1972: The News.

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January:

  • First scientific handheld calculator is introduced
  • Rose Heilbron becomes first female judge at the Old Bailey
  • East Pakistan is renamed Bangladesh
  • Two New York City police officers are assassinated by members of the Black Liberation Army
  • Bloody Sunday: British Army kills 14 unarmed nationalist civil rights demonstrators in Derry
  • Coal miners begin a strike which will last for seven weeks

February:

  • The Winter Olympics are held in Sapporo, Japan, the first to take place outside Europe and North America. The Soviet Union take home the most gold and overall medals, eight and sixteen respectively.
  • Anti-British riots take place throughout Ireland; the British Embassy in Dublin is burned to the ground
  • The Official IRA kill seven in a bombing in Aldershot

March:

  • The Pioneer 10 spacecraft is launched, it would become the first man-made satellite to leave the solar system
  • A Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament demonstration is held protesting against the nuclear base at Aldermaston
  • The mighty Stoke City beat Chelsea 2-1 in the League Cup final, thanks to goals by Terry Conroy and George Eastham, to claim their only major trophy

April:

  • The Biological Weapons Convention is signed, banning the use of biological warfare
  • A report into Bloody Sunday exonerates the British troops of blame due to the demonstration having been illegal
  • The French Connection wins five Oscars including Best Picture at the 44th Academy Awards

May:

  • The Dominion of Ceylon becomes the republic of Sri Lanka
  • Rangers win the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup however a pitch invasion by their supporters leads to them being banned from the tournament the following season
  • The first UEFA Cup final is held, Tottenham beat Wolves 2-1 in the first leg at Molineux before completing a 3-2 aggregate win at White Hart Lane
  • Don Revie’s Leeds United win the FA Cup for the first time, beating the previous years winners Arsenal 1-0
  • Brian Clough’s Derby County win the Football League First Division title for the first in their history
  • Edward, Duke of Windsor, dies of cancer aged 77, 35 years after abdicating the throne

June:

  • Nick Ut takes the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of naked nine year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running down a road after being burned by napalm
  • Watergate: five White House operatives are arrested for burglarising the offices of the Democratic National Committee. US President Richard Nixon is later taped talking about using the CIA to obstruct the FBI investigation into the break-in
  • West Germany beat the Soviet Union 3-0 to win Euro 72

July:

  • The Chess World Championship match between Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union and Bobby Fischer of the US begins in Reykjavik
  • Bloody Friday: 22 bombs planted by the Provisional IRA explode in Belfast kill nine and injure 130
  • The British Army regain control of Belfast, Derry and Newry
  • Three car bombs in Claudy, County Londonderry kill nine
  • First official gay pride March in London is held

August:

  • John Wojtowicz and Sal Naturile hold several Chase Manhattan Bank employees hostage for 17 hours in Brooklyn, later dramatised in Dog Day Afternoon
  • The Summer Olympics begin in Munich; the Soviet Union finish top of the medal table with 50 gold and 99 overall medals
  • Jesus Christ Superstar makes its West End debut

September:

  • The Magnavox Odyssey, the first commercial home video game console, is released
  • Eleven Israeli Olympians are murdered after Arab terrorist group Black September invade the Olympic Village
  • School leaving age in England and Wales is raised from fifteen to sixteen
  • Mastermind is broadcast for the first time
  • First hypermarket opens in the UK as French retailer Carrefour opens a hypermarket in Caerphilly
  • Thousands of Ugandans arrive in the UK having been deported by Idi Amin

October:

  • The first publication reporting the production of a recombinant of DNA molecule marks the birth of modern molecular biology methodology
  • A passenger aircraft transporting a rugby team crashes in the Andes, sixteen of the survivors are later found alive having resorted to cannibalism
  • Emmerdale is broadcast for the first time under original title Emmerdale Farm
  • Lifting of restrictions on broadcasting hours permits extension of daytime television
  • Gordon Banks suffers a serious eye injury in a car crash in Staffordshire

November:

  • Republican incumbent Richard Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern in the US Presidential election
  • Atari release the arcade version of Pong
  • “Tea house” Mellow Yellow opens on the Amstel River, Amsterdam, pioneering the sale of cannabis in the Netherlands
  • England women’s national football team play their first official match, against Scotland, 100 years after the equivalent men’s match
  • Formation of the PEOPLE party in Coventry, predecessor of the Green Party and the first political party in Europe to promote Green politics

December:

  • The last manned Moon mission, Apollo 17, is launched and The Blue Marble photograph of Earth is taken
  • Areas of North Vietnam are bombed by the US on Christmas Day

Other:

  • The Special Air Service begin anti-terrorise training in response to the Munich massacre
  • Stanley Kubrick asks Warner Bros. to withdraw A Clockwork Orange from cinemas in the UK following death threats, it is not shown publicly again for 27 years
  • Aardman Animations is founded
  • Richard Adams’ Watership Down is published
  • The best selling single of the year is “Amazing Grace” by The Pipes and Drums and the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
  • The Godfather is the highest grossing film globally with box-office earnings of $86.3 million

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