Events 1 - 200 of 682
- Jan 1 30 Something stars Ken Olin & Patricia Wettig meet, later they marry
- Jan 1 MTA launches a 5 year capital program to upgrade the NYC subway system
Pérez de Cuéllar Secretary General
Jan 1 Peru's Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the 5th Secretary-General of the United Nations
Prayers for Poland
Jan 1 Pope John Paul II prays for an end to martial law in Poland
- Jan 2 "The Epic in Miami", in 85 degree heat (Fahrenheit), the San Diego Chargers defeat the Miami Dolphins 41-38 in overtime in the AFC Divisional Playoff Game, a game that set numerous playoff scoring records
- Jan 2 New York Islanders beat Philadelphia Flyers, 3-1 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum to start 23 NHL game undefeated home streak (21-0-2), 14 straight wins
- Jan 4 ABC Direction Network (57 affiliates) & ABC Rock Network (40 affiliates) become the 5th & 6th ABC radio network
- Jan 4 Bryant Gumbel becomes co-host of NBC's "Today Show"
- Jan 4 Chris Wallace becomes co-anchor of NBC's "Today Show"
- Jan 4 San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge closed for 3rd time by fierce storm
- Jan 5 Arkansas judge rules against obligatory teaching of creation
Sittler Leaves Maple Leafs
Jan 5 Star center Darryl Sittler leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs on medical advice because of mental depression; trade request was taking too long
Trottier's 10th Hat Trick
Jan 7 Islander's Bryan Trottier's 10th career hat trick
- Jan 7 TV series "Fame", based on the film of the same name, starring Debbie Allen and an ensemble cast premieres on NBC TV
- Jan 8 AT&T agrees to divest itself of 22 Bell System companies
- Jan 8 Johnny Cash Parkway opens in Hendersonville, Tennessee
- Jan 8 US Justice Department withdraws anti-trust suit against IBM, pending since 1969
- Jan 9 5.9 earthquake in New England & Canada; 1st since 1855
- Jan 9 Steve D'Innocenzo scores 3 hockey goals in 12 sec in Mass HS game
- Jan 10 -17°F (27.2°C) in Braemar Grampian (equals UK record)
- Jan 10 NBC's premiere of TV film "Will: G. Gordon Liddy", based on the Watergate conspirator, participant and convict
The Catch
Jan 10 NFC Championship, Candlestick Park, SF: San Francisco 49ers beat Dallas Cowboys, 28-27; "The Catch" - iconic moment in NFL history - Dwight Clark makes fingertip catch for a TD from Joe Montana with 58" remaining; SF goes on to win Super Bowl
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 13 Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 15 "Forbidden Broadway" by/with Gerard Alessandrini premieres in NYC
- Jan 15 Mark Thatcher, son of UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, makes his way home after 6 days missing in the Sahara
Fuhr's Unbeaten Streak Ends
Jan 16 Edmonton's rookie goaltender Grant Fuhr has his 23-game unbeaten streak end with a 7-1 Oilers' defeat in Toronto
- Jan 17 "Cold Sunday" in the United States would see temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities
Lendl's 1st ATP
Jan 17 Czech tennis star Ivan Lendl scores a 6–7, 2–6, 7–6, 6–2, 6–4 win over American Vitas Gerulaitis to claim his first of 5 ATP Masters Grand Prix titles at Madison Square Garden, NYC
- Jan 19 Aust-WI one-day game that produced a Privy Council libel case
- Jan 19 Heater explodes at Star Elementary School, Oklahoma, kills 6 children & teacher
- Jan 20 7 miners killed in an explosion in Craynor Ky
- Jan 20 Future Hockey Hall of Fame center Darryl Sittler is traded by the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Rich Costello, a 2nd round draft pick and future considerations
Osbourne Bites Head Off Bat
Jan 20 Heavy metal musician Ozzy Osbourne allegedly bites the head off a bat on stage in Des Moines, Iowa
- Jan 20 Honduras constitution goes into effect
- Jan 20 Piet Dankert elected chairman of European Parliament
- Jan 21 NY Islanders begin then NHL record 15 game winning streak with a 6-1 win over Pittsburgh Penguins at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
- Jan 22 75% of North America is covered by snow
- Jan 23 Urbe Blanca (cow) produces record 110 kg of milk, Cuba (approx date)
- Jan 23 World Airways DC-10 skids at Boston Logan Airport killing 2
- Jan 24 Super Bowl XVI, Pontiac Silverdome, Detroit, MI: San Francisco 49ers beat Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21; MVP: Joe Montana, SF, QB
- Jan 26 For the first time since the 1930s, the unemployed population in UK rises above three million
- Jan 26 In a 9-2 NHL win over Pittsburgh Penguins, the NY Islanders score 4 goals within 1:38, 5 within 2:37 in a 6 goal 1st period
- Jan 26 Mauno Koivisto elected president of Finland
- Jan 27 Los Angeles Kings set an NHL record with their 6th consecutive tied game, a 4-4 deadlock against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers
- Jan 27 Mauno Koivisto installed as President of Finland
Phillies Trade Two for DeJesus
Jan 27 Philadelphia Phillies trade shortstop Larry Bowa & infielder Ryne Sandberg to Chicago Cubs for 2nd baseman Ivan DeJesus
- Jan 27 Roberto S. Cordova installed as President of Honduras
- Jan 28 Italian police rescue US Brigadier General James Dozier, held hostage for six weeks by the Red Brigade of Padua, Italy
- Jan 28 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Jan 29 Old Dominion ends Louisiana Tech's women's basketball record 54-game winning streak
- Jan 29 Wayne Garland, baseball 1st millionaire free agent, waived by Indians
- Jan 30 Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner".
Benitez vs. Durán
Jan 30 WBC super welterweight champion Wilfred Benitez of Puerto Rico defeats boxing legend Roberto Durán of Panama in a 15-round unanimous decision at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas
- Jan 31 10 Arabian oryx (extinct except in zoos) released in Oman
- Jan 31 Gustafson skates world record 10 km (14:26.59)
"Late Night With David Letterman"
Feb 1 "Late Night With David Letterman" debuts on NBC-TV; Bill Murray is his first guest
- Feb 1 Senegal & Gambia form loose confederation (Senegambia)
- Feb 2 Government troops and Muslim fundamentalists battle in Hamah, Syria
- Feb 3 Columbia Shuttle moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating for STS-3 mission
- Feb 3 Greatest helicopter lift, 56,888 kg, Podmoscovnoe, USSR
- Feb 3 John Sharples of England finishes 371 hours of disco dancing
- Feb 3 Porn star John Holmes ordered to stand trial for murder
- Feb 4 Indoor distance record for a paper airplane (47m) Tacoma Wash
- Feb 4 Suriname premier Chin A Sen flees
- Feb 5 British airline Laker Airways collapses owing 270M pounds ($351M)
- Feb 5 DEA announces seizure of 3,192 tons of marijuana, 495 people
- Feb 5 President of Suriname Hendrick Chin A Sen resigns and flees to the Netherlands
- Feb 6 "Centerfold" by J. Geils Band hits #1 on pop chart
- Feb 7 Luis A Monge elected President of Costa Rica
- Feb 8 Los Angeles Dodgers trade 2B Davey Lopes to Oakland A's, breaking up MLB's longest-playing infield (Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey) after 8 1/2 seasons
- Feb 10 28 skiers perform backflips while holding hands, Bromont, Quebec
Sports History
Feb 11 Ozzie Smith for Garry Templeton trade finally goes through
- Feb 12 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
NHL Record
Feb 12 Wayne Gretzky scores 153rd point of season, breaking NHL record
- Feb 13 Islander's Bryan Trottier scores 5 goals against Flyers
Music History
Feb 13 Pink Floyd's album "Dark Side of the Moon" marks 402 weeks on Billboard Top 200 Album charts
- Feb 14 "Night of 100 Stars", an all-star variety special celebrating the centennial of the Actors' Fund of America, takes place at NYC's Radio City Music Hall
Daytona 500
Feb 14 24th Daytona 500: Bobby Allison wins with margin of victory over Cale Yarborough an impressive 23 seconds, more than half a lap
- Feb 15 Dan Issel (NBA-Nuggets), begins streak of 63 consecutive free throw
- Feb 15 Ocean Ranger oil-drilling platform lost off Newfoundland, 84 die
- Feb 16 Agatha Barbara elected as 1st female president of Malta
- Feb 16 Assembled STS-3 vehicle moves from Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) to launch pad
- Feb 17 Commencement of Sri Lanka's 1st Test Cricket match, v England
- Feb 19 Hanneke Jagersma installed as the 1st Communist mayor in the Netherlands
- Feb 19 Sharie Langford, California, sets women's bowling series record of 853
- Feb 19 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Feb 20 NY Islanders win then NHL record 15th straight game by beating Colorado Rockies, 3-2 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
- Feb 22 NYC Mayor Koch announces he will run for NY governor (unsuccessful)
- Feb 23 Michael Frayn's "Noises Off" premieres in London
- Feb 24 24th Grammy Awards: "Bette Davis Eyes", "Double Fantasy" win
- Feb 24 Boston Celtics begin an 18 NBA game winning streak
- Feb 24 Wayne Gretzky scores NHL-record 78th goal of season en route to 92
- Feb 25 Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs
- Feb 25 Record speed for a snowmobile (239 kph)
Cricket Debut
Feb 26 Test Cricket debut of batsman Martin Crowe, playing for New Zealand v Australia in Wellington, run out for 9
- Feb 27 Dan Issel (NBA-Nuggets), hits on 63rd consecutive free throw
Event of Interest
Feb 27 Earl Anthony becomes 1st pro bowler to win more than $1 million
- Feb 27 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- Feb 27 Wayne Williams found guilty of murdering 2 of 28 blacks in Atlanta
- Feb 28 AT&T looses a record $7 BILLION for the fiscal year ending on this day
- Feb 28 FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street
- Mar 1 NY Times raises its price from 25 cents to 30 cents
- Mar 1 Russian spacecraft Venera 14 lands on Venus, sends back data
- Mar 1 Ski lift malfunctions at Luz-Ardiden in Pyrenees, kills five people
- Mar 2 Terror group "The Illuminated Path" frees 260 prisoners in Peru
- Mar 3 Senate begins debate on expulsion of Sen Harrison Williams (D-NJ)
- Mar 4 2nd double hat trick in Islander history-Bossy & D Potvin
- Mar 4 Bertha Wilson is appointed as first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada
- Mar 4 NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 504
Sports History
Mar 5 MLB pitcher Gaylord Perry (with 297 wins) signs with Seattle Mariners
- Mar 5 Russian spacecraft Venera 14 lands on Venus sends back data
- Mar 6 NBA highest scoring game: San Antonio beat Milwaukee 171-166 (3 OT)
- Mar 6 Susan Birmingham makes then world's loudest recorded human shout (120 dB)
- Mar 7 Jarmilla Kratochvilova run world record 400 m indoor (49.59 sec)
- Mar 7 NCAA Tournament Selection televised live for 1st time
- Mar 10 Saleem Malik scores 100 in 2nd inning of Test Cricket debut (v SL)
- Mar 10 Sygyzy: all 9 planets aligned on same side of Sun
- Mar 10 The United States places an embargo on Libyan petroleum imports because of their support of terrorist groups.
- Mar 10 Travis Jackson and former commissioner Happy Chandler elected to baseball's Hall of Fame
Event of Interest
Mar 10 US President Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya
- Mar 11 Detroit Pistons play the Chicago Bulls, with final score of Detroit 152 to Chicago 144 and Detroit having 20 blocked shots
- Mar 11 Failed military coup under Rambocus and Hawker in Suriname
- Mar 11 Harrison Williams (Sen-D-NJ) resigns rather than face expulsion
- Mar 11 US boycotts Libyan crude oil
- Mar 12 PLO chief Yassar Arafat appears on "Nightline"
T.J. Hooker
Mar 13 ABC TV crime drama "T.J. Hooker" premieres, starring William Shatner
Sports History
Mar 13 Ice Dance Championship at Copenhagen won by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (Great Britain)
- Mar 13 Ice Pairs Championship at Copenhagen won by Baess & Thierbach (GDR)
Sports History
Mar 13 Men's Figure Skating Champions in Copenhagen won by Scott Hamilton (USA)
- Mar 13 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champs in Copenhagen won by Elaine Zayak (USA) who lands 6 triple jumps
- Mar 15 Actress Theresa Saladana, stabbed repeatedly by obsessed fan
- Mar 15 KGB-AM in San Diego CA changes call letters to KCNN (now KPOP)
- Mar 15 Nicaragua suspends their citizens rights for 30 days
- Mar 15 Sidath Wettimuny scores Sri Lanka's first Test Cricket century (157) in 2nd Test v Pakistan in Faisalabad
- Mar 17 4 Dutch TV crew members shot dead in El Salvador
- Mar 18 Singer Teddy Pendergrass' spinal cord severed in a car accident
- Mar 19 Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the U.K.
- Mar 19 National Guard jet tanker crashes killing 27
- Mar 20 France performs nuclear test
- Mar 20 Joan Jett & Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" goes #1 for 7 weeks
- Mar 20 Rev Andries Treurnicht forms Conservative Party of South Africa
- Mar 21 "Little Johnny Jones" opens & closes at Alvin Theater NYC
- Mar 21 Jerry Pate celebrates golf win by jumping into the water hazard
Annie
Mar 21 Movie "Annie" directed by John Huston, starring Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney and Carol Burnett premieres
- Mar 22 3rd NASA Space Shuttle Mission: Columbia 3 launches
- Mar 22 Iran offensive against Iraq
Coup d'état
Mar 23 Guatemala military coup under General Efraín Ríos Montt, President Romeo Lucas flees
NHL Record
Mar 23 NHL New York Islanders Mike Bossy's 20th career hat trick, in his 5th career 4-goal game, an 8-1 win over visiting Washington Capitols
- Mar 24 US sub Jacksonville collides with a Turkish freighter near Virginia
- Mar 25 1st broadcast of "Cagney & Lacey" starring Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly on CBS-TV
- Mar 25 Wayne Gretzky becomes 1st NHL to score 200 points in a season
- Mar 26 Groundbreaking in Washington, D.C. for Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Ebony & Ivory
Mar 26 Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder release the single "Ebony & Ivory" in the UK
Academy Awards
Mar 29 54th Academy Awards: "Chariots of Fire", Henry Fonda & Katharine Hepburn win
- Mar 29 Delhi 707 beat Karnataka 705 on 1st innings to win Ranji Trophy
- Mar 30 3rd NASA Space Shuttle Mission: Columbia 3 lands at White Sands, New Mexico
- Mar 30 John Pielmeier's play "Agnes of God", about a nun who gives birth and insists it was immaculate conception, premieres at the Music Box Theatre, NYC; runs for 599 performances
- Mar 31 American rock group The Doobie Brothers split up
- Mar 31 Arkas tanker at Montz La, spills 1.47 million gallons of oil
- Mar 31 NBA and Players Association reach a 4-year agreement that includes a 53% revenue-sharing plan in return for minimum & maximum payrolls; first of its kind in team sports
- Apr 1 Anguilla (dependent territory of UK) adopts constitution
NHL Record
Apr 1 Quebec center Peter Šťastný scores 4th career hat trick and 4 assists, and his brother Marián adds 5 assists to lead the Nordiques to an 8-5 win at Boston
Sports History
Apr 3 Marco van Basten plays his first match for Ajax, scoring a debut goal in a 5-0 victory over NEC
- Apr 3 UN Security Council demanded Argentina withdraw from Falkland Islands
- Apr 5 43-year-old St. Louis reliever Jim Kaat pitches 1 inning for the Cardinals in a season-opening, 14-3 rout of Houston; sets a MLB record for pitchers by playing in his 24th consecutive season
- Apr 5 British Royal Navy aircraft carriers Invincible and Hermes, with escort vessels, depart Portsmouth, England for the Falkland Islands in response to the Argentine invasion
- Apr 5 Lord Carrington, British Foreign Secretary resigns for his failure to foresee the invasion of the Falkland Islands
- Apr 6 Columbia returns to Kennedy Space Center from White Sands
- Apr 6 Largest crowd ever to see a baseball game in Minnesota 52,279
- Apr 7 Iran minister of Foreign affairs Ghotbzadeh arrested
- Apr 8 Tracy Caulkins wins her 36th US swimming title aged 19
- Apr 9 LA Lakers block 21 Denver shots setting NBA regulation game record
- Apr 10 LA Kings losing 5-0 to Edmonton in 3rd period, win in OT 6-5
- Apr 12 3 CBS employees shot to death in NYC parking lot
Music History
Apr 12 American composer Roger Sessions receives Pulitzer Prize for Music, for his "Concerto for Orchestra"
Proclamation of the Constitution Act
Apr 17 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II sign the "Proclamation of the Constitution Act", establishing the "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" as part of the country’s new Constitution
Music History
Apr 17 Country music legend Johnny Cash hosts Saturday Night Live, participates in skits, performs medley of hits; Elton John is additional musical guest
- Apr 17 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Apr 18 Atlanta Braves win record 11th straight opening game (beat Astros)
- Apr 18 Canada Constitution Act replaces British North America Act
- Apr 18 Zimbabwean capital Salisbury renamed Harare
- Apr 19 Guinon Bluford announced as 1st African American NASA astronaut
- Apr 19 Rosie Ruiz, marathon race cheater, arrested for forgery
Event of Interest
Apr 19 Sally Ride is named the 1st American woman astronaut
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists