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Top News of 1978
[ Top News ][
Top 100 Songs ][ Top Movies ]
| Date |
Event |
JANUARY
|
| 01 |
Air India Jumbo explodes
killing 213 |
| 03 |
Indira Gandhi expelled
from India's Congress Party |
| 05 |
The Sex Pistols make
their US concert debut with a gig in Atlanta, Georgia |
| 13 |
Former US Vice President
Hubert Humphrey dies |
| 23 |
Founder member of
the group Chicago , Terry Kath, accidentally shoots himself
in the head, aged 31 |
| 26 |
The Aboriginal Land
Rights Act is proclaimed in Australia, restoring some land to
the Aborigines |
| 29 |
Sweden bans ozone-unfriendly
aerosol spays |
|
|
FEBRUARY
| 08 |
Egyptian president
Anwar Sadat visits the US urging the country to exert pressure
on Israel to negotiate a Middle East peace settlement |
| 12 |
Hilton Hotel is bombed
during CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads Of Government) Conference in
Sydney, Australia. The blast kills a policeman guarding the
entrance to the hotel lounge and a garbage collector |
| 13 |
Anna Ford becomes
first woman newsreader on UK TV (for ITN) |
|
|
MARCH
| 02 |
Czech Vladimir Remek
is the first man in space from neither the USSR or the USA |
| 03 |
Southern Rhodesian
leader Ian Smith signs an agreement for power sharing with three
moderate black leaders. Nkomo and Mugabe denounce the agreement
and the UN Security Council declares it illegal |
| 11 |
Arab terrorists murder
at least 37 Israelis in a machine gun attack on a bus |
| 14 |
Israel invades southern
Lebanon in response to a PLO attack which killed 11 Israeli
civilians |
| 15 |
Somalia accepts defeat
in the Ogaden war and withdraws troops |
| 16 |
Former Italian prime
minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped by Red Brigade terrorists |
| 16 |
Supertanker Amoco
Cadiz runs aground off Brittany, France, spilling over
220,000 tonnes of oil and contaminating the coastline |
| 18 |
Red Brigade terrorists
release a picture of kidnapped former PM Moro and threaten to
put him on trial |
| 18 |
Former Pakistani
prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is sentenced to death for
ordering the assassination of an opponent |
| 21 |
Rhodesia's first
three black government ministers are sworn in |
| 25 |
Oxford wins the Boat
Race after the Cambridge boat sinks a mile from the finish |
| 29 |
French Naval helicopters
in the English Channel fail to sink the Amoco Cadiz
with depth charges |
|
|
APRIL
| 01 |
'Lucius' wins Grand
National |
| 07 |
President Carter
postpones production of the neutron bomb, pending further research
|
| 21 |
Vocalist Sandy Denny
dies aged 31 of a brain haemorrhage after falling down a flight
of stairs |
| 27 |
A Soviet-backed military
coup in Afghanistan establishes an Islamic government |
|
|
MAY
| 08 |
Donny Osmond gets
married at the age of 21, breaking the hearts of thousands of
fans |
| 09 |
In Italy, senior
statesman Aldo Moro is found dead after the Italian government
refuses to capitulate to his captors, the Red Brigade |
| 15 |
Former Australian
Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies dies at 83 |
| 17 |
Swiss police find
stolen coffin belonging to Charlie Chaplin |
| 18 |
Abortion is legalised
in Italy |
| 24 |
Princess Margaret
and Lord Snowdon divorce |
| 26 |
The first legal casino
in the US outside of Nevada opens in Atlantic City, New Jersey
|
|
|
JUNE
| 06 |
Proposition 13, a
controversial California constitutional amendment to cut state
property taxes by 57% wins over California voters. Amendment
reduces the state's revenues from $12 billion to $5 billion
|
| 15 |
Italian president
Giovanni Leone resigns after allegations of fiscal misconduct
|
| 24 |
The president of
North Yemen is killed by a bomb |
| 25 |
Argentina wins the
(soccer) World Cup, beating Netherlands 3-1 |
| 26 |
The president of
South Yemen is killed by the same faction that murdered the
North Yemeni president two days earlier |
| 28 |
In the case of Bakke
v the University of California, the US Supreme Court rules that
the college has to admit white applicant Allan Bakke to its
medical school. Bakke claimed his civil rights had been violated
by the school's minority-student admission quota |
|
|
JULY
| 03 |
China cancels all
aid to Vietnam |
| 05 |
The Australian government
lifts the five year ban on the export of live Merino rams |
| 07 |
The Solomon Islands
gain independence from British rule |
| 07 |
Martina Navratilova
beats Chris Evert for the women's singles title at Wimbledon
|
| 08 |
Sandro Pertini is
elected Italy's first socialist President |
| 08 |
Clash members Joe
Strummer and Paul Simonon are arrested in Glasgow for being
drunk and disorderly |
| 11 |
200 die in Spanish
campsite explosion |
| 18 |
In South Africa,
Nelson Mandela is refused the thousands of cards he has received
for his 60th birthday |
| 25 |
Louise Brown, the
world's first test-tube baby, is born in Manchester, England,
weighing five pounds-twelve ounces |
| 28 |
Passenger train services
in Tasmania are discontinued due to lack of demand |
| 31 |
Gough Whitlam resigns
from Australian federal parliament |
|
|
AUGUST
| 04 |
Having recently discovered
that their land was used as a toxic waste dump between 1947
and 1952, the residents of New York's Love Canal community begin
to evacuate their homes |
| 06 |
Pope Paul VI dies
|
| 22 |
In Nicaragua, Sandanista
guerrillas seize the parliament building in Managua and take
1,500 hostages |
| 22 |
Kenyan President
Jomo Kenyatta dies |
|
|
SEPTEMBER
| 03 |
New Pope John Paul
I is crowned |
| 05/17 |
Talks between Egypt,
the US and Israel at Camp David lead to the Camp David Accords,
which end 30 years of hostility between Egypt and Israel |
| 08 |
Wild drummer of The
Who , Keith Moon dies of a drug overdose, aged 32, in the same
London apartment where Mama Cass Elliott overdosed in 1974 |
| 08 |
Iran under martial
law |
| 15 |
German Baader-Meinhof
terrorist Astrid Proll is arrested in London |
| 15 |
German aircraft engineer,
Willy Messershmidt (b. 1898) dies |
| 16 |
For the second year
in a row, the Australian Rugby League Grand Final is a draw.
This time between Manly (11) and Cronulla (11) |
| 16 |
20,000 are feared
dead in Iran after a minute-long earthquake |
| 17 |
Muhammad Ali beats
Leon Spinks in New Orleans, to win the world heavyweight championship
a record third time |
| 19 |
Manly beat Cronulla
16-0 in the Australian Rugby League Grand Final replay |
| 20 |
South African Prime
Minister Vorster announces his resignation "for health reasons"
|
| 25 |
150 people die when
a light aircraft collides with an airliner over San Diego and
both crash onto houses |
| 28 |
New Pope John Paul
dies of heart attack after only 33 days in office (born Albino
Luciani, 1912) |
| 29 |
P.W. Botha elected
PM in South Africa |
| 29 |
Bulgarian defector
Gerogi Markov dies after being stabbed by a poison-tipped umbrella
at a London bus stop |
| 29 |
Geoff Boycott is
sacked as captain of Yorkshire Cricket Club |
| 30 |
Hawthorn 18.13 (121)
defeat North Melbourne 15.13 (103) in the Australian VFL Grand
Final |
|
|
OCTOBER
| 03 |
Australian Lynette
Phillips, a member of the Ananda Marga sect, burns herself to
death in Geneva in protest against "injustice in the world"
|
| 04 |
Emily and William
Harris are jailed for ten years for kidnapping Patty Hearst
|
| 06 |
Benny Andersson and
Anni-Frid Lyngstad of Swedish pop quartet ABBA , marry in a
private ceremony after living together for nine years |
| 08 |
Mario Andretti becomes
world Formula One motor racing champion |
| 08 |
Wild man of Australian
rock & roll, Johnny O' Keefe (43) dies after a massive heart
attack at his Double Bay home |
| 08 |
The Australian Wran
government has a landslide victory in the NSW state election
|
| 11 |
Nancy Spungen, American
girlfriend of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, is found dead from multiple
stab wounds at New York's Chelsea Hotel. Sid Vicious is charged
with murder but claims to remember nothing about the night |
| 12 |
Sydney rugby player
Paul Hayward, Warren Fellows and William Sinclair are arrested
in Bangkok for heroin smuggling |
| 16 |
Polish Cardinal becomes
Pope John Paul II |
| 24 |
Keith Richards of
the Rolling Stones is convicted in Canada of heroin possession.
He receives a one-year suspended sentence and is ordered to
play a charity concert for the blind |
| 27 |
The UN military command
in South Korea discover an invasion tunnel beginning in North
Korea |
| 29 |
Chairman Mao's Little
Red Book is denounced by the Communist Party in China
|
|
|
NOVEMBER
| 04 |
Australian Bakers'
strike leads to panic buying and bread rationing. |
| 18 |
913 followers of
Jim Jones commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. After ordering
the murder of California Representative Leo J Ryan who has gone
to the commune on a fact-finding mission, Reverend Jim Jones
orders the commune's members to drink poisoned Flavoraid. |
| 27 |
San Francisco Mayor
George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk are shot dead
at City Hall by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. White
later pleads "Twinkie insanity" (ie: he had been eating too
much junk food in the weeks leading up to the attack) and actually
receives a reduced sentence. |
|
|
DECEMBER
| 01 |
Guerrillas kidnap
two British bankers in El Salvador |
| 06 |
USSR signs a 20 year
pact with Afghanistan |
| 08 |
Former Israeli prime
minister Golda Meir (b. 1898) dies |
| 10 |
Begin and Sadat share
Nobel Peace Prize |
| 19 |
Indira Gandhi is
expelled from the Indian Parliament and imprisoned on charges
of conspiracy and electoral misconduct |
| 25 |
Vietnam begins a
full-scale invasion of Cambodia |
| 26 |
Indira Gandhi is
released after a week in jail for refusing to testify on a corruption
charge |
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