1976

Top Selling Singles

1. Brotherhood Of Man – Save Your Kisses For Me
2. Pussycat – Mississippi
3. Elton John & Kiki Dee – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
4. Abba – Fernando
5. Abba – Dancing Queen
6. Chicago – If You Leave Me Now
7. Dr Hook – A Little Bit More
8. Showaddywaddy – Under The Moon Of Love
9. Tina Charles – I Love To Love
10. The Real Thing – You To Me Are Everything

Christmas No.1: Johnny Mathis – When A Child Is Born

Top Selling Albums

1. Abba – Greatest Hits
2. The Beach Boys – 20 Golden Greats
3. Demise Roussos – Forever And Ever
4. Wings – Wings At The Speed Of Sound
5. Rod Stewart – A Night On The Town
6. John Denver – Live In London
7. Glen Campbell – 20 Golden Greats
8. Neil Sedaka – Laughter And Tears
9. The Eagles – Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975
10. Slim Whitman – The Very Best Of Slim Whitman

At the Box Office

1. Jaws
2. The Return of the Pink Panther
3. All the Presidents Men
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo
5. Logan
6. The Man Who Would Be King
7. Bugsy Malone
8. The Bad News Bears
9. Marathon Man
10. At the Earths Core

Cost of Living

Average house price	£12,000
Average salary	Men £65pw / Women £39pw
Average car price	Ford Cortina car £2026.00
Petrol	77p / gallon
Pint of beer	33p
Packet of 20 Cigarettes	45p
Pint of milk	9p

In the News

• Prime Minister – Harold Wilson (Labour) (until 5 April), James Callaghan (Labour) (after 5 April)
• The first commercial Concorde flight takes off[6] from Heathrow Airport for Bahrain
• The Queen opens the new NEC – National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham
• The Prince of Wales opens Brent Cross Shopping Centre in London
• Anita Roddick opens the first branch of The Body Shop in Brighton
• Carry On star Sid James, 62, dies on stage at the Sunderland Empire Theatre having suffered a fatal heart attack, which many in the audience initially mistake for part of the show.
• British Isles heat wave reaches its peak with the temperature at 35.9 °C (96.6 °F) in Cheltenham.
• David Steel is elected as the new leader of the Liberal Party.
• Ford launches a new small three-door hatchback, the Fiesta
• There is a severe drought. Parts of South West England go for 45 days with no rain in July and August.
• Big Ben suffers internal damage and stops running for over nine months
• The InterCity 125 high-speed train is introduced into passenger service on British Rail
• Opening of the Royal National Theatre on the South Bank in London
• First purpose-built (Thai style) Buddhist temple built in Britain

On the Telly

• BBC1 begin showing Paddington
• Rentaghost debuts on BBC1.
• Open All Hours airs on BBC2, almost three years after the pilot episode was first shown
• BBC1 debuts the US police action series Starsky & Hutch
• The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner, launches on ITV and reaches number one in the ratings
• The Muppet Show debuts on ITV
• George and Mildred debuts on ITV.
• The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is shown for the first time
• Ronnie Barker’s comedy sketch “Four Candles” is first broadcast in The Two Ronnies [clip]
• Multi-Coloured Swap Shop is shown for the first time [theme]
• Popular 1960s series The Avengers returns as The New Avengers, its first episode in seven years,

In Music

• The United Kingdom wins the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time with the song “Save Your Kisses for Me”, sung by Brotherhood of Man in The Hague
• The Damned release “New Rose”, the first single marketed as “punk rock”.
• The Sex Pistols achieve public notoriety as they say several swear words live on Bill Grundy’s TV show

Top Selling Christmas Toys 1976

• Micronauts
• Cher Doll
• Magna Doodle

Gadgets

• The Apple Computer

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