This day in history. Read about what happened today. A short and interesting account of historical events and facts about this day as well as any other day of the year. Find historical birthdays, deaths, tragedies, war events, disasters and sports events.

This year in history
In the year 1977

	January 13th	English actor, Orlando Bloom, was born in Canterbury, Kent. He was catapulted to fame after staring in the hit movies, The Lord of the Rings films, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
	January 18th	A passenger train in Australia was derailed in that countries worst rail disaster. 83 people died in the accident.
	January 19th	In Miami, Florida the first and only ever recorded snowfall took place.
	February 4th	The music band, Fleetwood Mac, releases their, Rumours, album. It is the third highest selling album of all time (2006).
	February 19th	Italian footballer, Gianluca Zambrotta, was born in Como. He is one of the most respected Italian footballers of his generation, he signed with Barcelona FC after his previous team, Juventus, was implicated in a match fixing scandal for which that team was demoted to the second division in Italy.
	March 4th	A strong earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale, struck the Balkans. The city of Bucharest, Hungary was hit the hardest where an estimated 1500 died.
	March 11th	More than 120 people were taken hostage in Washington DC by a group of orthodox Muslim terrorists as a protest about the depiction of the prophet Mohammad in US media.
	March 18th	French footballer, Willy Sagnol, was born in Saint-Etienne.
	March 27th	Two jumbo jets crashed into one another on the runway of Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands. 583 people died in the accident.
	April 17th	Formula one driver, Ricardo Patrese, was born in Padua, Veneto. He participated in a record breaking 256 grand prix before retiring in 1993.
	April 21st	American comedian, Gummo Marx, died at the age of 85 in in Palm Springs, California. He was part of the Marx Brothers group, which marked the stage with its unique comedy style during the first half of the 20th century.
	May 10th	American actress, Joan Crawford, died at the age of 72. She was one of the biggest movie stars of the early 20th century. She served as chairman of the board of directors of the PepsiCo Company, a post in which she was elected to after the death of her husband (who also held the position before her).
	June 5th	The Apple II, considered as the first ever personal computer, went on sale. Over 2 million units were manufactured in the Apple II line of computers, which were produced up until the 90's.
	June 10th	James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain state prison in Petros, Tennessee. He was recaptured 3 days later.
	June 27th	France granted independence to Djibouti. Djibouti is a small country in eastern Africa, located in the Horn of Africa, bordering Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast.
	July 1st	American actress, Liv Tyler, was born in New York City.
	July 5th	A military coup took place in Pakistan in which the elected Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was overthrown.
	July 13th	A blackout occurred in New York City, which lasted for 25 hours and resulted in widespread looting and general disorder.
	July 20th	A severe flash flood struck the city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA, resulting in the death of 80 people and property damage which ranged in the hundreds of millions.
	August 3rd	Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus died at the age of 64 from a heart attack.
	August 10th	24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz was arrested for a series of killings in the New York City area over a year's period. He was known as the 'Son of Sam'.
	August 17th	French footballer, Thierry Henry, was born in Les Ulis. He is considered by many as the greatest striker of his generation and one of the greatest players of all time. He has long played for the British football club, Arsenal.
	August 27th	Brazilian born footballer, Deco, was born in Sao Bernardo do Campo. In 2002 he received Portuguese citizenship and was subsequently inducted into the country's national team.
	September 5th	The space probe Voyager 1 was launched. It has visited Jupiter and Saturn and was the first to provide earth scientists with detailed images of the moons of these planets. NASA has now estimated that the voyager probe will be operational until 2030, far longer than its original anticipated life. It is now (2006) heading towards interstellar space, thus becoming humankind's first interstellar probe. At its current speed and course it will pass near (about 1.7 light years away) a star in the Camelopardis constellation.
	September 5th	German President of the Employers Association, Hanns Martin Schleyer, was kidnapped by members of the terrorist group Red Army Faction. The kidnapers demanded the release of Red Army Faction prisoners. The German authorities did not relent and the imprisoned members of the red army faction were actually found dead 43 days after the kidnapping in their cells. The next day the kidnapers murdered Hanns Martin Schleyer.
	September 10th	The last execution by guillotine took place in France.
	September 12th	South African, Steve Biko, was killed while in police custody. He was one of the most influential anti-apartheid activists.
	October 1st	Brazilian superstar footballer, Pele, officially retired. His last match was a friendly between his first and last team, Santos and Cosmos. He played the first half for Cosmos and the second half for Santos.
	October 14th	American singer and actor, Bing Crosby, died at the age 74. He is considered as one of the most successful entertainers of the 20th century and probably the first ever multi-media star. He was a hugely successful, actor, singer as well as radio personality.
	October 20th	The airplane carrying the music band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, crashed in Mississippi, resulting in the death of several band members, including that of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines.
	November 10th	British author, Dennis Wheatley, died at the age of 80. He was one of the world's best-selling authors in the 1950s and 1960s, best known for his occult nonels.
	November 16th	The movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind premiered in theatres. Written and directed by Steven Spielberg it remains one of the most influential science fiction movies ever made.
	November 19th	Egyptian President Anwar Sadat went on an official visit to Israel. He was the first ever Arab leader to officially visit the state of Israel since its creation in 1948.
	December 4th	A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet was hijacked and later crashed resulting in the death of 100 people.
	December 14th	The hit movie Saturday Night Fever premiered.
	December 30th	American serial killer, Ted Bundy, escaped from his cell in Glenwood Springs, Colorado and goes on to murder 3 more people before being caught again.

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