istoryworld
Events relating to europe
English author Julian Barnes publishes a multi-faceted literary novel, Flaubert's Parrot
British architects James Stirling and Michael Wilford complete a new art gallery for Stuttgart
Republican activist Gerry Adams is elected president of Sinn Fein
Genetic (or DNA) fingerprinting is invented and developed by British geneticist Alec Jeffreys
Luciano Berio's opera Un re in ascolto has its premiere in Salzburg
Ian Botham is the first player to achieve the double triple, with a total of more than 3000 runs and 300 wickets in Test cricket
Bob Geldof forms Band Aid and releases for Ethiopian famine relief the best-selling UK single Do they know its Christmas?
In a speech to the Tory Reform Group, Harold Macmillan describes Mrs Thatcher's privatization policy as 'selling the family silver'
The miners' strike, ending after eleven bitter months, proves a turning point in the struggle between Margaret Thatcher and the unions
New Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev brings glasnost ('openness') and perestroika ('reform') to the USSR
17-year-old German tennis-player Boris Becker becomes the youngest ever to win the men's singles at Wimbledon
Live Aid, an all-day concert for famine relief in Africa, is held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia
US artist Christo tightly binds Paris's Pont Neuf in fabric, as one of his international series of wrapped iconic buildings
French racing driver Alain Prost wins the first of his four Formula One titles
22-year-old Gary Kasparov defeats Anatoly Karpov and becomes the youngest-ever world champion in chess
Britain's Margaret Thatcher and Ireland's Garret FitzGerald sign an Anglo-Irish Agreement to tackle shared problems
British Rasta poet Benjamin Zephaniah publishes his second collection as The Dread Affair
Harold Macmillan dies and is buried in the churchyard of St Giles in Horsted Keynes
The Soviets launch the first module (the living quarters) of their Mir Space Station
Swedish prime minister Olof Palme is killed in a Stockholm street in an unsolved murder
Tony Cragg's Raleigh is unveiled outside the Tate Gallery in his home town of Liverpool
A Soviet nuclear power station explodes at Chernobyl, scattering radioactive material over a wide area
Harrison Birtwistle's second opera, The Mask of Orpheus, brings him an international reputation
Nikolai Tolstoy publishes The Minister and the Massacres, charging Harold Macmillan with responsibility for the 'victims of Yalta'
Yves Montand and Gérard Depardieu star in Jean De Florette, adapted from a novel by Marcel Pagnol
