Remember A DayPrince Charles on hairy knees, regular flights from China to Hong Kong take-off and plot to kill Indonesian president General Suharto revealed: headlines from 40 years ago

Prince Charles publishing a book about a man with hairy knees, a man stealing part of the Great Wall and a Jewish family making a claim on the British Crown jewels hit the headlines 40 years ago this week. June 15, 1980 ● Threats were made to assassinate Indonesian President Suharto and other leaders on the country’s Independence Day in August that year, according to security sources. They told local newspaper editors that a plot to kill General Suharto and more than 70 members of the military-backed government had been exposed. ● The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) would begin regular scheduled flights to Hong Kong from Shanghai, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Guangdong, the New China News Agency announced. The earliest flights would be launched from Shanghai to Hong Kong from the end of June that year. June 16, 1980 ● A Jewish family had been trying since 1957 to obtain the £1 billion (about HK$11 billion at the time) it claimed the British Treasury owed it from a 150-year-old debt. According to the Israeli newspaper Maariv, the alleged debt dated from 1845, when Lazar Levy, an enormously wealthy Iraqi merchant and diamond dealer, was invited to the British court to furnish diamonds and other precious stones to Queen Victoria for the royal crown. He handed over the stones without asking for immediate payment, but just a signed letter of debt bearing the royal seal. First efforts to reclaim the money were interrupted by the outbreak of the second world war. June 17, 1980 ● Chinese troops on the border had been ordered to shoot on site if they found people engaged in smuggling illegal immigrants into Hong Kong. The disclosure followed the shooting of three Hong Kong men by People’s Liberation Army soldiers for attempting to sneak a group of illegals into the city by speedboat a few days before. Two of the men were killed and the third escaped. June 18, 1980 ● About 100 workers at the Windscale nuclear power station in the north of England had come down with gastroenteritis after drinking polluted water which might have been used to cool a reactor. But a spokesman for British Nuclear Fuels, which operated the plant, said they found no radioactive substances in the water which infected the workers, 40 of whom had to take time off work. ● In a dramatic turnabout the British Minister of Trade, John Nott, gave Cathay Pacific, Laker Airways and British Caledonian the go-ahead to join British Airways in flying the Hong Kong to London route. He told the Parliament it was in the interests of airline passengers that they be offered a wider choice of service. The decision was hailed in Hong Kong as a “breath of fresh air.” A day later, Labour Member of Parliament, John Smith, termed it an “extraordinary and surprising decision.” He said too many carriers would destroy the route and would not benefit the public. June 20, 1980 ● British Airways announced it would sharpen its image by simplifying its logo. The words “British Airways”, emblazoned on its fleet of 177 aircraft, would be changed to simply read “British”, chief executive Roy Watts said. He said the one-word logo would “express our own confidence that in this field British is best and that we are the best of British.” June 21, 1980 ● A man whose clothes accidentally caught fire while he was filling up his motorcycle rushed into a crowd of underground railway commuters in Paris setting several people alight, police said. An officer said the man was either smoking at the time or someone threw a match in his direction. Seven people suffered burns as a result. ● Chinese Communist Party cadre Wang Fukuan had been sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for stealing more than 700 stones from the Great Wall of China, the Peking Daily said. He was also found guilty of having organised 12 peasants to cut down 600 young trees nearby. He was ordered to plant at least 300 trees upon his release from prison. ● A children’s story about an old man with hairy knees written by Prince Charles 10 years before would be published in September 1980, Buckingham Palace said. The book, entitled The Old Man of Lochnagar, would be published by Hamish Hamilton and all proceeds would go to charity. The story of the old man of Lochnagar was one Prince Charles had told earlier to entertain his brothers, Andrew and Edward, when they were young. Remember A Day looks at significant news and events reported by the Post during this week in history

.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

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