istoryworld
Events relating to europe
The USSR enters a brief period of coalition leadership by Alexei Kosygin as prime minister and Leonid Brezhnev as Party First Secretary
Kenneth Kaunda becomes president of the independent republic of Zambia, previously Northern Rhodesia
Surgeons Michael Bakey in the USA and Vasilii Kolesov in the USSR pioneer coronary bypass surgery, using the patient's mammary artery
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev dance together in the premiere of Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet
Winston Churchill dies, and lies in state in London's ancient Westminster Hall
David Lean directs Omar Sharif and Julie Christie in a film of Pasternak's Dr Zhivago
The General Assembly of the UN asks Argentina and Britain to enter negotiations on their long-running dispute over the Falklands
The Gambia becomes an independent member of the Commonwealth, with Dawda Jawara as prime minister
Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov is the first to walk in space, moving round outside the Voshkod 2 spacecraft for more than ten minutes
18-year-old Dutch footballer Johann Cruyff joins Ajax, the club with which he will be associated in numerous successes
18-year-old Austrian body-builder Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes Junior Mr Europe (on his way to Mr World and Mr Universe)
Terence O'Neill and Séan Lemass, prime ministers of Northern Ireland and Ireland, have two unprecedented meetings
Maria Callas gives her last performance, as Tosca at Covent Garden in London
Ian Smith makes a unilateral declaration of Rhodesia's independence
The Second Vatican Council ends, having made some radical changes in the ritual and attitudes of the Roman Catholic church
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 9 is the first to achieve a soft-landing on the moon and to send back photographic data from the surface
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 10 orbits the moon and broadcasts the Internationale to the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party
British actor Michael Caine makes his name starring in two outstanding films within the year, Alfie and The Ipcress File
English novelist Paul Scott publishes The Jewel in the Crown, the first volume in his 'Raj Quartet'
Leonid Brezhnev, taking the title General Secretary (last used by Stalin), makes it plain that he is the Soviet leader
NATO headquarters moves to Brussels after de Gaulle expels all NATO personnel from French soil
Irish poet Seamus Heaney wins critical acclaim for Death of a Naturalist, his first volume containing more than a few poems
British fashion designer Mary Quant launches the miniskirt
The US tennis player Billie Jean King wins the first of six Wimbledon singles titles
After a long period of obscurity, Wide Sargasso Sea brings novelist Jean Rhys back into the literary limelight
