1977
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s |
| Years: | 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 |
| 1977 by topic |
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| By country |
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| Lists of leaders |
| Birth and death categories |
| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
| Works category |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1977.
- For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album).
1977 (MCMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday.
Events
January
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- 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 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
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- 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 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 28 - Stuttgart court sentences RAF members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment
May
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- 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 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 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 homeruns 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 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 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 21 - Annie, Norwegian singer
- 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:
- 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 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
- 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
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1977.