1970 History

Show history for:

1970 Music continues to make significant impact with the largest ever rock festival held on the Isle of Wight with 600,000 people attending, including some of the biggest name in music including Jimi Hendrix and The Who. This is also the year The Concord makes it's first supersonic flight. Another significant change is the age of voting is now lowered to 18 in the US.

Cost of Living 1970

How Much things cost in 1970
Yearly Inflation Rate USA 5.84%
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 838
Average Cost of new house $23,450.00
Average Income per year $9,400.00
Average Monthly Rent $140.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 36 cents
Shaefer Pen $9.95
United States postage Stamp 6 cents
Sports Illustrated 15 cents
Mans Westclox Watch $18.00


What Events Happened in 1970

  • Cyclone in Bangladesh kills 500,000
  • Earthquake in Peru kills 67,000
  • The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations
  • Paul McCartney announces that the Beatles have disbanded
  • Apollo 13 mission to moon abandoned
  • Japan becomes the worlds “fourth space power”, after the Soviet Union (1957), the United States (1958), and France (1965).
  • First Earth Day celebrated
  • The Liberian registered tanker Pacific Glory spills up to 100,000 gallons of crude oil into the English Channel creating a huge oil slick and an environmental disaster
  • Boeing 747 makes its first commercial passenger trip to London
  • South Australia suffers it's worst number of fires killing at least 75 people and had injured another 800.
  • US Invades Cambodia
  • 100,000 people demonstrate in Washington DC against the Vietnam War
  • Cholera epidemic in Istanbul.
  • Edward Heath and the Conservative Party wins the British general elections.
  • The Worlds Population reaches 3.63 billion
  • The US Population reaches 205 million
  • The US has 85 people per sq mile
  • Japan has 1,083 People per sq mile
  • The US and the UK lowers the voting age to 18 from 21
  • Large floods in Vietnam, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless
  • The Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed
  • Chicago Seven defendants found guilty of intent to incite a riot in 1968 ( later overturned by Court of Appeal )
  • Dow Jones drops to 631
  • National Guards fire on and kill 3 protesters at Kent State University
  • Brazil wins their third world cup with Pele as the captain

Popular Culture 1970

  • The Isle of Wight Festival takes place . 600,000 people attend the largest rock festival of all time. Artists include Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Doors, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Jethro Tull.
  • Jimi Hendrix dies of barbiturate overdose in London
  • Simon and Garfunkel release their final album together, Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Popular Films

  • M*A*S*H,
  • Patton
  • Woodstock
  • Hello, Dolly!
  • Catch-22
  • On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Popular Musicians

  • The Beatles with " Let it Be "
  • The Jackson 5 with " ABC and I want you back "
  • Edwin Starr with " War "

Technology 1970

  • First Jumbo Jet goes into service
  • Concorde makes its first supersonic flight (700 mph/1127 km/h).
  • The First Computer Chess Tournament takes Place
  • After many years of court battles damages awarded to Thalidomide victims

Inventions Invented by Inventors and Country ( or attributed to First Use )

  • LCD England by George Gray - Liquid Crystal Display


Research for this year is provided by The People History.
See History By Year and Decade for more prices and information.
Find out more about the 70s at ThePeopleHistory.com.