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The South African government bans newspapers from reporting on the African National Congress (ANC).

Douglas Lovelock, the British police Inspector who accidentally shot and paralysed Cherry Groce during a raid on a house in Brixton in September 1985, is cleared of all criminal charges on 15th January.

On 20th January UK police crack down on soccer hooligans with a series of dawn raids at 30 addresses in London, the Home Counties and the Midlands.

On the same day church envoy Terry Waite is taken hostage in Beirut.

Mikhail Gorbachev begins to implement his policies of glasnost and perestroika.

On 29th January the President of the Philippines, Corazon Aquino, sends in troops to flush out a group of armed rebels who had been occupying the Channel 7 television centre in Manila for two days.

Pianist and entertainer Liberace dies of AIDS at his home in Palm Springs on 4th February.

The News International dispute is brought to an end on 6th February when the NGA calls off its picketing of Rupert Murdoch's Wapping print works.

Cynthia Payne is found not guilty of running a brothel at her home in Streatham.

Andy Warhol dies on 22nd February, aged 58, after a gall bladder operation.

The Church of England General Synod votes to allow the ordination of women priests, but will study an inquiry by a committee of bishops before it gives the final go-ahead.

Danny Kaye dies on 3rd March.

On Friday, 6th March a car ferry, the Townsend Thoresen Herald of Free Enterprise, capsizes outside the Belgian port of Zebrugge, killing 193 passengers and crew.

Winston Silcott is jailed for life on 19th March for the murder of PC Keith Blakelock in the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots (the conviction was quashed in November 1991).

Thirty-one people are injured on 23rd March, when an IRA car bomb explodes at the British army barracks in Rheindahlen, West Germany.

The late Duchess of Windsor's jewellery is sold for £31 million on Friday, 3rd April at a Sotheby's auction on the shore of Lake Geneva.

On 9th April the Princess of Wales opens the UK's first AIDS ward at the Middlesex Hospital in London.

On the same day the UK government orders an inquiry into the Al-Fayed brothers £650 million purchase of Harrods.

Harvey Proctor, the Conservative MP for Billericay in Essex, is arrested on charges of indecency involving teenage rent boys. He appears at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in central London on 16th April. At his trial in May he pleads guilty and is fined £1,450.

More than 100 people are killed on Tuesday, 21st April when a Tamil Tiger bomb explodes at a bus terminal in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

On 23rd April Margaret Thatcher confirms that former MI5 chief Sir Maurice Oldfield was gay.

On 30th April the Law Lords approve the sterilization of a 17-year-old girl with learning disabilities.

President Botha's National Party is returned to power in the whites only election in South Africa.

The frontrunner for the Democrats' 1988 presidential nomination, Gary Hart, drops out of the contest on 8th May, a week after allegations had been made of an extra-marital affair with Donna Rice.

Rita Hayworth dies on 15th May, aged 67.

The USS Stark is hit by an Iraqi missile. 37 of the crew are killed.

On 28th May a 19-year-old West German, Mathias Rust, lands his Cessna plane on Moscow's Red Square. He is subsequently sentenced to four years in a Soviet labour camp, where he serves 432 days.

In the UK the Conservative Party wins the general election held on Thursday, 11th June. The Tories win 376 seats and have a Parliamentary majority of 101. Margaret Thatcher becomes the first Prime Minister for more than 160 years to win three successive terms of office.

Princess Anne is given the title "Princess Royal".

On 14th June, at the age of 73, Willy Brandt steps down after 20 years as head of Germany's Social Democrats.

The number of people unemployed in the UK falls below 3 million.

Fred Astaire dies on 22nd June, aged 88.

Rupert Murdoch buys the Today newspaper.

Klaus Barbie, the so-called "Butcher of Lyons", is sentenced to life imprisonment on 3rd July.

In the USA National Security Adviser John Poindexter reveals that money from arms sales to Iran was used to provide financial support to Nicaraguan rebels.

Jeffrey Archer wins his libel action against Express Newspapers and the Editor of The Star over allegations that he had sex with prostitute Monica Coghlan.

Kylie Minogue has her first hit in Australia with a cover of Little Eva's The Locomotion.

MTV Europe is launched on 1st August.

Dr. David Owen resigns as leader of the SDP on 6th August. He is replaced by Robert Maclennan on 27th August.

16 people are massacred in Hungerford when a man brandishing a gun runs amok through the town. The assassin, Michael Ryan, takes his own life.

Rudolf Hess, deputy to Adolf Hitler at the start of the Second World War, commits suicide in Spandau Prison on Monday, 17th August.

Lee Marvin dies on 29th August.

On 2nd September the UK government launches a new, more explicit AIDS publicity campaign: "Don't die of ignorance".

Twenty-five English football fans involved in the Heysel stadium disaster are extradited to Belgium on 9th September.

Peter Tosh, founder of the reggae band The Wailers, dies on 11th September.

On 23rd September an Australian court lifts the ban on the publication of Peter Wright's autobiography, Spycatcher.

The representatives of more than 70 countries attending an international conference in Montreal agree to cut the emission of CFCs by 50% by 1999.

On 4th October the weekly announcement of the new BBC singles chart is switched from Tuesday lunchtime to Sunday evening.

On 8th October an inquest into the capsizing of the Herald of Free Enterprise returns a verdict of unlawful killing.

Hurricane force winds hit London and the south-east of England on 16th October. Eighteen people are killed and hundreds injured. Up to a million trees are uprooted or destroyed and damage to property is estimated at £100 million.

Lester Piggott is jailed for three years for tax evasion on 23rd October.

Eamon Andrews, presenter of This Is Your Life, dies on 5th November, aged 64.

Eleven people are killed on Sunday, 8th November when an IRA bomb goes off at a Remembrance Day service in Enniskillen. A further victim died in 2000, after 13 years in a coma.

On 11th November Vincent Van Gogh's painting Irises is sold for $49 million (£27 million) - a world record for a work of art.

On 18th November an escalator fire at Kings Cross tube station claims 30 lives.

Demi Moore and Bruce Willis get married on 21st November.

Construction work begins on the Channel Tunnel on 1st December.

On 7th December a tribute concert is held at Carnegie Hall to honour Harry Chapin on what would have been his 45th birthday. Among the stars appearing are Judy Collins, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen. Chapin wrote the New Seekers' 1972 hit Circles.

On Tuesday, 8th December, at a summit meeting in Washington, the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the US President Ronald Reagan sign an agreement to reduce stockpiles of nuclear weapons in Europe.

An extra second is added to the end of 1987 to take account of the slowing rotation of the Earth.

• Belinda Carlisle
  
• Crowded House
  
• Primal Scream
  
• Wet Wet Wet
  
  

• ABC
  When Smokey Sings
  
• A-ha
  The Living Daylights
  
• Rick Astley
  Never Gonna Give You Up
  
• Bee Gees
  You Win Again
  
• Black
  Wonderful Life
  
• Blow Monkeys
  It Doesn't Have To Be This Way
  
• Boy George
  Everything I Own
  
• Randy Crawford
  Almaz
  
• Terence Trent D'Arby
  Wishing Well
  
• Ferry Aid
  Let It Be
  
• Firm
  Star Trekkin'
  
• Aretha Franklin and George Michael
  I Knew You Were Waiting For Me
  
• George Harrison
  Got My Mind Set On You
  
• Heart
  Alone
  
• Whitney Houston
  I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
  
• Billy Idol
  Mony Mony
  
• Michael Jackson
  and Siedah Garrett
  I Just Can't Stop Loving You
  
• Ben E. King
  Stand By Me
  
• Living In A Box
  Living In A Box
  
• Johnny Logan
  Hold Me Now
  [Eurovision Song contest winner]
  
• Los Lobos
  La Bamba
  
• Madonna
  La Isla Bonita
  
• Madonna
  Who's That Girl
  
• Mel and Kim
  Respectable
  
• Freddie Mercury
  The Great Pretender
  
• George Michael
  Faith
  
• George Michael
  I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
  
• George Michael
  I Want Your Sex
  
• Alison Moyet
  Weak In The Presence Of Beauty
  
• Pet Shop Boys
  Always On My Mind
  
• Pet Shop Boys
  It's A Sin
  
• Pet Shop Boys
  and Dusty Springfield
  What Have I Done To Deserve This
  
• Labi Siffre
  (Something Inside) So Strong
  
• Carly Simon
  Coming Around Again
  
• Spagna
  Call Me
  
• Starship
  Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now
  
• T'Pau
  China In Your Hand
  
• U2
  With Or Without You
  
• Jackie Wilson
  I Get The Sweetest Feeling
  

• Michael Crawford
  The Music Of The Night
  
• John Farnham
  You're The Voice
  
• M/A/R/R/S
  Pump Up The Volume
  
• Mental As Anything
  Live It Up
  
• Morris Minor and the Majors
  Stutter Rap (No Sleep 'Til Bedtime)
  

• Communards
  Red
  
• Fleetwood Mac
  Tango In The Night
  
• Nanci Griffith
  Lone Star State Of Mind
  
• George Harrison
  Cloud Nine
  
• INXS
  Kick
  
• Michael Jackson
  Bad
  
• George Michael
  Faith
  
• Alison Moyet
  Raindancing
  
• New Order
  Substance
  
• Dolly Parton,
  Linda Rondstadt
  and Emmylou Harris
  Trio
  
• Pet Shop Boys
  Actually
  
• Prince
  Sign 'O' The Times
  
• Chris Rea
  Dancing With Strangers
  
• Cliff Richard
  Always Guaranteed
  
• Simply Red
  Men And Women
  
• The Smiths
  The World Won't Listen
  
• The Smiths
  Strangeways Here We Come
  
• Bruce Springsteen
  Tunnel Of Love
  
• Sting
  Nothing Like The Sun
  
• 10,000 Maniacs
  In My Tribe
  
• T'Pau
  Bridge Of Spies
  
• U2
  The Joshua Tree
  
• Rosie Vela
  Zazu
  
• Jennifer Warnes
  Famous Blue Raincoat
  
• Wet Wet Wet
  Popped In Souled Out
  

• Beverley Hills Cop II
  
• Blue Velvet
  
• Brighton Beach Memoirs
  
• Children Of A Lesser God
  
• Crocodile Dundee
  
• Cry Freedom
  
• Dona Herlinda and Her Son
  
• Duet For One
  
• 84 Charing Cross Road
  
• Full Metal Jacket
  
• Hope and Glory
  
• Lethal Weapon
  
• Little Shop Of Horrors
  
• The Living Daylights
  
• The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearne
  
• Maurice
  
• A Month In The Country
  
• The Mosquito Coast
  
• The Name Of The Rose
  
• Outrageous Fortune
  
• Personal Services
  
• Platoon
  
• Prick Up Your Ears
  
• Radio Days (Woody Allen)
  
• Rita, Sue and Bob Too
  
• Roxanne
  
• September (Woody Allen)
  
• Suspect
  
• Tenue de Soirée
  
• Three Amigos!
  
• Tin Men
  
• The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV
  
• The Witches Of Eastwick
  
• Withnail And I
  
  

• Alas, Smith and Jones
  (Series 4)
  
• 'Allo 'Allo
  (Series 4)
  
• Blackadder the Third
  
• Bread
  (Series 2 and 3)
  
• Cagney and Lacey
  (USA)
  
• The Dame Edna Experience!
  
• French and Saunders
  (Series 1)
  
• The Golden Girls
  (USA: Series 3)
  
• In Sickness and In Health
  (Series 3)
  
• Inspector Morse
  
• Last of the Summer Wine
  (Series 9)
  
• The New Statesman
  
• The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4
  (Series 2)
  
• Spitting Image
  (Series 7)
  
• Thirtysomething
  
• Three Up Two Down
  (Series 3)
  
• Yes, Prime Minister
  (Series 2)
  
  

Rugby: New Zealand win the inaugural World Cup, beating France 29:9 in the final.

Football: Coventry City beat Tottenham Hotspur 3:2 in the FA Cup final when Spurs player Gary Mabutt scores an own goal in extra time.

Tennis: Pat Cash beats Ivan Lendl in straight sets to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon (7-6, 6-2, 7-5).
In the women's singles final Martina Navratilova has a straight sets victory over Steffi Graf (7-5, 6-3). She has another straight sets victory over Graf in the US Open final (7-6, 6-1).

Cycling: Stephen Roche wins the Tour de France.

Cricket: Australia win the World Cup.

Golf: Nick Faldo wins the Open Championship at Muirfield.
Ian Woosnam wins the World Matchplay Championship.
The European team retains the Ryder Cup, winning for the first time on American soil.
Laura Davies becomes the first British player to win the US Ladies' Open.

Snooker: Steve Davis wins the UK Championship for the fourth time in a row, beating Jimmy White 16-14 in the final.