Year '1970' ('
MCMLXX') was a
common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the
Gregorian calendar. Year 1970 is the
Unix epoch time.
Events of 1970
January
★
January 1 - The
Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC.
★
January 1 - Construction begins on
Arcosanti, by
Paolo Soleri, in
Mayer, Arizona, 65
miles
north of
Phoenix, Arizona.
★
January 1 - The
National Westminster Bank begins trading in the
United Kingdom.
★
January 5 - The first episode of ''
All My Children'' is broadcast on the ABC television network.
★
January 12 -
Biafra capitulates, ending the
Nigerian civil war.
★
January 14 -
Diana Ross & The Supremes perform their farewell live concert together at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, and Ross's replacement, Jean Terrell, is introduced onstage at the end of the last show.
★
January 15 - After a 32-month fight for independence from
Nigeria,
Biafran forces under
Philip Effiong formally surrender to General
Yakubu Gowon.
★
January 20 - The
Greater London Council announces its plans for the
Thames Barrier at
Woolwich to prevent flooding. The barrier opened in
1981.
★
January 21 - Five lifeboatmen are killed when the
Fraserburgh lifeboat ''Duchess of Kent'' capsizes during a rescue off Kinnaird's Head, Aberdeenshire.
★
January 26 -
Mick Jagger is fined £200 for possession of
cannabis.
February
★
February 1 - A train collision near
Buenos Aires,
Argentina kills 142.
★
February 10 - An
avalanche at
Val d'Isère,
France kills 39 tourists.
★
February 11 -
Osumi,
Japan's first satellite, is launched on a
Lamba-4 rocket.
★
February 14 - Iconic live album "
The Who:
Live at Leeds" recorded.
★
February 17 -
MacDonald family massacre:
Jeffrey R. MacDonald kills his wife and children at
Fort Bragg, North Carolina, claiming that drugged-out "hippies" did it.
★
February 17 - Author
David Irving is ordered to pay £40,000
libel damages to Capt. John Broome over his book "The Destruction of Convoy PQ17".
★
February 18 - A jury finds the
Chicago Seven defendants not guilty of
conspiring to incite a
riot, in charges stemming from the violence at the
1968 Democratic National Convention. Five of the defendants are found guilty on the lesser charge of crossing state lines to incite a riot.
★
February 20 - Construction begins on the
Bogazici Bridge crossing the
Bosphorus in
Istanbul.
★
February 22 -
Guyana becomes a Republic within the
Commonwealth of Nations.
March
★
March 1 -
Rhodesia severs its last tie with the
United Kingdom, declaring itself a racially-segregated
republic.
★
March 5 - The
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect, after ratification by 43 nations.
★
March 6 - A bomb being constructed by members of the
Weathermen and meant to be planted at a military dance in New Jersey, explodes, killing 3 members of the organization.
★
March 11 -
Henry Marrow is murdered in a violent
hate crime in
Oxford, North Carolina.
★
March 12 - Teenagers in the
United Kingdom vote for the first time, in a
by-election in
Bridgwater.
★
March 15 - The
Expo '70 World's Fair opens in Suita, Osaka, Japan.
★
March 16 - The complete
New English Bible is published.
★
March 17 -
My Lai massacre: The
United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
★
March 18 - General
Lon Nol ousts Prince
Norodom Sihanouk of
Cambodia.
★
March 18 -
United States Postal Service workers in
New York City go on
strike; the strike spreads to the state of
California and the cities of
Akron, Ohio,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Chicago,
Boston, and
Denver, Colorado; 210,000 out of 750,000 U.S. postal employees walk out. President Nixon assigns military units to New York City post offices. The strike lasts 2 weeks.
★
March 21 - The first
Earth Day proclamation is issued by
San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.
★
March 21 - ''All Kinds of Everything'' sung by Dana (music and text by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith) wins
Eurovision Song Contest 1970 for
Ireland.
★
March 25 - The
Concorde makes its first
supersonic flight (700 mph/1127 km/h).
★
March 31 -
NASA's
Explorer I, the first American
satellite and
Explorer program spacecraft, reenters
Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.
April
★
April 1 - President
Richard Nixon signs the
Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, banning
cigarette television advertisements in the
United States, starting on
January 1,
1971.
★
April 1 -
American Motors Corporation introduces the
Gremlin.
★
April 8 - A huge gas explosion at a
subway construction site in
Osaka,
Japan kills 79 and injures over 400.
★
April 10 -
Paul McCartney announces that
the Beatles have disbanded, while at the same press conference, announcing the release of
his new solo album.
★
April 11 -
Apollo program: ''
Apollo 13'' (
Jim Lovell,
Fred Haise,
Jack Swigert) is launched toward the
Moon. On
April 13, an oxygen tank in the spacecraft explodes, forcing the crew to abort the mission and return in 4 days.
★
April 16 - Rev.
Ian Paisley won a
by-election to the
House of Commons of Northern Ireland.
★
April 16 - 74 people, mostly young boys, die as an
avalanche buries a
tuberculosis sanatorium in the
French Alps.
★
April 17 - Safe return &
splashdown of ''
Apollo 13'' (
Apollo program).
★
April 21 - The
Hutt River Province Principality secedes from
Australia.
★
April 22 - The first
Earth Day is celebrated in the U.S.
★
April 24 - China's first satellite (
Dong Fang Hong 1) is launched to orbit using a
Long March-1 Rocket (CZ-1).
★
April 29 - The U.S. invades
Cambodia to hunt out the
Viet Cong; massive antiwar protests occur in the U.S.
May
★
May 1 - Demonstrations against the trial of the
New Haven Nine,
Bobby Seale, and Ericka Huggins draw 12,000.
President Nixon orders US Forces to cross into neutral Cambodia, threatening to widen the
Vietnam War, sparking nation wide riots and leading to the
Kent State Shootings.
★
May 4 -
Kent State shootings: Four students at
Kent State University in
Ohio are killed and 9 wounded by Ohio State National Guardsmen at a protest against the incursion into
Cambodia.
★
May 5 - ''The Sahastrara of Universe'' is opened by
Nirmala Srivastava (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi), the founder of
Sahaja Yoga.
★
May 6 -
Arms Crisis in the
Republic of Ireland:
Charles Haughey and
Neil Blaney are dismissed as members of the
Irish Government, due to accusations of their involvement in a plot to import arms for use by the
Provisional IRA in
Northern Ireland.
★
May 6 -
Feyenoord wins the
European Cup after a 2-1 win over
Celtic.
★
May 9 - In
Washington, DC, 100,000 people demonstrate against the Vietnam War.
★
May 11 -
Lubbock Tornado: An 'F5' tornado hits downtown
Lubbock, Texas, the first to hit a downtown district of a major city since
Topeka, Kansas in
1966 (28 are killed).
★
May 14 -
Ulrike Meinhof helps
Andreas Baader escape.
★
May 14 - In the second day of violent demonstrations at
Jackson State University in
Jackson, Mississippi, state law enforcement officers fire into the demonstrators, killing 2 and injuring 12.
★
May 17 -
Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from
Morocco on the
papyrus boat ''Ra II'', to sail the
Atlantic Ocean.
★
May 23 - A fire occurs in the
Britannia Bridge over the
Menai Straits in north
Wales, contributing to its partial destruction and amounting to approximately £1,000,000 worth of fire damage.
★
May 24 - The
scientific drilling of the
Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the
USSR.
★
May 26 - The
Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed
Mach 2.
★
May 27 - A British expedition climbs the south face of
Annapurna I.
★
May 31 - The
1970 Ancash earthquake causes a
landslide that buries the town of
Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
★
May 31 - The
1970 FIFA World Cup is inaugurated in
Mexico.
June
★
June 1 -
Soyuz 9, a two man spacecraft, is launched in the
Soviet Union.
★
June 2 -
Norway announces that it has rich oil deposits off its
North Sea coast.
★
June 4 -
Tonga gains independence from the
United Kingdom.
★
June 8 - A
coup in
Argentina brings a new
junta of service chiefs; on
June 18,
Roberto M. Levingston becomes President.
★
June 10 -
President Nixon signs a measure lowering the voting age to 18.
★
June 11 - The United States gets its first female generals:
Anna Mae Hays and
Elizabeth P. Hoisington.
★
June 18 -
United Kingdom general election, 1970: The
Conservative Party wins and
Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister.
★
June 21 -
Brazil defeats
Italy 4-1 to win the
1970 FIFA World Cup.
★
June 22 - The
English rock band '
Led Zeppelin' performs in
Iceland, with the visit inspiring them to write the
Immigrant Song.
★
June 24 - The
United States Senate repeals the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
★
June 25 - The
Greater London Council's Policy and Resources committee endorses the "
Fleet Line" and the extension of the
Piccadilly Line to
Heathrow Airport.
★
June 28 - U.S. ground troops withdraw from
Cambodia.
July
★
July 1 - Colorado State College changes its name to
University of Northern Colorado.
★
July 4 - A chartered
Dan-Air De Havilland Comet crashes into the mountains north of
Barcelona; at least 112 are killed.
★
July 4 -
Bob Hope and other entertainers gather in
New York City for ''Honor America Day'', a nonpartisan holiday event.
★
July 11 - The first tunnel under the
Pyrenees links the
Basque towns of Aranoutes and Biesma.
★
July 16 -
Three Rivers Stadium in
Pittsburgh opens.
★
July 21 - The
Aswan High Dam in
Egypt is completed.
★
July 23 -
Said bin Taimur, Sultan of Muscat and
Oman, is deposed in a palace
coup by his son,
Qaboos.
★
July 23 - Two
CS gas canisters are thrown into the chamber of the
British House of Commons.
★
July 30 - Damages totalling £485,528 are awarded to 28
Thalidomide victims.
★
July 31 - NBC anchor Chet Huntley retires from full-time broadcasting.
August
★
August 7 -
Harold Haley, Marin County Superior Court Judge, is taken hostage and murdered, in an effort to free
George Jackson from police custody.
★
August 17 -
August 18 - The U.S. sinks 418 containers of
nerve gas into the
Gulf Stream near the
Bahamas.
★
August 17 -
Venera program: ''
Venera 7'' is launched. It will later becomes the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from another
planet.
★
August 26 - The Women's Strike For Equality takes place down
Fifth Avenue in
New York City.
★
August 26-
August 30 - The
Isle of Wight Festival 1970 takes place on East Afton Farm off the coast of
England. Some 600,000 people attend the largest rock festival of all time. Artists include
Jimi Hendrix,
The Who,
The Doors,
Chicago,
Richie Havens,
John Sebastian,
Joan Baez,
Ten Years After,
Emerson, Lake & Palmer and
Jethro Tull.
September
★
September 1 - An assassination attempt against King
Hussein of Jordan precipitates the
Black September crisis.
★
September 4 -
Salaheddin Ali Nader Shah Angha receives the official leadership of the
Oveyssi Sufi order and receives the "Robe of Faghr" by
Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha.
★
September 3-
September 6 - Israeli forces fight Palestinian guerillas in southern Lebanon.
★
September 5 -
Vietnam War:
Operation Jefferson Glenn begins - The
United States 101st Airborne Division and the
South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thua Thien Province (the operation ends in October 1971).
★
September 6 - The
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacks 4 passenger aircraft from Pan Am, TWA and Swissair on flights to New York from Brussels, Frankfurt and Zürich.
★
September 7 - An anti-war rally is held at
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, attended by
John Kerry,
Jane Fonda and
Donald Sutherland.
★
September 7 - Fighting breaks out between Arab guerillas and government forces in
Amman,
Jordan.
★
September 8-
September 10 -
Jordanian government and Palestinian guerillas make truces they keep breaking.
★
September 9 -
Guinea recognizes
East Germany.
★
September 9 -
Elvis Presley begins his first concert tour since 1958 in
Phoenix, Arizona at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
★
September 10 -
Cambodian government forces break the siege of Kompong Tho after 3 months.
★
September 11 - The
Ford Pinto is introduced.
★
September 13 - The first
New York City Marathon begins.
★
September 15 - King
Hussein of Jordan forms a military government with Muhammad Daoud as the prime minister.
★
September 18 -
Jimi Hendrix dies of a
barbiturate overdose in
London.
★
September 19 -
Kostas Georgakis sets himself ablaze in
Genoa,
Italy as a protest against the
Greek military junta of 1967-1974.
★
September 20 -
Syrian armored forces cross the Jordanian border.
★
September 20- ''
Luna 16'' lands on the Moon and lifts off the next day with samples. It lands on Earth
September 24.
★
September 21 - Palestinian armored forces reinforce Palestinian guerillas in
Irbidi,
Jordan.
★
September 22 -
Tunku Abdul Rahman resigns as prime minister of
Malaysia, and is succeeded by his deputy
Tun Abdul Razak.
★
September 26 - The
Laguna Fire starts in
San Diego County, burning 175,425 acres (710 km²).
★
September 27 -
Richard Nixon begins a tour of Europe, visiting
Italy,
Yugoslavia,
Spain, the
United Kingdom and
Ireland.
★
September 28 -
Gamal Abdal Nasser dies; Vice President
Anwar Sadat is named temporary
president of Egypt.
★
September 29 - The U.S. Congress gives President
Richard Nixon authority to sell arms to Israel.
★
September 29 - In
Berlin,
Baader-Meinhof Gang members rob 3 banks, with loot totaling over
DM200,000.
October
★
October 2 - The
Wichita State University football team's "Gold" plane crashes in
Colorado, killing most of the players. They were on their way (along with administrators and fans) to a game with
Utah State University.
★
October 3 - In
Lebanon, the government of Prime Minister
Rashid Karami resigns.
★
October 4 - In
Bolivia, Army Commander General
Rogelio Miranda and a group of officers rebel and demand the resignation of President
Alfredo Ovando Candía, who fires him.
★
October 4 -
Janis Joplin dies of a heroin overdose inside her hotel room in
Los Angeles,
California.
★
October 5 - U.S. President
Richard Nixon's European tour ends.
★
October 5 - The
Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) kidnaps
James Cross in Montreal and demands release of all its imprisoned members. The next day the Canadian government announces it won't meet the demand, beginning
Quebec's
October Crisis.
★
October 5 - The
Public Broadcasting Service begins broadcasting.
★
October 6 - Bolivian President
Alfredo Ovando Candía resigns; General
Rogelio Miranda takes over but resigns soon after.
★
October 6 - French President
Georges Pompidou visits the Soviet Union.
★
October 7 - General
Juan José Torres becomes the new
President of Bolivia.
★
October 7 -
Anwar Sadat is accepted as
Egyptian president.
★
October 8 - The U.S. Foreign Office announces that renewal of arms sales to
Pakistan.
★
October 8 - Soviet author
Alexander Solzhenitsyn is awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature.
★
October 8 -
Vietnam War: In
Paris, a
Communist delegation rejects U.S. President
Richard Nixon's
October 7 peace proposal as "a maneuver to deceive world opinion."
★
October 9 - The
Khmer Republic is proclaimed in
Cambodia.
★
October 9 -
Divorce is legalized in
Italy.
★
October 10 -
Fiji becomes independent.
★
October 10 -
October Crisis: In
Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hits
Canada when
Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour
Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the
FLQ terrorist group.
★
October 11 - Eleven French soldiers are killed in a shootout with rebels in
Chad.
★
October 12 -
Vietnam War: U.S. President
Richard Nixon announces that the
United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before
Christmas.
★
October 13 -
Canada and the
People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations.
★
October 13 -
Saeb Salam forms a government in
Lebanon.
★
October 14 - A Chinese nuclear test is conducted in
Lop Nor.
★
October 15 - In
Egypt, a referendum supports
Anwar Sadat 90.04%.
★
October 15 - A section of the new
West Gate Bridge in
Melbourne collapses into the river below, killing 35 construction workers.
★
October 16 -
October Crisis: The Canadian government declares a
state of emergency and outlaws the
Quebec Liberation Front.
★
October 17 - October Crisis:
Pierre Laporte is found killed in south Montreal.
★
October 17 - A
cholera epidemic breaks out in
Istanbul.
★
October 17 -
Anwar Sadat officially becomes President of Egypt.
★
October 20 - The Soviet Union launches the ''
Zond 8'' lunar probe.
★
October 20 -
Algerian ex-minister
Krim Belkacem is found strangled in his hotel room in
Frankfurt.
★
October 20 - Egyptian president Anwar Sadat names
Mahmoud Fawzi as his prime minister.
★
October 21 - A U.S. Air Force plane makes an emergency landing near
Leninakan,
Soviet Union. The Soviets release the American officers, including 2 generals,
November 10.
★
October 22 -
Chilean army commander
Rene Schneider is shot in Santiago; the government declares a state of emergency. Schneider dies
October 25.
★
October 24 -
Salvador Allende is elected President of
Chile.
★
October 25 - The most important underwater archaeological discovery of the 20th century is made when the wreck of Confederate submarine ''
Hunley'' is found off
Charleston,
South Carolina, by pioneer
underwater archaeologist,
Dr. E. Lee Spence, then just 22 years old. ''Hunley'' was the first submarine in history to sink a ship in warfare.
★
October 26 - U.S. and Soviet space researchers meet in Moscow.
★
October 26 -
Garry Trudeau's
comic strip ''
Doonesbury'' debuts in approximately two dozen newspapers in the United States.
★
October 28 - In Jordan, the government of Ahmed Toukan resigns; the next prime minister is
Wasfi Al-Tal.
★
October 28 - A
cholera outbreak in eastern Slovakia causes Hungary to close its border with Czechoslovakia.
★
October 28 -
Gary Gabelich drives the rocket-powered
Blue Flame to an official world land speed record of 622.287 mph (1,001.452863 km/h) on the dry lake bed of the
Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The record, the first above 1,000 km/h, stands for nearly 13 years.
★
October 30 - In
Vietnam, the worst
monsoon to hit the area in 6 years causes large
floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the
Vietnam War.
November
★
November 1 - Fire destroys the Le Cinq Sept dance hall in St. Laurent Du Pont,
France; 144 dead.
★
November 3 - Democrats sweep the U.S. Congressional midterm elections.
★
November 4 -
Vietnam War:
Vietnamization - The
United States turns control of the
air base in the
Mekong Delta to
South Vietnam.
★
November 4 - Social workers in
Los Angeles, California take custody of
Genie, a girl who had been kept in solitary confinement since her birth.
★
November 5 - Vietnam War: The
United States Military Assistance Command in
Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in 5 years (24 soldiers died that week, which was the fifth consecutive week the death toll was below 50; 431 were reported wounded that week, however).
★
November 8 -
Egypt,
Libya and
Sudan announce their intentions to form a federation.
★
November 9 -
Charles de Gaulle dies; he is buried
November 13.
★
November 9 - The Soviet Union launches ''
Luna 17''.
★
November 9 - Vietnam War: The
Supreme Court of the United States votes 6-3 not to hear a case by the state of
Massachusetts, about the constitutionality of a state law granting Massachusetts residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
★
November 10 - Vietnam War:
Vietnamization - For the first time in 5 years, an entire week ends with no reports of
United States combat fatalities in
Southeast Asia.
★
November 12 - Soviet author
Andrei Amalrik is sentenced to 3 years for 'anti-Soviet' writings.
★
November 13 -
Hafez al-Assad comes to power in
Syria, following a military coup.
★
November 13 -
1970 Bhola cyclone: A 120-mph
tropical cyclone hits the densely populated
Ganges Delta region of
East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people (considered the
20th century's worst cyclone disaster).
★
November 14 - A fatal airplane accident in
Wayne County, West Virginia,
Southern Airlines Flight 932, claims the lives of all 75 onboard, including 37 players and 5 coaches from the
Marshall University football team.
★
November 17 -
Vietnam War: Lieutenant
William Calley goes on trial for the
My Lai massacre.
★
November 17 -
Luna program: The
Soviet Union lands ''
Lunokhod 1'' on
Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the
Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world, and is released by the orbiting
Luna 17 spacecraft.
★
November 18 - U.S. President
Richard Nixon asks the
U.S. Congress for US$155 million in supplemental aid for the
Cambodian government (US$85 million is for military assistance to prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier
Lon Nol by the
Khmer Rouge and
North Vietnam).
★
November 18 - The
United Nations Security Council demands that no government recognize
Rhodesia.
★
November 19 -
European Economic Community prime ministers meet in
Munich.
★
November 21 -
Syrian Prime Minister
Hafez al-Assad forms a new government but retains the post of defense minister.
★
November 21 - In
Ethiopia, the
Eritrean Liberation Front kills an Ethiopian general.
★
November 21 -
Vietnam War:
Operation Ivory Coast - A joint
Air Force and Army team raids the
Son Tay prison camp in an attempt to free American
POWs thought to be held there (no Americans are killed, but the prisoners have already moved to another camp; all U.S. POWs are moved to a handful of central prison complexes as a result of this raid).
★
November 22 -
Guinean president
Sekou Toure accuses
Portugal of an attack when hundreds of mercenaries land near the capital
Conakry.
★
November 23-
November 24 - The Guinean army repels the landing attempts.
★
November 23 -
Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''
Oklahoma!'' makes its network TV debut, when
CBS telecasts the
1955 film version as a three-hour
Thanksgiving special.
★
November 25-
November 29 - A UN delegation arrives to investigate the Guinea situation.
★
November 25 - In
Tokyo, author and
Tatenokai militia leader
Yukio Mishima and his followers take over the headquarters of the
Japan Self-Defense Forces. When Mishima's speech fails to sway public opinion towards his right-wing political beliefs, he commits
seppuku.
★
November 26 - East Pakistan leader Sheik
Mujibur Rahman accuses the central government of negligence in catastrophe relief.
★
November 26 -
Pope Paul VI begins an Asian tour.
★
November 27 - Bolivian artist Benjamin Mendoza tries to assassinate
Pope Paul VI during his visit in
Manila.
★
November 30 - Formation of
British Caledonian Airways Ltd. (BCal).
December
★
December 1 - The Italian House of Representatives accepts the new
divorce law.
★
December 1 -
Ethiopia recognizes the
People's Republic of China.
★
December 1 - The
Basque ETA kidnaps West German Eugen Beihl in
San Sebastian.
★
December 1 -
Luis Echeverría becomes
president of Mexico.
★
December 2 - The
United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
★
December 3 - October Crisis: In
Montreal, Quebec, kidnapped
British Trade Commissioner
James Cross is released by the
Front de Libération du Québec terrorist group after being held hostage for 60 days. Police negotiate his release and in return the Government of
Canada grants 5 terrorists from the FLQ's Chenier Cell their request for safe passage to
Cuba.
★
December 3 - Burgos Trial: In
Burgos,
Spain, a trial begins of 16
Basques terrorism suspects.
★
December 4 - The Spanish government declares a 3-month martial law in the Basque county of Guipuzco, due to strikes and demonstrations.
★
December 4 - The U.N. announces that Portuguese navy and army units were responsible for the attempted invasion of Guinea.
★
December 5 - The Asian and Australian tour of Pope Paul VI ends.
★
December 7 - Giovanni Enrico Bucher, the Swiss ambassador to Brazil, is kidnapped in
Rio de Janeiro; kidnappers demand the release of 70 political prisoners.
★
December 7 - The U.N. General Assembly supports the isolation of
South Africa due to its
apartheid policies.
★
December 7 - During his visit to the Polish capital,
German Chancellor Willy Brandt goes down on his knees in front of a monument to the victims of the
Warsaw Ghetto.
★
December 12 - A
landslide in western
Colombia leaves 200 dead.
★
December 13 - The government of
Poland announces increases in the price of food. Riots and looting lead to a bloody confrontation between the rioters and the government on
December 15, and martial law December 17-22.
December 23 the government will freeze the food prices for two years.
★
December 15 - The USSR's
Venera 7 becomes the first spacecraft to land successfully on Venus and transmit data back to Earth.
★
December 16 - The Ethiopian government declares a
state of emergency in the county of Eritrea, due to the activities of the
Eritrean Liberation Front.
★
December 20 -
General Secretary of the
Polish Communist Party,
Władysław Gomułka, resigns;
Edward Gierek replaces him.
★
December 20 - An Egyptian delegation leaves for Moscow to ask for economic and
military aid.
★
December 22 - The
Libyan Revolutionary Council declares that it will nationalize all foreign banks in the country.
★
December 22 -
Franz Stangl, the ex-commander of
Treblinka, is sentenced to life imprisonment.
★
December 23 - The
Bolivian government releases
Regis Debray.
★
December 23 - The North Tower of the
World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet, making it the tallest building in the world.
★
December 25 - The
ETA releases Eugen Beihl.
★
December 27 -
India's president declares new elections.
★
December 28 - Burgos Trial: Three Basques are sentenced to death (3 twice), others sentenced for 12-62 years, and 1 is released.
★
December 28 - The suspected killers of
Pierre Laporte, Jacques & Paul Rose and Francis Sunard, are arrested near Montreal.
★
December 30 - In
Viscaya,
Spain,
Basque county, 15,000 go on strike to protest the Burgos trial death sentences.
★
December 30 -
Francisco Franco commutes the death sentences of the Burgos Trial defendants to 30 years in prison.
★
December 31 -
Paul McCartney sues in Great Britain to dissolve
the Beatles's legal partnership.
Undated
★ The first
Regional Technical Colleges open in
Ireland.
★ Disappearance of
Sada Abe,
Japanese former
prostitute and later
actress.
★ Discovery in
England of the
Sweet Track, the World's oldest engineered
roadway.
★ The band
Queen formed this year. The following year bassist John Deacon joined.
Ongoing
★ (none)
Fictional
The following are references to year 1970 in fiction:
:The events of .
World population
| World population |
|---|
| 1970 | 1965 | 1975 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World | '3,692,492,000' | 3,334,874,000 | | 4,068,109,000 | |
|---|---|
| Africa | '357,283,000' | 313,744,000 | | 408,160,000 | |
|---|
| Asia | '2,143,118,000' | 1,899,424,000 | | 2,397,512,000 | |
|---|
| Europe | '655,855,000' | 634,026,000 | | 675,542,000 | |
|---|
| Latin-America | '284,856,000' | 250,452,000 | | 321,906,000 | |
|---|
| Northern America | '231,937,000' | 219,570,000 | | 243,425,000 | |
|---|
| Oceania | '19,443,000' | 17,657,000 | | 21,564,000 | |
|---|
Births
January-February
★
January 1 -
Kimberly Page, American model
★
January 3 -
Christian Duguay, American comedian
★
January 6 -
Julie Chen, American television host
★
January 6 -
Gabrielle Reece, American volleyball player and model
★
January 9 -
Lara Fabian, Canadian/Belgian singer
★
January 12 -
Zack de la Rocha, American musician (
Rage Against the Machine)
★
January 13 -
Keith Coogan, American actor
★
January 13 -
Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (d.
2004)
★
January 15 -
Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler and wrestling executive
★
January 17 -
Jeremy Roenick, American hockey player
★
January 17 -
Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian animator
★
January 19 -
Tim Foster, British rower
★
January 19 -
Udo Suzuki, Japanese comedian
★
January 20 -
Mitch Benn, British comedian and songwriter
★
January 20 -
Skeet Ulrich, American actor
★
January 22 -
Alex Ross, American comic artist
★
January 24 -
Matthew Lillard, American actor
★
January 29 -
Heather Graham, American actress
★
January 29 -
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian shooter
★
January 31 -
Minnie Driver, English actress
★
February 1 -
Malik Sealy, American basketball player (d.
2000)
★
February 4 -
Nicole Wood, Playboy playmate
★
February 8 -
Alonzo Mourning, American basketball player
★
February 9 -
Glenn McGrath, Australian test cricketer
★
February 14 -
Simon Pegg, British comedian and actor
★
February 15 -
Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress
★
February 21 -
Dayna Devon, American news anchor
★
February 22 -
Dominic Roussel, Canadian ice hockey player
★
February 24 -
Jeff Garcia, American football player
★
February 26 -
Linda Brava, Finnish violinist
March-April
★
March 4 -
Andrea Bendewald, American actress
★
March 5 -
John Frusciante, musician (
Red Hot Chili Peppers)
★
March 8 -
Jason Elam, American football player
★
March 9 -
Shannon Leto, American actor and musician (
30 Seconds to Mars)
★
March 9 -
Stuart Neild, English author
★
March 18 -
Queen Latifah, American rapper, record producer, and actress
★
March 22 -
Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist
★
March 24 -
Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
★
March 24 -
Sharon Corr, Irish musician (
The Corrs)
★
March 27 -
Mariah Carey, American singer
★
March 27 -
Elizabeth Mitchell, American actress
★
March 27 -
Leila Pahlavi, Iranian princess (d.
2001)
★
March 28 -
Vince Vaughn, American actor, writer, and producer
★
April 4 -
Barry Pepper, Canadian actor
★
April 4 -
Wendy Bell, American news reader
★
April 5 -
Miho Hatori, Japanese singer and songwriter (
Cibo Matto)
★
April 11 -
Delroy Pearson, British singer
Five Star
★
April 12 -
Nick Hexum, American singer and guitarist
★
April 13 -
Rick Schroder, American actor
★
April 13 -
Eduardo Capetillo, Mexican actor and singer
★
April 17 -
Redman, American rapper
★
April 18 -
Greg Eklund, American drummer (
Everclear)
★
April 19 -
Luis Miguel, Mexican singer
★
April 20 -
Adriano Moraes, Brazilian rodeo performer
★
April 21 -
Nicole Sullivan, American actress, comedian, and writer
★
April 22 -
Regine Velasquez, Filipina singer, actress, model, record producer, and entrepreneur
★
April 25 -
Jason Lee, American skateboarder and actor
★
April 26 -
Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, American singer
★
April 27 -
Kylie Travis, English-born actress and model
★
April 29 -
Andre Agassi, American tennis player
★
April 29 -
Uma Thurman, American actress
May-June
★
May 5 -
Todd Newton, American game show host
★
May 8 -
Michael Bevan, Australian cricketer
★
May 9 -
Doug Christie, NBA basketball player and star of BET J's reality show
★
May 12 -
Mike Weir, Canadian golfer
★
May 15 -
Ronald de Boer and
Frank de Boer,
Dutch footballers
★
May 15 -
Rod Smith, American football player
★
May 16 -
Gabriela Sabatini, Argentine tennis player
★
May 17 -
Joe Castro, American film director
★
May 18 -
Tina Fey, American writer, comedian, and actress
★
May 20 -
Louis Theroux, British-American TV personality and author
★
May 22 -
Naomi Campbell, English model and actress
★
May 23 -
Yigal Amir,
Israeli
assassin of the
Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin
★
May 24 -
Jeff Zgonina, American football player
★
May 25 -
Jamie Kennedy, American actor and comedian
★
May 25 -
Satsuki Yukino, Japanese voice actress
★
May 26 -
Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese cartoonist
★
May 27 -
Joseph Fiennes, English actor
★
May 30 -
Jeffrey Sebelia, fashion designer, owner of clothing line Cosa Nostra, and winner of
Project Runway Season 3
★
June 2 -
B-Real, American rapper
★
June 4 -
Izabella Scorupco, Polish actress
★
June 5 -
Will Arnett, Canadian-American actor
★
June 6 -
Anthony Norris, American professional wrestler
★
June 6 -
Andrian Dushev, Bulgarian canoer
★
June 8 -
Kelli Williams, American actress
★
June 13 -
Mikael Ljungberg, Swedish wrestler (d.
2004)
★
June 13 -
Rivers Cuomo, American musician
★
June 15 -
Leah Remini, American actress
★
June 16 -
Phil Mickelson, American golfer
★
June 17 -
Sasha Sokol, Mexican singer
★
June 17 -
Will Forte, American writer, actor and comedian
★
June 19 -
MJ Hibbett, English singer-songwriter
★
June 19 -
Quincy Watts, American athlete
★
June 19 -
Brian Welch, American guitarist
★
June 20 -
Russell Garcia, British field hockey player
★
June 20 -
Moulay Rachid, Prince of Morocco
★
June 21 -
Pete Rock, American rapper/DJ/producer
★
June 22 -
Michel Elefteriades, Greek-Lebanese politician, artist, producer and businessman
★
June 25 -
Lucy Benjamin, British actress
★
June 26 -
Patrick Norton, American writer and television host
★
June 26 -
Chris O'Donnell, American actor
★
June 26 -
Nick Offerman, American actor
★
June 27 -
Jim Edmonds, baseball player
★
June 27 -
Vitamin C, American singer
★
June 30 -
Brian Bloom, American actor
July-August
★
July 2 -
Steve Morrow, Northern Irish footballer
★
July 3 -
Teemu Selänne, Finnish hockey player
★
July 3 -
Shawnee Smith, American actress
★
July 5 -
Mac Dre, American rapper (d.
2004)
★
July 6 -
Martin Smith, English singer and songwriter
★
July 7 -
Wayne McCullough, Northern Irish boxer
★
July 8 -
Beck, American singer
★
July 10 -
Gary LeVox, American singer
★
July 11 -
Saj Karim, British politician
★
July 23 -
Thea Dorn, German writer
★
July 29 -
Andi Peters, British TV presenter and producer
★
July 30 -
Christopher Nolan, English writer and director
★
August 2 -
Tony Amonte, American hockey player
★
August 2 -
Kevin Smith, American screenwriter, film director, and actor
★
August 4 -
Pete Abrams, American webcomic artist, author of
Sluggy Freelance
★
August 6 -
M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-American film director, writer, producer, and actor
★
August 12 -
Jim Schlossnagle, baseball coach
★
August 13 -
Alan Shearer, English footballer
★
August 13 -
Will Clarke, American novelist
★
August 14 -
Leah Purcell, Australian actress
★
August 16 -
Bonnie Bernstein, American sportscaster (
ESPN)
★
August 17 -
Jim Courier, American tennis player
★
August 18 -
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, American actor
★
August 19 -
Joseph Cartagena (Fat Joe), American rapper
★
August 20 -
John Carmack, American computer game programmer
★
August 20 -
Fred Durst, American singer
★
August 21 -
Erik Dekker, Dutch professional cyclist
★
August 23 -
Jay Mohr, American actor and comedian
★
August 23 -
River Phoenix, American actor (d.
1993)
★
August 25 -
Claudia Schiffer, German model
★
August 27 -
Jim Thome, baseball player
★
August 27 -
Peter Ebdon, English snooker player
★
August 29 -
Jacco Eltingh, Dutch tennis player
★
August 31 -
Deborah Gibson, American singer
September-October
★
September 4 -
Daisy Dee, Dutch singer and actress
★
September 5 -
Liam Lynch, American musician, comedian, puppetteer, creator of the
Sifl and Olly Show.
★
September 8 -
Latrell Sprewell, American basketball player
★
September 8 -
Benny Ibarra, Mexican singer
★
September 9 -
Macy Gray, American singer
★
September 10 -
Phaswane Mpe, South African writer (d.
2004)
★
September 10 -
Jeff Marx, Broadway composer
★
September 14 -
Craig Montoya, American musician (
Everclear)
★
September 15 -
Jukka Jokikokko, Finnish musician and studio engineer
★
September 18 -
Darren Gough, English cricketer
★
September 19 -
Dan Bylsma, American ice hockey player
★
September 19 -
Takanori Nishikawa, Japanese singer
★
September 19 -
Yuka Imai, Japanese
seiyu (voice actress)
★
September 21 -
Bridget Moynahan, American actress
★
September 22 -
Mike Matheny, baseball player
★
September 23 -
Ani DiFranco, American musician
★
September 28 -
Isabelle Brasseur, Canadian figure skater
★
September 29 -
Emily Lloyd, English actress
★
September 29 -
Yoshihiro Tajiri, Japanese professional wrestler
★
September 30 -
Mark Smith, former ''
Gladiator''
★
October 2 -
Kelly Ripa, American actress and talk-show hostess
★
October 4 -
Richard Hancox, English footballer
★
October 6 -
Amy Jo Johnson, American actress and singer
★
October 8 -
Matt Damon, American actor
★
October 8 -
Tetsuya Nomura
★
October 9 -
Annika Sörenstam, Swedish golfer
★
October 10 -
Bai Ling, Chinese actress
★
October 10 - Sir
Matthew Pinsent, British Olympic winning rower
★
October 11 -
Andy Marriott, English footballer
★
October 12 -
Kirk Cameron, American actor
★
October 15 -
Eric Benét, American singer
★
October 17 -
Anil Kumble, Indian cricketer
★
October 17 -
Marciano Vink, Dutch footballer
★
October 18 -
Jose Padilla, American gang member and alleged terrorist
★
October 25 -
Adam Goldberg, American actor
★
October 29 -
Philip Cocu, Dutch footballer
★
October 31 -
Linn Berggren, Swedish singer (
Ace of Base)
November-December
★
November 2 -
Sharmell Sullivan,
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) valet and former
Nitro Girl
★
November 3 -
Dawn Marie Psaltis, former
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and WWE performer
★
November 5 -
Javy Lopez, American baseball player
★
November 6 -
Ethan Hawke, American actor, writer, and film director
★
November 7 -
Neil Hannon, Northern Irish musician (
The Divine Comedy)
★
November 9 -
Chris Jericho, Canadian pro wrestler
★
November 9 -
Susan Tedeschi, American musician and singer
★
November 12 -
Tonya Harding, American figure skater
★
November 12 -
Harvey Stephens, British child actor
★
November 18 -
Peta Wilson, Australian actress
★
November 20 -
Joe Zaso, American actor and producer
★
November 22 -
Stel Pavlou, British novelist and screenwriter
★
November 23 -
Zoë Ball, British television and radio presenter
★
November 26 -
Dave Hughes, Australian comedian
★
November 26 -
Alex Taylor, Latin porn star
★
November 30 -
Natalie Williams, American basketball player
★
November 30 -
Walter Jones, American actor
★
December 2 -
Sarah Silverman, American comedian
★
December 2 -
Joshua Seth, American voice actor and hypnotist
★
December 6 -
Ulf "Buddha" Ekberg, Swedish musician (
Ace of Base)
★
December 12 -
Jennifer Connelly, American actress
★
December 15 -
Michael Shanks, Canadian actor
★
December 16 -
Benjamin Kowalewicz, Canadian musician
★
December 17 -
Craig Doyle, Irish television presenter
★
December 18 -
DMX, American rapper
★
December 18 -
Miles Marshall Lewis, American author
★
December 18 -
Cowboy Troy, American singer and rapper
★
December 18 -
Rob Van Dam, American pro wrestler
★
December 20 -
Nicole DeBoer, Canadian actress
★
December 20 -
Massimo Ellul, Maltese entrepreneur and philanthropist
★
December 24 -
Will Oldham, American musician
★
December 29 -
Aled Jones, Welsh singer and television presenter
★
December 29 -
Kevin Weisman, American actor
Unknown dates
★
Dean Del Mastro, Canadian Member of Parliament
★
Gabrielle Giffords, American politician
★
Alison Goldfrapp, English singer
★
Naomi Klein, Canadian journalist and activist
★
Tomoki Kyoda, Japanese animation director
★
Freddy Soto, American comedian and actor.
Deaths
January-March
★
January 4 -
Jean-Etienne Valluy, French general (b.
1899)
★
January 5 -
Max Born, German physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1882)
★
January 10 -
Pavel Belyayev, cosmonaut (b.
1925)
★
January 18 -
David O. McKay, ninth president of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b.
1873)
★
January 25 -
Jane Bathori, French mezzo-soprano (b.
1877)
★ January 25 -
Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese film director and special effects designer, creator of
Godzilla and
Ultraman (b.
1901)
★
January 27 -
Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (b.
1908)
★
January 29 -
Basil Liddell Hart, British military historian (b.
1895)
★
January 29 -
Thelma Morgan, American socialite (b.
1904)
★
January 31 -
Slim Harpo, American singer (b.
1924)
★
February 2 -
Bertrand Russell, English logician and philosopher, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Literature (b.
1872)
★
February 2 -
Lawrence Gray, American actor (b.
1898)
★
February 5 -
Rudy York, baseball player (b.
1913)
★
February 14 -
Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (b.
1880)
★
February 16 -
Francis Peyton Rous, American pathologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1879)
★
February 17 -
Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1888)
★
February 17 -
Alfred Newman, American film composer (b.
1901)
★
February 20 -
Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b.
1885)
★
February 25 -
Mark Rothko, Latvian-born painter (b.
1903)
★
March 11 -
Erle Stanley Gardner, American author (b.
1889)
★
March 11 -
Lucille Hegamin, American singer and entertainer (b.
1894)
★
March 16 -
Tammi Terrell, American singer (b.
1945)
★
March 23 -
Del Lord, Canadian film director (b.
1894)
★
March 30 -
Heinrich Brüning,
Chancellor of Germany (b.
1885)
April-June
★
April 5 -
Alfred Henry Sturtevant, American geneticist (b.
1891)
★
April 26 -
Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress (b.
1911)
★
April 30 -
Inger Stevens, Swedish-born actress (b.
1934)
★
May 1 -
Ralph Hartley, American inventor (b.
1888)
★
May 1 -
Yi, Eun, Crown Prince of Korea (b.
1897)
★
May 9 -
Andrew Watson Myles, Canadian politician (b.
1884)
★
May 9 -
Walter Reuther, American labor union leader (b.
1907)
★
May 14 -
Billie Burke, American actress (b.
1885)
★
May 12 -
Nelly Sachs, German writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1891)
★
May 21 -
E. L. Grant Watson, Australian scientist and writer (b.
1885)
★
May 29 -
John Gunther, American writer (b.
1901)
★
May 29 -
Eva Hesse, German-born American sculptor (b.
1936)
★
May 31 -
Terry Sawchuk, Canadian hockey player (b.
1929)
★
June 1 -
George Watkins, owner of
rookie MLB batting average record (b.
1900)
★
June 7 -
E. M. Forster, English writer (b.
1879)
★
June 8 -
Abraham Maslow, American psychologist (b.
1908)
★
June 11 -
William 'Billy Batts' Devino, mobster (b.
1921)
★
June 16 -
Brian Piccolo, American football star (b.
1943)
★
June 21 -
Sukarno,
President of Indonesia (b.
1901)
★
June 27 -
Daniel Kinsey, American hurdler (b.
1902)
July-September
★
July 10 -
Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic foreign and later prime minister (b.
1908)
★
July 19 -
Egon Eiermann, German architect (b.
1904)
★
July 21 -
Bob Kalsu, American football player (b.
1945)
★
July 22 -
Fritz Kortner, Austrian-born director (b.
1892)
★
July 24 -
Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman (b.
1897)
★
July 27 -
António de Oliveira Salazar, Prime Minister of Portugal (de facto dictator) (b.
1889)
★
July 29 -
John Barbirolli, English conductor (b.
1899)
★
July 29 -
George Szell, Hungarian conductor (b.
1897)
★
August 1 -
Frances Farmer, American actress (b.
1913)
★
August 1 -
Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist,
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (b.
1883)
★
August 18 -
Soledad Miranda, Spanish actress (b.
1943)
★
August 19 -
Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian (b.
1909)
★
September 1 -
Francois Mauriac, French writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1885)
★
September 2 -
Marie Pierre Koenig, French general and politician (b.
1898)
★
September 3 -
Vince Lombardi, American football coach (b.
1913)
★
September 5 -
Jesse Pennington, English footballer (b.
1883)
★
September 5 -
Jochen Rindt, Austrian race car driver (b.
1942)
★
September 11 -
Ernst May, German architect (b.
1886)
★
September 18 -
Jimi Hendrix, American musician (b.
1942)
★
September 25 -
Erich Maria Remarque, German author (b.
1898)
★
September 28 -
Gamal Abdal Nasser, first
President of Egypt (b.
1918)
★
September 28 -
John Dos Passos, American novelist (b.
1896)
★
September 29 -
Edward Everett Horton, American actor (b.
1895)
October-December
★
October 4 -
Janis Joplin, American singer (b.
1943)
★
October 17 -
Pierre Laporte, Canadian statesman (assassinated) (b.
1921)
★
October 21 -
John T. Scopes, American
Scopes Monkey Trial defendant (b.
1900)
★
October 24 -
Richard Hofstadter, American historian (b.
1916)
★
November 7 -
Eddie Peabody, American musician (b.
1902)
★
November 9 -
Charles de Gaulle,
President of France (b.
1890)
★
November 14 -
Louis Rich, American Entrepreneur (b.
1896)
★
December 12 -
Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b.
1889)
Unknown dates
★
Paul Celan, Romanian-born German-language poet (body found on
May 1) (b.
1920)
★
Sada Abe, Japanese actress (unconfirmed)
Nobel prizes
★
Physics -
Hannes Alfvén,
Louis Eugène Félix Néel
★
Chemistry -
Luis Federico Leloir
★
Medicine -
Sir Bernard Katz,
Ulf von Euler,
Julius Axelrod
★
Literature -
Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn
★
Peace -
Norman E. Borlaug
★
Economics -
Paul Samuelson
==
Fields Medalists==
★
Alan Baker,
Heisuke Hironaka,
Sergei Petrovich Novikov,
John Griggs Thompson
See also
★
20th century
Notes
External links
★
1970 - The Year in Sound An Audiofile produced by Lou Zambrana of WCBS Newsradio 880 (WCBS-AM New York) Part of WCBS 880's celebration of 40 years of newsradio.
Table of contents
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