The News of 1982.

January:

• Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff in Washington DC, killing 78 people
• An Ethiopian Air Force aircraft crashes near Addis Ababa, killing all 73 on board
• Four US Air Force jets crash at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field, Nevada, killing all four pilots
• Mauno Koivisto is elected President of Finland
• Garret FitzGerald’s Irish government is defeated 82-81 on its budget, resulting in the dissolution of the 22nd Dáil
• The first computer virus, the Elk Cloner, written by 15 year old Rich Skrenta, is found. It infects Apple II computers via floppy disk
• ITV launches three regional stations: Central, Television South and Television South West, replacing ATV Midlands, Southern Television and Westward Television
• The Welsh Army of Workers claims responsibility for a bomb explosion at the Birmingham headquarters of Severn Trent Water
• The lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2 degrees is recorded in Aberdeenshire
• Mark Thatcher, son of Prime Minister Margaret, disappears in the Sahara desert; he is found safe and well six days later
• Miners vote against strike action and accept the offer of a 9.3% pay rise
• Unemployment in the UK is recorded at over 3m people for the first time since the 1930s

February:

• Senegal and The Gambia form a loose Senegambia Confederation
• The Hama massacre begins in Syria; Syrian President Hafez al-Assad orders the army to purge the city of Harran of the Muslim Brotherhood
• London-based airline, Laker Airways, collapses leaving 6000 passengers stranded and debts of £270m
• Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashes in Tokyo Bay on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 of the 174 people on board
• Oil platform, Ocean Ranger, sinks during a storm off the coast of Newfoundland, killing all 84 workers aboard
• Charles Haughey is elected Taoiseach as Fianna Fáil defeat Garret FitzGerald’s Fine Gael in the Irish general election
• The Boeing 757 is flown for the first time
• In South Africa, 22 National Party MPs vote for no confidence in prime minister PW Botha
• The European Court of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt or tawse children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention
• Korean cars are imported to the UK for the first time with the launch of the Hyundai Pony
• The Queen commemorates her Pearl Jubilee
• The first Next clothing store opens after a rebranding of the merged Joseph Hepworth and Kendall chains
• The Apostolic Delegation is promoted to the Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain by Pope John Paul II; the first pro-nuncio is Bruno Heim
• The Glasgow coal ship St Bedan is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit driving a hijacked pilot boat on Lough Foyle in Northern Ireland

March:

• The Law of Decentralisation creates the administrative regions of France
• The US places an embargo on Libyan oil imports, alleging state-sponsored terrorism
• Hussain Muhammad Ershad seizes power in Bangladesh
• The 54th Academy Awards are held; Chariots of Fire wins Best Picture and three other Academy Awards
• The Queen opens the Barbican Centre
• The last steam-driven weaving shed to work commercially, the Queen Street Mill in Burnley, closes
• The death of Conservative MP Sir Tam Galbraith in January results in a by-election for their Hillhead, Glasgow seat; Roy Jenkins of the Social Democratic Party wins

April:

• Falklands War: The invasion of the Falkland Islands begins when Argentine forces land near Stanley, beginning the Falklands War. Forces invade South Georgia but British troops retake the island during Operation Paraquet
• Canada repatriates its constitution, gaining full political independence from the UK
• German singer Nicole wins the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Harrogate, Yorkshire, with the song Ein Bisschen Frieden
• Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula in accordance with the Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979
• Policeman Woo Bum-kon goes on a killing spree in Uiryeong County, South Korea. After killing 56 people with firearms and grenades, he kills himself. This remained the deadliest spree shooting in history until the 2011 attacks in Norway
• The Bijon Setu massacre takes place in broad daylight at a railway crossing in West Bengal, India; 16 sadhus and a sadhvi are beaten to death and set on fire. No arrests were ever made and a single member judicial commission was set up to investigate the killings in 2012
• An unnamed 12 year old Birmingham boy becomes one of the youngest people in England and Wales to be convicted of murder after he admits killing an 8 year old boy; he is sentenced to be detained indefinitely
• Daniel and Christopher Smith, Britain’s first twins conceived through in vitro fertilisation, are born
• The Conservatives return to the top of the opinion polls for the first time since 1979, with the latest MORI poll showing that they have 43% of the vote

May:

• Falklands War: British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 sailors. HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentine missile and burns out of control, 20 sailors are killed. HMS Ardent is sunk by Argentine aircraft, killing 22 sailors. HMS Antelope is lost. HMS Coventry and SS Atlantic Conveyor are sunk. British troops defeat Argentine forces in the Battle of Goose Green
• French-Canadian racing driver Giles Villeneuve is killed during qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix
• Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn tries to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet during the latters pilgrimage to Fátima
• The International Maritime Organisation is established
• KGB head Yuri Andropov is appointed Secretariat of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• Aston Villa win the European Cup, beating Bayern Munich 1-0 in Rotterdam
• Spain becomes the 16th member of NATO and the first nation to enter the alliance since West Germany in 1955
• The Haçienda nightclub in Manchester opens
• Holders Tottenham Hotspur draw 1-1 with QPR in the FA Cup final; Spurs are without their Argentine players Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa due to barracking from rival fans over their country’s involvement in the Falklands War. Spurs win the replay 1-0 thanks to a sixth minute Glenn Hoddle penalty; the win equals Aston Villa’s record of seven FA Cup triumphs
• The largest artificial lake in the UK, Kielder Water, officially opens in Northumberland; the reservoir is surrounded by Kielder Forest, the largest planted woodland in Europe
• The Beaconsfield by-election is held as a result of the death of sitting Conservative MP Sir Ronald Bell in February; Tim Smith retains the seat for the Conservatives, while future Prime Minister Tony Blair finishes in third place, the only election of his political career he will lose
• Pope John Paul II visits the UK; he becomes the first plaintiff to visit Canterbury

June:

• Lebanon War: Israeli forces invade southern Lebanon in their “Operation Peace for the Galilee”, reaching as far north as Beirut. The UN Security Council votes to demand that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon
• Falklands War: British supply ship RFA Sir Galahad is destroyed during the Bluff Cove Air Attacks. Argentine forces in the capital, Stanley, surrender to British troops. The War ends with British forces retaking the South Sandwich Islands. Argentine military director Leopoldo Galtieri resigns in the wake of his country’s defeat in the Falklands War.
• VASP Flight 168 crashes into a forest hillside in Fortaleza, Brazil, killing 137
• The Nuclear Disarmament Rally draws 750,000 people to New York City’s Central Park; performers include Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Linda Ronstadt
• The FIFA World Cup begins in Spain
• Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia after the death of his brother, Khalid
• All restrictions on hire purchase (instalment plans) are lifted
• The Mitcham and Morden by-election is held as a result of sitting Labour MP, Bruce Douglas-Mann, transferring to the new SDP; Angela Rumbold gains the seat for the Conservatives, the first gain achieved by a ruling party at a by-election since 1961 and the last until 2017
• US President Ronald Reagan becomes the first American chief executive to address a joint session of Parliament
• The twenty pence coin is first issued into circulation
• Welsh miners go on strike to support health workers demanding a 12% pay rise
• The body of “God’s Banker”, Roberto Calvi, chairman of Banco Ambrosiano (the main shareholder of which is the Vatican Bank) is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London; a coroner’s jury later returns a verdict of suicide
• The first child of the Prince and Princess of Wales is born at St Mary’s Hospital, London; this is the first birth in direct line of succession to the throne to take place in hospital
• The Coatbridge and Airdrie by-election is held as a result of sitting Labour MP James Dempsey in May; Tom Clarke holds the seat for Labour

July:

• Lebanon War: Four Iranian diplomats are kidnapped. Israeli ambassador to the UK, Shlomo Argov, is shot in London; he dies in 2003 without regaining full consciousness
• Pan Am Flight 759 crashes into Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 people on board and 8 on the ground
• Italy beat West Germany 3-1 to win the FIFA World Cup
• The Provisional IRA detonates 2 bombs in central London, killing 8 soldiers, 7 horses and wounding 47 people
• The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985/86
• Torrential rain and mudslides in Nagasaki, Japan destroys bridges and kills 299 people
• While filming Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow and two child actors die in a helicopter accident
• In Beaune, France, 53 people (46 of them children) die in a highway accident
• Roy Jenkins is elected as Leader of the Social Democratic Party
• ASLEF train drivers go on strike over work hours
• Fugitive murderer Barry Prudom, commits suicide in Malton, to escape arrest after a 17 day manhunt by North Yorkshire Police
• Michael Fagan breaks into Buckingham Palace and is apprehended after entering the royal bedroom
• British GCHQ civil servant, Geoffrey Prime, is remanded in custody on charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911, for disclosing information to the Soviet Union
• The Queen’s bodyguard, Michael Trestail, resigns from the Metropolitan Police Service over a relationship with a male prostitute
• Production of the Ford Cortina ends after twenty years and five generations
• Margaret Thatcher rejects calls in Parliament for a return of the death penalty for terrorist murder

August:

• There is an attempted coup against the government of Daniel Arap Moi in Kenya
• The first rapid transit system in Finland, the Helsinki Metro, opens to the public
• The UN Security Council votes to censure Israel because its troops are still in Lebanon
• Italian Prime Minister Giovanni Spadolini resigns
• Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis throughout Latin America
• Health warnings on cigarette packets are made statutory in Hong Kong
• The first CDs are produced in Germany
• Lebanese Civil War: a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organisation
• The government creates Britoil as a the privatised successor to the British National Oil Corporation
• The first child of the Prince and Princess of Wales is christened William Arthur Philip Louis
• 65 year old American, Ashby Harper, becomes the oldest person to swim the English Channel

September:

• Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel is assassinated in Beirut; a Lebanese Christian militia kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut in response to the assassination
• Princess Grace of Monaco, aka Grace Kelly, dies as a result of a car crash
• The first emoticons are posted by Scott Fahlman, 🙂 and 😦
• The first International Day of Peace is proclaimed by the UN
• The NFL Players Association call a strike, the first in-season stoppage in the League’s 63 year history; the strike lasts for 57 days, resulting in the regular season from 16 to 9 games and forces an expanded 16 team playoff tournament
• Amine Gemanyel, brother of Bachir, is elected president of Lebanon
• Lebanon War: the first act of armed resistance against Israeli troops, the Wimpy Operation, occurs in Beirut
• 400,000 protestors demand the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin
• An unknown killer laces Tylenol capsules with potassium cyanide, killing seven people in Chicago, Illinois
• The Gower by-election is held as a result of the death of sitting Labour MP Ifor Davies in June; Gareth Wardell holds the seat for Labour
• Nigel Lawson states that no industry should remain in state ownership unless there is an “overwhelming” case
• General Motors launches the Spanish built Opel Corsa, which will be sold in Britain as the Vauxhall Nova
• Lord Denning delivers his last judgment as Master of Rolls
• After over 100 years, the UK Inland Telegram service closes; figures peaked after the First World War with over 100m sent annually, by the time the service closes the annual figure is less than 3m

October:

• Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmidt as Chancellor of Germany through a constructive vote of no confidence
• Sony launches the first CD player
• Poland bans the Solidarity trade union, after having it suspended since December 1981
• Social Democrat Olof Palme becomes the Prime Minister of Sweden
• The Mary Rose, flagship of Henry VIII, is raised from the Solent having sank in 1545
• During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster
• In Canada, Dominion Day is officially renamed Canada Day
• Felipe González’s Socialist Party wins the election in Spain
• The London Victory Parade is held to mark the end of the Falklands War
• With the economy now climbing out of recession after more than two years, Margaret Thatcher vows to stick to her neoliberal economic policies, blaming previous governments for the decline she inherited
• Sinn Féin win their first seats on the Northern Ireland Assembly, with Gerry Adams winning the Belfast West seat
• The Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982 comes into effect, decriminalising homosexuality in Northern Ireland for those aged 18 or older
• Three RUC officers are killed in an IRA bomb near Lurgan, Northern Ireland
• By-elections are held in Birmingham Northfield and Peckham as a result of the deaths of sitting MPs Jocelyn Cadbury (Conservative) and Harry Lamborn (Labour); Labour win both by-elections with new MPs John Spellar and Harriet Harman

November:

• A petrol tanker explodes in the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing at least 176 people
• Cameroon President Ahmadou Ahidjo resigns, replaced by Paul Biya; Biya is still president to this day
• Kenan Evren becomes the seventh president of Turkey as a result of the constitution referendum; he was formerly “head of state”
• The first Tyre headquarters bombing kills between 89 and 102 people in Lebanon
• Former KGB head Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party’s Central Committee, succeeding the late Leonid I Brezhnev
• The leader of Poland’s outlawed Solidarity movement, Lech Wałęsa, is released from 11 months of internment near the Soviet border
• The General Union of Ecuadorean Workers is founded
• Representatives from 88 countries gather in Geneva to discuss world trade and ways to work towards aspects of free trade
• Yasuhiro Nakasone becomes Prime Minister of Japan
• Michael Jackson releases his sixth studio album, Thriller, which goes on to become the best selling album of all time with 110 million units sold
• Welsh language television station, S4C, launches in Wales
• The fourth terrestrial television channel, Channel 4, begins broadcasting; the first programme is the game show Countdown, hosted by Richard Whiteley
• The Thames Barrier is first publicly demonstrated
• Express Lift Tower in Northampton officially opens

December:

• Miguel de la Madrid takes office as President of Mexico
• Retired dentist, Barney Clark, becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart
• The People’s Republic of China adopts its current constitution
• The first US execution by lethal injection is carried out in Texas
• Fifteen prominent young Surinamese men who had criticised the ruling military dictatorship of their country are murdered in the December murders
• ABBA make their final public performance on British TV programme The Late, Late Breakfast Show
• A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hits southwestern Yemen, killing 2,800 people
• American revolutionary Marxist group, the United Freedom Front, bombs an office of South African Airways in Elmont, NY and an IBM office in Harrison, NY; the companies are targeted because of their business in South Africa under Apartheid
• The Indian Ocean Commission is created by the Port Louis Agreement
• Time magazine’s Man of the Year is given to a non-human for the first time, The Computer
• The Queen’s Park by-election in Glasgow is held as a result of the death of sitting Labour MP Frank McElhone; his widow Helen holds the seat for Labour
• The Irish National Liberation Army kills seventeen people in a bomb attack at the Droppin Well Inn, Ballykelly, Londonderry
• 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 9-mile perimeter fence of RAF Greenham Common, in protest against nuclear weapons held there
• The British colony of Gibraltar gains a pedestrian link to Spain, as the gates which separated the two states are reopened by the Spanish government after 13 years
• More than 1,200 are left without jobs when the Round Oak Steelworks in the West Midlands closes after 125 years

Other:

• The population of the People’s Republic of China exceeds 1 billion, making China the first nation to have a population of more than a billion
• Ciabatta is invented by a baker in Verona, Italy
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is the highest grossing film of the year, generating $797.3m at the box office
• Dexy’s Midnight Runners achieved the best-selling single of 1982 with “Come on Eileen”, which spent four weeks at number one