Year retrospective · 1970s

1974

1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1974th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 974th year of the 2nd millennium, the 74th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1970s decade.

Recorded events

10

top entries

Notable births

30

Notable deaths

30

Decade

1970s

Timeline

Defining events of 1974

  1. 1974 The Local Government Act 1972 of England and Wales comes into effect.

    Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

    The Local Government Act 1972 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Government of 1970–74.

  2. 1974 Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board.

    1974 aviation accident in Indonesia

    Pan Am Flight 812, operated by a Pan Am Boeing 707-321B registered N446PA and named Clipper Climax, was a scheduled international flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, California, with intermediate stops at Denpasar, Sydney, Nadi, and Honolulu. On April 22, 1974, the aircraft crashed into rough mountainous terrain while preparing for a runway 09 approach to Denpasar after a 4-hour 20-minute flight from Hong Kong. All 107 people on board perished.

  3. 1974 Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime.

    1974 revolution in Portugal and its colonies

    The Carnation Revolution, code-named Operation Historic Turn, also known as the 25th of April, was a military coup in Portugal by officers that on 25 April 1974 overthrew Marcelo Caetano and the Estado Novo regime established by António de Oliveira Salazar. The coup came in the midst of the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–74) in its overseas colonies and produced major social, economic, territorial, demographic, and political changes in Portugal and in Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and other former Portuguese colonies through the Ongoing Revolutionary Process. It resulted in the Portuguese transition to democracy and an end to the Portuguese Colonial War.

  4. 1974 One hundred nine people are killed in a plane crash near Pulkovo Airport.

    1974 aviation accident in the Soviet Union

    On 27 April 1974, an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-18, operating a scheduled passenger flight from Leningrad to Krasnodar via Zaporizhzhia, lost control and crashed after attempting to return to Pulkovo Airport following an engine fire killing all 102 passengers and 7 crew on board the flight.

  5. 1974 Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.

    1970s political scandal in the U.S.

    The Watergate scandal, or simply Watergate, was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. 's Watergate complex. Nixon's efforts to conceal his administration's involvement led to an impeachment process and his resignation in August 1974.

  6. 1974 The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second largest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.

    Second-largest tornado outbreak in United States history

    The 1974 Super Outbreak was one of the most intense tornado outbreaks on record, occurring on April 3–4, 1974, across much of the United States. S. history.

  7. 1974 Carrie, the first novel by American author Stephen King, is published for the first time with a print run of 30,000 copies.
  8. 1974 In Brighton, United Kingdom, ABBA wins the 1974 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo", the first of a joint-record seven Swedish wins.
  9. 1974 The first California Jam festival takes place at the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California. Co-headlined by Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The festival set what were then records for the loudest amplification system ever installed, the highest paid attendance, and highest gross in history.
  10. 1974 Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth as the all-time leader in career home runs by hitting his 715th home run off of Al Downing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

Arrivals

Born in 1974

Àlex Corretja 1974– Spanish tennis player (born 1974)
Ashot Danielyan 1974– Armenian weightlifter (born 1974)
David Jassy 1974– Musical artist
Mikael Åkerfeldt 1974– Swedish musician (born 1974)
Victoria Beckham 1974– English fashion designer and singer (born 1974)
Edgar Wright 1974– English filmmaker (born 1974)
Madeleine Peyroux 1974– American jazz musician (born 1974)
Randy Fine 1974– American politician (born 1974)
David Peachey 1974– Australia international rugby league footballer
Eric Kripke 1974– American writer and television producer (born 1974)
Stephen Wiltshire 1974– British architectural artist (born 1974)
Frank Catalanotto 1974– American baseball player (born 1974)

Farewells

Died in 1974

Marcel Pagnol Novelist, playwright and filmmaker from France
Georges Pompidou President of France from 1969 to 1974
Bud Abbott American comedian and actor (1897–1974)
Clay Shaw American businessman acquitted of involvement in JFK assassination (1913–1974)
Roberto Assagioli Italian psychiatrist and pioneer (1888–1974)
Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu Turkish novelist, journalist, diplomat, and member of parliament (1889–1974)
Anatole Litvak Russian-American film director (1902–1974)
Rajani Palme Dutt British communist and journalist (1896–1974)
André Jolivet French composer (1905–1974)
Richard Long American actor (1927–1974)
Sterling North American writer
Carlos Alberto Sacheri Argentine philosopher (1932–1974)

On the charts

Culture of 1974

By month

Across the calendar of 1974

Step through

Adjacent years

Keep going

More to explore