Curated playlist
1978 deaths
- Phillip FormanJudge Phillip Forman swore in Albert Einstein as an American citizen in 1940. He later did the same for Kurt Godel.
- Jack L. WarnerJack Warner once rushed onstage at the Oscars and took a trophy that was not his. The prize was for Casablanca.
- Pope Paul VIPope Paul VI, born Giovanni Battista Montini, once tried to talk a room of cardinals out of electing him. On the 20th of June 1963, the second day of the conclave, Cardinal Gustavo Testa lost his temper. He demanded that Montini's…
- Jim JonesJim Jones was an American preacher who founded the Peoples Temple. On the 18th of November 1978, 912 people died at his jungle commune in Jonestown, Guyana. Among them were 304 children. Jones called the event "revolutionary suicide," a…
- Gabriel Turville-PetreIn August 1942, the Foreign Office sent Gabriel Turville-Petre to the Faroe Islands for two months. The stated purpose was "in order to study the inhabitants, their politics and conditions of life." Edward Oswald Gabriel Turville-Petre was…
- Keith MoonKeith Moon's 21st birthday ended with police arriving, guns drawn, at a Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan.
- Pope John Paul IPope John Paul I, born Albino Luciani, led the Catholic Church for only 33 days in 1978. When the cardinals asked whether he accepted his election, he answered, "May God forgive you for what you have done." Then he accepted. Before the…
- Kurt GödelIn 1931, Kurt Gödel proved that any sufficiently powerful math system contains true statements it cannot prove.
- Leigh BrackettLeigh Brackett's last draft of a Star Wars sequel was thrown out. She still received a screenplay credit.
- Bruce CattonBruce Catton grew up in Michigan listening to Civil War veterans, and their stories shaped his writing.