given royal assent by Queen Elizabeth II, reorganizing Scotland's 33 shires into nine regions and three islands, effective May 16, 1975. Each of the regions, in turn, was divided into districts. As nations worldwide developed responses to the shortage of oil and gasoline, Lebanon became the first to institute a plan to cut the number of cars being driven in half based on the last digit of the license plate number; cars with even-numbered plates could only drive on even-numbered days, those with odd-numbered plates only on odd-numbered days. Born: Lamont Bentley, American TV actor known for Moesha and for The Parkers; in Milwaukee (died in a car accident, 2005) Michael Weston, American TV and film actor; in New York City Reza Yazdani, Iranian singer and song composer; in Tehran Died: Abebe Bikila, 41, Ethiopian distance runner who won the 1960 Olympic marathon; from a cerebral hemorrhage Cleo Moore, 48, American film actress October 26, 1973 (Friday) The United Nations recognized the independence of Guinea-Bissau. The government of South Korea freed opposition leader Kim Dae Jung from house arrest, almost three months after he had been kidnapped from a hotel in Japan. California's Alcatraz Island and the federal prison building that had been located there, were both opened by the U.S. Park Service as a tourist attraction. Born: Seth MacFarlane, American comedian, TV and film producer, and actor, known for Family Guy and Ted; in Kent, Connecticut Austin Healey, English rugby union scrum half with 51 caps for the English national team; in Wallasey, Cheshire Taka Michinoku (ring name for Takao Yoshida), Japanese WWF wrestler; in Morioka, Iwate prefecture Died: Marshal Semyon Budyonny, 90, one of the original five people to hold the title Marshal of the Soviet Union and the last surviving aide to Joseph Stalin October 27, 1973 (Saturday) The governments of Egypt and Israel announced a ceasefire in the Yom Kippur War and their agreement to a United Nations-sponsored meeting of their military representatives to discuss a peaceful settlement. The United Nations Security Council voted, 14 to 0, to approve a 7,000-person peacekeeping force to be deployed in the Sinai peninsula for six months. The People's Republic of China did not vote or attempt to veto the resolution, but said that it would not pay for the force.(Wrong date? No contemporary account can be found of the following accident: Anjanette Paya, an 8-year-old girl, became the first