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On New Year's Day Czech-born tennis star Hana Mandlikova becomes an Australian citizen.

On 3rd January Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th Century.

Actor Trevor Howard dies on 7th January, aged 71.

Thousands are made homeless by landslides and flooding in Rio de Janiero following exceptionally heavy rainfall in a 24-hour period between 11th and 12th January.

Arthur Scargill is re-elected as President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). He beats his challenger John Walsh in the members' ballot held on 22nd January, winning 53.8% of the votes.

On 23rd January a Special Liberal Assembly in Blackpool approves the party's merger with the SDP (by 2,099-385), subject to a ballot of party members; on 31st January delegates at a SDP conference in Sheffield vote in favour of merging with the Liberal Party (by 273-28), subject to a ballot of party members.

Celebrations are held in Australia on 26th January to mark the nation's 200th anniversary.

The Phantom Of The Opera opens at the Majestic Theatre in New York on 26th January, with Michael Crawford in the title role, Sarah Brightman as Christine and Steve Barton as Raoul. The following year the show wins seven Tony Awards, including the Tony for Best Musical. It goes on to become the longest-running show in Broadway history.

The National Union of Seamen (NUS) calls a national strike 31st January in support of the 161 crew sacked by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for refusing to accept new terms and conditions.

Nurses and health service staff in the UK take part in a one day strike on 3rd February as part of a campaign for better pay.

On 5th February Comic Relief organises its first Red Nose Day to help raise funds for Africa.

On 20th February the Soviet of People's Deputies in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) in Azerbaijan votes by 110 to 17 to request the transfer of the region to Armenia.

US televangelist Jimmy Swaggart hits the headlines in the USA after confessing to his 7,000-strong congregation on 21st February that he had committed adultery.

Three members of the IRA are shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar on 6th March. At their funeral on 16th March a gunman opens fire, killing three of the mourners and injuring 50 others.

The actor, singer and drag queen Divine (real name: Harris Glenn Milstead) dies on 7th March, aged 42, while staying at the Regency Plaza Suites Hotel in Los Angeles. His death comes just three weeks after the release of the John Waters' film Hairspray, in which Divine played the parts of Arvin Hodgepile and Edna Turnblad.

On 10th March Prince Charles is nearly killed by an avalanche whilst on a skiing holiday in Klosters. The avalanche claims the life of Major Hugh Lindsay and badly injures Mrs. Patti Palmer-Tomkinson.

Andy Gibb, the Bee Gees' younger brother, also dies on 10th March, aged 30.

On 16th March thousands die in an Iraqi poison gas attack the Kurdish city of Halabja.

On 18th March the new North Terminal at Gatwick Airport, connected to the South Terminal by an automated rapid track transit system, is officially opened by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh.

On 23rd March the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union rejects the demands of Armenians to cede Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.

A Kuwait Airways jumbo jet with members of the Kuwaiti Royal Family on board is hijacked on 5th April and forced to fly to Iran. The hijackers, who allow 24 women passengers to leave the plane, demand the release of 17 prisoners in return for the lives of everyone else on the aircraft. The plane flies on to Beirut three days later but is refused permission to land and flies to Cyprus instead. One of the passengers is killed and his body dumped on the tarmac. A further 12 hostages are released unharmed. The plane then flies to Algiers, where the remaining passengers are also released.

Dave Prater, one half of the duo Sam and Dave, is killed in a car accident on 9th April, aged 50.

The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, wins 9 Oscars at the 60th Academy Awards ceremony on 11th April, including the award for Best Picture.

The comic actor Kenneth Williams is found dead from an overdose of barbiturates on Thursday, 14th April, aged 62. The coroner returns an open verdict.

On the same day, at a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, the Soviet Union signs an agreement to gradually withdraw of its troops from Afghanistan, after nine years of occupation.

Yasser Arafat's deputy, Abu Jihad, is killed in Tunis on 16th April.

Ian Botham completes a 500-mile walk across the Alps with elephants on.19th April, raising £3 million for leukemia research.

Sonny Bono is inaugurated as the Mayor of Palm Springs on the same day.

On 5th May, in a key test case, five Law Lords unanimously uphold a claim for higher pay by a cook, Julie Hayward, to give her parity with male workers at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. The case is the first to accept the principle of 'equal pay for work of equal value'.

François Mitterand is re-elected as President of France on 8th May, winning over 54% of votes. His defeated opponent, Jacques Chirac, resigns as Prime Minister two days later and is succeeded by the Socialist Michel Rocard.

On 19th May Sikh rebels surrender to Indian government forces after occupying the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab.

On 20th May pub opening hours in England and Wales are extended (11.00am - 11.00pm).

Four women invade the BBC newsroom during the Six O’clock News on 23rd May to protest against Clause 28, which aimed to outlaw the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in public institutions. Newsreader Sue Lawley continues to announce the headlines as the activists are removed. The Local Government Act is passed in Parliament the following day, with Clause 28 entering the statute books as Section 28.

In UK secondary schools 16-year-olds sit the new General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam for the first time. The GCSE replaced O-Levels and CSEs.

On Sunday, 5th June the Russian Orthodox Church launches a year-long celebration of its 1,000 anniversary with a special liturgy and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, near the Kremlin.

The former champion jockey Lester Piggott, who was jailed for tax fraud in October 1987, is stripped of his OBE on 6th June.

TV presenter Russell Harty dies in St. James' Hospital, Leeds on 8th June, aged 53, from liver failure caused by hepatitis.

On 11th June a concert is held at Wembley Stadium to celebrate Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday.

On Sunday, 3rd July 286 innocent people are killed when an Iranian airliner is shot down in the Gulf, apparently by accident, by missiles launched from the USS Vincennes.

On Wednesday, 6th July the Piper Alpha North Sea oil rig explodes. 167 people die in the blaze.

On the same day a relief delivery driver mistakenly tips twenty tonnes of aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at Lowermoor Water Treatment Works in Cornwall, contaminating water to 20,000 homes.

Paddy Ashdown becomes the new leader of the Social and Liberal Democrats on 29th July.

On the same day the Education Reform Act 1988 introduces a national curriculum for all state schools in England and Wales.

The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 is signed into law by US President Ronald Regan on 10th August. The Act provides an apology and financial compensation to Americans of Japanese descent who were mistreated during the Second World War.

Enzio Ferrari dies on 14th August, aged 90.

On 17th August President Zia-ul Haq of Pakistan dies in a plane crash along with five senior Generals and the American Ambassador, Arnold Raphel.

Iran accepts a UN-brokered ceasefire on 20th August, bringing to an end the 8-year war with Iraq, in which an estimated 1 million people had been killed.

On 21st August an area on the border of India and Nepal is hit by an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale.

The Licensing Act 1988 comes into effect on Monday, 22nd August. The Act extends the opening hours of pubs in England and Wales, allowing them to remain open all day (from 11.00am to 11.00pm).

Bangladesh is hit by severe floods throughout August and September.

On 11th September millions of people all over the world take part in Sport Aid '88 - The Race Against Time. The event is staged to help raise funds to fight diseases that claim the lives of 15 million children each year.

In Haiti on 18th September Brigadier-General Prosper Avril leads a coup against President Leslie Manigat. Avril installs a civilian government under military control.

Comedy actor Roy Kinnear dies in Spain on 21st September, aged 54, after falling from a horse.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) is founded in Burma on 24th September. The founding members include Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a plebiscite held on 5th October, voters in Chile reject a proposal to extend the rule of Augusto Pinochet for another eight years. Nearly 56% opt in favour of him continuing in power for another year, with Presidential and parliamentary elections to be held three months before his term in office expires

A Law Lords' ruling on Thursday, 13th October allows the British media to publish extracts from the memoirs of former MI5 officer Peter Wright.

At a press conference on the same day Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero, the Archbishop of Turin, announces that the Shroud of Turin, believed by many Christians to be Christ's burial cloth, had been radio-carbon dated by scientists at separate laboratories in Oxford, Tucson and Zürich to a date between 1260-1390 AD.

The first episode of a new ABC comedy, Roseanne, starring Roseanne Barr and John Goodman, is broadcast in the USA on 18th October.

On 19th October the UK government bans the broadcasting of interviews with members of Sinn Féin or representatives of the IRA.

Typhoon Ruby hits the Philippines on 24th October, causing widespread damage and sinking the inter-island ferry MV Doña Marilyn, which was on its way from Manila to Cebu.

A general election in Israel ends inconclusively on 2nd November, with the governing Likud party winning 40 seats and the opposition Labour Alignment winning 39. By the end of the month the two parties agree to form another national unity government.

On 8th November the 43rd Vice President of the USA, George Bush, is elected as the 41st President.

On 16th November, in the first open election for more than a decade, Benazir Bhutto is elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.

The 1920 manuscript of Franz Kafka's The Trial is sold at Sotheby's in London on 17th November for a record £1 million.

On 22nd November the USA unveils its new Northrop B-2 “stealth” bomber, which is supposedly undetectable by radar.

The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes the first World AIDS Day on 1st December.

Roy Orbison dies of a heart attack on 6th December, aged 52.

On 7th December an earthquake devastates northern Armenia, leaving 500,000 people homeless and at least 25,000 people dead (although some estimates suggest that the death toll may have been as high as 50,000 or 60,000).

35 people are killed in a morning rush hour rail crash at Clapham Junction on Monday, 12th December. Nearly 500 others are injured.

UK Health Minister Edwina Currie resigns on 16th December, following her claim that most of the eggs in Britain are infected with salmonella.

US singer Sylvester (full name: Sylvester James), who had hits with Dance (Disco Heat) and You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), dies on 16th December, aged 41.

A Pan Am jumbo jet (Flight 103 from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York City) crashes at Lockerbie on 21st December, killing everyone on board. Crash investigators later confirm that the disaster was caused by a bomb.

• Bobby Brown
  
• Tracy Chapman
  
• Jason Donovan
  
• Milli Vanilli
  
• Kylie Minogue
  
• Morrissey
  
• Yazz
  

• All About Eve
  Martha's Harbour
  
• Rick Astley
  Together Forever
  
• Aswad
  Don't Turn Around
  
• Aztec Camera
  Somewhere In My Heart
  
• Bananarama
  I Want You Back
  
• Bangles
  Hazy Shade Of Winter
  
• Bomb The Bass
  Beat Dis
  
• Boy Meets Girl
  Waiting For A Star To Fall
  
• Bros
  I Owe You Nothing
  
• Bros
  When Will I Be Famous
  
• Brother Beyond
  The Harder I Try
  
• Belinda Carlisle
  Heaven Is A Place On Earth
  
• Belinda Carlisle
  Circle In The Sand
  
• Tracy Chapman
  Fast Car
  
• Climie Fisher
  Love Changes (Everything)
  
• Natalie Cole
  Pink Cadillac
  
• Phil Collins
  A Groovy Kind Of Love
  
• Danny Wilson
  Mary's Prayer
  
• Terence Trent D'Arby
  Sign Your Name
  
• Taylor Dayne
  Tell It To My Heart
  
• Hazell Dean
  Who's Leaving Who
  
• Dollar
  O L'Amour
  
• Eighth Wonder
  I'm Not Scared
  
• Enya
  Orinoco Flow
  
• Erasure
  A Little Respect
  
• Everything But The Girl
  I Don't Want To Talk About It
  
• Fairground Attraction
  Perfect
  
• Fat Boys and Chubby Checker
  The Twist (Yo Twist)
  
• Fleetwood Mac
  Everywhere
  
• Debbie Gibson
  Shake Your Love
  
• The Hollies
  He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
  
• Hothouse Flowers
  Don't Go
  
• Whitney Houston
  One Moment In Time
  
• Billy Idol
  Hot In The City (re-mix)
  
• Elton John
  Candle In The Wind (Live)
  
• Bobby McFerrin
  Don't Worry Be Happy
  
• Glenn Medeiros
  Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You
  
• Milli Vanilli
  Girl You Know It's True
  
• Kylie Minogue
  Got To Be Certain
  
• Kylie Minogue
  I Should Be So Lucky
  
• Kylie Minogue
  The Loco-motion
  
• Morrissey
  Everyday Is Like Sunday
  
• Morrissey
  Suedehead
  
• New Order
  Blue Monday 1988
  
• Billy Ocean
  Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car
  
• Vanessa Paradis
  Joe Le Taxi
  
• Pet Shop Boys
  Heart
  
• Prefab Sprout
  The King Of Rock 'n' Roll
  
• Maxi Priest
  Wild World
  
• Cliff Richard
  Mistletoe And Wine
  
• S Express
  Theme from S Express
  
• Sabrina
  Boys (Summertime Love)
  
• Salt 'n' Pepa
  Push It / Tramp
  
• Taja Sevelle
  Love Is Contagious
  
• Tiffany
  I Think We're Alone Now
  
• UB40 featuring
  Chrissie Hynde
  Breakfast In Bed
  
• U2
  Desire
  
• Wet Wet Wet / Billy Bragg and Cara Tivey
  With A Little Help From My Friends / She's Leaving Home
  
• Jane Wiedlin
  Rush Hour
  
• Kim Wilde
  You Came
  
• Bill Withers
  Lovely Day (Sunshine Mix)
  
• Womack and Womack
  Teardrops
  
• Yazz and The Plastic population
  The Only Way Is Up
  
• Yello
  The Race
  

• Robin Beck
  The First Time
  
• Bourgeois Tagg
  I Don't Mind At All
  
• Desireless
  Voyage Voyage (Re-mix)
  
• Harry Enfield
  Loadsamoney (Doin' Up The House)
  
• Freiheit
  Keeping The Dream Alive
  
• Timelords
  Doctorin' The Tardis
  
  

• Rosanne Cash
  King's Record Shop
  
• Tracy Chapman
  Tracy Chapman
  
• Dire Straits
  Money For Nothing
  
• Enya
  Watermark
  
• Erasure
  The Innocents
  
• Fairground Attraction
  The First Of A Million Kisses
  
• Nanci Griffith
  Little Love Affairs
  
• Nanci Griffith
  One Fair Summer Evening
  
• k.d. lang
  Shadowland
  
• Mike & The Mechanics
  Living Years
  
• Kylie Minogue
  Kylie
  
• Prince
  Lovesexy
  
• Chris Rea
  New Light Through Old Windows
  
• Cliff Richard
  Private Collection
  
• Michelle Shocked
  Short Sharp Shocked
  
• Traveling Wilburys
  Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
  
• U2
  Rattle and Hum
  
• Steve Winwood
  Roll With It
  

• The Accidental Tourist
  
• Another Woman
  (Woody Allen)
  
• Big Business
  
• Broadcast News
  
• Buster
  
• Crocodile Dundee II
  
• Cry In The Dark
  
• Empire Of The Sun
  
• Fatal Attraction
  
• A Fish Called Wanda
  
• Good Morning, Vietnam
  
• Hairspray
  
• A Handful Of Dust
  
• The Last Emperor
  
• The Last Temptation Of Christ
  
• Manon des Sources
  
• Moonstruck
  
• Rambo III
  
• RoboCop
  
• Three Men And A Baby
  
• Throw Momma From The Train
  
• The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
  
• Wall Street
  
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
  
• Wish You Were Here
  
  

Tony Award for Best Musical:
The Phantom Of The Opera

Laurence Olivier
Award for Musical of the Year:
Candide

• All Creatures Great And Small
  
• 'Allo 'Allo
  (Series 5)
  
• Around The World In 80 Days (Michael Palin)
  
• Bread
  (Series 4)
  
• Country File
  
• Death On The Rock
  
• Desmond's
  
• Doctor Who (Season 25)
  
• French And Saunders
  (Series 2)
  
• The Golden Girls
  (USA: Series 4)
  
• Hale and Pace
  
• Hi-de-Hi
  (Series 8)
  
• Last Of The Summer Wine
  (Series 10)
  
• London's Burning
  
• No Frills
  
• Prisoner Cell Block H
  
• Red Dwarf
  (Series 1 and 2)
  
• Roseanne
  (USA)
  
• Spitting Image
  (Series 8)
  
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?
  
• You Bet!
  
  

Darts: Bob Anderson wins the British Darts Organisation (BDO) World Darts Championship.

Winter Olympics: Skier Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards gains sporting notoriety when he comes last by a long way in the Ski Jump competition.

Rugby Union: France and Wales share victory in the Five Nations Championship.

Horse Racing: Rhyme 'n' Reason wins the Grand National.

Rowing: the University of Oxford crew wins the annual Boat Race against Cambridge.

Snooker: Canadian Cliff Thorburn scores the first ever 147 maximum in the World Championships at the Crucible, Sheffield.
Doug Mountjoy beats Stephen Hendry in the final of the UK Championship.

Golf: Sandy Lyle becomes the first British player to win the US Masters at Augusta, sinking a birdie on the 72nd hole to win by 1 stroke over Mark Calcavecchia.
Curtis Strange wins the US Open in a playoff with Nick Faldo.
Sevy Ballesteros wins the Open Championship at Royal Lytham.

Football: Liverpool end the season as Champions of the Football League First Division for the 17th time.
Wimbledon beat Liverpool 1-0 in the FA Cup final.

Cycling: Pedro Delgado wins the Tour de France.

Cricket: Graeme Hick scores 405 runs in a county championship match against Somerset on 6th May - the highest championship score since Archie MacLaren's 424 for Lancashire in 1895.

Seoul Olympics: Ben Johnson wins the men's 100 metres final in a new world record time of 9.79 seconds, beating Carl Lewis into second place and Linford Christie into third. He is later stripped of his medal after testing positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol.
Rosa Mota of Portugal, the bronze medalist from the 1984 Games, wins the gold medal in women’s marathon. Gelindo Borodin of Italy wins the gold medal in the men’s marathon.
The British team returns home with five gold medals, including a gold in the Coxless Pairs for rowers Steve Redgrave and Andy Holmes and a gold in the 100m Breaststroke for swimmer Adrian Moorhouse.

Tennis: Stefan Edberg beats Boris Becker in the men's singles final at Wimbledon (4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2).
Steffi Graf wins the women's singles title at all four of the Grand Slams. At Wimbledon she beats Martina Navratilova in the final in three sets (5-7 6-2, 6-1). Graf also wins a gold medal at the Seoul Olympics.