The following events occurred in 'January 1978:

January 1, 1978 (Sunday)

• Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashed off the coast of Bombay, killing all 213 people on board. The 747 had taken off from Mumbai on a scheduled flight to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and disintegrated in mid-air minutes after takeoff.^[1][2]
• The government of Vietnam accused Democratic Kampuchea (formerly Cambodia) of sending troops deep into Vietnamese territory and killing or wounding thousands of civilians. The statement on Radio Vietnam declared that the Kampuchean troops had fired shells into large areas of dense population.^[3]
• Born: Philip Mulryne, Northern Irish footballer with 27 caps as a midfielder for the Northern Ireland national team, as well as being a Dominican friar and Roman Catholic priest; in Belfast

January 2, 1978 (Monday)

• In American college football, with the major bowl games being held on the day after New Year's Day because of an NCAA ban on playing football on Sunday, the #1-ranked Texas Longhorns were defeated by the #5-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, 38 to 10, in the Cotton Bowl.^[4] In the evening, the #2-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, poised to claim the top ranking in the Associated Press and United Press International polls and the national championship, lost to the #6 Arkansas Razorbacks, 13 to 9, in the Orange Bowl.^[5] While #3 Alabama defeated #9 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, 35 to 6,^[6] #4 Michigan lost to the #13 Washington Huskies, 27 to 20 in the Rose Bowl.^[7] The three upsets left open the question of whether the AP and UPI polls would choose Alabama, Notre Dame or Arkansas as the number one team in the United States.
• U.S. President Jimmy Carter addressed the Parliament of India and announced that the United States would send nuclear fuel to India for a reactor and would aid the nation in economic development.^[8]
• Born: Karina Smirnoff, Ukrainian-born American dancer; in Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
• Died: Cyril King, 56, Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands since 1975

January 3, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was expelled by the Congress Party that she had led, after the executive board, the Congress Working Committee, resolved to get rid of her because of the defeat of the party in the March 1977 elections. The Nehru family, Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter, Indira, had controlled the party for almost 30 years.^[9]
• A fire in a Chinese temple in Manila killed 11 people in the Philippines. The dead were finishing the celebration of the feast of Tsu Su Kong, an ancient Chinese god, on the third floor of the temple when the fire broke out, apparently caused by candles setting fire to decorations.^[10]
• U.S. President Jimmy Carter, on a tour of India, visited the village of Daulatpur Nasirabad in Haryana state, where his mother Lillian Carter had previously worked while in the Peace Corps. In honor of President Carter's visit, the village government renamed the village "Carterpuri". By 1998, many residents wanted to restore the village to its former name.^[11]
• Voters in the Associated Press poll of sportswriters and in the United Press International poll of coaches both selected Notre Dame as their choice for the number one team in college football for the 1977 season as recognized by the NCAA, with Alabama a close second in voting. In the AP Poll, the Fighting Irish edged the Crimson Tide by a margin of 1,180 points to 1,132 while in the UPI Poll, Notre Dame finished ahead, 365 points to 354.^[12]

January 4, 1978 (Wednesday)

• Born: Karine Ruby, French snowboarder and 1998 Olympic gold medalist in the giant slalom, as well as six world championship gold medals; in Bonneville, Haute-Savoie département (killed in a mountain climbing accident, 2009)^[13]

January 5, 1978 (Thursday)

• Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, formed the new government as Prime Minister of Turkey
• Born: January Jones, American TV actress known for Mad Men; in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

January 6, 1978 (Friday)

• The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) was returned to Hungary from the United States, where it had been held since World War II.
• Died: Burt Munro, 78, New Zealand motorcycle racer

January 7, 1978 (Saturday)

• Emilio Marcos Palma became the first known person to be born on the continent of Antarctica. Emilio's mother, Silvia Morella de Palma, was flown to Argentina's Esperanza Base in Graham Land, where the South American nation had made a claim to the Argentine Antarctic territory and where Emilio's father, Argentine Army Captain Jorge Emilio Palma, was stationed.

January 8, 1978 (Sunday)

• Rick Turner, a prominent white South African anti-apartheid activist and a professor of political science at the University of Natal, was struck and killed by a bullet shot through the window of his home in Bellair, a suburb of Durban.^[14]
• Died: Rose Halprin, 81, American Zionist leader and President of the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America^[15]

January 9, 1978 (Monday)

• Born:
  • Gennaro Gattuso, Italian footballer with 73 caps as a midfielder for the national team, later the manager for AC Milan; in Corigliano Calabro
  • Chad Johnson, American pro football NFL wide receiver who legally changed his name to "Chad Ochocinco", 2006 NFL receiving yards leader; in Miami
  • AJ McLean, American singer and a founding member of the Backstreet Boys pop music group; in West Palm Beach, Florida

January 10, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, was assassinated. Riots erupted against Somoza's government.

January 11, 1978 (Wednesday)

• Born: Emile Heskey, English footballer with 62 caps as a striker for the England national team; in Leicester

January 12, 1978 (Thursday)

• Born: Hannah Gadsby, Australian LGBTQ comedian known for the Emmy Award winning Hannah Gadsby: Nanette; in Burnie, Tasmania

January 13, 1978 (Friday)

• Born: Major Mohit Sharma, Indian Army officer posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra medal for rescuing two fellow service members fighting insurgents; in Rohtak, Haryana state (killed 2009)
• Died: Hubert Humphrey, 66, Vice President of the U.S. from 1965 to 1969, Democrat nominee for the 1968 U.S. presidential slection, and U.S Senator for Minnesota from 1959 to 1964 and 1971 until his death, formerly a pharmacist, died of bladder cancer.

January 14, 1978 (Saturday)

• Born:Shawn Crawford, U.S. Olympic sprinter and 2004 gold medalist in the 200m race, 2001 world champion; in Van Wyck, South Carolina
• Died: Kurt Gödel, 61, German mathematician, philosopher and logician known for Gödel's completeness theorem, died of self-imposed starvation

January 15, 1978 (Sunday)

• Born:Eddie Cahill, American TV actor known for CSI:NY; in The Bronx, New York

January 16, 1978 (Monday)

• Born:Vijay Sethupathi, Indian actor and film producer, winner of the 2019 National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in Super Deluxe; in Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu state

January 17, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Color television was introduced to the South American nation of Peru, making its debut on TV Perú Channel 7 in Lima, on the same day the Peruvian government approved color broadcasts.^[16]
• Born: Porochista Khakpour, Iranian-born American novelist, author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects; in Tehran

January 18, 1978 (Wednesday)

• The European Court of Human Rights found the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.

January 19, 1978 (Thursday)

• The Supreme Court of Canada voted, 5 to 4, to reverse a 1976 appellate court decision holding that Canada's provinces had no power to censor films.^[17]

January 20, 1978 (Friday)

• Born: Omar Sy, French film actor and the first black recipient of the César Award for Best Actor, co-star of The Intouchables; in Trappes, Yvelines département

January 21, 1978 (Saturday)

• Soviet Ukrainian nationalist, engineer and dissident Oleksa Hirnyk, set himself on fire and died. Hirnyk was protesting the Soviet Union's suppression of the Ukrainian language and the USSR's ongoing process of "Russification". The Soviet government suppressed any news of Hirnyk's self-immolation and the protest would not be revealed until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1993.^[18]

January 22, 1978 (Sunday)

• Ethiopia declared the ambassador of West Germany persona non grata.
• Died: Herbert Sutcliffe, 83, English cricketer who represented England in international competition from 1924 to 1933, inducted to the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame

January 23, 1978 (Monday)

• Died:
  • Terry Kath, 31, guitarist for the rock band Chicago, accidentally shot himself in the head
  • Jack Oakie, 74, American film actor best known for The Great Dictator, portraying a parody of Benito Mussolini (Benzino Napaloni of Bacteria) opposite Charlie Chaplin's parody of Adolf Hitler (Adenold Hynkel of Tomainia)

January 24, 1978 (Tuesday)

• The Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burned up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada's Northwest Territories.
• Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher became the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison since the establishment of the Republic of Ireland.

January 25, 1978 (Wednesday)

• The Great Blizzard of 1978 struck the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes, killing 70 people over three days.
• Born: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine since 2019, as well as a former comedian and TV producer known for the TV series Sluha naroda as "President Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko"; in Krivoy Rog, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union

January 26, 1978 (Thursday)

• Died: Leo Genn, 72, English actor and former barrister, Oscar nominee for Quo Vadis

January 27, 1978 (Friday)

• All 12 people aboard a SADELCA airlines flight in Colombia were killed when the Douglas DC-3 crashed into the Cerro Granada mountain at an altitude of 6,800 feet (2,100 m) while approaching San Vicente del Caguán following its departure from Neiva.^[19][20]
• Died: Oscar Homolka, 79, Austrian film and stage actor^[21]

January 28, 1978 (Saturday)

• Born:
  • Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer with 176 caps as goalkeeper for the Italy national team; in Carrara
  • Jamie Carragher, English footballer with 38 caps as a defender for the England national team; in Bootle, Merseyside
  • Papa Bouba Diop, Senegalese footballer with 63 caps as a defensive midfielder for the Senegal national team; in Rufisque (d. 2020 of ALS)
  • Vanessa Villela, Mexican telenovela actress; in Mexico City
  • Sheamus (ring name for Stephen Farrelly, Irish professional wrestler and the first Irish WWE world champion; in Dublin

January 29, 1978 (Sunday)

• Died: Tim McCoy, American B-movie actor who appeared in eight westerns as U.S. Marshal Tim McCall, and briefly had his own TV show

January 30, 1978 (Monday)

• Died: Damia, (stage name for Marie-Louise Damien), 88, French singer and actress

January 31, 1978 (Tuesday)

• Film director Roman Polanski, who had worked out a plea bargain to be found guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (a 13-year-old girl) in return for probation and credit for six weeks in jail, left the United States one day before he was to be formally sentenced. Polanski had learned that Judge Laurence J. Rittenband was planning to change the sentence to 50 years in prison, and flew to London. Polanski boarded British Airways Flight 598 in Los Angeles and landed at Heathrow Airport the next day.^[22]
• Italy's Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and his entire cabinet resigned after the withdrawal of support from the Italian Communist Party, which had supported Andreotti and the Christian Democrats, who were 54 seats of a majority in Italy's chamber of Deputies. Andreotti would receive approval for a new cabinet, with almost all of the same ministers, on March 16.
• Representatives of the Naskapi First Nation, indigenous Canadians living in far northern Quebec, signed the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement providing for financial compensation and establishment of a Naskapi-owned economic development corporation and a school.^[23]
• Died: Gregory Herbert, 40, American jazz saxophonist, died of a heroin overdose.^[24]

References