Tokyo String Quartet continued The French-British supersonic transport, the Concorde, goes into regular service across the Atlantic. Carrying at most 100 passengers, the Concorde fails to become economically successful even with supersonic fares. Births: Peyton Manning; Kevin Garnett Deaths: Agatha Christie; Howlin’ Wolf; Paul Robeson; Lily Pons; Busby Berkeley; Howard Hughes; J Paul Getty; Imogene Cunningham; Johnny Mercer; Gregor Piatigorsky; Lotte Lehmann; Benjamin Britten Nobel Prizes: Saul Bellow (literature); Milton Friedman (economics)
The first cable sports channel, ESPN, known as the Entertainment Sports Programming Network, is launched; the radio news program Morning Edition premieres on National Public Radio. The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first, and to date only, human disease driven to extinction. McDonald's introduces the Happy Meal. Births: Drew Brees; Hilary Hahn Deaths: Charles Mingus; John Wayne; Arthur Fiedler; Roy Harris; S.J. Perlman; Nadia Boulanger
1980 | The U.S. severs diplomatic relations with Iran and imposes
1977 | Paul Allen and Bill Gates found Microsoft, which in the
economic sanctions following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
Snow falls in Miami, FL, for the only time in its history.
Republican challenger and former Governor Ronald Reagan of CA defeats incumbent Democratic, President Jimmy Carter, on November 4, exactly 1 year after the beginning of the Iran hostage crisis.
next couple of years becomes the most important producer of software for microcomputers.
Tenor Luciano Pavarotti and the PBS opera series Live from the Met both make their American television debuts. Pavarotti stars in a complete production of Puccini's La Bohème. Deaths: Vladimir Nabokov; Groucho Marx; Zero Mostel; Ethel Waters; Maria Callas; Leopold Stokowski; Bing Crosby; Guy Lombardo; Sir Charles Chaplin
1978 | The first human baby is conceived outside the body Louise Joy Brown, called the "test-tube baby"
The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt. Ford initiates a recall of the Pinto because of a public outcry over gas tank explosions. Births: Ashton Kutcher; Kobe Bryant Deaths: Aram Katchaturian; Jacques Brel; Norman Rockwell; Margaret Mead; Golda Meir Nobel Peace Prize: Anwar Sadat; Menachem Begin
1979 | The Sahara Desert experiences snow for 30 minutes. Philips demonstrates the Compact Disc for the first time. Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain’s first female prime minister.
18 | TOKYO STRING QUARTET TIMELINE
John Lennon is murdered in New York City. World population is 4,434,682,000; 2.6 billion are in Asia; 692 million in Europe; and 256 million in North America. A severe Summer Heat Wave in Southern U.S. causes 1,117 deaths in 20 States. 3M begins sales of its latest product Post-It Notes invented by Arthor Fry and Spencer Silver. Births: Chelsea Clinton; Venus Williams Deaths: Jimmy Durante; Oscar Kokoschka; Jean-Paul Sartre; Alfred Hitchcock; Jose Iturbi; Colonel Sanders
1981 | Peter Oundjian replaces Koichiro Harada as first violin in the Tokyo String Quartet
Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days within minutes of Ronald Reagan succeeding Jimmy Carter as the President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from 1,421 other entries. Births: Chris Thile; Justin Timberlake; Sara Watkins; Beyoncé Knowles Deaths: Samuel Barber; Bill Haley; Howard Hanson; Yip Harburg; Kiril Kondrashin; Bob Marley; Robert Moses; Karl Bohm; Edith Head; Lotte Lenya