What was happening in the world in 1984?

Answer 1

Here are SOME of the events that took place in 1985- it's not comprehensive by any means, but it might be of help:

The Ethiopian Famine- although it started the previous year, by '85 it had become catastrophic. Hundreds of thousands died, and it threatened to kill millions more. British punk star Bob Geldof and entrepreneur Harvey Goldsmith (supported by other stars such as Bono, Midge Ure, Sting, British politician Tony Benn and others) organised the 'Live Aid' concerts on 13th June- they were held at the old Wembley Stadium in London and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in New York, and raised millions of pounds for Ethiopian aid.

Soviet leader Constantin Chernenko died in March, and was replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev- Cold War tensions began to ease soon afterwards. President Reagan and Gorbachev issued a joint statement later in the year that nuclear war cannot be won and must never occur- the two men liked and respected each other, and real sincerity began to develop towards ending the Cold War.

The CIA uncovered three top spies who had been sending secrets to the Soviet Union from within the American establishment- they were former submariner John A. Walker, cryptologist Ronald Pelton and communications expert Jerry Whitworth, who had been selling US navy secrets to the Russians. They were all given long jail sentences.

Soviet KGB Colonel Oleg Gordievsky defected to the West on 19th July, assisted by British MI6 officers- he was followed soon afterwards by KGB officer Vitaly Yurchenko.

Huge anti-nuclear demonstrations across Europe and the USA during the Summer.

NATO carried out 'Operation Braveheart' in West Germany to rehearse a response to a Soviet invasion; in Britain, 'Operation Brave Defender' took place, to rehearse the response of British special forces to a Soviet attack.

The USAF decommissioned it's ageing fleet of Phantom jet bombers.

The British miner's strike ended in March- after a heroic struggle to save their industry, jobs and communities in the face of ruthless cuts and police brutality on the part of Thatcher's government, the miners marched back to work with pride. The British National Coal Board was wound up, and new anti-strike laws were brought in.

1985 was a terrible year for disasters, both natural and man-made; here are the main ones that occurred that year:

Four major air disasters, and three hijackings-

a Japan Airlines Boeing 747 crashed into Mount Osutaka soon after take-off from Tokyo Airport; all on board were killed, this is the worst disater involving a single plane to date. An Air India 747 was blown up over the Atlantic Ocean on 23rd June by a Sikh extremist bomb, killing all 329 passengers & crew. In England during the Summer, a holiday jet bound for Corfu caught fire on the runway at Manchester airport after it's left engine exploded- 55 people died. Then on 12th December, a USAF DC-8 carrying American troops home for Christmas from West Germany, crashed soon after take-off from Gander in Newfoundland, killing all 256 aboard. The cause was believed to be ice on the wings, although some suspected a terrorist bomb. The hijackings were:

A TWA airliner bound for Athens, that was hijacked by Hezbollah militants during the Summer and flown to Beirut- one American passenger who was a member of the US Navy was shot dead, the other passengers were freed after over a fortnight following negociations. The hijackers subsequently blew up the empty aircraft, and managed to escape. Also, an Egyptian airliner was hijacked in Malta by Islamic militants before it took off- the aircraft was stormed by Egyptian shock troops, 60 died and 35 were injured when the hijackers set off grenades inside the 'plane. On 7th October, the Italian cruise liner 'Achille Lauro' was hijacked by militant supporters of the PLO- a Jewish American passenger called Leon Klinghoffer was thrown overboard and drowned. The hijackers later accepted an offer to be flown to safety aboard an Egyptian 'plane, although this was subsequently forced down over Sicily by US fighters, and the hijackers were arrested.

260 people died in Switzerland on 18th December, when a reservoir dam collapsed and inundated a holiday ski resort.

A massive cyclone in Bangladesh on 25th May killed 10,000 people.

The Mexico City earthquake took place on 27th April, killing over 25,000

The Columbian volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted on 13th November, killing over 25,000 people.

A terrible fire destroyed a wooden grandstand at the grounds of Bradford City Football Club in England on 11th May, during a match between the Bradford City & Lincoln City soccer teams- 56 people died as a result.

A riot at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium during an FA Cup soccer qualifying match between Liverpool and Juventus resulted in the death of 41 people on 29th May.

Other events included:

A state of emergency was declared in South Africa on 21st March following the slaughter by police of 19 demonstrators. The South African ban on mixed marriages also ended that year.

There were huge riots in England in July in protest at unemployment, police racism against black people, and general economic rot- they took place in the Handsworth area of Birmingham and the Brixton area of London in July, and in October there was a huge riot on the Broadwater Farm housing estate in London's Tottenham district sparked off by the police shooting of a black pensioner called Cherry Groce. At the height of the riot a policeman, Keith Blakelock, was shot dead- a man was later jailed for the killing, although he was later released when he was found to have been innocent after all (the real killer was never caught).

Ugandan dictator President Milton Obote was ousted on 27th July following a bloodless coup.

The military dictatorship in Brazil came to an end on 15th January, when the military leader General Joao Figuereido agreed to democratic elections- democratically elected President Tancredo Neves was voted in, though he collapsed & died of a heart attack the night before his inauguration, leaving his Vice-President Jose Sarney to be sworn in as leader.

In England, The Ponting Affair took place- Clive Ponting was a British civil servant who released classified comments to a British newspaper made by the then Defence Secretary Michael Hestletine, concerning the sinking of the Argentine battle cruiser 'General Belgrano' during the Falklands War. This provided damning evidence that the Government had ordered the ship to be sunk when it was retreating- Ponting was tried under the Official Secrets Act, but aquitted.

Albanian President Enver Hoxher died on 11th April- he was succeeded by Ramiz Alia.

The Soviet space station 'Mir' became operational.

The first Western hostages were abducted in Beirut, including US journalist Terry Anderson and Italian buisnessman Alberto Molinari (Molinari was killed by his kidnappers soon afterwards).

Britain signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement with the Irish Government, enabling IRA suspects to be extradited from the Irish Republic to Britain to face trial. On 28th February, an IRA bomb in Northern Ireland's County Down killed 8 policemen and a civilian.

In West Germany, 17 RAF bandsman and 2 civilians were killed in a road crash on 11th February, when their bus collided with a petrol tanker.

The Greenpeace ship 'Rainbow Warrior' was sunk in New Zealand's Auckland harbour on 10th July by an explosion on board, that killed a Portugese photographer. The ship was getting ready to monitor French nuclear bomb testing on the Pacific island of Mururoa Atoll- in September, the French government of Francois Miterrand admitted that two of it's secret agents planted a bomb aboard the vessel.

The wreck of the 'Titanic' was located by American oceonographer Dr. Robert Ballard, leading an expedition from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute- she was found 2.5 miles down on the bed of the Atlantic, split in two and with her stern section devastated. Ballard took many photographs of the ship, and laid a memorial plaque to the dead at the wreck site.

Russian Gary Kasparov became the new world chess champion.

German tennis player Boris Becker became the youngest ever person to win a final at Wimbledon, aged just 17.

Paris's Pont Neuf Bridge was wrapped in crepe paper as a bizarre art experiment by the Bulgarian artist 'Christo'.

Two young American men, Raymond Belknapp and James Vance, shot themselves on 23rd December after listening to an album by the English heavy rock band Judas Priest- Belknapp died, Vance blew most of his face off and survived, horribly disfigured, for another 3 years. Both men had a history of drug abuse and domestic problems- their parents sued the band for damages, claiming that their album contained subliminal messages that encouraged suicide. Judas Priest themselves were shocked and devastated at the incident, and sent sincere Sympathies to the victim's families- they were aquitted of any sinister intent in their album, though remained deeply distressed.

Orson Welles died- other deaths in 1985 included actors Yul Brynner, Rock Hudson (who died of AIDS), comic actor Phil Silvers, English singer Matt Monro, journalist & author James Cameron, concert pianist Eugene List, conductor Eugene Ormandy, spy-writer Helen McInnes, primatologist Dian Fossey (murdered by poachers at her forest camp in Rwanda), German writer Heinrich Boll, Welsh fashion designer Laura Ashley (from injuries sustained after a stair-fall) , seismologist Charles Richter (who founded the Richter Scale), and cartoonist Chester Gould (creator of Dick Tracey).

The film 'Amadeus' won 8 Oscars- popular films in '85 included 'Out Of Africa', 'Top Gun', 'Back To The Future', 'Mad Max III- Beyond Thunderdome', and 'Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom'.

The British soap opera 'Eastenders' was launched- in the USA, 'Miami Vice' was hugely popular.

French car firm Renault discontinued it's famous '4' model, after a 20 year production run.

....I could go on, but I hope these are helpful. Because I'm British, a lot of the extra info. I can provide is centred around the British Isles, so if you are American, it might not be of so much interest. Let me know if it would be, though.

Answer 2

On January 7th 1987 a baby boy was born. That baby boy was born in Meriden, Connecticut. His name was Jacob Andrew Maringola.

Answer 3

1986* and Lady Gaga was born :)