THE BIG STORY


The Olympic Games in Montreal saw a new star born when 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci was awarded the first ever perfect score of 10.0. She became the sensation of the whole event.

The Canadian games also saw a controversial anti-apartheid boycott, led by Tanzania, which resulted in 22 African countries refusing to compete.

The boycott was in protest at the New Zealand rugby team competing in the games after they had toured South Africa during the time of apartheid, the forced segregation of white and black people.

Despite this, more than 6,000 athletes took part in nearly 200 events.

The games saw several firsts: women participated in basketball, rowing and team handball and hockey was played on an artificial pitch. Bermudan boxer Clarence Hill won a bronze medal giving Bermuda the honour of being the least populous nation to ever win a medal at the games.

An innovation in transporting the Olympic flame saw it travel from Athens by satellite. A sensor was used to detect the ionised particles of the flame and turn them into coded impulses. These were transmitted by satellite and a laser beam was activated to recreate the Olympic flame in its original shape.



HEADLINES

Britain suffered a severe drought in what was the hottest summer since records began. Leeds was one of the worst hit areas in the UK, with reservoir stocks down to 46 per cent. Yorkshire Water Authority had to pump water from the River Wharfe, reducing it to a trickle.

Thousands of teachers abandoned their classes to attend a protest meeting in Leeds. Some 3,000 teachers were at the meeting over union claims of a lack of consultation for proposals to revise school holidays and cut education expenditure, affecting 200 of Leeds's 396 schools.

A rowing exercise machine from Debenhams cost £5; a chest of drawers was on sale for £14 and dressing tables for £17 at Furniture and General; a tube of Crest toothpaste cost 16p; Immac hair removal cream 19½p; Nivea creme 19p and a ladies nightdress 99p, all available at Thoms Summer Toiletries. A Woolworths pushchair would set you back £7.59.

The Government planned to increase university tuition fees from £240 to £340 for overseas students, affecting about 1,500 of the 2,100 foreign students in Leeds, a move which ministers hoped would save £28m a year.

There was bad news for commuters. Fares rose by 3p to 25p.

Four mercenaries, three British and one American, fighting in a civil war in Angola were caught and shot, despite appeals from Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister James Callaghan. The war broke out when Angola gained independence from Portugal.


THE GOSSIP

Ol' Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra married Barbara Marx at the age of 60. It was Sinatra's fourth and longest marriage, lasting until his death in 1998. Marx had been married twice before, her second husband was the youngest of the Marx brothers, Zeppo Marx.

Elton John and KiKi Dee's Don't Go Breaking My Heart and Real Thing's You to Me Are Everything were at the top of the singles chart.

German actress Diane Kruger was born. Kruger would go on to star in Troy, directed by Wolfgang Petersen.


THE WORLD

Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in an earthquake in China. The epicentre was centred in Tangshan, approximately 140km south east of Beijing. The first earthquake had a magnitude of 7.5 and was followed by a major aftershock 15 hours later. Damage extended as far as Beijing and caused one of the largest death tolls from an earthquake in history.

Jimmy Carter was nominated for President of the United States of America at the Democratic National Convention in New York City. Carter began working in politics in 1962 after serving in the navy. Eight years later he was elected Governor of Georgia and announced his candidacy for president in 1974.

The Viking I spacecraft was one of two identical probes which successfully landed on Mars. US space agency NASA released the famous 'Face on Mars' photograph taken by Viking I, the spacecrafts were the first to photograph the Red Planet. Both probes carried out a series of experiments to test for life on the planet. Despite promising early results, scientists at NASA concluded they had not detected any signs of life.

l Israeli commandos rescued 100 hostages from a hijacked Air France flight at Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The crisis began when four militants seized an Air France flight, flying from Israel to Paris, with 250 people on board.

The hijackers demanded the release of 53 militants held in jails in Israel and four other countries. On July 1, the hijackers released a large number of hostages but kept 100 passengers captive. During a 35 minute battle, 20 Ugandan soldiers and all seven hijackers died along with three hostages.


AND FINALLY...

Actress Angela Griffin was born on July 19 in Leeds. Angela played Fiona Middleton in Coronation Street, winning the Best Newcomer Award at the National Television Awards in 1995, and went on to play Darcey in hairdressing drama Cutting It. She also appeared in Holby City and now has her own talk show on Sky 1, Angela and Friends.