1975 - What happened in 1975 ?

January 1975

Sunday 05:

The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.

Tuesday 07:

OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.

Wednesday 08:

Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.

Tuesday 14:

Teenage heiress Lesley Whittle is kidnapped by the Black Panther.

Saturday 18:

The Jeffersons debuts on CBS.

February 1975

Sunday 09:

The Soyuz 17 Soviet spacecraft returns to Earth.

Friday 21:

Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison.

Monday 24:

Hard rock band Led Zeppelin release the classic double album Physical Graffiti.

Friday 28:

A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.

March 1975

Thursday 06:

Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.

Sunday 09:

Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.

Monday 10:

Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thout, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.

Saturday 22:

In Stockholm, Sweden, Teach-In wins the twentieth Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands singing "Ding-a-dong."

Wednesday 26:

The Biological Weapons Convention enters into force.

April 1975

Saturday 12:

Khmer Rouge troops capture Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Sunday 13:

An attack by Phalangists on a Palestinian bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon marks the beginning of a 15 year civil war.

Tuesday 22:

Barbara Walters signs a five-year $5 million contract with the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), becoming the highest paid television newsperson.

Thursday 24:

The Baader-Meinhof Gang blow up the West German embassy in Stockholm.

Wednesday 30:

Communist forces gains control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.

May 1975

Monday 12:

Mayagüez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.

Friday 16:

Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Wednesday 28:

Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, thus creating the Economic Community of West African States.

June 1975

Thursday 05:

The UK holds its first and only UK-wide referendum, on remaining in the EEC

Tuesday 24:

An Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 crashes at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. 113 people die.

Wednesday 25:

Mozambique achieved independence.

Thursday 26:

Indira Gandhi establishes authoritarian rule in India.

July 1975

Sunday 06:

The Comoros declare independence from France.

Wednesday 09:

The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that will pave way for a (albeit highly restricted) multi-party system.

Friday 11:

Chinese archeologists discover a large burial site with 6,000 clay statutes of warriors from 221 BC.

Tuesday 15:

1977 - Griffith N.S.W, Anti - Drug campainer Donald Mackay dissapers presumed murded.

Thursday 31:

In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.

August 1975

Saturday 02:

In New Orleans, Louisiana, the Superdome officially opens with an NFL football game between the New Orleans Saints and Houston Oilers.

Tuesday 19:

The cricket test match between England and Australia is called off after the pitch is vandalised by supporters of George Davis.

Saturday 23:

Successful Communist coup in Laos

Monday 25:

Bruce Springsteen releases Born to Run, the album that would launch him to superstardom.

Thursday 28:

Missionary Armand Doll is imprisoned in Mozambique by Marxist extremists.

September 1975

Monday 01:

The last original episode of the American television series Gunsmoke airs on CBS after a record 20-year run.

Friday 05:

In Sacramento, California, a follower of incarcerated cult leader Charles Manson named Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.

Monday 15:

Pink Floyd releases the album Wish You Were Here in the US and UK.

Monday 22:

Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is foiled by Oliver Sipple.

Tuesday 30:

The Hughes (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.

October 1975

Wednesday 01:

Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Phillipines.

Saturday 11:

Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the guest host.

Thursday 16:

The Balibo Five, a group of Australian television journalists based in the town of Balibo in the then Portuguese Timor (now East Timor), are killed by Indonesian troops.

Wednesday 22:

Gays in the military: US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, is given a general discharge after appearing in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline (printed in all uppercase) "I Am A Homosexual."

Thursday 30:

Prince Juan Carlos becomes King of Spain after dictator Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.

November 1975

Monday 03:

The television breakfast show Good Morning America premieres with co-anchors David Hartman and Nancy Dussaulton.

Thursday 06:

The Sex Pistols play their first concert at St. Martin's School of Art in London.

Monday 10:

United Nations Resolution 3379: United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism (the resolution was repealed in December 1991).

Saturday 22:

Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

Saturday 29:

The name "Micro-soft" (for "microcomputer software") is used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen for the first time.

December 1975

Monday 01:

The long-running soap opera The Edge of Night switches networks to ABC after 19 years on CBS.

Tuesday 02:

The communist Pathet Lao seizes power in Laos, and establishes the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Sunday 07:

Indonesia invades East Timor.

Wednesday 10:

Andrei Sakharov wins the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize is accepted by his wife, Yelena Bonner

Friday 26:

Tupolev Tu-144 goes into service in Soviet Union