50 Fun Facts About 1978

Which 1978 musical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John follows the seniors of Rydell High School?

Grease was the highest-grossing film of 1978 and took the record for biggest film musical from The Sound of Music, which had held it for 13 years.

Which comic strip created by Jim Davis made its debut in 41 American newspapers on June 19, 1978?

Garfield went on to hold the Guinness World Record as the world's most widely syndicated comic strip, running in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals by 2013.

Which arcade game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado did Taito release in Japan in the summer of 1978?

Space Invaders reached the rest of the world later that year through Midway, and its octopus-like aliens were inspired by the novel The War of the Worlds.

In which country was Louise Brown, the first baby conceived by IVF, born at Oldham General Hospital in July 1978?

Louise Brown was born in England after a procedure developed by Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy. Edwards won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the work.

Which cartoon character turned 50 in November 1978 and became the first to receive a Hollywood Walk of Fame star?

Mickey Mouse got his star in November 1978, fifty years after Steamboat Willie premiered at the Colony Theater in New York on November 18, 1928.

Which silent film legend's coffin was dug up and stolen from a Swiss cemetery in March 1978 and held for ransom?

Charlie Chaplin's coffin turned up that May, buried in a field in nearby Noville, after police caught the two men who had tried to extort money from his widow, Oona.

In which South American country did more than 900 followers of Jim Jones die at a remote commune in November 1978?

Guyana was also where US congressman Leo Ryan was shot dead at a nearby airstrip that day, as he tried to leave with members who wanted out.

Which country was the homeland of John Paul II, elected in October 1978 as the first non-Italian pope in 455 years?

Poland's Karol Wojtyła was the third man to hold the office in 1978, the first year of three popes since 1605.

Which boxer became the first three-time heavyweight champion by winning a September 1978 rematch at the Superdome?

Muhammad Ali outpointed Leon Spinks, who had taken the title from him seven months earlier in only his eighth professional fight.

Which film franchise spawned a 1978 CBS holiday special so widely panned that it has never been rebroadcast?

Star Wars creator George Lucas had little to do with the two-hour special, which aired just once, on November 17, 1978, and introduced Boba Fett in a cartoon segment.

Which then-unknown actor starred opposite Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman in the December 1978 film Superman?

Christopher Reeve refused to wear a padded muscle suit for the part and instead bulked up under David Prowse, the bodybuilder who wore Darth Vader's costume.

Which 1978 comedy starring John Belushi follows the misfit Delta fraternity at Faber College in 1962?

Animal House was filmed for only $3 million and took in more than $141 million, making it the highest-grossing comedy of its time.

Which 1978 Vietnam War drama starring Robert De Niro follows three steelworkers and won the Best Picture Oscar?

The Deer Hunter won five Oscars, including Best Director for Michael Cimino, and was the final film of John Cazale.

Which Woody Allen comedy won Best Picture at the April 1978 Oscars, a ceremony its director did not attend?

Annie Hall won four Oscars, including Best Actress for Diane Keaton, who was born Diane Hall and was nicknamed Annie.

Which CBS drama about the feuding, oil-rich Ewing family began as a five-part miniseries in April 1978?

Dallas ran for 14 seasons and became famous for its cliffhangers, above all the mystery of who had shot the scheming oil tycoon J.R.

Which comedian shot to fame in September 1978 as an alien from the planet Ork in the sitcom Mork & Mindy?

Robin Williams won the part by sitting on his head when asked to take a seat at his audition, and producer Garry Marshall cast him on the spot.

Which child actor played Arnold Jackson when the NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes premiered in November 1978?

Gary Coleman starred beside Todd Bridges as brothers from Harlem who are taken in by a wealthy Park Avenue businessman.

Which robot race hunts the human fleet in Battlestar Galactica, the ABC sci-fi saga that premiered in September 1978?

The Cylons debuted in a pilot budgeted at $8 million, one of the most expensive of its time. High costs and falling ratings ended the series after 24 episodes.

Off which country's coast did the tanker Amoco Cadiz run aground in March 1978, causing a then-record tanker spill?

France saw some 220,000 tonnes of crude foul the beaches of Brittany after a steering failure left the ship to drift onto the Portsall Rocks, where it split in three.

Which group dominated 1978 with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which led the US album chart for 24 straight weeks?

The Bee Gees won the Album of the Year Grammy for the soundtrack, which was the best-selling album in music history until Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Which costumed disco group released the single Y.M.C.A. on Casablanca Records in the autumn of 1978?

Village People singer Victor Willis wrote the song with producer Jacques Morali, who first had to ask him what the YMCA actually was.

Which Pasadena band's self-titled debut album, released in February 1978, includes the guitar instrumental Eruption?

Van Halen's debut peaked at only number 19, but guitarist Eddie's solo helped popularize two-handed tapping and is ranked among the greatest ever recorded.

Which 19-year-old topped the UK chart in March 1978 with a debut single based on an Emily Brontë novel?

Kate Bush became the first female artist to reach number one in the UK with a song she had written entirely by herself.

Which British rock band lost its drummer Keith Moon to a prescription drug overdose in London in September 1978?

The Who replaced him with Kenney Jones, formerly of the Faces. Moon had died in the Mayfair flat where Cass Elliot died four years earlier.

In which country did the Saur Revolution of April 1978 overthrow President Daoud Khan and bring communists to power?

Afghanistan's new rulers, the People's Democratic Party, aligned the country closely with Moscow, and the Soviet army invaded in December of the following year.

Which policy was at stake when the Supreme Court ruled for rejected medical school applicant Allan Bakke in June 1978?

Affirmative action survived the split ruling: the court struck down a quota of 16 reserved seats out of 100 but let race remain one of several factors in admissions.

Which singer recorded I Will Survive in 1978 as the B-side of a single called Substitute?

Gloria Gaynor's session band had only 35 minutes left to record the B-side, which went on to win the only Grammy ever awarded for Best Disco Recording.

Which rock band had all four of its members release solo albums on the same day in September 1978?

Kiss owed its label four solo records under a 1976 contract, each one counting as half an album toward the band's five-record commitment.

Which Minneapolis musician sang every vocal and played every instrument on his April 1978 debut album, For You?

Prince had signed with Warner Bros. as a teenager, and his perfectionism pushed the record's cost to $170,500, three times its original budget.

Which presidential retreat gave its name to the September 1978 accords between Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin?

Camp David hosted twelve days of secret talks in the Maryland hills, and the deal won the Egyptian and Israeli leaders that year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Which state's voters approved Proposition 13 in June 1978, a measure championed by Howard Jarvis to cut property taxes?

California passed the measure by nearly two to one, capping the tax at 1% of a property's assessed value and limiting yearly rises in that value to 2%.

Which San Francisco supervisor was shot dead at City Hall in November 1978 along with Mayor George Moscone?

Harvey Milk had served almost eleven months in office, long enough to sponsor a law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Which astronaut, one of the first six women NASA selected in January 1978, flew aboard Challenger in June 1983?

Sally Ride became the first American woman in orbit on that flight. Her class of 35 also included Guion Bluford, the first African American to get there.

Which Chinese leader was named Time magazine's Man of the Year for 1978 as he steered the country toward reform?

Deng Xiaoping won the title again in 1985 and was only the third Chinese figure Time had chosen, after Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling.

Which East Coast resort opened the first legal American casino outside Nevada in May 1978?

Atlantic City drew such crowds to Resorts International that people waited hours to get in after Governor Brendan Byrne cut the ribbon.

Which US president won two tight Senate votes in spring 1978 on treaties handing the Panama Canal to Panama?

Jimmy Carter saw both treaties approved by identical 68 to 32 margins, one vote more than the two-thirds needed, with the handover set for the last day of 1999.

In which country did the Red Brigades kidnap former prime minister Aldo Moro in March 1978 and later kill him?

Italy's search ended that May, when Moro's body was found in the boot of a Renault 4 left on via Caetani in Rome.

Which neighbor did Vietnam invade on Christmas Day 1978, driving Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge from power within two weeks?

Cambodia then spent a decade under Vietnamese occupation, with a pro-Vietnamese government set up in Phnom Penh in January 1979.

Which everyday item went up from 13 cents to 15 cents across the United States on May 29, 1978?

A first-class stamp printed for the change carried the letter A in place of a number, because it was made before the new rate had been settled.

Which host nation won its first football World Cup in June 1978 by beating the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time?

Argentina's Mario Kempes scored twice in the final in Buenos Aires and finished as the tournament's top scorer with six goals.

Which baseball team overcame a 14-game deficit in 1978, won a one-game playoff at Fenway Park and took the World Series?

The New York Yankees won that playoff 5–4 after a three-run go-ahead homer by light-hitting shortstop Bucky Dent, then beat the Dodgers in six games.

Which colt won the 1978 Triple Crown by beating his great rival Alydar into second place in all three races?

Affirmed was the eleventh Triple Crown winner, and no horse managed the sweep again for 37 years, until American Pharoah in 2015.

Which American won the 1978 Formula One world championship while driving for Lotus?

Mario Andretti took the title in the Lotus 79, a car dubbed Black Beauty, while his team-mate Ronnie Peterson finished second in the standings.

Which disease claimed its last recorded victim in September 1978, a photographer working at Birmingham's medical school?

Smallpox had last occurred naturally in Somalia in 1977. Janet Parker worked at a medical school whose microbiology department kept the virus for research.

Across which country did the nuclear-powered Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 scatter radioactive debris in January 1978?

Canada billed the Soviet Union more than six million dollars for the clean-up, known as Operation Morning Light, and was eventually paid three million.

Which everyday object reportedly fired the poison pellet that killed Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in 1978?

An umbrella jabbed Markov in the thigh as he waited for a bus by Waterloo Bridge on his way to work at the BBC, and he died four days later.

Which Ohio city, led by mayor Dennis Kucinich, defaulted on its loans in December 1978?

Cleveland was the first major American city to default since the Great Depression, after a bank called in its debts when the mayor refused to sell the municipal electric utility.

What was the hourly US federal minimum wage after the increase that took effect in January 1978?

$2.65 an hour was a 35-cent raise on the old $2.30 minimum, and the first of four yearly steps that took the federal rate to $3.35 by 1981.

Which ice cream company began in May 1978 as a single parlor in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont?

Ben & Jerry's founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, put up $12,000 and learned the trade from a Penn State correspondence course on ice cream making.

Which basketball great, who spent all 20 of his NBA seasons with the Lakers, was born in Philadelphia in August 1978?

Kobe Bryant, nicknamed the Black Mamba, was the son of NBA player Joe Bryant and was named an All-Star in only his second season.