Milestones, Jan. 2, 1978

DIED. General Juan Velasco Alvarado, 67, former left-leaning military president of Peru; in Lima. Velasco seized power in a 1968 coup and nationalized U.S. oil and copper firms. His land reform gave millions of acres to peasants, but Velasco's growing dictatorial powers led to his ousting by more moderate officers in 1975.

DIED. Cyril Ritchard, 79, Australian-born actor, singer and director best known for his portrayal of Captain Hook in Peter Pan; of a heart attack; in Chicago, where he had been appearing in the musical Side by Side by Sondheim. A courtly, mellifluous-voiced bon vivant, Ritchard began in 1917 as a...

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