The following events occurred in January 1974:
January 1, 1974 (Tuesday) In Italy, Itavia Airlines Flight 897 crashed, killing 38 of the 42 people aboard. Flying in a heavy fog, the Fokker F28 Fellowship jet was approaching a landing at Turin on a flight from Bologna when it struck the top of a tree and then impacted at a building under construction. New Year's Day was celebrated as a public holiday in the United Kingdom for the first time nationwide, as England and Wales joined in making the first day of the year a paid legal holiday. Scotland had celebrated New Year's Day as a public holiday for years, and the order was applied to all of Britain by an October 8 amendment to existing wage laws. The Canadian Stock Exchange merged with the Montreal Stock Exchange, with the merged entity operating under the latter name. In the U.S. college football bowl games, the #4-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the #7 USC Trojans 42 to 21 to win the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California; the #6 Penn State Nittany Lions beat the #13 LSU Tigers 16 to 9 to win the 1974 Orange Bowl in Miami; and the #12 Nebraska Cornhuskers upset the #8 Texas Longhorns 19 to 3 to win the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. The largest of the bowl games, the Sugar Bowl, had been played on December 31, with the #3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish beating the number one ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, 24 to 23. Jimmy Connors of the U.S. defeated Australia's Phil Dent, and Australia's Evonne Goolagong defeated Chris Evert of the U.S., to win the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. Ernst Brugger became President of the Swiss Confederation. Woodsworth College at the University of Toronto was founded, formally integrating part-time degree students into the University.
At the driving of the first pile for the Komtar building in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein said that the tower "would change the face of the city". On the seventh annual World Day of Peace, Pope Paul VI gave a sermon at St. Anthony's Church in Rome, saying that peace "deals with life itself, more even than the physical safety of populations, of their honor, of their name, of their history... Will peace last: yes or no?" The Executive of the 1974 Northern Ireland Assembly, comprising Brian Faulkner's moderate Ulster Unionist Party and the non-violent nationalists of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, was formed in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Due to the oil crisis, large numbers of gas stations throughout the United States were closed on New Year's Day. Mrs. Judith Kathleen Bovard of Lake Jackson, Texas, was killed when her car crashed and burned while she was carrying a can of gasoline. Maurice Nadon, who had been the Acting Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) since December 29, was formally appointed as the 16th commissioner, becoming the first French Canadian to hold the post. Born: Jonah Peretti, U.S. Internet entrepreneur, co-founder of BuzzFeed and The Huffington Post; in Contra Costa County, California Marco Schreyl, German television host of Deutschland sucht den Superstar since 2005; in Erfurt, East Germany Mehdi Ben Slimane, Tunisian footballer with 34 caps for the national team; in Le Kram Constantinos Carydis, Greek orchestra conductor; in Athens Abha Dawesar, Indian novelist known for the 2005 coming of age novel Babyji; in New Delhi Derek Kilmer, U.S. Representative for Washington since 2013; in Port Angeles, Washington Christian Paradis, Canadian Member of Parliament for Quebec from 2006 to 2015, Minister of Industry 2011-2013 in the Stephen Harper cabinet; in Thetford Mines, Quebec Giorgos Theodotou, Cypriot footballer with 70 caps for the Cyprus national team; in Ammochostos Died: Charles E. Bohlen, 69, U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union 1953 to 1957, to the Philippines 1957-1959 and to France, 1962-1968. Charles M. Teague, 64, U.S. Representative for California since 1955, died at home during a recess in Congress.
January 2, 1974 (Wednesday)