November 8, 1974: The Disappearance of Lord Lucan

No, that's not Freddie Mercury.

November 8, 1974: Richard John Bingham, the 7th Earl of Lucan, disappears. His vanishing came 9 months before that of Jimmy Hoffa, and it made him Britain's equivalent: The country's most famous missing person.

He was born on December 18, 1934, in London, the son of George Bingham, the 6th Earl of Lucan. He attended Eton College, and served in the British Army from 1953 to 1955. He was known as Lord Bingham from April 1949 until January 1964, when his father died, passing down the earldom.

Having developed a taste for gambling, he played backgammon and bridge. His losses often exceeded his winnings, yet he left his job at a London-based merchant bank and became a professional gambler. In addition to betting, he also spent his money on an Aston Martin car and power boats, racing them in competitions.

In 1963, he married Veronica Duncan, and they had 3 children. They separated early in 1973, and Veronica won a bitter custody battle. Apparently obsessed with regaining custody of the children, Lord Lucan began to spy on his wife and record their telephone conversations. This fixation, combined with mounting legal expenses and gambling losses, had a dramatic effect on his life and his personal finances.

On the night of November 7, 1974, Sandra Rivett, the nanny of Lucan's children, was murdered in the Lucan family home. A wounded Lady Lucan burst into a pub named the Plumbers Arms. She claimed to have been attacked by her husband and that he had admitted to killing Rivett.

Lord Lucan telephoned his mother, asking her to collect his children, before driving to visit a friend in Uckfield, East Sussex. He also penned letters protesting his innocence, and claiming that he had fought with an intruder who attacked his wife, and that his wife accused him of hiring a hitman to kill her. In the early hours of November 8, Lucan drove off. His car was found abandoned in Newhaven, East Sussex, but he was never found.

At the inquest into Rivett's death, held in June 1975, the jury returned a verdict naming Lucan as her killer. He was declared legally dead in 1999, and a death certificate issued in 2016 allowed his titles to be inherited by his son George, who thus became the 8th Earl of Lucan. His father's involvement in Rivett's murder and his fate remain a subject of debate, various theories, and continuing research.

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November 8, 1974 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. There was a major college football game played that night, and it was a notable rivalry: Florida State beat the University of Miami, 21-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. It was the only game the Seminoles won all season. They went 3-8 the next season. The one after that, they hired Bobby Bowden away from West Virginia. He said, "At West Virginia, the bumper stickers said, 'BEAT PITT.' Here, they said, 'BEAT ANYBODY.'" Soon, under his leadership, they would.

There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 117-105 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Bill Bradley scored 32 points.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 105-104 at the Boston Garden. Dave Bing scored 32. Bob Lanier had 27 points and 20 rebounds. John Havlicek scored 36 in defeat.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 105-89 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Steve Mix scored 36.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the New Orleans Jazz, 105-102 at the New Orleans Municipal Auditorium. Charlie Scott scored 36 for the Suns.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The New York Nets beat the Memphis Sounds, 104-102 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. And the Spirits of St. Louis beat the Denver Nuggets, 132-121 at the St. Louis Arena.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The Atlanta Flames beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-0 at The Omni in Atlanta.

There were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The New England Whalers beat the San Diego Mariners, 3-0 at the Eastern States Coliseum (now the Big E Coliseum) in West Springfield, Massachusetts. And the Cleveland Crusaders beat the Vancouver Blazers, 2-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.