1977

Events:

January 1 - First woman Episcopal priest ordained
January 18 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "legionnaire's disease."
Jimmy Carter succeeds Gerald R. Ford as President of the United States of America
Australia experiences its worst railway disaster at Granville, near Sydney, in which 83 people died.
January 21 - President Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders.
February 11 - A 20.2-kg lobster is caught off Nova Scotia (heaviest known crustacean).
May 23 - Scientists report using bacteria in lab to make insulin.
June 20 - The United States Supreme Court rules that states are not required to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions.
July 13 - An electricity blackout hits the City of New York, lasting for 25 hours and resulting in looting and other disorder
July 22 - the purged Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power as the "Gang of Four" is expelled from the Communist Party.
September 7 - The Panama Canal treaties are signed.
September 11 - The last "wild" infection of smallpox is reported in Somalia.
A collection of work by JRR Tolkien, The Silmarillion, is published posthumously by his son Christopher.
September 21 - Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, is signed by 15 countries including the U.S. and U.S.S.R.
Swedish music group ABBA passes The Beatles as having most records sold.

Births:

Deaths:

Films:

The science fiction saga, Star Wars, later renamed to Star Wars: Episode IV - [A New Hope], makes its first outing to the cinema and makes George Lucas and the team at LucasArts a staggering $461 million.
John Travolta discoed in Saturday Night Fever
In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network.
Rocky picks up a Best Picture and All The President's Men wins Jason Robards the Supporting Actor and an Art Direction for George Jenkins and George Gaines.

Music:

February 4 - Fleetwood Mac's album Rumour's released. It eventually hits #1 and becomes one of the all-time best selling albums (it was the best selling album by a individual artist until 1983, when Michael Jackson's Thriller would top it).
May 27 - The Sex Pistols' single "God Save The Queen" is released
July 22 - Elvis Costello releases his first album, My aim is true, in the UK.
August 16 - Elvis Presley dies.
October 20 - A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing several band members, including lead singer/guitarist Ronnie Van Zandt

Sport:

Baseball - New York Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is the World Series in which Reggie Jackson becomes known as Mr. October.
NASCAR Championship - Cale Yarborough wins this years event, beating Richard Petty into second place with a very respectable 386 point lead.
January 9 - Super Bowl XI Oakland Raiders (32) def. Minnesota Vikings (14)