On This Day in 1976

On this day in 1976 the UK parliament voted to make the wearing of seat belts mandatory for drivers and front-seat passengers.

Also in British politics, Home Secretary Merlyn Rees announced that Special Category Status for prisoners convicted of terrorist crimes in Northern Ireland was to be phased out.

On this day in 1976, Jimmy Carter temporarily faltered in the race for the Democratic Party nomination for the US presidential election, as Senator Henry Jackson won the Massachusetts primary, finishing ahead of Alabama Governor George Wallace and Congressman Morris Udall – Carter finishing in fourth place. In the Republican primary, President Gerald Ford won uncontested.

In the UK, the Maguire Seven were found guilty of handling explosives leading up to the Guildford bombings by the Provisional IRA. All vehemently protested their innocence and the convictions would be overturned fifteen years later, a judge describing them as “unsafe and unsatisfactory”.

On this day in 1976, Spanish police opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque region, killing five people and wounding 150. The protesters had been demanding better work conditions.

On this day in 1976 the United Nations predicted, from statistical analysis, that the population of the world would reach almost eight billion by the year 2010, more than twice the 3.9 billion recorded in 1974. In the 35 years that followed, however, the growth rate would be slowed by improved education and the availability of contraception, with the population actually reaching 6.9 billion in 2010.

On this day in 1976 the UK pound dropped below two US dollars in value for the first time in history. At close of play on the day £1 sterling had fallen to $1.975.

Worse news in Argentina though, with inflation raging at 240% per year the government was faced with little option but to devalue the currency.

In other news, Austrian skier Toni Innauer set a new world record with a ski jump of 571 feet. Two days later he would break his own record by jumping 577 feet.

On this day in 1976, a 17-year-old Wilfred Benitez became the youngest professional world boxing champion in history when he won the WBA light-welterweight title in Puerto Rico, defeating Antonio Cervantes. Elsewhere in the boxing world former American light-heavyweight champion Maxie Rosenbloom (1930-1934) passed away aged 68.

In motor racing the South African Grand Prix was won on this day by Austrian Niki Lauda.

Britain’s John Curry won the European Men’s Figure Skating Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Following a three-week manhunt Nigerian Army Lieutenant Colonel B.S. Dimka was arrested and charged with treason for the assassination of President Murtala Muhammed and the attempted overthrow of the government in February. He would be found guilty and executed on May 15th.

On this day in 1976, Indian opposition leader Charan Singh was released from house arrest after eight months following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s declaration of a state of emergency. Singh would himself go on to become Prime Minister of India in 1979.

On this day in 1976 over one hundred extraterrestrial objects passed over China before falling in the Jilin province of Manchuria, constituting the largest ever meteor shower (1.766 kgs) ever to have been observed in descent.

On this day in 1976, direct rule was resumed in Northern Ireland after the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention was suspended by the British government.

In Italy 43 people were killed at Cavalese when a cable car at the ski resort fell after a supporting cable broke.

The United States Military Academy at West Point admitted its first female cadets in what would become a landmark in the move towards gender integration in the US armed forces.

On this day in 1976 the government’s proposed budget, which featured cuts to public spending of three billion pounds, was defeated in the House of Commons when 37 members of the Parliamentary Labour Party abstained and two joined the Conservatives in the lobby to vote it down. Following the announcement of the result Opposition Leader Margaret Thatcher called upon Prime Minister Harold Wilson to resign.

On this day in 1976, UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson survived a vote of confidence in his government by nineteen votes, but nearly forty Labour MPs abstained from the vote.

The Israeli government published its plan for the annexation of territories captured from Jordan in 1967.

An attempted military coup in the Lebanon fizzled out after President Suleiman Franjieh refused to step down.

In Nigeria 31 military officers, including the former Defence Minister, were convicted for their role in the attempted coup of February 13th and executed by firing squad.

On this day in 1976 South African forces completed their withdrawal from Angola, where they had been helping the anti-communist UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) faction in its war on two fronts following that country’s independence. The victorious MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) had been backed by the Soviet Union and reinforced by Cuban troops.

On this day in 1976 members of the Lebanese Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously to remove President Suleiman Franjieh from office. However he refused to step down and would remain in situ until his term of office ran out on September 22nd.

On this day in 1976, Egypt officially ended its friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, widely seen as a move by President Anwar Sadat to align his country more closely with the United States and the West. He denounced the USSR for refusing to provide Egypt with new weapons and replacement parts for military equipment, and refused the Soviet Navy the continued use of his Mediterranean ports.

On this day in 1976 the US rock group Kiss released their fourth and thus-far best selling album “Destroyer”, which would be certified gold within weeks. The album included the classic “Detroit Rock City” and the popular ballad “Beth”.

In other news, an attempted coup in the West African republic of Niger failed. Its instigator Sanoussi Jackou and was later imprisoned.

On this day in 1976 Harold Wilson, who had been Prime Minister of the UK from 1964 to 1970, and again from February 1974, resigned from office at the age of 60, citing mental and physical exhaustion as his reason. Although the news came as a shock to most, Wilson revealed that he had informally advised the Queen of his intentions back in December 1975. Some years later speculation arose that he had been aware of the presentation of early symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Wilson had first entered the Cabinet under the Attlee government of 1945-1951, becoming at the age of 31 the youngest government minister since William Pitt the Younger.

On this day in 1976 four people were killed and nearly fifty injured when a car bomb exploded outside the Hillcrest Bar in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, during the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. The bomb was planted by the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

In Dublin, Stephen Gately of Boyzone was born on this day. Gately sadly passed away in 2009 at the age of 33.

Meanwhile in Italy Prime Minister Aldo Moro consulted with leaders of other political parties in an attempt to save the lira and to avert a collapse of the Italian economy.

On this day in 1976 the state of Kentucky ratified the 13th amendment to the US Constitution, formally abolishing slavery – 110 years after the policy had ended in practice across the entire nation. The decision was passed in the state legislature by 77 votes to 0. However it was not the last US state to do so as Mississippi had still to ratify the amendment.

Elsewhere in the US, women were admitted to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland for the first time in history. The Academy announced the names of seven females amongst the first 247 students to be admitted for the 1976-1977 term.

On this day in 1976, Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, son of actor David Kossoff, died aged 25 from a drug-inspired pulmonary embolism whilst on a US domestic flight between Los Angeles and New York.

It was formally announced that Princess Margaret would be separating from her husband Lord Snowdon after sixteen years of marriage.

An attempt was made on the life of Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami after a Syrian Air Force Yak-40 in which he was travelling was hit by gunfire.

On this day in 1976, kidnap victim turned fugitive Patty Hearst was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 35 years in prison. The sentence would later be reduced to seven years, and in 1979 President Jimmy Carter commuted the federal criminal sentence and she would be released after 22 months.

The heiress had been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army but had become a recruit to their cause. The court rejected her claim to have been acting under duress from her captors.

On this day in 1976 the ABC Sunday Night Movie featured a two-hour pilot of Charlie’s Angels. Viewings were so impressive that it heralded a one-hour TV series which would premiere on September 22nd and run for five seasons.

On this day in 1976 the former Chief of Staff in the Italian Air Force, General Duilio Fanali, was arrested on suspicion of accepting a bribe from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation over the purchase of fourteen C130 Hercules aircraft.

Filming of the original Star Wars movie began in Tunisia.

Actress Reese Witherspoon was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

On this day in 1976 Ronald Reagan, one time actor and former Governor of California, won a primary for the first time in his bid to gain the Republican presidential nomination. His victory came in North Carolina.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights came into force after having been ratified by 35 countries.

Scottish track cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, who won numerous titles including six at the Olympic Games, was born on this day.

On this day in 1976 the UK mourned the loss of one of the greatest leaders in British military history, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, DL. “Monty”, as he was familiarly known, commanded the Eighth Army from 1942, during the Western Desert Campaign and later during the Allied invasions of Sicily and mainland Italy.

Following the Normandy landings he led the Allied ground forces until September 1944, whereafter he continued in command of the 21st Army Group.

In other news, Isabel Perón was deposed as President of Argentina and replaced by a military junta.