October 1971

[October 1], 1971 (Friday)

• The first CAT scan on a human being was performed, conducted outside of London in Wimbledon at the Atkinson Morley Hospital on an unidentified patient, using computerized axial tomography on a machine developed by Dr. Godfrey Hounsfield from the theories of Dr. Allan Cormack.
• Walt Disney World opened at 10:00 in the morning near Orlando, Florida. Roughly 2,000 people were waiting when the gates opened to the eastern U.S. counterpart to Disneyland, which had opened in 1955 in Anaheim, California. On the first day, only 10,000 paying customers showed up rather than the predicted 30,000.
• For the first time since the October 1, 1949, Chinese Revolution, the traditional massive parades through Beijing for the National Day of the People's Republic of China were canceled, and celebrations were minimal, with no explanation for the cancellation of scheduled events. Although a giant portrait of Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong was put on display in Tiananmen Square, the official Party newspaper, Jenmin Jin Pao, made no editorial comment and omitted any photos of both Mao and Deputy Party Chairman Lin Biao. Unbeknownst to the general public, the Party and the government had been in turmoil since August after an attempted overthrow of Chairman Mao by Vice Chairman Lin.
• As part of a program of "regional reform" in West Germany's state of Hessen, mergers of several villages went into effect. Niederwalluf and Oberwalluf were combined as Walluf; Neuenhasslau and Gondsroth were united as Hasselroth; Eibelshausen, Eiershausen and Wissenbach merged to form Eschenburg; Bleidenstadt, Hahn, Neuhof, Seitzenhahn, Watzhahn and Wehen formed Taunusstein; and the municipalities of Dauborn, Heringen, Kirberg, Mensfelden, Nauheim, Neesbach and Ohren were amalgamated as Hünfelden. In the first phase of encouraging voluntary mergers, the number of municipalities went from 2,642 to 1,233. Mandatory consolidation to reduce the number to 500 would take place in 1974.
• Died: Senior Lieutenant Maguba Guseynovna Syrtlanova, 69, Soviet pilot and Heroine of the Soviet Union as deputy commander of the all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Force, nicknamed "die Nachthexen" by the Germans.

  [October 2], 1971 (Saturday)

• All 63 people on board British European Airways Flight 706 were killed when the Vickers Vanguard turboprop suffered an explosive decompression at an altitude of while flying over Belgium. Flight 706 had taken off from London 35 minutes earlier, bound for Salzburg in Austria. The explosion of an engine caused the Vanguard to plummet, and the plane crashed on a pasture near Ghent in a field beside a road between the towns of Tielt and Deinze.
• Soul Train, created by Don Cornelius as a showcase for African-American bands, and similar to American Bandstand with a studio of teenagers dancing to the music, began as a syndicated program with weekly episodes. Originally a weekday afternoon program on Chicago's WCIU-TV channel 26, Soul Train picked up the sponsorship of the Johnson Products Company and began airing on seven U.S. TV stations, increasing to 18 by the end of its first season. The guests on the first show were Gladys Knight and the Pips, Honey Cone, Bobby Hutton and Eddie Kendricks.
• The Soviet lunar probe Luna 19 went into orbit around the Moon and began collecting and transmitting data for more than a year, before ceasing communications on November 1, 1972.
• South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu was re-elected unopposed after both of his challengers— Nguyen Cao Ky and Duong Van Minh— had dropped out of the race because of government interference.
• British Rail re-inaugurated steam locomotive passenger train service on the UK's major railroads by permitting the former Great Western Railway No. 6000 King George V to operate on a series of special trains.
• The Bible Broadcasting Network, a U.S.-based Christian radio network, began its first broadcast, signing on at 5:00 in the afternoon on station WYFI in Norfolk, Virginia. The network now is carried on 52 stations in the U.S.
• For the first time in the history of American football, a "one-point safety" was scored in a game. Differing from the more common 2-point safety, the awarding of one point to one's opponent is reserved for infractions committed by the team opposing a point after touchdown kick, and happened in Syracuse University's 7 to 0 win over host Indiana University, when IU's Mike Heizman tipped an extra point try by George Bodine of Syracuse, and Syracuse center Greg Aulk fell on the ball in the end zone.
• U.S. Representative Richard H. Poff of Virginia abruptly withdrew his name from consideration as U.S. Supreme Court justice, four hours after an American Bar Association committee met to survey the opinion of other lawyers about whether Poff was qualified. Poff, who had not formally been nominated, had reportedly been President Nixon's first choice to fill the seat recently vacated by Justice Hugo Black.
• Born: Tiffany, American teenage music icon who successfully promoted her record album into a number one bestseller by her tour of free concerts at U.S. shopping malls in 1987; in Norwalk, California
• Died:
• *Dr. Marie Lebour, 95, British marine biologist with a career spanning 64 years. Among 28 species she discovered were Meiosquilla lebouri, Cercaria lebouri and Lepidodiscus lebouri.
• *U.S. Navy Admiral Richard H. Jackson, 105, former commander-in-chief of the Battle Fleet, died of cardiac failure, 10 days after fracturing a hip.
• *Otto Lucas, 68, German-born British milliner who designed fashionable hats for celebrities, was killed in the crash of BEA Flight 706.

  [October 3], 1971 (Sunday)

• François Cevert of France won the United States Grand Prix, his only Formula One Grand Prix season victory. Jackie Stewart of Scotland, who had already clinched more points than any of his opponents in six races than by his closest competitor would have for the entire 11-race schedule, had already clinched the championship by August 1.
• Died:
• *Seán Ó Riada, Irish musician and composer, 40, died of cirrhosis of the liver.
• *John Glaister Jr., 79, British forensic scientist
• *Archduchess Adelheid of Austria, 57, the first of the eight children of Emperor Charles of Austria-Hungary to die

  [October 4], 1971 (Monday)

• Researchers at the Yunnan Institute of Pharmacology in China made a breakthrough in the treatment of malaria based on Traditional Chinese Medicine and synthesis of the extract of qinghao from the artemisia annua plant, as described by an ancient physician, Ge Hong, in the 4th Century. Dr. Tu Youyou and her team of researchers discovered on October 4 that the compound they produced, artemisinin, could successfully cure common strains of malarial fever in monkeys and mice, and moved to human testing that proved equally effective in August 1972. For her discovery, Dr. Tu would be the co-recipient of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• Egypt's President Anwar Sadat was chosen as the first President of the Federation of Arab Republics, by agreement of the three-member Presidential Council that consisted of Sadat, Libya's President Muammar Gaddafi and Syria's Hafez al-Assad.
• Petroleum was found under Sable Island, off the coast of the Nova Scotia province in Canada.
• In an unusual hijacking incident that cost the lives of three people because of the negligence of an FBI agent, a real estate agent in Nashville kidnapped his wife at gunpoint, leased a twin-engine aircraft claiming to be a physician who was taking her for medical treatment in Miami, then forced the two-member crew to fly him to the Bahamas. George M. Giffe Jr. killed his wife Susan, and pilot Brent Quinton Downs, after Downs landed the plane in Jacksonville, then killed himself, after FBI agents grounded the plane by shooting out the tires and an engine. The event remains a cautionary tale of poor handling of hostage negotiating. In 1975, a federal court judgment of $388,530 would be entered against the FBI and special agent James O' Connor on behalf of the estates of Mrs. Giffe and Mr. Downs, and for the Big Brother Aircraft, Inc., the owner of the airplane.
• Died:
• *Alberto Fermín Zubiría, 69, nominal head of state of Uruguay from March 1, 1956, to March 1, 1957, as president of the nine-member National Council of Government of Uruguay, the nominal head of a state in a nine-member executive council where the position of chairman rotated among the members for one year terms. Fermín served the term lasting from 1 March 1956 to 1 March 1957.
• *John Carroll, 80, Australian war hero and Victoria Cross recipient for his bravery during the June 1917 Battle of Messines during World War One "
• *U.S. Army Major General Norman Cota, 78, known for rallying troops during the D-Day assault on Omaha Beach in Normandy during World War Two.

  [October 5], 1971 (Tuesday)

• A meteorite fell in Brazil within the city limits of Marília in São Paulo state, breaking into at least seven fragments that totaled, the largest of which weighed. According to the coordinates listed on the Mindat.org site, the fragments of the H4 iron chondrite stone landed at what is now the Parque São Jorge section of Marília, near the intersection of R. Eduardo Prado and Avenida João Ramalho.
• The Baltimore Orioles won the championship of baseball's American League in a three-game sweep of a best-3-of-5 series, defeating Oakland A's, 5 to 3, to advance to the World Series.
• In one of only two exhibition game matchups between the reigning champions of the National Basketball Association and the rival American Basketball Association, the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks defeated the ABA's Utah Stars, 122 to 114, at Salt Lake City before 12,653 fans. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 36 points and Oscar Robertson 24 to lead the Bucks, while the high scorers for Utah were Willie Wise, Zelmo Beaty and Glen Combs.
• Died:
• *Giuseppe Fiocco, 86, Italian art historian.
• *Sir Peregrine Henniker-Heaton, 68, British intelligence officer for the MI-6 agency and the 3rd Baronet Henniker-Heaton, committed suicide after going for a morning stroll, then locking himself inside his study in his home in the London suburb of Ealing. His body would not be found until almost three years later, on June 23, 1974.