Explore the major historical events, famous births, and notable deaths that occurred in the year 1985. This year saw 262 significant events. 25 notable figures were born. 5 notable figures passed away.
This is a list of the oldest extant registered generic top-level domains used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Until 1986, Domain Registration was limited to organizations with access to…
Israel's government confirms the resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews
Baseball player Darryl Strawberry (22) weds Lisa Andrews
Charity single "We Are the World" recorded by supergroup USA for Africa (Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and other pop stars)
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist and statesman who was the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
American professional boxer George Foreman (35) divorces Andrea Skeete after almost 3 years of marriage
"New York, New York" becomes the official anthem of New York City
Director Martin Scorsese (42) weds producer Barbara De Fina (35)
"Moonlighting" with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis premieres on ABC TV in the US
Harry Robinson Hamlin is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film Clash of the Titans, a role he reprised in 2007's Santa Monica...
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (24 September [O.S. 11 September] 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician who served as the de jure leader of the Soviet Union from February 1984 until his death…
Capital Cities Communications Inc. acquires ABC for $3.5 billion in the first transfer of ownership of a TV network
American 'Piano Man' Billy Joel (34) weds American supermodel Christie Brinkley (31), on a yacht moored alongside the Statue of Liberty; divorce in 1994
Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.
The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie (s) of the regular season.
Steve Cauthen wins aboard Slip Anchor at Epsom Downs to become the only jockey to win both the Kentucky Derby (1978) and The Derby
French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand, to prevent it from interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira is killed.
Live Aid concerts held at both Wembley Stadium (London) and JFK Stadium (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) raise over $70 million for African famine relief
Sri Lanka achieves its first Test cricket victory, defeating India by 149 runs
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992.
Magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Mexico City, killing an estimated 10,000 people and leaving 250,000 homeless
Welsh novelist Ken Follett (36) divorces Mary Emma Ruth Elson; after 17-1/2 years of marriage
Russia's Garry Kasparov, at 22, becomes the youngest World Chess Champion with a 13-11 win over fellow countryman Anatoly Karpov
First AIDS-themed TV movie "An Early Frost" screens in the US on NBC
Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo (English: Mesa of Herveo, the name of the nearby town) is a volcano on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, being the...
American actress-singer Janet Jackson (19) and American R&B singer James DeBarge (22) have marriage annulled after less than a year
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who was the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the country's dissolution in 1991.
Future Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin scores 110 on debut in drawn 3rd Test against England in Kolkata
Bryan Trottier failed on 9th Islander penalty shot
Sakigake (さきがけ; lit. 'pioneer', 'pathfinder'), known before launch as MS-T5, was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the US...
Sakigake (さきがけ; lit. 'pioneer', 'pathfinder'), known before launch as MS-T5, was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the US...
Flames set NHL record 264th regular season game without being shut-out
CDC MMWR publishes guidelines for screening U.S. blood supply for AIDS antibodies with ELISA test that would be available later that year
99-year-old Otto Bucher from Switzerland becomes the oldest man to record a hole-in-one at Spanish GC La Manga's 130-yard 12th hole
Playing in his 436th career game, Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky scores his 400th career NHL goal and adds 2 assists in a 5-4 Oilers' win over the Sabres in Buffalo
16 indicted by the US for granting sanctuary to Central American refugees
Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to John Ashbery & Fred Chapell
"Playboy" announces end of stapling centerfolds
Mohammad Azharuddin is an Indian politician and a former cricketer who also served as the Indian national cricket team's captain.
US renounces jurisdiction of World Court despite previous promise
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist...
-19°F (-28°C), Caesar's Head, South Carolina (state record)
-30°F (-34°C), Mountain Lake Bio Station, Virginia (state record)
Britains House of Lords debate 1st televised
15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched
"Black & Blue" premieres in Paris
15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 returns to Earth
-61°F (-52°C), Maybell, Colorado (state record)
20 countries (but not US) sign UN treaty outlawing torture
Bruce Morris, Marshall Univ, makes a 92' 5½" basketball shot
Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress.
Andrea Schöne skates ladies world record 5 km (7:32.82)
English pop stars Boy George and Culture Club appear on American TV action-adventure series "The A-Team" episode "Cowboy George"
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 1297.92 (record high) after topping 1300 earlier in the trading day
STS 51-E vehicle moves to launch pad
Largest NBA crowd to date, 43,816, sees Philadelphia at Detroit
1st class postage rises from 20 cents to 22 cents
killed when a Spanish jetliner crashes approaching Bilbao, Spain
After defending his WBC flyweight championship, Sot Chitalada's check for $104,000 is stolen by a ringside pickpocket
Evert van Benthem is a Dutch former speed skater who won the rarely raced Elfstedentocht twice in a row, in 1985 and 1986.
James Edward Kelly is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills.
14,000 American farmers converge in Ames, Iowa to demand economic relief
FDA in the US approves an ELISA screening test for AIDS antibody for all blood banks
STS 51-E vehicle rolls back to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida); mission cancelled
WWII veterans return to the "Bridge over the River Kwai"
About 700 grain farmers from America's Midwest rally in Washington, D.C. at the Agriculture Department and march to the White House, demanding higher guaranteed prices for their products in pending farm legislation
Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States.
IBM-PC DOS Version 3.1 (update) released
Ice Dance Championship at Tokyo won by Bestemianova & Bukin (URS)
Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is 4th NBA coach to win 700 games
Michael Secrest (US) completes 24-hr ride of 516 miles, 427 yards
This is a list of the oldest extant registered generic top-level domains used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Until 1986, Domain Registration was limited to organizations with access to...
Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon
"Spin Magazine" begins publishing
Libby Riddles is 1st woman to win Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race
Intelsat 510, previously named Intelsat VA F-10, was a communications satellite operated by Intelsat. Launched in 1985, it was the tenth of fifteen Intelsat V satellites to be launched.
5th Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards: "Bolero" wins
The International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft, designed and launched as the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) satellite, was launched on 12 August 1978 into a heliocentric orbit.
Christos Sartzetakis was a Greek jurist and a supreme justice of the Court of Cassation, who served as the president of Greece from 1985 to 1990.
15th Easter Seal Telethon raises $27,400,000
Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky sets an NHL record with his 34th career hat trick as the Oilers beat the Kings 6-4 in Los Angeles
An electoral system is a set of rules and mechanisms used to determine the results of an election.
Tulane University cancels its basketball season amidst scandal
Bombay beat Delhi by 90 runs to win the Ranji Trophy final
1st live telecast of Easter Parade in New York
Amdahl releases UTS/V, the first mainframe Unix
At 80 Leo Sites becomes oldest bowler to score a 300 game
16th Shuttle Mission (51D)-Discovery 4 launched-with Senator Jake Garn
The boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles followed four years after the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Take Me Along is a 1959 musical based on the 1933 Eugene O'Neill play Ah, Wilderness!, with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.
Challenger moves to launch pad for 51-B missing
16th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-D): Discovery 4 returns to Earth
ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas
Bomb attacks in NATO/AEG-Telefunken building in Brussels
Brooklyn College soccer team wins Nepal's All-Nepal Football Association invitational tournament 2-0
Pulitzer prize awarded to Carolyn Lizer for "Yin"
17th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-B): Challenger 7 launches
"Shoah", French documentary about the Holocaust, directed by Claude Lanzmann, starring Richard Glazar and Raul Hilberg, premieres in Paris
"Communist" bomb attack kills 2 firemen in Brussels
US performs underground nuclear test "Towanda" at Nevada Test Site, with an estimated 150 ton yield
A View to a Kill is a 1985 spy film, the fourteenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond.
17th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-B): Challenger 7 lands at Edwards AFB
France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll
Challenger transports back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
56 die and at least 265 are injured at Bradford City football ground in the worst fire in English football history
Amy Eilberg is ordained in NY as 1st woman Conservative rabbi
Carlton Fisk becomes 5th catcher to steal 100 bases
Les Anderson, catches record 97 lb 4 oz Chinook salmon, while fishing off coast of Alaska
Nightline (or ABC News Nightline) is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the...
38th Cannes Film Festival: "When Father Was Away on Business" directed by Emir Kusturica wins the Palme d'Or
Israel exchanges 1,150 prisoners with the PFLP-GC in return for 3 Israeli soldiers
Cyclone ravages Bangladesh; 11,000 killed
Explosions destroys 2 tankers off of Gibraltar, 30 die
Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997
The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height.
Stephen Charles Fonyo Jr. (June 29, 1965 – February 18, 2022) was a Canadian runner with an artificial leg who was a nationally renowned fundraiser for cancer research and treatment, and a onetime...
The Constitution of Guatemala is the supreme law of the Republic of Guatemala. It sets the bases for the organization of Guatemalan government and it outlines the three main branches of Guatemalan...
The 39th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS television on June 2, 1985, from the Shubert Theatre. Instead of a formal host, there was a group of performers/presenters.
STS 51-G vehicle moves to launch pad
The 58th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, D.C. at the Capital Hilton on June 5–6, 1985, sponsored by the E.W.
Thomas Sutherland (May 3, 1931 – July 22, 2016), Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home on June 9, 1985.
Claus von Bülow was a British lawyer, consultant and socialite. In 1982, he was convicted of attempting to murder his wife Sunny von Bülow in 1979, which had left her in a temporary coma, and in...
Russian space probe Vega 1 lands on Venus
Michael Nesmith in Television Parts is a television series aired by NBC in 1985. It was a 30-minute comedy-variety series created by Michael Nesmith as a continuation of his Grammy Award-winning...
"Pryor's Place" children's show last airs on CBS-TV
William Augustus Banks III is an American athlete. Born at Travis Air Force Base, California, he grew up in San Diego County and went to Oceanside High School. Banks is an Eagle Scout.
18th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-G): Discovery 5 launches
American, Brazilian, and West German forensic pathologists confirm skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were Nazi Dr Josef Mengele
Air India Flight 182 was a scheduled international flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport (as Air India Flight 181) to Sahar International Airport with regular Mirabel-London-Delhi stops.
18th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-G): Discovery 5 returns to Earth
Fireworks factory near Hallett, Oklahoma, explodes killing 21
The New York Marriott Marquis is a Marriott hotel on Times Square, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Designed by architect John C.
Discovery ferried back to Kennedy Space Center via Bergstrom AFB, Tx
Intelsat VA F-11, then named Intelsat 511, was a communications satellite operated by Intelsat. Launched in 1985, it was the eleventh of fifteen Intelsat V satellites to be launched.
TWA Flight 847 was a regularly scheduled Trans World Airlines flight from Cairo to San Diego with en route stops in Athens, Rome, Boston, and Los Angeles.
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (18 July [O.S. 5 July] 1909 – 2 July 1989) was a Soviet politician and diplomat during the Cold War.
Nicholas Mark Sanders (England) begins circumnavigation of globe, covering 13,035 road miles in 78 days, 3 hr, 30 min
Marge Schott becomes CEO of Cincinnati Red
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8...
Columbia returns to Kennedy Space Center via Offutt AFB, Neb
Bill to abolish Greater London Council receives royal assent
USSR performs underground nuclear Test
Sharon Christa McAuliffe was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where she was serving as a payload...
Nuestra Señora de Atocha ('Our Lady of Atocha') was a Spanish treasure galleon and the most widely known vessel of a fleet of ships that sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622.
Amina Fakir (Detroit), 23, crowned 18th Miss Black America
English middle-distance runner Steve Cram runs a world record in the 1 mile (3:46.32) at Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway
Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru for two non-consecutive terms, from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011.
19th NASA Space Shuttle mission (51-G): Challenger 8 launches
Discovery moves to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the mating of the STS 51-I mission
15.4 cm of rainfall is recorded at Cheyenne, Wyoming (state record)
Delta Air Lines Flight 191, operated by a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, crashes on approach to Dallas Fort Worth Airport during a thunderstorm, killing 137 and injuring 25
"Nihilator" sets harness pacing mile (1:49.6) in East Rutherford, NJ
American hang glider Larry Tudor sets a world record for gain of height, climbing 4,343 meters in one flight [1] [2]
Establishment of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is announced
19th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-G): Challenger 8 lands at Edwards AFB
Baseball's new agreement permits two new National League teams in 1993
Challenger flies to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona
Japan Air Lines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan.
South African Defence Force soldiers, traveling in a convoy of more than ten armored vehicles, surround the Thaba-Jabula High School in Soweto and arrest 200 students during a clampdown on school boycotts
First Iraqi air raid on Iran's main oil export terminal, Kharg Island
1,400 meatpackers walk off the job at a George A. Hormel & Company plant
Halley's Comet is the only known short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30)...
American Mary Decker Slaney runs a mile in a world record time of 4:16.71 in Zurich, Switzerland; it is the third time she holds the record
Airtours Boeing-737 crashes at Manchester airport, killing 55
Paul Hornung is awarded $1,160,000 by a Louisville court against the NCAA, which barred him as a college football analyst for betting on games
STS 51-I mission is scrubbed at T-5 minutes due to bad weather
Baltimore Oriole Eddie Murray knocks in 9 RBIs in a game against the California Angels
Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States.
"Prakas" sets trotting mile record of 1:53.4 at Du Quoin, Illinois
Jerry Lewis' 20th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $33,100,000
20th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-I): Discovery 6 returns to Earth
New York Mets catcher Gary Carter hits two home runs in a 9-2 win in San Diego, tying the MLB record of five home runs in two games
Mark Messier loses control of his Porsche and totals three cars; he is charged with hit-and-run and careless driving and is ordered to pay a fine
Mary Teresa Decker, is an American retired middle-distance and long-distance runner.
Alayson Gibbons sets a 24-hour women's swim record of 42.05 miles in a 25-meter pool
U.S. 7th Circuit Court rules Soviet defector Walter Polovchak can't be forcibly returned to parents' country if it's deemed "not in the best interests" of underage defectors
International Cometary Explorer (ISEE 3) passes Giacobini-Zinner by 7,900 km
Flight readiness firing of Atlantis's main engines lasts 20 seconds
John Towner Williams is an American composer and conductor. Over his seven-decade career, he has composed many of the best known scores in film history.
Salyut 7, also known as DOS-6 (Durable Orbital Station 6) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991.
Computer scientists accidentally stumble upon the largest prime number ever discovered, the number 2^216091 - 1, containing 65,050 digits
Curtis Strong is convicted of selling cocaine to professional baseball players
The 37th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on September 22, 1985. The ceremony was broadcast on ABC, from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California. The Cosby Show defeated two-time reigning...
Eddie Lee Whitson is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres...
A relay swim team completes the fastest English Channel crossing in 15 hours and 30 minutes
Montreal Expo Andre Dawson is the ninth player to get six RBIs in an inning (fifth) and joins Willie McCovey in hitting two home runs in an inning twice
Election where held in Punjab on 26 September 1985, to elect the members of Punjab Legislative Assembly.
The Toronto Blue Jays came into existence in 1976, as one of two teams slated to join the American League for the following season, via the 1977 Major League Baseball expansion. Toronto had been...
Tunisia cuts diplomatic relations with Libya
Hurricane Gloria was a powerful tropical cyclone that caused significant damage along the East Coast of the United States and in Atlantic Canada during the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season.
English musician Phil Collins has released 8 studio albums, 1 live album, 5 compilation albums, 2 remix albums, 3 soundtrack albums, 2 box sets, 50 singles, 18 video albums, and 41 music videos.
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" returns to NBC-TV
MLB Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver is ejected from both games of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, NYC; Weaver is the only manager to be tossed twice in a day two times
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; Hebrew: זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, romanized: Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, lit. 'Air and Space Arm', commonly known as חֵיל הָאֲוִיר, Kheil HaAvir, "Air Corps") operates as...
A coalition led by Mayor Richard Caliguiri, consisting of public and private groups committed to keeping the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates in town for at least five years, reaches an agreement to buy the baseball team for $22 million
21st Shuttle Mission (51J), Atlantis 1, all-military flight launches
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985.
The 1985 Grambling State Tigers football team represented Grambling State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1985 NCAA Division I-AA football season.
New York Yankees knuckleballer Phil Niekro becomes the 18th pitcher to win 300 games and, at 46, becomes the oldest to pitch a shutout, beating Toronto 8-0
21st NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-J): Atlantis 1 lands at Edwards AFB
"Rembrandt & Hitler or Me" premieres in Amsterdam
Little Richard is seriously injured in a single car accident in Los Angeles
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north,...
Atlantis (51-J) returns to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
Challenger moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for maintenance of STS 61A mission
Belgium premier Martens CVP wins parliamentary election
Franco Modigliani was an Italian-American economist and the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
Challenger vehicle moves to launch pad for STS-61-A mission
The 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French novelist Claude Simon (1913–2005) "who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time...
Qasim Omar (206) and Javed Miandad (203*) make a 397-run stand against Sri Lanka
Rodney Cline Carew is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball player and coach.
CBS' premiere of fact based TV film "Children of the Night", based on sociology student Lois Lee's expose on female crime and inconsistent enforcement of prostitution laws in Los Angeles
The Montreal Canadiens (French: Canadiens de Montréal, lit. 'Canadians of Montreal'), officially Club de hockey Canadien (lit. 'Canadian hockey club') and colloquially known as the Habs, are a...
Anthony Carter begins NFL streak of 100+ consecutive game receptions
The History of the Sri Lanka national cricket team began with the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club in 1832.
Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multiparty election in Liberia
Rockin' with the Rhythm is the second studio album by American country music duo the Judds, released on October 30, 1985, by RCA Records.
Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (9 March 1947 – 27 December 2021) was a New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer. She also wrote under the pen name Kai Tainui.
Netherlands decides definitive sites for cruise missiles
LA Kings score 5 goals in a span of 5:37, the fastest in NHL team history; rout Hartford Whalers, 8-1 at Hartford Civic Center
Bill Elliott wins Atlanta Journal 500 at Atlanta Raceway to become first driver to win 11 super-speedway races in 1 season; also first driver to win $2m in prize money in a single season
"Edge of Darkness" first airs on BBC Two, featuring Bob Peck and Joanne Whalley
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American comedian, actress, producer, and studio executive.
22nd NASA Space Shuttle Mission (61-A): Challenger 9 lands at Edwards AFB
Colombian troops end 27-hr siege of Bogota's Palace of Justice
Atlantis moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 61-B mission
NHL Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Pelle Lindbergh smashes his Porsche into a retaining wall in Somerdale, New Jersey after a team party, suffering mortal injuries with two passengers critically hurt; his blood-alcohol level was over twice the legal limit, his family had him removed from life suppor
Challenger flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
Secretary in Ann Arbor Mich wounded by package bomb
Brewers release 39-year-old pitcher Rollie Fingers
A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes
"We Built This City", the debut single by American rock band Starship tops the US Charts; the song, written by Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, infamously lands on several reader polls as the worst hit song ever
Enterprise (OV-101) flies from Kennedy Space Center to Dulles Airport
"Spies Like Us" is the title song to the 1985 Warner Bros. motion picture of the same name, starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, and Donna Dixon.
In the largest civil verdict in US history, Pennzoil wins $10.53 billion judgement against Texaco
Windows 1.0 is the first major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical user shells and operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft.
Columbia moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 61-C
58 die as Egyptian commandos storm hijacked Egyptair jet in Malta
Egyptian commandos storm captured Boeing in Malta, 60 killed
Oswaldo José Guillén Barrios is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player and current manager of the Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan League.
23rd NASA Space Shuttle Mission (61-B): Atlantis 2 launches
Vincent Maurice Coleman is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) player, best known for his years with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Noraly Beyer becomes the Netherlands' first Black TV newscaster
TV miniseries "Anne of Green Gables," based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery and starring Megan Follows, is first released on CBC in Canada
Chicago Bears' head coach Mike Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan almost come to blows at halftime in a 38-24 loss to the Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl, Miami; Chicago's only loss of the NFL season
23rd Shuttle Mission (61-B)-Atlantis 2-lands at Edwards AFB
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 1,500 level for 1st time
Ken O'Brien's 96 yard TD pass (NY Jet record) to Wesley Walker
SF 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice begins NFL streak of 274 consecutive games with a reception in a 27-20 loss to LA Rams at Candlestick Park
Computer store owner in Sacramento California killed by package bomb
Arrow Air was a passenger and cargo airline based in Building 712 on the grounds of Miami International Airport (MIA) in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Test debut of cricketers Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh and Bruce Reid (v India)
Challenger moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 51-L mission
United Nations Security Council resolution 579, adopted unanimously on 18 December 1985, in a meeting called by the United States, the Council expressed its deep concern at the prevalence in...
Mary Lund is 1st woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis
Denis Potvin passes Bobby Orr as NHL defenseman scorer (916 points)
ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA
STS 51-L vehicle moves to Launch Pad 39B
A twin-engine light plane crashes into a shopping mall after failing a landing attempt at nearby airfield in Concord, California; 7 people die, 77 injured, and $3.5 million in damage to the mall
Stephen Rodger Waugh is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh.
The Nevada National Security Sites (N2S2 or NNSS), popularized as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a reservation of the United States Department of Energy located in the southeastern portion...
IBM-PC DOS Version 3.2 released
Lewis Hamilton, British athlete, known for british racing driver, was born on 1985-01-07. Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Ferrari.
Elizabeth Holmes, American businesswoman convicted of fraud, known for american businesswoman convicted of fraud, was born on 1985-02-03.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese athlete, known for portuguese footballer, was born on 1985-02-05.
Trevor Noah, South African african comedian, known for south african comedian, was born on 1985-02-20.
Karolína Kurková is born
Olivia Wilde, American actress and filmmaker, known for american actress and filmmaker, was born on 1985-03-10.
Jaimie Alexander, American actress, known for american actress, was born on 1985-03-12. Jaimie Lauren Alexander is an American actress.
Mandy Moore, American actress and singer, known for american actress and singer, was born on 1985-04-10. Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer-songwriter and actress.
Claire Foy, British actress, known for british actress, was born on 1985-04-16. Claire Elizabeth Foy is a British actress.
Patrick Stump, American musician, known for american musician, was born on 1985-04-27.
Mark Zuckerberg, American businessman and programmer, known for american businessman and programmer, was born on 1985-05-14.
Duffy is born
Khloé Kardashian, American media personality, known for american media personality, was born on 1985-06-27. Khloé Alexandra Kardashian is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman.
JD Vance is born
Ryan Lochte, American athlete, known for american swimmer, was born on 1985-08-03. Ryan Steven Lochte is an American former competition swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist.
Prince Harry, British prince, known for british prince, was born on 1985-09-15. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal…
Avril Lavigne, Canadian musician, known for canadian singer and songwriter, was born on 1985-09-27. Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer and songwriter.
T-Pain, American musician, known for american singer, was born on 1985-09-30. Faheem Rashad Najm, known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer.
Lindsey Vonn, American athlete, known for american alpine skier, was born on 1985-10-18. Lindsey Caroline Vonn is an American alpine ski racer.
Katy Perry, American musician, known for american singer, was born on 1985-10-25. Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television…
Eliud Kipchoge, Kenyan athlete, known for kenyan long-distance runner, was born on 1985-11-05.
Scarlett Johansson, American actress, known for american actress, was born on 1985-11-22. Scarlett Ingrid Johansson is an American actress.
Theo James, English actor, known for british actor, was born on 1985-12-16. Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis is an English actor and producer.
Bob Morley, Australian actor, known for australian actor, was born on 1985-12-20. Robert Alfred Morley is an Australian actor.
LeBron James, American athlete, known for american basketball player, was born on 1985-12-30.
Konstantin Chernenko dies
Roger Sessions, American composer, critic, and teacher of music, known for american composer, critic, and teacher of music, died on 1985-03-16.
Enver Hoxha dies
Margaret Hamilton, American film actress, known for american film actress, died on 1985-05-16.
Don Estridge, American personal computer industry pioneer, known for american personal computer industry pioneer, died on 1985-08-02.
This is a list of the oldest extant registered generic top-level domains used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Until 1986, Domain Registration was limited to organizations with access to…
Israel's government confirms the resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews
Baseball player Darryl Strawberry (22) weds Lisa Andrews
Charity single "We Are the World" recorded by supergroup USA for Africa (Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and other pop stars)
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid activist and statesman who was the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
American professional boxer George Foreman (35) divorces Andrea Skeete after almost 3 years of marriage
"New York, New York" becomes the official anthem of New York City
Director Martin Scorsese (42) weds producer Barbara De Fina (35)
"Moonlighting" with Cybill Shepard & Bruce Willis premieres on ABC TV in the US
Harry Robinson Hamlin is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film Clash of the Titans, a role he reprised in 2007's Santa Monica...
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (24 September [O.S. 11 September] 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician who served as the de jure leader of the Soviet Union from February 1984 until his death…
Capital Cities Communications Inc. acquires ABC for $3.5 billion in the first transfer of ownership of a TV network
American 'Piano Man' Billy Joel (34) weds American supermodel Christie Brinkley (31), on a yacht moored alongside the Statue of Liberty; divorce in 1994
Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.
The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie (s) of the regular season.
Steve Cauthen wins aboard Slip Anchor at Epsom Downs to become the only jockey to win both the Kentucky Derby (1978) and The Derby
French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand, to prevent it from interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira is killed.
Live Aid concerts held at both Wembley Stadium (London) and JFK Stadium (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) raise over $70 million for African famine relief
Sri Lanka achieves its first Test cricket victory, defeating India by 149 runs
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992.
Magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocks Mexico City, killing an estimated 10,000 people and leaving 250,000 homeless
Welsh novelist Ken Follett (36) divorces Mary Emma Ruth Elson; after 17-1/2 years of marriage
Russia's Garry Kasparov, at 22, becomes the youngest World Chess Champion with a 13-11 win over fellow countryman Anatoly Karpov
First AIDS-themed TV movie "An Early Frost" screens in the US on NBC
Nevado del Ruiz, also known as La Mesa de Herveo (English: Mesa of Herveo, the name of the nearby town) is a volcano on the border of the departments of Caldas and Tolima in Colombia, being the...
American actress-singer Janet Jackson (19) and American R&B singer James DeBarge (22) have marriage annulled after less than a year
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who was the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until the country's dissolution in 1991.
Future Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin scores 110 on debut in drawn 3rd Test against England in Kolkata
Bryan Trottier failed on 9th Islander penalty shot
Sakigake (さきがけ; lit. 'pioneer', 'pathfinder'), known before launch as MS-T5, was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the US...
Sakigake (さきがけ; lit. 'pioneer', 'pathfinder'), known before launch as MS-T5, was Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the US...
Flames set NHL record 264th regular season game without being shut-out
CDC MMWR publishes guidelines for screening U.S. blood supply for AIDS antibodies with ELISA test that would be available later that year
99-year-old Otto Bucher from Switzerland becomes the oldest man to record a hole-in-one at Spanish GC La Manga's 130-yard 12th hole
Playing in his 436th career game, Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky scores his 400th career NHL goal and adds 2 assists in a 5-4 Oilers' win over the Sabres in Buffalo
16 indicted by the US for granting sanctuary to Central American refugees
Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to John Ashbery & Fred Chapell
"Playboy" announces end of stapling centerfolds
Mohammad Azharuddin is an Indian politician and a former cricketer who also served as the Indian national cricket team's captain.
US renounces jurisdiction of World Court despite previous promise
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist...
-19°F (-28°C), Caesar's Head, South Carolina (state record)
-30°F (-34°C), Mountain Lake Bio Station, Virginia (state record)
Britains House of Lords debate 1st televised
15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched
"Black & Blue" premieres in Paris
15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 returns to Earth
-61°F (-52°C), Maybell, Colorado (state record)
20 countries (but not US) sign UN treaty outlawing torture
Bruce Morris, Marshall Univ, makes a 92' 5½" basketball shot
Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress.
Andrea Schöne skates ladies world record 5 km (7:32.82)
English pop stars Boy George and Culture Club appear on American TV action-adventure series "The A-Team" episode "Cowboy George"
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 1297.92 (record high) after topping 1300 earlier in the trading day
STS 51-E vehicle moves to launch pad
Largest NBA crowd to date, 43,816, sees Philadelphia at Detroit
1st class postage rises from 20 cents to 22 cents
killed when a Spanish jetliner crashes approaching Bilbao, Spain
After defending his WBC flyweight championship, Sot Chitalada's check for $104,000 is stolen by a ringside pickpocket
Evert van Benthem is a Dutch former speed skater who won the rarely raced Elfstedentocht twice in a row, in 1985 and 1986.
James Edward Kelly is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills.
14,000 American farmers converge in Ames, Iowa to demand economic relief
FDA in the US approves an ELISA screening test for AIDS antibody for all blood banks
STS 51-E vehicle rolls back to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida); mission cancelled
WWII veterans return to the "Bridge over the River Kwai"
About 700 grain farmers from America's Midwest rally in Washington, D.C. at the Agriculture Department and march to the White House, demanding higher guaranteed prices for their products in pending farm legislation
Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States.
IBM-PC DOS Version 3.1 (update) released
Ice Dance Championship at Tokyo won by Bestemianova & Bukin (URS)
Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is 4th NBA coach to win 700 games
Michael Secrest (US) completes 24-hr ride of 516 miles, 427 yards
This is a list of the oldest extant registered generic top-level domains used in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Until 1986, Domain Registration was limited to organizations with access to...
Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon
"Spin Magazine" begins publishing
Libby Riddles is 1st woman to win Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race
Intelsat 510, previously named Intelsat VA F-10, was a communications satellite operated by Intelsat. Launched in 1985, it was the tenth of fifteen Intelsat V satellites to be launched.
5th Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards: "Bolero" wins
The International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft, designed and launched as the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) satellite, was launched on 12 August 1978 into a heliocentric orbit.
Christos Sartzetakis was a Greek jurist and a supreme justice of the Court of Cassation, who served as the president of Greece from 1985 to 1990.
15th Easter Seal Telethon raises $27,400,000
Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky sets an NHL record with his 34th career hat trick as the Oilers beat the Kings 6-4 in Los Angeles
An electoral system is a set of rules and mechanisms used to determine the results of an election.
Tulane University cancels its basketball season amidst scandal
Bombay beat Delhi by 90 runs to win the Ranji Trophy final
1st live telecast of Easter Parade in New York
Amdahl releases UTS/V, the first mainframe Unix
At 80 Leo Sites becomes oldest bowler to score a 300 game
16th Shuttle Mission (51D)-Discovery 4 launched-with Senator Jake Garn
The boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles followed four years after the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Take Me Along is a 1959 musical based on the 1933 Eugene O'Neill play Ah, Wilderness!, with music and lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell.
Challenger moves to launch pad for 51-B missing
16th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-D): Discovery 4 returns to Earth
ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas
Bomb attacks in NATO/AEG-Telefunken building in Brussels
Brooklyn College soccer team wins Nepal's All-Nepal Football Association invitational tournament 2-0
Pulitzer prize awarded to Carolyn Lizer for "Yin"
17th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-B): Challenger 7 launches
"Shoah", French documentary about the Holocaust, directed by Claude Lanzmann, starring Richard Glazar and Raul Hilberg, premieres in Paris
"Communist" bomb attack kills 2 firemen in Brussels
US performs underground nuclear test "Towanda" at Nevada Test Site, with an estimated 150 ton yield
A View to a Kill is a 1985 spy film, the fourteenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond.
17th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-B): Challenger 7 lands at Edwards AFB
France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll
Challenger transports back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
56 die and at least 265 are injured at Bradford City football ground in the worst fire in English football history
Amy Eilberg is ordained in NY as 1st woman Conservative rabbi
Carlton Fisk becomes 5th catcher to steal 100 bases
Les Anderson, catches record 97 lb 4 oz Chinook salmon, while fishing off coast of Alaska
Nightline (or ABC News Nightline) is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the...
38th Cannes Film Festival: "When Father Was Away on Business" directed by Emir Kusturica wins the Palme d'Or
Israel exchanges 1,150 prisoners with the PFLP-GC in return for 3 Israeli soldiers
Cyclone ravages Bangladesh; 11,000 killed
Explosions destroys 2 tankers off of Gibraltar, 30 die
Britain agrees to return Hong Kong to China in 1997
The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height.
Stephen Charles Fonyo Jr. (June 29, 1965 – February 18, 2022) was a Canadian runner with an artificial leg who was a nationally renowned fundraiser for cancer research and treatment, and a onetime...
The Constitution of Guatemala is the supreme law of the Republic of Guatemala. It sets the bases for the organization of Guatemalan government and it outlines the three main branches of Guatemalan...
The 39th Annual Tony Awards was broadcast by CBS television on June 2, 1985, from the Shubert Theatre. Instead of a formal host, there was a group of performers/presenters.
STS 51-G vehicle moves to launch pad
The 58th Scripps National Spelling Bee was held in Washington, D.C. at the Capital Hilton on June 5–6, 1985, sponsored by the E.W.
Thomas Sutherland (May 3, 1931 – July 22, 2016), Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home on June 9, 1985.
Claus von Bülow was a British lawyer, consultant and socialite. In 1982, he was convicted of attempting to murder his wife Sunny von Bülow in 1979, which had left her in a temporary coma, and in...
Russian space probe Vega 1 lands on Venus
Michael Nesmith in Television Parts is a television series aired by NBC in 1985. It was a 30-minute comedy-variety series created by Michael Nesmith as a continuation of his Grammy Award-winning...
"Pryor's Place" children's show last airs on CBS-TV
William Augustus Banks III is an American athlete. Born at Travis Air Force Base, California, he grew up in San Diego County and went to Oceanside High School. Banks is an Eagle Scout.
18th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-G): Discovery 5 launches
American, Brazilian, and West German forensic pathologists confirm skeletal remains exhumed in Brazil were Nazi Dr Josef Mengele
Air India Flight 182 was a scheduled international flight from Toronto Pearson International Airport (as Air India Flight 181) to Sahar International Airport with regular Mirabel-London-Delhi stops.
18th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-G): Discovery 5 returns to Earth
Fireworks factory near Hallett, Oklahoma, explodes killing 21
The New York Marriott Marquis is a Marriott hotel on Times Square, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Designed by architect John C.
Discovery ferried back to Kennedy Space Center via Bergstrom AFB, Tx
Intelsat VA F-11, then named Intelsat 511, was a communications satellite operated by Intelsat. Launched in 1985, it was the eleventh of fifteen Intelsat V satellites to be launched.
TWA Flight 847 was a regularly scheduled Trans World Airlines flight from Cairo to San Diego with en route stops in Athens, Rome, Boston, and Los Angeles.
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (18 July [O.S. 5 July] 1909 – 2 July 1989) was a Soviet politician and diplomat during the Cold War.
Nicholas Mark Sanders (England) begins circumnavigation of globe, covering 13,035 road miles in 78 days, 3 hr, 30 min
Marge Schott becomes CEO of Cincinnati Red
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8...
Columbia returns to Kennedy Space Center via Offutt AFB, Neb
Bill to abolish Greater London Council receives royal assent
USSR performs underground nuclear Test
Sharon Christa McAuliffe was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where she was serving as a payload...
Nuestra Señora de Atocha ('Our Lady of Atocha') was a Spanish treasure galleon and the most widely known vessel of a fleet of ships that sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622.
Amina Fakir (Detroit), 23, crowned 18th Miss Black America
English middle-distance runner Steve Cram runs a world record in the 1 mile (3:46.32) at Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway
Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru for two non-consecutive terms, from 1985 to 1990 and from 2006 to 2011.
19th NASA Space Shuttle mission (51-G): Challenger 8 launches
Discovery moves to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the mating of the STS 51-I mission
15.4 cm of rainfall is recorded at Cheyenne, Wyoming (state record)
Delta Air Lines Flight 191, operated by a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, crashes on approach to Dallas Fort Worth Airport during a thunderstorm, killing 137 and injuring 25
"Nihilator" sets harness pacing mile (1:49.6) in East Rutherford, NJ
American hang glider Larry Tudor sets a world record for gain of height, climbing 4,343 meters in one flight [1] [2]
Establishment of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is announced
19th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-G): Challenger 8 lands at Edwards AFB
Baseball's new agreement permits two new National League teams in 1993
Challenger flies to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona
Japan Air Lines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Japan.
South African Defence Force soldiers, traveling in a convoy of more than ten armored vehicles, surround the Thaba-Jabula High School in Soweto and arrest 200 students during a clampdown on school boycotts
First Iraqi air raid on Iran's main oil export terminal, Kharg Island
1,400 meatpackers walk off the job at a George A. Hormel & Company plant
Halley's Comet is the only known short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30)...
American Mary Decker Slaney runs a mile in a world record time of 4:16.71 in Zurich, Switzerland; it is the third time she holds the record
Airtours Boeing-737 crashes at Manchester airport, killing 55
Paul Hornung is awarded $1,160,000 by a Louisville court against the NCAA, which barred him as a college football analyst for betting on games
STS 51-I mission is scrubbed at T-5 minutes due to bad weather
Baltimore Oriole Eddie Murray knocks in 9 RBIs in a game against the California Angels
Space Shuttle Atlantis (Orbiter Vehicle designation: OV‑104) is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States.
"Prakas" sets trotting mile record of 1:53.4 at Du Quoin, Illinois
Jerry Lewis' 20th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $33,100,000
20th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-I): Discovery 6 returns to Earth
New York Mets catcher Gary Carter hits two home runs in a 9-2 win in San Diego, tying the MLB record of five home runs in two games
Mark Messier loses control of his Porsche and totals three cars; he is charged with hit-and-run and careless driving and is ordered to pay a fine
Mary Teresa Decker, is an American retired middle-distance and long-distance runner.
Alayson Gibbons sets a 24-hour women's swim record of 42.05 miles in a 25-meter pool
U.S. 7th Circuit Court rules Soviet defector Walter Polovchak can't be forcibly returned to parents' country if it's deemed "not in the best interests" of underage defectors
International Cometary Explorer (ISEE 3) passes Giacobini-Zinner by 7,900 km
Flight readiness firing of Atlantis's main engines lasts 20 seconds
John Towner Williams is an American composer and conductor. Over his seven-decade career, he has composed many of the best known scores in film history.
Salyut 7, also known as DOS-6 (Durable Orbital Station 6) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991.
Computer scientists accidentally stumble upon the largest prime number ever discovered, the number 2^216091 - 1, containing 65,050 digits
Curtis Strong is convicted of selling cocaine to professional baseball players
The 37th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on September 22, 1985. The ceremony was broadcast on ABC, from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California. The Cosby Show defeated two-time reigning...
Eddie Lee Whitson is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres...
A relay swim team completes the fastest English Channel crossing in 15 hours and 30 minutes
Montreal Expo Andre Dawson is the ninth player to get six RBIs in an inning (fifth) and joins Willie McCovey in hitting two home runs in an inning twice
Election where held in Punjab on 26 September 1985, to elect the members of Punjab Legislative Assembly.
The Toronto Blue Jays came into existence in 1976, as one of two teams slated to join the American League for the following season, via the 1977 Major League Baseball expansion. Toronto had been...
Tunisia cuts diplomatic relations with Libya
Hurricane Gloria was a powerful tropical cyclone that caused significant damage along the East Coast of the United States and in Atlantic Canada during the 1985 Atlantic hurricane season.
English musician Phil Collins has released 8 studio albums, 1 live album, 5 compilation albums, 2 remix albums, 3 soundtrack albums, 2 box sets, 50 singles, 18 video albums, and 41 music videos.
"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" returns to NBC-TV
MLB Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver is ejected from both games of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, NYC; Weaver is the only manager to be tossed twice in a day two times
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; Hebrew: זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, romanized: Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, lit. 'Air and Space Arm', commonly known as חֵיל הָאֲוִיר, Kheil HaAvir, "Air Corps") operates as...
A coalition led by Mayor Richard Caliguiri, consisting of public and private groups committed to keeping the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates in town for at least five years, reaches an agreement to buy the baseball team for $22 million
21st Shuttle Mission (51J), Atlantis 1, all-military flight launches
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985.
The 1985 Grambling State Tigers football team represented Grambling State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1985 NCAA Division I-AA football season.
New York Yankees knuckleballer Phil Niekro becomes the 18th pitcher to win 300 games and, at 46, becomes the oldest to pitch a shutout, beating Toronto 8-0
21st NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-J): Atlantis 1 lands at Edwards AFB
"Rembrandt & Hitler or Me" premieres in Amsterdam
Little Richard is seriously injured in a single car accident in Los Angeles
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north,...
Atlantis (51-J) returns to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
Challenger moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for maintenance of STS 61A mission
Belgium premier Martens CVP wins parliamentary election
Franco Modigliani was an Italian-American economist and the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
Challenger vehicle moves to launch pad for STS-61-A mission
The 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French novelist Claude Simon (1913–2005) "who in his novel combines the poet's and the painter's creativeness with a deepened awareness of time...
Qasim Omar (206) and Javed Miandad (203*) make a 397-run stand against Sri Lanka
Rodney Cline Carew is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball player and coach.
CBS' premiere of fact based TV film "Children of the Night", based on sociology student Lois Lee's expose on female crime and inconsistent enforcement of prostitution laws in Los Angeles
The Montreal Canadiens (French: Canadiens de Montréal, lit. 'Canadians of Montreal'), officially Club de hockey Canadien (lit. 'Canadian hockey club') and colloquially known as the Habs, are a...
Anthony Carter begins NFL streak of 100+ consecutive game receptions
The History of the Sri Lanka national cricket team began with the formation of the Colombo Cricket Club in 1832.
Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multiparty election in Liberia
Rockin' with the Rhythm is the second studio album by American country music duo the Judds, released on October 30, 1985, by RCA Records.
Keri Ann Ruhi Hulme (9 March 1947 – 27 December 2021) was a New Zealand novelist, poet and short-story writer. She also wrote under the pen name Kai Tainui.
Netherlands decides definitive sites for cruise missiles
LA Kings score 5 goals in a span of 5:37, the fastest in NHL team history; rout Hartford Whalers, 8-1 at Hartford Civic Center
Bill Elliott wins Atlanta Journal 500 at Atlanta Raceway to become first driver to win 11 super-speedway races in 1 season; also first driver to win $2m in prize money in a single season
"Edge of Darkness" first airs on BBC Two, featuring Bob Peck and Joanne Whalley
Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American comedian, actress, producer, and studio executive.
22nd NASA Space Shuttle Mission (61-A): Challenger 9 lands at Edwards AFB
Colombian troops end 27-hr siege of Bogota's Palace of Justice
Atlantis moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 61-B mission
NHL Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Pelle Lindbergh smashes his Porsche into a retaining wall in Somerdale, New Jersey after a team party, suffering mortal injuries with two passengers critically hurt; his blood-alcohol level was over twice the legal limit, his family had him removed from life suppor
Challenger flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Davis-Monthan Air Force Base
Secretary in Ann Arbor Mich wounded by package bomb
Brewers release 39-year-old pitcher Rollie Fingers
A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes
"We Built This City", the debut single by American rock band Starship tops the US Charts; the song, written by Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, infamously lands on several reader polls as the worst hit song ever
Enterprise (OV-101) flies from Kennedy Space Center to Dulles Airport
"Spies Like Us" is the title song to the 1985 Warner Bros. motion picture of the same name, starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, and Donna Dixon.
In the largest civil verdict in US history, Pennzoil wins $10.53 billion judgement against Texaco
Windows 1.0 is the first major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical user shells and operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft.
Columbia moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 61-C
58 die as Egyptian commandos storm hijacked Egyptair jet in Malta
Egyptian commandos storm captured Boeing in Malta, 60 killed
Oswaldo José Guillén Barrios is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player and current manager of the Tigres de Aragua of the Venezuelan League.
23rd NASA Space Shuttle Mission (61-B): Atlantis 2 launches
Vincent Maurice Coleman is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) player, best known for his years with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Noraly Beyer becomes the Netherlands' first Black TV newscaster
TV miniseries "Anne of Green Gables," based on the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery and starring Megan Follows, is first released on CBC in Canada
Chicago Bears' head coach Mike Ditka and defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan almost come to blows at halftime in a 38-24 loss to the Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl, Miami; Chicago's only loss of the NFL season
23rd Shuttle Mission (61-B)-Atlantis 2-lands at Edwards AFB
Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 1,500 level for 1st time
Ken O'Brien's 96 yard TD pass (NY Jet record) to Wesley Walker
SF 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice begins NFL streak of 274 consecutive games with a reception in a 27-20 loss to LA Rams at Candlestick Park
Computer store owner in Sacramento California killed by package bomb
Arrow Air was a passenger and cargo airline based in Building 712 on the grounds of Miami International Airport (MIA) in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Test debut of cricketers Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh and Bruce Reid (v India)
Challenger moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 51-L mission
United Nations Security Council resolution 579, adopted unanimously on 18 December 1985, in a meeting called by the United States, the Council expressed its deep concern at the prevalence in...
Mary Lund is 1st woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis
Denis Potvin passes Bobby Orr as NHL defenseman scorer (916 points)
ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA
STS 51-L vehicle moves to Launch Pad 39B
A twin-engine light plane crashes into a shopping mall after failing a landing attempt at nearby airfield in Concord, California; 7 people die, 77 injured, and $3.5 million in damage to the mall
Stephen Rodger Waugh is an Australian former international cricketer and twin brother of cricketer Mark Waugh.
The Nevada National Security Sites (N2S2 or NNSS), popularized as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a reservation of the United States Department of Energy located in the southeastern portion...
IBM-PC DOS Version 3.2 released
Lewis Hamilton, British athlete, known for british racing driver, was born on 1985-01-07. Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Ferrari.
Elizabeth Holmes, American businesswoman convicted of fraud, known for american businesswoman convicted of fraud, was born on 1985-02-03.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese athlete, known for portuguese footballer, was born on 1985-02-05.
Trevor Noah, South African african comedian, known for south african comedian, was born on 1985-02-20.
Karolína Kurková is born
Olivia Wilde, American actress and filmmaker, known for american actress and filmmaker, was born on 1985-03-10.
Jaimie Alexander, American actress, known for american actress, was born on 1985-03-12. Jaimie Lauren Alexander is an American actress.
Mandy Moore, American actress and singer, known for american actress and singer, was born on 1985-04-10. Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer-songwriter and actress.
Claire Foy, British actress, known for british actress, was born on 1985-04-16. Claire Elizabeth Foy is a British actress.
Patrick Stump, American musician, known for american musician, was born on 1985-04-27.
Mark Zuckerberg, American businessman and programmer, known for american businessman and programmer, was born on 1985-05-14.
Duffy is born
Khloé Kardashian, American media personality, known for american media personality, was born on 1985-06-27. Khloé Alexandra Kardashian is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman.
JD Vance is born
Ryan Lochte, American athlete, known for american swimmer, was born on 1985-08-03. Ryan Steven Lochte is an American former competition swimmer and 12-time Olympic medalist.
Prince Harry, British prince, known for british prince, was born on 1985-09-15. Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal…
Avril Lavigne, Canadian musician, known for canadian singer and songwriter, was born on 1985-09-27. Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer and songwriter.
T-Pain, American musician, known for american singer, was born on 1985-09-30. Faheem Rashad Najm, known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer.
Lindsey Vonn, American athlete, known for american alpine skier, was born on 1985-10-18. Lindsey Caroline Vonn is an American alpine ski racer.
Katy Perry, American musician, known for american singer, was born on 1985-10-25. Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television…
Eliud Kipchoge, Kenyan athlete, known for kenyan long-distance runner, was born on 1985-11-05.
Scarlett Johansson, American actress, known for american actress, was born on 1985-11-22. Scarlett Ingrid Johansson is an American actress.
Theo James, English actor, known for british actor, was born on 1985-12-16. Theodore Peter James Kinnaird Taptiklis is an English actor and producer.
Bob Morley, Australian actor, known for australian actor, was born on 1985-12-20. Robert Alfred Morley is an Australian actor.
LeBron James, American athlete, known for american basketball player, was born on 1985-12-30.
Konstantin Chernenko dies
Roger Sessions, American composer, critic, and teacher of music, known for american composer, critic, and teacher of music, died on 1985-03-16.
Enver Hoxha dies
Margaret Hamilton, American film actress, known for american film actress, died on 1985-05-16.
Don Estridge, American personal computer industry pioneer, known for american personal computer industry pioneer, died on 1985-08-02.