istoryworld
All Events
Olivier Messiaen's opera St Francis of Assisi has its premiere in Paris
Luc Montagnier, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, discovers a new human retrovirus that he names LAV (later changed to HIV)
On his 90th birthday Harold Macmillan is given Britain's last hereditary peerage, as Earl of Stockton
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef founds Shas, an ultra-Orthodox political party in Israel, and remains its spiritual leader until his death in 2013
British skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean earn a perfect score for their Bolero programme in the Sarajevo winter Olympics
Milos Forman directs the screen version of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and union leader Arthur Scargill begin a bitter personal struggle in the miners' strike
US poet Robert Pinsky publishes an acclaimed verse translation, The Inferno of Dante
The name of Upper Volta is changed to Burkina Faso, meaning 'land of incorruptible people'
New additions to St Mary's are completed, designed by Edward Cullinan, to replace the parts destroyed by the fire of 1978
Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the title role, that of an almost silent killing machine, in The Terminator
Czech novelist Milan Kundera publishes The Unbearable Lightness of Being, in the tradition of magic realism
Drugs barons in Colombia murder the Minister of Justice, Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, to protect their trade
Sikh rebels, demanding an independent Punjab, seize the Golden Temple in Amritsar
English athlete Daley Thompson sets an Olympic and world record in the decathlon at the Los Angeles Olympics
Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi uses the army to dislodge militant Sikhs occupying the Golden Temple in Amritsar
Diego Maradona is sold to Napoli for a new record fee of about £5 million, two years after being sold to Barcelona for £3 million
English author Julian Barnes publishes a multi-faceted literary novel, Flaubert's Parrot
David Lange becomes prime minister of New Zealand after a Labour election victory
British architects James Stirling and Michael Wilford complete a new art gallery for Stuttgart
Republican activist Gerry Adams is elected president of Sinn Fein
The CIA covertly arranges for mines to be laid in Nicaragua's harbours
US sprinter and long-jumper Carl Lewis wins four gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics
A disastrous famine in the northern provinces of Ethiopia is the first to be seen all round the world on television
The Turkana Boy, the most complete known skeleton of Homo erectus, is found near Lake Turkana by Kamoya Kimeu in Richard Leakey's team
