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1984
From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
- For George Orwell's novel, see Nineteen Eighty-Four. For other uses, see 1984 (disambiguation).
| 1984 by topic: |
| Arts |
Architecture - Art - Film - Literature
Music (Country, UK) - Television - Home video |
| Science and technology |
Archaeology - Aviation
Meteorology - Rail transport - Radio - Science |
| By country |
Australia - Canada - France - Germany - India
Ireland - Malaysia - Mexico - New Zealand - Pakistan
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| Births - Deaths |
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| Establishments - Disestablishments |
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| Works |
1984 in other calendars
| Gregorian calendar |
1984
MCMLXXXIV |
| Ab urbe condita |
2737 |
| Armenian calendar |
1433
ԹՎ ՌՆԼԳ |
| Chinese calendar |
4680 – 4681
癸亥 – 甲子 |
| Ethiopian calendar |
1976 – 1977 |
| Hebrew calendar |
5744 – 5745 |
| Hindu calendars |
|
| - Vikram Samvat |
2039 – 2040 |
| - Shaka Samvat |
1906 – 1907 |
| - Kali Yuga |
5085 – 5086 |
| Iranian calendar |
1362 – 1363 |
| Islamic calendar |
1405 – 1406 |
1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
- Crack is first introduced into the Los Angeles area and soon spread across the United States.
January
- January 1 - Brunei becomes a fully independent state.
- January 1 - Bell System divestiture breaks AT&T into 24 independent units.
- January 3 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan meets with Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman and the Reverend Jesse Jackson at the White House, following Lieutenant Goodman's release from Syrian captivity.
- January 5 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU.
- January 7 - Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
- January 9 - Clara Peller is featured in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's for the first time.
- January 10 - The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.
- January 23 - The Peace and Friendship Treaty is signed between Argentina and Chile in Vatican City.
- January 23 - Hulk Hogan defeats The Iron Sheik for the World Wrestling Federation Championship in Madison Square Garden. The cultural movement known as Hulkamania is born.
- January 24 - The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
- January 27 - Pop star Michael Jackson's scalp is seriously burned by pyrotechnics during filming of a Pepsi commercial.
February
- February 1 - Medicare comes into effect in Australia.
- February 2 - The Melbourne newspaper The Age publishes phone taps incriminating an unknown judge.
- February 3 - STS-41-B: Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on the 10th space shuttle mission.
- February 7 - Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk.
- February 8 - The 1984 Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo.
- February 9 - Soviet leader Yuri Andropov dies.
- February 9 - Disclosure of remarks by Jesse Jackson, considered anti-Semitic by some, hurt his presidential campaign.
- February 13 - Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- February 18 - The Vatican and the Italian government sign a new concordat disestablishing the Roman Catholic Church.
- February 26 - United States Marines pull out of Beirut, Lebanon.
- February 29 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement.
March
- March 5 - Iran accuses Iraq of the use of chemical weapons; the U.N. condemns their use on March 30.
- March 5 - Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi orders an attack on the Harimandir Sahib, the Sikh holy spot.
- March 6 - A year-long strike begins in the British coal industry (See UK Miners' Strike (1984-1985).
- March 14 - Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams and 3 others are seriously injured in a gun attack by the UVF.
- March 16 - The CIA station chief in Beirut, William Buckley, is kidnapped by Islamic Jihad and later dies in captivity.
- March 22 - Teachers at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.
- March 23 - General Rahimuddin Khan becomes the first man in Pakistan's history to rule over two of its provinces, after becoming interim Governor of Sindh.
- March 27 - Starlight Express opens at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.
April
- April 2 - Indian Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma is launched into space, aboard the Soyuz T-11.
- April 4 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
- April 12 - Palestinian gunmen take Israeli Bus Number 300 hostage. Israeli special forces storm the bus, freeing the hostages (1 hostage, 2 hijackers killed). Two other hijackers are captured and then killed in secret service interrogations, causing a major scandal and secret service upheaval.
- April 13 - India launches Operation Meghdoot, as most of the Siachen Glacier in Kashmir comes under Indian control.
- April 17 - WPC Yvonne Fletcher is shot and killed by a secluded gunman during a siege outside the Libyan Embassy in London.
- April 19 - Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
- April 25 - The term of Sultan Ahmad Shah as the 7th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia ends.
- April 26 - Sultan Iskandar, Sultan of Johor, becomes the 8th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
May
- May 2 - The Liverpool International Garden Festival opens in Liverpool.
- May 5 - The Herreys win the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 for Sweden, with the song Diggi-Loo, Diggi-Ley.
- May 8 - The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
- May 8 - Denis Lortie kills 3 government employees in the National Assembly of Quebec building.
- May 8 - The longest game in Major League Baseball history begins at 7:30 PM between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago White Sox. The game will be played over the course of 2 days, lasting 25 innings, with a total time of 8 hours and 6 minutes.
- May 11 - Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure burns down, killing 8.
- May 11 - A transit of Earth from Mars takes place.
- May 12 - The Louisiana World's Fair opens.
- May 14 - The one dollar coin is introduced in Australia.
June
- June 5 - The Indian government begins Operation Blue Star, the planned attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
- June 6 - Indian troops storm the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the Sikh's holiest shrine, killing an estimated 300 people.
- June 8 - A deadly F5 tornado nearly destroys the town of Barneveld, Wisconsin, killing 9 people, injuring nearly 200, and causing over $25,000,000 in damage.
- June 8 - The film Ghostbusters is released into theaters, becoming a summer blockbuster hit, with the song "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. becoming a Top 40 hit.
- June 20 - The biggest exam shake-up in the British education system in over 10 years is announced, with O-level and CSE exams to be replaced by a new exam, the GCSE.
- June 22 - The official name of the Turkish city Urfa is changed into Sanliurfa.
- June 22 - Virgin Atlantic makes its inaugural flight.
- June 27 - France beats Spain 2-0 to win the Euro 84.
- June 30 - John Turner becomes Canada's 17th Prime Minister.
July
- July 4 - Richard Petty wins his 200th career NASCAR victory at the Firecracker 400 in Daytona, Florida.
- July 9 - Lightning sets fire to York Minster.
- July 12 - In San Francisco, the Democratic National Convention nominates Walter F. Mondale for U.S. President, and Geraldine Ferraro for Vice President.
- July 14 - New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon calls a snap election and is heavily defeated by opposition Labour leader David Lange.
- July 18 - The first Culver's opens in Sauk City, Wisconsin.
- July 18 - In San Ysidro, California, 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty sprays a McDonald's restaurant with gunfire, killing 21 people before being shot and killed.
- July 21 - In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushes a worker against a safety bar in what is apparently the first robot-related death in the United States.
- July 23 - Vanessa Williams becomes the first Miss America to resign when she surrenders her crown, after nude photos of her appear in "Penthouse" magazine.
- July 25 - Salyut 7 Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
- July 28-August 12 - The 1984 Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, California.
August
September
- September 2 - Seven people are shot and killed and 12 wounded in a bikie shootout between the rival gangs Bandidos and Comancheros, in the Sydney suburb of Milperra.
- September 4 - The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, led by Brian Mulroney, wins 211 seats in the House of Commons, forming the largest majority government in Canadian history.
- September 4 - The Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends television series is first broadcasted on ITV.
- September 5 - STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
- September 5 - Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
- September 14 - The first MTV Video Music Awards are held in Radio City Music Hall, New York City.
- September 16 - Miami Vice first airs on NBC.
- September 26 - The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China sign the initial agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
October
- October 4 - Tim Macartney-Snape and Greg Mortimer become the first Australians to summit Mount Everest.
- October 5 - STS-41-G: Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
- October 11 - Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
- October 12 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) attempts to assassinate the British Cabinet in the Brighton hotel bombing.
- October 19 - Polish secret police arrest Jerzy Popiełuszko, a Catholic priest who supports the Solidarity movement. His dead body is found in a reservoir 11 days later on October 30.
- October 31 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards. Riots soon break out in New Delhi, and some 2,700 innocent Sikhs are killed.
November
- November 2 - Capital punishment: Velma Barfield becomes the first woman executed in the United States since 1962, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- November 6 - Ronald Reagan defeats Walter F. Mondale in the U.S. presidential election with 59% of the popular vote, the highest since Richard Nixon's 61% victory in 1972. Reagan carries 49 states; Mondale wins only his home state of Minnesota by a mere 3,761 vote margin and the District of Columbia.
- November 9 - A Nightmare on Elm Street opens in cinemas in the United States.
- November 9 - Cesar Chavez delivers his speech, "What The Future Holds For Farm Workers And Hispanics", at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
- November 19 - A series of explosions at the PEMEX Petroleum Storage Facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec, in Mexico City, ignites a major fire and kills about 500 people.
- November 23 - Doug Flutie of Boston College throws a 'Hail Mary pass' to Gerald Phelan, giving Boston College a 47-45 win over the Miami Hurricanes.
- November 25 - Thirty-six of Britain and Ireland's top pop musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio to form Band Aid, and record the song "Do They Know It's Christmas", in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
- November 25 - An East Rail train derails between Sheung Shui and Fanling stations, Hong Kong.
- November 28 - Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States.
- November 30 - The Tamil Tigers begin the purge of the Sinhalese from North and East Sri Lanka; 127 are killed.
December
- December 2 - Bob Hawke's government is re-elected in Australia with a reduced majority.
- December 3 - Bhopal Disaster: A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, kills more than 2,000 people outright and injures anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 others (some 6,000 of whom later die from their injuries) in one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
- December 3 - British Telecom is privatised.
- December 19 - The People's Republic of China and United Kingdom sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong.
- December 22 - Four African-American youths (Barry Allen, Troy Canty, James Ramseur, and Darrell Cabey) board an express train in The Bronx borough of New York City. They attempt to rob Bernhard Hugo Goetz, who shoots them. The event starts a national debate about urban crime, which is a plague in 1980s America.
- December 22 - In Malta, Prime Minister Dom Mintoff resigns.
- December 28 - A Soviet cruise missile plunges into Inarinjärvi lake in Finnish Lapland. Finnish authorities announce the fact in public on January 3, 1985.
- December 31 - Rajiv Gandhi becomes prime minister of India.
Unknown dates
- Famine in Ethiopia begins.
- A peace agreement between Kenya and Somalia was signed in the Egyptian capital Cairo in December 1984. With this agreement, in which Somalia officially renounced its historical territorial claims, relations between the two countries began to improve.
- Chatham Dockyard in Medway, England closed after being used a ship-building yard for over 400 years since the reign of King Henry VIII.
Births
January
- January 1 - Keyra Augustina, model
- January 1 - Michael Witt, Australian rugby league player
- January 3 - Maya Ababadjani, actress
- January 3 - Charlotte Marshall, model
- January 12 - Scott Olsen, American baseball player
- January 13 - Eleni Ioannou, Greek martial artist (d. 2004)
- January 15 - Megan Quann, swimmer
- January 19 - Zakia Mrisho Mohamed
- January 22 - Raica Oliveira, Brazilian supermodel
- January 25 - Ines Cudna, model
- January 26 - Rebecca Ritters, actress
- January 26 - Luo Xuejuan, swimmer
- January 29 - Natalie du Toit, South African swimmer
February
March
- March 1 - Naima Mora, winner of America's Next Top Model cycle 4
- March 7 - Dani Woodward, Porn star
- March 10 - Olivia Wilde, American actress
- March 20 - Christy Carlson Romano, actress
- March 20 - Marcus Vick, American football player
- March 20 - Nomura Yuka, Japanese actress
- March 24 - Chris Bosh, American Basketball player currently playing with the Toronto Raptors
- March 25 - Yuriy Leonovich, Ukrainian-American Cellist
- March 25 - Katharine McPhee, American Idol finalist
- March 26 - Stéphanie Lapointe, Quebec singer and 2004 Star Académie winner
- March 28 - Nikki Sanderson, British actress
April
- April 1 - Amanda Righetti, American actress
- April 3 - Allana Slater, Australian gymnast
- April 4 - Sean May, American basketball player
- April 8 - Kirsten Storms, American actress
- April 9 - Adam Loewen, Canadian pitcher
- April 10 - Mandy Moore, American singer and actress
- April 10 - Cara DeLizia, American actress.
- April 11 - Kelli Garner, American actress
- April 13 - Kris Britt, Australian cricketer
- April 17 - Rosanna Davison, Irish model
- April 18 - America Ferrera, American actress
- April 22 - Michelle Ryan, British actress
- April 23 - Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
- April 23 - Lil Eazy-E, son of rapper Eazy-E.
- April 24 - Tyson Ritter, American singer/bassist
- April 27 - Patrick Stump, American singer (Fall Out Boy)
- April 29 - Taylor Cole, American actress and model
- April 29 - Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russian tennis player and commentator
May
- May 1 - Farah Fath, American actress
- May 1 - Alexander Farnerud, Swedish footballer
- May 5 - Wade MacNeil, Canadian guitarist
- May 11 - Andres Iniesta, Spanish footballer
- May 16 - Katie Downes, British glamour model, known for appearances as a "Page Three girl"
- May 17 - Christine Robinson, Canadian water polo player
- May 24 - Sarah Hagan, American actress
- May 25 - Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir, "Miss Iceland", crowned Miss World in 2005
- May 29 - Carmelo Anthony, American basketball player
- May 31 - Jason Smith, Australian actor
June
- June 1 - Oliver Tielemans, Dutch racecar driver
- June 9 - Wesley Sneijder, Dutch footballer
- June 11 - Vagner Love, Brazilian footballer
- June 13 - Berangere Schuh, French archer
- June 16 - Rick Nash, Canadian Hockey Player, Columbus Blue Jackets
- June 24 - J.J. Redick, American basketball player
- June 25 - Lauren Bush, American model
- June 25 - Amrita Hunjan, British RnB Singer
- June 26 - Raymond Felton, American basketball player
July
- July 3 - Corey Sevier, Canadian actor
- July 11 - Tanith Belbin, Canadian figure skater
- July 12 - Gareth Gates, English singer
- July 12 - Michael McGovern, Northern Irish footballer
- July 19 - Adam Morrison, American basketball player
- July 22 - Kinzie Kenner, American pornographic actress
- July 24 - Tyler Kyte, Canadian actor/singer
August
- August 7 - Ullas das, Bengali Writer and poet
- August 12 - Sherone Simpson, Jamaican athlete
- August 13 - Luke Thompson, American entrepreneurial failure
- August 20 - Mirai Moriyama, Japanese actor
- August 21 - Alizée Jacotey, French singer
- August 21 - Melissa Schuman, American singer and actress
September
- September 1 - Joe Trohman, American musician
- September 3 - Garrett Hedlund, American actor
- September 7 - Farveez Maharoof, Sri Lankan cricketer
- September 7 - Vera Zvonareva, Russian tennis player
- September 13 - J.R. Writer, African American Underground Rapper (member of The Diplomats)
- September 14 - Adam Lamberg, American actor
- September 15 - Prince Harry of Wales
- September 16 - Katie Melua, Georgian singer
- September 23 - Anneliese van der Pol, Dutch actress
- September 25 - Rashad McCants, American basketball player
- September 27 - Avril Lavigne, Canadian Singer
- September 28 - Helen Oyeyemi, British novelist
- September 30 - Megan Ewing, American model
October
November
- November 7 - Amelia Vega, Miss Universe 2003, from the Dominican Republic
- November 9 - Delta Goodrem, Australian actress and singer
- November 9 - Se7en, South Korean singer
- November 18 - Ferrari (Wrestler), female American independent wrestler
- November 21 - Jena Malone, American actress
- November 22 - Scarlett Johansson, American actress
- November 22 - Kate Ground, Canadian internet model, owner of Katesplayground.com
- November 28 - Mary Elizabeth Winstead, American actress
- November 28 - Andrew Bogut, Australian basketball player
- November 28 - Trey Songz, American singer
- November 28 - Marc-Andre Fleury, Canadian hockey player
December
Deaths
January
February
March
April
May
- May 2 - Jack Barry, American television host and producer (b. 1918)
- May 16 - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (b. 1949)
- May 16 - Irwin Shaw, American author (b. 1913)
- May 19 - John Betjeman, English poet (b. 1906)
- May 28 - Eric Morecambe, British comedian (b. 1926)
June
- June 16 - Lew Andreas, American basketball coach (b. 1895)
- June 26 - Michel Foucault, French philosopher (d. 1926)
July
- July 1 - Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainain founder of the Feldenkrais Method (b. 1904)
- July 8 - Brassaï, Hungarian-born photographer (b. 1899)
- July 14 - Philippe Wynne, American musician (b. 1941)
- July 24 - Armando Morales Barillas, Nicaraguan guitarist (b. 1936)
- July 26 - Ed Gein, American serial killer (b. 1906)
August
- August 2 - Quirino Cristiani, Argentine animated film director (b. 1896)
- August 5 - Richard Burton, Welsh actor (b. 1925)
- August 11 - Alfred A. Knopf, American publisher (b. 1892)
- August 11 - Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–German chess player (b. 1916)
- August 13 - Tigran Petrosian, Georgian chess player (b. 1929)
- August 14 - J. B. Priestley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1894)
- August 25 - Waite Hoyt, baseball player (b. 1899) and Truman Capote, writer. (b. 1924)
September
October
- October 5 - Leonard Rossiter, British actor (b. 1926)
- October 12 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (bombing) (b. 1925)
- October 14 - Martin Ryle, English radio astronomer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (b. 1918)
- October 20 - Carl Ferdinand Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
- October 20 - Paul Dirac, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- October 21 - François Truffaut, French film director (b. 1932)
- October 31 - Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (assassinated) (b. 1917)
November
- November 6 - Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist and dramatist (b. 1929)
- November 16 - Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (b. 1906)
- November 16 - Leonard Rose, American cellist (leukemia) (b. 1918)
- November 18 - Mary Hamman, American writer and editor, modern living editor LIFE and eidtor in chief Bride & Home (b. 1907)
December
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer
- Chemistry - Robert Bruce Merrifield
- Medicine - Niels Kaj Jerne, Georges J.F. Köhler, César Milstein
- Literature - Jaroslav Seifert
- Peace - Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
Ship events
- List of ship launches in 1984
- List of ship commissionings in 1984
- List of ship decommissionings in 1984
- List of shipwrecks in 1984
Fictional references
- The novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, written by George Orwell in 1948, presents a dystopian view of how life might be in the year the protagonist believes to be 1984. An acclaimed movie adaptation of the novel was filmed in and around London from April to June 1984, at the exact locations on the precise dates imagined by the author.
- In the movie The Terminator both the title character and Kyle Reese are sent back through time from 2029 to May 12, 1984.
- In the cartoon The Transformers, the Autobots and Decepticons awaken after 4 million years.
- The videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories takes place in the year 1984.
- The short story, "Transit of Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke takes place in 1984.
- The band Anti-Flag wrote a song called Welcome to 1984. A line of the song goes, "...what I thought was the new millenium- is 1984..."
- In Jack London's Dystopian Novel The Iron Heel, the creation of the wonder-city Asgard is completed.
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