1976

1976
January
• The first commercially developed supercomputer, the Cray-1, was released by Seymour Cray’s Cray Research in January 1976.

• The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction began in Stuttgart, West Germany on 16th January.

• The Scottish Labour Party was formed on 18th January.

• 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War, full diplomatic relations were established between Bangladesh and Pakistan on 18th January.

• The first commercial Concorde flight took off on 21st January.

• Twelve Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs exploded in the West End of London on 29th January.

• Live from Lincoln Center debuted on PBS on 30th January.

February
• An earthquake on 4th February, in Guatemala and Honduras killed more than 22,000 people.

• 30 students were injured after a racially charged riot at Escambia High School in Pensacola, Florida, involving nearly 2,000 students on 5th February took place. The incident lasted for 4 hours.

• The first African- American Secretary of the U.S. Army was Clifford Alexander Jr., who confirmed this position on 11th February.

• On 13th February, General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria was assassinated in a military coup.

• The national referendum adopted the 1976 Constitution of Cuba by 15th February.

• Cuba’s current constitution was enacted on 24th February.

• The death of Stanley Whitehead led Mel Courtney to win the Nelson, New Zealand by-election on 28th February.
March
• The Maguire Seven were found guilty on 4th March for having possession of explosives and subsequently jailed for 14 years.

• The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention was formally dissolved in Northern Ireland on 4th March. This resulted in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London via the British Parliament.

• Also on 9th March, 42 were left dead after a cable – car disaster in Cavalese, Italy.

• Two coal mines exploded claimed 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine in Letcher County, Kentucky between 9th March and 11th March.

• Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Harold Wilson resigned on 16th March.

• The Toronto Blue Jays were created on 26th March.

• The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opened on 27th March.

• The military dictatorship of General Jorge Videla came into power in Argentina on 29th March.
April
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak formed the Apple Computer company on 1st April.

• Also on 1st April, Conrail was formed by the United States government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that had filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail took control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public.

• Patrick Moore was the first person to report the Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect on 1st April.

• The United Kingdom won the Eurovision Song Contest on 3rd April. Brotherhood of Man sung, Save Your Kisses for Me.

• Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigned as leader of Cambodia and was then place under house arrest on 4th April.

• James Callaghan became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 5th April.

• 40 people were killed after an explosion in an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland on 13th April.

• Also on 13th April, the U.S. Treasury Department reintroduced the two-dollar bill, as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson’s 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.

• The minimum age for marriage in India was raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women on 16th April. This was an attempt to curb population growth.

• The Ramones, a punk rock group, released their first self- titled album on 23rd April.

• Portugal’s new Constitution was enacted on 25th April.
May
• The first LAGEOS, (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) was launched on 4th May.

• 900 people were killed and another 100,000 were left homeless after an earthquake hit the Friuli area in Italy on 6th May.

• Red Army Faction, Ulrike Meinhof was found hanging in an apparent suicide, in her Stuttgart-Stammheim prison cell on 9th May.

• The Federal Election Campaign Act was signed by U.S. President Gerald Ford on 11th May.

• On 24th May the Washington D.C. Concorde service began.

• On 31st May, Syria intervened in the Lebanese Civil War in opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organisation, whom it had previously supported.
June
• Iceland and the UK ended the Cod War on 1st June.

• 11 people were killed on 5th June, after the Teton Dam collapsed in southeast Idaho in the U.S.

• On 13th June savage thunderstorms struck through the state of Iowa, it caused several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroyed the town of Jordan, Iowa.

• Donald Neilson’s killer, known as the Black Panther’s trial began on 14th June at Oxford Crown Court.

• The ABA-NBA merger was agreed on 17th June, by the National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association.

• The murder of the U.S. ambassador led hundreds of Western tourists to be moved from Beirut and taken into safety in Syria by the U.S. military on 20th June.

• An increase in food prices led to strikes in Poland that began on 25th June and ended on 30th June.

• The CN Tower that was built in Toronto was open to the public on 26th June. It is the tallest free-standing land structure.

• An Air France plane in Greece was hijacked by Palestinian extremists. 246 passengers and 12 crew members were onboard. The plane was taken to Entebbe, Uganda.

• Seychelles gained its independence from the UK on 29th June.
July
• North and South Vietnam united on 2nd July and formed the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

• The Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled that the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment on 3rd July.

• The UK’s heat wave reached its peak on 3rd July. This caused the UK to suffer from greater drought conditions.

• Pollution was extended to a large area in the neighbourhood of Milano after an explosion in Seveso, Italy on 10th July. This led to many evacuations and a large number of people being affected by the toxic clouds.

• The first black person to keynote a political convention was Barbara Jordan on 12 July.

• Jimmy Carter was nominated for U.S. President at the Democratic National Convention in NYC on 15th July.

• The 1976 Summer Olympics began in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on 17th July.

• East Timor was declared the 27th province of Indonesia on 17th July.

• The Sagarmatha National Park was created in Nepal on 19th July.

• The Viking 1 lander successfully landed on Mars on 20th July.

• British ambassador to the Irish Republic, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, was killed in a bomb explosion on 21st July.

• The UK broke diplomatic relations with Uganda on 27th July.

• 242,769 people were killed and 164,851 people were injured after an earthquake in Tangshan, China on 28th July.

• NASA released the famous Face on Mars photo on 31st July. The photo was taken by Viking 1.

• The Big Thompson River in Northern Colorado flooded on 31st July. The floods destroyed more than 400 cars and houses.
August
• The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became a republic, replaced Queen Elizabeth II with a President as its head state on 1st August.

• Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr were murdered by a gunman. The gunman also injured Pricilla Davis and Gus Gavrel on 2nd August. This incident took place in Priscilla’s mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. Priscilla’s husband, T. Cullen Davis was one of the richest men in Texas. Her husband was tried and found innocent for Andrea’s murder. Involvement in a plot to kill several people, and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen went broke after this.

• The first recognised outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease killed 29 people at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia on 4th August.

• Big Ben suffered internal damage and stopped running for over 9 months beginning on 5th August.

• On 6th August General John Stonehouse, a former Postmaster, was sentenced to 7 years’ jail for fraud, theft and forgery.

• Viking 2 entered into orbit around Mars on 7th August.

• Part of the chiming mechanism disintegrated through metal fatigue on 10th August which resulted in the chimes of Big Ben to stop working.

• The Ramones made their first professional performance at CGCB’s on 16th August.

• The first known outbreak of Ebola virus occurred in Yambuku, Zaire on 26th August.

September
• Cigarette and Tobacco advertising was banned on Australian T.V. and Radio on 1st September.

• The Viking II spacecraft landed at Utopia Planitia on Mars on 3rd September. The first close up colour photos of the planet’s surface was taken.

• In the Cold War, Soviet Air Force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko landed a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaido in Japan, and requested political asylum in the U.S. on 6th September.

• Dean Martin was brought on stage unannounced by Frank Sinatra at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, Nevada. This reunited the comedy team for the first and only time in over 20 years on 6th September.

• A series of kidnappings and forced disappearances followed by torture, rape and murder of students under the Argentinian dictatorship took place on 16th September.

• The space shuttle Enterprise was rolled out of a Palmdale, California hangar on 17th September.

• The International Organisation of Space Communication was founded on 20th September.

• Punk Movement’s were introduced into mainstream culture at the semi-legendary 100 Club Punk Festival, which took place between 20th and 21st September. The festival ignited the careers of several influential punk and post-punk bands.

• The Seychelles joined the United Nations on 21st September.

• Also on 21st September Orlando Letelier was assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

• Irish rock band U2 was formed on 25th September, after drummer Larry Mullen Jr. Posted a note that stated that they were seeking members for a band on the notice board of his Dublin school.
October
• The brand new Intercity 125 High Speed Train was introduced in the United Kingdom on 4th October.

• A bomb placed by anti-Fidel Castro terrorists on Cubana Flight 455 on 6th October, lead to the flight crashing after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados. All 73 people on board were killed.

• On 18th October, Ford launched volume production of Fiesta car at its Valencia plant.

• The Copyright Acts of 1976 extended copyright duration for an additional 20 years in the U.S. on 19th October.

• Also on 19th October, the Battle of Aishiya was fought in Lebanon.

• The Chimpanzee was listed as an endangered species on 19th October.
November
• In Oahu, Hawaii t he first megamouth shark was discovered on 15th November.

• An earthquake in Van and Muradiye, Turkey measured 7.3 on the Richter Scale and killed 3,840 people on 24th November.

• The Band holds its farewell concert, The Last Waltz in San Francisco on 25th November.

• Microsoft was officially registered with t he Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico on 26th November.
December
• Angola joined the United Nations on 1st December.

• Jose Lopez Portillo took office as President of Mexico on 1st December.

• On 1st December, the Sex Pistols achieved public notoriety as they unleashed several 4-letter words live on Bill Grundy’s early evening TV show.

• On 3rd December, Bob Marley and his manager Don Taylor were shot in an assassination attempt in Kingston, Jamaica.

• Also on 3rd December, Patrick Hillery was elected unopposed as the 6th President on Ireland.

• Hotel California was release by The Eagles on 8th December.

• Freddie King, a legendary guitarist died on 28th December.
Date unknown
• Random Breath Testing introduced in Victoria (Australia)
• The first laser printer is introduced by IBM (the IBM 3800).