← 1975 1974 1973 1972 1971 1976 in France → 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
See also:	Other events in 1976 History of France · Timeline · Years

Events from the year 1976 in France.

Incumbents

• President: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
• Prime Minister: Jacques Chirac (until 29 August), Raymond Barre (starting 29 August)

Events

• 21 January – The first commercial Concorde flight takes off.
• 7 March – Cantonales Elections held.
• 14 March – Cantonales Elections held.
• 9 April – Peugeot takes over Citroen to form PSA Peugeot Citroen.^[1]
• 27 June – Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.
• June – Launch of the Renault 14, a five-door small family hatchback with front-wheel drive which is similar in concept to the hugely successful Volkswagen Golf from West Germany.
• 4 July – Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; 1 Israeli and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid.
• 25 August – Resignation of Jacques Chirac as Prime Minister of France; he is succeeded by Raymond Barre.

Arts and literature

Sport

• 24 June – Tour de France begins.
• 18 July – Tour de France ends, won by Lucien Van Impe of Belgium.

Births

January to March

• 2 January – Nicolas Goussé, soccer player.
• 17 January – Yohan Lachor, soccer player.
• 20 January – Lilian Jégou, cyclist.
• 20 January – Yann Pivois, cyclist.
• 22 January – Christophe Himmer, soccer player.
• 28 January – Pierrick Bourgeat, alpine skier.
• 31 January – Vincent Masingue, basketball player.
• 1 February – Julien Loy, triathlete.
• 2 February – Olivier Mutis, tennis player.
• 3 February – Stéphane Antiga, volleyball player.
• 7 February – Florent Brard, cyclist.
• 8 February – Nicolas Vouilloz, mountain biker and rally driver.
• 9 February – Walter Lapeyre, pistol shooter.
• 21 February – Richard Massolin, soccer player.
• 21 February – Armand Raimbault, soccer player.
• 22 February – Matthieu Louis-Jean, soccer player.
• 24 February – Romain Ferrier, soccer player.
• 25 February – Cyril Abidi, Kickboxing Champion and Muay Thai World Champion.
• 25 February – Sammy Traoré, soccer player.
• 26 February – Cédric Michaud, speed skater.
• 5 March – Stéphane Léoni, soccer player.
• 5 March – Samuel Plouhinec, cyclist.
• 6 March – Cédric Barbosa, soccer player.
• 6 March – Antoine Dénériaz, Alpine skier and Olympic gold medallist.
• 12 March – Julien Courbey, actor.
• 15 March – Sébastien Gondouin, soccer player.

April to June

• 3 April – Nicolas Escudé, tennis player.
• 4 April – Sébastien Enjolras, motor racing driver (died 1997).
• 8 April – Gaston Curbelo, soccer player.
• 8 April – Sylvain Marconnet, rugby union player.
• 15 April – Christophe Dussart, soccer player.
• 16 April – Doriane Vidal, snowboarder and Olympic medallist.
• 17 April – Maïwenn Le Besco, actress.
• 10 May – Romain Barnier, swimmer.
• 15 May – Cyrille Thouvenin, actor.
• 17 May – Benjamin Delmas, ice dancer.
• 22 May – Ludovic Valbon, rugby union player.
• 21 June – Alexandra Cousteau, environmentalist.
• 23 June – Patrick Vieira, international soccer player.
• 25 June – Sylvain N'Diaye, soccer player.

July to September

• 2 July – Laurent Lefèvre, cyclist.
• 9 July – Pascal Briand, speed skater.
• 10 July – Ludovic Giuly, soccer player.
• 16 July – Romain Haguenauer, ice dancer.
• 25 July – Stéphane Rideau, actor.
• 2 August – Stéphane Pichot, soccer player.
• 7 August – Nicolas Brusque, rugby union player.
• 8 August – Olivier Monterrubio, soccer player.
• 9 August – Audrey Tautou, actress.
• 20 August – Anaïs Croze, singer.
• 22 August – Laurent Hernu, decathlete.
• 25 August – Céline Lebrun, judoka and Olympic medallist.
• 26 August – Sébastien Vieilledent, rower and Olympic gold medallist.
• 27 August – Benoît Poilvet, cyclist.
• 31 August – Vincent Delerm, singer-songwriter, pianist and composer.
• 31 August – Romain Larrieu, soccer player.
• 4 September – Lise Legrand, wrestler and Olympic medallist.
• 6 September – Laurent Carrasco, rugby league player.
• 6 September – Alain Raguel, soccer player.
• 9 September – Emma de Caunes, actress.
• 14 September – Lionel Nallet, rugby union player.
• 19 September – Marc Boutruche, soccer player.
• 19 September – Laurent Emmanuelli, rugby union player.
• 20 September – Frédéric Jay, soccer player.
• 29 September – Grégory Tafforeau, soccer player.

October to December

• 5 October – Alessandra Sublet, television host
• 6 October – Hubert Henno, volleyball player.
• 15 October – Cédric Bardon, soccer player.
• 24 October – David Recorbet, soccer player.
• 26 October – Ludovic Asuar, soccer player.
• 1 November – Ludovic Mercier, rugby union player.
• 3 November – Arnaud Labbe, cyclist.
• 11 November – Nicolas Gillet, soccer player.
• 15 November – Julien Lachuer, soccer player.
• 25 November – Grégory Havret, golfer.
• 27 November – David Abrard, swimmer.
• 1 December – Yoann Bouchard, soccer player.
• 6 December – Cédric Claverie, judoka.
• 7 December – Benoît Tréluyer, motor racing driver.
• 18 December – Pierre Ducrocq, soccer player.
• 19 December – Jacques-Olivier Paviot, soccer player.
• 20 December – Benoît August, rugby union player.
• 25 December – Cédric Berthelin, soccer player.
• 31 December – Frédérique Bangué, athlete.

Deaths

January to June

• 8 January – Pierre Jean Jouve, poet and novelist (born 1887).
• 21 January – Joseph-Marie Martin, Cardinal (born 1891).
• 12 February – Charles Jourdan, fashion designer (born 1883).
• 20 February – René Cassin, jurist and judge, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968 (born 1887).
• 1 March – Jean Martinon, conductor and composer (born 1910).
• 3 March – Pierre Molinier, painter and photographer (born 1900).
• 8 March – Pauline de Rothschild, fashion icon and tastemaker (born 1908).
• 12 March – Jacques Carlu, architect and designer (born 1890).
• 19 March – Albert Dieudonné, actor, screenwriter, film director and novelist (born 1889).
• 1 April – Roger Rivière, cyclist (born 1936).
• 24 April – Ferdinand Le Drogo, cyclist (born 1903).
• 31 May – Jacques Monod, biologist, awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965 (born 1910).
• 5 June – Jean de Limur, film director (born 1887).
• 27 June – Albert Dubout, cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor (born 1905).

July to December

• 11 July – Charles Ritz, hotelier and fly fisherman (born 1891).
• 24 July – Paul Morand, author (born 1888).
• 27 July – Lucien Rosengart, engineer (born 1881).
• 13 August – Martial Guéroult, philosopher and historian of philosophy (born 1891).
• 27 August – Georges Marrane, politician (born 1888).
• 1 September – Jules Merviel, cyclist (born 1909).
• 24 September – Achille Souchard, cyclist (born 1900).
• 3 October – Émile Benveniste, structural linguist (born 1902).
• 11 October — Werner Haas (pianist), German pianist (born 1931)
• 18 October – Janine Micheau, lyric soprano opera singer (born 1914).
• 21 October – Jean Berveiller, composer and organist (born 1904).
• 25 October – Raymond Queneau, poet and novelist (born 1903).
• 15 November – Jean Gabin, actor (born 1904).
• 23 November – André Malraux, author, adventurer and statesman (born 1901).
• 24 December – Jean de Broglie, politician, assassinated (born 1921).
• 28 December – Pierre La Mure, author (born 1899).

Full date unknown

• Pierre Garat, civil servant in Vichy France (born 1919).
• René Herse, bicycle constructor (born 1913).
• Robert Louzon, engineer, revolutionary syndicalist, anarchist and socialist (born 1882).
• François Ozenda, painter (born 1923).
• Henriette Sauret, feminist, author, pacifist, journalist (born 1890).