Top 40+ Years Ag June 1975 June 18, 1975 (Wednesday) Faisal bin Musaid, the 31 year assassin of his uncle, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, was publicly beheaded at Dira Square in Riyadh. As a crowd of thousands watched, a court official read a verdict declaring him guilty of murder, then directed him to kneel and then forced him to raise his head. Reportedly, "the executioner, a black Saudi in a yellow Galabiya robe", used a gold-handled sword to carry out the execution in one blow, after which "the assassin's head was hoisted briefly on a wooden stake and displayed to the applauding crowd". The United States Air Force launched a new generation of spy satellite that would be in a stationary orbit over either the Soviet Union or China. British Secretary of State for Energy Anthony Wedgwood Benn turned a valve bringing the first North Sea oil, delivered from Scotland, to a refinery in England.
