This year in history
In the year 1970
January
5th
The soap opera, All My Children, premiered on the ABC channel. The show is still produced today (2006) and is one of the longest running television programs of all time.
January
15th
Muammar al-Qaddafi became the premier of Libya. Although he has no official title, he has been the de facto leader of Libya ever since.
January
31st
British actress, Minnie Driver, was born in London. Her birth name is Amelia Driver and she became famous for her participation in the hit movies, Sleepers and Good Will Hunting.
February
2nd
British philosopher, Bertrand Russell, died at the age of 97. He is widely acknowledged as one of the top intellectuals of the late 19th and 20th centuries. In 1950 he was awarded the Nobel prize for literature.
February
8th
American basketball player, Alonzo Mourning, was born in Virginia. He was one of the new stars of the 1990's who was able to make a comeback in the NBA after receiving a kidney transplant, after which he lead the Miami Heat, to win the first championship of his career.
February
15th
A Dominican airlines passenger aircraft crashed into the sea after taking off from Santo Domingo, resulting in the death of 102 people.
March
5th
The nuclear non-proliferation treaty went into effect two years after it had been ratified by 43 nations.
March
11th
American novelist, Erle Stanley Gardner, died at the age of 80. He was the writer of several popular detective novels during the first part of the 20th century. He was a lawyer who wrote novels as a hobby.
March
28th
American actor, Vince Vaughn, was born in Minnesota, USA.
April
10th
Music band, The Beatles, broke up, after the official announcement by Paul McCartney.
April
11th
The Apollo 13 lunar mission was launched. The mission suffered severe technical malfunctions on the way which caused it to be cancelled and seriously jeopardized the lives of the crew, although the crew was able to return safely to earth.
April
22nd
Earth Day was celebrated for the first time. Earth day aims to celebrate and create awareness about the earth's fragile environment.
April
24th
China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong I. Its design lifetime was 20 days, but it actually broadcast signals for 28 days. China was the fifth country after the Soviet Union, United States, France, and Japan to launch a satellite into orbit.
April
29th
American tennis player, Andre Agassi, was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a former number 1 ranked player, who won eight Grand Slam singles in his career. Agassi is married to fellow former tennis champion, Steffi Graf.
April
29th
American actress, Uma Thurman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She is known as one of the most versatile actresses of her generation, having starred in such movies as Dangerous Liaisons, Pulp Fiction, Gattaca and the Kill Bill.
May
4th
Four students were shot dead by members of the national guard in Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio. They were protesting the American invasion of Cambodia.
May
16th
Argentinean tennis player, Gabriela Sabatini, was born Buenos Aires. She was one of dominant figures of women's tennis in the late 1980's and early to mid 1990's.
June
4th
Tonga gained its independence from the United Kingdom. Officially known as the Kingdom of Toga, it is only remaining monarchy in the Pacific ocean.
June
7th
Brazilian footballer, Cafu, was born in Sao Paulo. He is one of the most celebrated Brazilian footballers of all time, having been part of the Brazilian national team in four consecutive world cups, with 2 world champion titles, and three finals. He is also the player with the most participations in the national team of Brazil.
June
9th
King Hussein of Jordan escaped an assassination attempt when gunmen opened fire at his motorcade while it was travelling towards the King's summer palace.
June
14th
Legendary British footballer, Bobby Charlton, played his last international match for England against West Germany in the World Cup finals of Mexico, 22 years after his first game of 1958 against Scotland.
June
17th
American football player, Jason Hanson, was born in Spokane, Washington. He is one of the most celebrated kickers in recent American Football history who in the 13 years of his professional career has only missed one game.
June
26th
American actor, Chris O'Donnell, was born in Winnetka, Illinois. His career was started when he was cast in a McDonald's commercial, in which he served basketball superstar, Michael Jordan.
July
5th
An Air Canada passenger flight crashed near Toronto International Airport resulting in the death of 108 people.
July
21st
Construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed 11 years after it had started.
August
17th
American tennis player, Jim Courier, was born in Sanford, Florida. He was the number one ranked player in the world during the end of the 20th century.
August
25th
German model, Claudia Schiffer, was born in Rheinberg. She was one of the 'supermodels' of the 1990's.
August
29th
The first flight of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 passenger jet took place. It has been one of the primary passenger aircraft of the later part of the 20th and early 21st centuries.
September
6th
Jimmy Hendrix plays his last ever performance, at the Love and Peace Festival, on the island of Fehmarn, Germany.
September
6th
Four passenger jets heading from Europe to the United States were simultaneously hijacked by Palestinian terrorist members of the PFLP group. Two of the planes were taken to Dawson's Field in Jordan while another landed in Cairo. Most of the hostages were released, with the exception of 56 persons and the airplanes were detonated and destroyed while in the airfield. Almost a month later and a massive hunt down by the Jordanian army into Palestinian controlled areas, an agreement was reached in which the hostages were released in exchange of the release of several PFLP prisoners.
September
18th
American musician, Jimi Hendrix, was found dead in the basement flat of the Samarkand Hotel in London. He was 38 years old at the time and the cause of his death is attributed to an overdose of sleeping pills.
September
25th
The television series 'The Partridge Family' premiered on the ABC channel, it run for a period of four years and enjoyed great success with family audiences around the world.
September
28th
President of Egypt, Gamal Abdal Nasser, died at the age of 52. He was one of the most important Arab politicians of the 20th century and the leader of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. His policies and diplomatic decisions were instrumental into shifting Egypt towards the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union and expelling western interests from the Suez Canal.
October
4th
American musician, Janis Joplin, died at the age of 27. She died from an overdose of heroin and alcohol.
October
8th
American actor, Matt Damon, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Along with his personal friend Ben Affleck, he earned the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the hit movie Good Will Hunting.
October
15th
Anwar Sadat became president of Egypt, a post he held until his assassination in 1981.
October
29th
Dutch footballer, Edwin van der Sar, was born in Voorhout, Netherlands. He is widely considered as one of the best goalkeepers of all time.
October
29th
Dutch footballer, Philip Cocu, was born in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
November
1st
A fire at a dance hall in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France caused the death of 144 people.
November
6th
American actor, Ethan Hawke, was born in Texas.
November
9th
President of France, Charles de Gaulle, died at the age of 80. He was the head of the Free French government-in-exile during World War II and is considered as one of the greatest heroes of france by its people.
November
11th
The world famous children's television show, Sesame Street, was broadcast for the first time. The show is still produced today (2006) and is one of the longest running television programs of all time.
November
12th
American figure skater, Tonya Harding, was born in Portland, Oregon. She gained worldwide notoriety when it was revealed that she was involved in the scheme to injure fellow skating athlete Nancy Kerrigan.
November
13th
A severe tropical cyclone with winds that approached the velocity of 250 kilometers per hour hit Ganges river Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Approximately half a million people died in one of the worst natural disasters in the history of mankind.
November
17th
The Soviet Lunokhod 1 robot landed on the Moon. It was the first remote-controlled robot to land on another planet.
December
3rd
French footballer, Christian Karembeu, was born in Lifou. He was part of the French team that won the 1998 World Cup.
December
12th
American actress, Jennifer Connelly, was born in New York. She had a series of participations in failed films before her career was given a serious boost when she stared in the 2001 movie, A Beautiful Mind.
December
17th
In Gdynia, Poland, soldiers fired upon and killed hundreds of workers who were engaged in anti-communist protests.
December
30th
American boxer, Sonny Liston, died at the age of 38. Although he was the world heavyweight boxing champion he was one of the least public features to have ever been crowned champion in boxing.
 
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