1977

For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album).

1977 (MCMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday.

Events

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 executed by a firing squad in Utah
January 18 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "legionnaire's disease"
January 18 - Australia experiences its worst railway disaster at Granville, near Sydney, in which 83 people died.
January 19 - President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka "Tokyo Rose").
January 19 - Snow falls in Miami, Florida--despite its ordinarily tropical climate--for 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 Rudolph Ford, inaugurated as the 38th 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 2 - Famous latin pop star Shakira is born.
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 imprisonment

May

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 - A New Hope opens in cinemas (later renamed as 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 Brigitte Mohnhaupt Jürgen Ponto[http://www.dresdner-bank.com/content/03_unternehmen/05_gesellschaftliches_engagement/02_ponto_stiftung/" target="_blank" >^*, chairman of the Dresdner Bank in Oberursel, West Germany

August

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 16 - Elvis Presley dies.

August 17 - Tarja Turunen The finnish Opera singer is born in Kitee
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 12 - Steve Biko dies of his injuries.
September 16 - Marc Bolan dies in car crash on Barnes Common, West London
September 16 - Talking Heads release debut album 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.

Births

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 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
March 24 - Jason Tyne, American director
March 28 - Devon, American actress
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 Bałachonaŭ, Belarusian writer
April 26 - Tom Welling, 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. Ófeigsson, 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 - Igor Cassina, Italian gymnast
August 17 - Thierry Henry, French footballer
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 14 - KaDee Strickland, American actress
December 23 - Alge Crumpler, American football player
December 30 - Laila Ali, American boxer
December 30 - Kenyon Martin, basketball player

Deaths

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)

Nobel prizes

1977

Gourt Home::Gourt :: 1977

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Unknown dates

Births

January

February

March-April

May-June

July

August-September

October-November

December

Deaths

January-March

April-June

July-September

October-December

Nobel prizes