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January
9th |
The RMS Queen Elizabeth was destroyed by a fire in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong. |
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January
9th |
In the United Kingdom miners went on a national strike demanding higher wages. The strike lasted until February the 25th. |
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January
11th |
The Pakistani province of East Pakistan became the independent nation of Bangladesh after the Bangladeshi was of independence. |
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January
13th |
A military coup took place in Ghana. Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheamphong became the new Head of State until 1978 when he himself was deposed after another coup. |
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January
30th |
British paratroopers killed fourteen roman catholic civil rights protesters in Northern Ireland. |
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April
17th |
American actress, Jennifer Garner, was born in Houston, Texas. She is best known for portraying the lead character in the hit television series, Alias. |
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April
18th |
The Roland Corporation was founded in Osaka, Japan. Roland is the company best known for manufacturing electronic musical instruments. |
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April
20th |
The Apollo 16 landed on the Moon. It was the fifth mission to land on the moon. |
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May
2nd |
American politician, J. Edgar Hoover, died at the age of 77. He was director of the FBI for 48 years and was considered to be the most powerful man in the United States during his unprecedented long run as director of the FBI. |
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May
22nd |
The country of Ceylon adopts a new constitution, and changes its name to Sri Lanka. |
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June
17th |
In what has been historically known as the Watergate scandal, five White House operatives were arrested for breaking in the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition's offices. |
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June
18th |
A British commercial plane crashed shortly after taking off from Heathrow, resulting in the death of all 118 people on board. It was the worst aviation disaster in Britain until the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. |
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June
23th |
French footballer, Zinedine Zidane, was born in Marseille. Considered as one of the greatest players in football history his career was also plagued by his often irrational temper which also led to his dramatic exit from football at the end of the2006 world cup final in Germany. |
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July
21st |
A series of 22 bombs were detonated by the Provisional IRA around the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. 9 people were killed and more than 120 were seriously injured. |
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August
14th |
An East German passenger plane crashed during takeoff from East Berlin resulting in the death of 156 people. |
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August
15th |
American actor, Ben Affleck, was born in Berkeley, California. He became famous in the late 1990s, after his involvement (writing and acting) in the film Good Will Hunting. |
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August
26th |
The 20th Summer Olympic Games opened in Munich, Germany. |
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August
28th |
During the Summer Olympic Games in Munich, American swimmer, Mark Spitz, won his first gold medal. He went on to win a total of seven gold medals as well as set a new world record in every single one of the events he participated in. |
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August
30th |
American actress, Cameron Diaz, was born in San Diego, California. At the age of 16, she began her career as a fashion model with the top modelling agency, Elite Model Management. |
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August
30th |
Czech football player, Pavel Nedved, was born in Cheb. He is widely considered as one of the best Czech footballers of all time. |
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September
1st |
American Bobby Fischer beat Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion. Bobby Fischer has been a controversial figure throughout his life who lost his title without ever having defended it and who renounced his American citizenship and is now living in Iceland. |
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September
4th |
Israeli Athletes were taken hostage by the Palestinian Black September group at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes, 5 of the eight terrorists were killed by German police and 3 were captured. The 3 captured terrorists were subsequently released as part of the demands of terrorists who had hijacked a Lufthansa airliner. As a response Israel launched Operation Wrath of God and Operation Spring of Youth which included the assassination of all parties involved in the Munich massacre. Only one person is said to have escaped the Israeli retribution operations. |
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September
25th |
The Norwegian people rejected membership to the European Union. |
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October
13th |
An Uruguayan Air passenger plane crashed in the Andes mountains, between the borders of Argentina and Chile. 72 days after the crash all 16 survivors were rescued. They had been able to survive by feeding on the flesh of their dead co-passengers and were rescued by the incredible feat of two of their members who managed to breach the Andes and reach Chile. |
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November
4th |
Portuguese footballer, Luis Figo, was born in Lisbon. |
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November
14th |
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index closed above the 1,000 mark for the first time in its history. |
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December
7th |
The last Apollo moon mission, Apollo 17, was launched. It was the sixth and last mission to land on the Moon (2006). |
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December
8th |
A United Airlines passenger flight crashed near Chicago's Midway Airport, resulting in the death of 45 people. |
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December
11th |
The Apollo 17 became the sixth and final mission to land on the Moon. |
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December
23th |
An earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale hit Managua, Nicaragua. More than 10,000 people lost their lives in its wake. |
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December
26th |
President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, died at the age of 88. He was the 33rd President of the United States and is most remembered for his controversial decision to drop the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
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December
29th |
An Eastern Air Lines passenger plane crashed while it was approaching the Miami International Airport, resulting in the death of 101 people. |
