May 1967
Procul Harum’s ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ enters the UK singles charts
12 May 1967
‘Games For May’ at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
June 1967
The Beatles’
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
released
16 June 1967
‘See Emily Play’ released
16–18 June 1967
Monterey International Pop Music Festival takes place
27 June 1967
First automated cash machine installed at Barclays Bank, Enfield
6 July 1967
First
Top Of The Pops
appearance, performing ‘See Emily Play’
28 July 1967
Last UFO show at the original Tottenham Court Road location
5 August 1967
THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN released
12 August 1967
7th National Jazz and Blues Festival, Windsor
30 September 1967
The BBC launches Radio 1. The first track played (by
DJ Tony Blackburn) is The Move’s ‘Flowers In The Rain’
3 October 1967
Chuck Yeager sets new air speed record of Mach 6.7 in the X-15
9 October 1967
Che Guevara shot dead by Bolivian government troops
3 November 1967
First tour of the USA opens at the Winterland, San Francisco
9 November 1967
First issue of
Rolling Stone
magazine published
3 December 1967
First successful heart transplant carried out by Dr Christian Barnard
14 December 1967
Start of the Jimi Hendrix tour, at the Royal Albert Hall
18 December 1967
‘Apples And Oranges’ released
22 December 1967
‘Christmas On Earth Continued’ event at Olympia Exhibition Hall, London
24 December 1967
Apollo 8 enters moon orbit. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Williams Anders become the first humans to see the dark side of the
moon
1968
12 January 1968
First appearance of Pink Floyd as a five-piece with David Gilmour
4 April 1968
Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee
6 April 1968
Syd’s departure officially announced
12 April 1968
‘It Would Be So Nice’ released
29 April 1968
The Broadway premiere of
Hair
May 1968
Student-led riots in Paris
28 May 1968
Kylie Minogue born
5 June 1968
Robert Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles, California
29 June 1968
A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS released. Hyde Park free concert
8 July 1968
Second tour of the USA starts
15–17 August 1968
Scene Club, New York City
20 August 1968
Soviet troops invade Czechoslovakia to end the ‘Prague Spring’
27 October 1968
Anti-Vietnam war demonstration outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, broken up by police
26 November 1968
Cream’s farewell concert at the Royal Albert Hall
17 December 1968
‘Point Me At The Sky’ released
1969
2 January 1969
Nick Mason marries Lindy Rutter
9 February 1969
Boeing 747 makes maiden flight
2 March 1969
Concorde makes maiden flight
14 April 1969
‘More Furious Madness From The Massed Gadgets of Auximenes’ event at the Royal Festival Hall, London
13 May 1969
Premiere of
More
at Cannes Film Festival
26 June 1969
Royal Albert Hall, London, final show of first major UK tour for two years
5 July 1969
The Rolling Stones play in Hyde Park, dedicating their performance to Brian Jones
21 July 1969
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon – BBC use Floyd music for moon landing
15–17 August 1969
The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival
29–31 August 1969
The Isle of Wight Festival
5 October 1969
First BBC broadcast of
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
25 October 1969
UMMAGUMMA released
6 December 1969
The Rolling Stones appear at the Altamont Speedway, California
1970
3 January 1970
Syd Barrett’s
The Madcap Laughs
released
5 February 1970
Zabriskie Point premieres
10 April 1970
Paul McCartney announces
that the Beatles are splitting up
16 April 1970
Apollo 13 returns safely to earth
4 May 1970
Four anti-Vietnam War protestors shot dead during demonstrations on the campus at Kent State University, Ohio
27 June 1970
Pink Floyd appear at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music
18 July 1970
Second Hyde Park free concert
26 July 1970
Start of Riviera mini-tour at the Festival International Jazz d’Antibes
27 July 1970
Kenneth Tynan’s
Oh, Calcutta!
revue opens in London
18 September 1970
Jimi Hendrix dies
19–20 September 1970
The first Glastonbury Festival (then known as the Pilton Festival) is held
October 1970
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s
Jesus Christ Superstar
album released
4 October 1970
Janis Joplin dies
10 October 1970
ATOM HEART MOTHER released
14 November 1970
Syd Barrett’s
Barrett
released
1971
15 February 1971
Britain changes to a decimal currency
2 April 1971
Chloe Mason born
8 May 1971
Arsenal win their first ever double as FA Cup and League Champions
12 May 1971
Mick Jagger marries Bianca Perez Moreno de Macias
14 May 1971
RELICS released
15 May 1971
Crystal Palace, London, garden party
20 May 1971
Philips release first video cassette recorder
2 June 1971
Oz obscenity trial opens
3 July 1971
Jim Morrison dies
1 August 1971
Concert For Bangladesh in New York, organised by George Harrison
6–7 August 1971
Hakone Festival, Japan
13 August 1971
First Australian tour begins
4–7 October 1971
Filming for
Live At Pompeii
10 October 1971
Reconstructed London Bridge opened in Lake Havasu City, Arizona
5 November 1971
MEDDLE released
1972
24 January 1972
Second World War finally ends for Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi, after 27 years in hiding on Guam island
17 February 1972
Rainbow Theatre, London, press premiere of
The Dark Side Of The Moon
21 February 1972
Richard Nixon travels to China to meet premier Zhou Enlai
15 March 1972
Film premiere of
The Godfather
1 June 1972
The Dark Side Of The Moon
recording sessions start at EMI Abbey Road
3 June 1972
OBSCURED BY CLOUDS released
1 September 1972
Bobby Fisher becomes world chess champion, beating Boris Spassky
September 1972
Olga Korbut captivates the Munich Olympics
November 1972
Live At Pompeii
film premieres. Roland Petit Ballet de Marseille performances at end of European tour
1973
1 January 1973
The United Kingdom, with Ireland and Denmark, joins the EEC
24 March 1973
THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON released (US release date: 10 March 1973)
18–19 May 1973
Earls Court shows
23 November 1973
Uri Geller, spoonbender extraordinaire, appears on the BBC’s
Dimbleby Talk-In
show
15 December 1973
A NICE PAIR released
1974
4 February 1974
Patty Hearst kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army
13 February 1974
Singer Robbie Williams born
6 April 1974
Abba win the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Waterloo’
26 July 1974
Robert Wyatt’s
Rock Bottom
released
9 August 1974
President Richard Nixon resigns following the Watergate affair
1 October 1974
First UK franchise of McDonald’s opens in Woolwich, South London
4 November 1974
British Winter 1974 Tour opens at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh
1975
24 March 1975
Holly Mason born
8 April 1975
Wish You Were Here
tour opens in Vancouver
30 April 1975
The Vietnam War formally ends as Saigon falls
20 June 1975
The pyramid balloon breaks free in Pittsburgh
5 July 1975
Knebworth Festival
17 July 1975
Soyuz 19 and Apollo 18 dock. The end of the space race
20 July 1975
Voyager I probe lands on Mars
5 September 1975
WISH YOU WERE HERE released
1 October 1975
‘The Thriller in Manila’: Muhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier
20 December 1975
Video for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ shown on
Top Of The Pops
1976
18 February 1976
Controversy over Carl Andre’s bricks at the Tate Gallery, London
3 December 1976
Algie the pig escapes at Battersea
November 1976
The Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy In The UK’ released
1977
1977
Nick Mason buys Ferrari 250GTO with ‘250 GTO’ numberplate
28 January 1977
ANIMALS released.
Animals
world tour opens in Westfalenhalle, Dortmund
19 May 1977
The Sex Pistols appear on the
Bill Grundy Show
25 May 1977
First
Star Wars
film,
Episode IV: A New Hope,
goes on release
2–7 June 1977
Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee celebration
18 June 1977
The Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save The Queen’ reaches UK Number One
6 July 1977
Olympic Stadium, Montreal show on the
Animals
tour
16 August 1977
Elvis Presley dies
16 September 1977
Marc Bolan dies
November 1977
The Damned’s
Music For Pleasure
released
16 December 1977
Release of
Saturday Night Fever
1978
1978
‘Space Invaders’ launched
January 1978
Kate Bush’s debut single ‘Wuthering Heights’ released, goes to Number One in the UK
25 July 1978
Louise Brown, world’s first ‘test tube’ baby, born
7 September 1978
Keith Moon dies
27 December 1978
Forty years of military dictatorship in Spain end
1979
1979
Sony Walkman released
2 February 1979
Sid Vicious dies
April 1979
The Wall
recording sessions begin in France
4 May 1979
Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first woman prime minister
9–10 June 1979
Nick Mason’s first drive at the Le Mans 24-Hour
12 June 1979
First man-powered flight across the English Channel by Bryan Allen in ‘Gossamer Albatross’
30 November 1979
THE WALL released
22 December 1979
‘Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2’ becomes Number One in the UK
1980
5 February 1980
US launch party for Rubik’s Cube
7 February 1980
The Wall
tour opens at LA Sports Arena
22 March 1980
The Dark Side Of The Moon
has the longest run of a contemporary album on US charts, after 303 weeks
17 July 1980
Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq