1974

1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar.

 Events 
February 7 – Grenada becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
February 17 – Michele Catain, an American crew member and real estate agent, marries David Thomas Durboraw, an American businessman, in Los Angeles, California.
March 3 – a Turkish Airlines DC-10 crashes outside Paris, France, killing all 346 people on board; the cause of the crash was a design flaw in the plane's rear cargo door.
February 22 – Bangladesh is recognized by Pakistan
April 25 – Portuguese Revolution or the Carnation Revolution. – A half-century of fascist rule was ended.
May 18 – India tests nuclear weapons.
July 15 – Christine Chubbock, a TV host in Sarasota, Florida commits suicide during the taping of her show live on air.
August 8 – United States President Richard Nixon announces his resignation (Watergate scandal).
October 30 – Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman to regain his world heavyweight boxing championship in a bout billed as "The Rumble in the Jungle".
December 8 – Greek voters reject a proposal to restore the Greek monarchy.
December 19 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh becomes the fifth President of Ireland, in a state inauguration in Dublin Castle.
December 24-25 – Darwin, Australia almost completely destroyed by Cyclone Tracy.

Date unknown
The Ellice Islands decide to split from the Gilbert Islands in a referendum.

 Births 
January 2 – Michèle George, Belgian para-equestrian
January 16 – Kate Moss, English model
January 21 – Linda Rosing, Swedish model
January 28 – Magglio Ordóñez, Venezuelan baseball player
January 30 – Christian Bale, Welsh actor
February 4 – Lee Pearson, English para-equestrian
February 8 – Seth Green, American actor
February 8 – Kimbo Slice American mixed martial artist
February 13 – Robbie Williams, English singer
February 15 – Omarosa Manigault Newman, American television personality
February 22 – Chris Moyles, English disc jockey
March 6 – Anthony Carelli, American wrestler
March 13 – Linda Bengtzing, Swedish singer
March 24 – Alyson Hannigan, American actress
May 17 – Andrea Corr, Irish lead-singer of the music group The Corrs
May 23 – Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! champion
June 1 – Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer
June 19 – Rossella Erra, Italian TV personality
July 28 – Justin Lee Collins, English television presenter
August 17 – Tomomi Kahala, Japanese singer
August 25 – Mario Jeckle, German computer scientist (d. 2004)
September 6 – Tim Henman, English tennis player
September 14 – Nas, American rapper
October 5 – Alex Walkinshaw, English actor
October 28 – Joaquin Phoenix, American actor
October 29 – Eugen Dan Drăgoi, Romanian drummer (Dr. Feelgood Band), poet, publicist, musicologist, conductor, composer
November 2 – Nelly, American rapper
November 11 – Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor
November 15 – Chad Kroeger, Canadian singer and guitarist
December 3 – Albena Denkova, Bulgarian ice dancer
December 6 – Jens Pulver, American mixed martial artist
December 10 – Meg White, American singer and drummer (The White Stripes)
December 13 – Sara Cox, English television presenter

 Deaths 

 January 
 January 2 – Tex Ritter, American country musician (b. 1905)
 January 6 – David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (b. 1896)
 January 31 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-American movie producer (b. 1879)
 January 31 – Glenn Morris, American track and field athlete (b. 1912)

 February 
 February 4 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist and polymath from Bengal (b. 1894)

 March 
 March 27 – Eduardo Santos Montejo, President of Colombia (b. 1888)

 April 
 April 2 – Georges Pompidou, President of France (b. 1911)
 April 19 – Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan (b. 1907)
 April 24 – Franz Jonas, President of Austria (b. 1899)
 April 24 – Bud Abbott, American actor and comedian (b. 1895)
 April 30 – Agnes Moorehead, American actress (b. 1900)

 May 
 May 7 – Fred Kelly, American hurdler (b. 1891)
 May 24 – Duke Ellington, American pianist and jazz musician (b. 1899)

 June 
 June 4 – Mamerto Urriolagoitía, 43rd President of Bolivia (b. 1895)
 June 11 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, 16th President of Brazil (b. 1883)
 June 18 – Georgy Zhukov, Soviet general during World War II (b. 1896)

 July 
 July 1 – Juan Perón, President of Argentina (b. 1895)
 July 9 – Earl Warren, 14th Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1891)
 July 24 – James Chadwick, English physicist (b. 1891)
 July 29 – Cass Elliot, American singer and actress (b. 1941)
 July 29 – Erich Kästner, German children's writer (b. 1899)

 August 
 August 26 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot (b. 1902)

 September 
 September 21 – Walter Brennan, American actor (b. 1894)

 October 
 October 5 – Zalman Shazar, 3rd President of Israel (b. 1899)
 October 9 – Oskar Schindler, German businessman (b. 1908)
 October 13 – Ed Sullivan, American television personality (b. 1901)
 October 28 – Everaldo, Brazilian footballer (b. 1944)

 November 
 November 13 – Vittorio De Sica, Italian film director (b. 1901)
 November 17 – Erskine Hamilton Childers, 4th President of Ireland (b. 1905)
 November 25 – U Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations (b. 1909)

 December 

 Nobel Prizes 
Nobel Prize in Physics – Sir Martin Ryle, Antony Hewish
Chemistry – Paul J Flory
Medicine – Albert Claude, Christian de Duve, George E Palade
Literature – Eyvind Johnson, Harry Martinson
Peace – Séan MacBride, Eisaku Sato
Economics – Gunnar Myrdal, Friedrich von Hayek