January 1976

[January 1], 1976 (Thursday)

• A bomb explodes in the forward cargo compartment of Middle East Airlines Flight 438, a Boeing 720-023B, at an altitude of 11,300 meters over Saudi Arabia. The airliner breaks up and crashes northwest of Al Qaysumah, killing all 81 people on board. Responsibility for the bombing has never been established.

  [January 2], 1976 (Friday)

• Polskie Radio Program IV begins broadcasting in Poland.
• The office of Commissioner of the British Western Pacific Territories is abolished.
• Sheffield Cablevision, one of five community cable television experiments authorised by the UK's Minister for Posts and Telecommunications in 1972, closes down because of lack of funds.

  [January 3], 1976 (Saturday)

• Aeroflot Flight 2003, a Tupolev Tu-124V enters clouds immediately after takeoff from Vnukovo Airport in Moscow. Its artificial horizons fail, and the crew loses its spatial orientation, banking 95 degrees and diving the airliner into the ground 7 kilometers west of the airport at a rate of descent of 50 meters per second. The crash kills all 61 people on board and one person on the ground in a house.
• The East German coaster Capella sinks off Schiermonnikoog, the Netherlands. British ship Carnoustie sinks during the same storm.

  [January 4], 1976 (Sunday)

• The 1976 Australian Open tennis tournament ends with Mark Edmondson defeating John Newcombe in the final of the Men's Singles.
• The 1976 New Zealand Grand Prix is held at the Pukekohe Park Raceway and is won by Ken Smith.

  [January 5], 1976 (Monday)

• The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea, providing for a "Kampuchean People's Representative Assembly" of 250 members.
• Died: John A. Costello, 84, former Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland; also Mal Evans, 40, Welsh former road manager of the Beatles, shot by Los Angeles police when he pointed an air rifle at them.

  [January 6], 1976 (Tuesday)

• The Soviet satellite Kosmos 725 re-enters the earth's atmosphere after eight months in orbit.

  [January 7], 1976 (Wednesday)

• Kenneth Moss, a former record company executive, is sentenced to 120 days in the Los Angeles County Jail and four years probation for involuntary manslaughter in the 1974 drug-induced death of Average White Band drummer Robbie McIntosh.

  [January 8], 1976 (Thursday)

• Died: Zhou Enlai, 77, Premier of the People's Republic of China
• Jon Arbuckle and Garfield make their first appearance in Jim Davis' comic strip "Jon" for the Pendleton Times

  [January 9], 1976 (Friday)

• Died: Sir Stanley Whitehead, 68, New Zealand politician, Speaker of the House of Representatives, less than a week after receiving his knighthood

  [January 10], 1976 (Saturday)

• Died: Howlin' Wolf, 65, African-American musician

  [January 11], 1976 (Sunday)

• The 1976 Philadelphia Flyers–Red Army game results in a 4–1 victory for the US National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers over HC CSKA Moscow of the Soviet Union.

  [January 12], 1976 (Monday)

• Died: Agatha Christie, 85, English crime novelist

  [January 13], 1976 (Tuesday)

• Born: Bic Runga, New Zealand singer-songwriter, in Christchurch

  [January 14], 1976 (Wednesday)

• George and Kathy Lutz flee from their home, 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island, New York, in the United States, after having moved in on December 18, 1975, claiming to have been terrorized by several unexplainable paranormal phenomena at the house. The Lutzes' claims would go on to inspire the story of The Amityville Horror, which would be the basis for several movies and books about the phenomenon.
• The first issue of Italian daily newspaper, la Repubblica, founded by Eugenio Scalfari, goes on sale.
• Died: Mahagama Sekara, 46, Sinhalese poet, teacher, lyricist, playwright, novelist, artist, translator and filmmaker

  [January 15], 1976 (Thursday)

• A Taxi Aéreo El Venado Douglas C-54A-5-DC Skymaster crashes into a cloud-covered mountain peak 30 kilometers east of Chipaque, Colombia. The airliner strikes the mountain at an altitude of 3,540 meters and falls 800 meters into a canyon, killing all 13 people on board.
• Sara Jane Moore, the would-be assassin of US President Gerald Ford, is sentenced to life in prison.

  [January 16], 1976 (Friday)

• The trial of jailed members of the Red Army Faction (including Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, begins in Stuttgart, West Germany. Their lawyers unsuccessfully request that they be treated as prisoners of war.

  [January 17], 1976 (Saturday)

• Wales defeat England 21-9 at Twickenham in the 1976 Five Nations Championship. The Welsh team would go on to win the Grand Slam for the seventh time in their history.

  [January 18], 1976 (Sunday)

• Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan, five years after the Bangladesh Liberation War.
• The Scottish Labour Party is formed, by a group breaking away from the UK Labour Party because of disaffection with the then Labour Government's failure to secure a devolved Scottish Assembly, as well as with its social and economic agenda.
• Super Bowl X: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys, 21–17, in Miami.

  [January 19], 1976 (Monday)

• Future US President Jimmy Carter wins the Iowa Democratic Caucus.

  [January 20], 1976 (Tuesday)

• Flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet, a TAME Hawker Siddeley HS 748-246 Srs. 2A loses altitude over mountainous terrain, strikes trees with its wing, and crashes into the side of a mountain near Loja, Ecuador, killing 34 of the 42 people on board.
• Born: Anastasia Volochkova, Russian ballerina, in Saint Petersburg

  [January 21], 1976 (Wednesday)

• The first commercial Concorde flights begin operating on the London–Bahrain and Paris–Rio de Janeiro routes.
• A CAAC Antonov An-24 crashes on approach to Changsha Huanghua International Airport in Changsha in the People's Republic of China, killing all 40 people on board.
• The world's first supersonic air passenger service begins, when the Concorde begins commercial passenger flights for both Air France and British Airways. Air France makes its first Concorde flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a stop at Dakar, Senegal, initiating a twice-weekly Paris-Rio de Janeiro service that will continue until 1982.
• Angola formally establishes the People's Air Force of Angola.
• Born: Emma Bunton, English singer, in Finchley, London

  [January 22], 1976 (Thursday)

• Died: Gujarmal Modi, 73, Indian industrialist and philanthropist

  [January 23], 1976 (Friday)

• Died: Paul Robeson, 77, African-American actor, singer, writer, and political activist

  [January 24], 1976 (Saturday)

• At the 33rd Golden Globe Awards ceremony, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest wins all four major awards.
• Kettering Town FC became the first British football club to play with a sponsor's printed on the front of their jersey after signing a deal with Kettering Tyres.

  [January 25], 1976 (Sunday)

• The 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix takes place in São Paulo, and is won by Niki Lauda.
• A new railway station opens in Brighton, Adelaide, Australia, coinciding with the extension of the line to Christie Downs.

  [January 26], 1976 (Monday)

• Typhoon Kathy, the first tropical storm in the 1976 Pacific typhoon season, forms.
• Greek tanker Olympic Bravery runs aground off the coast of Brittany, France.

  [January 27], 1976 (Tuesday)

• The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state.
• The First Battle of Amgala breaks out around the oasis of Amgala, Western Sahara, as units of the Algerian Army are attacked by units from the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces. After 36 hours, the Algerians withdrew, with over 100 Algerians taken prisoner.

  [January 28], 1976 (Wednesday)

• Born: Mark Madsen, US basketball player, in Walnut Creek, California.

  [January 29], 1976 (Thursday)

• Twelve Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in the West End of London.

  [January 30], 1976 (Friday)

• Live from Lincoln Center is broadcast for the first time, on US television channel PBS.

  [January 31], 1976 (Saturday)

• The Falkland Islands general election, due to be held on this day, is postponed until the end of February.
• Polferries is established, as the Polish Baltic Shipping Company.