July 1974

[July 1], 1974 (Monday)

• On "M-day", road signs in Australia changed from imperial measures in miles to adjusted metric equivalents in kilometers. An advertisement by the Australian Department of Transport told readers "Miles change to kilometres. Make sure YOU understand— it's important, for safety's sake!" and explained "Since a kilometre is 1000 metres in length, or about 5/8 of a mile, all road speed signs in kilometres per hour will be shown in much higher figures than the old miles per hour signs— although the speed you are traveling is about the same."
• Sweden became the first nation in the world to have a national data protection law as the Datalagen, passed on May 11, 1973, went into effect.
• Isabel Perón became the first woman to be designated the president of a nation, being sworn in as President of Argentina after the death of her husband, Juan Perón, at the age of 78. Although other women, such as monarchs, had served as heads of state, or heads of government as prime ministers, Mrs. Perón— who had been elected vice president after being the running mate of her husband in the 1973 election— was the first female president.
• The Communist nation of Cuba officially banned the Jehovah's Witnesses, closing houses of worship and providing penalties, including imprisonment for violators.
• Members of the National Football League Players Association walked out on strike after the deadline passed for the 26 owners of the teams of the National Football League declined to meet their demands for an increase in base salary and lifting of restrictions on collective bargaining and reserve clauses in contracts. Most rookie players, who were not immediately eligible to join the NFLPA, would show up to training camps, while most veterans declined to pass the picket lines to report for NFL teams.
• The Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park opened to the public in the Philadelphia area, based in Jackson, New Jersey, near Trenton.

  [July 2], 1974 (Tuesday)

• Ralph Steinhauer, a former chief of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and agricultural expert, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, becoming the first person of Native Canadian origin to be a Lieutenant Governor of a Canadian province.
• American news reporters encountered Soviet censorship while trying to transmit stories from Moscow about dissidence within the U.S.S.R.; the three American networks had jointly spent $281,000 for transmissions by satellite, and ABC was the first victim as it was sending film of an interview with dissident Soviet nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov from a Moscow TV studio. The Communist government had warned the U.S. networks to stop sending "anti-Soviet" stories from the Soviet-American summit, with one commenting "Our technicians get insulted."
• The 24th Berlin International Film Festival concluded in Germany, with the Golden Bear being awarded to The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravit directed by Ted Kotcheff.
• Born:
• *Matthew Reilly, Australian writer of action thrillers, known for his Shane Schofield and Jack West Jr novels; in Sydney
• *Andy McDermott, British writer of action thrillers, known for novels of the team of Nina Wilde and Eddie Chase novels; in Halifax, West Yorkshire
• *Coco Montrese, American drag queen and TV star; in Miami

  [July 3], 1974 (Wednesday)

• The Threshold Test Ban Treaty was signed between the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of Richard Nixon's visit to Moscow.
• Archbishop Makarios III, President of the island republic of Cyprus and a Greek Cypriot in the nation that had large populations of people of Greek and Turkish ancestry, sent an ultimatum to the General Phaedon Gizikis, leader of Greece's ruling military junta, General Phaedon Gizikis, demanding the removal of the 600 Greek officers within the Cypriot National Guard by July 21. Greece's military junta responded by ordering the Greek officers in Cyprus to overthrow Makarios and install a new president who would oversee the annexation of Cyprus to Greece.
• In Thailand, four days of rioting that killed 26 people and injured 120 others, began in the Chinese community in Bangkok after two police arrested a taxi driver for illegal parking on Phlapphla Chai street. On July 7, Prime Minister Sanya Dharmasakti declared a state of emergency, and the Thai Army and local police quelled the riot.
• The Soviet Union successfully launched Soyuz 14 with cosmonauts Yuri Artyukhin and Pavel Popovich, and docked with the Salyut 3 space station. It would return to Earth on July 19. U.S. intelligence concluded that Soyuz 14 had been on a military mission to use make the Salyut 2 station an orbiting reconnaissance platform, because the cosmonauts had sent and received coded messages with ground control on a special channel.
• The third and last scheduled matches in Group A and Group B of the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany proved to be semifinals matching the two unbeaten teams in both groups. The Group A game in Frankfurt featured the Netherlands and Brazil, both with 2-0-0 records against their opponents, while Group B's game in Munich had West Germany and Poland, both 2–0–0. The Netherlands beat defending 1970 champion Brazil, 3 to 0, while home team West Germany eked out a 1 to 0 win over Poland.

  [July 4], 1974 (Thursday)

• The UK's Northern Ireland Office published a white paper, The Northern Ireland Constitution, proposing elections to a body which would attempt to develop a political settlement for the country.
• The USNS Hughes Glomar Explorer, ostensibly a deep-sea drillship, arrived at the Pacific Ocean northwest of Hawaii to begin an attempt to recover the wreckage of the Soviet submarine K-129, which sank on March 8, 1968. The top secret recovery mission, Project Azorian, was financed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and was able to reach the sub in waters deep and recover a portion of the vessel. The project's existence was revealed seven months later.
• Meeting in Gangtok, the 32-member State Council of the Himalayan Kingdom of Sikkim adopted the nation's first constitution to provide for the nation to become a state of India, subject to approval in a referendum. Sikkim's chogyal, King Palden Thondup Namgyal, at one time an absolute monarch, signed the legislation relieving him of all but ceremonial powers. The King appointed Kazi Lhendup Dorji as Prime Minister of a five-member cabinet on July 23. Sikkim would be admitted as the 21st state of India on May 16, 1975.
• Swahili became the official language of Kenya as President Jomo Kenyatta signed legislation providing that all government business, including parliamentary debate, would be conducted in the Bantu language.
• Singers Barry White and Glodean James married.
• Born: Kevin Hanchard, Canadian TV actor known for Hudson & Rex and Orphan Black; in Toronto
• Died:
• *Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, 77, Palestinian and Muslim leader who was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in Mandatory Palestine from 1921 to 1937
• *Georgette Heyer, 71, English novelist known for her Regency romances, died of lung cancer.
• *Del Webb, 75, American real estate mogul who created Sun City, Arizona and was co-owner of the New York Yankees, died following surgery for lung cancer.

  [July 5], 1974 (Friday)

• Construction began in Austria of the long Arlberg Road Tunnel through the Alps and would last for more than four years. At the time of the tunnel's opening on December 1, 1978, between St Anton am Arlberg in Tyrol and Langen am Arlberg in Vorarlberg, it would be the longest road tunnel in the world.
• The U.S. state of Louisiana authorized a flag for, and recognition of, the "Cajun Country" in the southern portion of the state, inhabited by Louisiana residents of French descent.
• British commercial diver John Dimmer suffered a fatal pneumothorax during decompression while in saturation aboard the oil platform Sedco 135F in the North Sea.
• Born: Márcio Amoroso, Brazilian footballer, with 19 caps for the national team; in Brasília

  [July 6], 1974 (Saturday)

• Members of the failed Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Office ministers held talks in Oxford with Harry Murray, chairman of the Ulster Workers' Council.
• Ten members of the Burmese Air Force were killed while flying in formation in five separate T-33 jets as part of a training mission, when their aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain in the Peguyoma range during heavy rains and strong winds. The five jets were making a flight between Rangoon and Meiktila when the accident happened.
• The first broadcast was made of the popular American public radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion, created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The initial show was transmitted live by Minnesota Public Radio from the Janet Wallace Auditorium at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, before an audience of 12 people.
• Jimmy Connors of the U.S. won the men's singles championship at Wimbledon, defeating Ken Rosewall in straight sets, 6–1, 6–1, 6–4. The win came one day after his fiancée, Chris Evert of the U.S., had won the women's singles title over Olga Morozova of the Soviet Union, 6–0, 6–4. Connors and Evert were scheduled to be married in November 1974, but would break up before the marriage took place.

  [July 7], 1974 (Sunday)

• West Germany defeated the Netherlands 2–1 to win the World Cup, at Olympiastadion, Munich.
• Voting was held in Japan for 130 of the 252 seats of the House of Councillors. The Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka lost 11 seats, finishing with 126, one delegate shy of the 127 needed for majority control. The LDP, which controlled the lower house, was well ahead of the second-place Japan Socialist Party, led by Tomomi Narita, which finished with 62 seats.
• Sweden's Ronnie Peterson won the 1974 French Grand Prix motor race at Dijon, finishing 20 seconds ahead of Austria's Niki Lauda.
• Born: Ingeborg Arvola, Norwegian novelist and children's book writer; in Honningsvåg
• Died:
• *Joachim Brendel, 53, German Luftwaffe flying ace with 189 victories in aerial combat during World War II
• *Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, 76, U.S. journalist and publisher
• *Nancy Newhall, 66, prolific photography book writer and editor, died of injuries sustained on June 30 while she and other people were on a rafting trip in the Grand Teton National Park in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Mrs. Newhall and 11 other people were in the rubber raft on the Snake River when a giant spruce tree fell onto them.