BRITAIN AND THE WORLD SINCE 1953

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1978

Jan1 An Air India jumbo jet exploded in mid-air near Bombay, killing 213.
Jan14 Sex Pistols' final concert takes place at Winterland , San Francisco 
Jan18 Geoff Boycott captains England for the first time v's Pakistan in Karachi 
Mar1 Charlie Chaplin's coffin was stolen from a Swiss cemetery three months after burial. It was found 10 miles away on May 17.
Mar16 Israeli Forces Invade Lebanon
  The Italian politician Aldo Moro is kidnapped by the left-radical Red Brigades who massacred his escort, and after 55 days detention murdered him as well.
Mar17 Amoco Cadiz tanker spills 1.6 million gallons of oil off French coast 
Apr8 Regular broadcast of proceedings in Parliament starts
Apr18 The U.S. Senate voted 68-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on Dec. 31,1999.
Apr20 Korean Airlines flight 007 shot down by Soviets in Russian airspace 
Apr21 Sandy Denny 31 former lead singer with Fairport Convention dies  of a brain hemorrhage after falling downstairs. She is buried with her mother and brother at Putney Vale cemetery (Block V, grave 38)
May1 First May Day holiday in Britain
May9 The body of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro was found in the boot of a car in central Rome, a victim of the Red Brigade
May17 Compact discs - CD's - were created by Philips.
May20 Mavis Hutchinson, 53, became the first woman to run across America. The 3,000-mile trek took her 69 days. She ran an average of 45 miles each day
Jun12 David Berkowitz, known popularly as "Son of Sam," received the maximum penalty -- 25 years to life in prison -- with
a recommendation that he spend the rest of his days in prison.
Jun25 Argentina beats Holland 3-1 in soccer's 11th World Cup at Buenos Aires Argentina
July8 Pluto's companion later to be called Charon is found
Jul25 The first test-tube baby was born in Oldham General Hospital. It was a girl, and she was named Louise Joy Brown.
Aug6 Pope Paul VI dies of heart attack at summer residence at 80 
Aug20 Gunmen open fire on an Israeli El Al Airline bus in London 
Aug25 Turin shroud, once venerated as the burial cloth of Christ, went on public display for the first time in 45 years.
Sep6 Palestinian guerrillas hijacked four airliners travelling to New York from Europe. One Pan Am Jumbo was blown up the next day in Cairo and two Boeing 707s which landed at Dawson's field in Jordan were blown up on September 12. The fourth plane landed in London and hijacker Leila Khaled was arrested
Sep7 Keith Moon drummer with The Who dies in London from the effects of a drugs overdose (Hemineurin). The flat in which he died No 9, 12 Curzon Place, London was the same one that Cass Elliot (Mamas and Papas) died in (29th July 1974). Keith was cremated at Golders Green crematorium 
Sep11 Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov who worked for the BBC World Service is murdered by a poison pellet that was injected by the tip of an umbrella. He dies four days later
Sept29 Pope John Paul is found dead. He was Pope for 33 days
Oct15 Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland was elected Pope and took the name John Paul II, the first non-Italian Pope in 456 years.
Nov18 Jim Jones, a U.S. pastor, led 914 of his followers to their deaths at Jonestown, Guyana, by drinking a cyanide-laced fruit drink. Cult members who refused to swallow the drink were shot.
Nov30 Publication of The Times suspended - industrial relations problems (until 13 Nov 1979)
Dec11 Two million demonstrate against the Shah of Iran. On Jan 16 the following year he flees to Egypt
Dec24 Soviet Troops invade Afghanistan and in doing so commenced a war that was to have far reaching concequences for the Soviets

 

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Last Updated 25/02/16 15:49

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