May 1971

The following events occurred in May 1971:

May 1, 1971 (Saturday)

• Amtrak begins inter-city rail passenger service in the United States.
• The Ceylonese government promises amnesty for all guerillas who surrender before April 5.
• The Angry Brigade sets off a bomb inside, the Biba store in London.
• Born: Ajith Kumar, Indian actor, in Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh
• Died: Heinrich Meyer-Buerdorf, 82, German World War II general

May 2, 1971 (Sunday)

• In Ceylon, left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings.
• In the UK, the Daily Mail, first published in 1896, is relaunched as a tabloid.
• Died: Olaf Barda, 61, first Norwegian International Master in chess; John Horne Blackmore, Canadian teacher, 81, first leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada

May 3, 1971 (Monday)

• The Harris Poll claims that 60% of Americans oppose the Vietnam War.
• East German leader Walter Ulbricht resigns as Communist Party leader but retains the position of head of state.
• 1971 May Day Protests: Anti-war activists attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.^[1][2]
• All Things Considered, National Public Radio's flagship news program, is broadcast for the first time.

May 4, 1971 (Tuesday)

• Four home-made bombs are found in the vicinity of Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, UK. The authorities at first thought these belonged to the Angry Brigade ^[3] but were more likely to be the work of students who devised improvised bombs as an experiment on a school trip to Norway in 1970.

May 5, 1971 (Wednesday)

• The US dollar floods the European currency markets and threatens especially the Deutsche Mark; the central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading.
• Died: Violet Jessop, 83, English former nurse who survived the sinkings of the sister ships RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic in 1912 and 1916, respectively; Sir W. D. Ross, 94, Scottish philosopher

May 6, 1971 (Thursday)

• The Ceylon government begins a major offensive against the People's Liberation Front.
• Died: Dickie Valentine, 41, English singer, in a car crash at Glangrwyney, near Crickhowell, Wales

May 7, 1971 (Friday)

• The 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade (United States) ceases all ground and air operations in Vietnam prior to its deactivation.

May 8, 1971 (Saturday)

• Arsenal win the FA Cup final with a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Wembley Stadium. It is only the second time in the 20th century that an English team has completed the double of the Football League First Division and the FA Cup.

May 9, 1971 (Sunday)

• Mariner 8 fails to launch.

May 10, 1971 (Monday)

• Born: Amy Mastura, Malaysian singer and actress; Doris Neuner, Austrian luger and former Olympic champion

May 11, 1971 (Tuesday)

• The Daily Sketch, Britain's oldest tabloid newspaper, is withdrawn from circulation after 62 years.^[4]
• Died: Seán Lemass, 72, former Taoiseach of Ireland

May 12, 1971 (Wednesday)

• An earthquake in Turkey destroys most of the city of Burdur.
• Mick Jagger marries Bianca de Macías in Saint-Tropez, France, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and their wives are among the wedding guests.
• The cruise ship, Royal Viking Star, later MS Black Watch, is launched at Helsinki, Finland.
• Died: Tor Johnson, 67, Swedish professional wrestler and actor.

May 13, 1971 (Thursday)

• The state funeral of Former Taoiseach Seán Lemass takes place at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Churchtown, Dublin.
• Karl Schiller replaces Alex Möller as Minister of Finance in the German federal government.
• Born: Espen Lind, Norwegian songwriter, producer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist, in Tromsø

May 14, 1971 (Friday)

• Pope Paul VI issues the Apostolic Letter "Octogesima adveniens" to Cardinal Maurice Roy, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's encyclical Rerum Novarum.
• Born: Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan of Jordan, in Amman
• Born: Sofia Coppola, American, in New York City
• Died: Heinz Richter, German radio engineer, 61

May 15, 1971 (Saturday)

• Three members of the Turkish Liberation Army, an underground militant organization linked to the PLO, kidnapped and executed Israeli consul-general Efraim Elrom in Ankara.^[5]
• Died: Sir Tyrone Guthrie, 70, Anglo-Irish theatrical director

May 16, 1971 (Sunday)

• A coup attempt is exposed and foiled in Egypt.
• Died: Sir Collier Cudmore, 85, Australian lawyer, politician and Olympic champion rower

May 17, 1971 (Monday)

• An early avanproyekt of the Ilyushin Il-86is displayed at an exhibition of civil aviation novelties at Vnukovo Airport near Moscow.^[6][7]
• The Amarillo Air Terminal opens on part of the Amarillo Air Force Base.
• Born: Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, as Máxima Zorreguieta, in Buenos Aires, Argentina

May 18, 1971 (Tuesday)

• The U.S. Congress formally votes to end funding for the American Supersonic Transport program.
• The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in Chicago with a game 7 victory. It was only the second time in Stanley Cup history that the away team won game 7.

May 19, 1971 (Wednesday)

• Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
• Died: Ogden Nash, 68, American poet and humorist

May 20, 1971 (Thursday)

• Boeing announces the cancellation of the SST project.^[8]

May 21, 1971 (Friday)

• Born: Aditya Chopra, Indian film director, son of Yash Chopra
• Died: Dennis King, 73, English singer and actor; Johannes Letzmann, 85, Estonian meteorologist and tornado researcher

May 22, 1971 (Saturday)

• An earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of Bingöl, Turkey – more than 1,000 are killed, 10,000 made homeless.

May 23, 1971 (Sunday)

• An air crash at Rijeka Airport, Yugoslavia kills 78 people, mostly British tourists.
• Jackie Stewart wins the 1971 Monaco Grand Prix.

May 24, 1971 (Monday)

• Hurricane Agatha makes landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale within 45 miles (75 km) of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. The village of Playa Azul is hard-hit by the storm. Up to half of the village's homes are destroyed, along with much of the banana, mango and coconut crop.
• Gerhard Stoltenberg becomes Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, retaining the position until 1982.

May 25, 1971 (Tuesday)

• The body of Efraim Elrom, Israeli ambassador to Turkey, is found in Istanbul.
• A suitcase containing a blast bomb is thrown into the lobby of Springfield Road RUC station by the Provisional IRA. Sgt Michael Willetts shelters two civilians as 30 lbs of explosives detonate, seriously injuring him. Seven RUC officers, two British soldiers and eighteen civilians are injured in the attack.
• Died: Michael Willetts, 35, English soldier, one of the first to be killed during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the recipient of a posthumous George Cross.

May 26, 1971 (Wednesday)

• Austria and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations.
• Qantas agrees to pay $500,000 to bomb hoaxer-extortionist Mr. Brown (Peter Macari), who is later arrested.
• Died: Laurence Wild, 81, American former basketball player, soldier, and Governor of American Samoa

May 27, 1971 (Thursday)

• Dahlerau train disaster: 46 people are killed in a collision between two trains in West Germany; 41 of the victims are pupils of the Geschwister-Scholl-Schule in Radevormwald.^[9]
• Six armed passengers hijack a Romanian passenger plane and force it to fly to Vienna.
• Christie's auctions a diamond known as Deepdene; it is later found to be artificially colored.
• Born: Paul Bettany, English actor, in Shepherd's Bush, London; Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, American entertainer, in Philadelphia (d. 2002)
• Died: Chips Rafferty, 62, Australian actor, of a heart attack while walking along a street in Sydney, shortly after being offered a role in The Day the Clown Cried.

May 28, 1971 (Friday)

• Portugal resigns from UNESCO.
• A Berlin-based CV-990A operated by Modern Air Transport, with 45 passengers on board, is unexpectedly denied permission to enter Bulgarian airspace, as a result of a new policy adopted by that country's then communist government to deny any aircraft whose flight had originated or was going to terminate at a West Berlin airport the right to take off and land at any of its airports. The plane lands safely back at Berlin's Tegel Airport.^[10]
• Died: Audie Murphy, 45, American actor, killed when his private plane crashes into Brush Mountain, near Catawba, Virginia. The pilot and four other passengers are also killed.

May 29, 1971 (Saturday)

• The 1971 Indianapolis 500 is won by Al Unser the second year in a row. The race is marred by a spectacular crash in which a pace car skids into a temporary grandstand packed with photographers. 22 people are injured, some seriously.
• Died: Rodd Redwing, 66, Native American actor and world’s greatest quick-draw artist.

May 30, 1971 (Sunday)

• The Battle of Snuol ends in victory for North Vietnam after five months of fighting.
• Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
• Died: Marcel Dupré, 85, French organist, pianist and composer

May 31, 1971 (Monday)

• The birth of Bangladesh is declared by the government in exile, in territory formerly part of Pakistan.

References