- Jan 1 Chrysler UK renamed Talbot
The Far Side
Jan 1 Comic strip "The Far Side" byGary Larson debuts in The San Francisco Chronicle
- Jan 1 International Decade of Water & Sanitation begins
- Jan 1 Mob storms Russian embassy in Tehran
- Jan 1 Premier Adbou Diouf becomes president of Senegal
- Jan 1 Sweden changes order of succession to throne
- Jan 1 Victoria is crowned princess of Sweden.
- Jan 2 British Steel workers go on a national strike
- Jan 3 Babrak Karmal defends the Soviet-backed coup in first public appearance since taking power as President of Afghanistan
- Jan 3 Gold hits record $634 an ounce
Indira Gandhi Elected
Jan 6Indira Gandhi's Congress Party wins elections in India
- Jan 6 NHL Philadelphia Flyers set North American professional sports record of 35 straight games without a defeat (25-0-10)
- Jan 6 The beginning of the first GPS epoch
- Jan 7 Minnesota North Stars end Philadelphia Flyers' NHL record 35 game unbeaten streak with a 7-1 win at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota
Pretenders
Jan 7 Real Records releases "Pretenders" in the UK, the debut album byThe Pretenders
Chrysler Bailed Out
Jan 7 US PresidentJimmy Carter authorizes legislation to bail out the Chrysler Corporation with a 1.5 billion dollar loan
- Jan 8 Islander Glenn Resch's 20th shut-out opponent-Canucks 3-0
- Jan 8 NCAA decides to sponsor women's championships in 5 sports
- Jan 9 63 beheaded in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
- Jan 10 Last broadcast of "The Rockford Files" on NBC
- Jan 12 Phoenix point guard Mike Bratz begins NBA free throw streak of 57 games during a 107-96 loss at the Golden State Warriors
- Jan 13 Head of narcotic brigade arrested for drug smuggling in Belgium
- Jan 13 Togo's constitution becomes effective
- Jan 15 Pam Gems' "Piaf!" premieres in London
McCartney Arrested for Marijuana
Jan 16Paul McCartney is arrested at Tokyo International Airport for possession of marijuana; he is sent to jail for nine days before being deported
- Jan 17 NASA launches Fltsatcom-3
- Jan 17 Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb prematurely detonates on a passenger train near Belfast, kills three and injuring five (including the bombers)
Sessions' 9th Symphony
Jan 17Roger Sessions' 9th Symphony, his last, premieres in Syracuse, New York with Christopher Keene conducting the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra
- Jan 18 Gold reaches $850 an ounce
The Wall
Jan 18Pink Floyd's double album "The Wall" hits #1
- Jan 18 Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell & Ian Schrager receive sentence of 3½ years in prison and fined $20,000 for tax evasion
- Jan 20 Super Bowl XIV, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Los Angeles Rams, 31-19; MVP: Terry Bradshaw, Pittsburgh, QB
- Jan 20 US PresidentJimmy Carter announces US boycott of winter Olympics in Moscow after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- Jan 21 Les Henson, Virginia Tech, makes 89' 3" basketball field goal
- Jan 21 Price of gold peaks briefly at over $870 before closing at then record $850 an ounce
Russian Dissidents Arrested
Jan 22 Russian dissidentsAndrei Sakharov andYelena Bonner arrested in Moscow and banished to Gorky
- Jan 25 Bani Sadr elected president of Iran
- Jan 25 Dutch government demands boycott of Olympics
- Jan 25 Highest speed attained by a warship, 167 kph, USN hovercraft
- Jan 25Paul McCartney is released from jail after his detention for pot possession in Tokyo, Japan and deported
Sinatra Sings to 175,000
Jan 26 175,000 pay to hearFrank Sinatra sing in Rio de Janeiro
- Jan 26 Islanders & Whalers play a NHL penalty-free game
- Jan 26 Israel & Egypt establish diplomatic relations
- Jan 26 Mary Decker became 1st woman to run a mile in under 4½ minutes
Mugabe Returns From Exile
Jan 27Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after 5 years in exile
- Jan 28 New York coach Red Holzman wins his 600th NBA game, only the second (after Red Auerbach) coach at the time to reach the plateau, as the Knicks beat Golden State, 107-103
- Jan 28 USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391) collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa Florida and capsizes killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
- Jan 29 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of Canadians
- Jan 29 Cleveland Cavaliers beat LA Lakers 154-153 in quadruple OT
- Jan 30Edward Albee's play "Lady from Dubuque" premieres in NYC
- Jan 31 Police storm occupied Spanish embassy in Guatemala City, killing 41
- Feb 1 Sears Radio Theater moves from CBS to Mutual Broadcasting System
- Feb 1 Single "Call Me" released by Blondie (Billboard Song of the Year 1980)
- Feb 1 Soap opera "Love of Life" ends a 28 year run
- Feb 2 FBI releases details of Abscam, a sting operation that targeted 31 elected & public officials for bribes for political favors
- Feb 2 Mexican boxer Salvador Sánchez dethrones Danny “Little Red” Lopez as WBC world featherweight champion with a 13th-round TKO in Phoenix, AZ; Lopez champion since November 1976, 8th defense
Holmes vs. Holmes
Feb 3Larry Holmes TKOs Lorenzo Holmes in 6 for heavyweight boxing title
Gacy on Trial
Feb 6John Wayne Gacy goes on trial for the murder of 33 young men in Cook County, Illinois
The Wall
Feb 7Pink Floyd premiere their live version of "The Wall" at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California
Barry 1st 3-Pointers
Feb 9Rick Barry of the Houston Rockets is the 1st in NBA history to score eight 3-pointers in a game
Sports History
Feb 12Richard Hadlee becomes NZ's top wicket-taker with 117
- Feb 13 Apollo Computer Inc incorporated
- Feb 13 NZ beats West Indies by one wicket in cricket at Dunedin
- Feb 13 XIII Winter Olympic Games open in Lake Placid, New York
Olympic Gold
Feb 14 Soviet cross-country skierNikolay Zimyatov wins first of 3 gold medals at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics when he takes out 30k event; also wins relay and 50k gold
- Feb 14 US launches Solar Maximum Mission Observatory to study solar flares
Olympic Gold
Feb 15 American speed skaterEric Heiden wins 500m in Olympic record 38.03s; first of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid, New York
- Feb 15 East German speed skater Karin Enke wins first of 3 career Olympic gold medals with victory in the 500m at Lake Placid Winter; wins 1,000m & 1,500m in Sarajevo (1984)
NHL Record
Feb 15 NHL OilersWayne Gretzky assists on NHL-record-tying 7 goals, in 8-2 victory over Washington at Northlands Coliseum, Edmonton
- Feb 15 Soviet cross-country skier Raisa Smetanina claims her 3rd of 4 career Olympic gold medals in 5k event at Lake Placid; also wins 10k and relay gold (Innsbruck 1976) and relay (Albertville 1992)
- Feb 16 American speed skaterEric Heiden wins 5,000m in Olympic record 7:02.29; second of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
- Feb 16 Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France
Daytona 500
Feb 17 22nd Daytona 500: Buddy Baker wins ahead ofBobby Allison and Neil Bonnett
- Feb 17 Derrynaflan Hoard of five priceless 8th/9th century liturgical vessels discovered with metal detectors on Derrynaflan Island, County Tipperary - one of Ireland's most exciting archaeological finds[1]
- Feb 17 Sapporo downhill silver medallist Annemarie Moser-Pröll of Austria goes one better with gold at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics
- Feb 17 Swedish cross-country skier Thomas Wassberg earns first of 4 career Olympic gold medals in the 15k at Lake Placid; wins by 0.01s from Finland's Juha Mieto; closest margin of victory ever in Olympic cross-country skiing
Music History
Feb 18 BassistBill Wyman says he will leave Rolling Stones in 1983 (Sure!)
- Feb 18 East German cross country skier Barbara Petzold wins first of 2 gold medals at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics in women's 10k; also takes gold as part of 4 x 5k relay team
- Feb 18 Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canadian elections
- Feb 18 Soviet figure skater Irina Rodnina wins her 3rd consecutive Olympic pairs title at Lake Placid; gold medals with husband Alexander Zaitsev (1976, 80) and Alexei Ulanov (1972)
- Feb 19 American speed skaterEric Heiden wins 1,000m in Olympic record 1:15.18; third of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
- Feb 19 Ian Botham scores a century and takes 13 wickets in the Jubilee cricket Test at Bombay
- Feb 19 Swedish alpine skier Ingemar Stenmark wins the giant slalom from Andreas Wenzel of Liechtenstein at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; also takes slalom gold
- Feb 19 Ulrich Wehling of East Germany wins his third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the Nordic combined event at Lake Placid; winner Sapporo (1972), Innsbruck (1976)
- Feb 19 Washington beats Montreal, 3-1 to end the Canadiens' 34 game unbeaten streak against Capitals; Caps 0-32-2 against Montreal since entering NHL in 1974
- Feb 20 Soviet 2-time world champion team Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov win the Olympic ice dance gold medal at Lake Placid by just 0.96 from Krisztina Regőczy & András Sallay of Hungary
- Feb 20 Soviet cross-country skierNikolay Zimyatov wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the 4 x 10k relay; also wins 30k and 50k gold
Music History
Feb 21 American country singer-songwriterDolly Parton tops the US pop chart with her single "9 to 5" from the film of the same name, in which she co-starred with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda
- Feb 21 American speed skaterEric Heiden wins 1,500m in Olympic record 1:55.44; 4th of record 5 gold medal sweep of events at Lake Placid
- Feb 21 British figure skater Robin Cousins wins men's singles gold medal at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; goes on to pro career, TV analysis and stage performance & production
- Feb 21 East German cross country skier Barbara Petzold wins her second gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the women's 4 x 5k relay team; also wins 10k gold
- Feb 21 Liechtenstein becomes the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion as Hanni Wenzel wins the women's giant slalom at the Lake Placid Winter Games
Miracle on Ice
Feb 22 "Miracle on Ice": US ice hockey team beats heavily favoured Soviet Union, 4-3 at Lake Placid in one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history; Americans go on to win gold medal
- Feb 22 Afghanistan declares martial law
- Feb 22 Aleksandr Tikhonov of the Soviet Union earns his 4th straight gold medal as part of the 4 x 7.5k biathlon relay team at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics
- Feb 22 Soviet biathlete Anatoly Alyabyev wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the 4 x 7.5k relay team; also wins individual gold
- Feb 22 Swedish World Cup and World champion Ingemar Stenmark wins his 2nd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics, taking out the slalom; follows-on from giant slalom success
- Feb 23 American speed skaterEric Heiden wins Olympic 10,000m in world record 14:28.13; sweeps all 5 speed skating events at Lake Placid; only athlete to win 5 gold medals at one Winter Games
- Feb 23 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll
- Feb 23 Oil tanker explosion off Pilos, Greece, causes 37-mil-gallon spillage
- Feb 23 Olympic giant slalom champion Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein wins the women's slalom, her second gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Games
- Feb 23 Soviet cross-country skierNikolay Zimyatov wins his 3rd gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics when he takes out the 50k event; also wins 30k and relay gold
- Feb 24 Rangers score 5 power-play goals against Islanders
Olympic Gold
Feb 24 US ice hockey team clinches gold medal with 4-2 win over Finland at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; comes after 4-3 "Miracle on Ice" victory against hot favorite Soviet Union
- Feb 24 XIII Winter Olympic Games close in Lake Placid, New York
- Feb 25 British political comedy "Yes Minister" written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, starring Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds premieres on BBC Two
- Feb 25 Coup ousts PM Henck Arron of Suriname
- Feb 26 Egypt & Israel exchange ambassadors for 1st time
- Feb 26 Military coup under Desi Bouterse in Suriname overthrows the Henck Arron government
Grammy Awards
Feb 27 22nd Grammy Awards: Song of the Year - Kenny Loggins' "What A Fool Believes"; Best Album -Billy Joel's "52nd Street"
- Feb 27 Israel & Egypt exchange ambassadors
- Feb 27 Terrorists occupies Dominican embassy in Bogota
- Feb 28 "The Well-Tuned Piano" by La Monte Young premieres (takes 4 h 12 m)
- Feb 28 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
NHL Record
Feb 29 Future Hockey Hall of Fame right wingGordie Howe scores in the 3rd period to become first NHL player to score 800 career goals as Hartford Whalers beat St. Louis Blues, 3-0 at Springfield Civic Center
- Feb 29 Michael Bracey ends 59 h 55 m trapped in an elevator, England
- Mar 1 American poet-singer Patti Smith (32) weds MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith (31) in Detroit, Michigan
- Mar 1 Commonwealth Trade Union Council established
- Mar 1 Snow falls in Florida
- Mar 1 The US enacts the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act as part of a compromise between the Carter Administration and the Congress over the decontrol of crude oil prices
- Mar 2 Phoenix point guard Mike Bratz ends NBA free throw streak of 57 games with a miss in the Suns' 123-115 home win over the LA Lakers
- Mar 3 1st nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus is decommissioned
- Mar 3 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll
Event of Interest
Mar 3Pierre Trudeau sworn in, for the second time, as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada
Sports History
Mar 4 40th hat trick in NHL New York Islander franchise history, scored byMike Bossy
- Mar 4Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) comes to power, winning the parliamentary election in Zimbabwe, making Mugabe Zimbabwe's first black prime minister
- Mar 5 Earth satellites record gamma rays from remnants of supernova N-49
- Mar 6 French Academy, founded in 1635, elects it 1st woman novelist (Marguerita Youcenar)
- Mar 6 Princess Theater (Latin Quarter, Cotton Club) opens at 200 W 48th NYC
Sports History
Mar 8Greg Chappell 235 & Yallop 172, for 217 stand at Faisalabad
- Mar 8 The first festival of rock music kicks off in the Soviet Union
- Mar 8 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Mar 9 Flemish and Walloon battle in Belgium, 40 injured
- Mar 10 Willard Scott becomes the weather forcaster on the Today Show
- Mar 12 Columbia Records releases "Glass Houses", singer-songwriterBilly Joel's seventh studio album; it features his 1st No.1 single - "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"
- Mar 12 Jury findsJohn Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 in Chicago
- Mar 12 NY Islanders 3rd scoreless tie, vs Pittsburgh Penguin
- Mar 13 AmericanJohn Wayne Gacy receives the death sentence in Illinois for the murder of 12 people
- Mar 13 American speed skaterEric Heiden sets world record 1000m (1:13.60)
- Mar 13 Ford Motor Co found innocent in death of 3 women in a fiery Pinto
- Mar 14 Ice Dance Championship at Dortmund West Germany won by Regoczy & Sallay
- Mar 14 Ice Pairs Championship at Dortmund won by Cherkasova & Shakhrai (USSR)
- Mar 14 Polish airliner crash kills all 87 aboard (22 are US amateur boxers)
- Mar 14 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Dortmund won by Anett Potzsch
- Mar 18 Vostok rocket explodes on the launch pad while being refueled, killing 50
- Mar 20 The Mi Amigo ship containing England's pirate radio Caroline sinks
- Mar 20 US appeals to International Court on hostages in Iran
Television Finale
Mar 21 On season finale cliffhanger of TV show "Dallas", villain J.R. Ewing is shot by unknown assailant
Sports History
Mar 23 18-year old American tennis starTracy Austin wins her only WTA Tour Championship; upsetsMartina Navratilova in the final 6–2, 2–6, 6–2 in NYC
- Mar 23 AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Old Dominion beat Tennessee 68-53 at Mount Pleasant
Cricket History
Mar 23 Australian cricketerAllan Border becomes the first and only batsman to reach 150 in each innings of a test, in the 3rd test vs Pakistan in Lahore
Iran Hostage Crisis
Mar 24 ABC's nightly Iran Hostage crisis program renamed "Nightline"
- Mar 24 Capitol Records releases some rare Beatles tracks on the LP "Rarites"
Event of Interest
Mar 24 Deposed Shah of IranMohammad Reza Pahlavi (60) arrives in Egypt for cancer treatment at Maadi Military Hospital, near Cairo
Mount St. Helens Erupts
Mar 27 Mount St. Helens becomes active after 123 years
- Mar 27 Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212
- Mar 30 Mark Medoff's "Children of a Lesser God" premieres in NYC
- Mar 31 Almost concurrent heavyweight boxing championship fights:Larry Holmes TKOs Leroy Jones in 8 for WBC title in Las Vegas, NV whilst Mike Weaver KOs John Tate in 15 for WBA belt in Knoxville, TN
- Mar 31 The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets due to bankruptcy and debt owed to creditors.
- Mar 31 US PresidentJimmy Carter deregulates banking industry
- Apr 1 Failed assassination attempt on Iraqi vice-premier Tariq Aziz
- Apr 1 France performs underground nuclear test at the Moruroa Atoll in French Polynesia
- Apr 1 New York City's Transit Worker Union 100 begins a strike lasting 11 days
- Apr 2 In his first full season in the NHL,Wayne Gretzky scores for Edmonton in a 1-1 tie with Minnesota North Stars to become the youngest player to reach 50 goals at 19 years and 2 months of age
Sports History
Apr 2 Montreal right wingGuy Lafleur scores twice to become the first player in NHL history to record 6 straight 50-goal seasons, as the Canadiens beat the Red Wings, 7-2 at Detroit
- Apr 3 France performs nuclear test
- Apr 3 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- Apr 4 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- Apr 6Gordie Howe completes a record 26th NHL season
- Apr 6 Post It Notes introduced
- Apr 7 US PresidentJimmy Carter breaks relations with Iran during hostage crisis
- Apr 8 Islander Potvin's 2 shorthanded goals tie NHL record vs Kings & set NHL rec of 2 shorthanded playoff goals in 1 period
- Apr 9 Belgium's Marten's government resigns
- Apr 9 Los Angeles Kings tie NHL record with two shorthanded playoff goals (vs NY Islanders)
- Apr 9 Soyuz 35 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6
- Apr 11 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulates sexual harassment
- Apr 11Paul McCartney releases single "Coming Up"
- Apr 12 BCMA, Black Consciousness Movement of Azania, forms
- Apr 12 Milwaukee beats Boston Red Sox, 18-1 (Cooper & Money hit grand slams)
- Apr 12 Samuel Doe takes control of Liberia in a coup d'etat, killing President William Talbert and 27 others, ending over 130 years of national democratic presidential succession
- Apr 12 US Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow Olympic games
- Apr 13 US and its allies boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow in protest against Russia's invasion of Afghanistan
- Apr 14 1st Cubans of the Mariel boatlift sail to Florida
Academy Awards
Apr 14 52nd Academy Awards: Best Picture "Kramer vs Kramer",Dustin Hoffman &Sally Field win
Event of Interest
Apr 14 Pulitzer prize awarded toNorman Mailer (Executioner's Song)
Sports History
Apr 16Arthur Ashe retires from professional tennis
- Apr 16 Delhi beat Bombay by 240 runs to win Ranji Trophy final
- Apr 16 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists