• On 1 January, Britain – and Ireland and Denmark – join the European Economic Community • On 27 January, the United States, North and South Vietnam and the Vietcong sign the Paris Agreement, instituting a ceasefire in Indochina • On 29 March, the last US troops leave Vietnam • The Watergate hearings begin in Washington DC on 17 May. These initially investigate the alleged involvement of White House staff in the break-in at the Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate complex on 17 June 1972 • On 17 July, Afghan prime minister Muhammad Daoud overthrows the monarchy and declares himself president of the new republic • In Chile on 11/12 September, President Salvador Allende is killed when General Augusto Pinochet (backed by the US Central Intelligence Agency) leads a military coup that ends the republic • On 23 September, Juan Perón is re-elected president of Argentina, but dies the following year • On 6 October, Egypt and Syria invade Israel; the Yom Kippur War begins. Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan soon join in. The conflict continues until a ceasefire – and Israeli victory – on 24 October. One result of the war is a large increase in the price of Arab oil, which creates economic problems in the West • On 10 October, US vice president Spiro Agnew resigns after pleading nolo contendere to tax evasion charges • Italian film-maker Bernardo Bertolucci makes Last Tango in Paris, which is controversial because of its explicit sex scenes • British psychedelic pop group Pink Floyd releases Dark Side of the Moon •

Sporting 1973...