As the song (almost) says, it was 43 years ago today that Black Sabbath were on top of the album charts, and England could last boast a US Open golf winner.

But now Ozzy and the gang have reclaimed the musical pinnacle, and Justin Rose has replaced Tony Jacklin in the history books, it seems opportune to recall what else happened in 1970…

1 The Kingston Bridge opened on June 26. The bridge, which crosses the River Clyde in Glasgow, is 143m long and 21m wide. It is one of the busiest road bridges in Europe and carries around 150,000 vehicles a day.

2The British Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh from July 16-25. Scotland won six gold, eight silver and 11 bronze medals during the Games, coming fourth overall behind Australia, England and Canada.

3 The Beatles released their 12th and final album, Let It Be, on May 8, a month after Paul McCartney revealed that he had left the group.

4 Apollo 13 landed safely in the Pacific on April 17 after an oxygen tank explosion forced the crew to abort their moon landing attempt.

5 Feyenoord beat Celtic 2-1 to win the European Cup on May 8.

6 Diana Ross and the Supremes performed their farewell concert at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas on January 14. Ross’s replacement, Jean Terrell, was introduced at the end of the show.

7 Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was born on July 19.

8 Jimi Hendrix died at a flat in London on September 18, aged 27.

9 BP announced on October 7 that it had discovered the massive Forties Oil Field in Scottish waters.

10 IBM introduced the first computer floppy disks.

11 Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 to win the Scottish League Cup final at Hampden.

12 Maggie Smith won the best actress Oscar for her role in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie on April 7.

13 David Bowie appeared in a half-hour improv play on Scottish television where he narrated in song while perched on a ladder.

14 Hoffman-La Roche invented the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) in Switzerland.

15 Aberdeen beat Celtic 3-1 to win the Scottish Cup at Hampden.

16 Janis Joplin died at the age of 27 on April 10.

17 The Conservative Party unexpectedly beat Labour in the General Election on June 18, with Edward Heath taking over from Harold Wilson as Prime Minister.

18 The first dot matrix printer was put on the market.

19 Barcodes were introduced for retail and industrial use in the UK.

20 Teenagers voted for the first time in the UK in the Bridgwater by-election on March 12.

21 Rhodesia severed its last tie with the UK on March 1 and declared itself a republic.

22 NASA’s Explorer 1, the first American satellite and Explorer programme spacecraft, re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on March 31 after 12 years in orbit.

23 US President Richard Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law. The act banned cigarette television advertisements in the US. It came into effect on January 1 1971.

24 BBC Radio 4 broadcast its first edition of PM.

25 The first Earth Day was celebrated in America on April 22.

26 Brazil beat Italy 4-1 on June 21 to win the World Cup.

27 The first women’s only tennis tournament was held in Houston on September 23.

28 Franz Stangl, the ex-commander of Treblinka, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

29 The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which aimed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, came into effect after ratification by 43 nations.

30 The Liberian registered tanker Pacific Glory spilled up to 100,000 gallons of crude oil on October 25 into the English Channel, creating a huge oil slick and an environmental disaster.

31 Simon and Garfunkel won four Grammys, including song of the year, album of the year and record of the year, for Bridge Over Troubled Water.

32 Margaret Court and John Newcombe were crowned Wimbledon Men’s and Women’s singles champions.

33 MASH received its first television screening on January 25.

34 In Montreal, Quebec, a national crisis hit Canada on October 10 when Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte became the second statesman to be kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.

35 International footballer David Weir was born.

36 Fraserburgh life-boat the Duchess of Kent, capsized on January 21 while on service to the Danish fishing vessel Opal, causing the lose of five of the boat’s six crew.

37 The complete New English Bible, a translation into modern English directly from the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts, was published on March 16.

38 A huge gas explosion at a subway construction site in Osaka, Japan killed 79 and injured over 400 on April 8.

39 The Reverend Ian Paisley won a by-election to gain a seat in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland on April 16.

40 The US invaded Cambodia on April 29. The invasion sparked large anti-war protests in America. Four students at Kent State University in Ohio were killed and nine wounded by Ohio National Guardsmen at a protest against the invasion.

41 Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney were dismissed as member of the Irish Government on May 6 following accusations of their involvement in a plot to import arms for use by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland.

42 The Ancash earthquake caused a landslide on May 31 that buried the town of Yungay in Peru. More than 47,000 people were killed.

43 Tonga gains independence for the UK.

44 The United States got its first female generals: Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P Hoisington.

45 The French army detonated a 914 kiloton thermonuclear device in the Mururoa Atoll on July 3. It was the army’s fourth and largest nuclear test.

46 Air Canada Flight 621 crashed at Toronto International Airport, killing all 109 passengers and crew.

47 The first tunnel under the Pyreness, which linked the towns of Aragnouet in France and Bielsa in Spain, was opened.

48 The first New York marathon began on September 13.

49 The Khmer Republic was proclaimed in Cambodia on October 9, beginning the Civil War with the Khmer Rouge.

50 Bolivian artist Benjamin Mendoza tried to assassinate Pope Paul VI during his visit to Manila on November 27.