Timeline January 1976

Events in January 1976 15

• 1890 – 1976 Agatha Christie Queen of Mystery The best-selling novelist of all time.
• 1890 – 1976 Agatha Christie (1890-1976) Died 12 January 1976, aged 85 Agatha Christie, the best-selling novelist known for detective fiction featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, died at her home in Wallingford, England. She remains the best-selling novelist of all time, with over two billion copies of her books sold worldwide. Her play The Mousetrap was already the longest continuously running show in theatre history.
• 1898 – 1976 Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) Died 8 January 1976, aged 77 Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1949 until his death, succumbed to bladder cancer in Beijing. His death triggered widespread public mourning that erupted into the Tiananmen Incident in April 1976. He had been a central figure in Chinese Communist Party leadership for decades.
• 1898 – 1976 Paul Robeson (1898-1976) Died 23 January 1976, aged 77 Paul Robeson, the American bass-baritone singer, actor and civil rights activist, died in Philadelphia after a long illness. He was famed for his performances of 'Ol' Man River' and for the title role in Othello, and was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for his political activism. He remains a landmark figure in African-American cultural history.
• 1910 – 1976 Howlin' Wolf Blues singer and guitarist Chester Arthur Burnett, the towering Chicago bluesman of Smokestack Lightnin', Spoonful and Killing Floor.
• 1976 Australian Open 1976 Men: Mark Edmondson · Women: Evonne Goolagong
• 1976 1976: James Hunt McLaren Hunt won the title by a single point from Lauda in one of the most dramatic seasons in F1 history. Lauda had suffered horrific burns in a crash at the Nürburgring but returned just six weeks later, only to withdraw from the rain-soaked final race at Fuji.
• 1976 – 1979 Dame Edna Breaks Through Dame Edna became a star in the UK in the 1970s with stage shows Housewife, Superstar! and A Night with Dame Edna. Australian PM Gough Whitlam spontaneously made the character a 'Dame' on television.
• 1976 – 1978 Discovery of V(D)J Recombination Made the Nobel Prize-winning discovery that immune cells physically rearrange segments of their DNA — cutting and splicing gene fragments — to generate the enormous diversity of antibodies needed to fight disease. This overturned the prevailing dogma that DNA was static in somatic cells.
• 1976 King Kong Created the vocal effects for the giant ape in the King Kong remake starring Jeff Bridges, demonstrating his extraordinary ability to create non-human voices and sounds.
• 1976 – 1978 Leaving Ike Turner Left Ike Turner in 1976, fleeing their Dallas hotel room with 36 cents in her pocket. Their divorce was finalised in 1978. She later revealed years of horrific physical abuse during their marriage.
• 1976 – 1978 War Films of the 1970s Appeared in a run of major World War II films: The Eagle Has Landed (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977) and Force 10 from Navarone (1978), establishing him as a go-to actor for military roles.
• 1976 Howlin' Wolf dies Hines, Illinois Dies near Chicago, aged 65.
• 1976 Willie Nelson stars on Wanted! The Outlaws First platinum country album With Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser.
• 1976 Concorde begins commercial service Supersonic passenger flights launch simultaneously from London and Paris British Airways and Air France began the first scheduled commercial flights of the Concorde supersonic airliner on 21 January 1976, flying from London to Bahrain and Paris to Rio de Janeiro. The aircraft cruised at over twice the speed of sound, cutting long-haul flight times dramatically. It remained in service until 2003.