1970s
1970
- IBM introduces the floppy disc
- Bar codes are introduced for retail and industrial use (UK)

1971
- UK is not using shillings

1972
- Newsround – news programme for kids
- Eleven Israeli athletes are killed at the Olympic Games in Munich
- Supreme Court rules that death penalty is unconstitutional
- HBO – the first pay cable network
- Bloody Sunday – peaceful civil rights march in Derry descends into chaos, British paratroopers open fire
- The Godfather

1973
- First teletext system is devised by BBC technicians
- Watergate trial involving President Nixon
- Cell phone invented
- Great Britain, Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community

1974
- Nixon Resigns
- Debut of People Magazine
- The Godfather II
- U.S. newspapers start to replace reporters’ typewriters with terminals.

1975
- Jaws
- US networks ABC, CBS, NBC create a ‘family hour’ an early evening time slot that is free of violence and sex.
- VCR’s are developed in Japan by Sony
- Equal Pay Act

1976
- The Steadicam is used for the first time in Rocky
- British Airways begins scheduled commercial flights
- Supreme Court rules that blacks and other minorities are entitled to retroactive job seniority

1977
- Star Wars
- Queen Elizabeth II celebrates silver jubilee
- Supreme Court rules that states are not required to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions

1978
- Jonestown Massacre - 900 members of reverend Jim Jones’ cult after a mass suicide/murder
- Delia Smith runs a basic TV cookery course to revive enthusiasm for cooking at home.
- Hewlett-Packard begins development of inkjet printer

1979
- Margaret Thatcher wins general election
- BBC’s Ceefax service offers subtitling for programmes
- Rap music goes beyond the streets of New York
- Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protest