1974

1974
January
• On 26th January, a new government was formed in Turkey, by Bülent Ecevit, of CHP. This was the 37th government to be formed.
February
• 177 people were killed and 293 were injured (11 died later), in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 1st February, after a fire broke out in the Joelma Building.

• Also on 1st February, the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, was declared as a Federal Territory.

• The crew of Skylab 4 returned to Earth on 8th February, after a record breaking 84 days in orbit.

• A soccer stampede in Cairo killed 49 people on 17th February.
March
• On 3rd March, a Turkish Airlines DC-10, travelling from Paris to London, crashed in a wood near Paris, killing all 346 passengers.

• Mia Farrow was on the cover of the first issue of People Magazine, which was released on 4th March.

• Charles de Gaulle Airport was opened on 8th March, in Paris, France.

• 18th March was the end of the Oil embargo crisis. The crisis lasted for 5 months.

• The Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang was discovered at Xi’an, China in March, the exact date is unknown.
April
• Sweden, won the Eurovision Song Contest on 6th April. ABBA sung Waterloo.

• The Kiryat Shmona massacre took place in Israel on 11th April.

• Well known novel, Carrie, was published by Stephen King on 24th April. This was his first novel to be in his own name.

• A coup in Portugal restored its democracy on 25th April.
May
• An all female team, climbed the Manaslu, Nepal, they became the first women to climb an 8,000 metre peak on 4th May.

• On 17th May, the Protestant terrorist group set off numerous bombs, which exploded in Dublin and Monaghan, in the Republic of Ireland. The attack killed 33 civilians and wounded around 300 people. This was the highest number of causalities in any day during “The Troubles”.

• A Nuclear test, under Project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonated its first nuclear weapon on 18th May. This was the 6th nation to do this successfully.

• The tallest structure ever built, the Warsaw radio mast, was completed on 18th May. It later collapsed on 8th August 1991.

• NASA’s ATS-6 satellite was launched on 30th May.
June
• West Germany hosted the 1974 FIFA World Cup, which began on 13th June.

• The first Universal Product Code was scanned on 26th June. It was scanned to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket, in Troy, Ohio.
August
• A bomb exploded in an Italicus Expressen train between Italy and West Germany on 4th August. Italian neo-fascist terrorists took responsibility for this.

• U.S. President Richard Nixon announced his resignation on 8th August.

• Vice President Gerald Rudolph Ford became the 38th U.S. President on 9th August.

• 37% of Cyprus was occupied by Turkey after they invaded for the second time on 14th August.
September
• On 8th September, TWA Flight 84 crashed into the Ionian Sea. This was due to a bomb explosion in the cargo hold, which exploded 18minutes after takeoff from Athens. 88 people were killed.

• BBC started Ceefax on 23rd September. This was one of the first public service information systems.
October
• Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in 8 rounds and regained the Heavyweight title on 30th October. This title had been stripped from him 7 years before this date. This event happened at the Rumble in the Jungle, which took place in Kinshasa, Zaire.
November
• The World Tourism Organisation was established on 1st November.

• An interstellar radio message was sent by the Arecibo radio telescope on 16th November. The message was sent towards the M13 Great Globular Cluster. The message will reach its destination around the year 27,000.

• Two pubs were bombed, in Birmingham, England. The bombings killed 6 people on 21st November. The Birmingham six were later sentenced to life in prison for this attack.

• On 24th November, a skeleton from the hominid species, Australopithecus afarensis was discovered. They named it Lucy.
December
• On 1st December, a Boeing 727 carrying TWA Flight 514, crashed 25miles northwest of Dulles International Airport, due to bad weather conditions. All 92 people on board were killed.

• Cyclone Tracy was the cause of Darwin, Australia almost being completely destroyed, between 24th and 25th December.