- 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 American scientist electrocuting steaks to tenderise meat, China setting up its own Oscars and Chinese scientists hoping to eradicate rats made the headlines 40 years ago this week.
January 20, 1980
● China would soon have its own version of Hollywood's famous Oscar awards for films. The New China News Agency reported that a Chinese magazine, Popular Cinema, would run a national poll in February and March that year to select the best Chinese films.
● Japanese authorities, shocked by the worst spy scandal since World War II, began a study of possible countermeasures to blunt its effects and prevent future security leaks. It followed the arrests of a retired general and two Japanese Self-Defence Force officers for allegedly leaking classified information to the Soviet Union. Such information included locations of Japanese Self-Defence units and Japanese intelligence on China, particularly the deployment and hardware of the Chinese armed forces.
January 21, 1980
● Chinese scientists were trying to invent a disease that would kill only rats and mice in a drive to exterminate the vermin, according to the Nanfang Daily newspaper.
● Doncaster police believed the world gold rush might have taken a ghoulish turn in South Yorkshire in the UK. They said that soaring gold prices might have prompted a would-be robber to raid a 100-year-old grave in a village churchyard in a hunt for gold rings and other valuables. With gold soaring to more than US$800 (about HK$4,000 at the time) an ounce, and people across the world cashing in on the boom by selling family ornaments, gold and silver jewellery had become a new source of ready money.
January 22, 1980
● A total eclipse of the sun would take place over southwest China on Lunar New Year's day " February 16 that year - which, according to popular Chinese superstition, would foretell catastrophe, reported the New China News Agency. The report said it would be the last total solar eclipse visible over China until the year 2007.
January 23, 1980
● Four thousand people, evacuated when fire and a chain of explosions at a chemical plant released poison gas into the sky over East London, were allowed to return to their homes. The evacuation was London's biggest since World War II, when German bombers attacked the capital's East End day and night during the Blitz.
January 24, 1980
● A young man was arrested after he was allegedly seen picking up gold ornaments dropped by robbers of a Tsuen Wan goldsmith shop as they fled with HK$300,000 worth of jewellery the night before.
● British nurse Rita Nightingale would spend what was likely to be her last night in Thai custody following her release from jail. Her 20-year sentence on heroin-smuggling charges had been cut short by an amnesty from King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Nightingale, who had served three years, was the first heroin smuggler to receive a royal pardon in the country.
January 25, 1980
● Hong Kong had joined the ranks of Asian nations receiving meteorological transmissions from a geostationary satellite hovering 38,500km above Papua New Guinea. Photographs from the Japanese satellite would allow the city's meteorologists to trace temperatures and cloud movements over the entire Pacific region. The new stationary hook-up would allow round-the-clock data transmission and higher accuracy.
January 26, 1980
● A scientist in the US advised that if you wanted a tender steak, make sure to use an electric shock. Elton Aberle of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, said 500-600 volts of electricity running through a beef carcass after slaughter would improve meat tenderness. The electric jot could accelerate the ageing process, he explained.
● Former Beatles member Paul McCartney, detained about two weeks earlier on arrival in Tokyo for marijuana possession, was released from custody and deported. A Justice Ministry spokesman said no charges would be pressed against the pop star, but he could not return to the country for a year.
Remember A Day looks at significant news and events reported by the Post during this week in history
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