1978 in History

Events in History

Events 1 - 100 of 391

• Jan 1 Air India B747 explodes near Bombay killing 213
• Jan 1 News editor Donald Woods finally arrives in London after escaping the apartheid regime in South Africa

• Jan 1 Los Angeles Police chief Edward Davis retires from police force
• Jan 5 Bülent Ecevit becomes Prime Minister of Turkey for the 3rd time
• Jan 6 1st postage stamp copyrighted by US (Carl Sandburg stamp)
• Jan 6 US hand over St Stephan crown to Hungary
• Jan 7 Angola revises its constitution in include a state security law
• Jan 8 Israeli government votes to 'strengthen' settlements in occupied Sinai

• Jan 9 Commonwealth of Northern Marianas established
• Jan 10 Soyuz 27 launches, carrying 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station
• Jan 11 Soyuz 27 links with Salyut 6 & Soyuz 26 (1st time 3 spacecraft link)
• Jan 13 NASA select its first American women astronauts
• Jan 15 Theodore Bundy kills Fla State U coeds Lisa Levy & Margaret Bowman
• Jan 16 Soyuz 27 returns to Earth
• Jan 18 Geoff Boycott captains England for the 1st time, v Pakistan at Karachi


• Jan 18 Roof of 3-yr-old Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut collapses (no injuries)
• Jan 18 Thiokol conducts 2nd test firing of space shuttle's SRB
• Jan 19 Judge William H. Webster appointed head of FBI

• Jan 23 Belgian industrial Haron Empain kidnapped in Paris
• Jan 23 Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earth's ozone layer.
• Jan 24 Carter Executive Order on Intelligence (# 12036)
• Jan 25 Muriel Humphrey (D-Mn) appointed to fill late husband's Senate seat
• Jan 26 Frank Herbert completes his novel "Destination: Void"
• Jan 26 International Ultraviolet Explorer placed in Earth orbit

• Jan 26 Strikers riot in Tunisia, killing about 40
• Jan 28 Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife
• Jan 29 Sweden outlaws aerosol sprays due to their harmful effect on the ozone layer, becoming the first nation to enact such a ban.
• Jan 31 Israel turns 3 milt outposts in West Bank into civilian settlements

• Feb 3 Australia beat India 3-2 on 6th day of final test, after India are all out for 445 chasing 493 to win

• Feb 5 Blizzard forms in US North East, 100 people killed in New England and New York over 3 days

• Feb 6 Snowstorm hits New England, parts of Rhode Island (54" / 137cm)
• Feb 7 Ethiopian offensive in Ogaden desert
• Feb 8 Crown Prince Sad Abdallah al-Salim Al Sabah becomes Prime Minister of Kuwait
• Feb 8 Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
• Feb 10 Frank C. Carlucci succeeds John F. Blake as deputy director of CIA
• Feb 11 16 Unification church couples wed in NYC

• Feb 11 EOKA disbands in Cyprus
• Feb 12 US female Figure Skating championship won by Linda Fratianne
• Feb 12 US male Figure Skating championship won by Charles Tickner
• Feb 13 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Feb 14 1st "micro on a chip" patented by Texas Instruments

• Feb 15 Zaire revises its constitution
• Feb 16 1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy's CBBS, Chicago)
• Feb 17 11 civilians and 1 RUC officer are killed and 30 wounded by a Provisional Irish Republican Army incendiary bomb at the La Mon Restaurant near Belfast
• Feb 19 Brigitte Kraus runs world record 1000 m indoor (2:34.8)
• Feb 20 Egypt announces it is pulling its diplomats out of Cyprus
• Feb 22 2 tankers with propane gas explode killing 15 at Waverly, Tenn
• Feb 26 Ira Levin's "Deathtrap" premieres in NYC
• Feb 27 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• Mar 2 Soyuz 28 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Czechoslovakian) to Salyut 6
• Mar 4 Chicago Daily News, founded in 1875, publishes last issue
• Mar 5 Landsat 3 launched from Vandenberg AFB, California

• Mar 7 Belgian baron Charles Bracht kidnapped
• Mar 7 Dutch 2nd Chamber votes against neutron bomb

• Mar 9 Ice Pairs Championship at Ottawa won by Rodnina & Zaitsev (Soviet Union)
• Mar 9 Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Ottawa won by Anett Pötzsch (East Germany)
• Mar 9 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Ottawa won by Charles Tickner (USA)
• Mar 10 Soyuz 28 returns to Earth
• Mar 11 Terrorists attack mail truck at Tel Aviv, 45 killed
• Mar 11 USF-led Bill Cartwright scores 23 points as the Dons oust NC
• Mar 13 Moluccan "suicide commandos" occupies Province house
• Mar 14 Marines terminate Moluccan action in Province house (1 dead)
• Mar 15 -21] operation Litani: Israeli offensive in South Lebanon
• Mar 15 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
• Mar 16 Amoco Cadiz spills 223,000 tons of crude oil off French coast

• Mar 16 Soyuz 26 returns to Earth
• Mar 16 US Senate accepts Panama Canal treaty
• Mar 16 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 17 Amoco Cadiz tanker spills 1.6 mil gallons of oil off French coast
• Mar 17 Reds don green uniforms for St Patricks Day
• Mar 18 Former Pakistani premier Ali Bhutto sentenced to death
• Mar 19 50,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against neutron bomb
• Mar 21 San Francisco passes its and the U.S.' most comprehensive homosexual rights bill
• Mar 22 France performs nuclear test

• Mar 22 Karl "The Great" Wallenda, German acrobat (The Flying Wallendas) dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at 73
• Mar 23 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• Mar 25 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, UCLA beat Maryland 90-74 in Los Angeles
• Mar 27 The Rutles mockumentary "All You Need is Cash" is shown on British TV
• Mar 28 Daryl Gates becomes the 49th Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department
• Mar 31 USSR launches Kosmos 1000 navigational satellite
• Apr 1 Philippine College of Commerce becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines by presidential decree
• Apr 2 Georges de Mestral's patent for "velvet type fabric" expires, puts "Velcro" in the open market
• Apr 3 European market & China signs trade agreement
• Apr 6 Karnataka beat Uttar Pradesh by inn & 193 to win Ranji Trophy
• Apr 7 Guttenberg bible sells for $2,000,000 in New York City
• Apr 7 US President Jimmy Carter defers production of neutron bomb
• Apr 13 Jackson slugs a 3-run HR in the 1st inning, & the field is showered
• Apr 14 David Hare's "Plenty" premieres in London

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Birthdays in History

• Jan 1 Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda, Indian spiritualist
• Jan 5 Sabrina Harman, American military figure and accused torturer, born in Lorton, Virginia
• Jan 14 Just Blaze [Justin Smith], American hip hop producer, born in Paterson, New Jersey
• Jan 31 Brad Rutter, Jeopardy! champion, born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• Jan 31 Ray Shah, Irish Big Brother contestant, born in Dublin, Ireland
• Feb 3 Amal Clooney, British-Lebanese human rights lawyer (Julian Assange), born in Beirut, Lebanon
• Feb 7 David Aebischer, National Hockey League goaltender
• Feb 9 Daniel Mann, British television commentator
• Feb 10 Lorna Bailey, English ceramic designer
• Feb 12 Silver Meikar, Estonian human rights activist and politician, born in Tartu, Estonia
• Feb 15 Tuan Le, Vietnamese-US poker player, born in Paris, France
• Feb 17 Jacob Wetterling, American kidnapping victim, born in Long Praire, Minnesota (d. 1989)
• Feb 24 Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro, Brazilian mixed-martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Feb 26 John Tartaglia, Broadway performer & "Muppeteer", born in Maple Shade, New Jersey
• Feb 28 Louise Woodward, English nanny who killed eight-month-old Matthew Eappen in 1997, born in Elton, Cheshire
• Mar 11 Christopher Rice, American author (A Density of Souls, The Snow Garden), born in Berkeley, California
• Mar 12 Cristina Teuscher, 4X200m freestyle (Olymp-gold-96), born in New Rochelle, New York
• Mar 12 Arina Tanemura, Japanese mangaka
• Mar 14 Carlo Giuliani, Italian anarchist (d. 2001)
• Mar 15 Takeru Kobayashi, Japanese competitive eater
• Mar 21 Charmaine Dragun, Australian news anchor (d.2007)
• Mar 21 Kevin Federline, American dancer/hip hop artist
• Mar 24 Michael Braun, Australian rules footballer
• Apr 4 Sam Moran, Australian entertainer (The Wiggles), born in Sydney, Australia
• Apr 16 Matthew Lloyd, Australian rules footballer, born in Melbourne, Australia
• Apr 19 Amanda Sage, American visionary artist, born in Denver, Colorado
• Apr 20 Mirei Kuroda, Japanese gravure idol, born in Saitama Prefecture, Japan
• May 4 Shaenon K. Garrity, American webcomics writer and artist (creator of Narbonic)
• May 6 Alexander Fedorov, Russian bodybuilder
• May 7 Brian Clevinger, American author (Atomic Robo)
• May 11 Richard Spencer, American white supremacist, born in Boston, Massachusetts
• May 24 Brian Ching, American footballer (U.S. National Team), born in Hale'iwa, Hawaii
• May 30 Lyoto Machida, Brazilian mixed martial artist
• Jun 7 Adrienne Frantz, (Tiffany Thorne-Sunset Beach), born in Mt Clemens, Michigan
• Jun 9 Shandi Finnessey, game hostess
• Jun 19 Garfield the Cat, animated character "Big fat hairy deal"
• Jun 20 Quinton Jackson, American Mixed Martial Artist
• Jun 30 Owen Lafave, ex-husband of Debra Lafave
• Jun 30 Ben Cousins, Australian Football League player
• Jul 2 Jüri Ratas, Estonian politician
• Jul 17 Ricardo Arona, Brazilian mixed martial artist, born in Niterói, Brazil
• Jul 22 Martyn Lee, English radio presenter
• Jul 25 Louise Brown, English woman who was the first person to be born through in vitro fertilization, born in Oldham, England
• Aug 7 Alexandre Aja, French director, born in Paris, France
• Aug 28 Shaniqua [Linda Miles], American wrestling valet, born in Cincinnati, Ohio
• Sep 1 Lucie Blackman, English murder victim (d. 2000)
• Sep 3 Paul Moor, English ten-pin bowler, born in Kingston-upon-Hull, England
• Sep 4 Christian Walz, Swedish artist, born in Stockholm, Sweden
• Sep 14 Ron DeSantis, American politician, Governor of Florida (2019-), Rep-D-Florida (2013-18), born in Jacksonville, Florida
• Sep 24 Tarek Saab, American TV show contestant (The Apprentice), born in New Bedford, Massachusetts
• Oct 1 Andrew JC Jackson, Australian surf lifesaver
• Nov 9 Steven Lopez, American taekwondo martial artist, born in Nicaragua
• Nov 28 Ryan Leslie, American producer
• Nov 30 Emil Steiner, American writer
• Dec 5 Neil Druckmann, Israeli-American writer & co-president Naughty Dog, born in Israel
• Dec 7 Chad Dukes, American radio personality, born in Alexandria, Virginia
• Dec 10 Donna Williams, co-founder of Neopets
• Dec 13 B.J. Penn, American mixed martial artist, born in Kailua, Hawaii

Weddings in History

• Jan 24 Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison in the history of the Republic of Ireland.

• Jun 15 Jordan's King Hussein marries Elizabeth Halaby, 26-yr-old American
• Jun 30 English prince Michael marries baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz in Vienna, Austria

• Nov 17 Gerald Lascelles, British aristocrat and son of Princess Mary weds 2nd wife Elizabeth Collingwood in Vienna

Divorces in History

Deaths in History

• Jan 4 Willem Bruynzeel, Dutch timber/lumber/wood manufacturer, dies at 76
• Jan 6 John D. MacArthur, American insurance billionaire, dies at 80
• Jan 8 Walter Keirnan, TV panelist (I've Got a Secret), dies at 75
• Jan 10 John D. Rockefeller III, US billionaire/philanthropist, dies at 71
• Jan 10 Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, of La Prensa, assassinated in Managua

• Jan 14 Kurt Gödel, Austrian-American mathematician (Gödel's incompleteness theorems), dies at 71
• Jan 15 Margaret Bowman & Janet Levy, Chi Omega, FSU, killed by Ted Bundy
• Jan 16 Virginia Pope, American fashion editor (New York Times), dies at 92
• Jan 18 Hasan Askari, Pakistani philosopher, critic and writer, dies at 58
• Jan 18 Walter H. Thompson, English Scotland Yard detective, bodyguard of Winston Churchill (b. 1890)
• Jan 21 Freda Utley, British scholar and author. (b. 1898)
• Jan 22 Oliver Leese, British World War II general, dies at 83
• Jan 24 Herta Oberheuser, German doctor (b. 1911)
• Feb 4 Bergen Evans, American professor of English ($64,000 Question), dies at 73
• Feb 5 Annie [Anna HM] Romein-Verschoor, Dutch historian (Omzien), dies at 83
• Feb 5 Frans van Immerseel, Belgian graphic artist, dies at 68
• Feb 9 Kimberly Leach, killed by Ted Bundy in Lake City Fla at 12
• Feb 9 Herbert Kappler, German head of Nazi police and security services (SS) in Rome during WWII, dies at 70
• Feb 11 James B. Conant, American chemist and President of Harvard University, dies at 84
• Feb 11 Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist and poet (Trade Wind-Nobel 1974), dies at 73
• Feb 16 E. Roland Harriman, American financier (b. 1895)
• Feb 21 Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish historian and priest (b. 1901)
• Feb 22 Phyllis McGinley, American poetess (Pulitzer 1961), dies at 72
• Feb 25 Daniel "Chappie" James Jr, retired Air Force general, dies at 58
• Feb 28 Eric Frank Russell, sci-fi author (Hugo, Deep Space), dies at 73
• Mar 4 Wesley Bolin, former Governor of the U.S. State of Arizona (b. 1909)
• Mar 18 Faith Baldwin, American author (They Who Love), dies at 84
• Mar 19 Gaston Julia, French mathematician (b. 1893)
• Mar 24 Leigh Brackett, American sci-fi author (Ginger Star), dies at 62
• Mar 31 Charles Herbert Best, American-Canadian physiologist/co-discoverer (Insulin), dies at 79
• Apr 9 Clough Williams-Ellis, British architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales, dies at 94
• Apr 13 Jack Chambers, Canadian artist, dies at 47
• Apr 16 Lucius du Bignon Clay, American WWII general and military governor of West Germany, dies at 80
• Apr 19 Emile de Strijker, Belgian philosopher, dies at 70
• Apr 25 Lee Kim Lai, Singaporean police officer (b. 1960)
• Apr 27 Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghan politician, murdered at 68
• Apr 28 Mohammed Daoud Khan, 1st President of Afghanistan (1973-78) & Prime Minister of Afghanistan (1953-63), dies at 68
• May 3 Wim van Doorne, Dutch auto manufacturer (DAF Trucks), dies at 71

• May 11 John Clinge Doorenbos, Dutch journalist & poet, dies at 93
• May 14 Bill Lear, American engineer, manufacturer and CEO (Lear Jet Corp), dies at 75

• May 17 John Selwyn Brooke Selwyn Lloyd, speaker of house of commons, dies
• May 17 Selwyn Lloyd, British statesman involved in Suez crisis, dies at 73
• May 21 Jo Spier [Joseph Spier], Dutch cartoonist and water color painter, dies at 77
• Jun 4 Jorge de Sena, Portuguese novelist and poet (Reino da Estupidez), dies at 58
• Jun 5 John Meulenhoff, Dutch publisher, dies at 71
• Jun 7 Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate 1967, dies at 80
• Jun 12 Guo Moruo, Chinese scholar and writer, dies at 85
• Jun 15 Anton Roosjen, Dutch politician and NCRV-chairman, dies at 83
• Jun 18 Walter C. Alvarez, American physician (b. 1884)
• Jun 24 Robert Charroux, French writer (b. 1909)
• Jun 25 Hussein al-Ghasjmi, president of North-Yemen, murdered
• Jun 26 Rabbaji, president of South-Yemen, executed
• Jun 28 Clifford Dupont, First President of Rhodesia (b. 1905)
• Jul 1 Kurt Student, German Luftwaffe general (b. 1890)
• Jul 2 Aris Alexandrou, Greek novelist, poet and translator (b. 1922)
• Jul 9 Abdul Razak al-Naif, premier of Iraq, murdered
• Aug 2 Satomi Myodo, Zen nun/attendant of Hakuun Yasutani Roshi, dies at 82
• Aug 2 Totie Fields [Sophie Feldman], American comedienne, dies at 48
• Aug 3 Ezzedin Kalak, Palestinian PLO representative in Paris, murdered
• Aug 6 Edward Durrell Stone, US architect, dies at 76

• Aug 9 James Gould Cozzens, American novelist (1949 Pulitzer-Guard of Honor), dies at 74
• Aug 9 Johan Daisne [Thiery], Belgian writer (Lago Maggiore), dies at 66
• Aug 14 Nicolas Bentley, British writer and illustrator, dies at 71
• Aug 16 Alidius WL Tjarda van Stachouwer, gov-gen of Neth Indies, dies at 90
• Aug 21 Charles Eames, American designer and architect, dies at 71
• Aug 22 Ignazio Silone, Italian novelist (Fontamara, Pane e vino), dies at 78

• Aug 28 Bruce Catton, American historian and writer (Civil War), dies at 78
• Aug 28 F. Van Wyck Mason, American historian and author (Three Harbours), dies at 76
• Aug 31 John Wrathall, President of Rhodesia (b. 1913)
• Sep 9 Jack L Warner [Jacob Warner], Canadian-American film executive and president of the Warner Bros. Studios, dies at 86
• Sep 9 Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet (b. 1892)
• Sep 11 Georgi Markov, Bulgarian dissident (b. 1929)
• Sep 11 Janet Parker, English medical photographer, the last person to die of smallpox, dies at 40
• Sep 15 Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft builder, dies at 80
• Sep 15 Robert Cliche, French Canadian politician and judge (b. 1921)
• Sep 19 Rolf Gunther, East German priest, self imolation
• Sep 19 Étienne Gilson, French philosopher and historian, dies at 94
• Sep 24 Hasso von Manteuffel, German WWII general (5th Panzer Army) and politician, dies at 81
• Sep 26 Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist (Nobel 1924-discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy), dies at 91
• Sep 28 Pope John Paul I [Albino Luciani], 263rd Roman Catholic Pope, dies after 33 days as pope at 65
• Oct 9 Pavel Antokolsky, Russian poet and theatre director (Syn), dies at 82
• Oct 10 Gesina Van der Molen, Dutch WWII resistance fighter/lawyer, dies at 86
• Oct 12 Nancy Spungen, killed by boyfriend Sid Vicious in NYC
• Oct 18 Jacques Mornard [Ramon Mercader], murderer of Trotsky, dies at 64
• Oct 21 Anastas I Mikojan, Russian politician, dies at 83
• Oct 21 Anastas Mikoyan, Armenian revolutionary and member of Supreme Soviet, dies at 82
• Oct 22 John Riley, English poet (murdered) (b. 1937)
• Nov 7 Janet Flanner, American journalist (New Yorker), dies at 86
• Nov 8 Norman Rockwell, artist (Saturday Evening Post covers), dies at 84

• Nov 18 Leo J Ryan, (Rep-Cal) & 4 killed in Jonestown, Guyana by members of Peoples Temple, followed by ritual mass suicide of 914 members
• Nov 18 Leo Ryan, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California), assassinated at 53 in Jonestown, Guyana
• Nov 20 Vasilisk Gnedov, Russian poet (b. 1890)
• Nov 20 Giorgio De Chirico, Italian painter (founded the scuola metafisica art movement), dies at 90

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