1970

1970’s world population – 3,692,492,000
1970. Began on a Thursday.

January
• 1st January was the birthday for American model, Kimberly Page.

• 2nd January was the day that both American composer, Eric Whitacre and American Baseball player, Royce Clayton were born.

• American comic actor, Christian Duguay, was born on 3rd January.

• American professional wrestler, Chris Kanyon, was born on 4th January.

• The year began with an earthquake which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale that hit Yunnan in China on 4th January. The death count for this natural disaster totalled over 10,000 people. Up to a massive 1000 houses were damaged or destroyed. The earthquake cost between $5 and $24 million dollars to repair the damages that were made.

• Popular American television soap opera, ‘All my children’, was first aired as a half hour show on 5th January 1970, was then increased to become an hour long show in 1977.

• 6th January was the day that American Television host Julie Chen, American volleyball player and model, Gabrielle Reece, were born.

• American Baseball player Todd Day and American comedian, actor and director, Doug E. Doug, were both born on 7th January.

• Canadian/ Belgian singer, Lara Fabian, was born on 9th January.

• 11th January, the day that the Kansas City Chiefs beat the favourites Minnesota Vikings, 23-7, in Super Bowl IV.

• The Nigerian civil war came to an end on 12th January when the Commander of the Biafran Army surrendered to the Federal government.

• Italian cyclist Marco Pantani was born on 13th January.

• Diana Ross and The Supremes perform their last performance together at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas. Diana Ross’s replacement, Jean Terrell, is also introduced on stage during their last
performance on 14th January.

• American professional wrestler and wrestling executive, Shane McMahon, was born on 15th January.

• Both Jeremy Roenick, an American hockey player, and Genndy Tartakovsky, a Russian animator, were born on 17th January.

• American rapper and producer DJ Quik was born on 18th January

• British Rower, Tim Foster, and Japanese comedian Udo Suzuki, were both born on 19th
January.

• The plans for the Thames Barrier at Woolwich are announced by the Greater London Council on 20th January. The barrier was designed to help prevent the Thames flooding. Work for the barrier began in 1974. It wasn’t until 1981 that the barrier was opened. Also on this day, American actor, Skeet Ulrich was born.

• 21st January 1970 is the day that 5 lifeboat men were killed when a Fraserburgh, Scotland vessel, The Duchess of Kent capsizes. Also on this day Pan American Airways offers the first commercially scheduled 747 service from, John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.

• American comic artist, Alex Ross was born on 22nd January.

• On 24th January, American actor, Matthew Lilliard was born.

• Mick Jagger as fined for possession of cannabis on 26th January.
• American actress, Heather Graham and Indian shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore were born on 29th January.
• English actress, Minnie Driver, was born on 31st January.
February
• The month began on 1st February with a train collision near Buenos Aires, Argentina. This train collision killed 236 people. It was also the date of birth for American basketball player, Malik Sealy.
• On 3rd February American hockey player, Keith Carney was born.
• American basketball player, Alonzo Mourning, and Australian footballer, John Filan were born on 8th February.
• On 9th February, Glenn McGrath an Australian test cricketer was born.
• On 10th February 39 tourists were killed due to an Avalanche in Val d’lsere in France.
• The next day on 11th February Japan’s first satellite is launched on a Lambda-4 rocket.
• Black Sabbath’s debut album was released on 13th February; this is often considered as the first heavy metal album to be released.
• 14th February is when the Live at Leeds is recorded. This is an iconic live album by, The Who. (An English rock band formed in 1964). This was also the date of birth for American hockey player, Sean Hill and British comedian, actor and writer, Simon Pegg.
• The MacDonald family massacre happened on 17th February. This is the incident when Jeffery R. MacDonald killed both his wife and children at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and tried to put blame on drugged out hippies for his crime. He was charged with their murders on 1st May 1970.
• Also on 17th February, David Irving, an author, is ordered to pay £40,000 libel damages to Capt. John Broome for his book, ‘The Destruction of Convoy’. This was also the date of birth for English-Australian actor, Dominic Purcell.
• The Chicago Seven are found not guilty for conspiring to provoke a riot on 18th February. It was also the date of birth for Canadian musician and beat poet, Raine Maida.
• 19th February Poseidon Bubble: shares in the Australian nickel mining company Poseidon NL, which stood at $0.80 in September 1969, peak at around $280 before the speculative bubble burst.
• The construction for the Boğaziçi Bridge in Istanbul that crosses the Bosphorus began on 21st February. It was also the date of birth for Dayna Devon, American news anchor.
• On 22nd February 1970 Guyana became a Republic with the Commonwealth of Nations. It was also the date of birth for Dominic Roussel, a Canadian ice hockey player.
• On 24th February, an American football player named, Jeff Garcia was born.
• Chevrolet (Chevy), a vehicle brand, released the second generation Camaro on 26th February. This was also the day that Finnish violinist, Linda Brava and Swedish curler, Cathrine Lindahl were born.
• German art director, Matthias Lechner was born on 27th February.
• American author, Daniel Handler and Algerian athlete, Noureddine Morceli were born on 28th February.
March.
• The month began with Rhodesia declaring it a republic and severs its last tie with the United Kingdom on 1st March 1970.
• The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty obligates the five acknowledged nuclear-weapon states, (The United States, Russian Federation, the UK, France and China.) to not transfer weapons, other nuclear explosive devices, or their technology to any non-nuclear state. The NPT first went into effect on 5th March, after ratification by 56 nations. American rock musician, John Frusciante was also born on this day.
• A bomb that was made with intention to be planted at a military dance in New Jersey, which was constructed by the Weathermen. The Weathermen were a group of extreme left-wing radicals, who originated in 1969 and were a faction of Students for a Democratic Society. Their aim was to create a revolutionary party for the violent overthrow of the US government. The bomb exploded and killed 3 members of the organisation on 6th March.
• Also on 6th March, Süleyman Demirel of Adalet Partisi (Justice Party) forms the new governments of Turkey. This was the 32nd government to be formed.
• The Citroen introduced the high-performance SM at the Geneva Auto Salon on 7th March.
• Also on 7th March 1970, Mexico and the Southeast coast of the United States, Nantucket, and Nova Scotia were able to view a Solar Eclipse that passed along the Atlantic coast region. Another event on this day was the birth of Russian classical violinist and writer, Vladislav Adelkhanov and English actor (Emmerdale’s Crain Dingle), Jeff Hordley.
• 8th March was the date of birth for American football player, Jason Elam.
• English rugby player, Martin Johnson was born on 9th March.
• American football player, Antonio Edwards, was born on 10th March.
• Teenagers in the United Kingdom were allowed to vote for the first time in a by-election in Bridgewater on 12th March.
• On March 15th the Expo ’70 World’s Fair opens in Suita, Osaka in Japan.
• The complete New English Bible was published on 16th March 1970. This was also the date of birth for Icelandic pop singer, songwriter and disk jockey, Paul Oscar.
• On 17th March the US Army charged 14 officers for suppressing information related to the My Lai Massacre incident. The My Lai Massacre took place on 16th March 1968 during the Vietnam War. It was a mass murder of between 347 and 504 unarmed citizens in the South of Vietnam. The majority of the victims were, women, children or the elderly. Many of the victims were, raped, beaten, tortured and some bodies were found mutilated. Those who returned to the village, had said that it took up to 3days to bury the bodies, and found that some of the children had slit throats and not only were the victims shot but were also mutilated.
• On 18th March Lon Nol, a Cambodian politician and general who served as a Prime Minister of Cambodia twice ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
• Another event on 18th March was the United States Postal strike. It began with workers in New York going on strike, and then later spread through to California and the cities of Akron, Ohio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Boston and Denver. It led to 210,000 out of 750,000 postal employees in Colorado walking out. The strike lasted for a total of two weeks. This was also the date of birth of Queen Latifah, an American rapper, record producer, and actress.
• The Agency for Cultural and Technical cooperation was founded on 20th March. U.S.American novelist, Michele Jaffe, was also born on this day.
• Ireland won the Eurovision song contest on 21st March. Dana sung “All kinds of everything. This was also the birth date of Japanese voice actress Niiyama Shiho.
• The first Earth day, (a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment.) is announced on 21st March, by San Francisco’s Mayor Joseph Alioto.
• Dutch cyclist, Leontien van Moorsel, was born on 22nd March.
• Lara Flynn Boyle, an American actress, and Irish musician, Sharon Corr, were born on 24th March.
• The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight on 25th March.
• American singer, Mariah Carey, American actress, Elizabeth Mitchell and Iranian princess, Leila Pahlavi were all born on 27th March.
• Vince Vaughn, an American actor, writer and producer was born on 28th March.
• On 31st March NASA’s Explorer, the first American Satellite and Explorer Program spacecraft, re-enters Earth’s atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.
• 131 passengers and 7 flight crew are held hostage as Japan Airlines Flight 351 is hijacked by Japanese Red Army members on 31st March. All passengers were eventually freed.
April
• The AMC (American Motors Corporation) Gremlin is introduced on 1st April.
• Richard Nixon, the American President, signs the Public Health Smoking Act into law, banning cigarette television advertisements in the US, on 1st April. The law took effect on 1st January 1971.
• 4th April was the date of birth of Canadian musician, Sean Kelly, Barry Pepper a Canadian actor and American news reader, Wendy Bell.
• Japanese singer and songwriter, Miho Hatori was born on 5th April.
• BBC Radio 4 broadcasts the first edition of PM, a long running early evening news and current affairs programme, on 6th April.
• 79 people were killed and over 400 people injured after a huge gas explosion in a subway construction site in Osaka, Japan on 8th April.
• The Bahr el-Baqar massacre took place on 8th April. This was when 47 Egyptian elementary school children were killed by an Israeli Air Force F4 Phantom II fighter bomb. The school was hit by 5 bombs and 2 air-to-ground missiles.
• 10th April was a significant day for the music industry. At a press conference Paul McCartney announced that The Beatles had disbanded. Also at the same conference Elton John released his second album which for him was his first album to chart and to be released in America. This was also the birth date for American musician and actor, Q-tip.
• An avalanche in the French Alps kills 74 people, the majority being young boys, on 11th April.
• Also on 11th April Apollo 13 is launched. However an oxygen tank in the spacecraft exploded on 13th April, which forced the crew to abort their mission and return in 4days, safely landing in the Pacific on 17th April.
• American Actor, Rick Schroder, Mexican actor and singer, Eduardo Capetillo, and Turkish martial artist and academician Sifu Murat Kaplan were all born on 13th April.
• 15th April was the date of birth for American actor, Flex Alexander.
• Ian Paisley wins a by-election and gains a seat in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland on 16th April.
• The National Westminster Bank began trading on 16th April in the United Kingdom.
• German swimmer, Heike Friedrich was born on 18th April.
• Mexican singer, Luis Miguel was born on 19th April.
• Adriano Moraes, a Brazilian rodeo performer was born on 20th April.
• Nicole Sullivan, an American actress, writer and comedian was born on 21st April.
• Regine Velasquez, a Filipino singer, actress, model and record producer was born on 22nd April.
• The first Earth day was celebrated on 22nd April in the United States.
• On 23rd April Japanese actor Sadao Abe and Australian rugby league footballer were both born on 23rd April.
• On 24th April a Long March-1 Rocket (CZ-1) is used to launch China’s first satellite (Dong Fang Hong 1) into orbit.
• American skateboarder and actor, Jason Lee was born on 25th April.
• The World Intellectual Property Organisation first came into force on 26th April. It was created to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world.
• Diego Simeone, an Argentine footballer and manager, was born on 28th April.
• On 29th April the United States invade Cambodia to hunt out the Viet Cong. The Viet Cong were the guerrilla force that fought against the South Vietnam and the United States, with help from the North Vietnamese Army. Also on this day, American tennis player, Andre Agassi and American actress Uma Thurman was born.
May
• On 1st May the Vietnam War is threatened to be spread when Richard Nixon orders U.S. forces to cross into neutral Cambodia. This caused riots nationwide and also led to the Kent State shootings.
• The Kent State shootings happened on 4th April. 4 students from Kent State University were killed in Ohio. Ohio State National Guardsmen wound 9 students, at a protest against the incursion into Cambodia. This led to around 1,000 students being attacked by unionised construction workers who were protesting the Kent State shootings.
• Feyenoord, a Dutch professional football club win the European Cup after a 2-1 win against Celtic on 6th May.
• Also on 6th May two members of the Irish Government, Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney are dismissed. They were accused of being involved in a plot to import arms that were planned to be used by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland.
• The Beatles released their 12th and final album, “Let it be”, on 8th May.
• The New York Knicks became the new NBA champions. They defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on 8th May.
• On 9th May, in Washington DC, 100,000 people demonstrated against the Vietnam War.
• On 10th May Boston Bruins celebrated as they won their first Stanley Cup since 1941. Bobby Orr scored the winning goal in 40 seconds into overtime, making the final score 4-3.
• Henry Marrow was murdered in a violet hate crime, in Oxford, North Carolina, on 11th May.
• A tornado hit Lubbock, Texas on 11th May, this was the first tornado since Topeka, Kansas in 1966, to hit a downtown district of a major city. 28 people were killed in the Tornado.
• On 14th May Ulrike Meinhof, helped Andreas Baader, one of the most famous terrorist leaders of the 1970s, to escape. Baader was the leader of the German Terrorist group, Red Army Faction. Baader was caught and later sentenced for committing an arson attack on a large department store in Frankfurt. On 14th May Baader was given permission to study at a local library with no handcuffs. This made it easier for Meinhof, a journalist, two other women and a masked gunman to aid Baader to break free.
• Also on 14th May, on the second day of violent demonstrations in Jackson State University, in Jackson Mississippi 2 people were killed and 12 were left injured after state law enforcement officers fired into the demonstrators.
• Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer, set sail from Morocco on 17th May, to sail the Atlantic Ocean on the papyrus boat Ra II. The papyrus boat Ra II arrived in Barbados on 12th July 1970.
• Approximately £1,000,000 worth of damage was caused after the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait in North Wales, was caught on fire on 23rd May.
• The scientific drilling of the Kola Super deep Borehole began on 24th May in the USSR.
• On 27th May a British expedition climbs the south face of Annapurna I.
• Over 47,000 we killed after a landslide on 31st May that buried the town of Yungay, Peru, caused by the Ancash earthquake.
• The 1970 FIFA World Cup was introduced in Mexico on 31st May.
June
• The two man spacecraft, Soyuz 9, was launched in the Soviet Union on 1st June.
• On 2nd June Norway announced that they had rich oil deposits off its North Sea coast.
• Tonga gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 4th June.
• Washington D.C. had a D-Day celebration on 6th June.
• On 7th June at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, The Who became the first to perform a rock act.
• On June 10th in the US a measure lowering the voting age to 18 is signed by Richard Nixon.
• Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington become the United States first female generals on 11th June.
• Edward Heath won the general election in the United Kingdom and became Prime minister on June 18th. It was a surprise that the Conservative party had won this election as the majority of opinion polls had predicted a third consecutive Labour win.
• Brazil won the 1970s FIFA World Cup by defeating Italy 4-1 in the final on June 21st.
• The largest ever US corporate bankruptcy was declared on 21st June, by the Penn Central Corporate Company.
• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was repealed by the United States Senate on 24th June.
• On 28th June United States ground troops withdraw from Cambodia.
July
• Colorado State College changed its name to University of Northern Colorado on 1st July.
• Also on 1st July the United States Food and Drug Administration is subordinated to Public Health Service.
• A 914 kiloton thermonuclear device in the Mururoa Atoll is set off by the French Army on3rd July. This was their fourth and largest nuclear test.
• 4th July 112 people were killed when a chartered Dan-Air De Havilland Comet crashed into mountains in North of Barcelona.
• Casey Kasem hosted the long-time radio music countdown show American Top 40 which debuted on 5 U.S. stations on 4th July.
• All passengers and crew on Air Canada Flight 621were killed after it caught fire after landing in Toronto International Airport, on 6th July.
• Aragnouet, France and Bielsa, Spain are linked after the first tunnel under the Pyreness links both towns on 11th July.
• The Three Rivers Stadium opened in Pittsburgh on 16th July.
• The Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed on 21st July.
• On 23rd July 2 CS gas canisters are thrown into the chamber of the British House of Commons.
• 28 Thalidomide victims are awarded for damages caused by the drug. The drug was initially given to pregnant women to prevent nausea. It was later found to increase the risk of birth defects if given to pregnant women. The damages totalled £485,528. The victims were awarded on 30th July.
• NBC anchor Chet Huntley retired from full time broadcasting on 31st July.

August

• On 17th and 18th August the U.S. sank 418 containers of nerve gas into the Gulf Stream near the Bahamas.
• The Venera 7 was launched on 17th August. This was the first spacecraft to be able to transmit data from the surface of another planet successfully.
• The Women’s strike for equality took place on 26th August on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
• The Isle of Wight festival took place on East Afton Farm off the coast of England, between 26th and 30th August. Acts such as Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, Chicago and Ten Years After performed during this event. Around 600,000 people attended making it one of the largest rock festivals ever.
• Ruben Salazar, a Mexican-American journalist was shot and killed during a rally in East Los Angeles on 29th August.
September
• On 1st September an attempt to assassinate King Hussein of Jordan precipitated the Black September crisis.
• Between 3rd and 6th September Israeli forces fought against Palestinian guerrillas in south Lebanon.
• On 5th September the United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province (the operation ended in October 1971). (Vietnam War, operation Jefferson Glenn).
• An anti war rally was held at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, John Kerry (senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and was also chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee), Jane Fonda (American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru.) and Donald Sutherland (a Canadian character actor who had a film career spanning nearly 50years), attended. On 7th September.
• The Jordanian government and Palestinian guerrillas made truces which they had broken on several occasions. This happened between 8th and 10th September.
• Elvis Presley began his first concert tour since 1958 in Phoenix, Arizona at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on 9th September.
• The Ford Pinto was introduced on 11th September.
• New York had its first New York City Marathon on 13th September.
• A military government was formed by King Hussein of Jordan with Muhammad Daoud as the Prime Minister on 15th September.
• On 18th September, Jimi Hendrix died in London from drug related complications. This was also the date that Black Sabbath released their second album, titled, Paranoid.
• The first women’s only tennis tournament began on 23rd September, in Houston, this is known as the Houston Women’s Invitation.
• The Luna 16 landed on the moon on 20th September. It lifted off the next day, and brought back samples. It landed back on Earth on 24th September.
• The Laguna Fire, which burnt 175,425 acres, was started on 26th September.
October
• The Lebanon Prime Minister, Rashid Karami, resigned on 3rd October.
• Rock and Blues singer Janis Joplin died in her hotel room, after overdosing on heroin on 4th October.
• Also on 4th October, National Educational Television ends operations, after being succeeded by PBS. (An American non-profit public broadcasting service, with 354 member TV stations).
• The PBS began broadcasting on 5th October.
• Bolivian President, Alfredo Ovando Candia resigned on 6th October and General Rogelio Miranda took over, but also resigned soon after.
• Fiji became independent on 10th October.
• On 12th October, U.S. President Richard Nixon announced that the U.S. will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas that year.
• A government was formed by Saeb Salam on 13th October.
• A cholera epidemic broke out in Istanbul on 17th October.
• Anwar Sadat became President of Egypt on 17th October.
• The Zond 8 lunar probe was launched by the Soviet Union on 20th October.
• The government of Ahmed Toukan resigned on 18th October, and the next Prime Minister was Wasfi Al-Tal.
• Also on 18th October, a cholera outbreak in eastern Slovakia caused Hungary to close its border with Czechoslovakia.
• In Vietnam on 30th October, t he worst monsoon to hit the area in 6years, caused large floods and killed 293, left 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.
November
• On 3rd November, democrats swept the U.S. Congressional midterm elections. Ronald Reagan is reelected governor of California, and Jimmy Carter is elected governor of Georgia.
• Also on 3rd November, Salvador Allende became president of Chille.
• On 5th November, the U.S. Military Assistance Command in Vietnam reported that it was the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in 5 years. (24 soldiers died that week).
• The Soviet Union launched the Luna 17 on 9th November.
• On 13th November, a 120mph tropical cyclone hit the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Killing approximately 500,000 people. This was considered the 20th centuries worst cyclone disaster.
• The Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, (a medium/long range, widebody passenger trijet airliner) took flight for the first time on 16th November.
• The United Nations Security Council demanded that no government recognised Rhodesia on 18th November.
• On 30th November British Caledonian Airways Ltd was formed.
December
• The new divorce law was accepted by the Italian House of Representatives on 1st December.
• Also on 1st December, Ethiopia recognised the People’s Republic of China and Luis Echeverría became the President of Mexico.
• The United States environment Protection Agency began operations on 2nd December.
• 200 people were left dead after a landslide hit western Colombia on 12th December.
• Food prices were frozen by the Polish government for 2years from the 23rd December.
• On 23rd December the North Tower of the World Trade Centre was topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world.
• India’s president declared new elections on 27th December.
• Paul McCartney sues in Great Britain to dissolve the Beatles’ legal partnership on 31st December.