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January
1st |
The Sultanate of Brunei became an independent nation. |
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January
18th |
Greek musician, Vassilis Tsitsanis, died at the age of 69. He is considered as the most influential composer and performer of rebetiko music. |
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January
22nd |
The Apple Macintosh computer was introduced to the world. According to many it is the computer that popularized the use of the computer mouse as well as the GUI (graphical user interface). |
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February
9th |
Soviet politician, Yuri Andropov, died at the age of 70. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union since 1982, effectively serving only sixteen months as the leader of the Soviet Union. |
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February
13th |
Konstantin Chernenko succeeded, Yuri Andropov, as the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He died 13 months later. |
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March
6th |
British coal miners began a strike that was to last for 12 months. |
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March
7th |
United States forces launched an attack upon the Nicaraguan city of San Juan del Sur. In 1986 Nicaragua won a court case in the International Court of Justice which ordered the United States to pay Nicaragua approximately $12 billion in reparations for violating Nicaragua's sovereignty. After the courts decision, the United States withdrew its acceptance of the Court and claimed that it had no authority over such matters. |
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March
16th |
The CIA station chief in Beirut, William Buckley, was kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later killed while in captivity. |
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April
1st |
American singer, Marvin Gaye, died after having been shot by his father. |
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April
4th |
Russian airplane engineer, Oleg Antonov, died at the age of 78. His name was synonymous with Soviet era civilian aircraft. |
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April
17th |
Shots fired from inside the Libyan embassy in London, struck and killed policewoman, Yvonne Fletcher. The embassy was besieged for 11 days by British police, before an agreement was reached under which all Libyan diplomats were expelled and all diplomatic ties severed between Libya and the united kingdom. |
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April
23th |
Scientists identified the Aids virus for the first time. |
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April
24th |
Apple Computer unveiled its Apple IIc portable computer. This was to be one of the first computers labelled as 'compact' although it did not resemble the actual compactness of modern day mobile computers. |
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May
16th |
American comedian, Andy Kaufman, died of lung cancer at the age of 36. He is most remembered by his role in the hit TV series, Taxi. |
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June
25th |
French philosopher, Michel Foucault, died at the age of 57. |
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July
18th |
In a MacDonalds fast-food restaurant at San Diego, California, James Oliver Huberty, opened fire and killed 21 people and injured 19 others before being shot dead by police. |
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July
26th |
American serial killer, Ed Gein, died at the age of 77. He was one of the most notorious serial murderers in United States history, although he was found not guilty by reasons of insanity and was hospitalized for the rest of his life. His grave and tombstone had been the target of constant vandalizing from people acquiring souvenirs. |
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August
4th |
The African republic Upper Volta changed its name to Burkina Faso. |
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August
25th |
American author, Truman Capote, died at the age of 59. He is considered as one of the distinguished writers of the second half of the 20th century. |
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September
5th |
Capital punishment was abolished in Western Australia, the last Australian state to so. |
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September
14th |
Retired United States Air Force pilot, Joe Kittinger, became the first person to solo fly a hot air balloon across the Atlantic Ocean. |
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September
16th |
The popular TV series, Miami Vice, premiered on the NBC channel. The show enjoyed immense worldwide popularity and run until 1989. |
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September
20th |
A suicide bomber attacked the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, using a car packed with explosives. Twelve people died from the blast. |
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September
26th |
The United Kingdom agreed to return Hong Kong back to China. Hong Kong had been leased to the United Kingdom in 1898. The lease had a life of 99 years. |
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October
12th |
A bomb placed by the IRA in the Brighton hotel intended to assassinate British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, exploded in her bathroom just after she had left it. |
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October
16th |
Reverend Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. |
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October
31st |
Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by two of her security guards. She was India's first (and only - 2006) female prime minister. She was the daughter of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, but had no relation to Mahatma Gandhi. |
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December
3rd |
In Bhopal, India, toxic gas seeped from a Union Carbide insecticide plant, resulting in the death of more than 3,000 and injuring about 150,000. |
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December
10th |
Apartheid activist, Desmond Tutu, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. |
