Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). The year 1985 was declared International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events of 1985
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- January 1 - The first British cell phone call is made (by Ernie Wise to Vodafone).
- January 7 - Saturn Corporation was founded as a "Different Kind of Car Company."
- January 10 - The Sinclair C5 is launched at Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill, North London. It is believed by Sir Clive Sinclair to be the best mode of personal transport.
- January 13 - 428 killed, a passenger train plunged into a ravine at Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia, where accident is the worst railroad disaster in Africa.
- January 15 - Tancredo Neves is elected president of Brazil by the Congress, ending the 21-year military rule.
- January 17 - British Telecom announces it is going to phase out its famous red telephone boxes.
- January 20 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is privately sworn in for a second term in office (publicly sworn in, January 21).
- January 20 - The San Francisco 49ers win their 2nd NFL Championship in 4 years by defeating the Miami Dolphins 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California.
- January 28 - In Hollywood, California, the charity single " We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa.
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- February 1 - AM stereo broadcasting starts in Australia.
- February 5 - Australia cancels its involvement in U.S.-led MX missile tests.
- February 7 - " New York, New York" becomes the official city anthem of New York City.
- February 10 - Nelson Mandela rejects an offer of freedom from the South African government.
- February 11 - Pakistani bowler Wasim Akram takes 10 wickets in his second Test cricket match, but New Zealand still wins.
- February 14 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.
- February 16 - Israel begins withdrawing troops from Lebanon.
- February 19 - William J. Schroeder becomes the first artificial heart patient to leave the hospital.
- February 19 - China Airlines Flight 006 incident
- February 28 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.
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- March 8 - A car bomb planted in Beirut by CIA mercenaries attempted to kill the Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah and kills more than 80 people, injures 200.
- March 11 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union.
- March 11 - Mohammed Al Fayed buys the London-based department store company Harrods.
- March 15 - Vice-president Jose Sarney took oath as the first civilian president of Brazil in 21 years, as the elected president Tancredo Neves had become severely ill on the day before.
- March 16 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is eventually released on December 4, 1991.
- March 24 - Norwich City win the English League Cup at Wembley Stadium, beating Sunderland 1-0 in the final.
- March 25 - The 57th Academy Awards are held at in Los Angeles, California with Amadeus winning Best Picture.
- March 31 - WrestleMania debuts at Madison Square Garden
April
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- April 1 - Two Japanese government-owned corporations, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, and Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation, are privatized and changed their names to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, and Japan Tobacco
- April 15 - South Africa ends its ban on interracial marriages.
- April 18 - United Kingdom has its first ever national Glow-worm day.
- April 19 - The U.S.S.R performs a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan.
- April 21 - Brazilian President Tancredo Neves dies, he is succeeded by Jose Sarney.
- April 23 - Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. (The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than 3 months.)
- April 28 - The Australian Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) splits.
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- May 4 - The 30th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden.
- May 5 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan joins German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for a controversial funeral service at a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, which includes the graves of 59 elite S.S. troops from World War II.
- May 11 - The FBI brings charges against the suspected heads of the 5 Mafia families in New York City.
- May 11 - Fire engulfs a wooden stand in the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, England during a football match, killing 56.
- May 13 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mayor Wilson Goode orders police to storm the radical group MOVE's headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 61 city residents in the resulting fire.
- May 23 - Thomas Patrick Cavanagh is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to sell stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union.
- May 25 - Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
- May 29 - Heysel Disaster: 38 spectators are killed in rioting on the terraces during the European Cup final between Liverpool F.C. and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
- May 31 - Forty-one tornadoes hit in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
June
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- June 14 - TWA Flight 847, carrying 153 passengers from Athens to Rome, is hijacked by a Hezbollah fringe group. One passenger, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Robert Stethem, is killed.
- June 17 - John Hendricks launches the Discovery Channel in the United States.
- June 23 - Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, blows up 31,000 feet (9,500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.
- June 24 - STS-51-G Space Shuttle Discovery completed its mission, best remembered for having Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a Payload Specialist.
- June 25 - Irish police foil an Irish Republican Army-sponsored 'mainland bombing campaign' which targeted luxury vacationing resorts, arresting 13 suspects.
- June 26 - Walt Disney World Resort Monorail Gold catches fire on the EPCOT beam around 9:00pm due to friction from a flat tire.
- June 27 - Route 66 is officially decommissioned.
July
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- July 4 - Ruth Lawrence, 13, achieves a first in mathematics at Oxford University, becoming the youngest British person ever to earn a first-class degree and the youngest known graduate of Oxford University.
- July 10 - The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents.
- July 13 - Live Aid pop concerts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and London raise over £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
- July 13 - U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush served as Acting President for eight hours, while President Ronald W. Reagan underwent colon cancer surgery.
- July 19 - U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush announces that New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe will become the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
- July 19 - The Val di Stava Dam in Italy collapses.
- July 20 - The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who begin to excavate $400 million in coins and silver.
- July 24 - Commodore launches the Amiga personal computer at the Lincoln Centre in New York.
August
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- August 2 - Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes near Dallas, Texas, killing 137 people.
- August 4 - Major League Baseball player Rod Carew of the Anaheim Angels becomes the 16th player to achieve 3,000 hits in a career.
- August 6 - In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
- August 7 - Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
- August 12 - Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes in Japan, killing 520 people: the worst single-aircraft disaster in history.
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- September 1 - A joint American-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
- September 5 - John Howard replaces Andrew Peacock as Australian Federal Opposition Leader.
- September 6 - Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9, crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31.
- September 19 - An 8.1 Richter scale earthquake strikes Mexico City. More than 9,000 people are killed, 30,000 injured, and 95,000 left homeless.
- September 22 - Plaza Accord was signed by five nations.
- September 28 - The shooting of Dorothy 'Cherry' Groce by the Metropolitan Police sparks race riots in Brixton, an area of South London, England.
- September 29 - MacGyver Pilot episode aired on the ABC network.
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- October 1 - The Israeli air force bombs PLO Headquarters near Tunis.
- October 4 - The Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, USA.
- October 7 - The cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked in the Mediterranean Sea by 4 heavily armed Palestinian terrorists. One passenger, American Leon Klinghoffer, is killed.
- October 18 - The Nintendo Entertainment System is released in US stores.
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- November 5 - Mark Kaylor defeats Errol Christie to become middleweight boxing champion after the two brawled in front of the cameras at the weigh-in.
- November 13 - Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts, killing an estimated 23,000 people, including 21,000 killed by lahars in the town of Armero, Colombia.
- November 15 - In separate events, mail bombs kill two people in Salt Lake City, Utah; a third bomb explodes the next day, injuring career counterfeiter Mark Hoffman. The ensuing police investigation leads to the arrest of Hoffman for the two murders.
- November 18 - Comic strip Calvin and Hobbes Debuts in 35 newspapers
- November 19 - Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
- November 20 - Microsoft Corporation releases the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0.
- November 23 - EgyptAir Flight 648 hijacked by Abu Nidal group, flown to Malta, where Egyptian commandos storm plane; 60 are killed by gunfire and explosions.
- November 26 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan sells the rights to his autobiography to Random House for a record US$3 million.
- November 29 - Gerard Hoarau, exiled political leader from the Seychelles, is assassinated in London.
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- December 1 - The Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable are released for sale to the public.
- December 12 - Arrow Air Flight 1285, a Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing 256, 248 of whom were U.S. servicemen returning to Fort Campbell, Kentucky from overseeing a peacekeeping force in Sinai.
- December 27 - Rome and Vienna airport attacks: Abu Nidal terrorists open fire in the airports of Rome and Vienna, leaving 18 dead and 120 injured.
- December 31 - The last issue of The Columbus Citizen-Journal is circulated.
Undated
- The Australian state of Victoria celebrates its 150th anniversary.
- Capital gains tax introduced to Australia.
- Buckyballs discovered by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley.
- GNU Manifesto first written by Richard Stallman.
- Western Sahara is admitted to the Organization of African Unity; Morocco, which claims Western Sahara, leaves in protest.
- Solarquest, space age real estate game, first published by Golden.
- Norma Phillips Thornworth elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
- ATI Technologies is founded.
- NeXT is founded by Steve Jobs after resigning from Apple Computer.
- Tommy Hilfiger brand established
- Tetris released
- DNA is first used in a criminal case
- Greenland leaves the European Union.
- Multiple cases of espionage in the United States prompts media to label this "The Year of the Spy"
Ongoing
The Cold War
World population
| World population |
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1985 |
1980 |
1990 |
 World |
4,830,979,000 |
4,434,682,000 |
 396,297,000 |
5,263,593,000 |
432,614,000 |
 Africa |
541,814,000 |
469,618,000 |
72,196,000 |
622,443,000 |
80,629,000 |
 Asia |
2,887,552,000 |
2,632,335,000 |
255,217,000 |
3,167,807,000 |
280,255,000 |
 Europe |
706,009,000 |
692,431,000 |
13,578,000 |
721,582,000 |
15,573,000 |
 Latin America |
401,469,000 |
361,401,000 |
40,068,000 |
441,525,000 |
40,056,000 |
 Northern America |
269,456,000 |
256,068,000 |
13,388,000 |
283,549,000 |
14,093,000 |
 Oceania |
24,678,000 |
22,828,000 |
1,850,000 |
26,687,000 |
2,009,000 |
Deaths
January-March
- January 4 - Sir Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)
- February 8 - Marvin Miller, American actor (b. 1913)
- February 20 - Clarence Nash, American actor (b. 1904)
- March 10 - Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet politician (b. 1911)
- March 12 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
- March 21 - Sir Michael Redgrave, English actor (b. 1908)
- March 28 - Marc Chagall, Russian-born painter (b. 1887)
- March 29 - Jeanine Deckers, Belgian nun and singer (b. 1933)
April-June
- April 8 - J. Fred Coots, American songwriter (b. 1897)
- April 11 - Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (b. 1908)
- April 21 - Tancredo Neves, Brazilian elected president (b. 1910)
- April 22 - Paul H. Emmett, American chemical engineer (b. 1900)
- April 30 - George Pravda, Czechoslovakian actor (b. 1918)
- May 4 - Clarence Wiseman, the 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
- May 5 - Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (b. 1901)
- May 6 - Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (b. 1968)
- May 8 - Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (b. 1918)
- May 9 - Edmond O'Brien, American actor (b. 1915)
- May 10 - Chester Gould, American cartoonist (b. 1900)
- May 12 - Jean Dubuffet, French artist (b. 1901)
- May 16 - Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
- May 17 - Abe Burrows, American songwriter, composer, and writer (b. 1910)
- May 22 - Wolfgang Reitherman, American animator (b. 1909)
- June 11 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (b. 1954)
- June 12 - Hua Luogeng, Chinese mathematician (b. 1910)
- June 15 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete (b. 1927)
July-September
- July 2 - David Purley, British race car driver (b. 1945)
- July 9 - Jimmy Kinnon, Scottish founder of Narcotics Anonymous (b. 1911)
- July 16 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- July 19 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish writer (b. 1938)
- July 27 - John Scarne, American magician and card expert (b. 1903)
- August 6 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (b. 1923)
- August 12 - Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b. 1951)
- August 12 - Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer, well known by his most famous song, " Sukiyaki", killed in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 (b. 1941)
- August 14 - Gale Sondergaard, American actor (b. 1899)
- August 25 - Samantha Smith, American schoolgirl activist (b. 1972)
- August 31 - Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
- September 1 - Stefan Bellof, race car driver and 1984 World SportsCars ( Group C) Champion (b. 1957)
- September 6 - Isabel Cox-Meighen, wife of Canadian prime minister Arthur Meighen (b. 1882)
- September 6 - Little Brother Montgomery, American musician
- September 7 - Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1917)
- September 8 - John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1887)
- September 9 - Paul Flory, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- September 11 - William Alwyn, English composer (b. 1905)
- September 17 - Laura Ashley, Welsh designer (b. 1925)
- September 19 - Italo Calvino, Italian writer (b. 1923)
October-December
- October 1 - E.B. White, American writer (b. 1899)
- October 2 - Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
- October 2 - George Savalas, American actor, brother of Telly Savalas (b. 1924)
- October 6 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (b. 1921)
- October 10 - Yul Brynner, American actor (b. 1915)
- October 10 - Orson Welles, American film director (b. 1915)
- October 12 - Johnny Olson, American game show announcer (b. 1910)
- October 22 - Thomas Townsend Brown, American scientist (b. 1905)
- October 31 - Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor (b. 1913)
- November 1 - Quick Draw Rick McGraw, American professional wrestler (b. 1955)
- November 5 - Spencer W. Kimball, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1895)
- November 5 - Arnold Chikobava, Georgian linguist (b. 1898)
- November 13 - William Pereira, American architect (b. 1909)
- November 13 - George Robert Vincent, American sound recording pioneer (b. 1898)
- November 24 - Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (b. 1911)
- December 7 - Robert Graves, English writer (b. 1895)
- December 12 - Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)
- December 12 - Ian Stewart, Scottish rock musician (b. 1938)
- December 22 - D. Boon, American singer and guitarist (b. 1958)
- December 23 - Ferhat Abbas, Algerian nationalist (b. 1899)
- December 26 - Dian Fossey, American biologist (b. 1932)
- December 31 - Ricky Nelson, American singer and actor (b. 1940)
Environmental
- Asian tiger mosquito, an invasive species is first found in Houston, Texas.
- November 13 - The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts in Colombia, killing an estimated 23,000 people.
- Famine in Ethiopia continues; USA for Africa (" We Are the World") and Live Aid raise funds for famine relief.
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Klaus von Klitzing
- Chemistry - Herbert A. Hauptman, Jerome Karle
- Literature - Claude Simon
- Peace - International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
- Economics - Franco Modigliani
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Michael S. Brown, Joseph L. Goldstein
Templeton Prize
World
396,297,000
Africa
Asia
Europe
Latin America
Oceania