istoryworld
All Events
The Polisario, as a government-in-exile in Algeria, proclaim the independence of Western Sahara as the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic
Britain's new National Theatre, designed by Denys Lasdun, opens on the South Bank in London,
Pierre Boulez establishes in Paris IRCAM, an advanced institute for research into the techniques of modern music
Hundreds of deaths and casualties result from police firing on a demonstration by schoolchildren in the black township of Soweto
Mario Soares becomes Portugal's first democratically elected prime minister in half a century
In a daring raid on Entebbe airport, Israeli troops rescue hostages hijacked on a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris
The Swedish tennis player Björn Borg wins the first of five consecutive singles titles at Wimbledon
The landing section of the US spacecraft Viking 1 detaches from the orbiter and makes a successful landing on Mars
Liverpool football player Kevin Keegan begins six years as captain of England
Black American author Alex Haley traces his family origins in Africa in Roots
333 days after leaving Earth, the landing section of the US spacecraft Viking 2 touches down on Mars and begins sending back photographs
Mao Zedong dies in Beijing, at the age of 82, and lies in state in the Great Hall of the People
Bulgarian-born US artist Christo (Christo Javacheff) constructs a 24-mile Running Fence in California
The much-hated Gang of Four are arrested in China within weeks of Mao Zedong's death
The incumbent president Gerald Ford is defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter in the US election
19-year-old Spanish golfer Severiano Ballesteros ends the year as number one in Europe
Carl Woese and George E. Fox discover microbial life entirely distinct from bacteria, which they call 'archaebacteria', thus adding a third branch to the Tree of Life – Arcaea, Bacteria, Eucarya
Mengistu Haile Mariam seizes control of Ethiopia's ruling Dergue (military council) in a violent coup
Royal tombs are excavated at Vergina, in Macedonia, probably including that of Philip of Macedon
Jacques Chirac, leader of a recently formed neo-Gaullist party, is elected mayor of Paris
Steven Spielberg writes and directs an inflential science fiction movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Likud leader Menachem Begin, at the head of a coalition government, becomes Israel's first non-socialist prime minister
A treaty provides for the gradual transfer of the Canal Zone from US to Panamanian control
George Lucas writes and directs a science fantasy, Star Wars, launching a narrative that will be expanded in a further five films
The new building for the Public Record Office in Kew is first opened to the public, on the seventeenth of October
