All Events
English poet James Fenton publishes his first collection, Terminal Moraine
Richard Nixon is re-elected US president with a landslide victory over Democrat George McGovern
Chess player Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky to become the first US world champion
Gough Whitlam is Australia's prime minister after Labor party victory
Russian composer Alfred Schnittke's First Symphony alarms the Soviet authorities and is denied a Moscow premiere
Prime minister Jack Lynch leads Ireland into the European Community
Prime minister Edward Heath takes Britain into the European Community, on the third attempt
Finland has a very low birth rate, declining from an average of 3.5 per woman in 1947 to 1.5 in 1973, threatening a population with an unusually high proportion of old people in future years
The Paris Peace Accords end the US combat role in Vietnam, with nothing achieved and millions dead
Elvis Presley performs in Honolulu in the Aloha Concert, the first programme to be broadcast live round the world by satellite
In the Calder case, the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes Aboriginal title to land
A Little Night Music, with lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim, has its premiere in New York
Activists of the American Indian Movement survive a ten-week siege at Wounded Knee, winning international attention
British economist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher publishes an influential economic tract, Small is Beautiful
US choreographer Twyla Tharp creates Deuce Coupe, set to songs by the Beach Boys
Roe v. Wade establishes in US law that prohibiting abortion violates a woman's right to privacy
The last US troops leave Vietnam, ending American involvement in a continuing war between the north and south of the country
Thames Water Authority takes over from the Metropolitan Water Board and Hampton waterworks becomes part of Thames Water which is later privatised
The Sears Tower opens in Chicago, displacing the Empire State as the tallest building in the world
Paul Newman and Robert Redford star in the film The Sting
The score of the film The Sting revives interest in Scott Joplin and ragtime
Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow conjures up weird events in wartime London
The Polisario is formed to fight for the independence of Western Sahara
Winning power in a military coup, Juvenal Habyarimana begins a 21-year spell as dictator in Rwanda
The career of virtuoso cellist Jacqueline du Pré's is cut short by multiple sclerosis