What was going on when I was born?

''Terra Nova'' had its world premiere eight years ago in a basement in New Haven. The author, a Yale Drama School student named Ted Tally, cast six of his classmates and built the play's Antarctic setting out of scrap wood and yards of white muslin from Connecticut's tobacco fields. That done, ''Terra Nova'' played for three nights to a total of 200 spectators. Somehow - Mr. Tally still does not know exactly how or why - the audience included several New York producers and a compliment of talent agents. Not long after the curtain fell on his tale of Robert Falcon Scott's ill- fated expedition to the South Pole in 1911, the 24-year-old, who had been spending most of his time checking the help wanted board at Yale's placement office, had an agent, a fellowship and a job teaching playwriting to his former fellows. And ''Terra Nova'' had commenced a voyage that would be longer in time and space, and far more successful, than Scott's.

NEW HAVEN THERE was a time when elm trees were so plentiful here, they formed magnificent arches over the streets. The City of the Elms, as New Haven was nicknamed before the Civil War, was known worldwide for its trees. But canker worms, New England sparrows, elm-leaf beetles and Dutch elm disease attacked the trees over the past 100 years, reducing their population by thousands in the city. An ice storm last winter claimed 26 elms that were on the New Haven green. All had to be cut down.

Doctors who lose their medical license in one state often move to another and continue to receive Federal payments for treating elderly and poor people under Medicare and Medicaid, according to Federal investigators. A new study by the General Accounting Office, the investigative agency of Congress, said the Federal Government had halted Medicare and Medicaid payments to ''relatively few'' physicians whose licenses were revoked or suspended by the states ''If a state licensing board suspends or revokes a practitioner's license, it does not affect the practitioner's licenses in other states,'' the report said. ''Each state must take a separate action to prevent the practitioner from practicing in that state.'' It said ''states are slow to act'' and doctors barred in one state for unethical behavior or incompetence moved to another, where they could still treat patients enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid.

ONE of the first bank loans that Frank V. Cahouet ever made turned out to be a mistake. As a junior loan officer at Security Pacific Bank, just out of business school, he authorized a $5 million loan to an electronics company and within months the company fell behind on payments. Mr. Cahouet was chagrined and frustrated. Determined to get the installments back on track, he immersed himself in a study of the company's daily operations, so much so that a top manager complained. ''Either I run the company or you do, but we both can't,'' he told Mr. Cahouet, who was 26 then. The young bankor was forced to pull back, although he recalls that he did eventually collect most fo the loan. The story of his persistence, in fact, became part of the Cahouet lore and his friends tell it today as a fitting illustration of how Mr. Cahouet is attacking his new job as chairman and chief executive of Crocker National Bank. The intensity and tenacity remain, they say, and Mr. Cahouet, now 51, is bringing those qualities to bear on huge loan problems at Crocker, the nation's 12th largest bank.

The City Council reversed itself today and agreed to state supervision of city finances so that its schools could remain open. The agreement ended a deadlock between city and state officials that had threatened to shut down the city's 20,000-student school system. Under the agreement, the city would receive $9.5 million from the state to keep the schools open. The money, which is technically to be treated as a loan, would not have to be repaid immediately, according to state officials. The financially strapped city would also receive additional financing from the state, although no specific figures were given.

For the second straight night, the Yankees began their evening in front of more than 20,000 fans. And for the second straight night, they finished in front of a near-empty house as they were taken down by another devasting loss. This one left the Yankees in last place. The New Yorkers were battered by the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-0, at Yankee Stadium, only a day after the Brewers had defeated them, 12-0. On Friday night the Brewers had 16 hits. Last night, they had 13.

TRENTON WHEN the State Senate meets tomorrow, it is expected to vote on a bill to create a task force to investigate inequities in the salaries of female and minority workers in state government. The bill, whose prime sponsor has been Senator Wynona M. Lipman, Democrat of Newark, has resurfaced in this legislative session after failing to come up for a vote last year. Last month, the measure passed the Senate by a 29-to- 1 vote, the lone dissenting vote having been cast by Senator Wayne Dumont Jr., Republican of Phillipsburg. In the Assembly, it was amended and then merged with a similar measure sponsored by Assemblyman John O. Bennett, Republican of Little Silver.

Mindful of the urgent need for housing affordable to its middle income families, Westchester County will sponsor its first Housing Expo next Friday and Saturday. ''The point is to make information on moderately priced housing and financial sources available to the public in one place at one time,''said Richard Narog, a county economic development specialist who is coordinator of the expo.

In 1870, the notorious boss of New York City's Tammany Hall, William Marcy Tweed, built himself a country home on 40 acres in Greenwich, Conn. Now a residential condominium is going up on the last undeveloped corner of the property near the old front gate.

-distance runner, was working out last week, but the 21-year-old Norwegian youth's mind was not entirely on the track. Just two weeks ago, his coach at the University of Texas at El Paso, Larry Heidebrecht, resigned amid suggestions from the athletic director of certain ''possible irregularities'' in the team's financial dealings. Now the famed UTP field and track program, with many of its athletes preparing for the Olympics, was suddenly thrown into chaos, its future clouded. ''It worries us all,'' Warland said, his blue eyes glistening in the desert sun. ''It is sad to see the program falling to pieces, it's too bad. If there was one school they knew about in Europe, it was UTEP. Nobody could touch it. But now a lot of the freshmen are confused about what is going to happen, and they are looking for different schools.''

The Islanders' rare ability to make dramatic changes lifted them to their strongest performance of the playoffs tonight, and they rebounded to a 5-2 victory over the Canadiens. That narrowed the Canadiens' edge to 2-1 in the four-of-seven-game Stanley Cup semifinal series, which continues here Tuesday night. And it also gave the goalie Billy Smith, appearing in his record-equaling 115th playoff game, his 81st victory, a new Stanley Cup record. Was the change in Islander fortunes because Dave Langevin, the strong defenseman affectionately known as Bammer, suddenly joined his teammates in the pre-game warm-up? His shoulder separation was supposed to keep him out four weeks. Instead, he returned after 13 days, hit someone on his first shift, and seemed to lift the team.

HEDRICK SMITH PEKING P RESIDENT Reagan's mission to China invites comparisons with President Nixon's stunning overture to Peking 12 years ago. Yet much has changed - in the world situation, in China internally and in the interaction between the two countries. When Mr. Nixon arrived in 1972 to bestow America's belated recognition on a militarily worried China, he found the Chinese grateful for the chance to celebrate the end of a long estrangement. But Mr. Reagan arrived last week to court a more self-confident China, hoping to build a foundation for the future, and the welcome was more subdued. In 1972, Mr. Nixon came here en route to Moscow; Mr. Reagan has come in good measure because he could not get to Moscow on acceptable terms.