January 1973

[January 1], 1973 (Monday)

• The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Communities, which would later becomes the European Union.
• CBS sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner.
• In the 59th Rose Bowl college football game, the USC Trojans defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes 42-17.
• Born: Jimi Mistry, English actor, in Scarborough; Rabaki Jeremie Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso road cycling champion
• Died: Sergei Kourdakov, 21, KGB agent, found dead in his motel room in Running Springs, California, killed by a gunshot to the head

  [January 2], 1973 (Tuesday)

• The asteroid 11785 Migaic is discovered by N. S. Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory.
• Rafael Hernández Colón begins his first term as Governor of Puerto Rico.
• Born: Lucy Davis, English actress, in Solihull
• Died: Eleazar López Contreras, 89, President of Venezuela 1935–1941

  [January 3], 1973 (Wednesday)

• Beginning of the 93rd United States Congress.
• In the US, Democratic Representatives Hale Boggs of Louisiana's 2nd district and Nick Begich of Alaska's At-Large district are declared "presumed dead" by House Resolution 1, nearly three months after the plane carrying both Congressmen is lost over a remote region of Alaska. Although both Boggs and Begich won their re-elections while officially missing after the crash, the House resolution rendered their seats vacant at the start of the 93rd Congress and ordered special elections to fill both seats.
• Died: Christopher Chenery, 86, American engineer, businessman and racehorse owner; Christine van Meeteren, 87, Dutch silent film actress

  [January 4], 1973 (Thursday)

• Beginning of the 29th Canadian Parliament.
• The pilot episode of the longest-running TV comedy series in the world Last of the Summer Wine is broadcast in the United Kingdom.
• An annular solar eclipse takes place.

  [January 5], 1973 (Friday)

• The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland is signed into law.

  [January 6], 1973 (Saturday)

• Richard Nixon is officially declared the winner of the 1972 United States presidential election.
• The Ortoli Commission of the European Commission, presided over by François-Xavier Ortoli, takes office.

  [January 7], 1973 (Sunday)

• After shooting a police officer a week earlier, Mark Essex, a former Black Panther party member, shoots nineteen people in retaliation for police killings at a Howard Johnsons hotel in New Orleans, US. In addition, he also set fires in the hotel before being killed by police.
• The 1973 All-Africa Games open in Lagos, Nigeria.
• The British Darts Organisation is founded by Olly Croft.
• The anime series Fables of the Green Forest begins its run on Japanese television.

  [January 8], 1973 (Monday)

• Born: Ryan Coetzee, South African politician; Henning Solberg, Norwegian rally driver, in Askim
• Died: Sam Battaglia, 64, American mobster, in prison

  [January 9], 1973 (Tuesday)

• Rhodesia closes its borders with Zambia on the grounds that the Zambians are harbouring anti-Rhodesian guerrillas.
• The Dona Anita, an African freighter, sinks off Vancouver Island, with the loss of all 42 crew.
• Alexander Mackenzie Stuart, Max Sørensen, and Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh became judges at the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg. Jean-Pierre Warner joined the Court as Advocate-General.

  [January 10], 1973 (Wednesday)

• The body of murdered KGB agent Sergei Kourdakov is sent to Washington D.C. where an English funeral service by Reverend Richard Halverson, a Presbyterian pastor, and a Russian service at a Russian Orthodox church are held.
• Born: Félix Trinidad, Puerto Rican boxer, in Fajardo, Puerto Rico; Ajit Pai, American politician, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, in Buffalo, New York

  [January 11], 1973 (Thursday)

• 1973 oil crisis: U.S. Phase III price controls are introduced.
• Vietnam War: All Australian involvement in hostilities ceases.
• Born: Paul Kehoe, Irish politician, in Bree, County Wexford; Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh

  [January 12], 1973 (Friday)

• The suburb of Pickering Brook is officially created in Perth, Western Australia.
• Died: Roy Franklin Nichols, 76, American Pulitzer-Prize winning historian

  [January 13], 1973 (Saturday)

• Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert is recorded in London's Rainbow Theatre.

  [January 14], 1973 (Sunday)

• Elvis Presley's concert in Hawaii. The first worldwide telecast by an entertainer, however, it was not shown in Warsaw Pact Nations except in East Germany where it appeared on Der schwarze Kanal due to communist censorship.
• Super Bowl VII: The Miami Dolphins defeat the Washington Redskins 14–7 to complete the NFL's first Perfect Season.

  [January 15], 1973 (Monday)

• Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
• Born: Essam El Hadary, Egyptian goalkeeper

  [January 16], 1973 (Tuesday)

• Died: Clara Ward, 48, American gospel singer, after suffering two strokes

  [January 17], 1973 (Wednesday)

• Following a referendum in the Philippines, Proclamation No. 1102 certifies and proclaims that the Constitution proposed by the Constitutional Convention of 1971 has been ratified by the Filipino people and thereby come into effect.
• Died: Ted Koehler, 78, American lyricist

  [January 18], 1973 (Thursday)

• The enacting of an emergency law sees the term of Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland, extended by four years.
• Eleven Labour Party councillors in Clay Cross, Derbyshire, England, are ordered to pay £6,985 for not enforcing the Housing Finance Act.

  [January 19], 1973 (Friday)

• Died: Max Adrian, 69, Northern Irish actor

  [January 20], 1973 (Saturday)

• U.S. President Richard Nixon is inaugurated for his second term.

  [January 21], 1973 (Sunday)

• The Communist League is founded in Denmark.

  [January 22], 1973 (Monday)

• Roe v. Wade: The U.S. Supreme Court overturns state bans on abortion.
• George Foreman defeats Joe Frazier to win the heavyweight world boxing championship.
• A Royal Jordanian Boeing 707 flight from Jeddah crashes in Kano, Nigeria; 176 people are killed.
• Died: Former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, 64, at his Stonewall, Texas ranch, leaving no former U.S. President living until the resignation of Richard M. Nixon in 1974.

  [January 23], 1973 (Tuesday)

• Eldfell on the Icelandic island of Heimaey erupts.
• U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.

  [January 24], 1973 (Wednesday)

• The second section of the Autostrada A56 open in Italy.

  [January 25], 1973 (Thursday)

• English actor Derren Nesbitt is convicted of assaulting his wife Anne Aubrey.

  [January 26], 1973 (Friday)

• Norway and Nepal establish diplomatic relations.

  [January 27], 1973 (Saturday)

• U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ends with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.

  [January 28], 1973 (Sunday)

• The Argentine Grand Prix is held at the Oscar Gálvez circuit and is won by Emerson Fittipaldi.

  [January 29], 1973 (Monday)

• The Troubles: The Ulster Defence Association shoots dead a Catholic civilian at his workplace, a petrol station on Kennedy Way, Belfast. On the same day the UDA kills a 15-year-old Catholic civilian in a drive-by shooting at Falls Road/Donegall Road junction, Belfast, and the Provisional IRA shoots dead UDA member Francis 'Hatchet' Smith in west Belfast; Smith was rumoured to have led the group that shot the teenager.
• The Miss Dominican Republic 1973 contest is won by Liliana Maritza Fernández González.
• Born: Jason Schmidt, American baseball pitcher, in Lewiston, Idaho

  [January 30], 1973 (Tuesday)

• Born: Jay Manalo, Filipino actor, in Saigon, South Vietnam; Jordan Prentice, Canadian actor, in London, Ontario
• Died: Titina Silla, 29, Guinea-Bissau freedom fighter, in an ambush by Portuguese authorities. The anniversary of her death later comes to be celebrated as National Women's Day in Guinea Bissau.

  [January 31], 1973 (Wednesday)

• Pan American and Trans World Airlines cancel their options to buy 13 Concorde airliners.