- Jan 1 40th Orange Bowl: #6 Penn State beats #13 LSU, 16-9
- Jan 1 60th Rose Bowl: #4 Ohio State beats #7 Southern California, 42-21
Connors Wins Over Dent
Jan 1 Australian Open Men's Tennis: American Jimmy Connors wins his only Australian title; beats home favourite Phil Dent 7-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
- Jan 1 Ernie DiGregorio of Buffalo hands out 25 assists in the Braves' 120-119 win over Portland, establishing an NBA single-game record for assists by a rookie
Lee MacPhail
Jan 1 Lee MacPhail takes over as AL president, succeeding Joe Cronin
- Jan 1 NBC radio begins on the hour news 24 hours a day (following CBS lead)
- Jan 1 With effect from this date the New Zealand government terminates all tariff preferences previously granted to South Africa
- Jan 1 World Population Year begins
55 MPH Speed Limit
Jan 2 55 MPH speed limit imposed by Richard Nixon
- Jan 2 Worst fire in Argentine history destroys 1.2 million acres
- Jan 3 Arias Navarro succeeds Carrero Blanco as Premier of Spain
- Jan 3 Burma accepts its constitution
- Jan 3 Gold hits record $121.25 an ounce in London
- Jan 3 Miguel Pinero's "Short Eyes," premieres in NYC
- Jan 4 US President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tapes subpoenaed by Watergate Committee
- Jan 5 An earthquake in Lima, Peru, kills six people, and damages hundreds of houses
Raul Julia on Bob Newhart Show
Jan 5 Raul Julia appears on "The Bob Newhart Show" in the episode "Oh, Brother"
- Jan 6 "CBS Mystery Theater" premieres on radio
- Jan 6 In response to the 1973 energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
- Jan 6 United Kingdom begins three-day work week during energy crisis
- Jan 7 Gasoline rationing begins in the Netherlands
- Jan 8 E Wilson Jr's musical "Let My People Come" premieres in NYC
- Jan 8 Gold hits record $126.50 an ounce in London
- Jan 8 Silver hits record $3.40 an ounce in New York
- Jan 11 ABC airs final episode of "Love, American Style"
"Joker"
Jan 12 "Joker" by Steve Miller Band peaks at #1
- Jan 12 Libya & Tunisia announces they are merging as "Islamic Arab Republic"
- Jan 13 Seraphim is elected Archbishop of Athens and All Greece.
- Jan 13 Super Bowl VIII, Rice Stadium, Houston, TX: Miami Dolphins beat Minnesota Vikings, 24-7; MVP: Larry Csonka, Miami, RB
- Jan 14 World Football League founded
- Jan 15 24th NBA All-Star Game, Seattle Center Coliseum: West beats East, 134-123; MVP: Bob Lanier, Detroit Pistons
- Jan 15 Expert panel reports 18½ minute gap in Watergate tape, 5 separate erasures
"Happy Days"
Jan 15 TV sitcom "Happy Days" created by Garry Marshall and starring Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Marion Ross, and Tom Bosley, begins an 11 year run on ABC
"Jaws"
Jan 16 "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is published by Doubleday
- Jan 16 Landslide kills 9 in Canyonville, Oregon
"Court and Spark"
Jan 17 Asylum Records releases "Court and Spark", Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell's 6th studio album; features the songs "Help Me" and "Free Man In Paris", it becomes her biggest seller
- Jan 18 "$6 Million Man" starring Lee Majors premieres on ABC TV
- Jan 18 Israel & Egypt sign weapons accord
- Jan 19 Belgium government of Leburton falls
- Jan 19 China and South Vietnam clash over the Paracel Islands, resulting in a Chinese victory
- Jan 19 Notre Dame beats UCLA, 71-70 in South Bend, Indiana to end Bruins' NCAA-record 88-game basketball win streak
- Jan 20 24th NFL Pro Bowl, Arrowhead Stadium, KC, Missouri: AFC beats NFC, 15-13; MVP: Garo Yepremian, Miami Dolphins, PK
- Jan 20 7th ABA All-Star Game: East 128 beats West 112 at Virginia
- Jan 20 Essex Comm College beats Englewood Cliffs 210-67 in basketball
- Jan 21 Gold hits record $161.31, silver hits record $3.97 an ounce in London
- Jan 23 1st edition of women's magazine "Story"
- Jan 24 10th British Commonwealth Games open in Christchurch, New Zealand
1st Heterotopic Heart Transplant
Jan 25 Dr. Christiaan Barnard transplants 1st heterotopic heart transplant (adding donor heart without removal of old)
31st Golden Globes
Jan 26 31st Golden Globes: "The Exorcist", Al Pacino, & Marsha Mason win
PM Bülent Ecevit
Jan 26 Bülent Ecevit becomes Prime Minister of Turkey for the 1st time
Music Premiere
Jan 27 Jules Styne, Betty Comdem & Adolph Green's musical "Lorelei", starring Carol Channing, opens at the Palace Theatre, NYC; runs for 320 performances
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 28 Sam Thompson, Jim Bottomley, & Jocko Conlan elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 29 1974 NFL Draft: Ed Jones from Tennessee State first pick by Dallas Cowboys
- Jan 29 27th NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium: Western Division beats Eastern Division, 6-4; MVP: Garry Unger, St. Louis, C
- Jan 29 Kuwait announces 60 percent government participation in BP-Gulf concession
- Jan 30 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
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