Gregorian Year

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	· 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	· 1950s · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s
Years:	· 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979 · 1980

1977 by topic:

Arts

Architecture – Comics – Film – Home video – Literature (Poetry) – Music (Country, Metal, UK) – Radio – Television – Video gaming

Politics

Elections – International leaders – Sovereign states
Sovereign state leaders – Territorial governors

Science and technology

Archaeology – Aviation – Birding/Ornithology – Meteorology – Palaeontology – Rail transport – Spaceflight

Sports

Association football (soccer) – Athletics (track and field) – Badminton – Baseball – Basketball – Boxing– Cricket – Golf – Horse racing – Ice hockey – Motorsport – Road cycling – Rugby league – Rugby union – Table tennis – Tennis – Volleyball

By place

Afghanistan – Albania – Algeria – Antarctica – Argentina – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – Bangladesh – Belgium – Bhutan – Bosnia and Herzegovina – Brazil – Canada – Cape Verde – Chile – China – Colombia – Costa Rica – Croatia – Cuba – Denmark – El Salvador – Egypt – Estonia – Ethiopia – European Union – Finland – France – Georgia – Germany – Ghana – Greece –Guatemala – Hungary – Iceland – India – Indonesia– Iraq – Iran – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Japan – Kazakhstan – Kenya – Kuwait – Laos – Latvia – Libya – Lithuania – Luxembourg – Macau – Malaysia – Mexico – Moldova – Myanmar – Nepal – Netherlands – New Zealand – Nigeria – North Korea– Norway – Oman – Pakistan – Palestine – Philippines – Poland – Romania – Russia – Rwanda– Serbia – Singapore – South Africa – South Korea– Spain – Sri Lanka – Sweden – Taiwan – Tanzania– Thailand – Turkey – Ukraine – United Arab Emirates – United Kingdom – United States – Venezuela – Vietnam – Yemen – Zimbabwe

Other topics

Awards – Law – Religious leaders

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

Works and introductions categories

Works – Introductions
Works entering the public domain

· v

· t

· e

1977 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar	1977 MCMLXXVII
Ab urbe condita	2730
Armenian calendar	1426 ԹՎ ՌՆԻԶ
Assyrian calendar	6727
Bahá'í calendar	133–134
Balinese saka calendar	1898–1899
Bengali calendar	1384
Berber calendar	2927
British Regnal year	25 Eliz. 2 – 26 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2521
Burmese calendar	1339
Byzantine calendar	7485–7486
Chinese calendar	丙辰年 (Fire Dragon) 4673 or 4613 — to — 丁巳年 (Fire Snake) 4674 or 4614
Coptic calendar	1693–1694
Discordian calendar	3143
Ethiopian calendar	1969–1970
Hebrew calendar	5737–5738
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2033–2034
- Shaka Samvat	1898–1899
- Kali Yuga	5077–5078
Holocene calendar	11977
Igbo calendar	977–978
Iranian calendar	1355–1356
Islamic calendar	1397–1398
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 52 (昭和５２年)
Javanese calendar	1908–1909
Juche calendar	66
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4310
Minguo calendar	ROC 66 民國66年
Nanakshahi calendar	509
Thai solar calendar	2520
Tibetan calendar	阳火龙年 (male Fire-Dragon) 2103 or 1722 or 950 — to — 阴火蛇年 (female Fire-Snake) 2104 or 1723 or 951
Unix time	220924800 – 252460799

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1977.

1977 (MCMLXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1977th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 977th year of the 2nd millennium, the 77th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1970s decade.

Contents

· 1Events

· 2Births

· 3Deaths

· 4Nobel Prizes

· 5References

Events[edit]

January[edit]

January 20: Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States

· January – The world's first all-in-one home computer (keyboard/screen/tape storage), the Commodore PET, is demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago

· January 1 – The Australian state of Queensland abolishes the inheritance tax.

· January 3 – Apple Computer is incorporated.

· January 6 – Record company EMI drops the controversial United Kingdom punk rock group the Sex Pistols.^[1]

· January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.

· January 9

· Rock band Toto is founded by David Paich and Jeff Porcaro in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.

· After having the best record in the National Football League since Al Davis took over his team in 1963, the Oakland Raiders finally won their first World Championship by beating the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 in Super Bowl XI.

· January 10

· Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

· Ocean Park opens in Hong Kong.

· January 15 – Linjeflyg Flight 618 crashes into the Kälvesta area of Stockholm, killing all 22 on board.

· January 17

· Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah (the first execution after the reintroduction of the death penalty in the U.S.).

· 49 marines from the USS Trenton and USS Guam perished in the waters of the Barcelona harbour [1].

· January 18

· Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.

· Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, near Sydney, leaves 83 people dead.

· SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

· January 19

· U.S. President Gerald Ford, on his final full day in office, pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (aka "Tokyo Rose").

· Snow falls in Miami (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 – Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th President of the United States.

· January 21 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders.

· January 23 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India calls for fresh elections to the Lok Sabha and releases all political prisoners.

· January 23 – Roots begins its run on ABC.

· January 24 – The Massacre of Atocha occurs during the Spanish transition to democracy.

· January 26 – Katimavik is founded as a volunteer service organization for Canadian youths.

· January 28 – The Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 hits Buffalo, New York, and the Niagara Region of Southern Ontario.

· January 31 – The Centre Georges Pompidou is officially opened by French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

February[edit]

· February 2 – The Congress party of India, led by Indira Gandhi, splits with Jagjivan Ram and other senior leaders, forming Congress for Democracy. This party later merges with the Janata Party.

· February 3 – In northern Japan a blizzard piled snow on rooftops, causing many to collapse, killing at least 31 people.

· February 4

· Fleetwood Mac's Grammy-winning album Rumours is released in the United States.

· Eleven CTA commuters are killed when an elevated train derails from the Loop in central Chicago.

· February 7 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24 (Viktor Gorbatko, Yury Glazkov) to dock with the Salyut 5 space station.

· February 12 – Actress Christa Helm is fatally stabbed on a sidewalk in West Hollywood. The perpetrator is never identified.

· February 18 – American Space Shuttle program: First test flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise mated to the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

· February 23 – Óscar Romero becomes Archbishop of San Salvador.

· February 28 – Queen Elizabeth II opens the Parliament of New Zealand.

March[edit]

· March 4 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in the Vrancea Mountains of Romania kills 1,500.

· March 5 – Formula One driver Tom Pryce dies after colliding with a track marshal at the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami.

· March 8 – The Australian parliament is opened by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia.

· March 9 – Hanafi Siege: Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Movement members take over 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., killing 1 person and taking more than 130 hostages (the hostage situation ends 2 days later).

· March 10 – The rings of Uranus are discovered.

· March 12 – The Centenary Test between Australia and England begins at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

· March 15 – Tenor Luciano Pavarotti and the PBS opera series Live from the Met both make their American television debuts. Pavarotti stars in a complete production of Puccini's La Boheme.

· March 18 – United States lifts ban on travel by U.S. citizens to Cambodia, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam.

· March 19 – Results of elections to the Indian Parliament are declared. Indira Gandhi's Congress Party is routed by the opposition parties later to form the Janata Party.

· March 21 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi withdraws the state of emergency which was implemented on June 25, 1975.

· March 26 – Focus on the Family is founded by Dr. James Dobson.

· March 27 – Tenerife disaster: A collision between KLM and Pan Am Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583 people. This becomes the deadliest accident in aviation history.

April[edit]

· April 1 – The small market town of Hay-on-Wye declares independence from the UK, as a publicity stunt.

· April 2 – Horse racing: Red Rum wins a record third Grand National at Aintree Racecourse.

· April 4

· Grundy, Virginia experiences a major flood that causes around $15 million in damages to 228 residential and commercial structures (to date the town is still recovering).

· Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes on a highway in New Hope, Georgia, killing 72 people.

· April 5 – Beginning of demonstrations in 10 cities across the U.S., the longest being the 3.5 week sit-in the San Francisco Federal Building to persuade President Jimmy Carter to implement the first Federal civil rights law for people with disabilities, Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, without reinstituting the "separate but equal" doctrine.

· April 7

· German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by 2 Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light near his home in Karlsruhe. The "Ulrike Meinhof Commando" later claims responsibility.

· The Toronto Blue Jays play their first game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox.

· The Seattle Mariners play their first-ever game of baseball against the California Angels.

April 11: UK Silver Jubilee (25 red buses painted silver).

· April 9 – Spain legalizes the Communist Party, which had been outlawed since 1939.

· April 11 – London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.

· April 17 – Belgian Prime Minister Leo Tindemans' Christian Social Party gains eight seats in the lower house in parliamentary elections.

· April 21 – Residents of Dover, Massachusetts report sightings of an eerie monster.

· April 22 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.

· April 24 – In northern Bangladesh, a cyclone killed 13 people and injuring about 100 others.

· April 27 – The Guatemala City air disaster kills 28 people.

· April 28 – A federal court in Stuttgart sentences Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment.

· April 30

· The Cold War between Cambodia and Vietnam evolves into the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.

· Led Zeppelin sets a new world record attendance for an indoor solo attraction at the Pontiac Silverdome when 76,229 persons attend a concert here on the group's 1977 North American Tour.

May[edit]

"May 1977" redirects here. For the Grateful Dead album, see May 1977 (album).

· May 1 – The Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul results in 34 deaths, hundreds of injuries.

· May 3 – The light aircraft carrier HMS Invincible is launched at Barrow-in-Furness by Elizabeth II.

· May 8 – Suzanne Lacy's extended performance piece about rape, Three Weeks in May begins in Los Angeles and continues until May 24.^[2]

· May 12 – Portugal and Israel establish diplomatic relations.

· May 14

· The 1977 IAS Cargo Boeing 707 airplane crash in Lusaka, Zambia kills all six on board.

· In Milan, Italy, during a far-left demonstration, a hooded person shoots at the police, killing a policeman, Antonio Custra. The scene is photographed and the picture^[3] of the hooded man shooting in the middle of the street appears in many magazines around the world.

· May 16 – A 20-passenger S-61L topples sideways at takeoff from the roof of the Pan Am Building in Midtown Manhattan. Four passengers are killed by the turning rotors and a woman at street level is fatally struck by a fallen blade.

· May 17

· The Likud Party, led by Menachem Begin, wins the national elections in Israel.

· Elizabeth II commences her 1977 Silver Jubilee tour in Glasgow, Scotland.

· Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre first opens in San Jose, California.

· May 23

· Scientists report using bacteria in a lab to make insulin via gene splicing.

· Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages), and a passenger train on the Bovensmilde–Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. On June 11, Dutch Royal Marines storm the train, and six terrorists and two hostages are killed.

· May 25 – George Lucas's Star Wars opens in cinemas and becomes the highest-grossing film of its time. It also makes sci-fi films very popular.

· May 26 – George Willig climbs the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

· May 27

· Elizabeth II opens the new Air Terminal Building at the Edinburgh Airport.

· The 1977 Aeroflot Ilyushin 62 airplane crash in Cuba kills 69 people.

· Space Mountain opens at Disneyland and to this day remains as one of the park's most popular attractions.

· A demonstration and coup attempt in Angola takes place. Afterward thousands were killed by the government and Cuban forces.^[4]

· May 28 – The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, is engulfed in fire; 165 are killed inside.

· May 29 – Indianapolis 500: A. J. Foyt becomes the first driver to win the race four times.

June[edit]

· June 5

· A bloodless coup installs France-Albert René as President of the Seychelles.

· The Portland Trail Blazers defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 109–107 to win the National Basketball Association finals four games to two. Bill Walton is selected as the MVP of the series.

· June 6–9 – Jubilee celebrations are held in the United Kingdom to celebrate 25 years of Elizabeth II's reign.

· June 7 – After campaigning by Anita Bryant and her "Save Our Children" crusade, Miami-Dade County, Florida voters overwhelmingly vote to repeal the county's "gay rights" ordinance.

· June 10

· The first Apple II series computers go on sale.^[5]

· James Earl Ray escapes from the Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee; he is recaptured on June 13.

· June 12 – The Supremes perform their final concert together at Drury Lane, London, and then disband permanently.

· June 15 – Spain has its first democratic elections, after 41 years under the Franco regime.

· June 16 – The Oracle Corporation is incorporated in Redwood Shores, California as Software Development Laboratories by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates.

· June 20

· The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the states are not required to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions.

· Anglia Television broadcasts the fake documentary Alternative 3, which enters into the conspiracy theory canon.

· June 21 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (40th government since the founding of the Turkish republic, but fails to receive the vote of confidence).

· June 25

· The 1977 Rugby League World Cup culminates in Australia's 13–12 victory over Great Britain at the Sydney Cricket Ground before about 24,450 spectators.

· American Roy Sullivan is struck by lightning for the seventh time.

· June 26

· Elvis Presley holds his last concert at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

· Some 200,000 protesters march through the streets of San Francisco, protesting Anita Bryant's anti-gay remarks and the murder of Robert Hillsborough.

· 16-year-old shop assistant Jayne Macdonald is murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper in Leeds, England.

· June 27 – Djibouti receives its independence from France.

· June 30

· The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is permanently disbanded.

· The Women Marines are disbanded, and the women are integrated into regular Marine Corps.

· U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces the cancellation of the B-1 Bomber program (it is later revived by the Reagan Administration).

July[edit]

· July 1

· CKO (a Canadian all news radio network, defunct since 1989) begins broadcasting.

· The East African Community is dissolved.

· The Championships, Wimbledon (tennis) – Virginia Wade wins the women's singles title in the centenary year of the tournament, Wade's first and only Wimbledon title and her third and final Grand Slam title overall; she remains the last British woman to win the singles title at Wimbledon.

· July 5 – General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrows Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.

· July 10 – A temperature of 48.0 °C (118.4 °F), a record for continental Europe, is recorded in Greece.^[6]

· July 13

· Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ethio-Somali War.

· The New York City blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours, resulting in looting and other disorder.

· July 15 – Anti-drug campaigner Donald Mackay disappears near Griffith, New South Wales (presumed murdered).

· July 19 – 20 – Flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, caused by massive rainfall, kills over 75 people and causes billions in damage.

· July 21–24 – The Libyan–Egyptian War, sparked by a Libyan raid on Sallum, begins.

· July 21 – Süleyman Demirel, of AP forms the new government of Turkey (41st government a three-party coalition, so-called second national front (Turkish: Milliyetçi cephe)).

· July 22 – The purged Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power nine months after the "Gang of Four" was expelled from power in a coup d'état.

· July 24 – Led Zeppelin presents its last American concert in Oakland, California, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. A brawl erupts between Led Zeppelin's crew and the staff of the promoter Bill Graham, resulting in criminal assault charges for several members of the Led Zeppelin group including the drummer John Bonham.

· July 27 – The Soviet Politburo orders Boris Yeltsin to demolish the Ipatiev House, where Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family were shot in 1918. Yeltsin eventually calls this a barbarian act.

· July 28

· The first oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System reaches Valdez, Alaska.

· Emanuel Jaques, 12, is abducted after being lured into an apartment building under false pretenses on Yonge Street in downtown Toronto. His strangled body is found several days later under a pile of wood on the building’s rooftop. Four men are apprehended for the crime.

· July 30 – Left-wing German terrorists Susanne Albrecht,^[7] Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar assassinate Jürgen Ponto,^[8] chairman of the Dresdner Bank in Oberursel, West Germany.

August[edit]

· August 3

· United States Senate hearings on Project MKUltra are held.

· The Tandy Corporation TRS-80 Model I computer is announced at a press conference.

· August 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.

· August 7 – Mount Usu volcano in Japan erupts.

· August 9 – The military-controlled government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 for a President and Congress.

· August 10 – David Berkowitz is captured in Yonkers, New York, after over a year of murders in New York City as the "Son of Sam".

· August 12 – The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

· August 15

· The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the Wow! signal for a notation made by a volunteer on the project.

· Herbert Kappler escapes from the Caelian Hill military hospital in Rome.

· August 16

· Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock and Roll", dies in his home in Graceland at age 42. 75,000 fans line the streets of Memphis for his funeral, which occurred on August 18, but was not televised until August 20.^{[citation needed]}

August 16: Elvis Presleydies. His funeral in Memphis attracts 75,000 fans.

· Supertanker Pierre Guillaumat is launched at Saint-Nazaire; she is the all-time world's largest ship (by deadweight tonnage and length overall) at launch.

· August 17

· The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

· New York City ban on Concorde test flights is overturned.

· August 19 – Comedian Groucho Marx dies of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at the age of 86 (born 1890).

· August 20 – Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

· August 21 – Actor/dancer Danny Lockin is murdered by a man he met in a Garden Grove, California, bar just hours after taping a winning skit on The Gong Show.

· August 26 – The National Assembly of Quebec passes the Charter of the French Language (Law 101, La charte de la langue française) making French the official language of the Canadian province of Quebec.

September[edit]

· September – Evangelical pastor Oral Roberts publishes plans to build the 'City of God Hospital' in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The towers are completed in 1981 for $120m ($299m, in 2012)^[9]

· September 3 – The Commodore PET computer is first sold.

· September 4 – The Golden Dragon massacre takes place in San Francisco.

· September 5

· Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.

· German Autumn: Employers Association President Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany. The kidnappers kill three escorting police officers and his chauffeur. They demand the release of Red Army Faction prisoners.

· September 7 – Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.

· September 8 – Interpol issues a resolution against the copyright infringement of video tapes and other material, which is still cited in warnings on opening pre-credits of videocassettes and DVDs.

· September 10 – Hamida Djandoubi's is the last guillotine execution in France.

· September 11 – Atari, Inc. releases its Video Computer System in North America.

· September 12 – South African activist Steve Biko dies after suffering a massive head injury in police custody in Pretoria.

· September 13 – Soap debut on ABC and launch the career of Billy Crystal.

· September 18 – Courageous (U.S.), skippered by Ted Turner, sweeps the Australian challenger Australia in the 24th America's Cup yacht race.

· September 19

· Under pressure from the Carter Administration, President of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza Debayle lifts the state of siege in Nicaragua.

· North Korean agents abduct Yutaka Kume from Noto Peninsula starting the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.

· September 20 – The Petrozavodsk phenomenon is observed in the Soviet Union and some northern European countries.

· September 23 – Jazz-rock group Steely Dan releases their sixth studio album Aja; it becomes their highest charting album in the United States at No. 3 and goes on to sell over 5 million copies.

· September 28 – The Porsche 928 debuts at the Geneva Motor Show.

· September 29

· Singer-songwriter Billy Joel releases his fifth studio album The Stranger; it becomes the first of several hit albums, spawning five hit singles, going 10× platinum in the US, and later ranking at No. 70 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

· The modern Food Stamp Program begins when the Food Stamp Act of 1977 is enacted.

October[edit]

· October 1 – Energy Research and Development Administration combined with the Federal Energy Administration to form United States Department of Energy.

· October 7

· The Soviet Union adopts its third Constitution after a prolonged campaign by Brezhnev Supporters to have it passed before the Supreme Soviet dissolves for the end of the parliamentary session.

· Pelé plays his final professional football game as a member of the New York Cosmos.

· October 13 – German Autumn: Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand the release of 11 Red Army Faction members.

· October 14 – Anita Bryant is hit with pies by four gay rights activists during a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa.

· October 15 – World's End Murders: Christine Eadie and Helen Scott, both 17, disappear after leaving the World's End pub in Edinburgh, Scotland. Their bodies are found tied and strangled in the countryside the next day. In 2014, serial killer Angus Sinclair is convicted of the crime.

· October 17 – 18 – German Autumn: GSG 9 troopers storm the hijacked Lufthansa passenger plane in Mogadishu, Somalia; three of the four hijackers die.

· October 18

· German Autumn: Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in Stammheim prison; Irmgard Möller fails (their supporters still claim they were murdered). They are buried on October 27.

· Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, opens the third session of the 30th Canadian Parliament.

· Reggie Jackson blasts three home runs to lead the New York Yankees to a World Series victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

· October 19 – German Autumn: Kidnapped industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer is found murdered in Mulhouse, France.

· October 20 – Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a charter plane crash outside Gillsburg, Mississippi, three days after the release of their fifth studio album Street Survivors.

· October 21 – The European Patent Institute is founded.

· October 23 – The president of Catalonia, Josep Tarradellas, returns to Barcelona from exile and the autonomous government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, is restored.

· October 26

· The last natural smallpox case is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, a great success of vaccination and, by extension, of modern science.

· Space Shuttle program: Last test taxi flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise, over California.

· October 27 – British punk band Sex Pistols release Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols on the Virgin Records label. Despite refusal by major retailers in the UK to stock it, it debuts at number one on the UK Album Charts the week after its release.

· October 28

· Hong Kong police forces attack the ICAC headquarters.

· British rock band Queen release the album News of the World.

November[edit]

· November 1 – 2060 Chiron, first of the outer Solar System asteroids known as Centaurs, is discovered by Charlie Kowal.

November 19: Sadatmeets Menachem Beginin Israel.

November 22: TCP/IP links 3 of 111 ARPANET nodes.

· November 2 – The worst storm in Athens' modern history causes havoc across the Greek capital and kills 38 people.

· November 6 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia fails, killing 39.

· November 8

· Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.

· San Francisco elects City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the U.S.

· November 9 – Gen. Hugo Banzer, president of the military government of Bolivia, announces that the constitutional democracy will be restored in 1978 instead of 1980 as previously provided.

· November 10 – The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever is released. Featuring five new Bee Gees compositions, it will go on to become the then best selling album of all time.

· November 19

· Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to make an official visit to Israel, when he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, seeking a permanent peace settlement.

· TAP Portugal Flight 425 crashes at Madeira Airport, Funchal, Portugal, killing 131 and leaving 33 survivors.

· November 22

· British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.

· The TCP/IP test succeeds, connecting 3 ARPANET nodes (of 111), in what eventually becomes the Internet protocol.^[10]

· November 28 – Jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp records "On Green Dolphin Street", the first digitally recorded album to be released commercially in the USA.

· November 30 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is founded as a specialized agency of the United Nations.

December[edit]

· December – the Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific (CESDAP) is implemented.

· December 1

· Lockheed's top-secret stealth aircraft project, designated Have Blue and precursor to the U.S. Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, makes its first flight.

· The first children's cable channel The Pinwheel Network (later known as Nickelodeon), is launched.

· December 4

· Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor.

· Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia, killing all 100 passengers and crew on board.

· December 6 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.

· December 10 – Australian federal election, 1977: Malcolm Fraser's Liberal/National Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Consequently, Whitlam resigned as ALP leader after holding the job for nearly 11 years; he would be replaced by former Treasurer Bill Hayden.

· December 11 – after losing 26 games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the US National Football League record their very first win; against the New Orleans Saints.

· December 13 – a chartered Douglas DC-3 aircraft carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, Tennessee, crashes in rain and dense fogabout 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Regional Airport; 29 people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach Bob Watson.

· December 16

· Mikhail Baryshnikov's 1976 production of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker comes to CBS a year after premiering onstage at the Kennedy Center. This adaptation will become the most popular television production of the work.

· Saturday Night Fever is released in theaters and becomes the biggest dancing movie of all time. The movie launches the career of its star John Travolta and catapults the Bee Gees — who performed several songs on the soundtrack — to newfound success.

· December 18 – SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730, an international charter service from Zurich to Funchal Airport (Madeira), hits the sea during a landing attempt. Many of the 36 who die drown, trapped inside the sinking aircraft. Twenty-one people survive with the help of rescuers and by swimming to the shore.

· December 20 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.

· December 22 – A grain elevator explodes in Westwego, Louisiana, killing 36.

· December 25 – English comedian and silent film actor, Charlie Chaplin dies at his home in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland from a stroke at the age of 88.

Date unknown[edit]

Enterprise flies atop Boeing 747 over U.S.

· 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.

· The Soviet National Anthem's lyrics are returned after a 24-year period, with Joseph Stalin's name omitted.

· Mormon sex in chains case with the alleged abduction in England of a young Mormon missionary.

· The WAVES are disbanded; women integrated into the regular Navy.

· Mount Ngauruhoe in New Zealand makes its latest eruption in Tongariro National Park

Births[edit]

January[edit]