1971

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s

Years: 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 - 1971 - 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976

This is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar).

See also:

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Year in topic
3 Births
4 Deaths
5 Nobel Prizes

Events

January 1 - British divorce Reform Act comes into force
January 2 - 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland.
January 2 - A ban on television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States.
January 3 - BBC Open University commences
January 7 - Howard Hughes breaks his silence to announce that his supposed biography is a forgery.
January 15 - Aswan Dam officially opened
January 19 - No, No Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City).
January 25 - Charles Manson and three female "family members" are found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Sharon Tate and others
January 25 - Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president
January 25 - Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state
January 31 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
February 2 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
February 4 - In Britain, Rolls Royce goes bankrupt - state takes over
February 5 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
February 7 - Tuscany, Italy, wrecked in an earthquake
February 7 - Men of Switzerland vote for giving voting rights to women in state elections - but not in all canton-specific ones.
February 8 - A new stock-market index called the Nasdaq debuts.
February 9 - The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.
February 9 - Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
February 9 - Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned moon landing.
February 11 - US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.
February 13 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
February 15 - "Decimalization Day" - United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency. See also decimalization.
March 1 - Bomb explodes in men's room in the White House - Weather Underground claims responsibility.
March 10 - Twenty-sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18.
March 12 - Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria.
March 18 - A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani killing 200.
March 25 - The Pakistani miltary moves to crush dissent in East Pakistan
March 26 - East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan and the establishment of Bangladesh.
March 29 - William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in My Lai massacre and sentenced to life in prison. He is later pardoned.
March 29 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
April 5 - Mount Etna erupts.
April 9 - Charles Manson is sentenced to death but the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
April 17 - Libya, Syria and Egypt sign an agreement to form a confederation.
April 19 - Soviet Union launches Saljut I.
April 19 - Followers of Charles Manson, the Manson Family, are sentenced to gas chamber.
April 20 - Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
April 24 - 500.000 demonstrate against Vietnam War in Washington DC.
May 3 - Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.
May 3 - All Things Considered, National Public Radio's flagship news program, broadcasts for the first time.
May 19 - Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
May 30 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
May 31 The birth of a new country, Bangladesh. It is out of territory formerly part of Pakistan
June - The Pentagon Papers are published
June 14 - Norway begins oil production in North Sea.
June 17 - USA and Japan sign a treaty which gives Okinawa and other islands back to Japan.
June 28 - Black assassin shoots Joe Colombo to the head in a middle of a Italian-American rally. Colombo goes into coma.
June 30 - The crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve
July 5 - Right to vote: The voting age in the United States is reduced to 18 from 21 (provision of the 26th Amendment formally certified by President Richard Nixon on this day).
July 9 - Britain sends 500 more soldiers to Northern Ireland.
July 16 - Franco makes Prince Juan Carlos his successor.
July 16 - The four billionth baby was born. (see World Population).
July 26 - Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15. On July 31 the Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover a day after landing on the surface.
August 9 - India signs a twenty year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union
August 9 - British security forces in Northern Ireland detain hundreds of guerilla suspects and put them into Long Kesh - the beginning of an internment without trial policy. 20 die in riots that follow
August 14 - Emirate of Bahrain declares independence.
August 15 - President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods Gold Standard.
August 18 - Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
August 26 - Civilian government in Greece.
September 3 - Qatar regains independence from the United Kingdom.
September 4 - A Boeing 727 carrying Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska killing all 111 people on board.
September 8 - In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
September 9 - September 13 - Attica Prison riots - 43 dead, 10 of them hostages.
September 24 - Britain expels 90 KGB and GRU officials and 15 are not allowed to return
September 27 - October 11 - Emperor Hirohito travels abroad.
September 28 - Cardinal Mindszenty, who has resided in US embassy in Budapest from 1956 is allowed to move out of Hungary.
September 29 - Cyclone and tsunami in the Bay of Bengal in Orissa state in India kills 10.000
October 1 - Walt Disney World opens.
October 25 - The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (on Taiwan).
October 27 - Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
October 28 - British House of Commons votes in favour of joining the EEC by 356-244
October 29 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest level since January 1966).
October 30 - Rev. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party founded in Northern Ireland
November 3 - The UNIX Programmer's Manual is published.
November 6 - US nuclear bomb test in Aleuts.
November 10 - In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine airplanes.
November 12 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - US President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972 as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
November 13 - Mariner program: Mariner 9 enters Mars orbit.
November 15 - Intel releases world's first microprocessor, the 4004.
November 23 - The People's Republic of China is given the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council (see China and the United Nations).
November 24 - During a severe thunderstorm over Washington, a man calling himself D.B. Cooper parachutes from the Northwest Orient Airlines plane he hijacked with US$200,000 in ransom money (he was never heard from again).
December 1 - Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, 10 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh.
December 2 - Six Sheikdoms in Persian Gulf founds United Arab Emirates
December 3 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins as Pakistan attacks eight India aribases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
December 16 - The Pakistani forces in East Pakistan surrender, eh next day India proclaims a unilateral cease fire ending the war.
December 18 - US dollar devalued for the second time in US history
December 18 - World's largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, begins operations.
December 29 - The United Kingdom gives up its military bases in Malta
Don't Make A Wave Committee changes its name to Greenpeace
Ray Tomlinson sends the first e-mail.
Libertarian party established in USA
First Concorde test flights
Free City of Christiania is founded.
Intelsat IV

Year in topic

1971 in film
- A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick
- Fiddler on the Roof
- Dirty Harry starring Clint Eastwood
- The French Connection
1971 in literature
1971 in music
- John Lennon recorded Imagine
1971 in sports
1971 in television
- January 10 - Masterpiece Theatre debuts on PBS
- All in the Family premieres January 12 on TV

Births

January 11 - Mary J. Blige, pop singer
January 17 - Kid Rock, singer
January 19 - Shawn Wayans, actor, writer, producer
January 19 - John Wozniak, singer, songwriter of Marcy Playground
February 3 - Sarah Kane, playwright
February 17 - Denise Richards.
February 25 - Sean Astin, actor
February 26 - Erykah Badu, singer
March 5 - John Frusciante, musician, former member of Red Hot Chili Peppers
March 11 - Johnny Knoxville, ("Jackass"), television personality
March 27 - David Coulthard, Formula One racing driver
March 31 - Ewan McGregor, actor
March 31 - Pavel Bure, hockey player
April 1 - Method Man, musician
April 3 - Picabo Street, Olympic gold-medalist skier
April 17- Selena Quintanilla, famous Mexican-American tejano music singer (died 1995)
May 17 - MÃÂÃÂ¡xima Zorreguieta, wife of Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
May 25 - Sonya Smith, actress
May 26 - Matt Stone, co-creator of South Park
June 16 - Tupac Shakur, rapper, poet, actor (d. 1996)
June 22 - Kurt Warner, two-time NFL MVP
July 12 - Kristi Yamaguchi, figure skater
July 22 - Kristine Lilly, American soccer star; all-time leader in international matches played (men or women)
August 4 - Jeff Gordon, NASCAR racing driver
August 6 - Merrin Dungey, actress
August 12 - Pete Sampras, tennis player
September 1 - Hakan SÃÂÃÂ¼kÃÂÃÂ¼r, Turkish football star
September 18 - Lance Armstrong, cyclist, five-time Tour de France winner
September 11 - Richard Ashcroft, singer
September 20 - Henrik Larsson, Swedish football star
October 25 - Pedro MartÃÂÃÂnez, baseball pitcher, three-time Cy Young Award winner
October 29 - Winona Ryder, actress
November 25 - Christina Applegate, actress
November 25 - Magnus Arvedson, hockey player
December 24 - Ricky Martin, singer
December 25 - Dido, singer
December 28 - Frank Sepe, bodybuilder and male model

Deaths

January 5 - Douglas Shearer, pioneer motion-picture sound engineer
January 6 - Sonny Liston (date he was found dead)
January 10 - Gabrielle Chanel, aka Coco Chanel, fashion designer
January 11 - Jose Arigo,"psychic surgeon"
January 19 - Harry Shields, jazz musician (b. 1899)
January 20 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, actor, director, writer, producer
January 28 - Donald Winnicott, British psychoanalyst
February 11 - Whitney Young Jr, National Urban League director.
February 26 - Fernandel, French comedian
March 8 - Harold Lloyd, silent screen comedian
March 11 - Philo T. Farnsworth, television pioneer
March 16 - Thomas Dewey, candidate for President of the United States in 1944 and 1948
April 6 - Igor Stravinsky, composer
April 19 - Earl Thomson, Canadian athlete
April 21 - Papa Doc Duvalier, despotic President of Haiti.
May 11 - Sean Lemass, former Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland
May 15 - Sir Tyrone Guthrie, director, producer, writer
May 19 - Ogden Nash, poet
May 28 - Audie Murphy, WW II hero, actor
June 30 - Viktor Patsayev, Georgi Dobrovolsky, and Vladislav Volkov, Soyuz 11 cosmonautss
July 3 - Jim Morrison, American singer, songwriter and poet.
July 4 - August Derleth, American author and anthologist.
July 6 - Louis Armstrong, jazz musician
July 7 - Claude Gauvreau, Quebec playwright, poet and polemist
July 7 - Ub Iwerks, American animator
July 19 - John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, British businessman
August 25 - Ted Lewis, jazz musician, entertainer (b. 1890)
September 11 - Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, Soviet politician and leader. He was buried without official honors.
September 12 - Bi Lao, China's defense minister. Air crash in suspicious circumstances
September 19/ 20- William F. Albright, American archeologist and Biblical scholar.
October 24 - Carl Ruggles, composer
November 15 - Edie Sedgwick actor and model.
December 20 - Roy Oliver Disney, older brother and business partner of Walt Disney.