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Margaret Thatcher arrives in the Falklands on 8th January for a surprise five day visit.

The Labour leader Michael Foot endorses Peter Tatchell as the party's candidate in the forthcoming Bermondsey by-election.

Britain wakes up to breakfast television for the first time on Monday, 17th January, when the BBC launches its new Breakfast Time show, presented by Frank Bough, Nick Ross and Selina Scott.

Water and sewerage workers in the UK go on strike for the first time on 23rd January. 5 million households are advised to boil their drinking water.

British rock 'n' roll star Billy Fury (real name Ronald Wycherley) dies from a heart attack on 28th January, aged 42.

On 31st January wearing seat belts becomes compulsory for drivers and front seat passengers of cars registered in the UK on or after 1st January 1965.

On 1st February ITV launches its own breakfast show, TV-am's Good Morning Britain.

Karen Carpenter dies of anorexia nervosa on 4th February, aged 32. He tombstone bears the inscription: "A star on earth - a star in heaven."

Following his expulsion from Bolivia, Klaus Barbie, the wartime commander of Gestapo Intelligence in Lyons, is flown to France on 5th February to face charges of crimes against humanity.

The findings of an Israeli judicial enquiry into the massacres at the Chatila and Sabra refugee camps are made known on 8th February. The Israeli Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, is blamed for allowing Christian Phalangist militia to enter the camps. Sharon resigns from his post as Defence Minister but remains in the Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio.

The champion race horse Shergar is stolen from the Aga Khan's Ballymany stud farm in County Kildare on 8th February.

Simon Hughes wins the Bermondsey by-election for the Liberals on 24th February. He has a majority of 9,319 over the Labour candidate Peter Tatchell.

Compact disc players go on sale in the UK for the first time on 1st March.

The Liberal Party wins the Australian general election on 5th March. Bob Hawke becomes Prime Minister.

The Christian Democrats, led by Helmut Kohl, win the West German general election on 6th March.

Joshua Nkomo flees Zimbabwe after his home in Bulawayo is ransacked by troops and a member of his staff is killed.

On Wednesday, 23rd March the US President, Ronald Regan, unveils plans for the $2,000bn Strategic Defense Initiative (later known as "Star Wars" after the George Lucas film), which aimed to avert nuclear war using space technology.

Former Soviet spy Donald MacLean dies in Moscow on 8th March. Another Soviet spy, the art historian Anthony Blunt, dies on 26th March.

Ian MacGregor, leader of the British Steel Corporation, is named as the new chairman of the National Coal Board on 28th March.

On 1st April CND supporters form a 14-mile human chain around three nuclear weapons sites in Berkshire.

Gandhi wins eight Oscars.

A new £1 coin is introduced in the UK on 21st April.

On Monday, 25th April Stern magazine publishes the first installment of the "Hitler Diaries", purportedly written by Hitler himself but later proven to be fakes.

On 5th May the BBC broadcast the 1,000th edition of Top Of The Pops.

The Metropolitan Police use wheelclamps for the first time.

A car bomb explodes in South Africa's capital city, Pretoria, on 20th May. 17 people die and 197 are injured in the explosion.

More than 300 people are killed on 25th May by a fire aboard a ferry on the Upper Nile.

Meat Loaf declares himself bankrupt with debts of over $1 million.

The People's March for Jobs reaches London on 5th June, having set off from Glasgow six weeks earlier.

The Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher wins the UK general election held on Thursday, 9th June, securing a massive majority in the House of Commons of 144 seats. The Labour Party wins 209 seats, the Liberals 17 and the SDP only 6. Among the MPs to lose their seats are Tony Benn and Shirley Williams. Gerald Kaufman, a member of the Labour Shadow Cabinet, describes the Labour Party's manifesto as "the longest suicide note in history."

Following the disappointing results for both their parties the leaders of the Labour Party and the SDP both resign. On 12th June Michael Foot announces that he will stand down as Labour leader at the party conference in October. The next day Roy Jenkins resigns as leader of the SDP.

On 16th June Pope Jean Paul II begins an eight day visit to his native Poland. While he is there the Pontiff has separate meetings with General Jaruzelski and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa.

The Syrian government expels the PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, from Damascus on 24th June.

On 13th July MPs vote 361-245 against the restoration of the death penalty.

On 16th July twenty people die in a helicopter crash off the Scilly Isles.

Simon and Garfunkel begin a reunion tour on 19th July.

On the same day the skeleton of a 125 million-year-old dinosaur goes on show at the Natural History Museum in London..

Martial law is lifted in Poland on 22nd July.

Violence breaks out between Sinhalese and Tamil groups in Sri Lanka.

Actor David Niven dies from motor neurone disease on 29th July.

Joshua Nkomo returns to Zimbabwe on 15th August after five months self-imposed exile.

Paul Simon and Carrie Fisher get married on 16th August.

Another opposition leader, Benigno Aquino, who had spent three years in exile in the USA, is shot dead upon his arrival at Manila Airport on 21st August.

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin resigns on 28th August.

On 31st August 269 people are killed when a Korean airliner is shot down after straying into Soviet airspace.

On Thursday, 1st September the USA accuses the USSR of shooting down a civilian aircraft, missing off the eastern coast of Russia. The South Korean Boeing 747 had been shot down after straying into Soviet airspace. All 269 of the passengers on board died.

On 11th September, at their conference in Salford, the Social Democrats vote against a merger with the Liberal Party.

The army and the police in Argentina are granted an amnesty for crimes against leftists in the 1970s.

On Sunday, 25th September 38 IRA prisoners escape from the high-security Maze prison near Lisburn in Northern Ireland. It is the biggest escape in British penal history.

A Chorus Line breaks the record for the longest run on Broadway on 29th September, when the show is performed for the 3,389th time.

The Swedish post office issues an ABBA stamp on 1st October.

On Sunday, 2nd October Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the UK Labour Party, with Roy Hattersley as his Deputy.

Lech Walesa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 5th October.

On 10th October Yitzak Shamir succeeds Menachem Begin as Prime Minister of Israel.

The Trade and Industry Secretary Cecil Parkinson resigns from Margaret Thatcher's government on Friday, 14th October after his mistress, Sara Keays, reveals that she is pregnant. Their daughter Flora is born on New Year's Eve.

Thousands of CND supporters gather in London on 22nd October to protest against the use of nuclear weapons.

146 US marines and 27 French soldiers are killed in bomb attacks in Beirut on 23rd October.

On Tuesday, 25th October US troops invade the Caribbean island of Grenada, less than a week after a military coup in which the Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, was deposed and executed.

On 4th November Dennis Nilsen is found guilty of six murders and two attempted murders. The Judge at the Central Criminal Court sentences him to life imprisonment.

On 14th November US Cruise Missiles arrive at Greenham Common. Hundreds of people are arrested the next day in a protest outside the House of Commons. A further 141 protesters are arrested at Greenham Common.

John Le Mesurier, who played the part of Sergeant Wilson in Dad's Army, dies. The announcement of his death reads: "John Le Mesurier wishes it to be known that he conked out on November 15th. He sadly misses family and friends."

On Wednesday, 16th November, following England's elimination from the European Championship, 20 England football supprters are arrested in Luxembourg for drunkenness, fighting and robbery.

Tom Evans of Badfinger, who wrote the song Without You, commits suicide on 23rd November.

On Saturday, 26th November an armed gang steals more than £25m worth of gold bullion from the Brinks Mat warehouse at Heathrow airport.

A long-running dispute between the National Graphical Association and the Messenger newspaper group escalates on 29th November when thousands of pickets try to prevent the distribution of newspapers from the Messenger's printing works in Warrington. 23 police officers and 14 pickets are injured. 86 people are arrested.

In the UK the Gay Men's Press publishes a book titled Jenny Lives With Eric and Martin, causing a flurry amongst tabloid journalists when it later appears on the shelves of some UK public libraries.

A Swedish journalist, Lars Ljungberg, undergoes the first successful heart-lung transplant in Britain on Tuesday, 6th December in an operation carried out at Harefield Hospital by a team of 20 doctors and nurses.

On 17th December, one of the busiest shopping days before Christmas, an IRA bomb explodes in a side street near the Harrods department store in London. Six people are killed and 90 injured. Despite the damage caused by the blast, Harrods re-opens three days later.

On the same day as the Harrods bomb attack 80 people die in a fire at a Madrid disco.

The PLO leader Yasser Arafat is forced to leave the Lebanon on 20th December.

Actress Violet Carson (Ena Sharples in Coronation Street) dies at home in Blackpool on 26th December, aged 85. Lyn Paul had worked with Violet Carson when she appeared in Coronation Street as a young girl. During the filming of one episode Lyn was reduced to tears by a scene centered on a row between Ena Sharples and Elsie Tanner (played by Pat Phoenix). Miss Carson, who took Lyn to her dressing room to wipe her eyes dry, forever remembered her as "the little girl who cried."

Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys) drowns at Marina del Ray, California on 28th December.

• Style Council
  
• Tina Turner (solo)
  
• Luther Vandross
  
• Paul Young
  
• ZZ Top
  
  

• Bananarama
  Cruel Summer
  
• Bananarama
  Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
  
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  Can't Get Used To Losing You
  
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• David Bowie
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  Tonight I Celebrate My Love
  
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  Flashdance ... What A Feeling
  
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• ZZ Top
  Gimme All Your Lovin'
  

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• TV-AM
  
  

Ice Skating: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean win the World Ice Dance Championship for the third year in a row. They are awarded maximum points by all nine judges.

Boxing: Charlie Magri wins the World Flyweight title.
The referee stops his fight against Eleonica Mercedes in the 7th round.

Horse Racing: Corbiere, ridden by Ben de Haan and trained by Jenny Pitman, wins the Grand National. It is the first time that the winning horse has been trained by a woman.
Lester Piggott, riding Teenoso, wins the Derby for the ninth time.

Snooker: the 1980 World Champion, Cliff Thorburn, appears in the final of the World Snooker Championship for the third time but loses to the 1981 Champion, Steve Davis.
Davis doesn't have it all his own way. In the final of the UK Championship he loses 15:16 to Alex Higgins.

Football: Aberdeen become the first Scottish team to win the European Cup Winners' Cup, beating Real Madrid 2:1 in the final.
The FA Cup ends in a draw. Manchester United beat Brighton 4:0 in the replay.

Tennis: Martina Navratilova beats American teenager Andrea Jaeger in straight sets (6-0, 6-3) to win the women's singles final at Wimbledon for the fourth time. Navratilova also wins the US Open and Australian Open titles.
John McEnroe beats Chris Lewis (6-2, 6-2, 6-2) to win the Wimbledon men's singles title for the second time.

Cricket: Pakistan beat England in a Test match for the first time.

Athletics: Daley Thompson wins a gold medal in the men's Decathlon at the World Athletics Championships.
Steve Cram wins a gold medal in the men's 1,500 metres.

Sailing: Australia wins the America's Cup, ending the United States 132-year reign.

Golf: Tom Watson wins the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Having won his first British Open title in 1975, he becomes Champion for the fifth time in nine years.