1976was the year of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, the script of which he wrote and in which he played the lead.
A small time boxer got a once in a lifetime chance to fight the heavyweight champ in a bout in which he strove to go the distance for his self-respect. A Fine Gael-Labour coalition under taoiseach Liam Cosgrave grappled with high unemployment - one in eight of the labour force were out of work. For women in the public service, there was good news. Thanks to the EEC, now the EU, they would henceforth get equal pay.
January -In the North the year started badly. Five nationalists were shot in Armagh and Down, and 10 Protestant workmen were killed the following day at Kingsmill. A bloody pattern of tit-for-tat sectarian killings was set. The first SAS units were deployed in the North. The trial of members of the Maguire family began at the Old Bailey in London. They were accused of possession of explosives.
The 'Maguire Seven' were convicted of possession of explosives and some served 10 years in prison before the convictions were overturned. Prime minister Tony Blair later offered a personal apology.
Passenger aviation went supersonic with the first flight of Concorde.
February -Two Protestant civilians were shot dead by the Ulster Volunteer Force in the Shankill area of Belfast. Canadian musician and composer Percy Faith died. On February 12th, IRA hunger striker Frank Stagg died in Wakefield prison in England. Britain announced on February 29th that"special category" or "political status" for northern prisoners convicted of terrorist offences, allowing them to wear their own clothes, was to be revoked.
March -Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave met British prime minister Harold Wilson in London on March 5th, the day that the pound sterling fell below $2 for first time. Wilson quit unexpectedly as prime minister on March 16th; we know now that his mental health had been failing.
On St Patrick's Day, Luchino Visconti, Italian theatre and film director, died. American heiress Patty Hearst was convicted of bank robbery.
April -Apple Computer company was formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak to sell a computer circuit board that they had designed and built in Jobs's garage in Los Altos, California.
The 21st Eurovision Song Contest was won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the UK, with their song Save Your Kisses For Me. Jim Callaghan succeeded Harold Wilson as prime minister of Britain. Wilson had won three out of four elections contested as party leader. Callaghan would win none. The IRA shot dead two prison staff, Pacelli Dillon in Carrickmore, Co Tyrone, and wages clerk John Cummings in Belfast. In Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, Ian Smith called up white reservists, after black guerrillas blew up a key rail link to South Africa. On April 23rd, the Ramones struck a resounding blow for punk rock by releasing their first album. Portugal got a democratically elected socialist prime minister, Dr Mario Soares, two years after a military coup.
May -Ken Newman replaced Jamie Flanagan as chief constable of the RUC. On May 13th, the Republican News promised "a long hot summer" as a response to moves to strengthen the RUC. Three RUC men were killed by a booby-trap bomb at Belcoo, Co Fermanagh; one was shot dead in a Warrenpoint gun battle. Ten people died and 56 were wounded in one weekend. By the end of his first month in office, Newman had attended the funerals of seven of his officers. Actor Colin Farrell was born in Dublin on the last day of May.
June -The year will remembered for a good summer, with record temperatures recorded at Kilkenny and Cork Harbour. London experienced a record temperature of 35 degrees on June 26th. On June 5th, the UVF attacked the Chlorane Bar, Gresham Street, Belfast, and killed five.
In a bomb attack on the International Bar, Portaferry, Co Down, the UVF killed a Catholic civilian. Republican paramilitaries carried out a bomb attack on the Times Bar, York Road, Belfast, killing two Protestant civilians. On June 14th, the trial began in Oxford of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.
Blacks revolted in the South African township of Soweto , with more than 100 dead. On June 20th, hundreds of western tourists were moved from Beirut to safety in Syria by the US military, following the murder of the US ambassador. Palestinian extremists hijacked an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew, on June 27th, and took it to Entebbe, Uganda.
July -Dutch footballer Ruud van Nistelrooy was born on July 1st. On July 3rd, Chris Evert beat Evonne Cawley at Wimbledon women's singles. Israeli troops freed more than 100 hostages held by the PLO at Entebbe airport on July 4th. The hot weather continued. Author Kingsley Amis wrote to poet Robert Conquest on July 5th: "It will be 90 today and the lawn is mostly straw."
The 1976 summer Olympics began in Montreal on July 17th. American Viking spacecraft landed on Mars and sent back first photographs on July 20th. Release of dioxin at a chemical plant at Seveso near Milan caused widescale evacuation on July 29th. On the same day, the killer known as the "Son of Sam" pulled a gun from a paper bag, killing one and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorised New York city for the next year.
August -F1 world champion driver Niki Lauda was seriously burned in an accident at the German grand prix.
On August 4th, the first recognised outbreak of what was to be come known as Legionnaires' disease killed 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia. Canadian press magnate Roy Thomson, one-time owner of the Timesand Sunday Times, died on the same day.
On August 9th, Gerry Fitt, MP for West Belfast, drove a republican mob away from his Belfast home by threatening to shoot them. The women's peace movement had just begun in Belfast with a major demonstration the previous day. US president Gerald Ford was nominated as the Republican party candidate. A Georgia peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter, had earlier been nominated as the Democratic presidential challenger.
The hot summer continued. On August 24th, Denis Howell was appointed minister to oversee steps to combat drought in England. The first known outbreak of Ebola virus in Yambuku, Zaire, was reported on August 26th.
September - European Commission on Human Rights decided that Britain had a case to answer of ill-treatment of internees in 1971 before the European Court of Human Rights.
The US Viking spacecraft beamed back the first colour pictures from Mars. At Mount Temple Comprehensive school in north Dublin, 14-year-old Larry Mullen pinned a note on the school notice board. He wanted to start a band.
On September 9th, Mao Zedong, leader of 800 million Chinese, died. A British Airways Trident aircraft and a Yugoslav DC-9 collided near Zagreb, killing 176, on September 10th. Four days later, IRA man Kieran Nugent received a three-year prison sentence, the first convict not eligible for "political status". A chain of events involving the "blanket protest" began - it will lead on to the hunger strikes.
Brazilian footballer Ronaldo was born on September 22th.