1977
For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album).1977 (
MCMLXXVII) was a
common year starting on Saturday.
January
*
January 10 - Major eruption of
Mount Nyiragongo in eastern
Zaire (now the
Democratic Republic of the Congo).
*
January 10 - Ocean Park Open in
Hong Kong.
*
January 17 -
Gary Gilmore is executed by
firing squad in
Utah.
*
January 18 - Scientists identify a previously unknown
bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "
legionnaire's disease".
*
January 18 -
Australia's worst
railway disaster at Granville, near
Sydney, leaves 83 people dead.
*
January 19 -
President Gerald Ford pardons
Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka "
Tokyo Rose").
*
January 19 -
Snow falls in
Miami, Floridafor the only time in its history. Snowfall has occurred farther south in the
United States only on the high mountains of the state of
Hawaii.
*
January 20 - President
Jimmy Carter succeeds
Gerald Ford, inaugurated as the 39th
President of the
United States.
*
January 21 - President
Jimmy Carter pardons
Vietnam War draft evaders.
*
January 27 - Record company
EMI sacks the controversial
UK punk rock group the
Sex Pistols.
February
*
February 4 -
Fleetwood Mac's
Grammy-winning album,
Rumours is released.
*
February 7 - The
Soviet Union launches
Soyuz 24.
*
February 11 - A 20.2-kg (44-lb.-9-oz.) lobster is caught off
Nova Scotia (heaviest known
crustacean).
*
February 18 - The
space shuttle Enterprise test vehicle goes on its maiden "flight" while sitting on top of a
Boeing 747.
March
*
March 1 -
Sara Lowndes Dylan files for divorce from her husband of 11 years,
Bob Dylan.
*
March 4 -
1977 Bucharest Earthquake - kills more than 1,500
*
March 5 -
Formula One driver
Tom Pryce dies after colliding with a
marshall in the
South African Grand Prix in
Kyalami.
*
March 9 - Approximately a dozen armed
Hanafi Muslims take over three buildings in
Washington, DC, killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The hostage situation ends two days later.
*
March 12 -
Centenary Test between Australia and England begins at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground.
*
March 15 - The television show
Three's Company debuts on ABC
*
March 27 - A
collision between
KLM and
PanAm Boeing 747s at
Tenerife,
Canary Islands, kills 583, worst plane crash ever
April
*
April 1 -
Hay-on-Wye declares independence
*
April 7 - German Federal Prosecutor
Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two
Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light near his home in
Karlsruhe. "The
Ulrike Meinhof Commando" later claims responsibility
*
April 7 -
Toronto Blue Jays play their first-ever game of
baseball against the
Chicago White Sox*
April 8 - Punk band
The Clash's debut album The Clash is released in the UK on
CBS Records*
April 28 -
Stuttgart court sentences
RAF members
Andreas Baader,
Gudrun Ensslin and
Jan-Carl Raspe to
life imprisonmentMay
*
May 7 -
Pierre Elliot Trudeau does a
pirouette behind the back of
Queen Elizabeth II.
*
May 17 - The
Likud led by
Menachem Begin wins the elections in
Israel.
*
May 23 - Scientists report using
bacteria in lab to make
insulin*
May 23 -
Moluccan terrorists take over a school in
Bovensmilde, northern
Netherlands (105 hostages) and a passenger train in Bovensmilde-
Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time.
June 11 Dutch Royal Marines storm the train - six terrorists and two hostages are killed
*
May 25 -
Star Wars opens in cinemas (later renamed as
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope).
*
May 26 -
George Willig climbed the South Tower of the
World Trade Center.
*
May 28 - In
Southgate, Kentucky, the
Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 inside.
*
May 29 -
Indianapolis 500-Mile Race:
A.J. Foyt becomes the first driver to win a to date record four times.
June
*
June 5 - A
coup takes place in
Seychelles.
*
June 5 - The first
Apple II computers went on sale on this date.
*
June 7 - After campaigning by
Anita Bryant and her anti-gay "Save Our Children" crusade,
Dade County,
Florida voters overwhelmingly vote to repeal the county's
gay rights ordinance, igniting a wave of violence against gays across the United States.
*
June 6-
June 9 -
Jubilee celebrations are held in the
United Kingdom to celebrate twenty-five years of
Elizabeth II's reign.
*
June 10 -
James Earl Ray escapes from
Brushy Mountain State Prison in
Petros,
Tennessee (he was recaptured on
June 13).
*
June 15 -
Spain has its first democratic
elections after 41 years under the
Franco regime.
*
June 20 - The
Supreme Court of the United States rules that states are not required to spend
Medicaid funds on elective abortions.
*
June 20 -
Anglia Television broadcasts fake documentary "
Alternative 3". It enters into conspiracy theory canon.
*
June 22 -
Robert Hillsborough, a
gay San Franciscan, is brutally stabbed to death just steps from his home by four youths, calling him "fag" and "queer" and allegedly shouting "this one's for
Anita Bryant".
*
June 25 - US man
Roy Sullivan is struck by
lightning for the 7th time
*
June 26 - Some 200,000 gays march through the streets of
San Francisco, protesting
Anita Bryant's
homophobia and
Robert Hillsborough's murder.
July
*
July 4 -
Manchester United manager
Tommy Docherty is sensationally sacked by the club's directors.
*
June 24 -
Dan Fitzgerald*
July 5 -
Military coup in
Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the very first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, overthrown.
*
July 13 - The
New York City Blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours and results in looting and other disorder.
*
July 15 - Anti-drug campaigner
Donald Mackay disappears near Griffith N.S.W (New South Wales), presumed murdered
*
July 22 - The purged
Chinese communist leader
Deng Xiaoping is restored to power as the "
Gang of Four" is expelled from the
Communist Party of China.
*
July 28 - First oil through the
Trans-Alaska Pipeline System reaches
Valdez,
Alaska*
July 30 - Left-wing German terrorists
Susanne Albrecht[
1],
Brigitte Mohnhaupt[
2] and a third person assassinate
Jürgen Ponto[
3], chairman of the
Dresdner Bank in
Oberursel,
West GermanyAugust
*
August 3 -
United States Senate Hearing on
MKULTRA.
*
August 4 - US President
Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the
United States Department of Energy*
August 10 -
David Berkowitz, was captured in
Yonkers,
New York, after over one year of murders in
New York City as the
Son Of Sam.
*
August 12 -
NASA space shuttle makes its first test flight off the back of a jetliner
*
August 15 -
The Big Ear, a
radio telescope operated by The
Ohio State University as part of the
SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "WOW!" signal for notation made by a volunteer on the project.
*
August 19 -
Indonesia Earthquake and Tsunami of 1977*
August 20 -
Voyager program: The
United States launches the
Voyager 2 spacecraft
September
*
September 3 - The
Commodore PET begins shipping
*
September 5 -
Voyager program:
Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay
*
September 5 -
Hanns-Martin Schleyer, President of the Employers Association, is kidnapped in
Cologne,
West Germany. Kidnappers kill three escorting police officers and his chauffeur. They demand release of
Red Army Faction prisoners
*
September 6 - (approx) -
Steve Biko suffers a massive head injury in police custody in South Africa.
*
September 7 - Treaties between
Panama and the
United States on the status of the
Panama Canal are signed. The US agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the
20th century*
September 8 -
INTERPOL issues a resolution against piracy of video tapes and other material, which is still cited in warnings on opening pre-credits of videocassettes and DVDs today.
*
September 10 -
Hamida Djandoubi is the last
guillotine execution in France.
*
September 11 - The last "wild" infection of
smallpox is reported in
Somalia.
*
September 16 -
Talking Heads release debut album
Talking Heads: 77.
*
September 21 - Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of
nuclear weapons, is signed by 15 countries including the
United States and
USSR.
*
September 28 -
Porsche 928 debuts at the Geneva Auto Convention
October
*
October 13 - Four
Palestinians hijack a
Lufthansa Airlines flight to
Somalia and demand release of 11 members of the
Red Army Faction. See
Lufthansa Flight 181*
October 17-
October 18 -
GSG 9 troopers storm a hijacked
Lufthansa passenger plane in
Mogadishu,
Somalia - three of the four hijackers die
*
October 18 -
Red Army Faction members
Andreas Baader,
Jan-Carl Raspe and
Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in
Stammheim prison.
Irmgard Möller fails. Their supporters continue to claim they were murdered. Bodies are buried
October 27*
October 18 -
Reggie Jackson blasts 3 home runs to lead the
New York Yankees to
World Series victory.
*
October 19 - Kidnapped industrialist
Hanns-Martin Schleyer is found killed in
Mulhoull,
France*
October 20 - Three members of rock group
Lynyrd Skynyrd die in charter plane crash
*
October 21 - The
European Patent Institute is founded
*
October 26 - The last natural case of
smallpox was discovered in Merca district,
Somalia. The
WHO and the
CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of
vaccination and, by extension, of modern science.
*
October 28 -
Hong Kong police force attacked the
ICAC headquarters.
*
October 28 -
Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols is released in the
UK.
November
*
November 6 - The
Kelly Barnes Dam, located above
Toccoa Falls Bible College near
Toccoa, Georgia, fails, killing 39
*
November 10 -
Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols is released in the
U.S..
*
November 19 -
Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat becomes the first
Arab leader to officially visit
Israel when he meets with Israeli prime minister
Menachem Begin and speaks before the
Knesset in
Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement (much of the Arab world is outraged by the visit).
*
November 22 -
British Airways inaugurates regular
London to
New York City supersonic
Concorde service.
December
*
December 1 - First flight of
Lockheed's top-secret
stealth project aircraft designated
Have Blue, the precursor to the US
F-117A Nighthawk.
*
December 4 -
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the
Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor.
*
December 4 -
Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 is hijacked and crashed in
Johor,
Malaysia, killing 100.
*
December 14 - Releasing of
Saturday Night Fever film.
Unknown dates
*
2060 Chiron, first of the outer
solar system asteroids known as
Centaurs, discovered by
Charlie Kowal.
*
Color TV Game 6 is created by
Nintendo.
*
Portugal's
traditional naming conventions change such that children's surnames can come from either the mother or the father, not just from the father.
*
Chiara Lubich is awarded the
Templeton Prize.
*
Soviet National Anthem's lyrics are returned after a 24 year period, with
Stalin's name omitted.
January
*
January 1 -
Jerry Yan, Taiwanese actor and singer
*
January 7 -
Michelle Behennah, British model
*
January 7 -
John Gidding, American actor/architect
*
January 7 -
Dustin Diamond, American actor
*
January 8 -
Amber Benson, American actress
*
January 13 -
Orlando Bloom, British actor
*
January 14 - Llandel Veguilla Malavé (Yandel), Reggaeton singer
*
January 18-
Curtis Cregan, American actor
*
January 22 -
Hidetoshi Nakata, Japanese footballer
*
January 26 -
Vince Carter, American basketball player
*
January 28 -
Daunte Culpepper, American football player
*
January 28 -
Joey Fatone, American musician
February
*
February 2 -
Gavin DeGraw, American Rock Musician
*
February 2 -
Shakira, Colombian musician
*
February 3 -
Daddy Yankee, Latin Reggaeton musician
*
February 5 -
Ben Ainslie, British sailor
*
February 8 -
Bridgette Kerkove, American pornographic actress
*
February 8 -
Yucef Merhi, Venezuelan artist
*
February 11 -
Randy Moss, American football player
*
February 11 -
Mike Shinoda, American musician
*
February 16 -
Ian Clarke, Irish computer scientist
*
February 19 -
Gianluca Zambrotta, Italian football (soccer) player
*
February 20 -
Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
*
February 21 -
Kevin Rose, American television host
March-April
*
March 1 -
Rens Blom, Dutch athlete
*
March 2 -
Heather McComb, American actress
*
March 3 -
Ronan Keating, Irish singer
*
March 4 -
Jason Marsalis, American jazz musician
*
March 5 -
Wally Szczerbiak, Spanish-born basketball player
*
March 7 -
Mitja Zastrow, German-born swimmer
*
March 8 -
James Van Der Beek, American Actor
*
March 10-
Colin Murray, British Radio DJ
*
March 11 -
Becky Hammon, American basketball player
*
March 14 -
Mervyn Colley, British kabbalist and ceremonial magician
*
April 9 -
Gerard Way, American singer (
My Chemical Romance)
*
April 14 -
Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress
*
April 14 -
Chandra Levy, American federal government intern (d.
2001)
*
April 16 -
Fredrik Ljungberg, Swedish football player
*
April 21 -
Jamie Salé, Canadian figure skater
*
April 23 -
Andruw Jones, Antillean baseball player
*
April 23 -
John Cena, American professional wrestler
*
April 24 -
Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican baseball player
*
April 24 -
Siarhiej BaÅ‚achonaÅ, Belarusian writer
*
April 26 -
Tom Welling, American actor &
Jason Earles, American actor
May-June
*
May 10 -
Nick Heidfeld,
German Formula One auto racing driver
*
May 13 -
Samantha Morton, British actress
*
May 14 -
Roy Halladay, American baseball player
*
May 14 -
Ada Nicodemou, Australian actress
*
May 23 -
Ilia Kulik, Russian figure skater
*
May 26 -
Misaki Ito, Japanese actress
*
May 28 -
Elisabeth Hasselbeck (born Elisabeth Filarski), American talkshow host
*
May 31 -
Joel Ross, British DJ
*
May 31 -
Debbie King, British TV presenter
*
June 1 -
Danielle Harris, American voice actress
*
June 7 -
Marcin Baszczyński, Polish football (soccer) player
*
June 8 -
Kanye West, American rapper and record producer
*
June 9 -
Roopa Mishra, Indian civil servant
*
June 9 -
Peja Stojakovic, Serbian basketball player
*
June 14 -
Chris McAlister, American football player
*
June 16 -
Kerry Wood, American baseball player
*
June 19 -
Peter Warrick, American football player
*
June 20 -
Stefán H. Ã"feigsson,
Icelandic
space engineer.
*
June 27 -
Raúl, Spanish footballer
* June 27 -
Arkadiusz Radomski, Polish footballer
July
*
July 1 -
Jarome Iginla, Canadian hockey player
*
July 1 -
Liv Tyler, American actress
*
July 8 -
Milo Ventimiglia, American actor
*
July 8 -
Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player
*
July 10 -
Schapelle Corby, Australian in Indonesian prison
*
July 12 -
Brock Lesnar, Professional wrestler of WWE and IWGP.
*
July 14 -
Victoria, Princess of Sweden*
July 15 -
Ray Toro, My Chemical Romance lead guitar
*
July 17 -
M.I.A., hip-hop/baille funk Artist
*
July 26 -
Rebecca St James, Australian-born musician
*
July 27 -
Martha Anne Madison, American actress
*
July 28 -
Emanuel Ginóbili, Argentine basketball player
*
July 30 -
Misty May-Treanor, American volleyball player
*
July 31 -
Tim Couch, American football player
August-September
*
August 2 -
Dave Farrel, American musician
*
August 2 -
Edward Furlong, American actor
*
August 3 -
Angela Beesley, British Internet entrepreneur
*
August 3 -
Tom Brady, American football player
*
August 9 -
Chamique Holdsclaw, American basketball player
*
August 10 -
Danny Griffin, Northern Irish footballer
*
August 12 -
Plaxico Burress, American football player
*
August 13 -
Michael Klim, Australian swimmer
*
August 15 -
Nicole Paggi, American actress
*
August 15 -
Martin Biron, professional ice hockey goaltender
*
August 15 -
Igor Cassina, Italian gymnast
*
August 17 -
Thierry Henry, French footballer
*
August 17 -
Tarja Turunen, Finnish opera singer
*
August 25 -
Jonathan Togo, American actor
*
August 26 -
Morris Peterson, American basketball player
*
August 27 -
Deco, Portuguese footballer
*
August 30 -
Kamil Kosowski, Polish footballer
*
August 31 -
Jeff Hardy, American professional wrestler
*
September 1 -
Aaron Schobel, American football player
*
September 11 -
Ludacris, American rapper
*
September 13 -
Fiona Apple, American musician
*
September 15 -
Angela Aki, Japanese singer and songwriter
*
September 20 -
Namie Amuro, Japanese singer
*
September 26 -
John Rogers, Mohill man
*
September 28 -
Se Ri Pak, South Korean golfer
*
September 30 -
Roy Carroll, Northern Irish footballer
October-November
*
October 7 -
Meighan Desmond, New Zealand actress
*
October 11 -
Claudia Palacios, Colombian journalist and newsreader
*
October 12 -
Bode Miller, American alpine skiier
*
October 14 -
Kelly Schumacher, Canadian basketball player
*
October 16 -
John Mayer, American Musician
*
October 25 -
Birgit Prinz, German footballer
*
October 29 -
Brendan Fehr, Canadian actor
*
November 1 -
Alistair Griffin, British singer/songwriter
*
November 2 -
Randy Harrison, American actor
*
November 3 -
Aria Giovanni, American model and actress
*
November 5 -
Brittney Skye, American porn star
*
November 10 -
Brittany Murphy, American actress
*
November 13 -
Chanel Cole, New Zealand-born singer
*
November 14 -
Obie Trice, American rapper
*
November 16 -
Oksana Baiul, Ukrainian figure skater
*
November 17 -
Ryk Neethling, South African swimmer
*
November 19 -
Kerri Strug, American gymnast
*
November 21 -
Jonas Jennings, American football player
*
November 22 -
Michael Preston, English footballer
*
November 24 -
Colin Hanks, American actor
*
November 26 -
Ivan Basso, Italian professional road racing cyclist
*
November 28 -
DeMya Walker, American basketball player
December
* December -
Ahmed al-Nami, Saudi Arabian hijacker (d.
2001)
*
December 3 -
Adam Małysz, Polish ski jumper
*
December 6 -
Paul McVeigh, Northern Irish footballer
*
December 7 -
Fernando Vargas, American boxer
*
December 8 -
Ryan Newman, NASCAR driver
*
December 10 -
Emmanuelle Chriqui, actress
*
December 11 -
Peter Stringer, Irish Rugby Union Footballer, Scrum-half
*
December 12 -
Dahm triplets:
**
Erica, American model
**
Jaclyn, American model
**
Nicole, American model
*
December 13 -
Christopher Hudgens, American Painter
*
December 13 -
Ahmed al-Nami, Saudi Arabian hijacker (d.
2001)
*
December 14 -
KaDee Strickland, American actress
*
December 23 -
Alge Crumpler, American football player
*
December 30 -
Laila Ali, American boxer
*
December 30 -
Kenyon Martin, basketball player
January-March
*
January 2 -
Errol Garner, American musician (b.
1921)
*
January 14 -
Anthony Eden,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b.
1897)
*
January 14 -
Peter Finch, English-born actor (b.
1916)
*
January 14 -
Anaïs Nin, French author (b.
1903)
*
January 17 -
Gary Gilmore, American murderer (executed) (b.
1940)
*
January 19 -
Yvonne Printemps, French singer and actress (b.
1895)
*
January 21 -
Sandro Penna, Italian poet (b.
1906)
*
January 29 -
Buster Nupen, South African cricketer (b.
1902)
*
January 29 -
Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (b.
1954)
*
February 4 -
Brett Halliday, American writer (b.
1904)
*
February 11 -
Louis Beel,
Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b.
1902)
*
February 16 -
Rózsa Péter,
Founder of Recursive Function Theory (b.
1905)
*
February 27 -
Allison Hayes, American actress (b.
1930)
*
February 28 -
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, American actor (b.
1905)
*
March 4 -
Andrés Caicedo, Colombian writer (b.
1951)
*
March 11 -
Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist and paleontologist (b.
1893)
*
March 16 -
Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (b.
1917)
*
March 18 -
Marien Ngouabi, President of The Republic of the Congo (assassinated) (b.
1938)
*
March 22 -
A.K. Gopalan, Indian communist leader (b.
1904)
*
March 26 -
Madeleine Dring, British composer and actress
*
March 30 -
Abdel Halim Hafez,
Egyptian singer and actor (b.
1929)
April-June
*
April 17 -
William Cardinal Conway, Northern Irish clergyman (b.
1913)
*
April 21 -
Gummo Marx, American actor and comedian (b.
1892)
*
May 5 -
Ludwig Erhard,
Chancellor of Germany (b.
1897)
*
May 10 -
Joan Crawford, American actress (b.
1905)
*
June 2 -
Stephen Boyd, Northern Irish actor (b.
1931)
*
June 3 -
Archibald Vivian Hill, English physiologist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1886)
*
June 16 -
Werner von Braun, German-born rocket scientist (b.
1912)
*
June 19 -
Lady Olave Baden-Powell, English Chief Girl Guide (b.
1889)
*
June 19 -
Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist (b.
1933)
July-September
*
July 2 -
Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born writer (b.
1899)
*
July 9 -
Alice Paul, American women's rights activist (b.
1885)
*
July 13 -
Carl Gustav von Rosen, Swedish pilot (b.
1909)
*
July 23 -
Arsenio Erico, Paraguayan footballer (b.
1915)
*
August 3 -
Makarios III,
Cypriot Archbishop and first
President of Cyprus (b.
1913)
*
August 4 -
Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian, English physiologist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1889)
*
August 14 -
Ron Haydock, American actor, writer, and musician (b.
1940)
*
August 16 -
Elvis Presley, American singer and actor (b.
1935)
*
August 19 -
Groucho Marx, American actor and comedian (b.
1890)
*
September 1 -
Ethel Waters, American singer (b.
1896)
*
September 6 -
John Edensor Littlewood, British mathematician (b.
1885)
*
September 12 -
Steve Biko, South African activist (b.
1946)
*
September 13 -
Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (b.
1882)
*
September 16 -
Marc Bolan, English musician (b.
1947)
*
September 16 -
Maria Callas, American-born soprano (b.
1923)
October-December
*
October 14 -
Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (b.
1903)
*
October 20 - Members of the American rock group
Lynyrd Skynyrd killed in a plane crash:
**
Cassie Gaines (b.
1948)
**
Steve Gaines (b.
1949)
**
Ronnie Van Zant (b.
1948)
*
November 5 -
René Goscinny, French comic book writer (b.
1926)
*
November 8 -
Bucky Harris, baseball player (b.
1896)
*
November 11 -
Greta Keller, Vienna-born cabaret singer and actress (b.
1903)
*
November 15 -
Princess Charlotte of Monaco (b.
1898)
*
November 25 -
Tommy Prince, Canadian war hero (b.
1915)
*
December 15 -
Wilfred Kitching, the 7th General of
The Salvation Army (b.
1893)
*
December 19 -
Jacques Tourneur, French director (b.
1904)
*
December 24 -
Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (b.
1917)
*
December 25 -
Charlie Chaplin, English-born comedian (b.
1889)
*
Physics -
Philip Warren Anderson,
Sir Nevill Francis Mott,
John Hasbrouck van Vleck*
Chemistry -
Ilya Prigogine*
Physiology or Medicine -
Roger Guillemin,
Andrew V. Schally,
Rosalyn Yalow*
Literature -
Vicente Aleixandre*
Peace -
Amnesty International*
Economics -
Bertil Ohlin,
James Meade
