What happened in the 1970s?
The 1970s brought disco, punk, the first home computers, oil crises and the end of the Vietnam War.
88 events, oldest first.
Timeline of The 1970s
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1970
Apollo 13 returns safely to Earth
The crew used their lunar module as a lifeboat for the journey home.
History of exploration
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1970
Brazil wins its third World Cup
Brazil kept the Jules Rimet trophy, which was later stolen and never recovered.
History of sport
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1970
Egypt's Aswan High Dam is completed
The temples of Abu Simbel were cut into blocks and moved to save them from its reservoir.
Science & technology history
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1970
The Beatles break up
Paul McCartney revealed the split in a press release for his first solo album.
Pop culture history
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1970
The first Earth Day
Around 20 million Americans took part.
Natural history & deep time
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1970
The first gay pride marches are held
They marked the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
Politics & society history
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1970
The first Glastonbury Festival
Tickets cost £1 and included free milk from the farm.
Pop culture history
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1970
The jumbo jet enters passenger service
The Boeing 747's famous hump was designed so it could easily be converted into a cargo plane.
Science & technology history
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1971
Alan Shepard plays golf on the Moon
He hit two balls with a club head attached to a sample-collecting tool.
History of sport
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1971
Bangladesh becomes independent
It had previously been East Pakistan.
Politics & society history
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1971
Cup Noodles go on sale
The foam cup served as packaging, cooking pot and bowl.
Food & brand history
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1971
Intel's first microprocessor is released
The Intel 4004 was designed for a calculator made by Japanese company Busicom.
Science & technology history
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1971
Nike gets its name
The swoosh logo was designed by a student who was paid $35.
Food & brand history
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1971
Starbucks opens its first store
It sold coffee beans and equipment, not cups of coffee.
Food & brand history
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1971
Swiss women gain the vote in national elections
Switzerland gave women the national vote two years after the Moon landing.
Politics & society history
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1971
The first email is sent between networked computers
Ray Tomlinson chose the @ sign and later said the test message was something like QWERTYUIOP.
Science & technology history
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1971
The first one-day international cricket match
It was arranged after rain washed out a Test in Melbourne.
History of sport
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1972
Apollo 17, the last crewed Moon landing
No one has walked on the Moon since - a gap of more than 50 years.
History of exploration
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1972
Atari is founded
A young Steve Jobs worked there before founding Apple.
Food & brand history
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1972
Bobby Fischer becomes world chess champion
His Cold War match against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik was front-page news worldwide.
History of sport
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1972
Mark Spitz wins seven Olympic golds
His record stood until Michael Phelps won eight in 2008.
History of sport
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1972
Pong is released
Atari's test machine in a California bar reportedly broke down because it was jammed with coins.
Pop culture history
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1972
The first home games console goes on sale
The Magnavox Odyssey came with plastic overlays to stick on your TV screen.
Pop culture history
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1972
The first leap second is added
Leap seconds keep atomic clocks in step with Earth's slightly irregular spin.
Science & technology history
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1972
The Godfather is released
Paramount executives initially didn't want Marlon Brando in the lead role.
Pop culture history
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1973
An Arab oil embargo hits the West
Some countries banned Sunday driving to save fuel.
Modern history
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1973
Billie Jean King wins the 'Battle of the Sexes'
Around 90 million people watched her beat Bobby Riggs.
History of sport
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1973
Disney's animated Robin Hood is released
Its song 'Whistle-Stop' later powered the early internet's Hampster Dance.
Pop culture history
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1973
Pink Floyd release The Dark Side of the Moon
It spent more than 900 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.
Pop culture history
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1973
Secretariat wins the Triple Crown
He won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths.
History of sport
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1973
Skylab is launched
Its first crew had to rig a sunshade after it lost a heat shield during launch.
History of exploration
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1973
The first handheld mobile phone call
Motorola's Martin Cooper made it on a New York street - and called a rival engineer at Bell Labs.
Science & technology history
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1973
The first Iditarod sled dog race
The winner took about 20 days to cross Alaska.
History of sport
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1973
The Sydney Opera House opens
Architect Jørn Utzon quit during construction and never saw his building finished.
Art & literature history
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1973
The UK joins the European Economic Community
Denmark and Ireland joined on the same day.
Politics & society history
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1974
ABBA wins Eurovision with Waterloo
The UK jury gave them zero points.
Pop culture history
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1974
Ali and Foreman fight the Rumble in the Jungle
Ali used his 'rope-a-dope' tactic to tire out George Foreman.
History of sport
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1974
Dungeons & Dragons is published
The first print run was just 1,000 hand-assembled copies.
Pop culture history
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1974
Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth's home run record
Aaron received bags of hate mail during the chase, but kept going.
History of sport
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1974
Hello Kitty first appears
Her designers say she has no mouth so people can project their own feelings onto her.
Pop culture history
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1974
Hiroo Onoda finally surrenders in the Philippines
The Japanese soldier fought on in the jungle for 29 years, until his old commander relieved him.
Politics & society history
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1974
Johan Cruyff shows off the 'Cruyff turn'
He first used it at the World Cup against Sweden.
History of sport
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1974
Kinder Surprise eggs go on sale
They are banned in the US because the toy is sealed inside the food.
Food & brand history
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1974
President Nixon resigns over Watergate
He is the only US president ever to resign.
Politics & society history
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1974
The Rubik's Cube is invented
Its Hungarian inventor, Ernő Rubik, reportedly took about a month to solve it himself.
Pop culture history
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1974
The Terracotta Army is discovered
Farmers digging a well found the first fragments of more than 8,000 clay soldiers.
History of exploration
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1975
Arthur Ashe wins Wimbledon
He was the first Black man to win the men's singles title.
History of sport
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1975
General Franco dies
Spain returned to democracy within a few years of his death.
Politics & society history
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1975
Jaws becomes the first summer blockbuster
The mechanical shark kept breaking down, so Spielberg showed it far less than planned.
Pop culture history
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1975
Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to climb Everest
Twelve days earlier, she had been buried by an avalanche.
History of exploration
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1975
Microsoft is founded
Bill Gates and Paul Allen's first product was a BASIC language for the Altair computer.
Science & technology history
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1975
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is released
Coconut shells stood in for horses, partly because of the tiny budget.
Pop culture history
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1975
Queen releases Bohemian Rhapsody
Their record label thought the six-minute song was too long to be a single.
Pop culture history
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1975
Saturday Night Live first airs
Its first host was comedian George Carlin.
Pop culture history
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1975
The fall of Saigon
Helicopters evacuated people from rooftops as the city fell.
Modern history
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1975
The first Cricket World Cup
The West Indies won the first final at Lord's.
History of sport
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1975
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is created
The reef is the largest structure built by living things.
Natural history & deep time
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1975
US and Soviet spacecraft dock in orbit
During Apollo-Soyuz, the crews shook hands, swapped gifts and shared meals.
History of exploration
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1976
Apple Computer is founded
Co-founder Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake after 12 days for $800.
Food & brand history
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1976
Concorde enters passenger service
It flew London to New York in about three and a half hours, at twice the speed of sound.
Science & technology history
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1976
Iceland wins the last Cod War
Iceland threatened to quit NATO and close a key US air base.
Politics & society history
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1976
Nadia Comăneci scores the first perfect 10
The scoreboard could only show 1.00, as no one had expected a 10.
History of sport
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1976
Rocky is released
Sylvester Stallone is said to have written the first draft in about three days.
Pop culture history
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1976
The CN Tower is completed
It was the world's tallest freestanding structure for over 30 years.
Science & technology history
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1976
The first Winter Paralympics
They were held in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden.
History of sport
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1976
The 'Judgement of Paris' wine tasting
Californian wines beat top French ones in a blind tasting by French judges.
Food & brand history
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1976
The Muppet Show first airs
Kermit was originally made from Jim Henson's mother's old coat.
Pop culture history
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1976
Viking 1 lands on Mars
It sent back the first clear photographs from the surface of Mars.
History of exploration
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1977
Elvis Presley dies
His home, Graceland, is now one of the most visited houses in America.
Pop culture history
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1977
France carries out its last execution by guillotine
The final guillotining in France took place the same year Star Wars came out.
Modern history
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1977
Red Rum wins his third Grand National
He trained on the sands of Southport beach.
History of sport
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1977
The first MRI scan of a human body
The first full-body scanner was named 'Indomitable'.
Science & technology history
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1977
The first Star Wars film is released
George Lucas took a smaller directing fee in exchange for merchandising and sequel rights.
Pop culture history
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1977
Voyager 1 is launched
It is the most distant human-made object, more than 24 billion km away.
History of exploration
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1978
Ben & Jerry's opens its first shop
It opened in a converted petrol station in Burlington, Vermont.
Food & brand history
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1978
Everest is climbed without bottled oxygen
Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler proved doctors wrong who said it was impossible.
History of exploration
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1978
Garfield first appears
Cartoonist Jim Davis named him after his grandfather.
Pop culture history
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1978
Grease is released
'You're the One That I Want' was written especially for the film.
Pop culture history
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1978
Space Invaders arrives in arcades
The aliens speed up as you shoot them because the hardware ran faster with fewer to draw.
Pop culture history
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1978
The Aztec Templo Mayor is rediscovered
Electricity workers in Mexico City stumbled on a huge carved stone of a moon goddess.
History of exploration
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1978
The first GPS satellite is launched
GPS was originally built for the US military.
Science & technology history
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1978
The first Ironman triathlon
Only 15 people started the race in Hawaii.
History of sport
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1978
The first IVF baby is born
Louise Brown was born in Oldham, England.
Science & technology history
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1978
The first spam email is sent
It advertised DEC computers to a few hundred ARPANET users.
Science & technology history
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1979
Sony launches the Walkman
Sony's co-founder wanted a way to listen to opera on long flights.
Pop culture history
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1979
The first direct European Parliament elections
Voters in nine countries took part.
Politics & society history
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1979
The Iranian Revolution
The Shah fled, and Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile in Paris.
Modern history
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1979
The Three Mile Island nuclear accident
It was the most serious nuclear accident in US history.
Modern history
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