Canadian PM causes stir at summit by pirouetting behind Queen’s back
This week in 1977, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau caused a stir when he famously pirouetted behind Queen Elizabeth II. Canadian Press photographer Doug Ball took the iconic snap of Trudeau during a photo session of several leaders at Buckingham Palace.
Ball had been assigned to cover the G7 Summit in London, which Trudeau and other leaders were attending.
The photo, which shows Trudeau pirouetting with his arm extended up in the air while the Queen walks away, caused an international sensation once it was printed.
Also this week in 1977, the Hotel Polen fire occurred in Amsterdam. The blaze destroyed the five-story hotel in the centre of the city which had been built in 1891.
Many of the guests staying at the hotel jumped to their deaths trying to escape the flames.
In sport, England cricket captain Tony Greig was sacked for signing up players to Kerry Packer’s commercial cricket “circus”.
Australian media tycoon Packer announced he had recruited 35 of the world’s best cricketers to take part in a series of internationals in Australia later that year.
The impact of Packer’s new World Series Cricket, swiftly dubbed a “circus” by the press, rocked the cricket establishment.
The Cricket Council took four hours to reach its decision.
Donald Carr of the Test and County Cricket Board, said: “They took into consideration his involvement in the recruitment of players for this series of matches and clearly running in competition with the scheduled Test match series over the next year or two.
“This was considered to be a breach of the normal trust which is expected between the captain and the England team and the authorities.”
In other news, the 22nd Eurovision Song Contest was held in London. The contest was won by Marie Myriam, representing France, with her song “L’oiseau et l’enfant” (“The Bird and the Child”).