- Jan 1 Chrysler UK renamed Talbot
Event of Interest
Jan 1 Comic strip "The Far Side" by Gary Larson debuts in The San Francisco Chronicle
- Jan 1 International Decade of Water & Sanitation begins
- Jan 1 Mob storms Russian embassy in Tehran
- Jan 1 Premier Adbou Diouf becomes president of Senegal
- Jan 1 Sweden changes order of succession to throne
- Jan 1 Victoria is crowned princess of Sweden.
- Jan 2 British Steel workers go on a national strike
- Jan 3 Babrak Karmal defends the Soviet-backed coup in first public appearance since taking power as President of Afghanistan
- Jan 3 Gold hits record $634 an ounce
Election of Interest
Jan 6 Indira Gandhi's Congress Party wins elections in India
- Jan 6 The beginning of the first GPS epoch.
Event of Interest
Jan 7 US President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation to bail out the Chrysler Corporation with a 1.5 billion dollar loan
- Jan 9 63 beheaded in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
- Jan 13 Head of narcotic brigade arrested for drug smuggling in Belgium
- Jan 13 Togo's constitution becomes effective
- Jan 15 Pam Gems' "Piaf!" premieres in London
- Jan 17 NASA launches Fltsatcom-3
- Jan 17 Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb prematurely detonates on a passenger train near Belfast, kills three and injuring five (including the bombers)
- Jan 18 Gold reaches $1,000 an ounce
- Jan 18 Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell & Ian Schrager sentenced to 3½ years in prison for tax evasion & fined $20,000
- Jan 20 US female Figure Skating championship won by Linda Fratianne
- Jan 20 US male Figure Skating championship won by Charles Tickner
- Jan 21 Gold hits record $850 an ounce
- Jan 21 Price of gold increases to then record $843 troy oz
Event of Interest
Jan 22 Russian dissidents Andrei Sakharov and Yelena Bonner arrested in Moscow and banished to Gorky
Event of Interest
Jan 27 Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after 5 years in exile
Event of Interest
Jan 30 Edward Albee's "Lady from Dubuque" premieres in NYC
- Jan 31 Police storm occupied Spanish embassy in Guatemala City, killing 41