Transvestite breastfeeding his daughter and soccer TV shows as cure for boredom of zoo monkeys: 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
A transvestite breastfeeding his infant daughter, zoo monkeys in Budapest getting a special cure for boredom, and a heartbroken mother hiding her dead son’s body for years made the headlines 40 years ago this week. February 17 was a non-publishing day due to Lunar New Year.
February 18, 1980
● China had entered the Lunar New Year of the Monkey amid calls for austerity from the government, who warned that wastage of any kind would be intolerable. In a front-page editorial in People’s Daily, the Communist Party called on the public, particularly high-level cadres, to adopt a “simple lifestyle”. The article further reaffirmed that extravagant banquets and presents paid for out of public funds would go against the goals of national construction.
● A team of Israeli diplomats arrived in Cairo to set up their country’s first embassy in an Arab nation. Led by senior official Yosef Hadass, the team would raise the Israeli flag over the embassy in the fashionable district of Dokki in Egypt.
February 19, 1980
● A mother, heartbroken by the death of her three-year-old son, wrapped his body in plastic, hid it in the attic of their home and fooled her family for four years that he was staying with friends, astonished police in Brussels revealed. The morbid discovery was made a week before when a policeman called at the family’s house in Antwerp, Belgium, and asked to speak to the child. The cause of death remained unclear.
British royal’s Hong Kong gaffe, Paul McCartney arrested: past headlines
● The Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan could have some hair-raising consequences for Britain’s wig manufacturing industry. According to a prominent London hair merchant, military operations against Afghan mountain tribesmen that year had seriously disrupted the supply of yak hair and mohair, both of which were popular wig-making materials.
February 20, 1980
● Bored monkeys in Zoo Veszprem in Hungary were allowed to watch television in their cages. Zookeepers left TV sets blaring from morning till late at night to keep the monkeys physically active in a bid to help prevent them from catching colds and other winter ills. The keepers had feared that the winter drop in visitors would leave the animals inactive and susceptible to illness. The keepers said the primatal residents appeared to enjoy watching football matches the most as they often reacted to boisterous football crowds by cheering and screaming along with them.
China seeks ad agency’s help and Britons want queen to quit: past headlines
● The mayor of the New Jersey city of Newark in the US, Kenneth Gibson, demanded the resignations of about 500 city administrators after hearing complaints that they were becoming complacent, arrogant, indifferent, and rude to the public. They included the mayor’s cabinet, municipal court judges, 12 members of his personal staff, and members of boards and commissions. Gibson said in a statement that, “The citizens of this city are their ultimate employers.”
● A young man in Karachi, Pakistan, who won a bet of 100 rupees (about HK$50) by accepting a friend’s challenge to watch a solar eclipse without protection goggles, lost the sight of one eye as a result.
February 21, 1980
● A man, who police in Kansas City said swallowed a stolen ring worth US$100,000 (about HK$500,000 at the time), moments before he was arrested, pleaded guilty to robbery and aggravated burglary. Officers had to wait five days before the ring passed through Bobby Carr’s system, and into a bedpan.
● A 40-year-old transvestite from New York was able to breastfeed his infant daughter after being treated with a female hormone that induced his body to produce milk, according to his doctor. It was believed to be the world’s first case of a man nursing an infant. Dr Leo Wollman said the father had been given female hormones to develop breasts for 12 years before the birth of his child. Wollman was a New York City doctor who assisted transsexuals with their transitions.
Elderly nun throws knockout punch at robbers: past headline
February 22, 1980
● A gang of counterfeiters was flooding Hong Kong and Macau with fake HK$500 banknotes, according to police. The counterfeits, all purportedly issued by the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, were of a fair quality and could easily be passed off as genuine banknotes.
February 23, 1980
● Hong Kong’s population had officially passed the five-million mark. Figures released by the Census and Statistics Department put the estimated number at 5,017,000 – an increase of 296,800 or 6.3 per cent over an estimate of two years before.
Remember A Day looks at significant news and events reported by the Post during this week in history
