiations with Western oil companies in Tripoli
- Apr 3 The Temptations score their second US No. 1 with "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)"
- Apr 4 Marine clay under houses liquefies in St-Jean-Vianney, Quebec, 31 die
Follies
Apr 4 Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" opens at Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 524 performances, then most expensive Broadway musical at the time
- Apr 5 Fran Phipps is 1st woman to reach North Pole
- Apr 5 Mount Etna erupts in Sicily
Event of Interest
Apr 5 Sri Lanka's communist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) launches insurrection against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike
- Apr 5 US Lt William Calley sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre
- Apr 5 WNJT TV channel 52 in Trenton, New Jersey (PBS) begins broadcasting
Event of Interest
Apr 6 During a debate at Westminster on Northern Ireland, Harold Wilson of the Labour Party claims that a draft Bill for the imposition of direct rule exists
Sports History
Apr 7 Dismissal of Curt Flood's free agency suit against baseball is upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [1]
- Apr 7 US President Richard Nixon orders lt Calley (Mi Lai) free
- Apr 7 WCJB TV channel 20 in Gainesville, FL (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting 3-judge US Circuit Court of Appeals
- Apr 8 1st legal off-track betting system begins (OTB-New York)
It Don't Come Easy
Apr 9 Ringo Starr releases single "It Don't Come Easy", produced by George Harrison, in the UK
- Apr 10 Philadelphia Phillies open their new home, Veterans Stadium, with a 4-1 win over the Montreal Expos; 55,352, largest ever crowd to watch a MLB game in Pennsylvania
- Apr 10 The Republican commemorations is held in Belfast of the Easter Rising (in 1916 in Dublin), revealing conflicts between the two wings of the Irish Republican Army
- Apr 10 US table tennis team arrives in People's Republic of China
- Apr 11 "Johnny Johnson" opens/closes at Edison Theater NYC for 1 performance
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists