On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
In 1973, the world population was approximately 3,920,805,042 people[†]
1973Eddie Fisher, American drummer[†]
Eddie Ray Fisher is an American musician and songwriter. He is the drummer for the pop rock band OneRepublic. Eddie grew up in Mission Viejo, California and currently resides in Denver, Colorado, where OneRepublic is based. Fisher joined OneRepublic in 2005, and has been the band's drummer ever since.
1973Konstadinos Gatsioudis, Greek javelin thrower[†]
Konstadinos Gatsioudis is a retired Greek track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. His personal best throw of 91.69 m, achieved in 2000, is the Greek record.
1973Rian Johnson, American director, producer, and screenwriter[†]
Rian Craig Johnson is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the neo-noir mystery film Brick (2005), which received positive reviews and grossed nearly $4 million on a $450,000 budget. Transitioning to higher-profile films, Johnson achieved mainstream recognition for writing and directing the science-fiction thriller Looper (2012) to critical and commercial success. Johnson landed his largest project when he wrote and directed the space opera Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), which grossed over $1 billion. He returned to the mystery genre with Knives Out (2019) and its sequel Glass Onion (2022), both of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively.
1973Paula Radcliffe, English runner[†]
Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE is a British former long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon, three-time New York Marathon champion, the 2002 Chicago Marathon winner and the 2005 World Champion in the Marathon from Helsinki. She was previously the fastest female marathoner of all time, and held the Women's World Marathon Record with a time of 2:15:25 for 16 years from 2003 to 2019 when it was broken by Brigid Kosgei.
1973Hasan Vural, German-Turkish footballer[†]
Hasan Vural is a Turkish former footballer and football manager.
1973Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.[†]
In December 1973, Fatah, a Palestinian military organization executed series of attacks originating at Rome-Fiumicino Airport in Italy which resulted in the deaths of 34 people. The attacks began with an airport-terminal invasion and hostage-taking, followed by the firebombing of a Pan Am aircraft and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight.
Israeli Premier G Meir on Dec 16 says that Israel will not discuss peace settlement with Syria until Syrians turn over list of Israeli POWs and let Red Cross visit them; says this decision does not prevent Israel's participation at conf with Egypt and Jordan
Ital carabinieri on Dec 16 launch hunt for kidnappers of J P Getty 3d, who was released on Dec 15 after 5-mo abduction; he is recovering from nervous exhaustion in private clinic; father, P Getty Jr, vows revenge on abductors; mother, G Harris Getty, says boy was kept blindfolded for most of 5 mos and was forced to sleep face-down for last 2 mos
MTA on Dec 16 says public response to first half-fare Sunday on commuter rrs is 'encouraging'
Census Bur rept shows that only 27% of NYC residents who hold jobs drive cars to work, far smaller percentage than in other major met areas; points out that although city's comparative plenitude of subway, bus and rr facilities for mass transit constitutes great advantage in facing growing energy crisis, large proportion of commuters in outlying counties use auto to reach their jobs; over 80% of commuters from Suffolk and Rockland Counties drive cars to work, while 72% of those in Nassau and 63% in Westchester use autos; in region as whole, where 640,000 cars transport workers to their jobs each day, at least four-fifths carry only driver; rept, taken from study of soc and econ characteristics of commuters on each of 125 met areas in US, covers 5 counties of NYC and 4 nearest suburban counties in NYS; detailed information is not available on NJ or Conn residents who work in NYC; details on travel patterns; MTA Chmn W J Ronan says bur findings point out that mass transit in NYC met area is major asset that many other areas do not have; NYC Budget Dir D A Grossman estimates that subway system can handle 50% increase in riders with little difficulty; subway ridership has been declining over last few yrs; NYC Mayor Lindsay's Emergency Energy Com chmn M Musicus notes that when dept stores and other large employers try to arrange car pools, they find that most of their rank-and-file employes use public transportation to get to and from work; says persons driving to work are not 8-to-5 employes, but managerial and exec group; survey, taken from information in '70 census, finds that public transportation--subway, bus or rr--is used by 56% of workers in NYC and by 47% of those in 9-county met area; Census Bur spokesman R Forstall says survey's data will receive 'very intensive' use by local traffic planners; sketches of 5 NYC boros based on census information; graph compares percentage of workers who use auto to get to work in major US met areas and percentage of workers who remain in their home county; illus
state govts, fearing substantial decline in gasoline tax revenues in '74, are planning to suspend or delay hundreds of million of dollars worth of planned rd projects; if gas consumption dips 5% in '74, minimum projected by most analysts, projected tax loss would be almost $800-million, and a 15% decrease would jolt hwy budgets with tax shortfall of more than $2.3-billion; motorists pay more than $15-billion annually to Fed, state and local govts at gasoline pump, and almost all of it is spent on hwy construction and maintenance; Fed officials said last wk that it is possible that significant decline in hwy travel could undermine debt-repayment schedules of many toll facilities; there is also growing shortage of asphalt (a petroleum product) that could seriously delay hwy bldg
US has begun program to equip its tens of thousands of tactical nuclear weapons, maintained in many foreign countries, with advanced electronic controls designed to prevent their misuse even if terrorists or hostile armies overrun an overseas base; new controls were ordered by Atomic Energy Com and Pentagon after Israeli athletes were slain on Sept 5, '72, when Palestinian terrorists invaded Olympic village in Munich, W Ger
First snow of season falls on NYC Met Area on Dec 16 but soon changes to sleet and freezing rain which snarl traffic, cause countless accidents and delay commuter rr trains; Weather Service issues winter storm warning because of hazardous driving conditions; illus
oil shortages in GB are contributing to food shortages that are expected for Britain in '74; although food mfr, processing, packaging and distribution have been exempted from shorter work wk imposed as energy-conservation measure, food packaging is so thoroughly integrated with other kinds of packaging that disruptions are considered likely; gasoline situation may make shipping more difficult
J Olivier, age 46, dies on Dec 16 thirteen days after receiving transplanted heart at Groote Schuur Hosp, Capetown, S Africa; Dr C Barnard led transplant team
USSR indicates on Dec 16 that it is ready to push ahead with agr consolidation that could end collective farm system; disclosure is made in Pravda ed; ed holds goal of program is to modernize Soviet agr by merging resources, equipment and farms into larger, more specialized enterprises; transformation will eliminate collective farms, necessitating basic changes in pattern of rural life; collective farmers technically own proprietary interest in farms and are not likely to welcome absorption into larger,state-run farms
Spain thought a few wks ago that its pro-Arab foreign policy would protect it from effects of Arab oil embargoes and production cutbacks, but its assurance is now shaken by realization that Spain depends for oil supplies on Amer and internatl cos that control tankers and that it may be subjected to rationing if supplies become tighter; is issuing it's 1st restrictions on gasoline sales; effect of oil shortages on tourism in Spain and on Spanish citizens working in other countries discussed
article, discussing Britons' reaction to drastic econ measures taken to cope with energy crisis, notes suggestions that Heath is trying for decisive verdict in struggle between Govt and militant labor unions