When We Were Kids Home Page
When We Were Kids Home Page
spacer
UK Shopping Guide
Sub Topics
MUSIC MOVIES TELEVISION CULTURE PEOPLE LINKS QUOTES FORUMS
s
| Home | The 1970's | 1973
s
The 1970's 1973 A brief history of the events that shaped 1973.
s
January April July October
February May August November
March June September December

 

1st The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later became the European Union
1st CBS sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner. It was 3.2 million dollars more than CBS bought the Yankees for
14th Elvis Presley's concert in Hawaii is watched by over a billion people live worldwide
15th Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam
17th Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines
18th Eleven Labour Party councillors in Clay Cross, Derbyshire, England, were ordered to pay £6,985 for not enforcing the Housing Finance Act
20th U.S. President Richard Nixon is inaugurated for his second term
21st The Communist League is founded in Denmark
22nd George Foreman defeats Joe Frazier for the heavyweight world boxing championship
22nd A Royal Jordanian Boeing 707 flight from Jeddah crashes in Kano, Nigeria; 176 people are killed
22nd Former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson dies at his Stonewall, Texas ranch leaving no former U.S. President living until the resignation of Richard M. Nixon in 1974
23rd U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam
27th Paris Peace Accords are signed. Allies officially wins Vietnam War

< Back to the Top

 

6th Construction on the CN Tower begins in Toronto, Canada
11th The first release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place
12th Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in metric on signs
16th The Court of Appeal of England and Wales ruled that the Sunday Times could publish articles on Thalidomide and Distillers Company, despite ongoing legal actions by parents (the decision was overturned in July by the House of Lords)
21st Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 (Boeing 727) is shot down by Israeli fighter aircraft over the Sinai Desert, after the passenger plane is suspected of being an enemy military plane. Only 5 (1 crew member and 4 passengers) of 113 survive
22nd Following President Richard Nixon's visit to mainland China, the United States and the People's Republic of China agree to establish liaison offices
27th The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota
28th Polling day in the Republic of Ireland general election

< Back to the Top

1st Dick Taverne, who had resigned from the Parliament of the United Kingdom on leaving the Labour Party, was re-elected as a 'Democratic Labour' candidate
3rd Tottenham Hotspur win the Football League Cup final at Wembley, beating Norwich City 1-0 in the final
7th Comet Kohoutek is discovered
8th In the 'Border Poll', voters in Northern Ireland vote to remain part of the United Kingdom. Irish nationalists are encouraged to boycott the referendum
8th Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in Whitehall and the Old Bailey in England
11th Sir Richard Sharples, Governor of Bermuda, was assassinated in Government House
17th Queen Elizabeth II opens the modern London Bridge
17th Many of the few remaining United States soldiers begin to leave Vietnam. One reunion of a former POW reuniting with his family is immortalised in the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy
17th Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, one of rock's landmark albums, is released
20th British government White Paper on Northern Ireland proposes re-establishment of an Assembly elected by proportional representation, with a possible All-Ireland council
21st Lofthouse Colliery disaster in Great Britain
22nd United Kingdom government announces that the Channel Tunnel could be finished by 1980, costing £366m (The Tunnel actually opened in 1994, some 14 years later than this prediction)
23rd In a letter to Judge John Sirica, Watergate burglar James W. McCord Jr. admits that he and other defendants have been pressured to remain silent about the case. He names former Attorney General John Mitchell as 'overall boss' of the operation
29th The last United States soldier leaves Vietnam

< Back to the Top

3rd The first handheld cellular phone call made by Martin Cooper, who conceived the phone, in New York City
4th The World Trade Center officially opens in New York City with a ribbon-cutting ceremony
6th Pioneer 11 is launched on a mission to study the solar system
7th Tu te reconnaîtras by Anne-Marie David (music by Claude Morgan, text by Vline Buggy) wins Eurovision Song Contest 1973 for Luxembourg
10th Israeli commandos raid Beirut, assassinating 3 leaders of the Palestinian Resistance Movement. The Lebanese army's inaction brings the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Saib Salam, a Sunni Muslim
11th The British House of Commons voted against restoring capital punishment by a margin of 142 votes
12th The Labour Party wins control of the Greater London Council
17th Federal Express officially begins operations, with the launch of 14 small aircraft from Memphis International Airport. On that night, Federal Express delivers 186 packages to 25 U.S. cities from Rochester, NY, to Miami, Fla
28th Six Irishmen, including Joe Cahill, are arrested by the Irish Naval Service off County Waterford on board a coaster carrying five tons of weapons destined for the Provisional Irish Republican Army
30th President Richard Nixon announces that top White House aids H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and others have resigned

< Back to the Top

 

1st An estimated 1,600,000 workers in the United Kingdom stopped work in support of a Trade Union Congress "day of national protest and stoppage" against the Government's anti-inflation policy
3rd The Sears Tower in Chicago is finished, becoming the world's tallest building
5th Shambu Tamang becomes the youngest person to climb to the summit of Mount Everest
5th Sunderland Win the FA Cup, beating Leeds United in the final
8th A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement who were occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, ends with the surrender of the militants
14th Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched
14th The British House of Commons votes to abolish capital punishment in Northern Ireland
17th Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate
18th Joseph Godber, British Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, announces that Royal Navy frigates will protect British trawlers fishing in the disputed 50-mile limit round Iceland
22nd Lord Lambton resigns from the British government over a 'call girl' scandal
24th Earl Jellicoe, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Lords in Britain, resigned over a separate prostitution scandal
25th Skylab 2 (Pete Conrad, Paul Weitz, Joseph Kerwin) is launched on a mission to repair the Skylab space station
27th By virtue of the non-retroactivity of Soviet copyright laws, all works published before this date are public domain. This applies worldwide

< Back to the Top

1st The Greek military junta abolishes the monarchy and proclaims a republic
3rd A Tupolev Tu-144 crashes at the Paris air show; 15 are killed
4th A patent for the ATM is granted to Donald Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain
10th The grandson of J. Paul Getty is kidnapped in Rome
20th The Ezeiza massacre occurs in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Snipers shoot on left-wing Peronists, killing at least 13 and injuring more than 300
23rd A house fire in Kingston upon Hull, England, which kills a 6-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 fire deaths caused over the next 7 years by arsonist Peter Dinsdale
24th Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev addresses the American people on television, the first to do so
25th Erskine Hamilton Childers is elected the fourth President of Ireland
25th Former White House counsel John Dean begins his testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee
28th Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time
30th Very long total solar eclipse. During the entire 2nd millennium, only 7 total solar eclipses exceeded 7 minutes of totality

< Back to the Top

1st The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is founded
5th The Isle of Man Post begins to issue its own postage stamps
5th The catastrophic BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) in Kingman, Arizona, following a fire that broke out as propane was being transferred from a railroad car to a storage tank, kills 11 firefighters. This explosion has become a classic incident, studied in fire department training programs worldwide
6th St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore was gazetted as a national monument
10th The Bahamas gains full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations
11th Varig Flight 820 disaster near Orly, France: 123 killed
12th A major fire destroys the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri
16th Former White House aide Alexander Butterfield informs the United States Senate Watergate Committee that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations
17th King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan while in Italy undergoing eye surgery
20th France resumes nuclear bomb tests in Mururoa Atoll, over the protests of Australia and New Zealand
21st The Philippines receives its second Miss Universe title, with Margarita Moran as the winner
25th The Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched
28th The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen, a massive rock festival featuring The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band and The Band, attracts over 600,000 music fans
28th Skylab 3 (Owen Garriott, Jack Lousma, Alan Bean) is launched, to conduct various medical and scientific experiments aboard Skylab
29th Formula One racing driver Roger Williamson dies in an accident, witnessed live on European television, during the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix
31st Militant protesters led by Ian Paisley disrupt the first sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly
31st A Delta Air Lines Flight 173 DC9-31 aircraft lands short of Boston's Logan Airport runway in poor visibility, striking a sea wall about 165 feet (50 m) to the right of the runway centerline and about 3000 feet (914 m) short. All 6 crew members and 83 passengers are killed, 1 of the passengers dying several months after the accident

< Back to the Top

1st The film American Graffiti is released
2nd A flash fire kills 51 at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas, Isle of Man
5th Black September members open fire at the Athens airport; 3 are killed, 55 injured
15th The U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking the official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia
23rd The Norrmalmstorg robbery occurs, famous for the origin of the term Stockholm syndrome

< Back to the Top

3rd

The British Trade Union Congress expelled 20 members for registering under the Industrial Relations Act 1971

11th Chile's democratically-elected government is overthrown in a military coup after serious instability. President Salvador Allende commits suicide during the coup in the presidential palace, and General Augusto Pinochet heads a U.S.-backed military junta that will govern Chile for the next 16 years
15th Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden dies. His grandson, Carl XVI Gustav, becomes king
18th The two German Republics, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), are admitted to the United Nations
20th Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in a televised tennis match, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas
22nd Henry Kissinger, United States National Security Advisor, starts his term as United States Secretary of State
27th Launch of Soyuz 12, the third manned flight since 1971

< Back to the Top

6th The fourth and largest Arab-Israeli conflict begins, as Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights on Yom Kippur
10th Spiro T. Agnew resigns as Vice President of the United States and then, in federal court in Baltimore, Maryland, pleads no contest to charges of income tax evasion on $29,500 he received in 1967, while he was governor of Maryland. He is fined $10,000 and put on 3 years' probation
14th A Student Revolt takes place in Bangkok, Thailand
17th The Arab Oil Embargo against several countries which support Israel triggers the 1973 energy crisis
20th U.S. President Richard Nixon orders Attorney General Elliot Richardson to dismiss Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Richardson refuses and resigns, along with Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. Solicitor General Robert Bork, third in line at the Department of Justice, then fires Cox. The event raises calls for Nixon's impeachment
20th The Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II after 14 years of construction work
26th The Yom Kippur War ends
26th United Nations recognise the independence of Guinea-Bissau
30th The Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time in history
31st Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape. Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escaped from Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, Republic of Ireland after a hijacked helicopter landed in the exercise yard

< Back to the Top

1st Acting Attorney General Robert Bork appoints Leon Jaworski as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor
3rd NASA launches Mariner 10 toward Mercury (on March 29, 1974 it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet)
7th The Congress of the United States overrides President Richard M. Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution, which limits presidential power to wage war without congressional approval
11th Egypt and Israel sign a United States-sponsored cease-fire accord
14th Princess Anne marries a commoner, Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey (they later divorce in 1992)
16th NASA launches Skylab 4 (Gerald Carr, William Pogue, Edward Gibson) from Cape Canaveral, Florida on an 84-day mission
16th U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorisation Act into law, authorising the construction of the Alaska Pipeline
17th In Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook."
17th A student uprising occurs against the military regime in Athens, Greece
21st U.S. President Richard Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, reveals the existence of an 18½-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to Watergate
25th Greek dictator George Papadopoulos is ousted in a military coup led by Lieutenant General Phaidon Gizikis
27th The United States Senate votes 92-3 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States
29th 104 people killed in a Taiyo department store fire in Kumamoto, Kyūshū, Japan

< Back to the Top

1st Papua New Guinea gains self government from Australia
3rd Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter
6th The United States House of Representatives votes 387-35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States; he is sworn in the same day
15th The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
20th Spanish prime minister Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated in Madrid by the terrorist organization ETA
28th The Endangered Species Act is passed
30th Terrorist Carlos the Jackal fails in his attempt to assassinate British businessman Joseph Sieff
31st Due to coal shortages caused by industrial action, the electricity consumption reduction measure of the Three-Day Week comes into force
a
s

< Back to the Top

Sponsored Links...
UK Search If you're looking for UK only web sites, this directory lists just that.


Music | Movies | Television | Culture | People | Web Links | Quotes | Forum
1940's | 1950's | 1960's | 1970's | 1980's | 1990's

Copyright © 2003 - 2009, WWWK, All Rights Reserved
a