Talking Heads, a series of dramatic monologues by English author Alan Bennett, is broadcast on British TV

Designed by Gordon Wilson, and replacing 26 individual glasshouses, the Princess of Wales Conservatory is opened by Diana, Princess of Wales.

British golfer Nick Faldo wins the first of three victories in six years in the British Open

Ayatollah Khomeini declares a fatwa against Salman Rushdie for his Satanic Verses

British physicist Stephen Hawking explains the cosmos for the general reader in A Brief History of Time: from the Big Bang to Black Holes

English composer Mark-Anthony Turnage's first opera, Greek, is premiered in Munich

English conceptual artist Damien Hirst organizes the first exhibition of the 'Young British Artists', also known as the Britpack

A terrorist bomb brings down flight Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland

Rupert Murdoch launches Sky, a satellite television channel, in the UK

The English National Ballet evolves from London's Festival Ballet

British prime minister Margaret Thatcher introduces an extremely unpopluar poll tax, last used in the Middle Ages

French ballerina Sylvie Guillem moves from Paris to join the Royal Ballet in London

The old marshalling yards of Kew Gardens station are turned into a housing estate

Racing Demon launches a trilogy on the British establishment by English playwright David Hare

British primatologist Jane Goodall publishes Through a Window, exposing violence and brutality in chimpanzees

The Conservative government's poll tax is greeted with violent riots in London and a campaign of non-payment

The Palm House officially reopens, after being completely refurbished between 1952 and 1959; then taken down and rebuilt between 1985 and 1988, followed by the return of the plants.

UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, by now at odds with many in her cabinet, is challenged in a leadership contest and loses

Russian dancer Irek Mukhamedov leaves the Bolshoi company to join the Royal Ballet in London

New North Stand opens at Twickenham rugby ground.

Alan Bennett's play The Madness of George III is performed at the National Theatre in London

Regeneration is the first volume of English author Pat Barker's trilogy of novels set during World War I

Mark Edwards re-establishes traditional boatbuilding at the Richmond Bridge boathouses., next door to Stan Peasley, the last of the traditional watermen/boathirers

After years of restoration and re-interpretation the King's State Apartments at Hampton Court reopen in July 1992

Eric Clapton's album Unplugged includes 'Tears in Heaven', mourning the death of his four-year-old son