The following events occurred in September 1973:
September 1, 1973 (Saturday) In Denmark, 35 people were killed in an arson fire at the Hotel Hafnia in Copenhagen."35 Tourists, 19 From U.S., Die in Denmark Hotel Fire", The New York Times, September 2, 1973, p.1"Arson Suspect Jailed in Danish Hotel Blaze", Los Angeles Times, September 3, 1973, p.I-4"He confessed to the fire that cost 35 lives - but was he really asleep?" (in Danish), by Marie Holm Mathiasen, Nyheder TV2, May 25, 2020 World heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman of the U.S. defended his title for the first time since winning the title on January 22, taking on little-known Puerto Rican challenger José Roman in Tokyo. The bout was "one of the shortest heavyweight title fights in history", as Roman was knocked out two minutes into the first round. Provisional Irish Republican Army Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey was arrested by Irish police in Carrickmacross in Ireland's County Monaghan, south of the border with Northern Ireland."IRA Provisional Leader Captured", Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1973, p.I-2 He would be convicted a month later on various charges, but freed from Mountjoy Prison in a raid by the Provisional IRA on October 31. Born: Ram Kapoor, Indian television actor known for the soap opera Kasamh Se; in New Delhi Died: Graziella Pareto, 84, Spanish Catalan opera soprano "Graziella Pareto", OperaVivra.com Arthur V. Watkins, 86, U.S. Senator who led the 1954 censure of his fellow Republican, U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy."Senator Who Led McCarthy Censure Dies", Los Angeles Times, September 2, 1973, p.I-14
September 2, 1973 (Sunday) The British Trades Union Congress (TUC) expelled 20 of its member unions (and their 370,650 individual members) for registering under the Industrial Relations Act 1971."Unions Expelled for Obeying Law", Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1973, p.I-2 The Netherlands men's team won the world field hockey championship, 4 to 2, over India, on penalty shots after Ties Kruize of the Netherlands had tied the game, 2–2 to force extra time, and the score remained the same after extra play. Surjit Singh Randhawa's two goals had given India a 2–0 lead in the first half. At Barcelona, bicyclist Felice Gimondi of Italy won the UCI World Championship after taking advantage of a battle between Belgian riders Freddy Maertens and Eddy Merckx, who had been competing for the lead in the final stage. Limerick defeated Kilkenny, 1–21 to 1–14 (24 to 17) to win the National Hurling League championship before a crowd of 59,009 at Dublin's Croke Park.
Died: J. R. R. Tolkien, 81, South African-born British writer who wrote the bestselling fantasy novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, died of a perforated ulcer."Tolkien, Who Created the Hobbits, Dies at 81", Los Angeles Times, September 3, 1973, p.I-13 A requiem mass was held four days later at the chapel of St Anthony of Padua, Oxford. Shirali Muslimov, Soviet Azerbaijani shepherd who claimed to be 168 years old of having been born in 1805
September 3, 1973 (Monday) The Argentine magazine La Causa Peronista published an interview with Esther Norma Arrostito and Mario Eduardo Firmenich, in which they described in detail the 1970 kidnapping and assassination of former President Pedro Eugenio Aramburu.Wikisource After the overthrow of Isabel Perón in 1976, Arrostito would be captured by the Argentine Army and executed. During the Conference of American Armies in Caracas, General Breno Borges, head of the Brazilian army, proposed to "extend the exchange of information" between various right-wing generals in South America (in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay)in order to "struggle against subversion", with Operation Condor being launched two years later.(free access in French and in Portuguese ) Colonel Tom Parker, the longtime manager of Elvis Presley, quit after Presley's verbal criticism of the Hilton Hotels chain that was hosting the concert. Since 1956, Parker had been receiving more than one-half of Presley's earnings as compensation.Alanna Nash, The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story of Colonel Tom Parker and Elvis Presley (Aurum Press, 2002) pp. 286–295 Died: Rufino Santos, 65, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila and the first Cardinal from the Philippines "Rufino Cardinal Santos, 65, of Philippines Dies", Los Angeles Times, September 4, 1973, p.I-24
September 4, 1973 (Tuesday) U.S. Patent No. 3,757,306 for the single-chip microprocessor, invented by Gary W. Boone, was granted to Texas Instruments, which had used it to successfully operate the first hand-held calculator. In the African colony of Portuguese Guinea (now the nation of Guinea-Bissau) guerrillas with the independence group PAIGC killed 22 Portuguese Army soldiers in an ambush. The PAIGC reported the attack, one of several that had killed 35 Portuguese troops in the first two weeks of September, on September 18."The World", Los Angeles Times, September 19, 1973, p. I-2 The world record for the Women's 4 × 100 metres medley relay in swimming was broken by the East German team of Ulrike Richter, Renate Vogel, Rosemarie Kother and Kornelia Ender. Died: James Shabazz, Black Muslim leader, was shot and killed by in the driveway of his home in Newark, New Jersey."Black Muslim Leader Shabazz Slain in Trap", Chicago Tribune, September 4, 1973
September 5, 1973 (Wednesday) Agents of Italy's intelligence agency, (SIOS or Servizio Informazioni Operative e Situazione) and paramilitary police foiled a plot by five Arab terrorists who were planning to use a heat-seeking missile to shoot down an Israeli jetliner. Police had been tipped off that terrorists planned to fire the missile as a plane was approaching Rome's Fiumicino International Airport. A raid on a home at Ostia, four miles from Fiumicino, found two Soviet-made SA-7 missiles and a missile launcher in the possession of Mahmoud Azmikamy of Lebanon. A few hours later, four other terrorists (from Iraq, Syria, Algeria and Libya) were arrested at a Rome hotel."Italy Nips Arab Missile Plot on Israeli Airliner— 5 Guerrillas Arrested and 2 Projectiles Seized Only Hours Before Planned Strike", Los Angeles Times, September 6, 1973, p.I-5 Tropical Storm Delia became the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in the same city twice, when it returned to Freeport, Texas in the U.S., two days after its first visit. A group of five Palestinian terrorists seized the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Paris and held 15 employees hostage, demanding the release of Abu Daoud, leader of the Black September Organization that had carried out the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics."Terrorists in Paris Grab Saudi Embassy", Los Angeles Times, September 6, 1973, p.I-1 The terrorists eventually flew to Saudi Arabia, surrendering in Riyadh and releasing their hostages in on September 8."Five Arab Gunmen Surrender, Release Hostages Unharmed", Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1973, p.I-1 The operation, planned by Abu Nidal, succeeded in persuading the Kingdom of Jordan to release Daoud from prison two weeks later.Patrick Seale, Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire (Hutchinson Press, 1992) p. 91 The asteroid 2014 RC passed within 0.01073 astronomical units or of Earth."2014 RC", Small-Body Database Lookup, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Died: Lester Lane, 41, recently hired as head coach of the Oklahoma University basketball team, died of a heart attack shortly after playing a pickup game of basketball with other faculty members. Hired on August 6, he would have coached his first Sooners' game in December."Basketball Coach Lane of OU Dies", Tulsa (OK) World, September 6, 1973, p.1 1
September 6, 1973 (Thursday) The first underground subway in North Korea, the Chollima Line of the Pyongyang Metro, began operations. The Kenya Pipeline Company was incorporated as a state corporation under Kenya's Ministry of Energy, with 100% ownership by the Kenyan government. The landmark class action case of Rajender v. University of Minnesota was filed by assistant professor of chemistry Shyamala Rajender after she had been turned down for a tenure-track position despite being recommended by several university committees, and would ultimately issue in a ruling enjoining the university from sexual discrimination against women.VèVè Clark, et al., Antifeminism in the Academy (Routledge, 1996) pp. 210–211 Former United Mine Workers President Tony Boyle was arrested in Pittsburgh on murder charges for the December 31, 1969 slaying of rival Joseph A. Yablonski, along with Yablonski's wife and daughter."Ex-UMW Chief Boyle Charged in Murder of Yablonski Family", Los Angeles Times, September 7, 1973, p.I-1
September 7, 1973 (Friday) The existence of Japan's military, the Japan Self-Defense Forces, was ruled as unconstitutional by a district court judge in Sapporo. Judge Shigeo Fukushima held that the creation of Japan's Army, Navy and Air Force had violated Article 9 of the 1947 Constitution of Japan, which declared that "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation... In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained." The government announced that it would appeal the ruling. Faina Melnik of the Soviet Union broke her own world record in the women's discus event at an athletics meeting in Edinburgh.
September 8, 1973 (Saturday) The first edition of The Ocean Race began as 17 yachts (with 167 total crew participants) began a round-the-world trip from Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. Co-sponsored by the Royal Naval Sailing Association and the British hotel and restaurant company Whitbread, the event was originally called the "Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race" and would be won on April 9, 1974, by the yacht Sayula II, skippered by Ramón Carlín of Mexico."Did You Know? Mexico yachtsman won the first round-the-world yacht race", MexConnect.com Australian tennis star Margaret Court won the U.S. Open for the fifth time, defeating fellow Australian Evonne Goolagong, 7–6, 5–7 and 6–2 to win her 24th major championship."Court Shows Everyone She's No. 1", by Tony Kornheiser, Newsday (Long Island, New York), September 9, 1973, p. S-1 Baseball's Hank Aaron hit his 709th home run, a record for homers in a single league and five short of the 714 hit by Babe Ruth. The technicality was that Ruth had 708 home runs in the American League, and six in the National League, while all of Aaron's runs had been in the NL."Aaron's 709th Home Run Sets One-League Mark", Los Angeles Times, September 9, 1973, p.III-1 Four years after the cancellation of the original Star Trek series, the science fiction program returned as a 30-minute Saturday morning cartoon, also called Star Trek, and subtitled "Created by Gene Roddenberry". Produced by Filmation studios, the program featured the voices of seven of the original actors, (with the exception of Walter Koenig, who wrote one of the episodes but did not reprise his role as Ensign Chekhov), and brought back several of the original scriptwriters. The animated series won an Emmy Award, but was cancelled after two seasons, though it helped revive the Star Trek franchise for the actors to be reunited in the 1979 film.
September 9, 1973 (Sunday) Jackie Stewart's fourth-place finish in the Italian Grand Prix gave him sufficient points to clinch the title of World Drivers' Champion in the Formula One season. With two races still left, and a maximum 18 points left to be won, Stewart had 69 points, far ahead of Emerson Fittipaldi (48), François Cevert (47) and race winner Ronnie Peterson (43).