The following events occurred in January 1977:
January 1, 1977 (Saturday) Jacqueline Means became the first woman to be officially ordained as a priest in the U.S. Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Bishop of Erie, Pennsylvania, conducted the ordination for Means at her All Saints Church in Indianapolis, Indiana."Mother of 4 Ordains as Episcopal Pries in Indiana, Opening New Era for Church", Los Angeles Times, January 2, 1977, p. 2-2 The University of Pittsburgh Panthers, ranked #1 in the wire service polls at the end of the 1976 college football season, defeated the #5-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, 27 to 3, in the Sugar Bowl to preserve its unbeaten record. Pitt would be voted #1 in the final AP and UPI polls for the unofficial college football championship. Born: Hasan Salihamidžić, Bosnian footballer and sports administrator known for 20 seasons with Bayern Munich and 42 appearances for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team; in Jablanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina Jerry Yan (stage name for Liao Yangzhen), Taiwanese TV actor and singer; in Taoyuan Died: Roland Hayes, 89, African-American lyric tenor and composer. Danny Frisella, 30, American baseball pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, was killed when the dune buggy in which he was riding overturned.
January 2, 1977 (Sunday) The nation of South Yemen and its capital, Aden, switched from driving on the left side of the road (its law during its British colonial days) to driving on the right, consistent with the rest of the Arab nations. Nine people were killed in a hotel fire at the Walnut Towers Motor Inn in Shamokin, Pennsylvania."Pa. Hotel Fire Kills 9", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 3, 1977, p.1 Two volunteer firemen, one of whom was injured while trying to rescue the hotel's manager, were arrested six days later and charged with one count of arson and nine counts of homicide."Two Firemen Charged in Motel Blaze That Killed 9", Los Angeles Times, January 9, 1977, p.I-14 Died: Erroll Garner, 55, American jazz pianist and composer known for the hit song "Misty", died of cardiac arrest from emphysema."Jazz Pianist Erroll Garner Dies at 53", by Leonard Feather, Los Angeles Times, January 3, 1977, p.3 Pete Cross, 28, former NBA player, died at his home of an epileptic seizure. Émilien Amaury, 67, French publisher, was killed when he was thrown from his horse while riding in the Chantilly Forest."Emilien Amaury, Head of French Publishing Empire, Dies at 67", Los Angeles Times, January 3, 1977, p.II-8
January 3, 1977 (Monday) Apple Computer, Inc. was incorporated by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, with a headquarters in Cupertino, California.Owen Linzmayer, Apple Confidential 2.0 (No Starch Press, 2004) p. 10 The controversial 42nd Amendment to the Constitution of India went into effect, granting India's Parliament the authority to make further changes to the nation's Constitution without ratification by its states. The change in the fundamental law also prohibited India's court system from reviewing any of the amendments, and required two-thirds approval by Parliament to repeal a law."Mrs. Gandhi's Government Is Granted New Power", The New York Times, December 19, 1976, p. 4 In the royal wedding in Thailand, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn married his first cousin, Soamsawali Kitiyakara. The ceremony took place at exactly 8:49 a.m. at Princess Sangwan's palace in Bangkok, a time planned by the royal astrologer."Royal Couple Thais the Knot on Cue", Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1977, p.I-2 The couple would divorce in 1991, before Vajiralongkorn's ascension to the throne in 2016 as King of Thailand. BBC Radio Cymru, the first all-Welsh language radio station, went on the air in Britain at 6:45 with news from Gwyn Llewellyn and Geraint Jones, followed at 7:00 with the first episode of the breakfast show :cy:Helo Bobol ("Hello, People!"), presented by Hywel Gwynfryn. In Lebanon, at least 24 people were killed in Beirut when a car bomb exploded near the headquarters of the Phalangist security service in the Christian district of Ashrafieyeh."At Least 24 Die in Beirut Blast", Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1977, p.I-1 The daily newspaper comic strip The Amazing Spider-Man was first published, 16 years after Spider-Man had been introduced as a comic book."An Adventure Each Day", by Steve Saffel, in Spider-Man the Icon: The Life and Times of a Pop Culture Phenomenon (Titan Books, 2007) p.116 The Pitt Panthers were voted as the national college football champion, under the system recognized by the NCAA prior to playoffs, based on the poll of sportswriters by the Associated Press, and a poll of 42 coaches by United Press International. In the UPI poll, Pitt outpointed the USC Trojans, 416 to 376."Pitt No. 1 in Final UPI Football Poll; USC No. 2", Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1977, p.III-3 Died: Avraham Ofer, 54, Israeli Minister of Housing, shot himself to death after driving to a beach near his home. Ofer had been implicated in a corruption scandal that would become known as the Yadlin affair."Israeli Housing Minister Commits Suicide, Leaves Note Denying Alleged Corruption", Los Angeles Times, January 4, 1977, p.I-4"Israel", by Misha Louvish, in The American Jewish Yearbook, 1978 p. 477 Harry Hansen, 92, American author and encyclopedia editor
January 4, 1977 (Tuesday) U.S. Congressman Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill of Massachusetts was formally elected Speaker of the House in a 291 to 142 vote along party lines, as Democrats voted unanimously for him while Republicans voted unanimously for Minority Leader John J. Rhodes of Ohio. Neither O'Neill nor Rhodes voted."O'Neill vows stronger Congress role", Boston Globe, January 5, 1977, p.1 Hasan Muhammad di Tiro, founder of the Free Aceh Movement in Indonesia, proclaimed the independence of that nation's Aceh Province as the Acehnese Republic. The Free Aceh movement would be suppressed by the government by 1986."Acehnese", in Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World A-Z, ed. by James Minahan (ABC-CLIO, 2002) p. 28 Following up on its December 27 announcement of an 18% increase in wages over a five-year period, the Soviet Union's government announced that it would cut prices for consumer goods by as much as 25% for "knitwear, underwear, women's footwear, medicines, refrigerators and some TV sets", while prices would increase for "carpets, some luxury items, handmade clothing and public transportation.""Russ Cut Some Retail Prices", Los Angeles Times, January 5, 1977, p.I-1 Born: Falalu A Dorayi, Nigerian film director; in Gwale Irán Castillo, Mexican TV actress; in Veracruz Tim Wheeler, Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician, frontman of Ash, in Downpatrick https://books.google.com/books?id=crs7AQAAIAAJ&q=tim+wheeler+1977&dq=tim+wheeler+1977&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7hIqcjZaUAxUJnCYFHbwdESUQ6AF6BAgNEAM Died: Ibrahim Biçakçiu, 71, Albanian politician who collaborated with the German occupation of Albania during World War II and was the last German-appointed nominal Prime Minister of Albania for 50 days in 1944. After his release from prison in 1962, he was given a job cleaning public restrooms in his hometown of Elbasan.
January 5, 1977 (Wednesday) The protest occupation of Bastion Point, known as Takaparawhau to the Māori people in New Zealand, began after the New Zealand government announced that it had acquired the land and would be auctioning it to the highest bidder for development of high income housing."Maoris in New Zealand regain Bastion Point by occupying their land, 1977-1978", Global Nonviolent Action Database, Swarthmore College Joe Hawke, a Māori leader, led a group that camped at the site, then began planting gardens, two days before construction was to begin, to prevent the loss of the scenic land on Waitematā Harbour. The protest would continue for 506 days, until May 25, 1978, with the arrest of the occupiers by police assisted by the New Zealand Army. A new government would return Takaparawhau/Baston Point to the Māoris in 1988. A disgruntled former pilot for Australia's Connellan Airways, a small commuter airline, killed himself and four other people by crashing an airplane into the airline's offices at Alice Springs. Colin Forman, who had been fired in September, drove about from his home in the Queensland city of Mount Isa to Wyndham Airport in Western Australia, stole a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron from the airport, and then flew it to Alice Springs and the building housing Ord Air Charter."Plane kills 4 at airport; suicide theory", The Sydney Morning Herald, January 6, 1977, p.1"Suicide pilot berserk before crash: police", The Canberra Times, January 8, 1977, p. 3 Israel's parliament, the Knesset, voted to dissolve itself and to schedule national elections for May 17."Israeli Parliament Sets May 17 Election", Los Angeles Times, January 6, 1977, p.I-7 Died: Matt McGinn, 48, Scottish folk singer and songwriter died in a fire after falling asleep while smoking in bed.
January 6, 1977 (Thursday) Charter 77, a manifesto by Czech and Slovak citizens of Czechoslovakia against the eastern European nation's Communist government, was published in West Germany along with the names of 242 people who had signed the document, including future president Václav Havel."Charter 77: An original signatory on Communist Czechoslovakia's most important protest movement", by Ian Willoughby, Radio Prague International, January 6, 2017 The Czechoslovak government followed up from the publication by arresting the signers."More Czechs Seized After Second Rights Manifesto", Los Angeles Times, January 11, 1977, p.I-1 Andrew Daulton Lee, an American spying for the Soviet Union, was arrested by police in front of the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. Initially charged with littering for throwing trash on the ground, Lee was searched and found to have a microfilm of top secret U.S. documents. During his interrogation under torture, Lee admitted to espionage and implicated his friend, Christopher John Boyce, who would be arrested in the U.S. 10 days later. The next day, based on Lee's statement, police also arrested Ivan Rogalsky, a Soviet resident of the U.S., and charged him with passing secret agent about the U.S. space shuttle program to Yevgeniy Karpov, a KGB agent who was a member of the Soviet delegation to the United Nations."FBI Arrests Russian Emigrant as Spy", Los Angeles Times, January 8, 1977, p.I-5 Lee would be convicted of espionage on May 14, and sentenced to life imprisonment, but would be paroled in 1998. Born: Tom Boxer (stage name for Cosmin Simionică), Romanian musician and record producer; in Craiova Genevieve O'Reilly, Irish film actress; in Dublin. Died: Dolly Sinatra, 79, mother of singer Frank Sinatra, was killed along with three other people in the crash of a chartered Jet Avia Learjet 24 that had taken off from Palm Springs, California, toward Las Vegas. The Learjet wreckage was found on the slope of Mount San Gorgonia, from Palm Springs, after a two-day search."Sinatra Group's Bodies Located", by Jack Jones, Los Angeles Times, January 10, 1977, p.I-1 Dardo Cabo, 36, Argentine journalist and right-wing terrorist, was executed in detention by Argentina's military government. Abdul Majid Daryabadi, 84, Indian Muslim scholar
January 7, 1977 (Friday) Police in France raided a hotel in Paris and arrested Palestinian terrorist leader Abu Daoud, a suspected leader of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics."Reported Leader of Munich Raid Jailed", Los Angeles Times, January 10, 1977, p.I-12 A French court rejected West Germany's extradition request, however, and deported Daoud to Algeria on January 11 before a new request could be made."France Frees Arab Suspect; Israel Outraged— Palestinian Arrested in Olympic Massacre Flies to Safety in Algeria", Los Angeles Times, January 12, 1977, p.I-1David Frum, How We Got Here: The '70s (Basic Books, 2000) p. 319