February 22 – The US upset the USSR in the Olympics, a hockey game known as theMiracle on Ice. They then proceeded to defeat Finland to secure the first and onlygold medal since 1960.
Steven Stayner returned home after being kidnapped for seven years, and brought a 5 year old,Timothy White (abduction victim), who had been kidnapped after Steven, to a police station to save him.
April 7 – The United States severs diplomatic relations withIran and imposes economic sanctions, following the taking of American hostages on November 4, 1979.
April 10 – InLisbon, Portugal, the governments of Spain and the United Kingdom agree to reopen the border betweenGibraltar and Spain (closed since1969) in1985.
April 24–25 –Operation Eagle Claw, a commando mission inIran to rescue American embassy hostages, is aborted after mechanical problems ground the rescue helicopters. Eight United States troops are killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.[19]
April 25 –Dan-Air Flight 1008 crashes inTenerife, killing all 146 occupants; at the time it was the worst air disaster involving a British-registered aircraft in terms of loss of life.[20]
Iranian Embassy siege: Six Iranian-born terrorists take over the Iranian embassy in London, England.SAS retakes the Embassy on May 5; one terrorist survives.
May 1 – "About that Urban Renaissance...", an article by journalist Dan Rottenberg inChicago, contains the first recorded use of the word "yuppie".[22]
May 4 –Yugoslav PresidentJosip Broz Tito dies. The largest state funeral in history is organized, with state delegations from 128 different countries out of 154 UN members at the time.
May 7 –Paul Geidel, convicted of second-degree murder in1911, is released from prison inBeacon, New York, after 68 years and 245 days (the longest-ever time served by an inmate).
September 1 –Terry Fox is forced to end his Marathon of Hope run outside ofThunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, after finding out that the cancer has spread to his lungs.
September 3 –Zimbabwe breaks diplomatic and consular relations with South Africa, even though it maintains a commercial mission inJohannesburg.
September 5 – TheGotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel, at 16.3 kilometres (10.1 mi), stretching fromGöschenen toAirolo beneath the Gotthard Pass.
The Elisabethblast furnace is demolished atBilston Steelworks, marking the end of iron and steel production in theBlack Country region of the U.K.[38]
British Leyland launches its newMetro, a three-door entry-level hatchback which is designed as the eventual replacement for theMini. It gives BL a long-awaited modern competitor for the likes of theFord Fiesta andVauxhall Chevette.
In continuous production since 1962, the lastMG MGB roadster rolls off the assembly line at theAbingdon-on-Thames (England) factory, ending production for theMG Cars marque.
November 7 – Legendary actorSteve McQueen dies at the age of 50 of a cardiac arrest after surgery to remove tumours in his neck after previously been diagnosed with lung cancer.
November 10–12 –Voyager program: TheNASA space probeVoyager I makes its closest approach toSaturn, when it flies within 77,000 miles (124,000 km) of the planet's cloud-tops and sends the first high-resolution images of the world back to scientists on Earth.
A record number of viewers on this date (for an entertainment program) tune into the U.S. television showDallas to learn who shot lead characterJ. R. Ewing. The "Who shot J.R.?" event is an international obsession.
November 23 – The 6.9 MwIrpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximumMercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Officially, there were 2,483 people killed and 8,934 injured, though the deaths may have been as high as 4,900.[45]
December 14 – Four people are murdered and four others are injured by two armed robbers atBob's Big Boy onLa Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, in what is one of the city's most brutal crimes ever.
^Bignell, Victor (1984).Understanding systems failures. Manchester Dover, N.H: Manchester University Press in association with Open University. p. 79.ISBN9780719009730.
.jpg)
.jpg)
