Royal spy revelations and China rejoins Olympics: 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
An artist chopping off two fingers for art, an angry patient chasing his doctor on a scooter and a Russian spy believed to be related to the British royal family made the headlines four decades ago this week.
November 25, 1979
● The city of San Francisco was found in civil contempt of court for not having had enough bilingual Chinese translation officers at the precincts during the November 6, 1979 election. US District Judge Cecil Poole said the city had violated a court order issued a year before to protect the rights of non-English-speaking citizens at the polls.
November 26, 1979
● Self-confessed Soviet spy Anthony Blunt was a distant relative of the British royal family, The Sunday Times revealed in the latest twist to the espionage scandal surrounding the queen’s former art adviser. It also claimed that Blunt performed a secret mission for King George VI in 1945. According to the paper, King George sent Blunt to recover letters written by Queen Victoria from a castle near Frankfurt. It claimed that the king feared publication of the letters and others written by his mother, Queen Mary, if they fell into American hands.
