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1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday.
[edit] Events
[edit] January
[edit] February
- April 1 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
- April 1 - Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that had filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad till 1986, when it is sold to the public.
- April 3 - The 21st Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is held in The Hague. With Corry Brokken as the presenter, the contest is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses For Me.
- April 4 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
- April 5 - James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 5 - Tiananmen Incident: Large crowds lay wreaths at Beijing's Monument of the Martyrs to commemorate the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems against the Gang of Four are also displayed, provoking a police crackdown.
- April 13 - An explosion in an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland kills 40.
- April 16 - As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women.
- April 21 - The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne.
- April 23 - The Punk rock group The Ramones release their first album (which is self titled).
- April 25 - Portugal's new constitution is enacted.
- July 2 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam unite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Communist country.
- July 3 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules (Gregg v. Georgia) that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
- July 3 - The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
- July 4 - United States Bicentennial: From coast to coast, Americans celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
- July 4 - The Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP) leads 50,000 marchers in Philadelphia to demand a "Bicentennial Without Colonies" and independence for Puerto Rico.
- July 4 - In the Entebbe Raid, Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; 1 Israeli and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid.
- July 6 - The first class of women is inducted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.
- July 7 - German left-wing terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Straße maximum security prison in West Berlin.
- July 10 - Three British and 1 American mercenaries are shot by firing squad in Angola.
- July 10 - An explosion in Seveso, Italy, kills a large number of people.
- July 15 - Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. President at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.
- July 16-July 20 - Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Societe Generale Bank in Nice, France.
- July 17 - The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Canada.
- July 17 - East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia.
- July 19 - Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
- July 20 - Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
- July 21 - A bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, British ambassador to the Irish Republic.
- July 26 - In Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan announces his choice of liberal U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker as his vice presidential running mate, in an effort to woo moderate Republican delegates away from President Gerald Ford.
- July 27 - The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda.
- July 28 - The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan,China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851.
- July 29 - In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing 1 and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year.
- July 30 - In Santiago, capital of Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil wins River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions.
- July 31 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
[edit] August
- August 1 - The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Queen Elizabeth II with an elected president as their Head of State.
- August 2 - A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr, and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel, in an incident at Priscilla's Mansion at Mockingbird Lane in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's husband and one of the richest men in Texas, is tried and found innocent for Andrea's murder, involvement in a plot to kill several people (including Priscilla and a judge), and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen goes broke afterwards.
- August 4 - The first outbreak of Legionnaire's disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia.
- August 5 - Racing Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand Prix.
- August 5 - The Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over 9 months.
- August 6 - Former UK Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced to 7 years' jail for fraud.
- August 7 - Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.
- August 14 - Ten thousand Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.
- August 14 - The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized. PAI-Rénovation thus becomes the third legal party in the country.
- August 18 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two US soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Demilitarized Zone which had obscured their view.
- August 19 - U.S. President Gerald Ford edges out challenger Ronald Reagan to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in Kansas City.
- August 24 - In Uruguay, an army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Marcelo is later killed and his wife (and unborn child) disappear.
- August 26 - First known outbreak of Ebola virus in Yambuku, Zaire.
[edit] September
- September 3 - Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photos of the planet's surface.
- September 6 - Cold War: Soviet air force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaido in Japan, and requests political asylum from the United States.
- September 6 - Frank Sinatra brings Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, Nevada, reuniting the comedy team for the first (and what would turn out to be the only) time in over 20 years.
- September 9 - Chairman Mao Zedong, of the People's Republic of China, dies.
- September 10 - A British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), killing all 176 aboard.
- September 10 - Osamu Tezuka begins serialising MW, a manga inspired by the 1974 Kakuei Tanaka government scandal.
- September 16 - Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from the trolleybus, that had fallen into Erevan reservoir.
- September 17 - The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a Palmdale, California hangar.
Enterprise rolls out of the Palmdale manufacturing facilities with
Star Trek television cast members.
[edit] October
- October 6 - Cubana Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Castrist militants, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados. All 73 people on board are killed.[1]
- October 6 - Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
- October 7 - In San Francisco, during his second televised debate with Jimmy Carter, U.S. President Gerald Ford stumbles when he declares that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" (there was at the time).
- October 10 - Taiwan Governor Hsieh Tung-ming is injured by a letter bomb from a pro-independence activist.
- October 12 - The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to the late Mao Tse-tung, as Chairman of the Communist Party of China.
- October 13 - The United States Commission on Civil Rights releases the report, Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future, that documents that Puerto Ricans in the United States have a poverty rate of 33 percent in 1974 (up from 29 percent in 1970), the highest of all major racial-ethnic groups in the country (not including Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory)..
- October 19 - The Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 20 years in the United States.
- October 19 - The Battle of Aishiya is fought in Lebanon.
- October 19 - The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species.
- October 20 - The Mississippi River ferry MV George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing from Destrehan, LA to Luling, LA, killing 78 passengers and crew.
- October 22 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, the fifth President of Ireland, resigns after being publicly insulted by the Minister for Defence.
- October 25 - Clarence Norris, the last known survivor of the Scottsboro Boys, is pardoned.
[edit] November
[edit] December
- December 1 - Angola joins the United Nations.
- December 1 - The Sex Pistols achieve public notoriety as they unleash several 4-letter words live on Bill Grundy's TV show.
- December 3 - Bob Marley and his manager Don Taylor are shot in an assassination attempt, at 56 Hope Road in Kingston, Jamaica. Marley is shot twice, but Taylor takes most of the bullets; both survive.
- December 3 - Patrick Hillery is elected unopposed as the sixth President of Ireland.
- December 8 - The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is established by the 5 Latinos in the United States Congress: Herman Badillo of the Bronx, E. de la Garza and Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, Edward R. Roybal of California, and the nonvoting Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Baltasar Corrada del Rio.
- December 15 - Samoa joins the United Nations.
- December 20 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago for 21 years, dies.
- December 23 - A new volcano, Murara, erupts in eastern Zaire.
[edit] Unknown dates
[edit] Births
[edit] January
- January 1 - Seema Bowri, British actress
- January 2 - Cletidus Hunt, American football player
- January 2 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- January 4 - Shiro Amano, Japanese manga artist/writer
- January 6 - Danny Pintauro, American actor
- January 7 - Éric Gagné, Canadian Major League Baseball player
- January 7 - Alfonso Soriano, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- January 8 - Jenny Lewis, American actress and musician (Rilo Kiley)
- January 19 - Marsha Thomason, British actress
- January 20 - Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
- January 21 - Emma Bunton, English musician (Spice Girls)
- January 28 - Mark Madsen, American basketball player
- January 30 - Andy Milonakis, Internet and MTV star
- January 31 - Buddy Rice, American race car driver
[edit] February
- February 2 - James Hickman, British swimmer
- February 4 - Cam'ron, Harlem, New York rapper
- February 5 - Abhishek Bachchan, Indian Actor
- February 9 - Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- February 10 - Lance Berkman, baseball player
- February 12 - Silvia Saint, Czech actress
- February 13 - Martin Sastre, Uruguayan artist
- February 15 - Brandon Boyd, American musician (Incubus)
- February 16 - Tooru "Kyo" Nishimura Vocalist of Visual Kei band (Dir En Grey)
- February 20 - Ed Graham, British drummer (The Darkness)
- February 23 - Jeff O'Neill, Canadian hockey player
- February 25 - Rashida Jones, American actress, writer, model, musician
- February 29 - Ja Rule, American rapper
- March 5 - Sarunas Jasikevicius, Lithuanian basketball player
- March 8 - Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor
- March 13 - Danny Masterson, American actor
- March 19 - Rachel Blanchard, Canadian actress
- March 19 - Alessandro Nesta, Italian football player
- March 20 - Chester Bennington, American musician (Linkin Park)
- March 22 - Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
- March 22 - Reese Witherspoon, American actress
- March 23 - Keri Russell, American actress
- March 24 - Aaron Brooks, American football player
- March 24 - Peyton Manning, American football player
- March 25 - Juvenile, American rapper
- March 26 - Amy Smart, American actress
- April 6 - Candace Cameron, American actress
- April 13 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor (d. 2003)
- April 15 - Steve Williams (rower), British rower
- April 18 - Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
- April 20 - Joey Lawrence, American actor
- April 22 - Michał Żewłakow, Polish footballer
- April 23 - Darren Huckerby, English footballer
- April 25 - Tim Duncan, West Indian basketball player
- April 25 - Rainer Schuettler, German tennis player
- April 26 - Jose Pasillas, drummer of the US American alternative rock band Incubus
- May 3 - Beto, Portuguese footballer
- May 4 - Jason Michaels, baseball player
- May 14 - Martine McCutcheon, British actress and singer
- May 15 - Tyler Walker, baseball player
- May 15 - Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
- May 15 - Ryan Leaf, former NFL quarterback
- May 19 - Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
- May 20 - Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- May 25 - Miguel Tejada, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- May 26 - Justin Pierre, American Musician (Motion City Soundtrack)
- May 31 - Colin Farrell, Irish actor
- July 1 - Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer
- July 1 - Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer
- July 1 - Lina Rafn, Danish Singer
- July 3 - Andrea Barber, American actress
- July 4 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer
- July 5 - Bizarre, American rapper
- July 5 - Nuno Gomes, Portuguese footballer
- July 5 - Marina Dias, Brazilian supermodel
- July 5 - Mike DeWolf, member of the band Taproot
- July 7 - Elijah Blue Allman, Deadsy frontman and Son of Cher and Greg Allman
- July 8 - Ellen MacArthur, English yachtswoman
- July 9 - Shelton Benjamin, American professional wrestler
- July 9 - Fred Savage, American actor
- July 11 - Eduardo Nájera, Mexican basketball player
- July 13 - Al Santos, American actor/model
- July 17 - Marcos Senna, Brazilian footballer
- July 20 - Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver
- July 20 - Andrew Stockdale, Singer/guitarist for Wolfmother
- July 23 - Judit Polgar, Hungarian chess player
- July 24 - Nate Bump, American baseball player
- July 25 - Stéphane Rideau, French Actor
- July 31 - Annie Parisse, American actress
[edit] August
- August 6 - Melissa George, Australian actress
- August 8 - JC Chasez, American singer
- August 9 - Jessica Capshaw, American actress
- August 9 - Rhona Mitra, English actress
- August 9 - Audrey Tautou, French actress
- August 11 - Ben Gibbard, American musician
- August 12 - Antoine Walker, American basketball player
- August 13 - Roddy Woomble, Scottish musician
- August 14 - Alex Albrecht, American television personality
- August 15 - Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch football player
- August 18 - Alex Katunich, Original bassist for the band Incubus
- August 19 - Michael M. Wartella, American underground cartoonist
- August 27 - Carlos Moyà, Spanish tennis player
- August 27 - Mark Webber, Australian race car driver
- August 27 - Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
[edit] September
- September 1 - Jada Fire, American pornographic actress
- September 3 - Jevon Kearse, American football player
- September 6 - Naomie Harris, British actress
- September 7 - Stevie Case, American video game celebrity
- September 8 - Abi Titmuss, British TV presenter and model
- September 8 - Sjeng Schalken, Dutch tennis player
- September 10 - Gustavo Kuerten, Brazilian tennis player
- September 12 - Maciej Żurawski, Polish footballer
- September 16 - Tina Barrett, English singer (S Club 7)
- September 19 - Isha Koppikar, Indian actress
- September 20 - Yui Horie, Japanese seiyu (voice actress)
- September 22 - Ronaldo, Brazilian footballer
- September 24 - Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, Senior Vice-President of Creative Writing - World Wrestling Entertainment
- September 25 - Chauncey Billups, American basketball player
- September 26 - Michael Ballack, German footballer
- September 28 - Fedor Emelianenko, Ukrainian mixed martial arts fighter
- September 29 - Andriy Shevchenko, Ukrainian footballer
[edit] October
- October 1 - Blu Cantrell, American singer
- October 1 - Dora Venter, Hungarian pornographic actress
- October 4 - Alicia Silverstone, American actress
- October 6 - Taylor Hicks, American singer
- October 7 - Gilberto Silva, Brazilian football player
- October 7 - Rachel McAdams, Canadian actress
- October 10 - Bob Burnquist, Brazilian skateboarder
- October 15 - Yoon Son-ha, South Korean actress
- October 19 - Michael Young, baseball player
- October 19 - Joy Bryant, American actress
- October 22 - Jon Foreman, American Singer/guitarist
- October 23 - Cat Deeley, British TV presenter
- October 23 - Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor
- October 25 - Steve Jones, Northern Irish footballer
- October 29 - Stephen Craigan, Northern Irish footballer
[edit] November
- November 1 - Matt Chapman, creator of Homestar Runner
- November 6 - Pat Tillman, American football player (d. 2004)
- November 6 - Catherine Clark, Canadian journalist (also daughter of former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark)
- November 7 - Mark Philippoussis, Australian tennis player
- November 11 - Mike Leon Grosch, German singer and finalist of Deutschland sucht den Superstar 3
- November 12 - Mirosław Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
- November 15 - Omid Ghayour, Iranian Mathematician
- November 19 - Jun Shibata, Japanese singer and songwriter
- November 20 - Laura Harris, Canadian Actress
- November 20 - Dominique Dawes, U.S. Olympic gymnast
- November 22 - Ville Valo, a Finnish singer for the band HIM
- November 24 - Lu Chen, Chinese figure skater
- November 27 - Jaleel White, American actor
- November 29 - Anna Faris, American actress
- November 29 - Ehren McGhehey, American actor, Jackass
[edit] December
- December 1 - Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d. 1998)
- December 7 - David A. Smith, biodiesel promoter
- December 8 - Dominic Monaghan, actor
- December 12 - Dan Hawkins, British guitarist (The Darkness)
- December 13 - Tom Delonge, American musician (Blink-182)
- December 13 - Radosław Sobolewski, Polish footballer
- December 15 - Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer
- December 17 - Takeo Spikes, American football player
- December 18 - Koyuki, Japanese actress and model
- December 25 - Tuomas Holopainen, keyboardist and main songwriter in the Finnish metal band Nightwish
- December 29 - Katherine Moennig, American actress
- December 29 - Jason-Shane Scott, American actor
[edit] Deaths
[edit] January
[edit] February
- February 1 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- February 1 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878)
- February 2 - Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bulgarian painter (b. 1903)
- February 6 - Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b. 1928)
- February 9 - Percy Faith, Canadian-born musician and composer (b. 1908)
- February 11 - Lee J Cobb, American actor (b. 1911)
- February 11 - Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamicist (b. 1894)
- February 11 - Charlie Naughton, Scottish actor (b. 1886)
- February 12 - Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)
- February 13 - Lily Pons, American soprano (b. 1898)
- February 20 - René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
- February 20 - Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist and faith healer (b. 1907)
- February 22 - Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
- April 1 - Max Ernst, German artist (b. 1891)
- April 4 - Harry Nyquist, American information theory pioneer (b. 1889)
- April 5 - Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director, and eccentric (b. 1905)
- April 9 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1903)
- April 18 - Henrik Dam, Dutch biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
- April 26 - Sid James, South African actor (b. 1913)
- May 1 - T.R.M. Howard, Civil rights leader, surgeon (b. 1908)
- May 9 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- May 9 - Ulrike Meinhof, German terrorist (b. 1934)
- May 11 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
- May 14 - Keith Relf, British musician (The Yardbirds) (b. 1943)
- May 26 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (b. 1889)
- May 27 - Hilde Hildebrand, German actress (b. 1897)
- May 28 - Steffan Danielsen, Faroese painter (b. 1922)
- May 31 - Jacques Monod, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1910)
[edit] August
[edit] September
[edit] October
[edit] November
[edit] December
[edit] Unknown dates
[edit] Ship events
[edit] Parody
