1971
Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s - 1970s - 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years: 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 - 1971 - 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976
Events
- January 1 - British divorce Reform Act comes into force
- January 2 -
- 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland.
- A ban on television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States.
- January 3 - BBC open university commences
- January 7 - Howard Hughes breaks his silence to announce that his supposed biography is a forgery.
- January 15 - Aswan Dam officially opened
- January 19 - No, No Nanette premieres (46th Street Theatre, New York City).
- January 25 -
- Charles Manson and three female "family members" are found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Sharon Tate and others
- Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president
- Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state
- January 31 - Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
- February 2 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
- February 4 - In Britain, Rolls Royce goes bankrupt – state tooks over
- February 5 - Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
- February 7 -
- Tuscany, Italy, wrecked in an earthquake
- Men of Switzerland vote for giving voting rights to women in state elections – but not in all canton-specific ones.
- February 8 - A new stock-market index called the Nasdaq debuts.
- February 9 -
- The 6.4 on the Richter Scale Sylmar earthquake hits the San Fernando Valley area of California.
- Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third maned moon landing.
- February 11 - US, UK, USSR, others sign Seabed Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons.
- February 13 - Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
- February 15 - “Decimalization” - United Kingdom switches to decimal currency.
- March 1–- Bomb explodes in men’s room in the White House – Weather Underground claims responsibility.
- March 10 - Twenty-sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18.
- March 12 - Hafis al-Assad becomes president of Syria.
- March 31 - William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in My Lai massacre and sentenced to life in prison. He is later pardoned.
- April 5 - Mount Etna erupts.
- April 9 - Charles Manson is sentenced to death but the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
- April 17 - Libya, Syria and Egypt discuss about treaty allegiance that is a precurcor Arab Republic.
- April 19 - Soviet Union launches Saljut I.
- April 19 - Followers of Charles Manson, the Manson Family, are sentenced to gas chamber.
- April 20 - United State Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
- April 24 - 500.000 demonstrate against Vietnam War in Washington DC.
- May 3 - Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.
- May 31 The birth of a new country, Bangladesh. It is out of territory formerly part of Pakistan
- June - The Pentagon Papers are published
- June 14 - Norway begins oil production in North Sea.
- June 17 - USA and Japan sign a treaty which gives Okinawa and other islands back to Japan.
- June 28 - Black assassin shoots Joe Colombo to the head in a middle of a Italian-American rally. Colombo goes into coma.
- July 9 - Britain sends 500 more soldiers to Northern Ireland.
- July 16 - Franco makes Juan Carlos his successor.
- July 26 - Apollo 15 launched.
- August 9 - British security forces in Northern Ireland detain hundreds of guerilla suspects and put them into Maze prison – the beginning of an internment without trial policy. 20 die in riots that follow
- August 14 - Emirate of Bahrain declares independence.
- August 26 - Civilian government in Greece.
- September 9 - September 13 – Attica prison riot - 43 dead, 10 of them hostages.
- September 24 - Britain expells 90 KGB and GRU officials and 15 is not allowed to return
- September 27 - October 11 – Emperor Hirohito travels abroad.
- September 28 - Cardinal Mindszenty, who has resided in US embassy in Budapest from 1956 is allowed to move out of Hungary.
- September 29 - Cyclone and tidal wave in the Bay of Negal in Orissa state in India kills 10.000
- October 1 - Disney World opens.
- October 25 - The United Nations admits Communist China and expels Nationalist China.
- October 27 - Democratic Republic of Congo becomes Zaire.
- October 28 - British House of Commons votes in favor of joining the EEC by 356-244
- October 30 - Democratic Unionist party founded in Northern Ireland
- November 6 - US nucleab bomb test in Aleuts.
- November 13 - Mariner 9 enters Mars orbit.
- November 24 - "D.B. Cooper" hijacks a plane with alleged bomb, demands and gets a ransom of $200,000 and parachutes out over the Cascade Mountains. Never caught.
- November 28 - First two women priests ordinated in the Anglican Church of England
- December 2 - Six Sheikdoms in Persian Gulf founds United Arab Emirates
- December 3 - Indian-Pakistan War begins
- December 18 -
- US dollar devalued for the second time in US history
- World’s largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnojarsk, Russia, begins operations.
- December 31 - The Beatles break up
- December 29 – Britain gives up its military bases in Malta
- Don't Make A Wave Committee changes its name to Greenpeace
- Intel introduces the microprocessor for micro-computers. The 4004 chip
- Libertarian party established in USA
- First Concorde test flights
- Free City of Christiania is founded.
- Intelsat IV
Art, Culture & Fashion
- 1971 in sports
- January 17 - Super Bowl V Baltimore Colts (16) def. Dallas Cowboys (13)
- Arsenal F.C. wins The Double
- 1971 in television
- January 10 - Masterpiece Theatre debuts on PBS
- All in the Family premieres January 12 on TV
Births
- January 11 - Mary J. Blige, pop singer
- January 17 - Kid Rock, singer
- January 19 - Shawn Wayans, actor, writer, producer
- February 17 - Denise Richards.
- March 5 - John Frusciante, musician of The Red Hot Chili Peppers
- March 31 - Ewan McGregor.
- April 17- Selena Quintanilla, famous Mexican-American tejano music singer.
- August 12 - Pete Sampras, tennis player.
- August 28 - Janet Evans, Olympic swimming champion
- August 31 - Chris Tucker, actor
- September 18 - Lance Armstrong.
- October 25 - Pedro Martinez.
- October 29 - Winona Ryder, American actor.
- November 25 - Christina Applegate.
- December 24 - Ricky Martin, singer.
Deaths
- January 6 –- Sonny Liston (date he was found dead)
- January 10 -–
- Gabrielle Chanel, perfumer
- Coco Chanel, fashion designer
- January 11 – Jose Arigo,”psychic surgeon”
- January 20 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, actor, director, writer, producer
- February 11 - Whitney Young Jr, National Urban League director.
- February 26 – Fernandel, French comedian
- March 8 – Harold Lloyd, silent screen comedian
- April 6 – Igor Stravinsky, composer
- April 21 – Papa Doc Duvalier, despot of Haiti.
- June 29 - 3 cosmonauts, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsajev & Vladislav Volkov die during Sojuz landing due to air loss.
- September 11 -Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, Soviet politician and leader. He was buried without official honors.
- September 12 – Bi Lao, China’s defense minister. Air crash in suspicious circumstances.