date: February 7

text: February 7 – Iranian Revolution: Supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini take over the Iranian law enforcement, courts, and government administration; the final session of the Iranian National Consultative Assembly is held.


date: February 17

section: Conflict & Security

text: February 17 – The People's Republic of China invades northern Vietnam, launching the Sino-Vietnamese War.

source_section: Events › February


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Airey Neave, Conservative M.P. in the British House of Commons, is killed, presumably by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the car park for the Houses of Parliament.

source_section: Events › March


date: April 11

text: April 11 – Uganda–Tanzania War: Fall of Kampala: Tanzanian troops take Kampala, the capital of Uganda; Idi Amin flees.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Fighting breaks out in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group; protester Blair Peach receives fatal injuries during the incident, now officially attributed to the SPG.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – The Montreal Canadiens defeat the New York Rangers four games to one to win their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup.

source_section: Events › May


date: June 25

text: June 25 – NATO Supreme Allied Commander Alexander Haig escapes an assassination attempt in Belgium by the Baader-Meinhof terrorist organization.

source_section: Events › June


date: July 3

text: July 3 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Afghanistan.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 9

text: July 9 – A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by Nazi hunters Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Carmine Galante, boss of the Bonanno crime family, is assassinated in Brooklyn.


date: August 3

text: August 3 – Dictator Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea is overthrown in a bloody coup d'état led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

source_section: Events › August


date: September 22

text: September 22 – Vela incident: The "South Atlantic Flash" is observed near the Prince Edward Islands in the Indian Ocean, thought to be a nuclear weapons test conducted by South Africa and Israel.

source_section: Events › September


date: October 14

text: October 14 – National March for gay rights takes place in Washington, D.C., involving tens of thousands of people.

source_section: Events › October


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Iran hostage crisis: Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urges his people to demonstrate on November 4 and to expand attacks on United States and Israeli interests.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 2

text: November 2 – Assata Shakur (née Joanne Chesimard), a former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, escapes from a New York prison to Cuba, where she remains under political asylum until her death in 2025.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Greensboro massacre: In Greensboro, North Carolina, five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot to death and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis, during a "Death to the Klan" rally.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Iran hostage crisis begins: 500 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (53 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former Shah of Iran back to stand trial.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Iran hostage crisis: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, U.S. President Jimmy Carter orders a halt to all oil imports into the United States from Iran.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and African American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Grand Mosque seizure: A group of 200 Juhayman al-Otaybi militants occupy Mecca's Masjid al-Haram, the holiest place in Islam. They are driven out by Saudi military forces after bloody fighting that leaves 250 people dead and 600 wounded.


date: December 24

text: December 24 – The Soviet Union covertly launches its invasion of Afghanistan – 3 days later, PDPA general secretary Hafizullah Amin is executed in Operation Storm-333 and Babrak Karmal replaces him, beginning the war.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 26

text: December 26 – In Rhodesia, 96 Patriotic Front guerrillas enter the capital Salisbury to monitor a ceasefire that begins December 28.


section: Exploration & Expansion

text: The remains of Tsar Nicholas II and some of the Romanovs are discovered and exhumed near Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 25

section: Religion & Belief

text: January 25 – Pope John Paul II arrives in Mexico City for his first visit to Mexico, mainly for 1979's Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) or Conference of Puebla.

source_section: Events › January


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Ayatollah Khomeini creates the Council of the Islamic Revolution.


date: March 13

text: March 13 – Maurice Bishop leads a successful coup in Grenada. His government will be crushed by American intervention in 1983.


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Pope John Paul II arrives in his native Poland on his first official, nine-day stay, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. This visit, known as nine days that changed the world, brings about the solidarity of the Polish people against Communism, ultimately leading to the rise of the Solidarity movement.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Sri Lanka Army Women's Corps is formed.


date: October 1

text: October 1–7 – Pope John Paul II makes a six-city visit to the United States, starting in Boston.


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Pope John Paul II arrives in New York City for his first papal tour where he addresses the U.N. General Assembly against all forms of concentration camps and torture.


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Pope John Paul II ends his first U.S. papal visit in Washington, D.C., with his first-ever visit to the White House.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.


text: Hànyǔ Pīnyīn is widely adopted as the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, leading to changes in Western spelling of Chinese toponyms.


date: January 1

section: Economy & Finance

text: January 1 – Following a deal agreed during 1978, French carmaker Peugeot completes a takeover of American manufacturer Chrysler's European operations, which are based in Britain's former Rootes Group factories, as well as the former Simca factories in France.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – The National Hockey League votes to approve its merger with the World Hockey Association, to take effect in three months, following the leagues' respective postseasons.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – The Vizianagaram district is formed in Andhra Pradesh, India.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – 1979 Italian general election: The Italian Communist Party loses a significant number of seats.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – The WHA formally ceases operations, completing the merger with the NHL.


date: July 15

text: July 15 – President Jimmy Carter addresses the nation in a televised speech talking about the "crisis of confidence in America today"; it would go on to be known as his "national malaise" speech.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Female workers of YH Trading in South Korea held a sit-in protest in response to the company's unilateral shutdown.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – Federal Reserve System changes from an interest rate target policy to a money supply target policy.


date: November 14

text: November 14 – Iran hostage crisis: U.S. President Jimmy Carter issues Executive Order 12170, freezing all Iranian assets in the United States and U.S. banks in response to the hostage crisis.


text: December 3 – The United States dollar exchange rate with the Deutsche Mark falls to 1.7079 DM, the all-time low so far; this record is not broken until November 5, 1987.


text: China International Trust Investment Group (CITIC) founded.


text: The One-child policy is introduced in China – it contributes to the country's sex-ratio imbalance. It was loosened in 2013.


section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: January 1 – United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the International Year of the Child. Many musicians donate to the Music for UNICEF Concert fund, among them ABBA, who write the song Chiquitita to commemorate the event.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1.3 km mi long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – The 1979 Daytona 500 is televised on CBS, the first ever full airing of a 500-mile race on US television, Richard Petty wins after Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison battle for first place on the final lap and crash out, leading to a fist fight. This race brought NASCAR to a wider audience.


date: February 26

text: February 26 – The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Philips publicly demonstrate a prototype of an optical digital audio disc at a press conference in Eindhoven, Netherlands.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel in the UK collapses, killing two workers.


date: March 19

text: March 19 – C-SPAN, an American television channel focusing on government and public affairs, is launched.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Nickelodeon launches from QUBE's Pinwheel experiment and begins airing on various Warner Cable systems beginning in Buffalo, New York, expanding its audience reach.


date: April 7

text: April 7 – In Japan, Yoshiyuki Tomino directs Mobile Suit Gundam, the first series of the metaseries of the same name.


date: May 24

text: May 24 – Thorpe Park: Opens its doors having attractions such as Phantom Fantasia also next door had a farm called Thorpe Farm


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Indianapolis 500: Rick Mears wins the race for the first time, and car owner Roger Penske for the second time.


date: June 23

text: June 23 – New South Wales Premier Neville Wran officially opens the Eastern Suburbs Railway in Sydney. It operates as a shuttle between Central and Bondi Junction until full integration with the Illawarra Line in 1980.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The Sony Walkman goes on sale for the first time in Japan.


date: August 11

text: August 11 – The Machchu-2 dam in Morbi, India, collapses, killing between 1800 and 25000 people in one of the worst ever dam failures.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – The first cable sports channel, the Entertainment Sports Programming Network (better known as ESPN), is launched in the United States.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – The MTR in Hong Kong begins service with the opening of its Modified Initial System, the Kwun Tong Line.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The MTR, the rapid transit railway system in Hong Kong, opens.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – Peter Brock wins the Bathurst 1000 by a record six laps, with a lap record on the last lap.


date: October 20

text: October 20 – The first McDonald's in Singapore opens at Liat Towers in Orchard Road.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Bucharest Metro Line One is opened, in Bucharest, Romania (from Timpuri Noi to Semanatoarea stations, 8.63 km mi).


date: November 29

text: November 29 – After 12 years of environmental controversy and legal action, the Tennessee Valley Authority's Tellico Dam project is completed. It remains the last dam to be built by the agency as of 2023.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – The highest aerial tramway in Europe, the Klein Matterhorn, opens.


text: The first usenet experiments are conducted by Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis of Duke University.


date: February 7

section: Science & Discovery

text: February 7 – Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was known to science.


date: February 26

text: February 26 – A total solar eclipse, the last visible from the continental United States until 2017, arcs over northwestern conterminous US and central Canada ending in Greenland. A partial solar eclipse is visible over almost all of North America and Central America including the eastern half of Alaska and the western half of the UK.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – The U.S. Voyager 1 spaceprobe photos reveal Jupiter's rings.


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Jupiter at 277000 km mi.


date: March 7

text: March 7 – The largest Magnetar (Soft gamma repeater) event is recorded.


date: March 25

text: March 25 – The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the Kennedy Space Center, to be prepared for its first launch.


date: April 22

text: April 22 – The Albert Einstein Memorial is unveiled at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.


date: June 12

text: June 12 – Bryan Allen flies the man-powered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – The ecological horror-thriller Prophecy is released in the United States by Paramount Pictures.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – NASA's first orbiting space station, Skylab, begins falling back Earth as its orbit decays after more than six years.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – The U.S. Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21000 km mi.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Nuclear false alarm: the NORAD computers and the Alternate National Military Command Center in Fort Ritchie, Maryland, detect an apparent massive Soviet nuclear strike. After reviewing the raw data from satellites and checking the early-warning radars, the alert is cancelled.


date: December 24

text: December 24 – The first European Ariane rocket is launched.


section: Health & Medicine

text: June 15 – McDonald's introduces the Happy Meal in the United States in a nationwide advertising campaign after testing the product since February in franchises in the U.S. state of Missouri.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Sweden becomes the first country to outlaw corporal punishment in the home.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – Psychiatrist and leader of the global anti-asylum movement Franco Basaglia visits the Colônia de Barbacena Psychiatric Hospital in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and compares the facility to Nazi concentration camps, a move that momentum to psychiatric reform in the country that same year.


date: August 27

text: August 27 – The Troubles: Lord Mountbatten of Burma and two others are killed in a bombing on his boat in the Republic of Ireland by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). Mountbatten was a British fleet admiral, statesman and an uncle of The Duke of Edinburgh. On the same day, the Warrenpoint ambush occurs, killing 18 British soldiers. Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne would die in a hospital the following day from injuries sustained in the bombing.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is announced by the World Health Organization, making smallpox the first of only two human diseases that have been driven to extinction (rinderpest in 2011 being the other).


date: January 6

section: Crime & Justice

text: January 6 – Geylang Bahru family murders: Four children, aged five to ten, are brutally killed in Geylang Bahru, Singapore.


date: January 19

text: January 19 – Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell is released on parole after 19 months at a federal prison in Alabama.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Capital punishment in Peru: Following a hasty conviction on espionage and treason charges, Air Force member Julio Vargas Garayar became the last person to be executed by Peru.


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Nazi criminal Josef Mengele suffers a fatal stroke and drowns while swimming in Bertioga, Brazil. His remains are found in 1985.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – The Guardian Angels are formed in New York City as an unarmed organization of young crime fighters.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs, who is killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – The annual Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans is cancelled due to a strike called by the New Orleans Police Department.


date: April 1

text: April 1–18 – Police lock Andreas Mihavecz in a holding cell in Bregenz, Austria and forget about him, leaving him there without food or drink.


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is executed by hanging for the murder of a political opponent.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Dan White is convicted of manslaughter, rather than murder, for the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, after using what would become known as the "Twinkie defense" and persuading a jury that the crime was not premeditated. The maximum sentence is seven years imprisonment, with eligibility for early parole, prompting the "White Night riots" in the gay community.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – Etan Patz, six years old, is kidnapped in New York. He is often referred to as the "Boy on the Milk Carton" and the investigation later sprouts into one of the most famous child abduction cases of all time. This is a cold case until 2010 when it is re-opened. In April 2017, Pedro Hernandez is convicted of the murder and kidnapping and sentenced to life imprisonment.


text: May 25 – John Spenkelink is executed in Florida, in the first use of the electric chair in America after the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – A Nicaraguan National Guard soldier kills ABC TV news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew capture the killing on tape.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was acquitted of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, who had accused Thorpe of having a relationship with him.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – The disco music genre dominates and peaks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with the first six spots (beginning with Donna Summer's Bad Girls), and seven of the chart's top ten songs ending that week.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – 1979 Ba'ath Party Purge: Iraqi president Saddam Hussein arranges the arrest and later execution of nearly seventy members of his ruling Ba'ath Party.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Raymond Washington, co-founder of the Crips, one of the largest, most notorious gangs in the United States, is killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – The long-running comic strip For Better or For Worse begins its run, in Canada, before becoming syndicated elsewhere in North America and the world.


date: September 16

text: September 16 – The Sugarhill Gang release Rapper's Delight in the United States, the first rap single to become a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.


date: September 29

text: September 29 – The overthrown dictator Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea is convicted of genocide and executed by firing squad.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – French police shoot gangster Jacques Mesrine in Paris.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – The Carl Bridgewater murder trial ends in England with all four men found guilty. James Robinson, 45, and 25-year-old Vincent Hickey are sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommended 25-year minimum for murder. 18-year-old Michael Hickey is also found guilty of murder and sentenced to indefinite detention. Patrick Molloy, 53, is found guilty on a lesser charge of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – British art historian and former Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures Anthony Blunt's role as the "fourth man" of the 'Cambridge Five' double agents for the Soviet NKVD during World War II is revealed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom; she gives further details on November 21.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – The Troubles: In Dublin, Ireland, Provisional Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten of Burma in August. He was released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.


date: January 8

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: January 8 – Whiddy Island Disaster: The French tanker Betelgeuse explodes at the Gulf Oil terminal at Bantry, Ireland; 50 people are killed.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – A suspected gas explosion in a Warsaw bank kills 49 people.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – The Soviet oil tanker Antonio Gramsci suffers a minor shipwreck in shallow waters shortly after leaving shore in Ventspils, resulting in a 5,000 ton oil spill, the largest that has ever occurred on the Baltic Sea.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – In China, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes into a factory near Beijing, killing 31 people on the ground and injuring 200.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – Ten miners die in a methane gas explosion at Golborne Colliery near Wigan, Greater Manchester, England.


date: March 28

text: March 28 – America's most serious nuclear power plant accident occurs, at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania.


date: April 2

text: April 2 – Sverdlovsk anthrax leak: A Soviet biowarfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock. It is a violation of the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Ten shoppers die in a fire at the Woolworths department store in Manchester city centre in the UK.


date: May 9

text: May 9 – The Unabomber bomb injures Northwestern University graduate student John Harris.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – American Airlines Flight 191: In Chicago, a DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport, killing all 271 on board and 2 people on the ground in the deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – Ixtoc I oil spill: A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 600,000 tons (176,400,000 gallons) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the worst oil spill to date. Some estimate the spill to be 428 million gallons, making it the largest unintentional oil spill until it is surpassed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – A fire at a hotel in Zaragoza, Spain, leaves 72 dead, the worst hotel fire in Europe in decades.


text: July 12 – A Disco Demolition Night publicity stunt goes awry at Comiskey Park, forcing the Chicago White Sox to forfeit their game against the Detroit Tigers.


date: August 8

text: August 8 – Two American commercial divers, Richard Walker and Victor Guiel, die of hypothermia after their diving bell becomes stranded at a depth of over 160 m in the East Shetland Basin. The legal repercussions of the accident will lead to important safety changes in the diving industry.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – Western Airlines Flight 2605 crashes upon landing at Mexico City International Airport, killing 72 occupants plus one on the ground; 16 people on board survive.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – 1979 Mississauga train derailment: A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, just west of Toronto, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history.


date: November 28

text: November 28 – Air New Zealand Flight 901: an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mount Erebus in Antarctica on a sightseeing trip, killing all 257 people on board.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – The Who concert disaster: Eleven fans are killed during a crowd crush for unreserved seats before The Who rock concert at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati.


text: Worldwide per capita oil production reaches a historic peak.


date: March 8

section: Climate & Environment

text: March 8 – Images taken by Voyager 1 prove the existence of volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.


date: April 10

text: April 10 – A tornado hits Wichita Falls, Texas, killing 42 people (the most notable of 26 tornadoes that day).


date: April 13

text: April 13 – The La Soufrière volcano erupts in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.


date: April 15

text: April 15 – 1979 Montenegro earthquake: A 6.9 shock affects Montenegro (then part of Yugoslavia) and parts of Albania, causing extensive damage to coastal areas and taking 136 lives; the old town of Budva is devastated.


date: July 18

text: July 18 – Over 500 people die after a tsunami occurs on Lembata Island, triggered by a landslide on the Iliwerung volcano.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – Hurricane Frederic makes landfall at 10:00 p.m. on Alabama's Gulf Coast.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Near Guam, Typhoon Tip reaches a record intensity of 870 millibars, the lowest pressure recorded at sea level. This makes Tip the most powerful tropical cyclone in known world history.


date: October 16

text: October 16 – A tsunami in Nice, France, kills 23 people.


date: October 19

text: October 19 – 13 U.S. Marines die in a fire at Camp Fuji, Japan, as a result of Typhoon Tip.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – The last cargo of phosphate was shipped from Banaba Island in Kiribati in the South Pacific Ocean, bringing an end to the island's chief industry.


date: December 12

text: December 12 – The 8.2 Tumaco earthquake shakes Colombia and Ecuador with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing 300–600, and generating a large tsunami.


date: January 9

section: Culture & Society

text: January 9 – The Music for UNICEF Concert is held at the United Nations General Assembly to raise money for UNICEF and promote the Year of the Child. It is broadcast the following day in the United States and around the world. Hosted by the Bee Gees, other performers include Donna Summer, ABBA, Rod Stewart and Earth, Wind & Fire. A soundtrack album is later released.


text: March 8 – Thousands of women participate in the International Women's Day Protests in Tehran, 1979 against the introduction of mandatory veiling during the Iranian revolution.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – Michigan State University, led by Earvin "Magic" Johnson, defeats Larry Bird-led Indiana State 75–64 in the NCAA tournament championship game at Salt Lake City.


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Milk and Honey win the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 for Israel, with the song Hallelujah.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Dale Earnhardt Sr. wins his first career NASCAR race at the 1979 Southeastern 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He would go on to win 76 races and seven championships during his career.


date: April 2

text: April 2 – In Japan, the channel of TV Asahi premieres Doraemon.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – The Seattle SuperSonics win the NBA Championship against the Washington Bullets.


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Los Angeles' city council passes the city's first homosexual rights bill signed without fanfare by mayor Tom Bradley.


date: June 9

text: June 9–23 – The 1979 Cricket World Cup is held in England with West Indies defeating England in the final.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – The 1979 NHL Expansion Draft takes place, restocking the franchises from Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec, and Winnipeg, which are being admitted from the WHA as expansion teams.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, an international opinion tribunal, is founded in Bologna at the initiative of Senator Lelio Basso.


date: July 5

text: July 5 – Queen Elizabeth II attends the millennium celebrations of the Isle of Man's Parliament, Tynwald.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Maritza Sayalero of Venezuela wins the Miss Universe pageant; the stage collapses after contestants and news photographers rush to her throne.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Opening game of the American Football Bundesliga played between Frankfurter Löwen and Düsseldorf Panther, first-ever league game of American football in Germany.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Bauhaus releases their debut single "Bela Lugosi's Dead", considered to be the first gothic rock release.


date: August 10

text: August 10 – Michael Jackson releases his breakthrough album Off the Wall. It sells 7 million copies in the United States alone, making it a 7× platinum album.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – The controversial religious satirical film Monty Python's Life of Brian premieres in the United States.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the first novel by Douglas Adams, is published in the United Kingdom


date: October 17

text: October 17 – The Pittsburgh Pirates become only the fourth MLB team (as well as the only MLB franchise to accomplish the feat twice) to recover from a 3-games-to-1 deficit to win the 1979 World Series.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – The radio news program Morning Edition premieres on National Public Radio in the United States.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – At Montevideo, Uruguay, the International Olympic Committee adopts a resolution, whereby Taiwan Olympic and sports teams will participate with the name Chinese Taipei in future Olympic Games and international sports tournaments and championships.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – The Wall, a rock opera concept album by Pink Floyd, is first released.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – The world premiere of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – The directorial debut of Hayao Miyazaki, The Castle of Cagliostro, is released in Japan.


date: January 2

section: Births

text: January 2 – Jagmeet Singh, Canadian politician, leader of the New Democratic Party

source_section: Births › January


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni politician, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

source_section: Births › February


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian far-right terrorist responsible for the 2011 Norway attacks


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Valentino Rossi, Italian seven-time MotoGP world champion


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Ricardo Rosselló, Puerto Rican politician, Governor of Puerto Rico

source_section: Births › March


date: March 28

text: March 28 – Shakib Khan, Bangladeshi film actor, producer, singer, film organiser and media personalities


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Heath Ledger, Australian actor and music video director (d. 2008)

source_section: Births › April


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Markus Persson, Swedish video game programmer, designer and creator of Minecraft

source_section: Births › June


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Pete Wentz, American musician, lyricist and bassist (Fall Out Boy)


date: October 3

text: October 3 – Josh Klinghoffer, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

source_section: Births › October


text: October 17 – Kimi Räikkönen, Finnish 2007 Formula 1 world champion


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Tim McIlrath, American rock singer, songwriter (Rise Against)

source_section: Births › November


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Bob Bryar, American drummer (My Chemical Romance) (d. 2024)

source_section: Births › December


text: December 31 – Josh Hawley, American politician, U.S. Senator (R-MO) from 2019


date: March 29

section: Deaths

text: March 29 – Sultan Yahya Petra of Kelantan, the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Head of State) of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang.

source_section: Events › March


date: August 14

text: August 14 – A freak storm during the Fastnet Race results in the deaths of 15 sailors.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – The Hastie fire in Kingston upon Hull, England, leads to the deaths of 3 boys and begins the hunt for Bruce George Peter Lee, the UK's most prolific killer.


date: January 28

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: January 28 – Publius Septimius Geta, son of Septimius Severus, receives the title of Caesar.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Empire


text: January 28 – Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, is given the title of Augustus.


text: Winter – Battle of Xiapi: The allied armies led by Cao Cao and Liu Bei defeat Lü Bu; afterward Cao Cao has him executed.

source_section: Events › By place › China


text: Marcus I succeeds Olympianus as Patriarch of Constantinople (until 211).

source_section: Events › By topic › Religion


text: Quan Cong, Chinese general and advisor (d. 249)

source_section: Births


text: Lu Kai, Chinese official and general (d. 269)


text: Li Jue, Chinese warlord and regent

source_section: Deaths


text: Mi Heng, Chinese musician and writer (b. 173)


text: Zhang Yang, Chinese official and warlord


text: Liu Yao, Chinese governor and warlord (b. 157)


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Indian National Congress party leader Indira Gandhi returns to power as the Prime Minister of India.


date: February 4

text: February 4 – Abolhassan Banisadr is sworn in as the first President of Iran after winning the January 25 presidential election.

source_section: Events › February


date: February 15

text: February 15 – In Vanuatu, followers of John Frum's cargo cult on the island of Tanna declare secession as the nation of Tafea.


date: February 22

text: February 22 – The US upset the USSR in the Olympics, a hockey game known as the Miracle on Ice. They then proceeded to defeat Finland to secure their first of two gold medals since 1960.


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The Commonwealth Trade Union Council is established.


date: March 3

text: March 3 – Pierre Trudeau returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – Robert Mugabe is elected Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – Zimbabwe gains de jure independence from the United Kingdom with Robert Mugabe as its first Prime Minister.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Queen Juliana of the Netherlands abdicates and her daughter Beatrix accedes to the throne.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – Referendum on system of government held in Nepal.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 20

text: May 20 – 1980 Quebec referendum: Voters in Quebec reject, by a vote of 60%, a proposal to seek independence from Canada.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland, making her the first woman democratically elected as head of state.

source_section: Events › June


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Vanuatu gains independence.

source_section: Events › July


text: July 30 – Israel's Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir becomes the 4th President of Iceland, the world's first democratically directly elected female president.

source_section: Events › August


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Bülent Ulusu, ex admiral, forms the new government of Turkey (44th government, composed mostly of technocrats).

source_section: Events › September


date: October 14

text: October 14 – The 6th Congress of the Workers' Party ends, having anointed North Korean President Kim Il Sung's son Kim Jong Il as his successor.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 15

text: October 15 – James Callaghan announces his resignation as leader of the British Labour Party.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – 1980 Australian federal election: Malcolm Fraser's Liberal/National Country Coalition government is re-elected with a substantially reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by Bill Hayden. The Government also loses control of the Senate, with the Australian Democrats winning the balance of power.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969's Football War before the International Court of Justice.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – The Polish government recognizes Solidarity.


text: October 31 – Reza Pahlavi, eldest son of the Shah of Iran, proclaims himself the rightful successor to the Peacock Throne.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – 1980 United States presidential election: Republican challenger and former Governor Ronald Reagan of California defeats incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter and is elected the 40th President of the United States.

source_section: Events › November


date: January 9

text: January 9 – In Saudi Arabia, 63 Islamist insurgents are beheaded for their part in the siege of the Great Mosque in Mecca in November 1979.

source_section: Events › January


date: January 31

text: January 31 – Burning of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala: The Spanish Embassy in Guatemala is invaded and set on fire, killing 36 people. In the United States, it is dubbed "Spain's own Tehran".


date: February 2

text: February 2–3 – The New Mexico State Penitentiary riot takes place; 33 inmates are killed and more than 100 inmates injured.


date: February 25

text: February 25 – A coup in Suriname ousts the government of Henck Arron; leaders Dési Bouterse and Roy Horb replace it with a National Military Council.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – M-19 guerrillas begin the Dominican embassy siege in Colombia, holding 60 people hostage, including 14 ambassadors.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – Fifty people are killed at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia, when a Vostok-2M rocket explodes on its launch pad during a fueling operation.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.


date: April 2

text: April 2 – The St Pauls riot breaks out in Bristol.


date: April 12

text: April 12 – 1980 Liberian coup d'état: Samuel K. Doe overthrows the government of Liberia in a violent coup d'état, executing President William Tolbert and ending over 130 years of democratic presidential succession in that country.


date: April 27

text: April 27 – The Dominican embassy siege in Colombia ends with all remaining hostages released after the guerrillas are allowed to escape to Cuba.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Iranian Embassy siege: Six Iranian-born terrorists take over the Iranian embassy in London, England. SAS retakes the Embassy on May 5; one terrorist survives.


date: May 14

text: May 14 – The Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – Internal conflict in Peru: On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho.


date: May 18

text: May 18–27 – Gwangju Uprising: Students in Gwangju, South Korea, begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.


date: May 24

text: May 24 – The International Court of Justice calls for the release of U.S. Embassy hostages in Tehran.


date: May 26

text: May 26 – John Frum supporters in Vanuatu storm government offices on the island of Tanna. Vanuatu government troops land the next day and drive them away.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Apartheid: The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a statement by their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.


date: June 25

text: June 25 – A Muslim Brotherhood assassination attempt against Syrian president Hafez al-Assad fails. Assad retaliates by sending the army against them.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs Proclamation 4771, requiring 18- to 25-year-old males to register for a peacetime military draft, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.


date: July 8

text: July 8 – A wave of strikes begins in Lublin, Poland.


date: July 16

text: July 16 – Former California Governor and actor Ronald Reagan is nominated for U.S. president, at the 1980 Republican National Convention in Detroit. Influenced by the Religious Right, the convention also drops its long-standing support for the Equal Rights Amendment, dismaying moderate Republicans.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – Kenan Evren stages a military coup in Turkey. It stops political gang violence, but begins stronger state violence leading to the execution of many young activists.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Oktoberfest bombing: 13 people are killed and 211 injured in a right-wing terror attack in Munich (West Germany).


date: April 10

text: April 10 – In Lisbon, Portugal, the governments of Spain and the United Kingdom agree to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain (closed since 1969) in 1985.


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Victory of the strike in Gdańsk Shipyard, Poland. The Gdańsk Agreement is signed, opening a way to start the first free (i.e. not state-controlled) trade union in the communist bloc, "Solidarity" (Solidarność).


date: September 17

text: September 17 – After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) is formed in Lusaka, Zambia.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Pope John Paul II visits Brazil; seven people are crushed to death in a crowd waiting to see him at afternoon Mass at the stadium in Fortaleza.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – The command council of Iraq orders its army to "deliver its fatal blow on Iranian military targets", initiating the Iran–Iraq War.


date: January 4

text: January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.


date: January 21

text: January 21 – The London Gold Fixing hits its highest price ever of $843 per troy ounce ($2,249.50 in 2020 when adjusted for inflation).


date: September 3

text: September 3 – Zimbabwe breaks diplomatic and consular relations with South Africa, even though it maintains a commercial mission in Johannesburg.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.


date: March 28

text: March 28 – The Talpiot Tomb is discovered by construction workers in Jerusalem.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – The first 24-hour news channel, Cable News Network (CNN), is launched.


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Tim Berners-Lee begins work on ENQUIRE, the system that will eventually lead to the creation of the World Wide Web in autumn 1990.


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Strage di Bologna: A terrorist bombing at the Bologna Centrale railway station in Italy kills 85 people and wounds more than 200.


date: August 7

text: August 7–31 – Lech Wałęsa leads the first of many strikes at the Gdańsk Shipyard in the Polish People's Republic.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel, at 16.3 km mi, stretching from Göschenen to Airolo beneath the Gotthard Pass.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which is the first implementation outside of Xerox and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – The Staggers Rail Act is enacted, deregulating American railroads.


date: October 20

text: October 20 – In continuous production since 1962, the last MG MGB roadster rolls off the assembly line at the Abingdon-on-Thames (England) factory, ending production for the MG Cars marque.


date: January 27

text: January 27 – Canadian Caper: Six United States diplomats, posing as Canadians, manage to escape from Tehran, Iran, as they board a flight to Zürich, Switzerland, on Swissair.


date: February 16

text: February 16 – A total solar eclipse is seen in North Africa and West Asia. It was the 50th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The Voyager 1 probe confirms the existence of Janus, a moon of Saturn.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Namco's Pac-Man, the highest-earning arcade game of all time, is released in Japan.


date: October 16

text: October 16 – The most recent atmospheric nuclear weapons test to date was conducted by China.


date: November 10

text: November 10–12 – Voyager program: The NASA space probe Voyager I makes its closest approach to Saturn, when it flies within 77,000 mi km of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high-resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.


date: April 12

text: April 12 – Terry Fox begins his Marathon of Hope, a plan to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research, setting off from St. John's, Newfoundland and running westward.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Global eradication of smallpox certified by the World Health Organization.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Terry Fox is forced to end his Marathon of Hope run outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, after finding out that the cancer has spread to his lungs.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Andrei Sakharov, Soviet scientist and human rights activist, is arrested in Moscow.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Abscam: FBI personnel target members of the Congress of the United States in a sting operation.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Louise and Charmian Faulkner disappear from outside their flat in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in 1911, is released from prison in Beacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days (the longest-ever time served by an inmate).


date: July 19

text: July 19 – Former Turkish Prime Minister Nihat Erim is killed by two gunmen in Istanbul, Turkey.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo.


date: October 25

text: October 25 – Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.


date: October 27

text: October 27 – The Chun Doo-hwan government forcibly arrests and investigates monks and personnel of the Jogye Order.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – The Gang of Four trial begins in China.


date: December 2

text: December 2 – A missionary (Jean Donovan) and three Roman Catholic nuns (Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel), all Americans, are murdered by a military death squad in El Salvador while doing charity work during that country's civil war.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 8

text: December 8 – Murder of John Lennon: Mark David Chapman is arrested following the murder of English musician John Lennon, formerly of the Beatles, outside his New York City apartment building, The Dakota.


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Four people are murdered and four others are injured by two armed robbers at Bob's Big Boy on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, United States, in what is one of the city's most brutal crimes ever.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – At least 200 people are killed when the Corralejas Bullring collapses at Sincelejo, Colombia.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashes during an emergency landing near Warsaw, Poland, killing a 14-man American boxing team and 73 others.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 19

text: March 19–20 – The , the ship housing pirate radio station Radio Caroline, sinks off the English coast (the station returns aboard a new ship in 1983).


date: March 26

text: March 26 – A mine lift cage at the Vaal Reefs gold mine in South Africa falls 1.9 km mi, killing 23 workers.


date: March 27

text: March 27 – The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.


date: April 24

text: April 24–25 – Operation Eagle Claw, a commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages, is aborted after mechanical problems ground the rescue helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes in Tenerife, killing all 146 occupants; at the time it was the worst air disaster involving a British-registered aircraft in terms of loss of life.


date: May 9

text: May 9 – James Alexander George Smith "Jags" McCartney the Turks and Caicos Islands' first chief minister, is killed in a plane crash over New Jersey.


text: May 9 – In Florida, United States, the Liberian freighter Summit Venture hits the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay. A 1,400 foot m section of the bridge collapses and 35 people (most of them on a bus) are killed.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – A fiery bus crash near the small village of Webb, Saskatchewan, Canada, claims 22 lives.


date: June 23

text: June 23–September 6 – The 1980 United States heat wave claims 1,700 lives.


text: June 23 – Sanjay Gandhi, the politically influential son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is killed in a plane crash.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Itavia Flight 870 crashes into the sea near Ustica island, Italy, killing all 81 people on board. The cause of the accident remains unclear.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – In one of aviation's worst disasters, 301 people are killed when Saudia Flight 163 catches fire in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – The Mariel boatlift in Cuba officially ends.


date: October 5

text: October 5 – The Elisabeth blast furnace is demolished at Bilston Steelworks, marking the end of iron and steel production in the Black Country region of the U.K.


date: November 21

text: November 21 – A fire at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip kills 85 people.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington (state) kills 57 and causes US$3 billion in damage.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak: A series of deadly tornadoes strikes Grand Island, Nebraska, causing over $300m in damage, killing five people and injuring over 250.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Hurricane Allen (category 5) pounds Haiti, where it kills more than 200 people.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – The 7.1 El Asnam earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,633–5,000 and injuring 8,369–9,000.


date: October 27

text: October 27 – Six Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners in Maze prison in Northern Ireland refuse food and demand status as political prisoners; the hunger strike lasts until December.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – The 6.9 Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Officially, there were 2,483 people killed and 8,934 injured, though the deaths may have been as high as 4,900.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Changes to the succession to the Swedish throne come into effect, introducing absolute primogeniture, thus placing Crown Princess Victoria first in line to the throne (heir apparent), ahead of her baby brother. Sweden is the first monarchy to adopt this rule of succession. Members of the royal family may also now marry commoners without losing their place in the succession.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – The 1980 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.


date: March 8

text: March 8 – The Soviet Union's first rock music festival starts.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Iron Maiden's debut self-titled album Iron Maiden is released in the U.K.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – "About that Urban Renaissance...", an article by journalist Dan Rottenberg in Chicago, contains the first recorded use of the word "yuppie".


date: July 19

text: July 19–August 3 – The 1980 Summer Olympics are held in Moscow, Soviet Union. As 82 countries boycott the Games, athletes from 16 of them participate under a neutral flag.


date: August 3

text: August 3 – The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow officially ends.


date: September 2

text: September 2 – Ford Europe launches the Escort MK3, a new front-wheel-drive hatchback. Punk band Dead Kennedys release their debut album, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables.


date: October 21

text: October 21 – In Major League Baseball, The Philadelphia Phillies of the National League defeat the Kansas City Royals of the American League, 4–1, in Game Six of the World Series to win the championship.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – The Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (Academy of the Asturian language) is created.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito dies. The largest state funeral in history is organized, with state delegations from 128 different countries out of 154 UN members at the time.


text: January 1 – Palau becomes a self-governing territory.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis.


date: February 4

text: February 4 – Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes Prime Minister of Norway.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – Polish Prime Minister Józef Pińkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.


date: March 11

text: March 11 – Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet is sworn in as President of Chile for another 8-year term.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – French presidential election: A first-round runoff results between Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – François Mitterrand becomes the first socialist President of the French Fifth Republic.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created among Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.


date: June 18

text: June 18 – The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States is founded.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Iranian president Abolhassan Banisadr is deposed.


date: July 7

text: July 7 – United States President Ronald Reagan nominates the first woman, Sandra Day O'Connor, to the Supreme Court of the United States.


date: July 10

text: July 10 – Mahathir Mohamad becomes the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Gregorio Conrado Álvarez is inaugurated as a military de facto President of Uruguay.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – France's National Assembly votes to abolish Capital punishment in France.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Belize, formerly British Honduras, gains its independence from the United Kingdom.


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as the first female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Raoul Wallenberg posthumously becomes an honorary citizen of the United States.


date: October 21

text: October 21 – Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece.


date: October 22

text: October 22 – The founding congress of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organization faction led by Hareram Sharma and D. P. Singh begins.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Urho Kekkonen, the 8th President of Finland, resigns after being the longest-serving Finnish president since 1956.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Antigua and Barbuda gains independence from the United Kingdom.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Slavery in Mauritania is abolished by Edict No. 81-234.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – South Africa grants Ciskei independence, not recognized outside South Africa.


date: December 10

text: December 10 – During the Ministerial Session of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels, Spain signs the Protocol of Accession to NATO.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments.


date: February 23

text: February 23 – 1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt ("23-F"): Antonio Tejero, with members of the Guardia Civil, enters the Spanish Congress of Deputies and stops the session where Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo is about to be named president of the government. The coup fails after being denounced by King Juan Carlos.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – 1981 Irish hunger strike: Bobby Sands, a Provisional Irish Republican Army member, begins a hunger strike for political status at HM Prison Maze (Long Kesh) in Northern Ireland, dying on May 5, the first of 7 IRA and 3 INLA hunger strikers to die.


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan: U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr.; two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady are also wounded.


date: April 11

text: April 11 – 1981 Brixton riot: Rioters in south London, UK, throw petrol bombs, attack police and loot shops.


date: May 13

text: May 13 – Pope John Paul II assassination attempt: Pope John Paul II is shot by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he enters St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to address a general audience. The Pope recovers.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman is assassinated in Chittagong.[https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_4401000/4401129.stm]


date: June 12

text: June 12 – Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first film of the Indiana Jones franchise is released in theaters in the United States.


date: July 3

text: July 3 – The Toxteth riots in Liverpool, England, start after a mob prevents a youth from being arrested. Shortly afterward, the Chapeltown riots in Leeds start amid increased racial tension.


date: July 10

text: July 10 – 1981 Handsworth riots in Birmingham begin, followed by further 1981 England riots in several urban areas including Liverpool and Leeds.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Lebanese Civil War: Israeli aircraft bomb Beirut, destroying multi-story apartment blocks containing the offices of PLO-associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – Gulf of Sidra incident: Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi sends two Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets to intercept two U.S. Navy fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. The U.S. jets destroy the Libyan fighters.


date: August 23

text: August 23 – South African troops attack SWAPO bases in Xangongo and Ongiva, Angola, during Operation Protea.


date: August 31

text: August 31 – A bomb explodes at the United States Ramstein Air Base in West Germany, injuring 20 people.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – British plantation company Guthrie is taken over by the Malaysian government after successfully purchasing shares to become the major shareholder. This is famously called the 'Dawn Raid attack'.


date: September 27

text: September 27–29 – Iran–Iraq War: Iranian forces break the Siege of Abadan in Operation Samen-ol-A'emeh.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is assassinated during a military parade.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – Vice President Hosni Mubarak is elected President of Egypt, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat during a parade, by servicemen who belong to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization led by Khalid Islambouli and oppose his negotiations with Israel.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Iran–Contra affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), authorizing the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.


date: November 25

text: November 25–26 – 1981 Seychelles coup d'état attempt: A group of mercenaries led by Mike Hoare take over Mahe airport. Most of them escape by a commandeered Air India passenger jet; six are later arrested.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Boxing: Muhammad Ali loses to Trevor Berbick; this proves to be Ali's last-ever fight.


text: December 11 – El Mozote massacre: In El Salvador, army units kill 900 civilians.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, to prevent the dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.


date: December 31

text: December 31 – A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the PNDC led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.


date: July 19

text: July 19 – The 1981 Springbok Tour commences in New Zealand, amid controversy over the support of apartheid.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Panda Tohui is born in Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City, the first panda to ever be born and survive in captivity outside of China.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – Rotary International charters the Rotary Club of Grand Baie, Mauritius.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican.


date: February 17

text: February 17–22 – Pope John Paul II visits the Philippines.


date: July 29

text: July 29 – A worldwide television audience of over 750 million people watch the Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London, UK.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – The Church of England General Synod votes to admit women to holy orders.


text: Scots songwriter and singer, Dick Gaughan recorded Scottish poet, Robert Burns 1783 poem Now Westlin' Winds"

source_section: Events › Date unknown


text: The State Council of the People's Republic of China lists the cities of Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guilin as those where the protection of historical and cultural heritage, as well as natural scenery, should be treated as a priority project.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union.


date: April 4

text: April 4 – UK pop group Bucks Fizz's song "Making Your Mind Up" wins the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, Ireland.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – Pensions in Chile: The new Chilean pension system, based on private pension funds, begins.


date: December 8

text: December 8 – Arthur Scargill becomes President-elect of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain).


date: January 21

text: January 21 – The first DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.


date: April 15

text: April 15 – The first Coca-Cola bottling plant in China is opened.


date: May

text: May – Daniel K. Ludwig abandons the Jari project in the Amazon basin.


date: June 18

text: June 18 – The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter makes its first flight at Groom Lake (Area 51), Nevada.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – The first game of paintball is played, in Henniker, New Hampshire, United States.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Donkey Kong is released in Japan by Nintendo, marking the first release in both the Donkey Kong and Mario series of games. The arcade game proves to be Nintendo's first major hit.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – The first 24-hour video music channel MTV (Music Television) is launched in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – 1981 Major League Baseball strike ends in the United States, and Major League Baseball resumes with the All-Star Game in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – The original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor) is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world, at 150 years old, when it operates under its own power outside Washington, D.C.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – The Boeing 767 airliner makes its first flight.


text: September 26 – The Sydney Tower opens to the public in Australia.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – TGV high-speed rail service between Paris and Lyon, France, begins.


text: Luxor AB presents the ABC 800 computer.


date: April 12

text: April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia, with NASA astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen, launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14. It is the first time a crewed reusable spacecraft has returned from orbit.


text: June 27 – The E-mu Emulator sampler keyboard with floppy disk operation is unveiled at NAMM international Sound & Music Expo, Chicago. Production Model Serial Number 001 is issued to Stevie Wonder.


date: August 27

text: August 27 – North Korea fires a surface-to-air missile at a U.S. SR-71 Blackbird spy plane flying in South Korean and international airspace. The missile misses and the airplane is unharmed.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – The Ministry for Education of Japan issues the jōyō kanji.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – Venera program: Venera 13 is launched to Venus.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Venera program: Venera 14 is launched to Venus.


date: November 22

text: November 22 – The Edmonton Eskimos (14–1–1) barely stave off defeat and win a record 4th consecutive Grey Cup in the Canadian Football League, at the 69th Grey Cup at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, defeating the Ottawa Rough Riders (5–11–0) with a score of 26–23 in the final three seconds, after being down 20–1 at halftime.


text: Polybius, an urban legend game, is said to have been released in Portland, Oregon; there is no evidence for its existence.


date: June 5

text: June 5 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, the first recognized cases of AIDS.


date: December 28

text: December 28 – The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia.


text: Around the end of 1981, China becomes the first country ever to reach a population of 1 billion.


text: Cuba suffers a major outbreak of dengue fever, with 344,203 cases.


text: Use of crack cocaine, a smokeable form of the drug, first reported in the United States and Caribbean.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – A prison officer, 31-year-old Donna Payant, disappears at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York. She is later found to have been murdered by convicted serial killer Lemuel Smith. It is the first time a female prison officer has been killed while on duty in the United States.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Serial killer Peter Sutcliffe is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on 13 counts of murder and 7 of attempted murder in England.


date: May

text: Aer Lingus flight 164 is hijacked just before landing at London Heathrow airport. The flight continues on to France before the hijacker who reportedly demanded for the releasing of the third secret of Fatima, is subdued.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Wonderland murders: The Wonderland Gang of cocaine dealers is brutally murdered in Los Angeles. Eddie Nash is suspected of involvement, but will never be convicted.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering John Lennon in Manhattan eight months earlier.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Picasso's painting Guernica is moved from New York to Madrid.


date: September

text: September – Little Miss Bossy, the first book in the Little Miss series (the female counterpart to the Mr. Men series) is first published, in the U.K.


date: December 17

text: December 17 – American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by the Italian Red Brigades.


text: Srimulat, comedian group from Central Java performed on TVRI Jakarta for the first time. It makes the comedian group was known by Indonesian people and had been a legendary comedian group.


date: January 27

text: January 27 – The Indonesian passenger ship Tampomas II catches fire and capsizes in the Java Sea, killing 580 people.


date: January

text: January to March – Heavy snow causes several houses and buildings to collapse in northwestern Japan; 152 are killed.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – In Greece, 20 fans of Olympiacos F.C. and 1 fan of AEK Athens die, while 54 are injured, after a stampede at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, possibly because Gate 7 does not open immediately after the end of the game.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Stardust fire: A fire at the Stardust nightclub in Artane, Dublin, Ireland, in the early hours kills 48 young people and injures 214. In 2024 these will be declared as unlawful killings.


date: March 19

text: March 19 – Two or three workers are killed and four are injured during a ground test of Space Shuttle Columbia at Kennedy Space Center in the United States.


date: May 31

text: May 31 – Burning of Jaffna library, one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the century.


date: June 6

text: June 6 – Bihar train disaster: Seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train fall off the tracks into the Bagmati River in Bihar, India, killing between 500 and 800.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, collapse into a crowded atrium lobby, killing 114.


date: August 30

text: August 30 – 1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing: Eight people, including the country's president and prime minister, are killed when a briefcase explodes in the building. The office of Iran's Prosecutor General blames the People's Mujahedin of Iran.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – An explosion at a mine in Záluží, Czechoslovakia, kills 65 people.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – Our Lady of Akita in Japan cries for the last time, on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.


date: September 20

text: September 20 – The overcrowded ferry boat Sobral Santos II capsizes in the Amazon River, Óbidos, Brazil, killing at least 300 people.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – A Northrop F-5 crashes during a military exercise, in Babaeski, Turkey, killing 1 crew and 65 soldiers on ground.


date: October 16

text: October 16 – Gas explosions at a coal mine at Hokutan, Yūbari, Hokkaidō, Japan, kill 93 people.


date: October 27

text: October 27 – Soviet submarine S-363 runs aground outside the Karlskrona, Sweden, military base, leading to a minor international incident.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – An Inex-Adria Aviopromet McDonnell Douglas MD-80 strikes a mountain peak and crashes while approaching Ajaccio Airport in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.


date: December 8

text: December 8 – The No. 21 Mine explosion in Whitwell, Tennessee, kills 13.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – 1981 Iraqi embassy bombing in Beirut: An Islamic Dawa Party car bomb destroys the Iraqi Embassy in Lebanon, killing 61 people in one of the earliest significant post-World War II suicide attacks.


date: December 20

text: December 20 – The Penlee lifeboat disaster: While attempting to rescue those on board the Union Star off the coast of South-West Cornwall (England), the lifeboat Solomon Browne is lost with all crew. Sixteen people in all are killed.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – An earthquake of magnitude in Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Japan suffers a less serious earthquake on the same day.


date: January 25

text: January 25 – In South Africa the largest part of the town Laingsburg is swept away within minutes by one of the strongest floods ever experienced in the Great Karoo.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – A powerful magnitude earthquake hits Athens, killing 22 people, injuring 400 people and destroying several buildings and 4,000 houses, mostly in Corinth and the nearby towns of Loutraki, Kiato and Xylokastro.


date: May 26

text: May 26 – The Italian Forlani government resigns over its links to the fascist Masonic cell Propaganda Due.


date: July 30

text: July 30 – 1981 Polish hunger demonstrations: As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, take to the streets in Łódź to protest about food ration shortages in Communist Poland.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak, the largest recorded tornado outbreak in European history.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz following his death on December 24.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – In Italy, the Propaganda Due Masonic lodge is discovered.


date: March 29

text: March 29 – The first London Marathon starts, with 7,500 runners.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – A Minor League Baseball game between the Rochester Red Wings and the Pawtucket Red Sox at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, becomes the longest professional baseball game in history: 8 hours and 25 minutes/33 innings (the 33rd inning is not played until June 23).


date: May 6

text: May 6 – A jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selects Maya Lin's design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., from among 1,421 other entries.


date: June 7

text: June 7 – Operation Opera: The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, killing ten Iraqi troops and a French technician.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, teenager Marcus Sarjeant fires 6 blank shots close to Queen Elizabeth II, startling her horse.


date: July 16

text: July 16–21 – England become the first team this century to win a cricket Test match after the follow-on when they beat Australia by 18 runs at Headingley cricket ground, Leeds, England.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Ric Flair defeats Dusty Rhodes to win his first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship in Kansas City.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – Solidarity Day march, in support of organized labor, draws approximately 250,000 people in Washington, D.C.


date: May 11

text: May 11 – The Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley dies at age 36 from cancer.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Alfredo Rampi, a 6-year-old boy, falls into an artesian well in Vermicino, near Rome. After nearly three days of failed rescue attempts followed with bated breath from all over Italy, Alfredo dies inside the well, at a depth of 60 m ft.


date: January 26

text: January 26 – Mauno Koivisto is elected President of Finland.


date: January 27

text: January 27 – The government of Garret FitzGerald in Ireland is defeated 82–81 on its budget; the 22nd Dáil is dissolved.


date: February 1

text: February 1 – Senegal and The Gambia form a loose Senegambia Confederation.


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Iraqi club Al-Shorta win the 1982 Arab Club Champions Cup with a 4–2 aggregate win over Al-Nejmeh in the final.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – The Ireland general election gives a boost to Fianna Fáil.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – In South Africa, 22 National Party MPs, led by Andries Treurnicht, vote for no confidence in P. W. Botha.


date: March 2

text: March 2 – Decentralisation in France: the Law of Decentralisation creates the administrative regions of France (régions).


date: March 19

text: March 19 – Argentine scrap metal workers (infiltrated by marines) raise the flag of Argentina on South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, two British overseas territories.


date: March 29

text: March 29 – Royal Assent is given to the Canada Act 1982, setting the stage for the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution on April 17.


date: April 17

text: April 17 – Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: By Proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada patriates its constitution, gaining full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights.


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in accordance with the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Falklands War ends with British forces retaking the South Sandwich Islands.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – The first International Day of Peace is proclaimed by the United Nations.


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Amine Gemayel, brother of Bachir, is elected president of Lebanon.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a constructive vote of no confidence.


date: October 27

text: October 27 – In Canada, the July 1 holiday, Dominion Day, is officially renamed Canada Day.


date: October 28

text: October 28 – The Socialist Party wins the election in Spain; Felipe González is elected Prime Minister.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – Paul Biya becomes the second president of Cameroon following the resignation of Ahmadou Ahidjo.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – Kenan Evren becomes the seventh president of Turkey as a result of the constitution referendum. His former title was "head of state".


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Yasuhiro Nakasone becomes Prime Minister of Japan.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Miguel de la Madrid takes office as President of Mexico.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.


date: December 10

text: December 10 – United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea signed at Montego Bay; it becomes fully effective on November 16, 1994, on receiving 60 signatures.


date: December 22

text: December 22 – The Indian Ocean Commission (Commission de l'Océan Indien, COI) is created by the Port Louis Agreement.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – The Hama massacre begins in Syria.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – The United States places an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging Libyan state-sponsored terrorism.


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands begins when Argentine forces land near Stanley, beginning the Falklands War.


date: April 2

text: April 2 – Rex Hunt, the British governor of the Falkland Islands, surrenders the islands to Argentine forces, leading to their occupation.


date: April 3

text: April 3 – Invasion of the Falkland Islands: Argentine forces begin the invasion of South Georgia.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Falklands War: British troops retake South Georgia Island during Operation Paraquet.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – The Bijon Setu massacre takes place in broad daylight at a railway crossing in India.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – Falklands War: The British Special Air Service launches Operation Plum Duff, a reconnaissance mission preliminary to Operation Mikado, which is planned to destroy three Argentinean Exocet missiles and five Super Étendard fighter-bombers. Both Operation Plum Duff and Operation Mikado are called off after the Plum Duff insertion is revealed by a helicopter landing in Chile.


date: May 24

text: May 24 – Iran-Iraq War: Iranian troops retake Khorramshahr.


date: May 28

text: May 28–29 – Falklands War: Battle of Goose Green: British forces defeat a larger Argentine force.


date: June 6

text: June 6 – The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Israeli forces under Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. The United Nations Security Council votes to demand that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon.


date: June 8

text: June 8 – The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Philadelphia 76ers in six games to win the 1982 NBA Finals.


text: June 8 – Falklands War: British supply ship RFA Sir Galahad is destroyed during the Bluff Cove Air Attacks


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Argentine surrender in the Falklands War: Argentine forces in the island capital, Stanley, surrender to British forces.


date: June 18

text: June 18 – Argentine military dictator Leopoldo Galtieri resigns in the wake of his country's defeat in the Falklands War.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Attempted coup against the government of Daniel Arap Moi in Kenya.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – The United Nations Security Council votes to censure Israel because its troops are still in Lebanon.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel is assassinated in Beirut.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Sabra and Shatila massacre: A Lebanese Christian militia (the Phalange) kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut; the massacre is a response to the assassination of the president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, four days earlier.


date: September 24

text: September 24 – The Wimpy Operation, the first act of armed resistance against Israeli troops in Beirut.


date: October 20

text: October 20 – Luzhniki disaster: During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death.


date: November 11

text: November 11 – In Lebanon, the first Tyre headquarters bombing kills between 89 and 102 people.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – The United Freedom Front bombs an office of South African Airways in Elmont, NY and an IBM office in Harrison, NY. Two police officers suffer hearing damage. In March 1984, the UFF claims responsibility for the IBM building bombing, stating that the company was targeted because of its business in South Africa under Apartheid.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – A crowd of over 100,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is kicked off with an address by President Ronald Reagan. Over 11 million people attend during its six-month run.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn tries to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet during the latter's pilgrimage to the shrine at Fátima.


date: June 12

text: June 12 – The Nuclear Disarmament Rally, an event against nuclear weapon proliferation, draws 750,000 to New York City's Central Park. Performers include Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Linda Ronstadt. An international convocation at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine features prominent peace activists from around the world and afterward participants march on Fifth Avenue to Central Park for the rally.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spreads throughout Latin America.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Thermals take Australian parachutist Rich Collins up to 2800 m ft during a jump; he almost blacks out due to lack of oxygen. He releases his main parachute to fall to a lower altitude and lands by his reserve parachute.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average surges 43.41 points, or 4.25%, to close at 1,065.49, its first all-time high in more than 9 years.


date: November 24

text: November 24 – Representatives from 88 countries gather in Geneva to discuss world trade and ways to work toward aspects of free trade.


text: A global surplus of crude oil causes gasoline prices to collapse.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00).


date: January 30

text: January 30 – The first computer virus, the Elk Cloner, written by 15-year old Rich Skrenta, is found. It infects Apple II computers via floppy disk.


date: February 19

text: February 19 - The Boeing 757 is flown for the first time.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – The Weather Channel airs on cable television in the United States as the first 24-hour all-weather network.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is established.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Indianapolis 500: 1973 winner Gordon Johncock wins his second race over 1979 winner Rick Mears by 0.16 seconds. Leading to the closest finish to this date, Mears draws alongside Johncock with a lap remaining, after erasing a seemingly insurmountable advantage of more than 11 seconds in the final 10 laps, in what Indianapolis Motor Speedway historian Donald Davidson and Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie later call the greatest moment in the track's history.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Torrential rain and mudslides in Nagasaki, Japan, destroy bridges and kill 299.


date: August 2

text: August 2 – The Helsinki Metro, the first rapid transit system in Finland, opens to the general public.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – The first compact discs (CDs) are produced in Germany.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – Sony launches the first consumer compact disc (CD) player (model CDP-101).


text: November 3 – A gasoline (petrol) tanker explodes in the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing at least 176 people.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Swedish pop group ABBA make their final public performance on the British TV programme The Late, Late Breakfast Show.


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Time magazine's Man of the Year is given, for the first time to a non-human, the computer.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Syzygy: All 9 planets recognized at this time align on the same side of the Sun.


date: June 11

text: June 11 – E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is released in the United States; directed by Steven Spielberg, this will become the biggest box-office hit for the next 11 years.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – A lunar eclipse (umbral duration 236 min and total duration 106 min, the longest of the 20th century) occurs.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – The first emoticons are posted by Scott Fahlman.


text: Ciabatta bread is invented by a baker in Verona, Italy.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Musician Ozzy Osbourne is treated for rabies after biting the head off a live bat during a concert in Des Moines, Iowa.


date: August 13

text: August 13 – In Hong Kong, health warnings on cigarette packets are made statutory.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – In the United States, the National Football League Players Association calls a strike, the first in-season work stoppage in the National Football League's 63-year history. The strike lasts for 57 days, reduces the regular season from 16 games to 9, and forces an expanded 16-team playoff tournament.


date: October 8

text: October 8 – Poland bans the Solidarity trade union after having suspended it on December 13, 1981.


date: December 2

text: December 2 – At the University of Utah, 61-year-old retired dentist Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart (he lives for 112 days with the device).


text: The population of the People's Republic of China alone exceeds 1 billion, making China the first nation to have a population of more than a billion.


date: February 25

text: February 25 – The European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tawse children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention.


date: March 16

text: March 16 – Claus von Bülow is found guilty of the attempted murder of his wife by a court in Newport, Rhode Island.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – From 26 to 27 April, policeman Woo Bum-kon goes on a killing spree in Uiryeong County, South Korea. By the early morning of April 27, after killing at least 56 people with several firearms and grenades, he kills himself via grenade. It becomes the deadliest spree shooting in recorded history up until the 2011 Norway attacks.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – French-Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve is killed during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.


date: July 16

text: July 16 – In New York City, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon is sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined $25,000 for tax fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Chicago Tylenol murders: an unknown killer laces Tylenol capsules with potassium cyanide that kills seven in Chicago, Illinois.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – The first U.S. execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas.


date: December 8

text: December 8 – The December murders occur in Suriname.


date: January 13

text: January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., United States, then falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.


date: January 14

text: January 14 – An Ethiopian Air Force Antonov An-26 with an unknown registration crashed near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 73 occupants on board.


date: January 18

text: January 18 – 1982 Thunderbirds Indian Springs Diamond Crash: Four Northrop T-38 aircraft of the United States Air Force crash at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada, killing all 4 pilots.


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Syrian president Hafez al-Assad orders the army to purge the city of Harran of the Muslim Brotherhood.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – London-based Laker Airways collapses, leaving 6,000 stranded passengers and debts of £270 million.


date: February 9

text: February 9 – Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashes in Tokyo Bay due to thrust reversal on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 among the 174 people on board.


date: February 15

text: February 15 – The oil platform Ocean Ranger sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 rig workers aboard.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 sailors. Operation Algeciras, an attempt to destroy a Royal Navy warship in Gibraltar, fails.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Falklands War: is hit by an Argentine Exocet missile and burns out of control; 20 sailors are killed. The ship sinks on May 10.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – Falklands War: is sunk by Argentine aircraft, killing 22 sailors.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – British ships and are sunk during the Falklands War; Coventry by two A-4C Skyhawks and Atlantic Conveyor by two Exocets.


date: June 8

text: June 8 – VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727 passenger jet, crashes into a forest hillside in Fortaleza in Brazil, killing 137.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Pan Am Flight 759 (Boeing 727) crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 on board and 8 on the ground.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Twilight Zone accident: During filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow and 2 child actors die in a helicopter stunt accident in California.


date: July 31

text: July 31 – Beaune coach crash: In Beaune, France, 53 persons, 46 of them children, die in a highway accident (France's worst).


date: October 11

text: October 11 – The Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII of England that sank in 1545, is raised from the Solent.


date: October 12

text: October 12 – The Saudi Arabian cargo ship Elhawi Star, transporting 3,631 tonnes of ceramic tiles and 781 tonnes of lumber to Chioggia, sank while being towed away from the Port of Rijeka by the tugboats Beli Kamik and Aries because of the unevenly distributed cargo.


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Space Shuttle Columbia ends an eight-day mission, STS-3, by landing at White Sands Space Harbor near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It is the only time a Space Shuttle has landed at White Sands. The orbiter was forced to land here due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base in California.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – The New York Islanders sweep the Vancouver Canucks in four games to win the 1982 Stanley Cup Final in ice hockey.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – British Airways Flight 9 suffers a temporary four-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane after flying through the otherwise undetected volcanic ash plume from Indonesia's Mount Galunggung.


text: July 23 – The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985–1986.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – The 6.2 North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Cincinnati Bengals to win Super Bowl XVI at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – A legal case brought on behalf of Mary Whitehouse against the National Theatre of Britain concerning alleged obscenity in the play The Romans in Britain ends after the Attorney General intervenes.


date: March 29

text: March 29 – Freshman Michael Jordan hits a jumper with 17 seconds remaining to lift the North Carolina Tar Heels to a 63–62 win over the Georgetown Hoyas in the 1982 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.


text: March 29 – The 54th Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Chariots of Fire wins Best Picture and 3 other Academy Awards.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – German singer Nicole wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 (held in Britain) with the song Ein Bisschen Frieden.


date: May 26

text: May 26 – English club Aston Villa F.C. wins the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 after a 69th-minute goal by Peter Withe in Rotterdam.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – The 1982 FIFA World Cup in Association football begins in Spain.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Italy beats West Germany 3–1 to win the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.


date: September 18

text: September 18 – The funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco takes place.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – The General Union of Ecuadorian Workers (UGTE) is founded.


text: November 20 – University of California, Berkeley executes "The Play" in a college football game against Stanford. Completing a wacky 57-yard kickoff return that includes five laterals, Kevin Moen runs through Stanford band members who have prematurely come onto the field. His touchdown stands and California wins 25–20.


date: November 28

text: November 28 – The Edmonton Eskimos win an unprecedented 5th consecutive Grey Cup – a feat yet unaccomplished by any professional football franchise – to win the 70th Grey Cup, defeating the Toronto Argonauts 32–16.


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Michael Jackson releases his sixth studio album, Thriller, in the United States, which will go on to be the best-selling album of all time.


text: June 13 – Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: the Provisional IRA detonates 2 bombs in central London, killing 8 soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of 7 horses.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Princess Grace of Monaco dies after having suffered a car crash a few days previously.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – In the Soviet Union, former KGB head Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid Brezhnev, who had died two days earlier.


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Fraser is granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament, for elections on March 5, 1983. As Fraser is being granted the dissolution, Bill Hayden resigns as leader of the Australian Labor Party, and in the subsequent leadership spill Bob Hawke is elected as Hayden's successor unopposed.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The Balearic Islands and Madrid become Autonomous communities of Spain.


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Australian federal election: The Labor Party led by Bob Hawke defeats the Liberal/National Coalition government led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. Hawke is to be sworn in on March 11. As soon as the results become clear, Fraser resigns from the Liberal leadership; he is replaced by outgoing Minister for Industry and Commerce Andrew Peacock.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Yamoussoukro officially becomes the Ivorian political capital after transfer from Abidjan.


text: March 29 – Germany's first elected Green Party representatives take their seats in the West German Bundestag, dressed in jeans and sweaters and accompanied by bongo drums.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.


text: July 20 – The government of Poland announces the end of martial law and amnesty for political prisoners.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Thomas Sankara becomes President of Upper Volta.


text: August 4 – Bettino Craxi is sworn in as Italy's first prime minister from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI).


date: August 24

text: August 24 – South Africa announces "all outstanding issues" preventing independence for South West Africa (present-day Namibia) have been resolved, except for the continuing presence of 23,000 Cuban troops in neighboring Angola.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – Saint Kitts and Nevis becomes an independent state.


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Neil Kinnock is elected leader of the British Labour Party.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – Argentine general election: The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – South Africa approves a new constitution granting limited political rights to Coloureds and Asians as part of a series of reforms to apartheid.


date: November 11

text: November 11 – Ronald Reagan becomes the first U.S. president to address the National Diet, Japan's national legislature.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – The Turkish part of Cyprus declares independence.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – General elections are celebrated in Venezuela in which the opposition party, Democratic Action, wins a majority in both chambers of the Venezuelan Congress and the presidency for the 1984–1989 period under Jaime Lusinchi. Voter turnout is 87.3% and Lusinchi obtains 58.4% of the votes.