Star Wars came out in May 1977, and in September France carried out its last execution by guillotine.
The death penalty was abolished there only in 1981.
The events
- Star Wars is released1977 · Los Angeles. On 25 May 1977 George Lucas's space saga opened in cinemas. It became the highest-grossing film to that date, revolutionised visual effects and ushered in the era of blockbusters and a vast media franchise.
- Last execution by guillotine1977 · Marseille. On 10 September 1977 Hamida Djandoubi was guillotined in Marseille's Baumettes prison, the last execution in France and in Western Europe. France abolished the death penalty in 1981.
More amazing facts
- 1957 1957: the USSR launched the first satellite, and six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, the seed of the future EU.
- 1957 1957: Ghana became one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to throw off colonial rule, and the USSR launched the first satellite.
- 1960 In 1960, 17 African countries gained independence — more than in any other single year in history.
- 1961 Gagarin flew into space in April 1961; that August, the Berlin Wall went up.
- 1984 · 1989 Tetris was invented in Moscow in 1984, five years before Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web at CERN.
- 1989 In 1989, the year Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web, the golden toad was seen for the last time in Costa Rica's forests.