User:Mandsford/1909

1978

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1978

The following events occurred in October 1978:

October 16, 1978: Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Poland elected as the first non-Italian Pope in more than 450 years

October 1, 1978 (Sunday)

• Vietnam attacked Cambodia.
• Tuvalu became independent from the United Kingdom.
• Born: Katie Aselton, American TV actress; in [Milbridge, Maine]]

October 2, 1978 (Monday)

• Mommie Dearest, written by Christina Crawford that discussed her adoptive mother Joan Crawford's abusive nature, was published. It was the first celebrity tell-all memoir.
• Born: Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese pop singer known as "The Empress of J-pop"; in Fukuoka

October 3, 1978 (Tuesday)

• The crash of a Suomen Ilmavoimat DC-3 killed all 15 people aboard. One of the engines stalled shortly after take off from Kuopio to Helsinki and the airplane crashed into Lake Juurusvesi.
• Born:
  • Gerald Asamoah, Ghana-born German footballer with 43 caps for the Germany national team; in Mampong
  • Claudio Pizarro, Peruvian footballer with 85 caps for the Peru national team; in Callao

October 4, 1978 (Wednesday)

• The funeral of Pope John Paul I was held in Saint Peter's Square in Rome.
• Born: Phillip Glasser, American voice actor best known for portraying "Fievel" in An American Tail and its sequels; in Tarzana, California
• Died: Rocky Dennis, 16, American teenager who had craniodiaphyseal dysplasia who became the basis for the 1985 film Mask.

October 5, 1978 (Thursday)

• The Environmental Modification Convention, signed on May 18, 1977, and meant to ban contemporary and future weather modification technology in warfare, became effective upon ratification by 20 nations.
• Mamdouh Salem was dismissed as Prime Minister of Egypt by President Anwar Sadat after three years in office, and succeeded by Mustafa Khalil.
• The Jesus Is Lord Church, which claims one million members in 60 nations, was founded in Manila by Professor Eddie Villanueva of the Philippine College of Commerce, with 15 students as its members.
• Born: James Valentine, American guitarist for Maroon 5; in Lincoln, Nebraska

October 6, 1978 (Friday)

• During Operation Unitas in Chile, a joint training exercise by the navies of the United States, Peru and Chile, a U.S. Navy R6 transport crashed into a hill while attempting to land at Santiago. The airplane was flying at 2,600 feet (790 m) when it hit the side of the 3,000 feet (910 m) high mountain.

October 7, 1978 (Saturday)

• In the Soviet Union, all 38 people on an Aeroflot Yakovlev Yak-40 were killed when the airplane crashed shortly after takeoff from Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) en route to Kostanay. Because the crew had not de-iced the engines, the number one engine stalled and the Yak-40 struck trees on a hillside.

October 8, 1978 (Sunday)

• Australia's Ken Warby set the current world water speed record of 317.6 mph (511.13 km/h) at Blowering Dam, Australia.
• Died:
  • Jim Gilliam, 49, American baseball player in the Negro Leagues (for the Baltimore Elite Giants and in Major League Baseball for the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, 1953 National League Rookie of the Year, died of a brain hemorrhage.
  • Karl Swenson, 70, American actor on film, television, stage and radio

October 9, 1978 (Monday)

• The Uganda–Tanzania War began in Africa as the Ugandan Army began making the first attacks on Tanzania's Kagera Salient, on order of President Idi Amin. Tanzania would win the war within less than a year and President Amin would be overthrown.
• P.W. Botha succeeded John Vorster as Prime Minister of South Africa.
• Born: Nicky Byrne, Irish pop star for Westlife; in Dublin
• Died: Jacques Brel, 48, popular Belgian singer, died of lung cancer.

October 10, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Daniel arap Moi became president of Kenya.
• John Vorster became State President of South Africa.
• A massive short circuit in Seasat's electrical system ended the satellite's scientific mission.
• U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
• Born: Caroline Evers-Swindell and Georgina Evers-Swindell New Zealand rowers gold medalists in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics; in Hastings, New Zealand
• Died:
  • Ralph Metcalfe, 68, U.S. Representative for Illinois since 1971 and 1932 Olympic gold medalist, and one-time holder of the world record for the 100-meter dash
  • Hermes Lima, 75, former Prime Minister of Brazil from 1962 to 1963, later a justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court

October 11, 1978 (Wednesday)

• Leo Tindemans, angry over the failure of the Flemish members of his coalition government to support the Egmont Pact to create autonomous communities the three separate groups in the Kingdom of Belgium, announced his resignation as Prime Minister. The pact, signed on May 24, 1977, would have established three self-governing regions in Flanders for speakers of Flemish, Wallonia for speakers of French and in the national capital territory of Brussels.
• An indirect presidential election was held in Panama by the 505 members of the Asamblea Nacional de Representantes de Corregimientos (National Assembly of Community Representatives) who had been selected by popular vote of 787,000 registered voters. Aristides Royo, who had been picked as the government candidate by Jefe de Gobierno (Chief of Government) Omar Torrijos, who retained control of the nation as Commander of the Panamanian National Guard, received 452 votes, and Ricardo de la Espriella of the Partido Revolucionario Democrático got 13 and became Vice President. Another 40 votes cast as blank ballots..
• The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was exiled to France in the Paris suburb of Neauphle-le-Château under pressure from the Shah of Iran in order to keep the Shi'ite Islamic religious leader from spreading his calls for rebellion from in Iran.
• Died:
  • Ruthven Todd, 64, Scottish novelist
  • Goodloe Byron, 49, U.S. Representative for Maryland since 1971, suffered a fatal heart attack while jogging with an aide.

October 12, 1978 (Thursday)

• Punk rock star Sid Vicious (Simon John Ritchie) of the band Sex Pistols, allegedly murdered his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, stabbing her to death in their hotel room in New York City. After posting bail, Vicious would die of a heroin overdose four months later before he could come to trial.Wakeman, Jessica (October 12, 2017). "Flashback: Nancy Spungen Found Dead at Chelsea Hotel". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 7, 2019.

October 13, 1978 (Friday)

• The Soviet Union launched a major Russification campaign throughout the other 14 union republics.

October 14, 1978 (Saturday)

• U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a bill into law to allow homebrewing of beer in the United States.
• Rescue from Gilligan's Island, a made-for-TV film on the NBC television network, became one of the highest rated shows of the week as a sequel, more than 11 years after the popular TV show Gilligan's Island had gone off the air. Almost all of the cast of the series was featured in the film as the characters were finally able to leave their "uncharted desert isle".
• Born:
  • Usher (stage name for Usher Raymond IV), American R&B and pop musician; in Dallas
  • Paul Hunter, English snooker champ; in Leeds (d. of stomach cancer, 2006)

October 15, 1978 (Sunday)

• Voting began in Vatican City for a successor to the late Pope John Paul I as the 111 members of the College of Cardinals assembled in a closed session of the Sistine Chapel. With two-thirds of the voters (75) required for election, Giuseppe Siri, a conservative cardinal, received 46 votes and Giovanni Benelli was second. After four ballots, the conclave adjourned.
• Died: W. Eugene Smith, 59, American photojournalist, died of a stroke

October 16, 1978 (Monday)

• Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the Archbishop of Krakow, was elected as the 264th pope on the eighth ballot. With non-Italian cardinals being considered following, Wojtyla received a few votes for the first time as balloting began, as did Johannes Willebrands of the Netherlands, who withdrew in favor of Wojtyla. On the eighth ballot, Wojtyla received 94 of the 111 votes cast. Wojtyla, honoring his predecessor Pope John Paul I, took the regnal name Pope John Paul II as 1978 became the first "Year of Three Popes" since 1605. John Paul II of Poland became the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI in 1523.
• Died: Dan Dailey, 62, American dancer, film and TV actor, winner of the Golden Globe Award in 1969, died of complications of hip surgery.

October 17, 1978 (Tuesday)

• The New York Yankees won the championship of Major League Baseball in the U.S., capturing the World Series, 4 games to 2, by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7 to 2.
• The South Korean Armed Forces discovered the third North Korean tunnel under the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and the longest up to that time. The new, incomplete tunnel was built 240 feet (73 m) below ground and stretched nearly a mile (1,635 meters or 5,364 feet) into South Korea, while the two previous tunnels (found in 1974 and 1975) were slightly more than one kilometer (3,300 feet) long. Although the existence of the tunnel had been detected four months earlier from an underground explosion, a tip from a North Korean defector alerted the South Koreans to the location.
• Born: Henry Osinde, Ugandan-born bowler for the Canada national cricket team with 42 One Day Internationals from 2006 to 2013, and later the interim head coach of the Canada team in 2017; in Kampala
• Died: Giovanni Gronchi, 91, President of Italy from 1955 to 1962

October 18, 1978 (Wednesday)

• Thorbjörn Fälldin stepped down as Prime Minister of Sweden, and was succeeded by Ola Ullsten, the chairman of the liberal People's Party ("Folkpartiet").

October 19, 1978 (Thursday)

• The Rhodesian Special Air Service and Rhodesian Light Infantry paratroopers began Operation Gatling, an invasion of neighboring Zambia, in a campaign to eradicate guerrillas of the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). As the attack began, Chris Dixon, who identified himself as "Green Leader, contacted the control tower of the Lusaka Airport and asked them to let the Zambian Air Force commander at Mumbwa that the Rhodesian forces were temporarily taking control of Zambian airspace, with an admonition that Rhodesia had no animosity toward Zambia but that the Rhodesians had orders to shoot down any Zambian Air Force planes that attempted to take off. The Zambian authorities kept all airplanes grounded until the attack on the ZIPRA camps was completed.
• Born: Lee Isaac Chung, American filmmaker and Golden Globe Award winner; in Denver
• Died: Gig Young (stage name for Byron Elsworth Barr), 64, American film and TV actor, committed suicide after murdering his wife. Young had married West German magazine editor Kim Schmidt only three weeks earlier, and the two were living in his luxury apartment at The Osborne on West 57th Street in Manhattan. At 2:30 in the afternoon, a building employee heard gunshots, and police determined that Young had shot his wife in the back of her head with a .38 caliber pistol, and then turned the gun on himself. No motive for the murder-suicide.

October 20, 1978 (Friday)

• The Women's Army Corps (WAC) in the United States Army was disbanded after 36 years, as all WAC units were integrated with existing men's units.
• The first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was held as a protest march and a commemoration of the Stonewall riots.
• Born: Virender Sehwag, Indian cricketer; in Najafgarh, Delhi union territory

October 21, 1978 (Saturday)

• Australian civilian pilot Frederick Valentich vanished in a Cessna 182 Skylane over the Bass Strait south of Melbourne, after reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft.
• Died: Anastas Mikoyan, 82, former Soviet Communist Party official who served as the Soviet Union's head of state in 1964 and 1965

October 22, 1978 (Sunday)

• John Paul II was formally inaugurated as the 264th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

  

  Pope John Paul II receives the pallium

• A Solomon Airlines flight with 11 people on board disappeared after departing from Bellona Island toward Honiara in the Solomon Islands. After encountering bad weather, the pilot attempted to return to the airport but was disoriented and could not locate Bellona. It ran out of fuel and ditched into the sea.

October 23, 1978 (Monday)

• All 26 people aboard Aeroflot Flight 6515 were killed in a domestic flight crash within the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. The Antonov An-24 had departed from Stavropol enroute to Simferopol with a scheduled destination of Lvov. At 8,000 feet (2,400 m) the airplane encountered icing conditions in the clouds. The de-icing system was switched on too late and both engines flamed out. The plane plunged into the Sea of Azov 15 miles (24 km) off the coast of Emelyanovka.

October 24, 1978 (Tuesday)

• U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act into law, ending federal controls of travel fares and routes and allowing new companies to enter the American airline market. The Act, which phased out the Civil Aeronautics Board, lowered the average price for flights and expanded the number of flights available, had passed the U.S. Senate 83 to 9 and the House of Representatives, 363-8.
• The John Carpenter film Halloween, which introduced Michael Myers to horror film fans and began a franchise that had reached 13 films in its first 45 years, was first seen by audiences, making its debut at the AMC Empire Theater in Kansas City, Missouri, before being released across the rest of the U.S. on the Friday before October 31, the day of Halloween.
• Magion, the first satellite designed and built in Czechoslovakia, was launched into orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union.
• Born: Carlos Edwards, Trinidadian footballer 92 caps; in Diego Martin

October 25, 1978 (Wednesday)

• The U.S. Federal Communications Commission adopted a policy easing the requirements for American television stations to upload their programming to a communications satellite for transmission to cable television systems around the world, clearing the way for an increase in the number of "superstations". At the time, WTCG in Atlanta was the only existing station to use a satellite to transmit its signal to other cable systems. With the new FCC rules in place, two more "superstations" would be added before the end of 1978, with WGN-TV of Chicago starting on November 9 and KTVU of Oakland, California on December 16.
• The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was signed into law by U.S. President Carter. The FISA act created a specific federal court to review requests by federal agencies and to issue warrants to permit surveillance of suspected spies and espionage agencies operating in the United States.
• Born:
  • David T. Little, American film, opera and symphonic composer; in Blairstown, New Jersey,

October 26, 1978 (Thursday)

• Born: CM Punk (ring name for Phillip Jack Brooks), American professional wrestler; in Chicago

October 27, 1978 (Friday)

• Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a Middle East accord.
• Born: Vanessa-Mae (Vanessa Vanakorn Nicholson), Singaporean-born British violinist; in Singapore

October 28 , 1978 (Saturday)

• Born: Marta Etura, Spanish film and TV actress; in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa
• Died: Geoffrey Unsworth, 64, British cinematographer

October 29, 1978 (Sunday)

• Industries Minister P. K. Vasudevan Nair became the new Chief Minister of the Indian state of Kerala and its population of more than 25 million people after Chief Minister A. K. Antony resigned in protest against the re-entry of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi into politics.
• Via Rail Canada took over all passenger train services of the Canadian National Railway.

October 30, 1978 (Monday)

• "Turkeys Away", one of the most memorable episodes of television, was shown as the seventh episode of WKRP in Cincinnati.

October 31, 1978 (Tuesday)

• The South African Railways set a still unbeaten world rail speed record on Cape gauge.