1979

1979
Severe weather hit the UK in the early hours of New Year's Day. Much of the next two months would see large parts of Britain snowbound. The United States and the People's Republic of China established full diplomatic relations. Peugeot completed its takeover of the European division of financially troubled American carmaker Chrysler, which included the British operations of the former Rootes Group. During a New Year's Eve concert in Cleveland, Bruce Springsteen was injured when a firecracker was thrown from the audience. The Model World Of Robert Symes broadcast on BBC2.
Ron Hutchinson's The Out Of Town Boys broadcast in the Play For Today strand. The first episodes of Michael Wood's In Search Of The Dark Ages and The Great Egg Race broadcast on BBC2. The first episodes of Give Us A Clue and Room Service broadcast on Thames.

The first episodes of The Cossack Horse, The Strange Affair Of Adelaide Harris and The Aphrodite Inheritance broadcast. Dylan Thomas's Me & My Bike broadcast on BBC2. Blondie's 'Heart of Glass'/'Rifle Range', The Late Show's 'Bristol Stomp'/'Medley: Chains-Only Child-Funny How Love Can Be-Ain't Gonna Stamp On His Face', 'Dirty Minded', Bob Marley & The Wailers' 'Stir It Up'/'Rat Race', Richard & Linda Thompson's 'Don't Let A Thief Steal Into Your Heart'/'First Light', Rory Gallagher's 'Shadow Play', 'Brute Force & Ignorance'/'Souped-Up Ford', The Rumour's 'Frozen Years'/'All Fall Down' and Rod Stewart's 'Ain't Love A Bitch'/'Scarred & Scared' released. Australia won the third Ashes test at Melbourne by one hundred and three runs with Rodney Hogg taking ten wickets in the match. Alan Border made his test debut for the hosts. The first eisode of The Book Tower broadcast on Thames.
The first episode of Galton & Speight's Tea Ladies broadcast. The first episode of In A Country Churchyard broadcast on BBC2. The State of Ohio agreed to pay six hundred and seventy five thousand dollars to families of the dead and injured in the 1970 Kent State shootings.
The first episodes of Running Blind and Up. Up & Away broadcast. Elvis Costello & The Attractions' Armed Forces, Domino's 'Be My Baby'/'On The Road', Joe Jackson's Look Sharp!, The Skids' 'Into The Valley'/'TV Stars', Dan Hartman's 'This Is It'/'Countdown', Olympic Runners' 'Sir Dancealot'/'Crossword', The Three Degrees' 'Woman In Love'/'Out Of Love Again' and Generation X's 'King Rocker'/'Gimme Some Truth' released. Lorry drivers went on strike, causing shortages of heating oil and fresh food across the UK.
A strike by Texaco workers and panic buying contributed to petrol shortages, particularly in the North, with buses cancellations in Manchester and Newcastle. The first UK broadcast on CHiPs and the first episodes of Dick Barton - Special Agent and Dick Turpin broadcast on LWT.
The first episode of Telford's Chance broadcast. Callas broadcast on BBC2. West Bromwich Albion paid a record five hundred and sixteen thousand quid for Middlesbrough striker David Mills. The People's Army of Vietnam and Vietnamese-backed Cambodian insurgents announced the fall of Phnom Penh and the collapse of Pol Pot's regime. The Khmer Rouge retreated to the Thai border, ending large-scale fighting in the Cambodian-Vietnamese War.
The Wizard Of Crumm & The Giant Tomato broadcast as part of the Playhouse strand. The first episode of The Wild Tribes Of Africa broadcast. The first episodes of Delia Smith's Cookery Course, In The Post and The Marti Caine Show broadcast on BBC2. The French tanker Betelgeuse exploded at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry in Ireland; fifty were killed. The first episodes of The Ken Dodd Laughter Show, the forgettably wretched Feet First and Danger UXB broacast on LWT.
The Great Enormous Turnip, presented by Christopher Lillicrap, broadcast as part of the Playground strand. Dixie Williams' Vampires broadcast as in the Play For Today strand. The Music For UNICEF Concert was held at the United Nations General Assembly to promote The International Year Of The Child. It was broadcast the following day in the United States and on 13 January in the UK (on ITV) under the title David Frost Introduces A Gift Of Song. Hosted by The Bee Gees, other performers included Donna Summer, ABBA, Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Prime Minister James Callaghan returned from a summit in Guadeloupe to a Britain in a state of general malaise. The Sun reported his upbeat comments with the infamous headline: Crisis? What Crisis? He had been in the Caribbean when many MPs felt he should have stayed in Britain to deal with widespread industrial disharmony and dreadful weather which had combined to bring the country to a virtual standstill. He announced the setting up of regional committees to deal with problems arising from the haulage strike. He also warned the TUC of the danger of their actions. Everton were beaten two-one by Second Division Sunderland in the FA Cup Third Round. Tottenham Hotspur were held to a draw by non-league Altrincham.
England won the fourth test at Sydney by fifty five runs, taking a three-one lead in the series and retaining the Ashes. Derek Randall scored one hundred and fifty and spinners Geoff Miller and John Emburey bowled England to victory on the final day, dismissing the Aussies for one hundred and eleven. The combined effects of snow and a strike by council workmen led to many major UK roads being impassable, the rail unions called a one day strike and fuel supplies dwindled due to the lorry drivers dispute meaning that bus timetables in many areas were cancelled. You couldn't even leave the country as British Airways' pilots were, also, on strike. Social Security fraud prosecutions were reported to be up by ninety per cent. The trial of James Warren, charged with bigamously marrying Debra Bravington (who claimed to be a former dancer with Pan's People) took place. A court battle began over retail outlets' right to play music as the Performing Rights Society sued Harlequin Record Shops. Extradition hearings took place concerning Astrid Proll, a member of the Red Army Faction arrested in London. Brian Clough banned Nottingham Evening Post reporters from the City Ground in a public show of support for thirty journalists from the paper who were, currently, on strike. The first episode - though, tragically, not the last - of The Jim Davidson Show broadcast on Thames. The Ruts' 'In A Rut'/'H-Eyes' released.
The Animal World documentary The Tundra Wolf - narrated by Robert Redford - broadcast on BBC2. After intensive investigation, Los Angeles police charged Kenneth Bianchi with The Hillside Strangler murders. Bianchi had fled to Washington State, where he was arrested by Bellingham Police Department for raping and murdering two women - Karen Mandic and Diane Wilder - he had lured to a home for a house-sitting job. Bianchi initially attempted an insanity defence, claiming that a personality separate from himself - 'Steven Walker' - had committed the murders. He convinced some psychiatrists that he suffered from multiple personality disorder, but investigators brought in their own psychiatrists, notably Doctor Martin Orne, who observed Bianchi and decided that he was faking it. Bianchi agreed to plead extremely guilty and testify against his accomplice, Angelo Buono, in exchange for leniency. He was eventually diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and sexual sadism. James Walsh Gypsy Band's 'Cuz It's You, Girl'/'Bring Yourself Around' and Marva Hicks' 'Looking Over My Shoulder'/'Here I Go Again' released.
Stiff artists Lene Lovich, Wreckless Eric and Rachel Sweet featured on Radio 1's In Concert. The Chicago blizzard occurred resulting in the deaths of at least five people.
Christopher Hamilton's adaptation of Marya broadcast in the Play Of The Month strand. The Goodies episode Politics broadcast. The first episode of Thomas & Sarah broadcast on LWT.
Kay MacManus's The Christmas Cuckoo - featuring an early TV appearance by Anthony Head - broadcast as part of the Playhouse strand.
John Elliot's The Chief Mourner broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. The first episode of David Attenborough's Life On Earth broadcast on BBC2. With the country of the verge of revolution, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled Iran with his family, relocating to Egypt.
The first episodes of Rebecca and The Innes Book Of Records broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Take My Wife broadcast on Thames.
The first episode of Blankety Blank - hosted by Terry Wogan - broadcast.
The first UK TV showing of Luis Buñuel's Belle De Jour on BBC2. Former US Attorney General John Mitchell was released on parole after nineteen months in the federal Slammer in Alabama for his part in the Watergate cover-up. Ramones' 'She's The One'/'I Wanna Be Sedated', Edwin Starr's 'Contact'/'Don't Waste Your Time', Allnight Band's 'The Joker (The Wigan Joker)'/'Six By Six', Eddie & The Hot Rods' 'Media Messiahs'/'Horror Through Straightness' and The Lurkers' 'Just Thirteen'/'Countdown' released.

On Film 79 Barry Norman reviewed The First Great Train Robbery and Capricorn One. Huw Wheldon's The Library Of Congress broadcast on BBC2. The worst ever episode of The Goodies, Saturday Night Grease broadcast. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys thirty five-thirty one at Miami's Orange Bowl in Super Bowl XIII.
Michael Palin and Fulton Mackay appeared on an episode of the children's programme You & Me. Arena: Who Is Poly Styrene? broadcast on BBC2. The Leyton Buzzards first John Peel Show session broadcast. Thousands of public-workers went on strike the latest in a series of industrial disputes in what had already become widely known as 'The Winter Of Discontent.'
Barrie Keefee's Waterloo Sunset broadcast as part of the Play For Today strand. Tuneless turgid hippies Emerson, Lake & Palmer appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test. The Members were in session on The John Peel Show.
Members of STOPP - the Society of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment - presented BBC2's Open Door. Pope John Paul II arrived in Mexico City for his first visit to Central America.
The first episode of International Pro-Celebrity Golf broadcast on BBC2 - featuring guests Sean Connery and Henry Cooper. The Real Thing's 'Can You Feel The Force?'/'Children Of The Ghetto', The Undertones' 'Get Over You'/'Really Really', 'She Can Only Say No', (Alan) Hawkshaw's Deluxe's 'Grange Hill (Chicken Man)'/'Stoned', ABBA's 'Chiquitita'/'Lovelight', Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now'/'In Only Seven Days', Jilted John's 'True Love'/'I Was A Pre-Pubescent', Lucifer's Friend's 'Old Man Roller'/'My Love', Darts' 'Get It'/'How Many Nights', Lene Lovich's 'Lucky Number'/'Home' and The Dudley Simpson Orchestra's 'Blake's 7'/'The Federation March' released.
Spike Milligan was one of the guests on Parkinson. Rory Gallagher appeared on Rock Goes To College. Kenneth Griffith's Black As Hell & Thick As Grass broadcast on BBC2. XTC featured on Radio 1's In Concert.
The Goodies episode A Kick In The Arts broadcast. Smokey Robinson appeared on Radio 1's Star Special.
Radio 2's last ever closedown occurred at 2:02am. Sarah Kennedy was at the Newsdesk after Brian Matthew finished Round Midnight. From 2am to 5am the following evening, listeners heard You & The Night & The Music. Since then, Radio 2 has been broadcasting continually. The Ruts first John Peel Show session broadcast. The Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego occurred when sixteen year old Brenda Ann Spencer killed two faculty members and wounded eight fellow students and a police officer. Her bizarre justification for her actions - 'I don't like Mondays, this livens up the day' - subsequently inspired the hit Boomtown Rats song. The first episode of The Tomorrow People serial War of The Empires broadcast on Thames.
Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills broadcast in the Play For Today strand. The Old Grey Whistle Test featured an interview with Pete Townshend.
The first episode of The World Of Rugby broadcast on BBC2.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after nearly fifteen years of exile in France. Grave-diggers called off a strike in Liverpool which had delayed hundreds of burials. Bob Clark's Murder By Decree - starring Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings and Susan Clark - premiered. England won the fifth Ashes test at Adelaide by two hundred and five runs. Ian Botham top-scored in England's first innings (seventy four) and also took five wickets in the match whilst Bob Taylor scored a vital ninety seven and Geoff Miller sixty four to set up England's victory. Only Kim Hughes offered any resistance in Australia's second innings with a classy sixty.
Sid Vicious was found dead from a heroin overdose in New York, the day after being released on bail after fifty five-days in Rikers Island. Vicious had been charged with the second degree murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who was found stabbed to death in their hotel room in October 1978. Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material, The Dooleys' 'Honey I'm Lost'/'I Dedicate My Life', Paul Stanley's 'Hold Me Touch Me'/'Goodbye', Manfred Mann's Earth Band's 'You Angel You'/'Out In The Distance', Pretenders' 'Stop Your Sobbing'/'The Wait' and Elvis Costello & The Attractions' 'Oliver's Army'/'My Funny Valentine' released. The first episode of Flambards broadcast on LWT.
Ian Dury & The Blockheads on Rock Goes To College.
The Voysey Inheritance broadcast in the Play Of The Month strand. Twenty Years On broadcast on BBC2. The Goodies episode U-Friend Or UFO broadcast.

Mike Leigh's Who's Who? broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Germaine Greer's Shakespeare In Perspective broadcast on BBC2. The Undertones classic second John Peel Show session ('Billy's Third', 'Listening In', 'Family Entertainment', 'Here Comes The Summer') broadcast. 'Hey, Mickey! What's "incoherently" mean?!'
The first episode of Sasha Distel & Guests broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of The Risk Business broadcast. The Clash played their first concert of their debut American tour at The Berkeley Community Theatre, infamously opening with a firey version of 'I'm So Bored With The USA'. Bo Diddley was their support act. Stephen Stills became the first major rock artist to record digitally, four songs at The Record Plant in Los Angeles. England went to the top of their European Championship qualifying group with a four-nil win over Northern Ireland at Wembley. Bob Latchford scored twice with further goals from Kevin Keegan and Dave Watson. Supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini took over the Iranian law enforcement, courts and government administration. Pluto moved inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since the existence of either was known to science. Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele suffered a stroke and drowned while swimming in Bertioga, Brazil. His remains were officially identified in 1985. Bill Milling's Blonde In Black Silk - starring Merle Michaels and Serena - premiered.
Nationwide featured The British Rock N Pop Awards.
Birmingham City's Trevor Francis signed for Nottingham Forest in British football's first one million pound deal. The premiere of Walter Hill's gang masterpiece The Warriors. Can! You! Dig! It? Michael Apted's Agatha - starring Dustin Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Dalton - premiered. Michael Jackson and George Harrison were Kid Jensen's guests of Radio 1's Roundtable. The Bee Gees' 'Tragedy'/'Until' released.
Jenny Wren With The Ron Grainer Orchestra's 'I've Danced With A Man (From The Thames Television Series Edward And Mrs Simpson)/'Bring Down The Curtain (Vocal Version) and The Teardrop Explodes' debut 'Sleeping Gas'/'Camera Camera', 'Kirkby Workers Dream Fades' released.
The first UK broadcast of the TV movie Sole Survivor. Julius Caesar broadcast in the BBC Television Shakespeare strand. The Goodies episode Animals broadcast.
Over one thousand schools across the UK closed due to the heating oil shortage caused by the lorry drivers' strike. David Bowie was interviewed by Valerie Singleton on Tonight. The first episode of Tigris: The Sumerian Voyage Of Thor Heyerdahl broadcast on BBC2. Prime Minister Hissène Habré started The Battle Of N'Djamena in an attempt to overthrow Chad's President, Félix Malloum.
The Last Window Cleaner broadcast in the Play For Today strand.
Mike Brearley's England completed a five-one Ashes series thrashing with victory in the sixth test at Sydney by nine wickets. Highlights included Graham Gooch's first innings seventy four and five wickets for Geoff Miller. Joy Division's first John Peel Show session ('Exercise One', 'Insight', 'She's Lost Control', 'Transmission') broadcast. Also on Radio 1, Radio Times first made reference to Simon Bates' vomit-inducing Our Tune slot. Another blast of severe blizzards hit the North of England with most road and rail travel all but impossible due to drifting snow. Many areas were entirely cut off from the outside world - the largest being Newcastle Upon Tyne. The Saint Valentine's Day Concordat between TUC and the government marked an end to the so-called Winter of Discontent. In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnapped the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who was later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police. Following her 1972 sex reassignment surgery, musician Wendy Carlos legally changed her name from Walter.
Omnibus profiled René Magritte. Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe & Rockpile appeared on BBC2's Leo Sayer.
Custom Car broadcast on BBC2. John Peel and Fergal Sharkey appeared on Radio 1's Roundtable. Those Naughty Lumps' 'Iggy Pop's Jacket'/'Pure & Innocent', Peggy Scott's 'You've Got It All'/'Let Me Untie You' and Dave Edmunds' 'A1 On The Jukebox'/'It's My Own Business' released.
The first episode of BBC2's Seven To One broadcast. The Average White Band appeared on Rock Goes To College. The People's Republic of China forces invaded Northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War.
The first episode of Antiques Roadshow broadcast. Measure For Measure broadcast in the BBC Television Shakespeare strand. The Goodies episode War Babies broadcast. The Sahara Desert experienced a fall of snow for thirty minutes for the first time in recorded history. The Unrecorded Jasper Carrott broadcast on ITV.
A Bundle Of Bungles - featuring Rowan Atkinson and the TV debut of Howard Goodall - broadcast. The Olivia Newton-John vehicle, Olivia and the first episode of Where We Live Now broadcast on BBC2.
Island Of the Dodo broadcast. Joe Jackson and Roger McGuinn appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test. George Harrison released, the former Beatles' first LP in three years.
The first episode of Park Ranger broadcast on Thames.
The Circus World Championships broadcast. The Monochrome Set's first John Peel Show session broadcast. Saint Lucia became independent of the United Kingdom.
The first episode of The Dawson Watch broadcast. The first episode of Star Signs broadcast on BBC2. The Skids' Scared To Dance, Bram Tchaikovsky's 'Girl Of My Dreams'/'Come Back', The Clash's 'English Civil War (When Johnny Comes Marching Home)'/'Pressure Drop', Boney M's 'Painter Man'/'He Was A Steppenwolf', John Cooper Clarke's 'Gimmix! Play Loud'/'(I Married A) Monster From Outer Space', Fischer-Z's 'Remember Russia'/'Bigger Slice Now' and The Sex Pistols 'Something Else'/'Friggin' in the Riggin' released. The first episode of House Of Caradus broadcast on LWT.
The Police on featured on Rock Goes To College.
Henry VIII broadcast in the BBC Television Shakespeare strand. The first episode of Worzel Gummidge broadcast on LWT.
The first episode of Baggy Pants & The Nitwits broadcast. The Skids were in session on The John Peel Show. The Sex Pistols The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle soundtrack LP released. The movie would not appear for another fifteen months. A total solar eclipse, the last visible from the continental United States until 2017, arced over Northern coterminous USA and Southern Canada ending in Greenland. A partial eclipse was visible over almost all of North and Central America and the Western half of the UK.

Ploughman's Share broadcast in the Play For Today strand. The Old Grey Whistle Test featured film footage of David Bowie performing 'Black Out', 'Hang Onto Yourself' and 'Ziggy Stardust'. The first episode of How's Your Father? broadcast on Thames.
Sportsnight featured an interview with Kevin Keegan. The Devolution Debate broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Potter broadcast. The first episode of Nana's Journey Into Music broadcast on BBC2. Open Door was presented by representatives from The Campaign Against Racism In The Media. Roxy Music's Manifesto released. The Scottish devolution referendum took place. Scotland voted in favour of a Scottish Assembly, which was not implemented due to failing a condition that at least sixty per cent of the electorate must support the proposal; Wales voted against devolution. Philips publicly demonstrated a prototype of an optical digital audio disc at a press conference in Eindhoven.
Ann Rooney was attacked by a man with a hammer in the ground of Hornsforth College in Leeds. She survived. Police were not convinced that her attacker was The Yorkshire Ripper but in 1992, Peter Sutcliffe finally admitted responsibility. Martin Ritt's Norma Rae premiered. Buzzcocks' 'Everybody's Happy Nowadays'/'Why Can't I Touch It?', The Players Association's 'Turn The Music Up!'/'Goin' To The Disco', Peter Criss' 'You Matter To Me'/'Hooked On Rock & Roll', General Johnson's 'Can't Nobody Love Me Like You Do?'/'Lies', Rocky Sharpe & The Replays' 'Imagination'/'Got It Made' and Federation's 'Blake's 7 Disco'/'Disco Jimmy' released.
The first UK broadcasts of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries and The Dukes Of Hazzard. Herbie Hancock featured on Rock Goes To College and Sham 69 and The Members on Radio 1's In Concert.
Hello & Goodbye broadcast in the Play Of The Month strand. The first episode of A Life With Crime broadcast on BBC2. NASA's Voyager 1 images revealed Jupiter's rings for the first time. Ian Dury featured on Radio 1's Star Special.
Arena featured the first UK broadcast of Geoff Dubar's Ubu. Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Jupiter at one hundred and seventy miles. Production began in Norway on The Empire Strikes Back.
Degree Of Uncertainty broadcast in the Play For Today strand. The Undertones featured on The Old Grey Whistle Test performing 'Male Mode', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Wrong Way' and 'True Confessions'. Big In Japan's first John Peel Show session broadcast.
Ipswich Town beat Barcelona two-one at Portman Road in the European Cup Winners Cup Third Round, first leg. The first episode of The Serpent Son broadcast on BBC2. Penetration were in session on The John Peel Show. Alain Nauroy's Jeux Intimes à Domicile premiered.
On Film 79, Barry Norman previewed The Deer Hunter and National Lampoon's Animal House.
The Jam's 'Strange Town'/'The Butterfly Collector', The Only Ones' Even Serpents Shine, The Com-Sat Angels' 'Red Planet'/'I Get Excited', 'Specimen Number Two', Kate Bush's 'Wow'/'Fullhouse', Terry Reid's 'Ain't No Shadow'/'Bowangi', The Sports EP ('Who Listens To The Radio?', 'Step By Step'/'So Obvious', 'Suspicous Mind'), Eddie & The Hot Rods' 'The Power & The Glory'/'Highlands One, Hopefuls Two', The Ellingtons' '(I'm Not) Destined To Become A Loser'/Millionaires 'You've Got To Love Your Baby', Del Capris' 'Hey Little Way Out Girl'/Eula Cooper 'Beggars Can't Be Choosey' and Sparks' Georgio Morodor-produced Number One In Heaven released. NASA's Linda Morabito discovered a plume of volcanic activity on Io, the moon of Jupiter. This was the first time in history that active volcanism was detected anywhere other than on Earth.
Televising Parliament broadcast on BBC2. The Skids featured on Radio 1's In Concert. The first UK broadcast of Mork & Mindy on LWT.
Henrik Ibsen: Certainties & Doubts broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Agony broadcast on LWT.
Arena: My Way broadcast on BBC2, featuring the first - and, to date only - broadcast of a fragment of David Bowie's 1968 demo 'Even A Fool Learns To Love'.
Tony Perrin's Light broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Maurice Bishop led a successful coup in Grenada. His socialist government would subsequently be crushed by American intervention in 1983.
Einstein's Universe broadcast on BBC2. In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashed into a factory near Beijing, killing at least two hundred people.

The first episode of Malice Aforethought broadcast on BBC2. Elvis Costello got into a heated argument with members of Stephen Stills' touring entourage at a Holiday Inn in Columbus, Ohio. After Costello made various disparaging remarks about America - including some very unsavoury racially-based comments - he was punched by Bonnie Bramlett. Costello apologised at a New York City press conference a few days later, claiming that he had been drunk and was attempting to be deliberately obnoxious in order to bring the conversation to a swift conclusion, not anticipating that Bramlett would snitch up his comments to the press. Some time after the incident Costello revealed that he had declined an offer to meet Ray Charles - the subject of some of his comments - out of guilt and embarrassment, even though Charles himself had publicly forgiven Costello saying 'Drunken talk isn't meant to be printed in the paper.' Costello worked extensively in Britain's Rock Against Racism campaign both before and after the incident which inspired both his Get Happy!! song 'Riot Act' and The Attractions' cover of 'I Stand Accused' and was, ultimately forgiven. Unlike Bramlett who acquired a reputation as a Coppers Nark.
The first episode of Skellern broadcast on BBC2. The end of major hostilities in the Sino-Vietnamese War took place. The China Syndrome premiered. The Fall's Live At The Witch Trials, Love De-Luxe's 'Here Comes That Sound Again (Parts 1 & 2)', Sham 69's 'Questions & Answers'/'I Gotta Survive', 'With A Little Help From My Friends', Squeeze's 'Cool For Cats'/'Model', The Monks' 'Nice Legs Shame About Her Face'/'You'll Be The Death Of Me', Rachel Sweet's 'I Go To Pieces'/'Who Does Lisa Like?', The Three Degrees' 'The Runner'/'Long Version', Lew Lewis' 'Lucky Seven'/'Night Talk', Showaddywaddy's 'Remember Then'/'Love For A Star' and Tubeway Army's 'Down In The Park'/'Do You Need The Service?' released.
Copse & Maggots broadcast in BBC2's Network strand. The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapsed, killing two workers. Nottingham Forest beat Southampton three-two at Wembley to win the League Cup for the second year running.
The first episodes of Company Accounts and My Son, My Son broadcast. Film 79 featured previews of The Boys From Brazil, Invasion of The Body Snatchers and Murder By Decree. Samuel Beckett's trilogy Shades, broadcast on BBC2. Clay Regazzoni won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone driving for Williams. A methane gas explosion at the Golborne colliery in Greater Manchester, killed three men. Jasper Carrot was the guest DJ on Radio 1's Star Special.
Barry Humphries' La Dame Aux Gladiolas broadcast in the Arena strand. The actor Richard Beckinsale died from a previously undetected congenital heart defect, aged thirty one. The Riddle Of The Sands - starring Michael York, Simon MacCorkindale and Jenny Agutter - premiered.
The first episode of Worlds Without Sun broadcast.
The first episode of The Perishers broadcast. Francis Megahy's Dirty Money - starring Ian McShane, Warren Clarke, Stephen Greif, Christopher Malcolm and Nigel Humphreys - broadcast on Thames. Spizzenergi were in session on The John Peel Show.
Sir Richard Sykes, ambassador to the Netherlands, was shot dead by a Provisional IRA member in The Hague. The first episode of The Secret Hospital broadcast on Thames.
Of Mycenae & Men broadcast on BBC2. Siouxsie & The Banshees' 'The Staircase (Mystery)'/'Twentieth Century Boy', Black Lace's 'Mary Ann'/'Drivin', Adrian Gurvitz's 'The Way I Feel'/'Drifting Star', John Otway's 'Frightened & Scared'/'Are You On My Side?', Supertramp's 'The Logical Song'/'Just Another Nervous Wreck', Ted's 'Satellite'/'Blue Virgin Isles', Funkadelic's 'Cholly (Funk Getting Ready To Roll!)'/'Into You', Sparks' 'The Number One Song In Heaven'/'Long Version' and Wings' 'Goodnight Tonight'/'Daytime Nightime Suffering' released.

The work of Steve Reich featured on BBC2's Trail Blazers. The first UK broadcast of the Columbo episode Now You See Him and the first episode of Tales Of The Unexpected, the Anglia series based on the short stories of Roald Dahl on LWT. Motörhead's Overkill and M's 'Pop Musik'/'M Factor' released.
Gustav Klimt & Art Nouveau broadcast on BBC2. The Space Shuttle, Columbia, was delivered to the Kennedy Space Centre
In a ceremony at the White House, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel signed the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty brokered by Jimmy Carter. Michigan State University, led by Magic Johnson, defeated the Larry Bird-led Indiana State in the NCAA championship game at Salt Lake City. The Village People's Go West and The Tubes' 'Prime Time'/'No Way Out' released.
The Miser Or The Laird O' Grippy broadcast. Simple Minds performed 'Life In A Day' and 'Chelsea Girl' on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Eric Clapton married Patti Boyd, ex-wife of Clapton's best friend George Harrison. George, along with former bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were among the wedding guests as were Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman, Elton John and David Bowie.
On Giant's Shoulders broadcast in BBC2's Play Of The Week strand. The minority Labour government lost a motion of confidence by one vote, thus forcing a general erection. America's most serious nuclear power plant accident occurred, at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.
One Brick broadcast on BBC2. James Callaghan announced that the general erection would be held on 3 May. All of the major opinion polls pointed towards a significant Conservative win. And, as if things were bad enough already, Supertramp's Breakfast In America released.
Airey Neave, World War II veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, was killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the House of Commons car park. Wild Willy Barrett's 'Let's Play Schools'/'I Did It Otway', Gary Moore's 'Parisienne Walkways' (featuring Phil Lynot)/'Fanatical Fascists', The Sex Pistols' 'Silly Thing'/'Who Killed Bambi?', Diana Foster's 'I'm Gonna Share It With You'/Autumn 'Time Out' and Ron Grainer & His Orchestra's 'Tales Of The Unexpected'/'Paul Temple' released.
Gali Atari and Milk & Honey won The Eurovision Song Contest for Israel, with 'Hallelujah'. Britain's Black Lace came seventh with 'Mary Ann'. Rubstic won the Grand National. The favourite and former Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Alverton, broke its neck whilst leading at Bechers Brook and had to be shot. Dead. The Royal Navy left the Maltese Islands after one hundred and seventy nine years. Misty In Roots appeared at the Counter-Eurovision Festival at the Cirque Royal in Brussels. Their storming set was subsequently released as an LP. 'When we trod this land, we walk for one reason. The reason is to try to help another man to think for himself. The music of our hearts is roots music: music which recalls history, because without the knowledge of your history, you cannot determine your destiny; the music about the present, because if you are not conscious of the present, you are like a cabbage in this society; music which tells about the future and the judgement which is to come!' Righteous.
The first episode of Boswall's Wildlife Safari To Thailand broadcast. The first UK broadcast of King. Film 79 previewed The Wiz, The China Syndrome and Hair. Vera Gilbert reported from the BBC Maida Vale Studios, where the BBC Radiophonic Workshop was celebrating its twenty first birthday for Nationwide. Henry Royce Drove Home broadcast on BBC2. The first edition of Feedback broadcast on Radio 4. Iran's government became an Islamic Republic by a ninety eight per cent vote. What happened to the other two per cent, nobody knows. But, we can guess. The Pinwheel Network changed its name to Nickelodeon and began broadcasting on various Warner Cable systems in the US, beginning in Buffalo. Austrian police locked Andreas Mihavecz in a holding cell in Bregenz and then forget about him, leaving him there without food or drink for eighteen days. Remarkably, he survived. Karel Kachyna's Zlatí úhoři - starring Vladimír Mensík, Miroslava Hozová, Martin Mikulas and Eliska Balzerová - premiered. The first episode of Stanley Baxter On Television broadcast on LWT.
The pilot episode of Not The Nine O'Clock News was scheduled to be broadcast on BBC2 in Fawlty Towers' timeslot (and, was announced as such in Radio Times); the episode was to have opened with John Cleese (on the Fawlty Towers set, in character as Basil) referring to a BBC technicians' strike then in progress which had hindered the production of the sitcom, explaining that there would be no new episode that week so 'a cheap, tatty revue' would have to do instead. However the announcement of the 1979 general erection saw Not The Nine O'Clock News cancelled at short notice due to BBC cowardice that it would be seen as 'too political.' It was replaced with a repeat of the American sitcom Rhoda. Some of the material from the pilot (including the Cleese segment and short piece at the end of the episode where Andrew Sachs, as Manuel, gets a joke told thirty minutes earlier about 'a search for the Ayatollah's contact lens') would be reused when Not The Nine O'Clock News finally debuted later in the year. To date, the original pilot - which featured Rowan Atkinson and Chris Langham along with John Gorman, Chris Emmett and Christopher Godwin - has never been broadcast. The Arena film Tell Us The Truth profiling Sham 69 broadcast. Kate Bush began her first - and, for thirty five years, only - concert tour. She became one of the first artists to use a wireless microphone, enabling her to sing and dance at the same time. Adam & The Ants' third John Peel Show session ('Table Talk', 'Liggotage', 'Animals & Men', 'Never Trust A Man With Egg On His Faces') broadcast. A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally released airborne anthrax spores, killing sixty six people. It was a violation of the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972. The first episode of Chalk & Cheese broadcast on Thames.
Squeeze performed 'Slap & Tickle' and 'It's So Dirty' on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Asked by the producer to 'make an announcement,' Jools Holland compiled, informing viewers that a car - with a very rude number plate - was blocking the studio entrance and could someone please move it? Andrew McLaglen's North Sea Hijack - starring Roger Moore, James Mason and Anthony Perkins - premiered.
Stepping Out broadcast in BBC2's Play Of The Week strand. The first episode of Reputations broadcast. Nationwide featured a profile of Kate Bush. Josephine Whitaker, a nineteen-year-old bank worker, was murdered in Halifax; police believed that she was the eleventh victim of The Yorkshire Ripper. The execution by hanging of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto provoked international condemnation.
A Week In Old Town broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Heyyy, It's The King broadcast. Student protests broke out in Nepal. Bee Gees' 'Love You Inside Out'/'I'm Satisfied' and Peaches & Herb's 'Reunited'/'Easy As Pie' released.
The first episodes of Kidnapped and Lovely Couple broadcast on LWT.
The Wings Of The Dove broadcast in the Play Of The Month strand. Wings Over The World broadcast on BBC2.
Disco In The Snow and the Panorama film Who Killed Georgi Markov? broadcast. Jasper Carrott appeared on Over The Moon. Gilles Villeneuve won the US Grand Prix West at Long Beach. Squeeze's Cool For Cats, Notsensibles' 'Death To Disco'/'Coronation Street Hustle', 'Lying On The Sofa' and The Ramones' It's Alive released.
An animated version Rikki Tikki Tavi - narrated by Orson Welles - broadcast. James Andrew Hall's Coming Out broadcast in the Play For Today strand. The first episode of Making A Bob Or Two broadcast on BBC2. Crass's first John Peel Show session broadcast. Because, even anarchists like to sell records to the masses. A tornado hit Wichita Falls in Texas, killing forty two people.
The British Rock & Pop Awards broadcast. Colin Tucker's A Light That Shines broadcast in BBC2's Play Of The Week strand. Tanzanian troops captured Kampala, the capital of Uganda; the country's dictator, Idi Amin, fled into exile, firstly in Libya.
Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie's The Twenty First Century Show and David Rolfe's film about The Turin Shroud, The Silent Witness broadcast. The premiere of Mad Max.
The World Superstars Championship and the first episode of The Ronnie Corbett Special broadcast. The documentary I'll Die In Byker broadcast as part of BBC2's City strand. The TV adaptation of the Broadway musical She Loves Me was broadcast having originally been scheduled to be shown in December 1978. Thin Lizzy's Black Rose, X-Ray Spex's 'Highly Inflammable'/'Warrior In Woolworths', Child's 'Only You (And You Alone)'/'Loves Away', The Chips' 'Rubber Biscuit'/'Oh, My Darlin' and Roxy Music's 'Dance Away'/'Cry, Cry, Cry' released. The La Soufrière volcano erupted in St Vincent and the Grenadines. During a Van Halen concert in Spokane, David Lee Roth collapsed, allegedly from exhaustion. A local doctor treated him for a stomach virus and advised him to 'calm down.' But, he didn't.

The first UK TV broadcast of Jesus Christ Superstar. The first episode of Whistle Blowers broadcast. A major earthquake struck Montenegro and parts of Albania, causing extensive damage to coastal areas and taking one hundred and thirty six lives. The first episode of End Of Part One and the first UK broadcast of the Columbo episode Murder Under Glass on LWT.
ABBA In Switzerland broadcast. Penny Whistles Of Robert Louis Stevenson broadcast on BBC2. Siouxsie & The Banshees were in session on The John Peel Show. Tubeway Army's Replics released.
The first episode of The Mourning Brooch broadcast. Nice One broadcast on BBC2. Numerous schoolchildren in the Central African Republic were arrested (and around one hundred killed) for protesting against compulsory school uniforms. An African judicial commission later determined that the Emperor, Jean-Bédel Bokassa 'almost certainly' ordered the massacre. Some reports alleged that Bokassa actually participated in the outrage, appearing at the jail and beating some of the children to death with his cane.
Jim Watt won the World Lightweight boxing title in Glasgow stopping Alfredo Pitalua. The first episode of William Trevor's Matlida's England broadcast. Woody Allen's Manhattan premiered. Jilted John's 'The Birthday Kiss'/'Baz's Party' released.
The first episode of Living Legends broadcast. A profile of Robert Mugabe, Portrait Of A "Terrorist" broadcast on BBC2.
What Do You Watch? broadcast. The first episode of BBC2's Heads & Tails broadcast. President Carter was attacked by a swamp rabbit whilst fishing in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. Both Carter and the rabbit survived. The Who's 'Long Live Rock'/'I'm The Face', 'My Wife', The Undertones' 'Jimmy Jimmy'/'Mars Bars', Boney M's 'Hooray Hooray, It's A Holi-Holiday'/'Ribbons Of Blue', Penetration's 'Danger Signs'/'Stone Heroes', The Late Show's 'Chains'/'Screws On You', Peggy March's 'If You Loved Me (Soul Coaxing)'/'Thinking Through My Tears' and The Damned's 'Love Song'/'Noise, Noise, Noise', 'Suicide' released (the latter in four different picture sleeves. For the record, this blogger owned the Captain Sensible one). The first episode of After Julius broadcast on LWT. The first episode of Friday Live - presented by Chris Kelly and Gillian Reynolds - broadcast on Tyne Tees.
Twenty Five Minutes' Peace? broadcast on BBC2. James McAvoy born in Glasgow. Mary McCoy born in Stokesley, Yorkshire.
The first episode of Heart Of The Matter broadcast. The New Barbarians and The Rolling Stones performed two concerts in Ontario to benefit the CNIB, as part of Keith Richards' 1978 sentence for heroin possession. The Albert Einstein Memorial was unveiled at The National Academy of Sciences in Washington. The first UK broadcast of the Columbo episode How To Dial A Murder on LWT.
Genesis On The Road broadcast. During an Anti-Nazi League demonstration in Southall, school teacher Blair Peach was fatally injured after being struck on the head, probably by a member of the Metropolitan Police's notorious Special Patrol Group. An inquest jury returned a verdict of death by misadventure in May 1980. Public reaction to Peach's death and other underlying racial tensions including excessive police use of SUS laws, played a significant role in the 1981 Brixton riots and ultimately led to a public inquiry by Lord Scarman. The first episodes of Turtle's Progress and The Boy Merlin broadcast on Thames.
It's About Time - presented by Dudley Moore - broadcast. Iggy Pop and Tom Waits featured on The Old Grey Whistle Test. The first episode of Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis's The Atkinson Files broadcast on Radio 3.
Nottingham Forest reached the European Cup final at the first attempt; a win at FC Köln gave them a four-three aggregate victory.
The first UK broadcast of The Paper Chase on BBC2.
The first episode of The Other Side broadcast. David Bowie's 'Boys Keep Swinging'/'Fantastic Voyage', The Rezillos' 'Destination Venus'/'Mystery Action', ABBA's 'Does Your Mother Know?'/'Kisses Of Fire', The Dooleys' 'Wanted'/'Movie Stars (And Comic Book Heroes)', Milk & Honey Featuring Gali Atari's 'Hallelujah'/'Lady Sun', The Manchester United First Team Squad's 'Onward Sexton's Soldiers'/'Come On You Reds', Rod Stewart's 'Blondes (Have More Fun)'/'The Best Days Of My Life', Heatwave's 'Razzle Dazzle'/'Birthday', Hot Chocolate's 'Mindless Boogie'/'Don't Turn It Off', The Lurkers' 'Out In The Dark', 'Cyanide'/'Suzie Is A Floozie', 'Cyanide (Pub Version)', Three Party Split's 'Dubious Parentage'/'Kandidate 1979', The Peace Band's 'Peace'/'A Peace Of Reggae', Nicky Wilson's 'Stone Soul Loving'/'Cry Like A Child' and The Dickies' 'Banana Splits (The Tra La La Song)'/'Hideous' released. The latter on particularly lurid yellow vinyl.
Ian Rush, a seventeen-year-old striker, made his football league debut playing (out of position, in midfield) for Chester City in their two-two draw with Sheffield Wednesday. Clive Allen, also seventeen, scored a hat-trick on his debut for Queens Park Rangers in the five-one win over Coventry City.
The first episode of It's A Great Life - If You Don't Weaken broadcast. The Curious Cat broadcast in BBC2's The World About Us strand. Tuneless hippy Mike Oldfield's Wembley Conference Centre concert was broadcast on Radio 1. To the immense joy of insomniacs everywhere.
Behind The Mirror broadcast on BBC2.
Roll Your Own Revolution broadcast on BBC2. Greenland was granted limited autonomy from Denmark, with its own Parliament sitting in Nuuk. Wolfgang Becker's Es Begann Bei Tiffany - starring Rutger Hauer, Siegfried Wischnewski, Katerina Jacob, Hans Clarin and Beate Hasenau - premiered.
Charlie Magri beat Franco Udelia to win the European Flyweight title. The Sky At Night focused on the latest news of NASA's Voyager probe. The first episode of BBC2's The Genuine Article broadcast. The Who played their first concert following the death of Keith Moon at The Rainbow Theatre in London with their new drummer, Kenney Jones, formerly of The Faces. The first episode of Don't Just Sit There broadcast on Thames.

Volker Schlöndorff's adaptation of Günter Grass's The Tin Drum released.
The Tories won the General Erection with a forty three-seat majority and That Awful Thatcher Woman became the first female Prime Minister of the UK. And, didn't that work out brilliantly for everyone? Jeremy Thorpe was the most notable MP to lose his seat in North Devon. Education Secretary Shirley Williams lost her Hertford and Stevenage seat. Among the new members of parliament was John Major, the thirty six-year-old MP for Huntingdon. Jeremy Fox stood as a candidate for 'The Silly Party' in Dover as a protest against The National Front. Fox outpolled the fascist-scum candidate by six hundred and forty two votes to three hundred and seventy eight. The first episode of BBC2's darts competition, Bullseye (no relation) broadcast. Elvis Costello & The Attractions' 'Accidents Will Happen'/'Talking In The Dark', 'Wednesday Week', Throbbing Gristle's 'We Hate You (Little Girls)'/'Five Knuckle Shuffle', Quantum Jump's 'The Lone Ranger'/'The Seance (Too Spooky)', Punishment Of Luxury's 'Engine Of Excess'/'Jellyfish', Edwin Starr's 'HAPPY Radio'/'My Friend', Patrick Hernandez's 'Born To Be Alive'/'I Give You Rendez-Vous', After The Fire's 'One Rule For You'/'Joy', Jimmy Burns' 'I Really Love You'/'I Love You Girl' and XTC's 'Life Begins At The Hop'/'Homo Safari' released.
The Specials AKA's debut, the mighty 'Gangsters'/'The Selecter', Echo & The Bunnymen's debut, 'The Pictures On My Wall'/'Read It In Books' and Blondie's 'Sunday Girl'/'I Know But I Don't Know' released.
Noel Coward's Design For Living broadcast in the Play Of The Month strand. Mountain Days: Buttermere Ballads broadcast on BBC2.
Return To The Edge Of The World, The River Keeper and Two-Way Television broadcast on BBC2.
Unloved Flows The Thames broadcast. The Cure's Three Imaginary Boys released. Jeremy Thorpe went on trial at the Old Bailey with three others - John Le Mesuier (not the actor), George Deakin and David Holmes - charged with the attempted murder of Norman Scott, alleged to have been involved in a long-running homosexual relationship with Thorpe. The alleged murder attempt by a hired hitman, Andrew Newton, in October 1975, resulted in the death of Scott's dog, Rinka. The case had been kept in the news by Private Eye's Auberon Waugh and by the BBC journalists Barry Penrose and Roger Courtiour whose book on the case, The Pencourt File was serialised in the Daily Mirra. The Woolworth's store in Manchester city centre was seriously damaged by fire; ten shoppers died.
Liverpool won the First Division title for the twelfth time. Bob Paisley took his third league title as Liverpool fought off competition from Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich Albinos to finish eight points clear. Their final points tally, sixty eight, was a record under the two-points-per-win system and Ray Clemence kept twenty eight clean sheets in a season which saw Liverpool concede only four goals at Anfield. Liverpool became one of the first English clubs to have a shirt sponsor when they agreed a deal with the Japanese hi-fi manufacturers Hitachi. Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn's Every Good Boy Deserves Favour broadcast on BBC2. The Salvadoran Civil War began.
Drawn & Quartered broadcast in the Omnibus strand. The Federated States of Micronesia became self-governing. Francis Ford Copolla showed a 'work in progress' version of Apocalypse Now at the Cannes film festival.
The first episode of Two Up, Two Down broadcast. The Clash's The Cost Of Living EP ('I Fought The Law', 'Groovy Times'/'Gates of The West', 'Capitol Radio'), Electric Light Orchestra's 'Shine A Little Love'/'Jungle', Linton Kwesi Johnson's 'Want Fi Goh Rave'/'Version', McFadden & Whitehead's 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now'/'I Got The Love', The Rumour's 'Emotional Traffic'/'Hard Enough To Show', Lene Lovich's 'Say When'/'One Lonely Heart' and Tubeway Army's 'Are "Friends" Electric?'/'We Are So Fragile' released.

Arsenal defeated Manchester United three-two in the FA Cup final at Wembley. Alan Sunderland scored the winner with virtually the last kick of the game after two United goals inside the last five minutes had levelled the scores. Kim Newell, jailed for her part in the 1967 'Red Mini Murders' was released from prison. Postal workers accepted a nine per cent pay rise whilst teachers representatives threatened to strike unless 'substantial progress' was made in their thirty six per cent pay claim. The actor Valentine Dyall - radio's The Man in Black - was granted a discharge from bankruptcy. Britain's annual inflation rate was back in double figures for the first time since December 1977. Schoolteachers Elizabeth Richardson and Alison Hewell, sentenced to seven months for insulting the Greek flag, won an appeal in Salonika. Fawlty Towers and The Kenny Everett Video Show, Britain's entries for the Golden Rose of Montreaux lost to Canada's Rich Little's Christmas Carol. Derbyshire police rejected the traditional Rover 3500 saloon, said to be 'unreliable', in favour of BMW's 525. Labour's Ron Haywood launched a bitter attack on the 'turncoats' who had helped the party lose the general erection. Marxist philosopher Antonio Negri was arrested, Padova's prosecutor Pietro Calogero accusing those involved in the Autonomist movement of being the 'political wing' of the terrorist Brigate Rosse. A demonstration took place in Hyde Park in support of the legalisation of cannabis. 'Queen Victoria smoked it to relieve period pains' noted one angry protester.
The first episodes of Show Castle and A Family Affair broadcast. Ray Charles' World Of Music and The Fifties Revisited broadcast on BBC2.
The Clone Affair broadcast. Bothwell broadcast on BBC2. The government abolished the Prices Commission.
In England's Green & Pleasant Land broadcast on BBC2. The Cure's second John Peel Show session broadcast (including the memorably spiteful 'Desperate Journalist In Ongoing Meaningful Review Situation', which took the piss out of the NME's Paul Morley and his negative and wordy review of Three Imaginary Boys). Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career - starring Judy Davis, Sam Neill and Wendy Hughes - premiered.
Kiss Me, Petruchio - with Meryl Streep and Raul Julia - broadcast in the Omnibus strand. The Patti Smith Group's Wave released. William Richert's Winter Kills - starring Jeff Bridges, John Huston and Anthony Perkins - premiered.
Ian Dury & The Blockheads' Do It Yourself, David Bowie's Lodger, Bonnie Tyler's 'Married Men'/'If You Ever Need Me Again', The Korgis' 'If I Had You'/'Chinese Girl', 'Art School Annexe', The Skids' 'Masquerade'/'Out Of Town', Skyhooks' 'Women In Uniform'/'BBB Boogie', Hawklords' 'Twenty Five Years'/'(Only) The Dead Dreams Of The Cold War Kid', Eddie Parker & The Soul Congress' 'Love You Baby'/'Instrumental', Fischer-Z's 'The Worker'/'Kitten Curry' and Squeeze's 'Up The Junction'/'It's So Dirty' released.
Kurt Weill & Bertolt Brecht: A Salute broadcast on BBC2. Francis Ford Coppola's - still uncompleted - Apocalypse Now shown as a 'work in progress' at the Cannes Festival, jointly winning the Palme d'Or with Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum. At a subsequent press conference, Coppola criticised the media for releasing reviews of the work in progress and for attacking the production during their problematic filming in the Philippines. He said: 'We had access to too much money, too much equipment and little by little we went insane' and 'My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam.' England beat Northern Ireland two-nil at Windsor Park in the Home International championship with goals from Dave Watson and Steve Coppell. John Toshack scored a hat-trick as Wales thrashed Scotland three-nil at Ninian Park. George Burley and John Wark of Ipswich Town, Liverpool's Alan Hansen and Dundee United's Paul Hegarty had international debuts to forget.
The first episodes of It Figures and New Life broadcast. David Bowie played two hours of his favourite records on Radio 1's Star Special.
The first UK TV broadcast of Up The Chastity Belt. Elton John became the first musician from the West to perform live in the Soviet Union. Conservative MPs backed That Awful Thatcher Woman's proposals to sell off nationalised industries. During the year, the government would begin to sell its stake in British Petroleum. Dan White received a light sentence for killing San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Gay men in the city rioted. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark's debut 'Electricity'/'Almost' released. The first episode of In Loving Memory broadcast on Thames.
Two Of A Kind broadcast. Tubeway Army performed 'Are "Friends" Electric' and 'Down In The Park' on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Scotland defeated Northern Ireland one-nil at Hampden Park in the Home International championship. Arthur Graham scored the only goal. Everton's George Wood and Liverpool's Frank McGarvie made their first international appearances. The first episode of Thundercloud broadcast on Thames.
The first episode of Lena Zavaroni & Music broadcast. England and Wales shared a turgid goalless draw in the Home International championship at Wembley. Crystal Palace's Kenny Sansom and West Bromwich Albion's Laurie Cunningham made their England debuts.
The first episode of Beside The Sea broadcast on BBC2.
In Chicago, a DC-10 crashed during take-off at O'Hare International Airport, killing all two hundred and seventy one passengers and two people on the ground in the deadliest aviation accident in US history. Convicted murderer John Spenkelink was executed in Florida, in the first use of the electric chair in America since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976. Six year old Etan Patz was kidnapped in New York. He would often be referred to as 'The Boy On The Milk Carton' and the investigation became one of the most prolific child abduction cases of all time. In 2017, Pedro Hernandez was convicted of strangling the boy. Ridley Scott's Alien - starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto - premiered. Stiff Little Fingers' 'Gotta Gettaway'/'Bloody Sunday', Dave Edmunds' 'Girls Talk'/'Bad Is Bad', Slade's 'Ginny, Ginny'/'Dizzy Mama', Diane Ducane's 'Better Late Than Never'/'One Day (We're Gonna Do It Again)', Anita Ward's 'Ring My Bell'/'If I Could Feel That Old Feeling Again' and Dalek I's 'Freedom Fighters'/'Two Chameleons' released.
England beat Scotland three-one at Wembley in the Home International championship. Peter Barnes, Steve Coppell and Kevin Keegan were on target for the hosts with John Wark replying for the Scots. The Disappearing Coast broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Crime & Punishment - starring John Hurt - broadcast on BBC2.
The first UK broadcast of Centennial. The first episode of Britain In Europe broadcast on BBC2. Buzzcocks were in session on The John Peel Show ('I Don't Know What To Do With My Life', 'Mad Mad Judy', 'Hollow Inside', 'ESP').
The Tourists and The Members appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test. The first Specials John Peel Show session ('Gangsters', 'Too Much Too Young', 'Concrete Jungle', 'Monkey Man') broadcast.
Nottingham Forest beat Sweden's Malmö FF in the European Cup Final at Olympiastadion, Munich. The only goal was scored by Trevor Francis. Degrees of Success celebrated ten years of The Open University. Alain Payet's Marie Salope - starring Marilyn Jess and Monique Carrère - premiered.
Farewell To The Greatest broadcast. ELO's Discovery and The Undertones released. The Muppet Movie premiered.

The first episode of We Were The Champions broadcast on BBC2. McDonald's introduced the Happy Meal. The first black-led government of Rhodesia in ninety years took power, in succession to Ian Smith's regime under a power-sharing deal. West Bromwich Albion sold Laurie Cunningham to Real Madrid for nine hundred and ninety five thousand quid. Wings' 'Old Siam, Sir'/'Spin It On', The Adverts' 'My Place'/'New Church', The Beach Boys' 'Lady Lynda'/'Full Sail', Kirsty MacColl's 'They Don't Know'/'Turn My Motor On' and Yachts' 'Love You Love You'/'Hazy People' released.
The first UK broadcast of Sword Of Justice starring Dack Rambo. Spike Milligan appeared on Saturday Night At The Mill. Roxy Music featured on Radio 1's In Concert. Pope John Paul II arrived in his native Poland, the first Papal to visit a Communist country. This visit, known as 'nine days that changed the world,' ultimately led to the rise of the Solidarność movement. World champions Argentina beat Scotland three-one in a friendly international at Hampden Park. Arthur Graham netted a late consolation for The Scots whilst Argentina's third goal was scored by eighteen year old Diego Maradonna. Iain Munro of St Mirren made his Scotland debut.
In Honour Bound broadcast. An explosion at the Ixtoc I oil well in the Gulf of Mexico caused the world's largest oil spill until it was surpassed by the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.
The first episode of Verse, Worse & Baby Grand broadcast on BBC2. Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings took power in Ghana after a military coup d'état in which General Fred Akuffo was overthrown. Following the so-called 'Muldergate' Information Scandal, despicable racist old stinker John Vorster resigned as President of South Africa. Scotland beat Norway four=nil in a friendly international in Oslo. Joe Jordan, Kenny Dalglish, John Robertson and Gordson McQueen were on-target for the visitors.
The New Sound Of Music and Going To The Derby broadcast.
England won three-nil in Bulgaria to move closer to the European Championship finals. Kevin Keegan, Dave Watson and Peter Barnes were on target for the visitors in Sofia. The first UK broadcast of Peasants, Politicians & Power on BBC2. Troy, ridden by Willie Carson, won the Derby. A Federal Aviation Authority ban on DC-10s followed the discovery of cracks in two planes which spelled financial disaster for Sir Freddie Laker's Skytrain operation. The announcement of official figures on top wage earners caused a row with senior doctors stating that they didn't earn 'nearly as much as the government claimed.' Jeremy Thorpe's QC, George Carman, admitted that his client hadn't asked the police to investigate Norman Scott's claims that Scott and Thorpe shared a homosexual relationship. Major Bob Astles, the former henchman of Idi Amin, was interviewed by the BBC's Tonight whilst awaiting extradition from Kenya. Jack Healy, who played The Tin Man in The Wizard Of Oz died aged seventy nine. Blair Peach, the teacher fatally injured during a demonstration against the National Front in Southall in April when hit by a member of the Special Patrol Group was 'probably killed by a blow from a rubber cosh' an inquest was told. Somerset Cricket Club announced they would not be taking any action against Ian Botham over a highly publicised pub brawl. Actor Wilfred Hyde-White avoided being declared bankrupt when a tax demand against him was reduced. June Brett, who had given her husband, John, an ultimatum of 'no work, no sex' was granted a divorce. Escape To Athena - starring Roger Moore, Telly Savalas, David Niven, Stefanie Powers, Claudia Cardinale, Richard Roundtree, Sonny Bono and Elliott Gould - premiered.
The first episode of The Deep Concern broadcast. Franco Rosso's profile of Linton Kwasi Johnson Dread Beat An' Blood broadcast in the Omnibus strand having originally been scheduled for 5 April but postponed due to its political content. The first erections to the European Parliament began, allowing citizens across all nine European Community member states to elect four hundred and ten MEPs.
The first episode of Around With Alliss broadcast on BBC2. Wings' Back To The Egg, The Ruts' 'Babylon's Burning'/'Society', Gang Of Four's 'At Home He's A Tourist'/'It's Her Factory', Manfred Mann's Earth Band's 'Don't Kill It Carol'/'Blinded By The Light', Polecats' Rockabilly Guy'/'Chicken Shack', Cody Michaels' 'Seven Days - Fifty Two Weeks'/Virtue Orchestra 'Don't Look Back', Lew Lewis Reformer's 'Win Or Lose'/'Photo Finish' and The Who's The Kids Are Alright soundtrack released.

The first episode of The Paul Daniels Magic Show broadcast. Though, tragically, not the last. Nick Lowe's Labour Of Lust and Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary - both featuring the same musicians, Rockpile - released. The second Prudential Cricket World Cup began with England's easy six wicket victory over a weak Australia at Lord's. Holders West Indies beat India by nine wickets at Edgbaston.
Debbie Harry, Chris Stein and Nigel Harrison of Blondie featured on Radio 1's Star Special. England and Sweden shared a goalless draw in a friendly international in Stockholm to celebrate the seventy fifth anniversary of the Swedish FA. Decision For Europe broadcast. The first episode of The Mallens and the first UK broadcast of the Columbo episode The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case on LWT. Two further 1977 Columbo episodes, Try & Catch Me and The Conspirators would remain unbroadcast in the UK until the BBC acquired the series in 1988.
The first episode of Inside Story broadcast on BBC2. John Wayne died at the age of seventy two from stomach cancer. The Knack's Get The Knack released.
Bombers broadcast. The Old Grey Whistle Test featured highlights of Thin Lizzy at The Rainbow. Human-powered aircraft Gossamer Albatross, built by an American team led by Paul MacCready and piloted by Bryan Allen, made a successful crossing of the Channel to win the second Kremer Prize. Chancellor Geoffrey Howe's first budget cut the standard tax rate by three pence and slashed the top rate from eighty three per cent to sixty per cent. Scotland drew one-all with Peru in a friendly international at Hampden Park. Asa Hartford scored early for The Scots whilst John Wark had a second-half penalty saved. Davie Cooper of Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic's Roy Aitken made their debuts.
The first episodes of The Omega Factor and The Americans broadcast. Misty In Roots' first John Peel Show session broadcast. Austria beat England four-three in a friendly international in Vienna. Kevin Keegan, Steve Coppell and Butch Wilkins were on target for the visitors but they were beaten by two goals apiece from Bruno Pezzey and Kurt Welzl.
The first episode of BBC2's Television World broadcast. Jeff Stein's The Who documentary The Kids Are Alright premiered in the UK. Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, Hawkwind's PXR5, UK Subs' 'Stranglehold'/'World War', 'Rockers', Gladys Knight's 'You Bring Out The Best In Me'/' You Loved Away The Pain', The Jags' 'Back Of My Hand'/'Double Vision', The Three Degrees' 'The Golden Lady'/'Sophisticated Like You', China Burton's 'You Don't Care (About Our Love)'/'Instrumental', Kiss' 'I Was Made For Lovin' You'/'Hard Times' and The Cure's 'Boys Don't Cry'/'Plastic Passion' released. John Frankenheimer's Prophecy - starring Talia Shire - premiered.
The first episode of the revived Juke Box Jury - hosted by The Beard Of Despair Noel Edmonds - broadcast. England beat Pakistan by fourteen runs at Headingley to qualify for the cricket World Cup semi-finals. Rockpile featured on Radio 1's In Concert with separate sets by Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe.
Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev signed the SALT II agreement in Vienna. Neil Kinnock, the thirty seven year-old Labour MP for Islwyn, became shadow education spokesman.
Iain Johnstone's documentary The Pythons broadcast. Nicaraguan National Guard soldiers killed ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter, Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew captured the killing on film. England beat New Zealand by nine runs at Old Trafford in the semi-final of the Prudential World Cup. England began badly, falling to thirty eight for two, before Mike Brearley (fifty three) and Graham Gooch (seventy one including three sixes) resurrected the innings. Derek Randall added forty two as England recovered to two hundred and twenty one for eight. In the response, John Wright scored sixty nine. In the other semi-final, at The Oval, West Indies beat Pakistan by forty three runs. Gordon Greenidge (seventy three) and Desmond Haynes (sixty five) set a first wicket partnership of one hundred and thirty two. Viv Richards and Clive Lloyd also contributed solidly, as West Indies totalled two hundred and ninety three for six. Majid Khan (eighty one) and Zaheer Abbas (ninety three) shared a second-wicket partnership of one hundred and sixty six in thirty six overs in the response. However, none of the other Pakistani batsmen flourished, with Javed Miandad being bowled for a duck first ball and Pakistan lost nine wickets for seventy four runs.
Pig Earth broadcast in the Omnibus strand. Wildlife On One focused on a breed of scorpions alleged to be active near Ongar Tube Station.
The first UK TV showing of And Now For Something Completely Different. Without Fear Or Favour broadcast on BBC2. Jeremy Thorpe and his three co-defendants were acquitted of attempted murder. The judge, Sir Joseph Cantley's obscenely sycophantic summing-up became the subject of a scathing parody by Peter Cook, 'Entirely A Matter For You', written and delivered shortly after the trial on 27 June at The Secret Policeman's Ball in aid of Amnesty International. Cantley showed a nakedly pro-defence bias, describing Norman Scott as 'a crook, an accomplished liar [and] a fraud.' Though definitely not 'a player of the Pink Oboe.' After his acquittal, Thorpe held a champagne party before going on holiday. Peter Bessell, the main prosecution witness, noted 'the tragic events which led up to the trial have scarred the lives of many. Their motives will ultimately be assessed by history in the light of greater knowledge.' Despite the acquittal, the broader public perception was that Thorpe had not behaved well, nor had he adequately explained himself and his reputation never recovered. Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Rust Never Sleeps, Real Thing's 'Boogie Down (Get Funky Now)'/'Instrumental', The Teardrop Explodes' 'Bouncing Babies'/'All I Am Is Loving You', Gloria Jones' 'Tainted Love'/'A Touch Of Venus', Phil Coulter & His Orchestra's 'A Good Thing Going'/'Runnaway Bunion', Sammy Hagar's '(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay'/'I've Done Everything For You', Frank Beverly & The Butlers's 'If That's What You Wanted'/'Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)', Child's 'Here Comes Summer-I Can't Explain'/'Caroline & Me', Ad Libs' 'New York In The Dark'/'The Boy From New York City', Supertramp's 'Breakfast In America'/'Gone Hollywood', Johnny Bragg's 'They're Talking About Me'/'Is It True?', Ral Donner's 'Don't Let It Slip Away'/'Wait A Minute Now' and The Sex Pistols' 'C'Mon Everybody'/'The God Save The Queen Symphony', 'Watcha Gonna Do About It?' released.

The West Indies beat England in the cricket World Cup final at Lord's by ninety two runs. The West Indies got off to a bad start, falling to ninety nine for four with the loss of Greenidge, Haynes, Kallicharan and Clive Lloyd. However, Viv Richards (one hundred and thirty eight including three sixes) and Collis King (eighty six from just sixty six balls) consolidated the innings. Richards and the tail took the West Indies to a very imposing total of two hundred and eighty six for nine. England openers Mike Brearley (sixty four) and Geoff Boycott (fifty seven) scored very slowly. Their methodical opening partnership of one hundred and twenty nine took thirty eight overs. By the time both were out, the required run rate had dramatically risen. Graham Gooch played some hefty strokes in scoring his thirty two, taking England to one hundred and eighty three for two aided by Derek Randall. However, the loss of Gooch triggered a devastating collapse, as England lost eight wickets for eleven runs thanks largely to Joel Garner's five for thirty eight. The Tourists and The Police featured on Radio 1's In Concert. Yorkshire Police revealed the contents of an audio tape sent to Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield by a man with a strong Wearside accent claiming to be The Yorkshire Ripper. The same individual had also sent Oldfield a series of taunting letters. This would, tragically, take detectives on a wild goose chase whilst Peter Sutcliffe, the actual serial-killer, murdered three further victims and attacked several others. Oldfield and other senior officers involved in the hunt for The Ripper consulted senior FBI Special agents John Douglas and Robert Ressler in an effort to construct a psychological profile. After hearing the tape, Ressler told Oldfield: 'You do realise, of course, that the man on the tape is not the killer, don't you?' Oldfield chose to ignore this observation. Northumbria Police, who were brought into the investigation, also had their doubts about the veracity of the claims made in the letters and the tape. It was 2005 before the hoaxer, John Humble, was caught and jailed. Italy lifted a ban on charter flights which had affected thousands of holidaymakers. The price of butter was slashed by six pence. The Times management said that it 'deplored' the decision by the National Graphical Association to find new jobs for six hundred members currently involved in the industrial dispute which had shut the paper. British Caledonian decided not to buy two unused Concordes. A report suggested that deaths from cancer were 'likely' after fish were contaminated by leaking waste from the Windscale nuclear plant. Keith Moon died leaving assets of three hundred and fifty thousand pounds but no will, it was announced. ITN newsreader Reggie Bosanquet got himself into trouble with his colleague Anna Ford when he mentioned that it was her deceased mother's birthday on-air.
The first episode of The Editors broadcast. Ted Walker's Big Jim & The Figaro Club the first of BBC2's Turning Year Tales strand broadcast.
The first UK TV showing of Michael Winner's Scorpio. Gary Numan's first solo session on The John Peel Show broadcast. In Belgium NATO Supreme Allied Commander Alexander Haig escaped an assassination attempt by the Red Army Faction.
Omnibus's profile of Robin Cousins, Gold On Ice, broadcast. Moonraker premiered at the Odeon, Leicester Square. Alan and Laurie Colberg's Nanci Blue - starring Kandi Barbour and Lisa De Leeuw - premiered.
Women In Captivity broadcast.
Public Image Ltd's 'Death Disco'/'No Birds Do Sing', The Monks' 'I Ain't Gettin' Any'/'Inter-City Kitty', The Tamangoe's 'I Really Love You'/'You've Been Gone So Long', Showaddywaddy's 'Sweet Little Rock 'N' Roller'/'Five Minutes More' and Siouxsie & The Banshees' 'Playground Twist'/'Pulled Top Bits' released.
John Lydon appeared as one of the panel on Juke Box Jury - alongside Fluff Freeman, Elaine Page and Joan Collins. Terence Young's Bloodline - starring Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, James Mason, Claudia Mori, Irene Papas, Michelle Phillips, Omar Sharif, Beatrice Straight and Gert Fröbe - premiered.
The first episode of Mister Smith Propagates Plants broadcast. Follow The River Down broadcast in BBC2's Turning Year Tales strand. Sweden outlawed corporal punishment in the home. The Sony Walkman went on sale for the first time in Japan.
Our Man In Lusaka broadcast. President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
Georgia O'Keeffe broadcast on BBC2. Scritti Politti's second John Peel Show session broadcast.
The first episode of Person To Person featured David Dimbleby interviewing Mary Whitehouse. The seven hundred and fifty fifth - and final - episode of Tonight broadcast. The Queen attended the millennium celebrations of the Isle of Man's Parliament, Tynwald. The first episode of The Wooldridge View broadcast on BBC2.
 The first episodes of We're Going Places and Personal Choices broadcast. The B-52's eponymous debut, David Bowie's 'DJ'/'Repetition', Olympic Runners' 'The Bitch'/'Energy Beam', Joe Brown's 'Free Inside'/'Rainy Changes', Shirley Bassey's 'Moonraker (End Title)'/ 'Main Title', ABBA's 'Angeleyes'/'Voulez-Vous', The Carstairs' 'It Really Hurts Me Girl'/'Remix', Kevin Keegan's 'Head Over Heels In Love'/'Move On Down', Darts' 'Duke Of Earl'/'I've Got To Have My Way' and The Pretenders' 'Kid'/'Tattooed Love Boys' released.
When Genesis Began broadcast on BBC2. Penetration and The Ruts featured on Radio 1's In Concert. Bjorn Borg beat Roscoe Tanner in five sets in the final of the Wimbledon men's singles. The author and screenwriter Ian Mackintosh - the creator of the ITV espionage drama The Sandbaggers - was flying with his friend, an experienced British Airways captain Graham Barber and Mackintosh's girlfriend, Susan Insole over The Gulf Of Alaska in a light aircraft. The plane sent out a distress signal, which was picked up by the US Coast Guard. The plane's last-known position was searched, but no wreckage was ever found.
Still Crazy After All These Years broadcast as part of the Everyman strand. Ron Pickering's The Long Wait Of The Dragon broadcast on BBC2. Los Angeles passed its gay and lesbian civil rights bill. The first episode of The Danedyke Mystery broadcast on LWT.
For Valour broadcast on BBC2. The Chords' first John Peel Show session ('Now It's Gone', 'It's No Use', 'Something's Missing', 'Maybe Tomorrow') broadcast. A car bomb destroyed a Renault owned by Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claimed responsibility. The first episode of Spooner's Patch broadcast on Thames.
Our Man In Caracas broadcast. The first episode of BBC2's What's Your Poison? broadcast. The Kinks' Low Budget released. Ronald Miller's Lenny's Comeback - starring Richard Bolla, Clea Carson, Joey Silvera and Stacy Blue - premiered. The first episode of Sapphire & Steel broadcast on Thames.
The first episode of The Music Makers broadcast. The first episodes of Mother Nature's Bloomers and Seven Artists broadcast on BBC2. NASA's orbiting space station Skylab began its return to Earth, after being in orbit for six years and two months. The station did not burn up as fast as NASA expected. Although most of the debris landed in the ocean, some was subsequently found three hundred miles East of Perth in Western Australia. The first episode of Murder At The Wedding broadcast on Thames.
The first UK TV showing of Sergio Leone's Fistful Of Dynamite. 'Disco Demolition Night', an anti-disco - and hideously racist and homophobic - promotional event held by a Chicago rock station at Comiskey Park involving blowing up disco records, caused a near-riot between games during a baseball major league doubleheader, forcing the cancellation of the second game. The Gilbert Islands become independent of the UK as Kiribati. Carmine Galante, the big boss of the Bonanno crime family, was assassinated in Brooklyn. A fire at a hotel in Zaragoza, left seventy two people dead. The Dead Kennedys' 'California Über Alles'/'Man With The Dogs', Bunk Dogger's 'Women In Uniform'/'Never Say Never', Sparks' 'Beat The Clock'/'Alternative Mix' and ELO's 'The Diary Of Horace Wimp'/'Down Home Time' released. The first episode of Shelley broadcast of Thames.
The Undertones' 'Here Comes The Summer'/'One Way Love', 'Top Twenty', Buzzcocks' 'Harmony In My Head'/'Something's Gone Wrong Again', Lori & The Chameleons' 'Touch'/'Love On The Ganges', Hot Chocolate's 'Going Through The Motions'/'Stay With Me', Ron Grainer Orchestra's 'When Love Grows Cold'/'Playing It Cool', Wreckless Eric's 'Hit & Miss Judy'/'Let's Go To The Pictures' and The Planets' 'Lines'/'Further Down' released. Reach For Tomorrow broadcast on BBC2.
Third World featured on Radio 1's In Concert. David Gower scored two hundred out of England's six hundred and thirty three for five declared in the first test against India at Edgbaston. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone was won by Clay Regazzoni, driving a Williams-Ford. It was the first Formula One victory for the Williams team. René Arnoux finished second in a Renault, with Jean-Pierre Jarier third in a Tyrrell-Ford. BBC2's Saturday night Masters Of Terror double-bill began with the first BBC broadcast of Hammer's The Curse Of Frankenstein.
Philip Martin's Clubs broadcast in BBC2's Turning Year Tales strand. President Carter addressed the American public in a televised speech discussing the 'crisis of confidence' which America was suffering from. Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe featured on Radio 1's Star Special.
The first episode of Jigsaw broadcast. The Purple Hearts' first John Peel Show session ('Beat That', 'Millions Like Us', 'Nothing's Left', 'Frustration') broadcast. England won the first of a four test series against India at Edgbaston by an innings and eighty three runs. England's innings included a double century for David Gower and one hundred and fifty for Geoff Boycott. It is the only example in test cricket history where three different bowlers conceded one hundred runs and each failed to take a wicket: Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan - nought for one hundred and seven, Karsan Ghavri - nought for one hundred and twenty nine and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar - nought for one hundred and thirteen. Kapil Dev also conceded one hundred and forty five runs but did take all five English wickets to fall. Ian Botham (seven wickets), Bob Willis and Mike Hendrick (both six) then dismissed the tourists twice inside a day.
Nicaraguan dictator General Anastasio Somoza Debayle fled to Miami following a popular uprising. Sebastian Coe set a world record for the mile, three minutes 48.95 seconds, in Oslo.
James Burke's Project Apollo: The Men Who Walked On The Moon broadcast on BBC1 and The Other Side Of The Moon on BBC2. Ian Dury & The Blockheads 'Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part Three)'/'Common As Much', The Baboons' 'Clockin' In'/'Bottoms Up', Philly Cream's 'Motown Review'/'Join The Army', Al Wilson's 'Earthquake'/'Is This The End?', The Late Show's 'Peppermint Twist-Tutti Frutti'/'I Saw Your Picture In The Subway', Bunk Dogger's 'With One Bound He Was Free'/'Mobile Home', 'Send In The Clones', Flame 'N' King & The Bold Ones' 'Ho Happy Day'/'Ain't Nobody Jive In (Get Up, Get Down)' and Telex's 'Rock Around The Clock'/'Moskow Diskow' released.
Essex beat Surrey by thirty five runs in the final of the Benson & Hedges Cup. Graham Gooch was man of the match with one hundred and twenty. The Sandinista National Liberation Front concluded its successful revolution against the US-backed Somoza dictatorship and assumed power in Nicaragua. Maritza Sayalero of Venezuela won the Miss Universe pageant; the stage collapsed after contestants and news photographers rushed to her throne. The Boomtown Rats' 'I Don't Like Mondays'/'It's All The Rage' and Heatwave's 'Therm Warfare'/'Disco' released.
The first UK broadcast of George Cukor's adaptation of The Corn Is Green. The first episode of The Commanders broadcast on BBC2. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein arranged the arrest and subsequent execution of nearly seventy members of his ruling Ba'ath Party.
The first episode of Explorers Of The Deep broadcast. The government announced four billion pounds worth of public spending cuts.
Don't Be Silly broadcast in the Play For Today strand. The Sky At Night focused on Voyager 2's encounter with Jupiter. At the murder trial of the alleged serial killer Ted Bundy, incriminating physical evidence included impressions of the bite wounds Bundy had inflicted on Lisa Levy's buttock, which forensic odontologists Richard Souviron and Lowell Levine matched to castings of Bundy's teeth. The jury deliberated for less than seven hours before convicting him of the murders of Levy and Margaret Bowman at the Chi Omega House in February 1978 and three counts of attempted murder (for assaults on Karen Kleiner, Kathy Chandler and Cheryl Thomas). The trial judge, Edward Cowart, imposed death sentences for the murder convictions. Noting that the court had found both of these killings 'heinous, atrocious and cruel,' Cowart continued that they were, also, 'extremely wicked, shockingly evil, vile and the product of a design to inflict a high degree of pain and utter indifference to human life ... It is further ordered that on such scheduled date you'll be put to death by a current of electricity, sufficient to cause your immediate death, and such current of electricity shall continue to pass through your body until you are dead. Take care of yourself, young man. I say that to you, sincerely. It is an utter tragedy for this court to see such a total waste of humanity, I think, as I've experienced in this courtroom. You're a bright young man. You'd have made a good lawyer and I would have loved to have you practice in front of me, but you went another way.'
The first episode of Lena's Music broadcast.
The Great Tiger Moth Air Race broadcast. The first UK TV showing of They Call Me Trinity on BBC2's season of Spaghetti Westerns. The eight hundredth episode of Top Of The Pops, hosted by disgraceful kiddie-fiddler Jimmy Savile broadcast. Highlights included performances by Showaddywaddy, Buzzcocks ('Harmony In My Head'), The Undertones ('Here Comes The Summer'), Telex, Legs & Co dancing to Patrick Hernandez's 'Born To Be Alive' and The Police. Sham 69's 'Hersham Boys'/'I Don't Wanna', 'Tell Us The Truth' were released.
But Still We Sing broadcast on BBC2. The premiere of The Amityville Horror. AC/DC's Highway To Hell, The Flys' 'We Are The Lucky Ones'/'Living In The Sticks', Punishment Of Luxury's 'Secrets'/'Brainbomb', Frantique's 'Strut Your Funky Stuff'/'Getting Serious', The Flying Lizards' 'Money'/'Money B', Brimstone Ingram's 'What Happened To The Songs?'/'Songs We Used To Sing' and Yachts' 'Box 202'/'Permanent Damage' released. Petr Schulhoff's Já Už Budu Hodný, Dědečku! - starring Milos Kopecký and Alena Vránová - premiered. The first episode of Heartland broadcast on LWT.
The Jags and Fischer-Z featured on Radio 1's In Concert. The first episodes of Cannon & Ball and Charles Endell Esquire broadcast on LWT.
Tom Hadaway's May Blossoms broadcast in BBC2's Turning Year Tales strand. The first episodes of Screenplay - Gossip From The Forest - and Tropic - Monday's Child - broadcast on LWT.
Good Evening Salford!, featuring the BBC debut of Arlene Phillips' Hot Gossip broadcast. The Fall's 'Rowche Rumble'/'In My Area' released.
The Transplanted Self broadcast.
West Bromwich Albion's friendly with the Chinese national team broadcast on BBC2. West Brom won four-nil. Lindsay Shonteff's Licensed To Love & Kill - starring Gareth Hunt, Nick Tate, Fiona Curzon, Geoffrey Keen, Gary Hope, Don Fellows, John Arnatt, Toby Robins, Imogen Hassall, John Junkin and Me Me Lai - premiered.

The first UK broadcast of The Duke.
Talking Heads' Fear Of Music, Rocky Sharpe & The Replays' 'Love Will Make You Fail In School'/'A Girl Like You', Gap Band's 'Baby Baba Boogie'/'Shake' and Roxy Music's 'Angel Eyes'/'My Little Girl' released. The first UK broadcast of Hitler: A Film From Germany on BBC2. Dictator Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea was overthrown in a bloody coup d'état led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Dusty Springfield featured on Radio 1's Star Special. Harley Cokeliss's That Summer! - starring Ray Winstone, Tony London, Emily Moore, Julie Shipley, Andrew Byatt and Jon Morrison - premiered.
The first episode of Home On Sunday broadcast.
The first episode of Kick Start broadcast. Bauhaus's 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'/'Boys', ' Dark Entries (Excerpt)' released.
The second test at Lord's ended in a draw. England dismissed India for ninety six (Ian Botham five for thirty five) and then scored four hundred and nineteen for nine (David Gower eighty two, plus fifties by Derek Randall, Geoff Miller and Bob Taylor). Centuries from Gundappa Viswanath and Dilip Vengsarkar on the final day saved the tourists from defeat. Joe D'Amato's Immagini Di Un Convento premiered.
The first episode of Where Are They Now? broadcast. Two American divers, Richard Walker and Victor Guiel, died from hypothermia after their diving bell became stranded at a depth of over one hundred and sixty metres in the East Shetland Basin. The legal repercussions of the accident led to important safety changes for the diving industry.
Mickey Dolenz featured on an episode of the documentary series The Persuaders. Glenn Campbell: Back To Basics broadcast. A nudist beach was established in Brighton. Raymond Washington, co-founder of The Crips one of the most notorious street gangs in the United States, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles.
Nationwide featured Kevin Cosgrove's profile of Ian Dury. Michael Jackson's Off The Wall, Madness's 'The Prince'/'Madness', The B-52's 'Rock Lobster'/'Fifty Two Girls', Crusaders' 'Street Life'/'The Hustler', Fischer-Z's 'First Impressions'/'High Wire Walker' and The Stranglers' 'Duchess'/'Fools Rush Out' released. The entire ITV network was shut down by a technicians' strike (except for Channel Television which was unaffected). ITV remained off-air until 24 October.
Plastic Bertrand performed 'Ca Plane Pour Moi' on Seaside Special. Liverpool beat Arsenal three-one in the Charity Shield at Wembley. Led Zeppelin played their last ever British concert at Knebworth. The former Mauritanian province of Tiris al-Gharbiyya in Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco. Gillingham's three-nil victory over Luton Town in the League Cup First Round, first leg saw the club debut of Steve Bruce, the first of seven hundred and thirty seven games - for Gillingham, Norwich City, Manchester United, Birimingham City and Sheffield United - in a career that lasted until 1999. Carlisle United's one-one draw at Wrexham in the same competition saw the club debut of Peter Beardsley, the first of eight hundred and thirty games - for Carlisle, Vancouver Whitecaps, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Everton, Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City, Fulham, Hartlepool United and England - in a career that lasted until 2000.
Anyone unfamiliar with the cult of Barry Sheene need look no further than one race - one he didn't even win - on a wet Sunday afternoon at Silverstone. At the Marlboro British Motorcycle Grand Prix the world title had already been lost to his great rival, American 'King' Kenny Roberts riding for Yamaha. The race started with Sheene performing an outrageous wheelie. Thereafter, the bikes of Sheene and Roberts seemed almost tied together, the two men constantly swapping the lead. The moment that defined the race came as Sheene passed the American at Woodcote. Sheene took one hand off the throttle and, at a speed in excess of one hundred and thirty miles per hour, turned and flicked a highly visible V-sign at his opponent! The moment is also remembered for Murray Walker's commentary. 'Look at that!' hyperventilated Murray. 'Sheene, with absolute effrontery ... waves at Kenny Roberts!' The Mystery Of Elche broadcast on BBC2. A national strike by engineering workers began just as production of Sunbeams and Avengers was halted at Talbot's Coventry plant by another stoppage. A boy was killed in Yarmouth harbour when his dinghy was hit by a Sealink ferry. Forest fires destroyed thousands of acres of the French Riviera. Alan Jones won his second consecutive Grand Prix driving for the Williams team in Austria. Home Secretary William Whitelaw was described as 'pig-headed' by a Labour MP over negotiations to stop a threatened strike by court staff. Heather Shell was released after a thirty-day jail sentence in Crete for allegedly performing 'lewd acts' in the street with her boyfriend. Teenage Sunderland punk band The Rejected appeared in the BBC documentary Brass Tax. A rector who ordered a sparrow to be shot outside his church to stop it interrupting a BBC recital apologised to parishioners. And, presumably, to the sparrow. British transport police were investigating the theft of a pair of trouser belonging to Mark Payne who fell asleep on the platform and awoke to find them gone.
Steel Pulse featured in session on The John Peel Show.
Nationwide featured a profile of James Bond set designer Ken Adam. The first episode of Born In The Wild broadcast on BBC2. A storm in the Irish Sea hit the Fastnet yacht race. Fifteen lives and dozens of yachts were lost. Disgraced ex-MP John Stonehouse was released from jail after serving four years of his seven-year sentence for faking his own death.
Apocalypse Now premiered in the US. Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door released.
Roger Whittaker: All My Best broadcast. The first UK TV showing of Trinity Is Still My Name on BBC2.
The first episode of Hang On Doggy broadcast. Poverty & Oysters broadcast on BBC2. Monty Python's Life Of Brian opened in the US. Whinges from various God-bothers began about five seconds later. In New York, screenings were picketed by both rabbis and nuns - which is a good trick if you can pull it off. XTC's Drums & Wires, Kiss' 'Sure Know Something'/'Dirty Livin', David Bendeth's 'Feel The Real'/'Breakdown', Billy Connolly's 'In The Brownies'/'Woke Up This Mornin', Wings' 'Getting Closer'/'Baby's Request' and The Jam's 'When You're Young'/'Smithers-Jones' released.
Arsenal moved to the top of the First Division with a four-nil away win against newly-promoted Brighton & Hove Albion on the first day of the football season. Carlisle United's one-nil defeat Southend United in the Third Division saw the debut of Peter Beardsley, the first of seven hundred and thirty three games - for Carlisle, Vancouver Whitecaps, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Everton, Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City, Fulham, Hartlepool United and England - in a career that lasted until 1999. The first UK TV showing of The Satanic Rites Of Dracula on BBC2's Masters Of Terror double-bill. The Boomtown Rats featured on In Concert from The Rainbow, introduced by John Peel.
Stella & The Apes Of Mount Asserick broadcast.
In a game ruined by rain, Ian Botham scored a magnificent one hundred and thirty seven for England in the third test against India at Headingley. The game ended in a draw. Bob Dylan's Slow Train Coming released.
Young Love broadcast. Echo & The Bunnymen's first John Peel Show session ('Read It In Books', 'Stars Are Stars', 'I Bagsy Yours', 'Villiers Terrace') broadcast.
Bobby Wells' 'Be's That Way Sometimes'/'Recipe For Love', Betty Boo's 'Say It Isn't So'/Popcorn & Mohawks 'Instrumental' and The Thrills' 'Show The World Where It's At'/'What Can Go Wrong?' released.
Journey To The Fourth World broadcast. Penetration's 'Come Into The Open'/'Lifeline' and Electric Light Orchestra's 'Don't Bring Me Down'/'Dreaming Of Four Thousand' released. Groos!
The first UK TV broadcast of Woody Allen's Sleeper.
Th first episode of Circuit Eleven Miami and Joe Ely Sings Country broadcast on BBC2. Ian Dury & The Blockhead featured on a Bank Holiday Radio 1 In Concert special. Madness's first John Peel Show session ('The Prince', 'Bed & Breakfast Man', 'Land Of Hope & Glory', 'Stepping Into Line') broadcast. Lord Mountbatten of Burma, his nephew and a boatboy, were assassinated by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb while holidaying in the Republic of Ireland. The Dowager Lady Brabourne died the following day from injuries received during the blast. The Warrenpoint ambush occurred; eighteen British soldiers were killed in Northern Ireland by IRA bombs.
The Mini broadcast.
It's A Celebrity Knockout broadcast. Hinge & Bracket broadcast on BBC2.
Skellern broadcast. The Police's first - and only - John Peel Show session ('The Bed's Too Big Without You', 'Message In A Bottle', 'Next To You', 'Can't Stand Losing You') and The Psychedelic Furs first session broadcast.
The first episode of the revival of Points Of View - presented by Barry Took - broadcast. Nick Lowe's 'Cruel To Be Kind'/'Endless Grey Ribbon', Squeeze's 'Slap & Tickle'/'All's Well', Gary Numan's 'Cars'/'Asylum', The Ruts' 'Something That I Said'/'Give Youth A Chance', UK Subs' 'Tomorrows Girls'/'Scum Of The Earth', 'Telephone Numbers', The Charlie Daniels Band's 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia'/'Rainbow Ride', Angie's 'Peppermint Lump'/'Breakfast In Naples', Rainbow's 'Since You Been Gone'/'Bad Girl' and Kate Bush's On Stage EP ('Them Heavy People', 'Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake'/'James & The Cold Gun', 'L'Amour Looks Something Like You') released.
Pioneer 11 became the first spacecraft to visit Saturn, when it passed the planet at a distance of twenty one thousand kilometres. Lloyd A Simandl's Autumn Born - starring Dorothy Stratten, Ihor Procak, Nate MacIntosh and Jocelyn Fournier - premiered.
The first UK broadcast of The Pirate. The first episode of BBC2's Diary Of A Nobody broadcast. Tony Blackburn replaced Simon Bates as host of Radio 1's Top Forty show. Subtitling of television programmes on Ceefax began. Police discovered a woman's body in Bradford city centre. Barbara Leach was believed to be the twelfth known victim of The Yorkshire Ripper.
The first episode of The Mersey Beat broadcast. The Right To Work and the first episode of Len Deighton's Late Night Story broadcast on BBC2. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark's first John Peel Show session broadcast.
The first episodes of A Moment In Time, Prince Regent and The Bear Next Door broadcast. On the final day of the fourth test, at The Oval helped by Sunil Gavaskar's two hundred and twenty one, India got to within eight runs of a world record run chase. Set four hundred and thirty eight to win, India reached four hundred and twenty nine for eight before the game ended in a draw. England won the series one-nil. Alan Butcher and David Bairstow made their test debuts and Peter Willey returned to the England side for the first time since 1976.
Melvyn Bragg's interview with John Le Carre broadcast on BBC2. Manchester City paid a British club record fee of one million found hundred and fifty thousand knicker for Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Steve Daley.
Fred Dibnah, Steeplejack broadcast on BBC2. Alien opened in the UK.
The first episode of The Red Hand Gang broadcast. A season of Carry On films, What A Carry On! opened with Carry On Screaming. BBC2's Talking Pictures featured a 'making of' special on Quadrophenia with interviews with Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle and Sting. The first episode of It's A Dogs Life broadcast. The first cable sports channel, ESPN, was launched. Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle, The Slits' Cut, Buzzcocks' A Different Kind Of Tension, Purple Hearts' 'Millions Like Us'/'Beat That', Buggles' 'Video Killed The Radio Star'/'Kid Dynamo', Ramones' 'Rock 'N' Roll High School'/'Rockaway Beach', 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker', Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds Featuring Justin Hayward's 'The Eve Of The War'/'Horsell Common & The Heat Ray', LJ Johnson's '24 Hours A Day'/'Your Magic Put A Spell On Me', James Bynum's 'Time Passes By'/'Love You', The 45's 'Couldn't Believe A Word'/'Lonesome Lane', Sammy Hagar's 'Plain Jane'/'Wounded In Love' and Siouxsie & The Banshees' Join Hands released. On tour to promote the release, The Banshees were at a record store signing in Aberdeen when an argument led to John Mackay and Kenny Morris walking out and leaving the band. Siouxsie and Steve Severin swiftly recruited the ex-Slits drummer Budgie and Robert Smith from support band The Cure and the tour continued.

The first episode of Junior That's Life broadcast. The Pretenders and Simple Minds featured on Radio 1's In Concert. The national football transfer record was broken for the second time in four days when Wolverhampton Wanderers paid almost one-and-a-half-million smackers for Aston Villains and Scotland striker Andy Gray. Somerset beat Northamptonshire by forty five runs in the Gillette Cup final at Lord's.
The first episode of Crime Writers broadcast. Somerset won the John Player League with a fifty six run victory over Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
First UK TV showing on That'll Be The Day. The first episodes of BBC2's acclaimed adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and A Diary of Britain broadcast. British Leyland announced that production of MG cars would end in the autumn of 1980, in a move which saw the closure of the company's Abingdon plant.
The first episode of Rolf Harris's Cartoon Time broadcast.
The movie version of Alan Clarke's Scum - starring Ray Winstone, Mick Ford, Julian Firth, John Blundell, Phil Daniels and Ray Burdis - premiered. The Hellstrom Chronicle broadcast on BBC2. England beat Denmark one-nil in a European Championship Qualifier at Wembley. Kevin Keegan scored the winner.
Public School broadcast. The first episode of Tony Bennett Sings broadcast on BBC2. South Africa granted independence to the 'homeland' of Venda.
On Location With The Children's Film Foundation broadcast. The first episode of BBC2's The Old Boy Network broadcast. Blondie's 'Dreaming'/'Sound Asleep', Siouxsie & The Banshees' 'Mittageisen (Metal Postcard)'/'Love In A Void', XTC's 'Making Plans For Nigel'/'Bushman President', 'Pulsing Pulsing', Sam & Kitty's 'I've Got Something Good'/'Love Is The Greatest', The Police's 'Message In A Bottle'/'Landlord' and The Slits' 'Typical Girls'/'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' released. Jürgen Enz's Heiße Träume Duf Der Schulbank - starring Günther Bayer, Linda Clemens and Elke Hermann - premiered.
The first UK TV showing of What's Up, Doc? BBC2's Something Else featured memorable performances by The Jam ('The Eton Rifles' and 'When You're Young'), Joy Division ('Transmission' and 'She's Lost Control') and John Cooper-Clarke.
Allan Prior's Romany Rye broadcast. Arthur Boyd: A Man In Two Worlds broadcast on BBC2. Elvis Costello featured on Radio 1's Star Special. Two families fled from East Germany by hot air balloon, the subsequent inspiration for the 1982 movie Night Crossing. Au Pairs' 'You'/'Domestic Departure', 'Kerb Crawler', The Atoms' 'Max Bygraves Killed My Mother'/'Beatle Jacket' and The Sugarhill Gang's 'Rapper's Delight (Parts 1 & 2)' released. Boogie-to-the-boogie.
The first UK TV showing of Westworld. Stiff Little Fingers' first John Peel Show session broadcast.
Nils Lofgren featured on The Old Grey Whistle Test.
Gerry O'Hara's adaptation of Jackie Collins's The Bitch - starring Joan Collins, Michael Coby, Kenneth Haigh, Ian Hendry, Pamela Salem and Sue Lloyd - premiered. This blogger still has the soundtrack LP. In a cupboard, somewhere.
Frederick Ashton - Seventy Five This Week broadcast. In Operation Barracuda, French paratroopers helped forces loyal to former President David Dacko overthrow the Jean-Bédel Bokassa regime in the Central African Republic.
A Royal Air Force Harrier jet crashed into a house in Wisbech, killing two men and a boy. The Stranglers' The Raven, Funkadelic's Uncle Jam Wants You, Stiff Little Fingers' 'Straw Dogs'/'You Can't Say Crap On The Radio', Dalek I's 'The World'/'We're All Actors', The Dooleys' 'The Chosen Few'/'A Million To One', Darts' 'Can't Get Enough Of Your Love'/'Don't Say Yes', The Three Degrees' 'Jump The Gun'/'Falling In Love Again', Bob Marley & The Wailers' 'So Much Trouble In The World'/'Instrumental' and The Police's 'Message In A Bottle'/'Landlord' released.
A Long Way From Home broadcast on BBC2. The Angelic Upstarts and The Yachts featured on Radio 1's In Concert. The South Atlantic Flash was observed near the Prince Edward Islands, thought to be a nuclear weapons test conducted by South Africa or Israel.
Churchill & The Generals broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of BBC2's Time Out Of Mind broadcast.
The first episode of BBC2's Jacqueline Du Pré Masterclass broadcast. Robin Day presented the first episode of Question Time. Gang Of Four's Entertainment! and Buzzcock's Singles Going Steady released.
The first episode of BBC2's The Camerons broadcast. U2's debut EP, Three released. Francis Leroi's Déculottez-Vous Mesdemoiselles (aka Pensionat Heißblütiger Teens - starring Marilyn Jess and Dominique Saint Claire - premiered.
Judy Raines' Fat and the first episode of Shirley Williams In Conversation broadcast. The first episodes of BBC2's Of Gods & Men and Bloomers broadcast.
The first episode of Friday Night, Saturday Morning broadcast on BBC2. The Undertones' 'You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?)'/'Let's Talk About Girls', Dave Edmunds' 'Queen Of Hearts'/'The Creature From The Black Lagoon', The Skids' 'Charade'/'Grey Parade', Lene Lovich's 'Bird Song'/'Trixi', The New York Blondes Featuring Madame X's 'Little GTO'/'Holocaust On Sunset Boulevard', Nostromo's 'Alien'/'Around The World In Eighty Seconds' and Buzzcocks' 'You Say You Don't Love Me'/'Raison D'etre' released.
The first episode of Shirley Bassey broadcast. The Pope arrived in Ireland for a Papal Visit. The dictator Francisco Macias of Equatorial Guinea was shot extremely dead by soldiers from Western Sahara. The first episode of Breakaway - presented by Barry Norman - broadcast on Radio 4.
The first episodes of To The Manor Born, Shoestring, Roadshow Info and Propaganda With Facts and Roots: The Next Generation broadcast. Robert Hughes's profile of Caravaggio, Masters Of The Baroque broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Reputations - The Lost Prime Minister focused on Hugh Gaitskell - broadcast. The first UK TV showing of The Magic Christian. The first episode of The Food Programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Michael Palin featured on Radio 1's Star Special.

The three thousandth episode of Jackanory featured Bernard Cribbins, Maurice Denham, Jan Francis and David Wood reading The Lord Of The Rings. The first episode of Roadshow Disco (featuring Linda Lewis and The Olympic Runners) broadcast. Michael Moorcock was interviewed on BBC2's Time Out Of Mind. Soho After Dark broadcast. The first of a series of seven rapes was committed in Santa Barbara by a perpetrator named 'The Original Night Stalker' by the media. The rapes continued until 1986. In 2018, Joseph DeAngelo was arrested for his activities as 'The Golden State Killer' and was also connected to these - and other, earlier - crimes.
The Specials featured on The Old Grey Whistle Test performing 'Stupid Marriage', 'Too Much Too Young' and 'A Message To You Rudi'. The Teardrop Explodes' first John Peel Show session ('Brave Boys Keep Their Promises', 'Ha! Ha! I'm Drowning', 'Went Crazy', 'Chance') broadcast. Pope John Paul II arrived in New York where he addressed the UN General Assembly against all forms of concentration camps and torture. Bob Marley & The Wailer' Survival and The Police's Regatta De Blanc - the last half-way decent record that Sting would ever be involved in - were released.
The first episode of Grandad broadcast. A Look At Liv broadcast on BBC2.
Russell Mulcahy's Derek & Clive Get The Horn - premiered. 'Whales are fucking stupid. Can you mention one whale in the history of mankind that's had a record in the top ten?'
Joe Jackson's I'm The Man, The Stranglers' 'Nuclear Device (Wizard Of Aus)'/'Yellowcake UF Six', The Sex Pistols' 'The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle'/'Rock Around The Clock', The Art Attacks' 'Punk Rock Stars'/'Rat City', Queen's 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'/'We Will Rock You', Linton Kwesi Johnson's 'Sonny's Lettah (Anti-SUS Poem)'/'Iron Bar Dub', Mods 79's 'Green Onions'/'High On Your Love', The Precisions' 'Such Misery'/'A Lovers Plea', Carol Anderson's 'Sad Girl'/'I'll Get Off At The Next Stop', The Capreez's 'How To Make A Sad Man Glad'/'It's Good To Be Home Again', Larry Clinton's 'She's Wanted In Three States'/'If I Knew', Morris Chestnut's 'Too Darn Soulful'/'You Don't Love Me Anymore', The Destiny Orchestra's 'Spring Rain'/The Sharonettes 'Sugar Dumpling' and The Selecter's 'On My Radio'/'Too Much Pressure' released. Blake Edwards' 10 - starring Dudley Moore and Bo Derek - released.
BBC2's Something Else featured The Specials (performing 'Monkey Man' and 'It's Up To You') and dub poet Linton Kwasi Johnson.
The first episode of Andrew Davies' The Legend Of King Arthur broadcast. Joan Bakewell At The Bookmakers broadcast on BBC2.
Joy Division's 'Transmission'/'Novelty', The Specials' 'A Message To You Rudy'/'Nite Klub' and the Monty Python's Life of Brian soundtrack released.
The first episode of Mainstream broadcast. The first episode of BBC2's The Living City broadcast.
Guido Pieters' Kort Amerikaans - starring Derek de Lint, Tingue Dongelmans and Joop Admiraal - premiered.
Neville Smith's Long Distance Information broadcast in the Play For Today strand.

The first episode of Penmarric broadcast. Harold Wilson guest-hosted Friday Night, Saturday Morning. The Skids' Days Of Europa, ABBA's 'Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (A Man After Midnight)'/'The King Has Lost His Crown', Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, The Damned's 'Smash It Up'/'Burglar', The Monks' 'Johnny B Rotten'/'Drugs In My Pocket', Public Image Limited's 'Memories'/'Another', Supertramp's 'Goodbye Stranger'/'Even In The Quietest Moments', Janis Ian's 'Fly Too High'/'Night Rains', Shelley Winters' 'Nine Times Out Of Ten (parts 1 & 2)' and The Human League's 'Empire State Human'/'Introducing' released. Near Guam, Typhoon Tip reached a record intensity of eight hundred and seventy millibars, the lowest pressure ever recorded at sea level. Thorbjörn Fälldin returned as Prime Minister of Sweden, replacing Ola Ullsten. Douglas Adams' novel of The Hitch-Hikers' Guide To The Galaxy published. Bruno Corbucci's Assassinio Sul Tevere - starring Tomas Milian, Marina Ripa di Meana and Roberta Manfredi - premiered.
Samuel Beckett's Happy Days broadcast on BBC2. Aswad and Inton Kwasi Johnson featured on Radio 1's In Concert. Blondie's Eat To The Beat released.
The first episode of Rising Stars broadcast. XTC featured in session on The John Peel Show.
The first episode of Not The Nine O'Clock News broadcast. The episode began with Kenny Everett - on the Parkinson set - telling viewers that he and the BBC had settled their old differences and that he had been invited back to front his own show 'so long as I don't say the word "pubes"!' He was promptly ejected by Chris Langham. A tsunami in Nice killed twenty three people.
England virtually guarantee their place in the summer's European Championship Finals by beating Northern Ireland five-one at Windsor Park. Trevor Francis and Tony Woodcock both scored twice with a Jimmy Nicholl own goal completing the rout. Fuzzy-permed Derby County midfielder Vic Moreland scored Ireland's goal from the penalty spot. Scotland drew one-all with Austria at Hampden Park, Archie Gemmill scoring for the hosts. The first episode of Donald Sinden's Discovering English Churches broadcast. A few weeks later, Sinden's overly mannered presentation style would be brilliant mocked by Griff Rhys Jones in an episode of Not The Nine O'Clock News. The Golden Gordon episode of Ripping Yarns broadcast. 'Eight-bloody-one!'
Stephen Lowe's Cries From A Watchtower broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Pete Walker's Home Before Midnight - starring James Aubrey, Alison Elliott, Mark Burns, Juliet Harmer and Richard Todd - premiered.
Madness's One Step Beyond, The Specials, Prince's eponymous debut LP, The Mekons' 'Work All Week'/'Unknown Wrecks', Sparks' 'Tryouts For The Human Race'/'Long Version', Sham 69's 'You're A Better Man Than I'/'Give A Dog A Bone', Horrorcomic's 'Jesus Crisis'/'Cut Your Throat', Showaddywaddy's 'A Night At Daddy Gees'/'I Appreciate The Job' and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' Damn The Torpedoes released.
Episode four of the Doctor Who story City Of Death achieved the popular long-running family SF drama's highest ever audience for a single episode - over sixteen million viewers. Although, it's worth remembering that ITV were still on strike at the time. Secret Affair and The Purple Hearts featured on a properly Mod Revival-tastic In Concert on Radio 1.
In An Ideal World broadcast on BBC2. Russell Mael featured on Radio 1's Star Special.
The Human League's Reproduction and The Tourists' Reality Effect released. The first John Peel Show session of The Selecter and the second by The Specials broadcast (the latter featured 'Rude Boys Outta Jail', 'Rat Race' and the only studio recording of 'The Skinhead Symphony In Three Movements').
The first episode of Terry & June broadcast. Roundabouts, David Pritchard's documentary about the Newcastle Hoppings broadcast on BBC2. On ITV's first night back on-air after the lengthy strike, the opening episode of Nigel Kneale's Quatermass - starring John Mills - broadcast.
Trevor Griffiths' Comedians broadcast in the Play For Today strand. The final episode of Fawlty Towers - Basil The Rat - and fifth and final episode of Bloomers broadcast on BBC2. Six episodes had been planned for the latter but Richard Beckinsale's death occurred before filming. The Comsat Angels were in session on The John Peel Show ('Total War Girl', 'Independence Day', 'Baby', 'Ju-Ju Money').
Open House At Pebble Mill was simultaneously broadcast on BBC1 and Radio 2. The Jam's 'The Eton Rifles'/'See Saw', The Fall's Dragnet, Slade's 'Sign Of The Times'/'Not Tonight Josephine', Graham Fellows' 'Men Of Oats & Creosote'/'Rebecca', Doctor Feelgood's 'Put Him Out Of Your Mind'/'Bend Your Ear', Adrian Gurvitz's 'She's In Command'/'Love Space', The Adverts' 'Cast Of Thousands'/'I Will Walk You Home', The Commodores' 'Still'/'Such A Woman' and Madness's 'One Step Beyond'/'Mistakes' released. Park Chung-hee, the President of South Korea, was assassinated by KCIA director Kim Jae-gyu. Def Leppard featured on Radio 1's The Fridy Rock Show.
Members of the Legalise Cannabis Campaign presented BBC2's Open Door. The first episode of The Great Liners broadcast. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gained independence from Britain. The first issue of Viz comic was published in Newcastle. Norifumi Suzuki's Dabide No Hoshi: Bishôjo-Gari premiered.
A Taste Of Hunger broadcast. Pete Seeger On The Hudson broadcast on BBC2. The first episode of Sally Ann and the first UK broadcast of Mrs Columbo on LWT.
The first episode of The Mathis Collection broadcast on BBC2. Killing Joke's first John Peel Show session ('Pssyche', 'Wardance', 'Nuclear Boy', 'Malicious Boogie') broadcast. The first episodes of Minder - Gunfight At The OK Launderette - and Only When I Laugh - A Bed With A View - broadcast on Thames.
The first episode of BBC2's The Mike Harding Show broadcast. Martin Webster of The National Front was found very guilty of inciting racial hatred.
Day Out broadcast on BBC2. Roman Polanski's adaptation of Tess - starring Nastassja Kinski and Peter Firth - premiered in Paris.
Even Solomon broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Wednesday's Child, China Chopper and the first episode of Diamonds In The Sky broadcast on BBC2. The government announced three-and-a-half billion knicker in public spending cuts and an increase in prescription charges. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged the Iranian people to take part in a day on demonstration on 4 November and to 'expand attacks' on United States and Israeli interests. Production began on Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
The first episode of In The Country broadcast on BBC2. Franc Roddam's Quadrophenia - starring Phil Daniels, Leslie Ash, Toyah Wilcox, Phil Davis, Mark Wingett, Sting and Ray Winstone - and Tarka The Otter premiered. French police shot dead the gangster Jacques Mesrine in Paris. The Damned's Machine Gun Etiquette, John Cooper Clarke's 'Splat/Twat'/'Sleepwalk', Real Thing's 'Give Me Your Love'/'You Can't Force The Funk', Josef K's 'Chance Meeting'/'Romance', The Agents' 'Trouble'/'The Love I Hold', The Planets' 'Iron For The Iron'/'Ball & Chain', The Psychedelic Furs' 'We Love You'/'Pulse', The Ruts' 'Jah War'/'I Ain't Sofisticated', The Duplicates' 'I Want To Make You Very Happy'/'Call Of The Faithful', Pointed Sticks' 'Out Of Luck'/'What Do You Want Me To Do?', 'Somebody's Mom' and The Cure's 'Jumping Someone Else's Train'/'I'm Cold' released. Assata Shakur (formerly Joanne Chesimard), an ex-member of The Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, escaped from a New York prison to Cuba. Tyne Tees broadcast a documentary on The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again. Jasper Carrott In America broadcast on LWT.
Jim Watt successfully defending his World Lightweight title, stopping Robert Vásquez in the ninth round. Siouxsie & The Banshees performed 'Love In A Void' on Something Else. In Greensboro, North Carolina, five members of the American Communist Workers Party were shot to death and seven more were wounded by a group of Klansmen and Neo-Nazi scum, during a 'Death to the Klan' rally.

The first episode of Elaine Morgan's acclaimed adaptation of Testament Of Youth - starring Cheryl Campbell - broadcast on BBC2. America thrashed Great Britain in The Weightman Cup. Britain had sent their strongest team in years - Virginia Wade, Sue Barker, Anne Hobbs, Jo Durie and Debbie Jevans - to defend the title which they won two years earlier. They ended up on the receiving end of a seven-nil hiding and won only one set in two days of competition. The really embarrassing aspect was they weren't even facing the strongest side the US could have put out. Billie Jean King was missing, though it said something about how much the American women wanted to win back the title that Chris Evert-Lloyd climbed out of a sickbed to play. In Tehran, a crowd of zealot students occupied the US Embassy and took over one hundred Americans hostages demanding that the deposed Shah, currently in New York, be returned to Iran to stand trial of his naughty ways. Ayatollah Khomeini warned: 'Those who support the United States which has given refuge to that corrupt germ will be confronted.' Twelve Klansmen were charged with murder after the killings during the anti-Ku-Klux-Klan demonstration in Greensboro. Escaped IRA bomber Michael O'Rourke, wanted for questioning over the murder of Louis Mountbatten, was arrested by the FBI in Philadelphia. MP Terence Higgins demanded to know why staff at the DHSS Child Benefit centre in Washington 'seemed so reluctant to answer the telephone.' Tony Benn accused the media of 'conditioning and brainwashing' the British people. He claimed that the BBC was 'being used as an instrument to bulldoze Labour into accepting a capitalist economy.' Paul McCartney announced that Wings would tour Britain for the first time in four years. Miniskirts were reported to be coming back into fashion but, according to the designer Aristos Constantinou, British girls were 'too fat to wear them.' The Police's 'Walking On The Moon'/'Visions Of The Night' released.
Barry Norman previewed Monty Python's Life Of Brian on Film 79. Dana, Firework Fiesta and the first episode of The Magic Of Dance broadcast on BBC2. The Beat's first John Peel Show session ('Tears Of A Clown', 'Mirror In The Bathroom', 'Ranking Full Stop', 'Click Click', 'Big Shot') and The Jam's third ('Thick As Thieves', 'The Eton Rifles', 'Saturday's Kids', 'When You're Young') broadcast.

The first episode of Kiss The Girls & Make Them Cry broadcast. The Human League made their first BBC TV appearance on Mainstream performing 'The Path Of Least Resistance' and 'Empire State Human', introduced by Andy Batten-Foster (sporting an outrageous outrageous ginger Afro). The Damned performed 'Smash It Up' and 'I Just Can't Be Happy Today' on The Old Grey Whistle Test, introduced by a clearly nervous Annie Nightingale ('you must bear in mind these studios are haunted by The Who!') Not The Nine O'Clock News featured the legendary punk rock parody 'Gob On You'. In Montevideo, the International Olympic Committee adopted a resolution that Taiwan would participate under the name Chinese Taipei in future Olympic Games and international sports tournaments and championships so as not to upset the Chinese.
The first episode of The Enchanted Castle broadcast. School Play broadcast in BBC2's Playhouse strand. Senator Ted Kennedy announced that he would challenge President Jimmy Carter for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination.
Peter McDougall's Just A Boy's Game broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Monty Python's Life Of Brian premiered in the UK. The religious satire drew accusations of blasphemy and protests from various sick religious nutters eager to get themselves a bit of publicity. Mary Whitehouse and some people you've never heard of, pamphleteered and picketed locations where the local cinema was screening the film, a campaign which was, subsequently, felt to have boosted publicity for the movie. To counter the mounting protests, an ingenious radio advertising campaign was launched featuring the mothers of John Cleese and Terry Gilliam. Muriel Cleese claimed that if the film didn't do well as her son was on a percentage she may well be evicted from her nice retirement home and that the move may kill her! She won an award for the advert. Thirty-nine local authorities either imposed an outright ban, or enforced an X certificate, effectively preventing the film from being shown, since the distributors said it could not be shown unless it was unedited and carried the original AA certificate. There is even a - probably apocryphal - story of one council banning the film even though the area did not have a cinema in which it could be shown. Some countries, including Ireland and Norway, banned showings entirely, with some of these bans lasting for decades (long after the film had been shown on television in some cases). The filmmakers used such notoriety to benefit their marketing campaign with, for example, posters in Sweden read: 'So funny, it was banned in Norway!' Anthony Harvey's Wagle's Wing - starring Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, Harvey Keitel and Stéphane Audran - premiered.
The first episode of Richard Stilgoe broadcast on BBC2. Although, sadly, not the last.

Nuclear Nightmares broadcast. In a notorious episode of Friday Night Saturday Morning, hosted by Tim Rice, a discussion was held about Monty Python's Life of Brian featuring John Cleese and Michael Palin and Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark Mervyn Stockwood, a right pair of dodgy hypocritical gangsters who could've done with a damned good punching live on-air, frankly. Sadly, this did not occur. The show began affably enough, with Cleese and Palin talking to Rice - the lyricist of Jesus Christ Superstar which had also been accused of 'blasphemy' a decade earlier. Then Stockwood and Muggeridge arrived and things got nasty. Cleese and Palin's protestations that the film was about the abuse of faith, not about faith itself were ignored and sneered at. Muggeridge claimed 'Christianity had been responsible for more good in the world than any other force in history.' Cleese asked 'what about the Spanish Inquisition?' Tragically, neither Muggeridge or Stockwood replied 'no one expects them.' The studio audience appeared to be largely on the side of the Pythons throughout, especially when Cleese said, 'four hundred years ago, we would have been burned for this film. Now, I'm suggesting that we've made an advance.' According to Palin - who appeared about as angry as anyone had ever seen him - the Bishop was 'outrageously dismissing any points we made.' The debate ended with the Bishop saying 'you'll get your thirty pieces of silver.' Palin later noted: 'It turned out, after the show, that they'd missed the first fifteen minutes of the film, they'd been having a nice lunch.' Backstage, according to Palin, he met Raymond Johnston from the Nationwide Festival of Light, a prominent Christian group which had been campaigning to have Life Of Brian banned. Johnston was extremely complimentary to Palin, saying that he had been 'embarrassed' by the performances of the Bishop and Muggeridge. A week later, Not The Nine O'Clock News brilliantly sent the whole fiasco up with their General Synod's Life Of Python sketch. BBC2 broadcast The Jacksons Live At The Rainbow. The Carl Bridgewater murder trial ended with all four men found guilty. James Robinson and Vincent Hickey were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. Michael Hickey was also found guilty of murder and sentenced to indefinite detention. Patrick Molloy was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to twelve years. Two decades later, all four had their convictions overturned, albeit that a bit late for Molloy who had died in prison. The NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Centre in Fort Ritchie, Maryland, detected an apparent massive Soviet nuclear strike. Strategic Air Command was notified, nuclear bombers prepared for take-off and intercontinental ballistic missile (crews were placed on alert. However, after reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early-warning radars, the alert was cancelled). Blondie's 'Union City Blue'/'Living In The Real World', The Pretenders' 'Brass In Pocket'/'Swinging London', 'Nervous But Shy', The Boomtown Rats' 'Diamond Smiles'/'Late Last Night', Purple Hearts' 'Frustration'/'Extraordinary Sensations', Jigsaw's 'Looking For Me'/'Every Move You Make', Bizarre's 'Let Me Fill Your World With Love'/'You're A Fantasy', The Lurkers' 'New Guitar In Town'/'Little Ole Wine Drinker Me', Sammy Hagar's 'This Planet's On Fire (Burn In Hell)'/'Space Station Number Five', Electric Light Orchestra's 'Confusion'/'Last Train To London', Styx's 'Babe'/'I'm OK' and The Pop Group's 'We Are All Prostitutes'/'Amnesty International Report On British Army Torture Of Irish Prisoners' released as, for the first time in the UK, was Frank Wilson's 1965 recording 'Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)'/'Sweeter As The Days Go By' on Tamla-Motown. Mark Rydell's The Rose (starring Bette Midler) premiered.

Dexy's Midnight Runners' debut single, 'Dance Stance'/''I'm Just Looking', released. The first episode of Two People broadcast on LWT.
The last episode of the first series of To the Manor Born on BBC1 attracted an audience of just under twenty four million viewers. The first episode of Illusions Of Reality broadcast. Point, Counterpoint and the World About Us film Afro-Rock broadcast on BBC2. In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, President Carter ordered a halt to all oil imports into the United States from Iran. The first episodes of Quest Of Eagles - featuring the TV debut of Gina McKee - and The Glums broadcast on LWT.
The first UK broadcast of Pearl. Rhythm On Two featured a performance by Humphrey Lyttleton and his band.
GF Newman's Billy broadcast in the Play For Today strand. The Skids and The Police appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test. The Times was published for the first time in almost a year after a dispute between management and unions over staffing levels and new technology. The Miners Union rejected a twenty per cent pay increase and threatened to go on strike until they got their desired pay rise of sixty five per cent. Arthur Scargill said something. Probably. Richard Mailer's Go Your Own Way - starring Robin Byrd and Clea Carson - premiered.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour was repeated in BBC2's Playhouse strand. President Carter issued an Executive Order freezing all Iranian assets in the United States in response to the hostage crisis. Vauxhall launched its first-ever front-wheel drive cars - the Astra range of hatchbacks and estates - to compete in the growing family hatchback sector. It replaced the traditional rear-wheel drive Viva saloon, which had been produced in three incarnations since 1963. Initial production of the Astra took place at the Opel factory in West Germany.
The first episode of Kelly Montieth broadcast on BBC2. The art historian and former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, Anthony Blunt's role as the 'fourth man' of the 'Cambridge Five' double agents for the NKVD was revealed by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons. Thatcher gave further details of his naughty spying ways on 21 November. Live coverage of the Miss World contest was abandoned by the BBC when sound engineers refused to work. The parade of the contestants in their national costumes and each of the entrants in their evening wear had been recorded the night before, so this was televised, followed - later in the evening - with the crowning of the winner with mute pictures, narrated by Ray Moore. An unscheduled repeat of the movie Futtocks End was televised to bridge the two segments. Writing in the Observer, Clive James likened the results to viewers being 'given a lolly to suck.'
The first UK broadcast of Monkey on BBC2. Friday Night, Saturday Morning featured a performance by the Cambridge Footlights, marking the TV debuts of Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Robert Bathurst and Simon McBurney. Peter Cook also appeared. Paul McCartney's 'Wonderful Christmastime'/'Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae', The Police's 'Walking On The Moon'/'Visions Of The Night', The Skids' 'Working For The Yankee Dollar'/'Vanguard's Crusade', Child's 'The Shape I'm In'/'Where Would We Go?', The Three Degrees' 'My Simple Heart'/'Hot Summer Night', Dave Edmunds' 'Crawling From The Wreckage'/'As Lovers Do', The Damned's 'I just Can't Be Happy Today'/'Ballroom Blitz', 'The Turkey Song' and The Regents' '7Teen'/'Hole In The Heart' released.
The ballet Adam's Rib featuring Wayne Sleep broadcast on BBC2. The Jam's Setting Sons released. Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of thirteen female and African American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.
Beecham broadcast on BBC2. Hot Chocolate Special broadcast on Radio 1.
UB40 appeared on Mainstream. A group of two hundred Juhayman al-Otaybi militants occupied Mecca's Masjid al-Haram Mosque, the holiest shrine in Islam. They were driven out by French commandos (allowed into the city under special circumstances despite being non-Muslims) after bloody fighting which left two hundred and fifty people dead and over six hundred wounded. The Word's 'The Naz'/'Cast Your Bread' released.
Henry Kissinger appeared on Parkinson. The Brylcream Boys broadcast in BBC2's Playhouse strand. After false radio reports from Ayatollah Khomeini that the Americans had occupied the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the United States Embassy in Islamabad was attacked by a mob and set afire, killing four. Scotland lost their European Championship Qualifer two-nil to Belgium in Brussels. Davey Provan of Glasgow Celtic made his international debut. The first episode of The Dick Francis Thriller: The Racing Game broadcast on Thames.
Roy Jenkins MP gave the annual Richard Dimbleby Lecture. Andrew Carr's Instant Enlightenment, Including VAT broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Over There broadcast in BBC2's Premiere strand. The first episode of Maestro broadcast. Glenn Hoddle of Tottenham Hotspur scored on his England debut in a two-nil over Bulgaria in a European Championship Qualifier at Wembley which was played twenty four hours after originally planned due to fog. Dave Watson scored the other goal and Norwich City's Kevin Reeves also made his England debut. Kevin Keegan had been due to captain the England team, but the twenty four-hour postponement resulted in him having to return to Hamburg. Neil Leifer's Yesterday's Hero - starring Ian McShane, Suzanne Somers, Adam Faith, Paul Nicholas, Sam Kydd and Glynis Barber - premiered.
King Of The Channel and the first episode of Better Badminton broadcast on BBC2. Public Image Limited's Metal Box, The Yachts' 'Now I'm Spoken For'/'Secret Agents', UK Subs' 'She's Not There', 'Kicks'/'Victim', 'The Same Thing', Michael Jackson's 'Off The Wall'/'Working Day & Night', Patrick Hernandez & Hervé Tholance's 'You Turn Me On'/'It Comes So Easy', Tommy Hunt's 'Never Can Say Goodbye'/'Sign On The Dotted Line', 'You Got Me Up There', Darts' 'Reet Petite'/'Honey Bee', Shalamar's 'The Second Time Around'/'Leave It All Up To Love', Bunk Dogger's 'Please Don't Tease'/'Magazine Articles', Rachel Sweet's 'Baby Let's Play House'/'Wildwood Saloon' and The Stranglers' 'Don't Bring Harry', 'Wired'/'Crabs', 'In The Shadows' released. In Dublin, Thomas McMahon of the Provisional IRA was sentenced to life for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.
The Rajah's Diamond broadcast on BBC2. John le Carré's Smiley's People published. Colin Finbow's The Custard Boys - starring Chris Chescoe, Eric Milliet, Ben Clennell and Andrew Atkinson - premiered.
Ian Curteis' Suez 1956 broadcast. The last cargo of phosphate was shipped from Banaba Island.
Alan Plater's The Eddystone Lights broadcast in the Horizon strand. Tom Paxton appeared on Rhythm On Two.
The first UK broadcast of Time Express. Henry Lincoln's sequel to 1974's The Priest, The Painter & The Devil, The Shadow Of The Templars broadcast in BBC2's Chronicle strand. Spizzenergi appeared in session on The John Peel Show (including a splendid version of 'Where's Captain Kirk?')
Mister Swan's Electric Light and Nancy broadcast on BBC2. David Snodin's An Affinity With Doctor Still broadcast in the Playhouse strand. Air New Zealand Flight 901 crashed into Mount Erebus in Antarctica, killing all two hundred and fifty seven people on board .
A Hole In Babylon, Horace Ové and Jim Hawkins' drama about the 1975 Spaghetti House siege broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Platform One featured an interview with Private Eye editor Richard Ingrams. Clive Exton's Henry Intervening broadcast in BBC2's Premiere strand.
The first episode of BBC2's The Rainhill Story broadcast. Pink Floyd's The Wall, Gary Numan's 'Complex'/'Bombers', New Musik's 'Living By Numbers'/'Sad Films', Squeeze's 'Christmas Day'/'Going Crazy', KC & The Sunshine Band's 'Please Don't Go'/'I Betcha Didn't Know That', Bob Marley & The Wailers' 'Survival'/'Wake Up & Live', Jona Lewie's 'God Bless Whoever Made You'/'Feeling Stupid' and Paul Nicholas' 'Yesterday's Hero'/'Shooting Star' released.

BBC2 unveiled the world's first computer-generated television presentation symbol.
Toyah Wilcox and her band appeared in the Find The Lady episode of Shoestring. The Virgin & The Red Flag broadcast. The Death Of Ivan Illyich broadcast in BBC2's A Question Of Faith strand.
Eleven fans were killed during a crowd crush for unreserved seats before The Who's concert at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. Ayatollah Khomeini became the first Supreme Leader of Iran. Kenneth Ockenden, a Canadian student on a tour of the UK, encountered the serial killer Dennis Nilsen in the Princess Louise pub in Holborn. He was escorted on a tour of London, before agreeing to accompany Nilsen to his flat. One of Nilsen's few victims who was reported as a missing person, Ockenden was strangled with the cord of Nilsen's headphones as he listened to a record.
The Hastie fire in Hull led to the deaths of three boys and began the hunt for Bruce George Peter Lee, the UK's most prolific killer.
Home-Movies broadcast in BBC2's Playhouse strand. Jack Lynch resigned as Taoiseach of Ireland; he was succeeded by Charles Haughey.
John Byrne's The Slab Boys broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Deasey (Desperate) - starring Bill Nighy - broadcast in BBC2's Premiere strand. The world premiere of Star Trek: The Motion Picture was held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington to rather mixed reviews but strong box office receipts. It launched a film franchise which would lead to thirteen films over the next thirty years. And, the creation of six spin-off television series based upon Gene Roddenberry's creation.
The first episode of David Bellamy's Up A Gum Tree broadcast. The Clash's 'London's Calling'/'Armagideon Time', The Beat's 'Tears Of A Clown'/'Ranking Full Stop', Holly & The Italians' 'Tell That Girl To Shut Up'/'Chapel Of Love', Harry H Corbett & The Kids' 'An Old Fashioned Christmas'/'Especially When You're Young', Throbbing Gristle's Twenty Jazz Funk Greats, Slade's 'Okey Cokey'/'My Baby's Got It', ABBA's 'I Have A Dream'/'Take A Chance On Me', Billy Hambric's 'She Said Goodbye'/'I Found True Love', The New Wanderers' 'This Man In Love'/'Adam & Eve', Laura Greene's 'Can't Help Loving Dat Man'/'It's A Good Day For A Parade' and Japan's Quiet Life released. Mick Jones and Paul Simonen were interviewed by Tommy Vance of Radio 1's The Friday Rock Show.
The Man America Forgot broadcast on BBC2. In Barrow's four-nil win at Kettering in the Alliance Premier League, Colin Cowperthwaite scored the opening goal after 3.55 seconds, direct from kick-off. At the time, was believed to be the fastest goal ever scored in profesional football. Colin, a Barrow legend who scored almost three hundred goals in his seven hundred appearances for the club, said: 'Mickey Taylor had just taken over as caretaker manager and before the game he was talking about the young keeper they had in and to test him early. So I did. He was way off his line so Mark Hubbold touched it forward and I struck it pretty well and it sailed in. It was one of those days as I scored four goals and won at cards on the way home!'
The first episode of William Trevor's adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop broadcast. Sebastian Coe won the Sports Personality of the Year award. Henry IV Part 1 broadcast in the BBC Television Shakespeare strand. The eradication of the smallpox virus was certified by the WHO.
Joy Division's second John Peel Show session ('Love Will Tear Us Apart', 'Twenty Four Hours', 'Colony', 'Sound Of Music') broadcast. William Arthur Lewis won the Nobel Prize in Economics with Theodore Schultz for their 'pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries.' Stunt motorcyclist Eddie Kidd performed an eighty foot jump at the River Blackwater in Maldon.

Michael Bentine appeared on The Sky At Night discussing UFOs with Patrick Moore. Madness performed 'Bed & Breakfast Man' and 'Night Boat To Cairo' on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Keith Waterhouse's Charlie Muffin broadcast on LWT.
The first episode of Robinson's Travels broadcast. Sweet Wine Of Youth broadcast in BBC2's Playhouse strand. Following a Coup d'état, South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan ordered the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorisation from President Choi Kyu-hah, alleging involvement in the assassination of former-President Park Chung-hee.
Ian Cullen and John Norton's Katie: The Year Of A Child broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Story Without A Hero broadcast in BBC2's Premiere strand.
Doubts were raised over the convictions of the four men in the Carl Bridgewater case after Hubert Spencer was charged with murdering seventy-year-old farmer Hubert Wilkes at a farmhouse less than half-a-mile away from where Carl was murdered. In February 1997, after almost two decades of imprisonment, the convictions were overturned and the three surviving defendants were released. Bridgewater's murder remains officially unsolved. The Clash's London Calling, The Piranhas' 'Space Invaders'/'Cheap 'N' Nasty', General Assembly's 'Sensitive Mind'/'Lovin' Time', Connie Laverne's 'A House For Sale'/The Chantelles 'Runaway', Tamala Lewis' 'You Won't Say Nothing'/'If You Can Stand Me', John Drevars' 'The Closer She Gets'/The Montons 'The Snapper', De-Lites' 'Lover'/'Do The Zombie', Miss Dee Dee's 'On A Magic Carpet Ride'/Russell Harness 'At The Disco (Strings A Go-Go)', Michael O'Brien's 'Made In Germany'/'The Queen Likes Pop', Carol Kay's 'Stop & You'll Become Aware'/'Messin' Me Around' and David Bowie's 'John, I'm Only Dancing Again (1975)'/'John, I'm Only Dancing (1972)' released. England's winter cricket tour of Australia began in Perth. Earlier in the year, Mike Brearley's men had thrashed an Australian side devoid of its star players who had defected to Kerry Packer's World Series. Now, with peace having broken out between the cricket authorities and Packer, England's cricket board had refused to grant the hastily-arranged three-test series Ashes status. The series was only one day old when Dennis Lillee walked to the crease carrying an aluminium bat. And, then all hell broke loose! Göran Graffman's Du är Inte Klok, Madicken - starring Jonna Liljendahl, Liv Alsterlund, Monica Nordquist, Björn Granath, Lis Nilheim and Birgitta Andersson - premiered.
John Denver & The Muppets broadcast. The Specials and The Selecter featured on Radio 1's In Concert.
Cobbett: Horseman Of The South broadcast. Richard Rodgers: The Sound Of His Music broadcast on BBC2.
The first episode of Reputations broadcast on BBC2. PIL's first John Peel Show session broadcast.
Spike Milligan appeared on Jackanory reading Help! I'm A Prisoner In A Toothpaste Factory. The first episode of A Kind Of Childhood broadcast on BBC2. Otto Preminger's The Human Factor - starring Richard Attenborough and Derek Jacobi - premiered.
RentaSanta broadcast. Speed King broadcast in BBC2's Playhouse strand. The Specials were filmed at Colchester Poly for Rock Goes To College. The resulting gig - possibly the best the band ever played - was broadcast on BBC2 on 21 January 1980. Kramer Versus Kramer and Peter Sellers' final movie, Being There released. Australia won the first - non-Ashes - test by one hundred and thirty eight runs. Graham Dilley made his test debut. Match highlights included a century for Alan Border and ninety nines for Kim Hughes and Geoff Boycott. Ian Botham took eleven wickets. Australia's second innings included the unique dismissal Lillie, caught Willey, bowled Dilley. François Van Der Elst scored twice as Belgium gave Scotland a footballing lesson at Hampden Park in a European Championship Qulaifier winning three-one. John Robertson scored Scotland's consolation. Diundee United's Eamonn Bannon made his international debut.
Stephen Fagan's The Network broadcast in the Play For Today strand. Ian Kennedy Martin's Weekend broadcast in BBC2's Premiere strand. The government published The Housing Bill which gave council house tenants the right to buy their homes. Bob Fosse's All That Jazz released.
BBC2's Christmas With The Beatles season began with the first UK broadcast of The Magical Mystery Tour since 1967. On Subsequent evenings, Help!, The Beatles At Shea Stadium, Yellow Submarine, A Hard Day's Night and Let It Be were shown. A ceasefire in the Rhodesian civil war was signed at London. Madness' 'My Girl'/'Stepping Into Line' released.
The first appearance of The Nimon in Doctor Who. The Skids and The Rezillos appeared on Something Else.
The first UK TV showing of The Poseidon Adventure. Schalcken The Painter broadcast. Henry V broadcast in the BBC Television Shakespeare strand.
The first episode of What A Mess, A Star For My Son and Round Robin broadcast. Wally K Daly's Follow The Star and Alan Price In Concert broadcast on BBC2. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and Babrak Karmal replaced the executed former President Hafizullah Amin. The launch of Ariane One, the first rocket in the Ariane family took place.
The first UK TV showings of The Sting and Cabaret (on BBC2). Christmas With Eric & Ernie broadcast on Thames.
The first UK TV showing of Where Eagles Dare. Because, nothing says Christmas better than Dickie and Clint machine-gunning Nazis? The Boxing Day special of Dave Allen At Large began with a memorable parody of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and concluded with Dave asking the audience 'what did they have to do to you lot to get you here?' In Rhodesia, ninety six Patriotic Front guerrillas entered the capital, Salisbury, to monitor the ceasefire which was to began on 28 December. The Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea were held over four nights at the Hammersmith Odeon to raise funds for victims of the civil war in Cambodia. The Who, The Clash, Paul McCartney & Wings, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Rockpile, The Pretenders, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, The Specials, members of Led Zeppelin and pompous overblown bores The Queen Group all took part. The Dick Emery Special broadcast on Thames.
Leave Him To Heaven broadcast on BBC2. Tomorrow's World Looks Back At The 70s broadcast.
The Kate Bush special Kate, Not The Least Of Not The Nine O'Clock News and The Bobby Bare Music Show broadcast on BBC2. The first UK TV showing of Sleuth. Bee Gees' 'Spirits (Having Flown)'/'Wind Of Change' released.
Hypnotist Martin St James appeared on Parkinson. The Jam featured on Radio 1's In Concert (a properly incendiary set recorded at The Rainbow Theatre earlier in December and finally released on CD in 2002).
Saint Joan and Iain Johnstone's profile of Clint Eastwood, A Man With No Name broadcast. The first UK TV showing of Don't Look Now. Suzi Quatro featured on Radio 1's Star Special. Robert Offerman and Debra Alexandra Manning were found shot dead at Offerman's condominium in Goleta, Santa Barbara. It would be 2018 before the murderer, Joseph DeAngelo, was arrested.
The first UK TV showing of Murder On The Orient Express. The Seventies Stops Here broadcast. Blondie's concert at the Glasgow Apollo was simultcast on BBC2 and Radio 1, complete with Clem Burke wearing an outrageous gold lame suit. The first episode of The Ravalled Thread and The "Will Kenny Everett Make It To 1980?" Show broadcast on Thames.