Remember A Day | A drunken royal sailor, a presidential killing, and a proposal for a five-day working week: headlines from 40 years ago

Prince Andrew being called a “drunken lout” and Sydney bus mechanics complaining about well-made buses grabbed the headlines 40 years ago this week. October 28, 1979 ● South Korean President Park Chung-hee was shot dead the night before by the head of his spy agency in a bizarre gun battle in a Seoul restaurant. Park was hit by a bullet fired by Director of Korean Central Intelligence Agency, Kim Jae-kyu, during a private dinner hosted by Kim. An official statement said Kim opened fire while he was engaged in “an accidental clash” with chief of presidential security forces, Cha Chi-choi, who together with four others were also killed in the clash. ● There was a degree of intentional neglect at the Vietnamese refugee camp in Chi Ma Wan. The accusation was made by Derek Maitland, founding organiser of the Hope newspaper which dealt mainly with the Vietnamese refugee situation in Hong Kong. October 29, 1979 ● Two boys joined face-to-face from the neck to the upper abdomen died three days after they were born. The Minneapolis Children’s Health Centre in the US said the cause of death was cardio-respiratory problems. The hospital said that diagnostic tests had determined the identical Siamese twins could not have survived, either joined or separated. ● South Korean President Park Chung-hee was murdered by his intelligence chief in a planned attack, the country’s Martial Law Command disclosed. The revelation ended nearly 48 hours of speculation over the circumstances surrounding Park’s death, which was originally called an accident. A military spokesman said Kim Jae-kyu, director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, had decided to kill Park, 62, because he feared that he would be dismissed following rumours of a Cabinet reshuffle. Kim had been reprimanded several times by the president for incompetence. A farmer with six ‘wives’, a mix-up of dead bodies and preparing for a space station crash October 30, 1979 ● A British unemployed accountant bundled his three sons into a car and drove over a 45-metre cliff after a family row, killing himself and the eldest boy. Arthur Howe, 46, who was separated from his wife, beat the eldest son, 17, with a hammer during an argument while they were on holiday in Torquay in southwest England. The other two boys, aged 10 and 15, survived. ● British leaders were expected to raise the issue of the future of Hong Kong in talks with China’s Chairman Hua Guofeng, during his London visit that week. Reports claimed that China “was believed to be thinking in terms of renewing the New Territories lease in 25-year stages” when it reached its expiration date in 1997. October 31, 1979 ● Sydney’s bus maintenance crew had complained that the city’s new 500 Mercedes-Benz bus fleet needed only a third as much maintenance as the existing Leyland vehicles they were replacing. As a result, they claimed the vehicles’ reliability threatened their jobs. Transport officials later reassured there were no plans to cut staff. November 1, 1979 ● Prince Andrew, son of Queen Elizabeth, was among a group of naval cadets who took part in a beer smuggling prank which had provoked a complaint to the British Ministry of Defence. Prince Andrew and his Dartmouth Naval College friends took part in a beer barrel smuggling contest against the rival Royal Naval Engineering College. Angry villagers of Buckland, where the prank was staged, called the cadets “drunken louts” and their actions “irresponsible” and “offensive”. ● A five-day working week for office workers was proposed at the Legislative Council. Legislator Leung Tat-shing said it would help increase productivity and improve staff morale. He also called on the government to take the lead by first extending its policy of giving civil servants alternate Saturdays off and eventually implementing a five-day work week. East German spy lovers, Prince Charles chased by a bikini model, and dead pigs on rails November 2, 1979 ● China increased domestic retail prices of major non-staple food items by as much as one-third. It also announced it would be lifting price controls on thousands of items to spur competition and boost the economy, which was evolving into a market-oriented model. To make up for the price rises, Beijing boosted the monthly wages of its 100 million city workforce by the equivalent of about HK$15. November 3, 1979 ● China had asked about sending equipment into orbit on board the US Space Shuttle when the reusable spacecraft was due to make its first operational flight in 1981. But Beijing had not yet paid the US$100,000 (about HK$500,000 at the time) deposit required to reserve space in the Shuttle’s spacious hold. The Shuttle, unlike other less advance aircraft, could land like a plane after its mission and be used again. Other foreign bookings had come from Canada, West Germany, India, Indonesia and Iran, a Nasa spokesman said. Remember A Day looks at significant news and events reported by the Post during this week in history

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Remember A Day | A drunken royal sailor, a presidential killing, and a proposal for a five-day working week: headlines from 40 years ago

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} A journey back through time to look at significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history

Remember A Day | A drunken royal sailor, a presidential killing, and a proposal for a five-day working week: headlines from 40 years ago

A journey back through time to look at significant news and events reported by the South China Morning Post from this week in history