1976 in France

Incumbents

• President: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
• Prime Minister: Jacques Chirac, Raymond Barre

  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.
• 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.
• 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 - Robert, comte de la Marche, Prince de France.
• 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.
• 21 January - Joseph-Marie Martin, Cardinal.
• 12 February - Charles Jourdan, fashion designer.
• 20 February - René Cassin, jurist and judge, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
• 1 March - Jean Martinon, conductor and composer.
• 3 March - Pierre Molinier, painter and photographer.
• 8 March - Pauline de Rothschild, fashion icon and tastemaker.
• 12 March - Jacques Carlu, architect and designer.
• 19 March - Albert Dieudonné, actor, screenwriter, film director and novelist.
• 1 April - Roger Rivière, cyclist.
• 24 April - Ferdinand Le Drogo, cyclist.
• 31 May - Jacques Monod, biologist, awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965.
• 5 June - Jean de Limur, film director.
• 27 June - Albert Dubout, cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor.

  July to December

• 27 July - Lucien Rosengart, engineer.
• 13 August - Martial Guéroult, philosopher and historian of philosophy.
• 27 August - Georges Marrane, politician.
• 1 September - Jules Merviel, cyclist.
• 24 September - Achille Souchard, cyclist.
• 3 October - Émile Benveniste, structural linguist.
• 11 October — Werner Haas, German pianist
• 18 October - Janine Micheau, lyric soprano opera singer.
• 21 October - Jean Berveiller, composer and organist.
• 25 October - Raymond Queneau, poet and novelist.
• 15 November - Jean Gabin, actor.
• 23 November - André Malraux, author, adventurer and statesman.
• 24 December - Jean de Broglie, politician, assassinated.
• 28 December - Pierre La Mure, author.

  Full date unknown

• Pierre Garat, civil servant in Vichy France.
• René Herse, bicycle constructor.
• Robert Louzon, engineer, revolutionary syndicalist, anarchist and socialist.
• François Ozenda, painter.