- Jan 1 39th Orange Bowl: #9 Nebraska beats #12 Notre Dame, 40-6
- Jan 1 59th Rose Bowl: #1 Southern California beats #3 Ohio State, 42-17
Newcombe Defeats Parun
Jan 1 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Home favourite John Newcombe beats Onny Parun of New Zealand 6-3, 6-7, 7-5, 6-1 for his first Australian title
- Jan 1 Britain, Ireland and Denmark become 7th, 8th and 9th members of the European Common Market
- Jan 1 West African Economic Community formed (Benin, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Upper Volta)
- Jan 2 Japanese boxer Masao Ohba retains his WBA flyweight title with a 12th-round knockout of Chartchai Chionoi of Thailand in Tokyo; Ohba dies three weeks later in a car accident
NY Yankees Bought
Jan 3 A 12-man syndicate led by Michael Burke and George Steinbrenner III buys MLB's New York Yankees from CBS for US$10 million
"Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J."
Jan 5 Columbia Records releases Bruce Springsteen's debut album "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J."
- Jan 5 Mali & Niger break diplomatic relations with Israel
- Jan 5 Netherlands recognizes German DR
- Jan 6 "Schoolhouse Rock" premieres on ABC-TV with Multiplication Rock
- Jan 7 American poet James Merrill wins Bollingen Prize
- Jan 7 British Darts Organisation founded in North London
- Jan 7 Johnny Watkins bowls six overs 0-21 v Pakistan Never again
- Jan 7 Mark Essex's mass shooting comes to an end after he is shot by police more than 200 times on the roof of New Orlean's Holiday Inn hotel. He killed nine people, including five policeman.
- Jan 7 Revival of Gary Geld and Peter Udell's musical "Purlie", based on Ossie Davis' "Purlie Victorious", closes at Billy Rose Theater, NYC. after 14 performances
- Jan 7 WNPB TV channel 13 in Marquette, MI (PBS) begins broadcasting
Music History
Jan 8 Elvis Presley files for divorce from Priscilla Presley on his 38th birthday
Chappell's Best Test Bowling
Jan 8 Greg Chappell's best Test bowling, 5-61 v Pakistan at SCG
- Jan 8 Jerry Blatt and Lonnie Burstein's musical "Tricks", based on Molière's classic “The Pranks of Scapin” and starring René Auberjonois, opens at Alvin Theater, NYC; runs for 8 performances
- Jan 8 Judge Sirica begins the trial of the Watergate burglars in Washington, D.C.
- Jan 8 Secret peace talks between US & North Vietnam resumed near Paris
- Jan 8 USSR launches Luna 21 for Moon landing
- Jan 9 Luna 21 launched, to Moon
- Jan 10 First Biennial exhibition of American contemporary art in its current format opens at the Whitney Museum - now one of the world's leading art shows [1]
- Jan 10 For the first time graduates studying from home with 'the Open University' receive their degrees
- Jan 10 Gas tank on Staten Island explodes, 40 die
- Jan 11 American League adopts designated hitter rule
- Jan 11 Famous Australian cricket victory at the SCG - Pakistan chasing 158 is all out for 106
- Jan 13 Jerry Blatt and Lonnie Burstein's musical "Tricks", based on Molière's classic “The Pranks of Scapin” and starring René Auberjonois, closes at Alvin Theater, NYC, after 8 performances
- Jan 13 Lasse Daniel Efskind skates world record 1000m (1:17.6)
"Aloha from Hawaii"
Jan 14 "Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite", an Elvis Presley concert broadcast live to Asia and Oceana, and on delay to Europe and US, becomes the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer
- Jan 14 2 Royal Ulster Constabulary officers are killed in Derry, Northern Ireland by a booby-trap bomb attached to their car by the Irish Republican Army
- Jan 14 Dancer Roy Castle is measured at 1,440 taps/min on BBC TV
- Jan 14 Grateful Dead bass player, Phil Lesh, busted on drug possession charges at his Marin County, California home
- Jan 14 Super Bowl VII, LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA: Miami Dolphins beat Washington Redskins, 14-7; MVP: Jake Scott, Miami, S
- Jan 15 4 Watergate burglars plead guilty in federal court
- Jan 15 Gene Shalit joins Today Show panel
Paul VI Meets Golda Meir
Jan 15 Pope Paul VI holds an audience with Israel Prime Minister Golda Meir at the Vatican
US Offensive Action Suspended
Jan 15 US President Richard Nixon suspends all US offensive action in North Vietnam
- Jan 16 NBC presents 440th & final showing of western series "Bonanza"
- Jan 16 Scientists at Corning Glass granted U.S. patent #3,711,262 for optical fiber (invented August 1970) - beginning a telecommunications revolution [1]
- Jan 16 USSR's Lunakhod 2 begins radio-controlled exploration of Moon
- Jan 17 City of Amsterdam decides to support Hanoi
- Jan 17 New Philippine constitution names Marcos president for life
- Jan 18 Islanders break 12 game losing streak, 20 game road winless streak
Cleese's Last Monty Python Episode
Jan 18 John Cleese's final episode on "Monty Python's Flying Circus" on BBC TV
- Jan 18 Orlando Cepeda is 1st player signed as MLB Designated Hitter by Boston Red Sox sign
- Jan 20 A car bomb explodes in Sackville Place, Dublin, Ireland, killing 1 person and injuring 17 (no group claimed responsibility)
- Jan 20 Richard Nixon's second inauguration as President of the United States takes place in Washington, D.C.
23rd NFL Pro Bowl
Jan 21 23rd NFL Pro Bowl, Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas: AFC beats NFC, 33-28; MVP: O. J. Simpson, Buffalo Bills, RB
- Jan 21 Leslie Nielson appears on M*A*S*H in "Ringbanger"
Foreman vs. Frazier
Jan 22 George Foreman TKOs Joe Frazier in 2 rounds to win WBC & WBA heavyweight boxing titles in Kingston, Jamaica; Frazier knocked down 3 times in both 1st & 2nd rounds
Roe vs. Wade
Jan 22 In a landmark decision the US Supreme Court legalizes most abortions (Roe v. Wade), authoring the majority opinion Harry Blackmun states that the criminalization of abortion does not have "roots in the English common-law tradition"
- Jan 22 US, North & South Vietnam & Vietcong sign boundary accord
23rd NBA All-Star Game
Jan 23 23rd NBA All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium: East beats West, 104-84; MVP: Dave Cowens, Boston Celtics, C
- Jan 23 Boeing 707, operated by Alia Royal Jordanian and chartered by Nigeria Airways crashes while trying to land at Kano International Airport in Nigeria, killing 176 Muslim pilgrims and crew
- Jan 23 Helgafell, island of Heimaey Iceland erupts for 1st time in 7,000 yrs
Shah Announces Oil Agreement End
Jan 23 Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi announces that the 1954 operating agreement between a consortium of oil companies and Iran will not be renewed when it expires in 1979
America’s Agony Is Over: Vietnam War Ends
Jan 23 US President Richard Nixon announces an accord has been reached to end the Vietnam War
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 24 Warren Spahn is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 26 Belgium government of Leburton forms
- Jan 27 Paris Peace Accords signed by US Secretary of State William P. Rogers, (North) Vietnam Minister for Foreign Affairs Nguyen Duy Trinh, Republic of South Vietnam Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyễn Thị Bình, and Republic of Vietnam Minister for Foreign Affairs Trần Văn Lắm, ending America's then longest war and it's military draft.
- Jan 27 UCLA's basketball team wins 61st consecutive game (NCAA record)
- Jan 27 US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
- Jan 27 US male Figure Skating championship won by Gordon McKellen Jr
- Jan 28 "Barnaby Jones" premieres on CBS TV
30th Golden Globes
Jan 28 30th Golden Globes: The Godfather, Marlon Brando and Liv Ullmann win
- Jan 28 In the run up to the first anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday' there is serious rioting in Derry, North Ireland
- Jan 28 Mickey Welch, George Kelly & Billy Evans elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 28 NHL Detroit Red Wings Henry Boucha scores 6 seconds into game in 4-2 win over Canadiens at The Forum in Montreal, Quebec
- Jan 28 Ron Howard appears on M*A*S*H in "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet"
- Jan 29 International agreement to pay for and conserve 9th century Borobudur Temple in Indonesia, world's largest Buddhist temple (completed 1982). Beginnings of the World Heritage Convention. [1]
- Jan 30 1973 NFL Draft: John Matuszak from University of Tampa first pick by Houston Oilers
- Jan 30 26th NHL All-Star Game, Madison Square Garden, NYC: Eastern Division beats Western Division, 5-4; MVP: Greg Polis, Pittsburgh Penguins, LW
- Jan 30 Jury finds Watergate defendants Liddy & McCord guilty on all counts of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping
- Jan 30 Rock band Kiss plays their 1st show at the Coventry Club in Queens, NY
Authors
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