1984

• Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian satire by George Orwell.

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s

Years: 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 - 1984 - 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

Events

• January 1 - Brunei becomes a fully independent state.
• January 1 - AT&T is broken up into 22 independent units
• January 9 - Clara Peller is featured in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's for the first time.
• January 10 - The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.
• January 22 - The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to use a computer mouse and GUI interface, is introduced by Apple Computer corporation in a Super Bowl commercial evoking images from George Orwell's book, Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• January 24 - The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale
• February 3 - Space Shuttle Challenger is launched on the tenth space shuttle mission.
• February 7 - Astronauts Bruce McCandless II[?] and Robert L. Stewart[?] make the first untethered space walk.
• February 13 - Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• March 6 - Twelve month long strike in British coal industry begins See UK Miners' Strike (1984-1985)
• March 14 - Gerry Adams seriously wounded in an assassination attempt
• March 16 - CIA station chief stationed in Beirut, William Buckley[?], is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
• March 22 - Teachers at the McMartin preschool[?] in Manhattan Beach, California at charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges were later dropped as completely unfounded.
• April 4 - President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
• May 8 - The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.
• June 30 - John Turner becomes Canada's seventeenth prime minister.
• September 17 - Brian Mulroney becomes Canada's eighteenth prime minister.
• October 5 - Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger (41-6).
• October 12 - Brighton bombing (attempt to assassinate the British Cabinet)
• November - Ronald Reagan defeats Walter F. Mondale in the U.S. presidential election
• December 19 - People's Republic of China and United Kingdom signs the Sino-British Joint Declaration which concerns with the future of Hong Kong.
• Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles California USA
• The influential rap group, the Ultramagnetic MCs, form in the Bronx.
• Ethiopian famine begins.
• The New International Version of the Bible is published.

Art, Culture & Fashion

• 1984 in film
  • Amadeus
  • Ghost Busters
  • The Killing Fields
  • Places in the Heart
  • May 23 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• 1984 in literature
• 1984 in music
• 1984 in sports
  • January 14 - Ray Mancini stops 2 time world champion Bobby Chacon in the third round of a long awaited boxing fight, to retain the WBA's world Lightweight title.
  • January 22 - Super Bowl XVIII Los Angeles Raiders (38) def. Washington Redskins (9)
  • January 27 - Carl Lewis beats his own indoor world jumping record by 9-1/4 inches with a 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches jump.
  • February 8 - 1984 Winter Olympics open in Sarajevo
  • Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, California
• 1984 in television
  • January 28 - singer Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial
  • Jeopardy! makes it's debut on NBC.
  • The Cosby Show debuts on NBC.

Births

Deaths

• January 20 - Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor. Most prominent as Tarzan.
• February 9 - Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
• February 15 - Ethel Merman, singer, actress
• February 22 - Jessamyn West[?], writer
• March 1 - Jackie Coogan, actor
• March 5 - William Powell, actor
• March 21 - Sir Michael Redgrave, actor
• April 1 - Marvin Gaye, singer
• April 22 - Ansel Adams, American photographer
• April 26 - Count Basie, musician, composer
• May 16 - Andy Kaufman, comedian
• May 16 - Irwin Shaw[?], author
• June 26 - Michel Foucault, philosopher
• July 26 - Ed Gein, serial killer
• September 25 - Walter Pidgeon, actor
• October 12 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician, along with three of the other victims of the Brighton bombing
• October 20 - Paul Dirac, physicist
• October 21 - François Truffaut, French film director

Nobel Prizes

• Physics - Carlo Rubbia, Simon van der Meer[?]
• Chemistry - Robert Bruce Merrifield[?]
• Medicine - Niels K Jerne[?], Georges JF Köhler[?], César Milstein[?]
• Literature -Jaroslav Seifert
• Peace - Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu
• Economics - Richard Stone[?]