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Portugal and Spain become members European Community on 1st January.
Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy dies from a drug-related heart failure on Saturday, 4th January. He had been in a coma for eight days.
Christopher Isherwood, author of Christopher and His Kind and A Single Man, also dies on 4th January, aged 81.
The Defence Secretary, Michael Heseltine, resigns from the UK government on 9th January, following disagreements over official policy towards the Westland helicopter company. On 24th January the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Leon Brittain, also resigns.
On 25th January production of the News Of The World and the Sunday Times is transferred to the new News International plant at Wapping.
On Tuesday, 28th January the US space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after take-off, killing the seven astronauts on board.

President 'Baby Doc' Duvalier is exiled from Haiti on 7th February.
Two of the trade unions involved in the News International dispute, the NGA and Sogat '82, are each fined £25,000 for contempt of Court.
President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines is deposed on 25th February.
The Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, is assassinated on 28th February as he leaves a cinema in Stockholm.

The Queen signs the Australia Bill on 2nd March, severing constitutional ties with Britain.
Today, a new colour tabloid, is published in the UK for the first time on Tuesday, 4th March.
On Thursday, 13th March rival tabloid The Sun appears on news stands with the bizarre front-page headline: 'Freddie Starr ate my hamster!' In the accompanying story model Lea La Salle claims that the comedian had put her pet hamster 'Supersonic' between two slices of bread and then eaten it. Her boyfriend Vince McCaffrey, coincidentally Lyn Paul's first husband, is quoted as saying: "It's hard to believe the guy actually did this." Freddie Starr's response: "You said it, Vince!" (Freddie Starr, Unwrapped, page 232)
James Cagney dies on 30th March, aged 86.
The Greater London Council is abolished on 31st March, along with six other Metropolitan County Councils.

The Prince and Princess of Wales open Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 4 on 1st April.
A bomb explodes on board a TWA Boeing 727 on 2nd April as the plane flies over Greece on its way to Athens. Four people, including a baby, are killed when they are sucked through a hole in the side of the plane.
A bomb explodes at the La Belle disco in Berlin on 5th April, killing three people and injuring more than 200 others. Two of the dead and many of the injured are American soldiers.
Clint Eastwood is elected Mayor of the Californian town of Carmel on 8th April.
Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan on 10th April after eight years in exile.
Simone de Beauvoir dies on Monday, 14th April, aged 78.
At 0100hours on the same day the USA launches an air strike against Libya in retaliation for alleged Libyan terrorist attacks on American targets, including the bomb attack at the La Belle disco in Berlin.
The British World Wide Television News (WWTN) journalist, John McCarthy, is abducted in Beirut on Thursday, 17th April.
The Duchess of Windsor, formerly Mrs. Wallice Simpson, dies on 24th April, aged 89. On 29th April her body is buried next to her husband, the abdicated King Edward VIII, at Frogmore in Windsor.
There is an explosion at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union on Saturday, 26th April.

On the television soap opera Dallas, Bobby Ewing (played by Patrick Duffy) returns from the dead to discover that the previous episodes have just been a bad dream!
The News International dispute turns nasty. Around 300 people (including 175 police officers) are injured on 3rd May when violence erupts on the picket lines at Wapping.
Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one injured in Sri Lanka on Saturday, 3rd May, when a bomb explodes on board an Air Lanka Tristar at Colombo airport.
In Argentina on 16th May the former President, General Galtieri, is sentenced to 12 years in prison for his part in the Falklands war.
On Saturday, 24th May Margaret Thatcher becomes the first British Prime Minister to visit Israel.
On 29th May the new EEC flag (a circle of 12 gold stars on a blue background) is raised for the first time at the offices of the European Commission in Brussels.

Former SS officer Dr. Kurt Waldheim is elected President of Austria on 8th June.
On Tuesday, 10th June Patrick Magee is found guilty of planting the bomb which exploded at the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the 1984 Conservative Party Conference.
Derek Hatton, the Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council, is expelled from the Labour Party on Thursday, 12th June for being a member of Militant Tendency.
Faced by growing unrest in South Africa, President P.W. Botha declares a state of emergency. On 16th June black South Africans mark the 10th anniversary of the Soweto uprising by staying away from work.

Dolly Parton opens her Dollywood theme park in Tennessee on Wednesday, 16th July.
On Tuesday, 22nd July UK MPs vote by 231 votes to 230 to abolish corporal punishment in state schools.
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson get married at Westminster Abbey on Wednesday, 23rd July.
On 24th July, in recognition of his work to raise funds for famine relief in Africa, Bob Geldorf receives a knighthood from the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Suzy Lamplugh, a 25-year-old estate agent, disappears on Monday, 28th July, after meeting an unknown client, "Mr. Kipper", outside a property in Fulham.
On 29th July Boy George is found guilty of possessing heroin. He is fined £250.

Michael Rudetsky, who played keyboards for Culture Club, is found dead at Boy George's home in Hampstead on 5th August.
On 11th August 152 Sri Lankan refugees are found drifting in two lifeboats off the coast of Newfoundland, having been cast adrift from a ship carrying them from West Germany,
On 27th August South African police open fire on rioting crowds in Soweto.
A collision on 31st August between a cargo ship and a passenger liner in the Black Sea leads to the loss of at least 319 lives.
Sculptor Henry Moore dies on the same day, aged 88.

Prince Charles admits on TV that he talks to his plants.
Japanese car manufacturers Nissan open a new factory in Sunderland.
Desmond Tutu is enthroned as the Lord Archbishop of Cape Town on Sunday, 7th September.
On 8th September the President of Chile, General Augusto Pinochet, describes to reporters how he survived an attack upon his motorcade by rebel fighters armed with machine-guns, rifles, bazookas and grenades.
On 16th September 177 miners are killed in an underground fire at the Kinross gold mine, near Johannesburg.
Nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu is abducted in Rome on 30th September, after revealing details of Israel's nuclear weapons programme. He is taken back to Israel to face treason charges.

El Salvador is hit by a series of earthquakes. 1,500 people are killed.
The Queen and Prince Philip visit China. While in Beijing Prince Philip tells a group of British students: "If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed."
On Thursday, 6th November 45 oil rig workers are killed when a Chinook helicopter crashes into the North Sea on its way from the Brent oilfield to Shetland. Two of the 47 on board are rescued by coastguards.
The Independent newspaper is launched in the UK on 7th October. The editor, Andreas Whittam Smith, receives a wreath from Max Hastings, the editor of the Daily Telegraph. In its first month the new paper achieves an average daily circulation of 332,957.
President Samora Machel of Mozambique is killed on Sunday, 19th October when the plane flying him back from an international meeting in Zambia crashes in the Lebombo mountains. 24 members of his staff were also killed in the crash.
24-year-old Jeremy Bamber is jailed for life on 28th October for killing five members of his family at their farmhouse in Essex.
Margaret Thatcher opens the final section of the M25 motorway on Wednesday, 29th October.
TV presenter Esther Rantzen launches Childline on 30th October, a new telephone helpline for children.

The High Court rules that a ban on News International newspapers by public libraries in three London Boroughs is illegal.
Gilbert & George win the Turner Prize.
The UK government sets up a Cabinet Committee on AIDS, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, William Whitelaw. It meets for the first time on 11th November.
The head of the Renault car company, Georges Besse, is shot dead in Paris on Monday, 17th November.
On 20th November, after receiving new information from Myra Hindley, police begin a search of Saddleworth Moor, near Oldham, for more victims of the Moors murderers.
Cary Grant dies on 29th November, aged 82.
The "Irangate" scandal breaks when it emerges that a US hostage in Iran was freed in exchange for arms.

Murderer Myra Hindley returns to Saddleworth Moor on 16th December to assist police in their search for the bodies of missing children.
On 21st December student demonstrators in Shanghai call for democracy in China.
Dick Rutan and Jena Yeager complete the first non-stop flight around the world on Tuesday, 23rd December. Their plane Voyager touches down at Edwards Air Force Base in California, having flown 25,000 miles around the world without stopping to refuel. The flight took 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
Andrei Sakharov, the Soviet Union's most prominent dissident, returns to Moscow on 23rd December, after almost seven years of internal exile.
Lord Stockton, the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, dies on Monday, 29th December, aged 92.
On 30th December the UK government announces that the use of canaries to detect harmful gasses in coal mines is to be brought to an end. The birds are replaced by modern hand-held gas detectors.

• Blow Monkeys
  
• Janet Jackson
  
• Run D.M.C.
  
  

• A-ha
  The Sun Always Shines On TV
  
• Amazulu
  Too Good To Be Forgotten
  
• Bangles
  Manic Monday
  
• Berlin
  Take My Breath Away
  
• Nick Berry
  Every Loser Wins
  
• Blow Monkeys
  Digging Your Scene
  
• Bon Jovi
  Livin' On A Prayer
  
• David Bowie
  Absolute Beginners
  
• James Brown
  Living In America
  
• Bucks Fizz
  New Beginning (Mamba Seyra)
  
• Communards
  Don't Leave Me This Way
  
• Cutting Crew
  (I Just) Died In Your Arms
  
• Chris de Burgh
  The Lady In Red
  
• Jim Diamond
  Hi Ho Silver
  
• Dire Straits
  Walk Of Life
  
• Anita Dobson
  Anyone Can Fall In Love
  
• Dr. and the Medics
  Spirit In The Sky
  
• Double
  The Captain Of Her Heart
  
• Europe
  The Final Countdown
  
• Falco
  Rock Me Amadeus
  
• Samantha Fox
  Touch Me (I Want Your Body)
  
• Boris Gardiner
  I Want To Wake Up With You
  
• Bruce Hornsby and the Range
  The Way It Is
  
• Housemartins
  Caravan Of Love
  
• Housemartins
  Happy Hour
  
• Janet Jackson
  What Have You Done For Me Lately
  
• Grace Jones
  Poll Up To The Bumper / La Vie En Rose (re-issue)
  
• Patti LaBelle and Malcolm McDonald
  On My Own
  
• Level 42
  Lessons In Love
  
• Huey Lewis and the News
  The Power Of Love / Do You Believe In Love (re-issue)
  
• Madonna
  Papa Don't Preach
  
• Madonna
  True Blue
  
• Man To Man
  Male Stripper
  
• George Michael
  A Different Corner
  
• Mr. Mister
  Broken Wings
  
• Nana Mouskouri
  Only Love
  
• Alison Moyet
  Is This Love?
  
• Billy Ocean
  When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going
  
• Pet Shop Boys
  West End Girls
  
• Prince
  Kiss
  
• Psychedelic Furs
  Pretty In Pink (re-recording)
  
• Queen
  A Kind Of Magic
  
• Cliff Richard and the Young Ones
  Living Doll
  
• Diana Ross
  Chain Reaction
  
• Run D.M.C.
  Walk This Way
  
• Simply Red
  Holding Back The Years
  
• Frank Sinatra
  Theme from 'New York, New York'
  
• Spitting Image
  The Chicken Song
  
• Status Quo
  In The Army Now
  
• Marti Webb
  Always There
  
• Wham!
  The Edge Of Heaven
  
• Kim Wilde
  You Keep Me Hangin' On
  
• Jackie Wilson
  Reet Petite
  
  

• Grange Hill Cast
  Just Say No
  
• Stan Ridgway
  Camouflage
  
  

• Bangles
  Different Light
  
• Jackson Browne
  Lives In The Balance
  
• Eric Clapton
  August
  
• Communards
  Communards
  
• Culture Club
  From Luxury To Heartache
  
• Cutting Crew
  Broadcast
  
• Eurythmics
  Revenge
  
• Peter Gabriel
  So
  
• Genesis
  Invisible Touch
  
• Nanci Griffith
  Last Of The True Believers
  
• Bruce Hornsby and the Range
  The Way It Is
  
• Madonna
  True Blue
  
• Pet Shop Boys
  Please
  
• Queen
  A Kind Of Magic
  
• Chris Rea
  On The Beach
  
• Paul Simon
  Graceland
  
• The Smiths
  The Queen Is Dead
  
• Talking Heads
  True Stories
  
• Ruby Turner
  Women Hold Up Half the Sky
  
• Steve Winwood
  Back In The High Life
  

• Absolute Beginners
  
• Beadle's About
  
• Betty Blue
  
• Brighton Beach Memoirs
  
• Caravaggio
  
• Clockwise
  
• The Color Purple
  
• Crocodile Dundee
  
• Death In A French Garden
  
• Down and Out In Beverly Hills
  
• Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)
  
• Heartburn
  
• Jagged Edge
  
• The Jewel Of The Nile
  
• Kiss Of The Spiderwoman
  
• Manon des Sources
  
• The Mission
  
• Mona Lisa
  
• Out Of Africa
  
• Parting Glances
  
• Pretty In Pink
  
• Rocky IV
  
• A Room With A View
  
• Ruthless People
  
• Top Gun
  
  

• Alas, Smith and Jones
  (Series 3)
  
• 'Allo 'Allo
  (Series 3)
  
• Blackadder Parte the Seconde
  
• Boon
  
• Bread
  (Series 1)
  
• Casualty
  
• Comic Relief
  
• The Golden Girls
  (USA: Series 2)
  
• Hi-de-Hi
  (Series 6 and 7)
  
• In Sickness and In Health
  (Series 2)
  
• LA Law
  (USA)
  
• The Life and Loves of a She Devil
  
• Lovejoy
  
• Neighbours
  
• Only Fools and Horses
  (Series 5)
  
• The Singing Detective
  
• Spitting Image
  (Series 4, 5 and 6)
  
• Three Up Two Down
  (Series 2)
  
• Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV
  (Series 2)
  
• Yes, Prime Minister
  (Series 1)
  
  

Football: Liverpool win the League Championship and the FA Cup.
Argentina beat England in the World Cup Quarter-Finals in Mexico (with a little help from Diego Maradona's controversial "hand of God" goal).
Alex Ferguson is appointed manager of Manchester United.

Golf: Greg Norman wins the Open Championship at Turnberry.

Snooker: Steve Davis wins the UK Championship for the third year in a row, beating Neil Foulds 16-7 in the final.

Tennis: Martina Navratilova wins her seventh women's singles title at Wimbledon, beating Hana Mandlikova in the final (7-6, 6-3). She wins the US Open for the third time, beating Helena Sukova in the final (6-3, 6-2).
Boris Becker proves that his surprise win in the 1985 men's singles final was no fluke. He retains his title with a three sets win over Ivan Lendl (6-4, 6-3, 7-5).

Cricket: England's cricket tour of Bangladesh is canceled at the last minute in a row over ties with South Africa.
Ian Botham is banned from first class cricket for two months, following his admission in a newspaper interview that he had smoked cannabis. Upon his return he sets a new world record of 356 Test wickets and equals the batting record of 24 runs in one over.

Boxing: Mike Tyson becomes the youngest world heavyweight boxing champion.