1970 (MCMLXX) was .

Events 

 January 12 – The Nigerian Civil War ends.
 February 1 – The Benavidez rail disaster near Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 236.
 February 14 – The Who record the iconic live rock album Live at Leeds.
March 1 – Rhodesia declares itself a republic.
 April 29 – The United States invades Cambodia.
 May 4 – Kent State Shootings: Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are killed by National Guardsmen while protesting against the United States invading Cambodia.
 May 31 – A major earthquake hits southern Peru, killing tens of thousands of people.
 June 24 – The United States Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964.
 June 28 – U.S. ground troops withdraw from Cambodia.
 July 1 – The disputed Territories of Pakistan-administered Kashmir split to form Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan both of which are autonomous special areas of Pakistan.
 September 11 – The Ford Pinto introduced.
 September 21 – Monday Night Football debuts on ABC.
 October 18 – Anwar el-Sadat officially becomes president of Egypt.
 October 30 – Monsoon halts Vietnam War.
November 3 – Salvador Allende becomes president of Chile.
December 1 – Luis Echeverría becomes president of Mexico.
 The first IMAX theatre opens in Japan

Births 

 January 29 – Heather Graham, American actress
 January 31 – Minnie Driver, British actress
 February 28 – Daniel Handler, American writer (Lemony Snickets: A Series of Unfortunate Events)
 March 5 – John Frusciante, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
 March 18 – Queen Latifah, American singer, actress and model
 March 27 – Mariah Carey, American singer
 May 18 – Tina Fey, American screenwriter and actress
 May 27 – Joseph Fiennes, English actor June 1 Alex Lalas Popular football player Alison Hinds Queen of Soca popular female  soca artiste Of Barbados
 July 8 – Beck, American singer
 July 23 – Charisma Carpenter, American actress
 August 2 – Kevin Smith, American movie director
 August 8 – Pascal Duquenne, Belgian actor
 August 12 – Kristopher Schau, Norwegian singer
 August 13 – Alan Shearer, English football player
 August 20 – John Carmack, American video game creator
 September 9 – Macy Gray, American singer and actress
 October 2 – Kelly Ripa, American actress and talk show host
 October 8 – Matt Damon, American actor
 October 9 – Steve Jablonsky, American movie and television composer
 October 15 – Pernilla Wiberg, Swedish skier
 October 28 – Greg Eagles, African-American actor
 October 29 – Phillip Cocu, Dutch footballer
 October 29 – Edwin van der Sar, Dutch footballer
 December 12 – Jennifer Connelly, American actress
 December 18 – Rob Van Dam, American professional wrestler
 December 24 – Sascha Fischer, German rugby player
 December 29 – Glen Phillips, American singer and guitarist

Deaths 

 January 5 – Max Born, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
 February 2 – Bertrand Russell, Welsh philosopher and mathematician (b. 1872)
 February 27- Marie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets (b. 1934)
 March 30 – Heinrich Brüning, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
 April 28 – Ed Begley, American actor (b. 1901)
 May 12 – Nelly Sachs, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
 June 21 – Sukarno, first President of Indonesia (b. 1901)
 July 24 - Beatrice Roberts, American actress (b. 1901)
 July 27 – António de Oliveira Salazar, 12th President of Portugal (b. 1889)
 August 10 – Alexander Gode, German-American linguist (b. 1906)
 September 3 – Vince Lombardi, American football coach (b. 1913)
 September 5 – Jochen Rindt, German racecar driver (b. 1942)
 September 18 – Jimi Hendrix, American guitarist (b. 1942)
 September 25 – Erich Maria Remarque, German writer (b. 1898)
 September 28 – Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt (b. 1918)
 September 29 - Edward Everett Horton, American actor (b. 1886)
 October 4 – Janis Joplin, American rock singer (Mercedes Benz) (b. 1943)
 November 4 – Friedrich Kellner, German writer (b. 1885)
 November 9 – Charles de Gaulle, President of France (b. 1890)
 December 30 – Sonny Liston, American boxer (b. 1932)

Nobel Prizes
Nobel Prize in Physics won by Hannes Alfvén, Swedish electrical engineer, plasma physicist, and Louis Néel, a French physicist
Nobel Prize in Chemistry won by Luis Federico Leloir, Argentine physician and biochemist
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine shared by Sir Bernard Katz, Ulf von Euler, and Julius Axelrod for their work on neurotransmitters
Nobel Prize in Literature won by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer
Nobel Peace Prize won by Norman Borlaug, American biologist and humanitarian
Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences – Paul Samuelson

Movies released 
 Airport, starring Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin
 The Aristocats, an animated movie by Walt Disney Productions
 Love Story, winner of Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama
 MASH, winner of Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or comedy
 Patton, winner of 7 Academy Awards
 Tora! Tora! Tora! about the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941
 Woodstock

Hit songs 

 "(They Long to Be) Close to You" – Carpenters
 "Maybe I'm Amazed" – Paul McCartney
 "After Midnight" – Eric Clapton
 "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" – Diana Ross
 "American Woman" – The Guess Who
 "Amos Moses" – Jerry Reed
 "Border Song (Holy Moses)" – Aretha Franklin
 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" – Simon and Garfunkel
 "Call Me" – Aretha Franklin
 "Can't Stop Loving You" – Tom Jones
 "Cecilia" – Simon and Garfunkel
 "Celebrate" – Three Dog Night
 "Close To You " – Carpenters
 "Come And Get It" – Badfinger
 "Come Together /Something " – The Beatles
 "Cupid " – Johnny Nash
 "Does Anybody Really Know What Time it is" – Chicago
 "Down on the Corner" – Creedence Clearwater Revival
 "El Condor Pasa" – Simon and Garfunkel
 "Eli's Coming" – Three Dog Night
 "Everybody's Out of Town" – B.J. Thomas
 "Fire and Rain" – James Taylor
 "For You Blue" – The Beatles
 "Hand Me Down World" – The Guess Who
 "Heaven Help Us All" – Stevie Wonder
 "If You Could Read My Mind" – Gordon Lightfoot
 "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" – Dionne Warwick
 "Immigrant Song" – Led Zeppelin
 "Indiana Wants Me – R. Dean Taylor
 "Instant Karma (We All Shine On)" – John Lennon
 "Isn't It a Pity" – George Harrison
 "It Don't Matter to Me" – Bread
 "It's a New Day (Parts 1 & 2)" – James Brown
 "It's Only Make Believe" – Glen Campbell
 "I've Lost You" – Elvis Presley
 "Jam Up and Jelly Tight" – Tommy Roe
 "Joanne" – Michael Nesmith & The First National Band
 "Kentucky Rain" – Elvis Presley
 "Leaving on a Jet Plane" – Peter, Paul and Mary
 "Let It Be" – The Beatles
 "Let Me Go to Him" – Dionne Warwick
 "Lola " – The Kinks
 "Lonely Days " – The Bee Gees
 "Long and Winding Road" – The Beatles
 "Looking Out My Back Door " – Creedence Clearwater Revival
 "Love the One You're With" – Stephen Stills
 "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)" – Three Dog Night
 "Mississippi Queen" – Mountain
 "My Sweet Lord" – George Harrison
 "No Matter What" – Badfinger
 "No Time " – The Guess Who
 "Oh Happy Day" – Glen Campbell
 "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" – Neil Young
 "Out In the Country" – Three Dog Night
 "Psychedelic Shack" – The Temptations
 "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" – B.J. Thomas
 "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" – Diana Ross
 "Remember Me" – Diana Ross
 "Ride Captain Ride" – Blues Image
 "See Me, Feel Me " – The Who
 "Share the Land" – The Guess Who
 "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours" – Stevie Wonder
 "Snowbird" – Anne Murray
 "Son of a Preacher Man" – Aretha Franklin
 "Stoney End" – Barbra Streisand
 "Summertime Blues" – The Who
 "The Long and Winding Road" – The Beatles
 "The Wonder of You" – Elvis Presley
 "Travelin' Band" – Creedence Clearwater Revival
 "We've Only Just Begun " – Carpenters
 "What Is Truth?" – Johnny Cash
 "Whole Lotta Love " – Led Zeppelin
 "Who'll Stop The Rain" – Creedence Clearwater Revival
 "Your Song" – Elton John

New books 
 Deliverance by James Dickey
Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault
Of a Fire on the Moon by Norman Mailer
The Guardians by John Christopher (Sam Youd)
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
The Paper Chase by John Jay Osborn, Jr.