The year you were born

Born in 1976

If you were born in 1976, you share a birth year with Concorde’s first commercial flight and the first pictures sent back from the surface of Mars. Britain also had a famously hot summer. Here is what else happened, with a source for every line.

Turning 50 in 2026

What happened in 1976

  1. 21 JanuaryFlight

    Concorde flew its first commercial flight: British Airways BA300, London Heathrow to Bahrain.

    Source: British Airways: Concorde

  2. MarchMusic

    Save Your Kisses For Me by Brotherhood of Man entered the UK singles chart and went on to reach Number 1.

    Source: Official Charts: Brotherhood of Man, Save Your Kisses For Me

  3. 1976Politics

    James Callaghan won the Labour leadership election and became Prime Minister. He served from 1976 to 1979.

    Source: GOV.UK: Past Prime Ministers, James Callaghan

  4. 20 JulySpace

    NASA’s Viking 1 lander touched down on Mars and sent back the first pictures from the surface of the planet.

    Source: NASA: Viking 1

  5. SummerWeather

    A long hot spell began on 23 June. On 3 July Cheltenham reached 35.9°C, and the government appointed a Minister for Drought.

    Source: Met Office: the summer of 1976, 50 years on

  6. 1976Law

    The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 set rules for keeping dangerous wild animals at home.

    Source: GOV.UK: Past Prime Ministers, James Callaghan

  7. 1976Space

    The Soviet Union approved the plan for the Mir space station. Its first part went up ten years later.

    Source: NASA: Mir space station at 35

  8. 1976Prizes

    Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan shared the Nobel Peace Prize for founding a movement to end the violent conflict in Northern Ireland.

    Source: The Nobel Peace Prize 1976

  9. 1976Prizes

    Saul Bellow won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

    Source: The Nobel Prize in Literature 1976

  10. ChristmasMusic

    The UK Christmas Number 1 was When a Child Is Born (Soleado) by Johnny Mathis.

    Source: Official Charts: every Christmas Number 1

Concorde turns up again in 1986, when a British Airways Concorde flew all the way round the world. For more on the aircraft itself, read the Concorde page on aeroplanes.im. Viking 1’s landing is on the Mars missions page on mars.planets.im, alongside the rovers that came later.

A 1976 party idea

Set a 1976 round in your quiz: read out each line below without its date and ask which month it happened. Or ask guests to guess the hottest temperature of that summer (the answer is in the list).

More ideas on the party ideas page.

Want it ready to print? The Year You Were Born 1976, a printable party pack with a quiz, a certificate and a time capsule (paid download, $4.99) is built from the same checked facts.

Sources

Every line above was checked against these pages on 3 November 2026. Dates are as the source gives them.

  1. British Airways: Concorde
  2. Official Charts: Brotherhood of Man, Save Your Kisses For Me
  3. GOV.UK: Past Prime Ministers, James Callaghan
  4. NASA: Viking 1
  5. Met Office: the summer of 1976, 50 years on
  6. NASA: Mir space station at 35
  7. The Nobel Peace Prize 1976
  8. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1976
  9. Official Charts: every Christmas Number 1