Off the top of my head, I think London-Singapore-Los Angeles-London would be about 13+16+13=42 hours flying, so it would be very close indeed even before connections, if good ones were available. You'd also have to wait for non-stop SIN-LAX flights to start ...
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">January 8 to 10, 1980 ... eastbound via London, Bahrain, Singapore</font>
This rang bells. From
www.concordesst.com:-
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">British Airways and Singapore Airlines began the London to Singapore via Bahrain service in 1977, but it only lasted for 3 flights before being suspended due to political reasons. It resumed in Jan 1979 and ran till Nov 1980.</font>
This guy had a helping hand.
[This message has been edited by Globaliser (edited 07-11-2003).]