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Notable cultural events of the 1970s included the debut of the sports network ESPN and the release of the film classics The Godfather and Star Wars. Jaws made movie news by becoming the first summer blockbuster.
- Timeline of the 1980s
The 1980s have been called “the decade of decadence,” and...
- Timeline of the 1980s
- 1971 – Decimalized Currency
- 1972 – Bloody Sunday
- 1973 – United Kingdom Joins The European Communities
- 1974 – Hawking Radiation Theory
- 1975 – Sex Pistols Form in London
- 1976 – Harold Wilson Resigns as PM
- 1977 – Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee
- 1978 – Louise Brown, First Birth from in Vitro Fertilization
- 1979 – Margaret Thatcher Becomes Prime Minister
- 1980 – British Steel Strike
Prior to 1971, British currency could be a little confusing for anyone born outside the UK. Each pound was about 240 pence (or pennies), each penny could be broken down into farthings or halfpennies, pence could be twopence, threepence, groats, and sixpence, and a shilling equaled twelve pence. Come Decimal Day on February 15, 1971, Britain switche...
On January 30, 1972, British soldiers shot into a group of protestors marching against internment without trial in Derry, Northern Ireland. A total of twenty-six people were injured, with thirteen dying immediately and one dying of his wounds four months later. It is considered to be one of the worst acts of violence during the Troubles committed b...
In 1972, Prime Minister Edward Heath signed the Treaty of Accession 1972, which took effect on January 1, 1973, and the United Kingdomjoined the European Communities, the precursor of the European Union. The UK would remain a member until the Brexit vote of 2016 and officially broke away from the EU on January 31, 2020. How exactly the break will a...
Already a force in theoretical physics and cosmology, Dr. Stephen Hawking posited one of his most important theories in 1974 when he ran calculations that suggested black holes emitted radiation. The previous year he had visited two Russian scientists in Moscow who convinced him that rotating black holes produce some particles and, after doing the ...
Formed out of a group of teenagers who hung out at clothing shops on the King’s Road in Chelsea, the Sex Pistols were the beginning of the punk rock genre when they first got together in 1975. Originally comprised of John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock, and Paul Cook, they were later joined by bassist John Simon Ritchie (better kn...
The Labour Party had returned to power in 1974 with Harold Wilson still as its leader, but he announced his resignation on March 16, 1976, ending a thirteen-year career in Parliament. Wilson had grown tired of politics by the time Labour came back to Downing Street and was also suffering from health issues that including early-onset Alzheimer’s Dis...
1977 marked the 25thyear of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, and celebrations took place throughout the year for her Silver Jubilee. In addition to numerous street parties and celebrations in Britain, the Queen opened the Jubilee Walkway and the Southbank Jubilee Gardens. As a side note, Her Majesty’s own Jubilee procession led the Sex Pistols to infamo...
While in vitro fertilization may seem like a normal process today for parents having difficulty conceiving, it was a brand-new process in the 1970s, and Louise Brown was its first success. Her parents had attempted to conceive naturally for nine years prior and were helped in conception by scientists Jean Purdy, Patrick Steptoe, and Robert Edwards....
Margaret Thatcher was the first woman to become Prime Minister in 1979 and presided over the government for over 11 years, making her the seventh-longest premiership in Britain’s history. She presided over massive changes to the British government and economy, including the privatization of many of the country’s nationalized industries, from teleco...
The 1970s were no stranger to labor strikes as most often seen during the “Winter of Discontent” during James Callaghan’s time as Prime Minister, and the 1980 strike by British Steelworkers closed out the decade. Workers demanded a 20% pay increase, and after management offered a mere 6%, the unioninitiated its first strike in 50 years. Lasting fou...
- The Conservative Backlash. Many Americans, particularly working class and middle class whites, responded to the turbulence of the late 1960s–the urban riots, the antiwar protests, the alienating counterculture–by embracing a new kind of conservative populism.
- The Environmental Movement. In some ways, though, 1960s liberalism continued to flourish. For example, the crusade to protect the environment from all sorts of assaults–toxic industrial waste in places like Love Canal, New York; dangerous meltdowns at nuclear power plants such as the one at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania; highways through city neighborhoods–really took off during the 1970s.
- Fighting for Women’s Rights. During the 1970s, many groups of Americans continued to fight for expanded social and political rights. In 1972, after years of campaigning by feminists, Congress approved the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution, which reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
- The Antiwar Movement. Even though very few people continued to support the war in Indochina, President Nixon feared that a retreat would make the United States look weak.
The 1970s saw an initial increase in violence in the Middle East as Egypt and Syria declared war on Israel, starting the Yom Kippur War, but in the late 1970s, the situation was fundamentally altered when Egypt signed the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty.
The 1980s have been called “the decade of decadence,” and one of the era’s most notable movie characters, Wall Street ’s Gordon Gekko, famously declared that “greed is…good.” But the decade was about more than just excess. It was a period marked by defining events that continue to resonate.
Mar 26, 2023 · 1970 - The UK lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. 1970 - Edward (Ted) Heath (Conservative) elected Prime Minister. 1971 - The UK adopted decimal currency. 1972 - Prime Minister Edward Heath, signed the treaty taking the UK into the EEC (European Economic Community), later the EU.
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Dec 14, 2021 · What were the most significant events in the 1970s? From the death of Elvis to the Vietnam War, discover the biggest events of the decade.
