Chronology year 1984

January 1984:

• Brunei becomes independent from the United Kingdom. It had been a British protectorate since 1888.
• Sarah Tisdall, a 23-year-old UK civil servant working for the Foreign Office, is sentenced to six months in prison under the Official Secrets Act for leaking government documents to The Guardian newspaper.
• After a long history of religion and politics, the United States restores diplomatic relations with the Holy See (the Vatican).
• 83 workers die and 16 others are injured in an explosion at the Mitsui Miike coal mine in Fukuoka, Japan.
• Apple runs its ad for the Macintosh personal computer during the Super Bowl.
• Apple's Macintosh computer goes on sale for US$2,500.
• Michael Jackson is rushed to the hospital with second-degree burns caused by pyrotechnics while filming a Pepsi commercial.

February 1984:

• Dr. John Buster and his research team at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center announce the birth of a healthy baby boy. The baby is the first successful outcome of embryo transfer, where a fertilized egg is transferred from one woman to another. This method differs from test tube embryos, where the egg is fertilized outside the woman's body in a laboratory.
• Culture Club's Karma Chameleon hits #1 on the US Billboard chart and stays there for three weeks.
• The first untethered spacewalk is made by astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart during NASA's STS-41-B space mission. Instead of being tethered to the space shuttle, astronauts control their propulsion using a specially designed jetpack.
• The opening ceremony of the XIV Winter Olympic Games is held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
• One of the most famous events of 1984, Torvill and Dean enter the record books by scoring a perfect score in all categories, winning a gold medal in ice skating.
• Closing of the Sarajevo Winter Olympics. Over the course of the events, 49 nations participated, more National Olympic Committees than any previous Winter Olympics.
• American troops leave Beirut. Their presence was originally an attempt to restore peace between the warring Christian and Muslim factions in Lebanon.

March 1984:

• Iraq is accused of using chemical weapons against Iran. The use of mustard gas on Majnoon Island is believed to cause 2,500 casualties.
• British coal miners begin their strike to protest the closure of mines by the Thatcher government. The strike lasts a whole year and is described as “the most bitter industrial dispute in British history”.
• Beirut-based CIA station chief William Francis Buckley is kidnapped by Hezbollah. He dies in captivity after 15 months of torture to reveal his network of agents.
• Lionel Richie's single Hello reaches the top of the UK charts and stays there for six weeks.
• The United Nations is investigating allegations of Iraq's use of chemical weapons. Evidence is found proving the use of mustard gas and nerve agents and the practice is condemned by the UN.

April 1984:

• One day before his 45th birthday, Marvin Gaye dies. The famous singer intervenes in a fight between his parents and is shot by his own father.
• Soviet Soyuz T-11 mission launches Indian squadron leader Rakesh into space. Rakesh is the only Indian citizen to go to space.
• During an official press conference, President Ronald Reagan calls for chemical weapons to be banned internationally.
• In Egged, Israel, bus number 300 is hijacked by Palestinian gunmen demanding the release of 500 Arab prisoners. After a high-speed chase and failed roadblocks, Israeli military forces storm the bus after forcing it to stop by shooting and blowing out its tires. Two of the kidnappers and one hostage are killed in the siege and the two remaining gunmen are executed.
• Comedian Tommy Cooper dies on live TV. Cooper suffers a massive heart attack and his falling backwards gasping for breath is initially considered part of his comedic act.
• In the baggage area of ​​Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London, a bomb explodes. 22 people were injured, but there were no fatalities.

May 1984:

• After a five-year battle, a $180 million out-of-court settlement is awarded to American Vietnam War veterans suffering from illnesses and disabilities caused by Agent Orange.
• In London, construction of the Thames Barrier is officially completed. The mobile barrier system was designed to prevent flooding across 125 square kilometers (48.3 square miles) of the city.
• In retaliation for the US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics. The games will take place in Los Angeles, California.
• Nelson Mandela, imprisoned in South Africa, sees his wife for the first time in 22 years.
• In Lancashire, England, 16 people die in a methane gas explosion at the Abbeystead water treatment plants.
• June 1984:
• Born in the USA Springsteen's seventh album is released in America.
• USSR computer programmer releases his new game Tetris , available only for the Electronika 60 console.
• A sudden F5 tornado hits Barneveld, Wisconsin. Meteorologists are unable to predict the tornado that kills 9 people and injures another 200. The estimated damage is about $25,000,000, making it one of the most important events of 1984.
• In South Yorkshire, England, a violent clash between striking miners and police is dubbed the Battle of Orgreave . 95 of the pickets are arrested and up to 123 people are injured.
• The album Purple Rain is released by the artist Prince.
• Elton John's Night and Day Concert at Wembley Stadium is broadcast live in full on BBC radio.

July 1984:

• When Doves Cry by Prince hits number one on US billboards and stays there for five weeks, becoming the most successful song of the year.
• The National Minimum Drinking Age Law is approved in the United States. People under 21 cannot buy or possess alcohol. Before the law was passed, the legal drinking age ranged from 18 to 21, depending on which US state you were in.
• The first female captain of a Boeing 747, Beverly Burns makes her maiden voyage as a captain.
• The San Ysidro McDonald's massacre takes place in San Diego, California. Declared the deadliest shooting by a single shooter, James Oliver Huberty, 41, kills 21 people and injures 19. Huberty is killed by a police sniper who was deployed on a rooftop across from the fast food restaurant.
• The largest land earthquake recorded in the UK hits the Llŷn Peninsula in Wales. The earthquake measured 5.4 on the Richter scale and was felt across most of Britain.
• Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a spacewalk during the Soviet Salyut 7 space mission.

August 1984:

• 32 people die when a bomb detonates at Madras airport, India. The bomb is intended for Air Lanka flight UL-122 and programmed to detonate as soon as the plane lands. Due to a mix-up at the airport and the passenger who checked the suitcase did not claim it, the suitcase with the explosives was not placed on the flight and detonated in the wrong country.
• Mary Lou Retton of the United States Olympic gymnastics team scores a perfect 10 points on her final vault. She is the first American woman to win a gold medal in Olympic gymnastics.
• United States President Ronald Reagan jokes about bombing Russia during a microphone check for a radio interview. The remark was leaked to the press and became an infamous report around the world.
• NASA's space shuttle Discovery lifts off on its maiden voyage on mission STS-41-D to deploy three communications satellites.

September 1984:

• A salmonella outbreak kills 19 people in two Yorkshire hospitals in the space of two weeks.
• British geneticist Alec Jeffreys develops genetic fingerprinting, allowing him to identify people using their DNA. The method, when commercialized, will allow forensic scientists to help solve crimes.
• Princess Diana gives birth to her second child with Prince Charles. The new prince's name is announced the following day as Henry Charles Albert David.
• A Hezbollah member drives a car packed with explosives into the US Embassy annex in Beirut. 24 people, including the bomber, are killed.

October 1984:

• Astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a spacewalk. The NASA mission STS-41-G is also the same mission in which Marc Garneau becomes the first Canadian in space.
• An assassination attempt against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her British cabinet takes place in Brighton, England. The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs the hotel where the Prime Minister is staying. Thatcher narrowly escapes, but the attack kills five people and injures 31 others.
• Stevie Wonder reaches number 1 on the billboard in the United States with his song I Just Called to Say I Love You. The song stays there for three weeks.
• James Cameron's film, The Terminator, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is released in the United States.

November 1984:

• Anti-Sikh riots occur across India following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Tens of thousands of Sikhs are killed in Delhi and various parts of India.
• In Raleigh, North Carolina, convicted murderer Velma Barfield becomes the first woman in the United States to be executed since 1962.
• In the presidential election, Ronald Reagan defeats Democratic candidate Walter F. Mondale with a landslide victory. Democrats only gain a majority in one state, giving Republicans 49.
• Paul McCartney releases his single We All Stand Together.
• A series of explosions at an oil storage facility in San Juan, Mexico starts a large fire. Thousands of people suffer serious burns and around 500 people are killed.
• Oxford Circus station on the London Underground is caught in flames. Around 1,000 passengers aboard five trains are trapped underground by smoke and fire, but no one dies.
• 36 pop musicians from across Britain and Ireland gather in a studio in London's Notting Hill to record Do They Know It's Christmas to raise money for famine victims in Ethiopia.

December 1984:

• To collect data on plane crashes, NASA and the FAA conduct a Controlled Impact Demonstration. They intentionally crashed a remote-controlled Boeing 720 in California's Mojave Desert.
• Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy, premieres in Los Angeles.
• In Bhopal, India, a chemical leak at a pesticide factory exposes more than half a million people to methyl isocyanate. Known as the worst industrial disaster of all time, thousands are killed immediately and tens of thousands continue to suffer the consequences.
• Astronomers in Arizona announce the discovery of a planet outside our solar system. The planet orbits a star known as Van Biesbroeck 8, located 21 light years from Earth.
• Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, signs the Sino-British Joint Declaration, an agreement to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
• Madonna's single, Like a Virgin, goes to #1 billboard in America for 6 weeks.
• Bernhard Goetz shoots and wounds four robbers on the New York subway. The incident sparks a debate about how far people should go in self-defense.
• Rick Allen, drummer for Def Leppard, loses control of his car while driving along the A57 on the outskirts of Sheffield, England. As a result, he loses his left arm.