istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Belgian cyclist Eddie Merckz retires after a 14-year career with a record 445 victories
Morocco annexes the Mauritanian part of the Western Sahara, thus taking control of the entire region
The Conservative party wins the general election and Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first female prime minister
John Paul II makes an emotional and influential return to Poland, the country of his birth
Peter Shaffer's play about Mozart, Amadeus, has its premiere in London
Lord Mountbatten is killed by an IRA bomb that explodes on his boat in the bay of Donegal
British artist Richard Long lays out his Slate Circle at the Tate Gallery in London
A conference in London, at Lancaster House, finally achieves agreement on Southern Rhodesia
Rhodesia becomes independent, taking the name Zimbabwe, with Robert Mugabe as prime minister
Italian academic Umberto Eco publishes The Name of the Rose, a medieval murder mystery
Electrician Lech Walesa emerges as the leader of a strike in the Gdansk shipyard in Poland
A trade union, Solidarnośc (Solidarity), is formed by strikers in the Gdansk shipyard in Poland
Lech Walesa is elected chairman of the newly formed Polish trade union movement Solidarnośc (Solidarity)
100 years after her death George Eliot is given a memorial stone (denied to her in 1880) in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner
Rebels storm the Spanish parliament in Madrid and briefly hold the members hostage, in a military coup that fails
The Kremlin appoints a general, Wojciech Jaruzelski, as prime minister of Poland
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan share a common economic viewpoint, following the policy known as monetarism
War Music is the first instalment of Christopher Logue's version of the Iliad
Francçois Mitterrand defeats Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in the French presidential election
Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children uses the moment of India's independence to launch an adventure in magic realism
Australian entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch buys Britain's establishment newspaper, The Times, and its related titles
A Turkish assailant in St Peter's Square in Rome shoots and seriously wounds John Paul II
The Humber Bridge crosses the Humber estuary in Britain, and is the world's longest suspension bridge with a main span of 4626 feet (1410m)
Prince Charles marries Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral in London
English author Anita Brookner publishes her first novel, A Start in Life
