50 Fun Facts About 1977

Which 12-year-old won a record third Grand National at Aintree under jockey Tommy Stack?

Red Rum had an incurable bone disease in his foot, yet car dealer Ginger McCain trained him on Southport beach, where galloping through seawater is said to have eased it.

Which Briton won the Wimbledon women's singles in the championships' centenary year, as Elizabeth II watched on?

Virginia Wade lost the first set to Betty Stöve, then won 6–3, 6–1, and recalls the Centre Court crowd singing 'For She's a Jolly Good Fellow'.

Which Wings single, backed by the Campbeltown Pipe Band, was the first to sell two million copies in Britain?

Mull of Kintyre, named for the headland near McCartney's High Park Farm, broke the UK sales record held by the Beatles' 'She Loves You' and kept it until Band Aid in 1984.

Which Sex Pistols single stalled at number two in June despite a BBC ban, amid claims the chart was fixed?

God Save the Queen was refused by shops including Boots and WH Smith, and on Jubilee Day the band played from a boat on the Thames, a stunt that ended in arrests.

Which Florida city saw snow flurries on 19 January for the only time in its recorded history?

Miami's flakes melted on landing, yet local papers ran headlines sized for a declaration of war, and the freeze behind them devastated South Florida's winter crops.

What did Jerry Ehman write beside a 72-second radio signal caught by Ohio State's Big Ear telescope on 15 August?

Wow! is what Ehman wrote in red pen after circling the printout code 6EQUJ5 days later, and no search since has ever picked the signal up again.

Which idiom for a show past its peak mocks a water-ski stunt Fonzie pulled in a September Happy Days episode?

Jump the shark was coined in 1985 by Jon Hein and his college roommate Sean Connolly, and the stunt was written in because Henry Winkler really could water-ski.

Which carol did Bowie sing with Bing Crosby on 11 September, a month before Crosby's death?

The Little Drummer Boy was a song Bowie said he hated, so the show's writers composed the 'Peace on Earth' counterpoint in just over an hour, and the duet reached UK number three as a 1982 single.

Which country's fans invaded the Wembley pitch and brought down the goalposts after beating England 2–1 in June?

Scotland's fans buckled a Wembley crossbar under their weight and dug up the turf, and Denis Law joked that three penalty spots later turned up for sale in Aberdeen.

Which England forward left Anfield for Hamburger SV in a British-record £500,000 deal?

Kevin Keegan began badly at Hamburg, where teammates would not pass to him, yet in 1979 he helped them win their first league title since 1960 and was twice voted European Footballer of the Year.

Which Manchester United manager won the FA Cup in May, then was sacked in July over an affair with the physio's wife?

Tommy Docherty's affair with Mary Brown, wife of the United physiotherapist, ended his own marriage too, and his replacement Dave Sexton had also followed him into the Chelsea job.

Which Sheffield venue staged the World Snooker Championship for the first time in April?

The Crucible Theatre was chosen after promoter Mike Watterson's wife Carol saw a play there and recommended it, and John Spencer won the first title held in it.

Which American edged Jack Nicklaus in the 'Duel in the Sun' at the first Open Championship held at Turnberry?

Tom Watson closed with a second straight 65 for a record 268 total, and Turnberry later renamed its 18th hole 'Duel in the Sun'.

Which opener became the first cricketer to bring up his 100th first-class century in a Test match, at Headingley?

Geoff Boycott reached three figures with an on-drive for four off Greg Chappell at his home ground, went on to 191, and England won by an innings to regain the Ashes.

Which 21-year-old Somerset all-rounder took five for 74 on his Test debut against Australia in Nottingham in July?

Ian Botham's first Test wicket was Australia's captain Greg Chappell, bowled for just 19, and England went on to win the match by seven wickets.

Which Australian TV mogul's secret cricket breakaway was revealed on 9 May, with England captain Tony Greig as his recruiter?

Kerry Packer set up World Series Cricket after the Australian Cricket Board refused his Channel Nine bid for exclusive Test rights, and it popularised day-night matches and coloured kit.

Which city staged March's Centenary Test, where Australia beat England by 45 runs, exactly as in 1877's first Test?

Melbourne hosted both matches, and England's Derek Randall made 174 in the chase after wicketkeeper Rod Marsh called him back when he had been given out caught behind.

Which driver sealed his second Formula One title at the US Grand Prix, then quit Ferrari with races still to run?

Niki Lauda had already agreed to join Brabham and walked out on Ferrari with two races left, 14 months after the Nürburgring fire that almost killed him.

Which silent-film legend died at his Swiss home on Christmas Day, and had his coffin stolen the following March?

Charlie Chaplin was buried at Corsier-sur-Vevey, and the two men who dug up his coffin were caught in May, with the body found buried in a field in nearby Noville.

Which Roger Moore Bond film has a Lotus Esprit that turns into a submarine and a steel-toothed henchman called Jaws?

The Spy Who Loved Me's submarine car later sat forgotten in a Long Island storage unit that sold blind for under $100, and Elon Musk paid close to $1 million for it in 2013.

Which Attenborough war epic about the failed Operation Market Garden opened in June with Connery, Caine and Redford?

A Bridge Too Far was scripted by William Goldman from the book Cornelius Ryan struggled to finish while ill with cancer, dying two months after it came out in 1974.

Which Stephen King novel set in the Overlook Hotel was published in January?

The Shining took its title from the John Lennon line 'We all shine on' in 'Instant Karma!', and grew from King's 1974 stay at the Stanley Hotel.

Which Tolkien book, edited and partly written by his son Christopher, was published four years after the author's death?

The Silmarillion was first offered to Tolkien's publisher in 1937 as a follow-up to The Hobbit and turned down as too obscure, so he wrote The Lord of the Rings instead.

Which lawman of Mega-City One debuted in the second issue of 2000 AD, the weekly comic IPC launched in February?

Judge Dredd took the Dirty Harry-style tough cop to its logical extreme, and the strip never shows his whole face, which writer John Wagner says sums up the facelessness of justice.

Which Starsky & Hutch actor topped the UK and US charts with the ballad 'Don't Give Up on Us'?

David Soul first won attention as 'the Covered Man', singing on The Merv Griffin Show in a ski mask so that he would be judged on his music alone.

Which Evita song gave Julie Covington a UK number one before she turned down the stage role?

Don't Cry for Me Argentina sold over a million copies in Britain, and the part of Eva Perón went instead to Elaine Paige when the musical reached the London stage.

Which country won Eurovision at Wembley Conference Centre, a contest delayed a month by a strike of BBC technicians?

France's Marie Myriam won with 'L'oiseau et l'enfant', a then-record fifth French victory that took the 1978 contest to Paris, while the UK's 'Rock Bottom' came second.

Which group's disco hit 'Yes Sir, I Can Boogie' reached UK number one in October on its way to 16 million sales?

Baccara were two flamenco dancers spotted entertaining tourists at a Fuerteventura hotel, and their only UK chart-topper came back in 2020 as a football terrace anthem.

Which duo's Christmas show, with BBC presenters dancing to 'There Is Nothing Like a Dame', drew over 20 million viewers?

Morecambe and Wise drew between 21 and 28 million viewers, depending on who counted, then announced barely a month later that they were leaving the BBC for Thames Television.

Which Zeffirelli serial starring Robert Powell, with Olivier and Ustinov in support, reached ITV on 3 April?

Jesus of Nazareth began when Pope Paul VI told producer Lew Grade he hoped his next project would be the life of Jesus, and Grade's wife suggested Robert Powell for his blue eyes.

Which ITV action series, launched on 30 December, followed CI5 agents Bodie and Doyle under their boss George Cowley?

The Professionals first cast Anthony Andrews as Bodie, but he and Martin Shaw lacked on-screen chemistry, so creator Brian Clemens brought in Lewis Collins instead.

Which plasticine character, an early Aardman Animations creation, debuted on BBC children's show Take Hart in February?

Morph speaks only gibberish and sleeps in a small wooden box on the tabletop, and in 2013 fans funded twelve new episodes through a Kickstarter that hit its target in nine days.

Which motoring programme began on 22 April as a regional BBC Midlands series from Pebble Mill, fronted by Angela Rippon?

Top Gear's first edition had Rippon driving along the M1 in her Ford Capri to explain the correct use of mirrors, a long way from the stunt-filled entertainment show it later became.

Which computer, shown at the first West Coast Computer Faire in April, went on sale in June with colour graphics?

The Apple II, with the Commodore PET and TRS-80, formed what Byte magazine called the '1977 Trinity' of machines that created the home computer market.

Which planet's rings were discovered on 10 March, when a star flickered five times either side of passing behind it?

Uranus became only the second ringed planet known after Saturn, spotted from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory, and William Herschel had written 'a ring was suspected' back in 1789.

Which airline boss launched his low-fare Skytrain from Gatwick to New York on 26 September?

Freddie Laker cut out meals and other frills to charge a fraction of rival fares, and after his airline collapsed in 1982 the big carriers were sued for conspiring to drive it out of business and settled out of court.

Which service's first ever national strike, from 14 November, left the army's Green Goddesses answering 999 calls?

Firefighters wanted a 30% rise, drew no strike pay and in the end settled for 10% with a promise of more, while soldiers covered in Green Goddess engines built in the 1950s.

Which England manager quit via a Daily Mail exclusive in July to take a four-year £340,000 deal in the Emirates?

Don Revie had skipped a friendly in Rio, claiming to be scouting Italy, to negotiate in Dubai, and the FA's ten-year ban on him was later overturned in court for overreaching its powers.

Which country held its first free election since 1936 on 15 June, 19 months after the death of its long-time dictator?

Spain's vote was called by Adolfo Suárez, a former minister of Franco's own Movimiento, who had legalised the Communist Party only two months before polling day.

Which prime minister lost her own seat in Rae Bareli in March as voters punished her 21-month Emergency?

Indira Gandhi lost to Raj Narain, the rival she had beaten there in 1971, whose court case over that win got her convicted of electoral malpractice and led to the Emergency.

Which human rights organisation, founded in London in 1961 to free prisoners of conscience, won the year's Nobel Peace Prize?

Amnesty International grew out of 'The Forgotten Prisoners', lawyer Peter Benenson's Observer appeal for people jailed for their beliefs, and its Nobel citation reads 'for worldwide respect for human rights'.

Which Pirates of the Caribbean actor, born in Canterbury on 13 January, is named after an English composer?

Orlando Bloom is named after the composer Orlando Gibbons, and at 13 he learned his biological father was family friend Colin Stone, not Harry Bloom, the anti-apartheid writer he had believed was his father.

Which frontman, born in Exeter on 2 March, formed his band while studying Greek and Latin in London?

Chris Martin met his Coldplay bandmates in a University College London hall of residence, and in 2014 he and Gwyneth Paltrow announced their split as a 'conscious uncoupling'.

Which Lancashire all-rounder, born in Preston on 6 December, was England's man of the series in the 2005 Ashes?

Andrew Flintoff's most famous moment of that series was consoling Australia's Brett Lee, seconds after England had won the Edgbaston Test by just two runs.

Which rapper and producer, born in Atlanta on 8 June and raised in Chicago, debuted with The College Dropout?

Kanye West asked a Los Angeles court in 2021 to drop his middle and last names for 'personal reasons', and a judge made him legally just Ye that October.

Which singer, born in Barranquilla on 2 February, began recording her debut album Magia at just 13?

Shakira wrote her first song at eight, 'Gafas Oscuras' ('Dark Glasses'), as a tribute to her father, after an aunt gave her a guitar for her birthday.

Which actor, born in Hammersmith on 15 September, played both Kray twins in Legend and Bane in The Dark Knight Rises?

Tom Hardy got his break at 21 by winning a male-model contest on the TV show The Big Breakfast, years before his Oscar nomination for The Revenant.

Which 26-year-old Celtic striker joined Liverpool for £440,000 on 10 August?

Kenny Dalglish ended his first Liverpool season as the club's top scorer with 31 goals, among them the only goal of the European Cup final against Bruges at Wembley.

Which Mike Leigh play, with Alison Steadman as hostess Beverly, opened in Hampstead in April and hit BBC TV in November?

Abigail's Party never shows Abigail herself, the 15-year-old holding her first teenage party next door, while Beverly inflicts Demis Roussos on her guests.

What did police deploy for the first time on the British mainland during the Battle of Lewisham on 13 August?

Riot shields came out as bricks and bottles hit police guarding a National Front march, in clashes that left about 110 people hurt and more than 200 under arrest.