On This Day in 1976

On this day in 1976, the German cargo ship Nordhuk (formerly the Meteor) ran aground off the Inner Hebrides and was wrecked. All twelve crew members were rescued safely.

On this day in 1976 a Pan American Boeing 747SP took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy airport on the first leg of its record round the world flight. Arriving back at JFK some 46 hours after departing, it beat the previous best time by over 16 hours, and would have arrived back even sooner had it not been delayed in Tokyo due to an airport workers’ strike.

British rock band Wings, led by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, began their Wings Over America tour with a performance at Fort Worth in Texas.

On this day in 1976 the Spanish daily newspaper El Pais was published for the first time in Madrid, aiming to promote democratic ideals in post-Franco Spain.

The Leonard Bernstein musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue opened on Broadway, but was not well received and only ran for four days.

Liverpool won the English Football League following a 3-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Queen’s Park Rangers finished the season in second place.

On this day in 1976, Anderlecht beat West Ham United 3-1 to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) opened in Nairobi, Kenya with delegates attending from 150 countries.

Argentinian novelist and screenwriter Haroldo Conti was arrested in Buenos Aires, having been deemed a subversive agent by the government. He was never seen again.

Nine members of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) escaped from Long Kesh prison after tunnelling through the night. One was later apprehended when a car he attempted to hitch a lift with on the M1 motorway turned out to be driven by police officers.

On this day in 1976 a major earthquake in northern Italy resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,000 people, with over 150,000 being made homeless.

Eight members of the Special Air Service (SAS) were arrested after having crossed the border into the Republic of Ireland. The soldiers claimed that they had misread a map.

Local elections held throughout the United Kingdom saw Labour losing 829 seats, while the Conservatives gained 1,044 seats.

On this day in 1976 David Bowie performed at the Empire Pool, Wembley as part of his Isolar I (Station to Station) tour. Click on photo for more on Bowie’s work in 1976.

Benjamin Gimbert, hero of the 1944 Soham rail disaster and recipient of the George Cross, sadly passed away aged 73.

On this day in 1976, Japanese inventor Kazuo Hashimoto patented the Caller ID system, having previously invented the first practical telephone answering machine.

Lebanon’s Chamber of Deputies voted to select Elias Sarkis as President of the Lebanon. Despite the vote, incumbent Suleiman Frangieh still refused to vacate the post until the expiration of his six-year term on September 22nd.

On this day in 1976 Marcella Claxton, a 20-year-old expectant mother from Roundhay in Leeds, was brutally attacked with a hammer on her way home from a party in Chapeltown. Although at first this was not linked to the “Yorkshire Ripper” series of attacks, it was later incorporated into the investigation. Thankfully Marcella survived the ordeal.

41-year-old Ulrike Meinhof, co-founder of the terrorist Baader-Meinhof gang, was found hanged in her cell in Stuttgart.

On this day in 1976, Jeremy Thorpe resigned as Leader of the Liberal Party amid allegations of conspiracy to murder his former associate Norman Scott.

Ex-Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood played his first live show since joining the Rolling Stones, at the Glasgow Apollo. The show was the first leg of the Stones’ European tour.

On this day in 1976 the Sex Pistols played their first ever gig at the 100 Club in London’s Oxford Street. This began a weekly residency which helped the venue to secure its status as a hub for the punk movement in the UK.

In Parliament Defence Secretary Roy Mason announced the UK’s decision to manufacture its own tritium, with a view to making the country’s Polaris missile system less dependent upon the United States.

On this day in 1976 US President Gerald Ford and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev set in motion a treaty which limited the size of underground nuclear explosions for peaceful purposes.

At Hampden Park in Glasgow Bayern Munich defeated St. Etienne 1-0 to win the European Cup.

Former Yardbirds vocalist Keith Relf sadly died after being electrocuted while playing his guitar at home. Hounslow-born Relf would be buried in Richmond Cemetery.

On this day in 1976 UK government ministers reviewed proposals for the extension of worker representation on boards in both public services and the private sector.

The first of two lunar eclipses that year was visible across many parts of the world.

US rock band Kiss played their first ever British concert, to a crowd of 2500 at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester.

On this day in 1976 an Aeroflot Antonov An-24 crashed on take-off in Vinnytsia, killing all 52 passengers and crew members on board.

Nigerian colonel B.S. Dimka and his six co-conspirators in an attempted coup back in February were publicly executed by firing squad.

The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) launched a bomb and gun attack on two pubs in County Armagh, killing four. A British army soldier was later convicted for his role in the attacks.