April 1978

April 1, 1978 (Saturday)

• "Space Invaders", one of the most popular arcade video games of its time and a breakthrough in display, was introduced in arcades in Japan by the electronic entertainment company Taito, and would be brought to North America in November. The game was the first in video with no time limit and no limit on scoring, with players able to continue for as long as their skills would allow.
• Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods staged an elaborate April Fool's Day prank in Australia by towing a fake, but realistic-looking iceberg into Sydney Harbour.
• Lucius, ridden by Bob Davies, won the Grand National steeplechase at Aintree Racecourse, near Liverpool in England. Rag Trade, the 1976 Grand National winner, pulled up at Fence 21 and was later euthanized.
• New Zealand National Airways Corporation, the domestic airline of New Zealand merged with the nation's international airline, Air New Zealand.
• The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, was converted to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
• Freddy Maertens of Belgium won the 1978 E3 Prijs Vlaanderen cycle race.
• At Richmond International Airport in Richmond, Virginia, a hijacker commandeered a Piedmont Airlines Boeing 737-200 bound for Norfolk, Virginia, with 66 people on board, and forced the plane to fly to New York City, where he was arrested.
• In Yanchuan County in China's Shaanxi province, 12 people were killed when a truck fell off a road and into a deep valley near the village of Yanshuiguan.
• In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, five children between the ages of 4 months and 9 years died in a house fire after their mother left them alone to go grocery shopping. Firefighters delayed entering the house because they thought it was empty.
• Born:
• * Anamaria Marinca, Romanian film and TV actress, winner of the 2005 British Academy Television Award for Best Actress, for Sex Traffic; in Iași
• * Rolandas Džiaukštas, Lithuanian footballer who had 40 caps for the Lithuania national football team; in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union
• * Andrei Karyaka, Russian footballer with 27 caps for the Russia national team, later an assistant coach; in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
• * Jean-Pierre Dumont, Canadian professional ice hockey forward who played for the 2004 world champion Czech Republic national team; in Montreal
• * Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer with 17 caps for the Mexico national team; in Monterrey
• * Maxime Agueh, French-born Beninese footballer and goalkeeper with 9 caps for the Benin national team; in Lille, France

  April 2, 1978 (Sunday)

• The long-running American TV show Dallas, starring Larry Hagman as J. R. Ewing, began a run of 14 seasons and 357 episodes on CBS, creating the modern-day primetime soap opera. The show, popular worldwide, was ranked #1 in the U.S. Nielsen ratings in the 1980–81 and 1981–82 seasons, as well as the 1983–84 season.
• Pakistan won the 1978 field hockey World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, defeating the Netherlands, 3 to 2.
• The United States men's curling team won the 1978 Air Canada Silver Broom and the World Curling Championships, at Winnipeg Arena in Canada.
• The "Bell Island Boom", the thunder from an unusually powerful lightning bolt in the upper atmosphere, was heard in and around the town of Bickfordville, Newfoundland, on Canada's Bell Island shortly before noon.
• The U.S. town of Brownson, Nebraska, with 500 people, was evacuated after the derailment and explosion of a tank car full of liquid phosphorus on the Union Pacific Railroad, but only three people were injured.
• Björn Borg won the men's singles title in the 1978 Milan Indoor tennis championship at the Palasport di San Siro in Italy.
• Jos Schipper of the Netherlands won the 1978 Dwars door België cycle race.
• Seven people were killed near Pettus, Texas, when a car collided with a van carrying a school band.
• Argentine driver Carlos Reutemann of the Scuderia Ferrari team won the 1978 United States Grand Prix West in Long Beach, California.
• Born:
• * Scott Lynch, American fantasy author known for the bestselling novel The Lies of Locke Lamora and its sequels; in Saint Paul, Minnesota
• * Nick Berg, American freelance businessman known for being kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic militants who videotaped the killing; in West Chester, Pennsylvania
• * Jaime Ray Newman, American TV actress known for Eastwick; in Farmington Hills, Michigan
• * Deon Richmond, American TV actor known for Sister, Sister; in Harlem, New York City
• Died:
• * Aurelio Baldor, 71, Cuban mathematician, educator and lawyer known for his textbooks used throughout the Spanish-speaking world
• * Jack Hubbard, 92, American college football player and inductee to the College Football Hall of Fame
• * Willi Kaidel, 65, German rower, silver medalist, winner of the 1937 European championships
• * Franco Pinna, 52, Italian neorealist photographer

  April 3, 1978 (Monday)

• Live radio broadcasts of British Parliamentary proceedings began.
• The 50th Academy Awards were held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California. Annie Hall won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and its director, Woody Allen, and leading actress Diane Keaton won awards as well. Richard Dreyfuss won the Best Actor Award for The Goodbye Girl. Jason Robards and Vanessa Redgrave won the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Julia.
• The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted, 10 to 1, to pass a gay rights ordinance, prohibiting discrimination against gay and lesbian people in employment, housing and public accommodations. The proposal had been introduced by the first openly gay city council member in the U.S., Harvey Milk, and the only vote against it was cast by Dan White. San Francisco mayor George Moscone signed the ordinance into law a few days later. White resigned on November 10, but sought to get his job back four days later. Refused, White murdered Moscone and Milk at City Hall on November 27, 1978.
• The French children's television series 1, rue Sésame, a French adaptation of the U.S. series Sesame Street, made its debut on the TF1 network.
• Born:
• * Luca Moncada, Italian rower and winner of the World Rowing Championships in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007; in Palermo
• * John Smit, South African rugby union player with 111 caps for the South Africa national rugby union team, the Springboks; in Pietersburg, Transvaal, South Africa
• * Raja Toumi, Tunisian handball player with 230 caps for the Tunisia national women's teamcoach; in Tunis
• * Matthew Goode, English actor; in Exeter, Devon
• * Michael Gravgaard, Danish footballer with 18 caps for the Denmark national team; in Spentrup
• Died:
• * Ernst Leche, Swedish jurist who helped establish, in 1938, Sweden's Allmänna säkerhetstjänsten
• * Ray Noble, 74, English bandleader and composer, died of cancer.
• * Karl Asplund, 87, Swedish poet, short story writer and art historian
• * Winston Sharples, 69, American film composer

  April 4, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Pakistani nuclear physicist A. Q. Khan announced that he and his team at the Engineering Research Laboratories in Kahuta had produced enriched uranium for the first time, less than two years after the laboratories had been established by Pakistan's secret "Project-706". The breakthrough in producing fissionable uranium made it possible for Pakistan to create its first atomic weapon; the explosion of an atomic bomb would not be attempted by Pakistan until May 26, 1998.
• Cyclone Alby caused heavy damage, killed 5 people and caused wildfires that destroyed two towns in Western Australia.
• Born:
• * Irene Skliva, Greek model and beauty pageant contestant who was crowned Miss World 1996; in Athens
• * René Wolff, German track cyclist who won the 2005 world championship for the sprint, and helped Germany win the 2004 Olympic gold medal; in Erfurt, Thuringia, East Germany
• * Marcel Nkueni, Congolese footballer with 12 caps for the Democratic Republic of the Congo team between 1997 and 2001; in Kinshasa, Zaire
• * Sam Moran, Australian singer for the children's band The Wiggles; in Sydney
• * Alan Mahon, Irish footballer with two caps for the Ireland national team; in Dublin
• Died: Morien Morgan CB FRS, 65, Welsh aeronautical engineer who led the effort of designing the Concorde supersonic aircraft

  April 5, 1978 (Wednesday)

• In Algiers, Algeria, mercenaries linked to the Spanish government attempted the assassination of Canary Islands Independence Movement leader Antonio Cubillo, stabbing him in the hallway of his house. Cubillo survived but was paralyzed.
• Avraham Amram, an Israeli Defense Forces soldier, was taken as a prisoner of war after being captured in a clash in Lebanon with soldiers of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He would be freed on March 14, 1979, in return for the release by Israel of 76 convicted Palestinian prisoners in Israel's first prisoner exchange with an Arab terrorist organization.
• John Errol Ferguson, known for murdering 12 people in and around Carol City, Florida, over three and a half years, was arrested by FBI agents who had been tipped off about his location. Ferguson and three other people, Marvin Francois, Beauford White, and Adolphus Archie, were linked to the July 27, 1977, execution-style murder of six people at a Carol City home. While the other three were arrested a month later, Ferguson had remained at large and killed two teenagers on January 8. Ferguson would remain on death row the longest and would be executed by lethal injection on August 5, 2013.
• U.S. President Jimmy Carter gave an interview to Black Perspective, answering questions on his trip to Africa, national urban policy, support from African-Americans, his views on the presidency, reverse discrimination, the Humphrey-Hawkins bill, administration programs, foreign relations of the United States, and human rights.
• Born:
• * Arnaud Tournant, French track cyclist and winner of 14 UCI Track Cycling World Championships world championships from 1997 to 2008 in the Kilo, the 1,000 meter time trial, and the first person to ride one kilometer in less than a minute ; in Roubaix, Nord département
• * Robert Glasper, American pianist, record producer and songwriter, winner of 5 Grammy Awards; in Houston
• * Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer, winner of two World Aquatics Championships, and four Olympic silver medals ; in East Berlin, East Germany
• * Bernd Heidicker, German rower, winner of the World Rowing Championships in 2002 and 2006 Olympic rower; in Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany
• * Dwain Chambers, British Olympic track sprinter, winner of the 2010 World Athletics Indoor Championships in the 60-meter sprint; in London
• * Olek , Polish artist and sculptor; in Ruda Śląska, Poland
• * Tarek El-Said, Egyptian footballer with 61 caps for the Egypt national team from 1999 to 2005; in Tanta
• * Marcone Amaral Costa, Brazilian-born Qatari footballer with 38 caps for the Qatar national team from 2008 to 2013; in Poções, Brazil
• * Jairo Patiño, Colombian footballer with 35 caps for the Colombia national team; in Cali
• * Gerard Bush, American film director and screenwriter with his husband, Christopher Renz, in the Bush Renz partnership, known for the 2020 film Antebellum; in Houston
• * Alfredo Galán, Spanish serial killer who murdered six people and wounded three in the first three months of 2003; in Puertollano, Province of Ciudad Real, Castilla–La Mancha
• * Helgi Petersen, Faroese footballer with 8 caps for the Faroe Islands team; in Runavík
• Died: Carlo Tagliabue, 80, Italian baritone